Howl's Moving Castle in Eberron

[Random NPC]

http://liaoyusheng.com/archives/20050225howl4.jpg

From the anime movie of course.

Say, you bind a strong fire elemental to a castle to move it. Is it possible? How much would it cost? Is it too bad or am I not alone in thinking this could be awesome? Picture a 15 level artificer in that thing!

I'm thinking maybe 150,000 gp... or more?

[AslanCross]

http://liaoyusheng.com/archives/20050225howl4.jpg

From the anime movie of course.

Say, you bind a strong fire elemental to a castle to move it. Is it possible? How much would it cost? Is it too bad or am I not alone in thinking this could be awesome? Picture a 15 level artificer in that thing!

I'm thinking maybe 150,000 gp... or more?

I'd say an air elemental would be more likely to lift a castle. There's a recent Steal This Hook article on the WOTC site about flying castles. I'd say it's entirely possible, though there really aren't any crunch methods of doing so. (Not like it matters)

[Nerd-o-rama]

No, trust me, for Howl's Moving Castle, it has to be a Fire Elemental.

In Eberron published material, you've got flying (well, hovering) fortresses in the form of Argonth and its sister-vessels (Five Nations, page can't-be-buggered.) I believe they actually each have several Elder Air Elementals bound to them.

What kind of motion do you want for this thing? Flying, walking, earth-gliding? Either way, you're looking at one (for the smallest Keeps) or more of the biggest Khyber Shards you can find, a commensurate number of Elder Elementals of whatever variety, the cost of the castle itself, and lots and lots of DM bribery.

Offhand, I'd ballpark it at around a million gold (ten times the cost of an Airship, plus the cost of constructing the castle in the first place). Doable at high levels, but you still need the DM on your side.

Alternatively, price it as per the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. I'm positive that covers mobile fortresses.

[TheSteelRat]

Use the Stronghold Builder's Guide for pricing, it includes mobile fortresses like in Howl's Moving Castle. He just has some sort of method of super-expanding it automatically instead of necessitating building time. (Fabricate, eat your heart out) Then you've got permanent dimensional portals to various locations if you're keeping with that flavor of it well. You can just add the binding of the fire elemental as fluff, not a mechanical aspect except in plot. I'm sure if you really wanted to you could work some method of how much it needs to eat how frequently, and what size elemental he would need to be, etc., but I'd say wing it.

[Hopeless]

http://liaoyusheng.com/archives/20050225howl4.jpg

From the anime movie of course.

Say, you bind a strong fire elemental to a castle to move it. Is it possible? How much would it cost? Is it too bad or am I not alone in thinking this could be awesome? Picture a 15 level artificer in that thing!

I'm thinking maybe 150,000 gp... or more?

Check out the argonth in breland I think you'll find the answers you're looking for.

[Worira]

From the anime movie of course.



FURIOUS ANGRY RAGE

[Theli]

FURIOUS ANGRY RAGE

Because all anime is lame and bad.

...

Whatever.

[Worira]

Because all anime is lame and bad.

...

Whatever.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n1/n6356.jpg

[Theli]

Hmm, I misinterpreted ya. Oh well.

So the OP was exposed to the work from the anime, rather than from the original source. How horrible.

[TheOtherMC]

So how much GP would it be for the services of Billy Crystal? :smallconfused:

[Bryn]

The Clockwork Wonders series of articles on the Wizards site (for Eberron) features the Moving Tower (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20070423a), costing 100,000 gp. Although not exactly the same as the Castle, with some warlike elements and control being from a wheel, it could very easily be adapted and re-fluffed to follow the book (or anime film :smallamused:). It moves 20 feet per round and has four floors of varying sizes.

For the teleporting doorway, you could use the Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Device Ring Gates (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#ringGates) costing 40,000 gp a pair. These do limit the Castle to a 100-mile range if the Gates are to work, and you'd need a new pair for each location you want to leave from (as well as having to deal with a weight limit).

Edit: The Ring Gates would only work if you're Small, since they're only 18 inches in diameter. Missed that :smallbiggrin:

Finally, regarding the Book vs Animefilm debate, I'd say that both works are very different beasts indeed. I wouldn't say either one is better (it's too long since I read the book to say that), but the differences are by no means minor.

[drawingfreak]

I never read the book, but by the anime, the "castle" was more like an oddly constructed cottage. With legs. Therefore, I don't think looking at castle prices would work for this.

[Random NPC]

I was JUST exposed to the anime yesterday. The book I've read before. And while the movie is way different than the book, as I was watching it, I kept thinking, "OMG, this could be really awesome in Eberron." The book is different from the anime, and while you could introduce a castle like the one in the book into Eberron, it is not strictly Eberron material (just general fantasy). The castle from the movie IS Eberron material. And well done at that :smallbiggrin: