Eternal tower setting (please help)

[motoko's ghost]

What do people think about this idea;
The campaign all takes place in a single town, however that single town is a tower, half a mile wide at the base( only a few hundred feet wide at the top) and a mile high.
Not all of its populated due to size, as is actually remnants of previous civilisation and the people moved in to avoid the anarchy and chaos of the outside world.
Its been centuries since the last door out was sealed, however society hasnt advanced all that much.
There's greenhouses and whatnot to take care of food, but I was wondering where else I could take this idea?
I know the really destructive evocations(earthquake,etc) would be banned,but other than that I have no idea other than sort of fantasy steampunkish industrial society.

[The Witch-King]

The first thing that comes to mind is how do they keep the peace? Nobody wants anyone fighting in or besieging a place like that. Maybe its open to everybody (good and evil alike, humans, demi-humans, monstrous humanoids) so long as they don't fight inside the tower and some very powerful armed force deals with the guys who break that rule (either a unified troop of soldiers made up from all races or some constructs or something controlled by the tower itself). A solution to the 'big spells' problem is that a civilization powerful enough and advanced enough to build the tower was powerful and advanced enough to build powerful abjurations into the tower itself and you just can't cast the most destructive spells in or on the tower. In which case, even people who don't live in the tower might find it useful as a place to hold negotiations between hostile factions.

Also of interest would be who mans and controls the parts of the tower vital for people living there. I mean, if the hydroponic farms have to be worked, then whoever does that is largely in control of the food supply. Likewise, the guys who work in the underground sewage levels might not be glamorous but they're performing a vital function and if they stop, it'll become pretty apparent pretty quickly how vital that role is. Are they slaves? Or serfs? Is there a caste system and you have to run the sewers cause your dad did and his dad and his dad and so on.

Is there a rapid transit system? Elevators or some such? How do people get from one level to another quickly? How do you move large goods up and down the tower?

What was the tower built for? And who built it? Even if the players and the current inhabitants never know, it would help to know that to help you. Clues should be left in the details of the tower that might point a clever person to what the tower was for and who built it. For example, was it primarily built as a place for long-term habitation? And if so, are there factories and manufacturing sites? Do they still work? Can they be figured out? Will it be disrupting to have a facility that can mass produce just about anything anyone can think of?

That's all I've got off the top of my head. I could probably think up some more stuff once you've told me more about who built the tower and why.

Great idea though!

EDIT: That's what I get for not reading as closely as I should have. I didn't realize they COULDN'T leave. That makes keeping the peace and all the maintenance and internal travel stuff even more important. Now when there's a plague or some alchemist creates some toxic spill, it's really a problem.

[motoko's ghost]

Thanks for the responce.
The peace is kept because a)the get very...serious about wanton distruction that might endanger the tower, because its everyone's home, if you do do something like that you will get lynched...by a large city and b)Its been sealed up for centuries, no-one in or out so anyone who cant toe the line is dead and has been used as an example for the others, also c) they believe that they sealed up the tower because of the outside world be tantamount to suicide(who knows maybe it is) so no-one wants to risk losing the tower.
The armed forces also help
There are wards against anything really destructive set up by the ruling classes over the centuries and the tower iteslf is virtually a mountain so it would take a HUGE amount of deliberate sabotague to bring part of it down.

The tower(being sealed centuries ago) is still a sort of feudalistic caste system, slavery is only used as a form of punishment(give back to the community, not bothering to waste resources locking them in a cage all day).
However there are the lower classes(literally, most of the mucky stuff is done on lower levels) with artisans,scholars,priests and whatnot higher up with the leaders on the top floors.

I should have put that there is a system of elevators(levitating platforms and wells of flying from the stronghold builders guide, some on much larger scale)

No-one really knows why or when the tower was built(or if so they're not saying) It is more likely the monument of a long-dead civilisation(bonus points if it's ours) or it was meant to be an "ark" to preserve life after some great disaster struck and turned the world to ruin.

The whole tower is not completely occupied due to sheer size(roughly 30sq miles if my math is right)so there could be plenty of clues/labs/factories hidden.

as for your edit, thats what the armed forces are for, evacuation, containment, quarantine, stopping possible dissidents(remember to most they think leaving the tower would be suicide so people are careful with what they do and say)
If there was a plague they'd probably seal off the area in question, halt all travel and start having cleric and others with curative magic sweeping the surrounding areas before tackling the plague bits

[Landis963]

Are there windows? If not, how does the air get in? A population large enough to have an armed guard that merely consists of "most of them" would use up air over several years, especially given the size of the castle. Is there plant life, that could convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, and does it require light or bioluminesce? Also, there needs to be some source of heat, as no matter the material it will get cold in winter. Is there a source of heat that doesn't use oxygen?

All these questions spring from one: Is it possible to look, but not actually go, outside the tower?

EDIT: Note 2 self: read the OP. I missed the fact that Greenhouses can provide ample plant life for both oxygen and food-related needs, as well as fuel for winter. However, Greenhouses work through light brought in from outside. Where's the light coming from, and would it be accessible to a suitably resourceful and foolhardy villager?

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Are there windows?...

...However, Greenhouses work through light brought in from outside. Where's the light coming from, and would it be accessible to a suitably resourceful and foolhardy villager?

One possible answer to this could be that the tower isn't perfectly round. From the outside, it could appear to be a series of successive castles linked together. At some levels there would be huge verandas and and balconies (huge enough for small villages) where these greenhouses could fit.

A thought I had looking at this: This tower is vast and powerful (being nigh indestructible and all that). Seems to me it's incredibly magical. Might it be possible that this distorts space inside the tower? It could be bigger on the inside, is where I'm going.

[motoko's ghost]

Are there windows? If not, how does the air get in? A population large enough to have an armed guard that merely consists of "most of them" would use up air over several years, especially given the size of the castle. Is there plant life, that could convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, and does it require light or bioluminesce? Also, there needs to be some source of heat, as no matter the material it will get cold in winter. Is there a source of heat that doesn't use oxygen?

All these questions spring from one: Is it possible to look, but not actually go, outside the tower?

EDIT: Note 2 self: read the OP. I missed the fact that Greenhouses can provide ample plant life for both oxygen and food-related needs, as well as fuel for winter. However, Greenhouses work through light brought in from outside. Where's the light coming from, and would it be accessible to a suitably resourceful and foolhardy villager?

There is a lot of magic used(continual lights,etc) for the light purposes, the sheer bulk of the tower and its outer walls means that heat is lost very slowly, there's very little need for temperature regulation.
For the safety of the tower(or so its been said) any passageway of even view-way of the outside has been destroyed/collapsed/sealed behind 20ft of reinforced masonry.
...Except for the rooftop accessible only from the top floor and by the ruler of the city(which does not exist, according to the rulers, any such rumours are seditious in nature and will be punished.)

Ninjadeadbeard your idea of linked castles is even better than what I originally thought up,very nice and fantasy. However the tower is basically a single huge spire,nestled in a mountain range (and is itself practically a mountain). There are certain areas that seem to be larger than they should be, but the layout of those areas is too chaotic to really get accurate measurements(yes there are rooms bigger on the inside,doors that open to different rooms in different ways,etc left over from the original builders of the spire, however the age and extensive and repeated rebuilding of the currently populated areas means they are mostly in out of the way places, and may function chaoticly/intermittently)

[Pokonic]

A few questions:

How is the food managed? Is it one gigantic communist wonderland in it, or what?

Who makes the decisions? A group? A heriditary position? What do the "nobles" do?

How are uniqe substances handled? There can only be so many Roc feathers left after a few centurys of isolation from any outside vender.

How is magic handed by the rulers? Are magic users handled on a tight leash, and how much do they know about the outside world? Are the walls magic-proof?

How is the population handled? Are positions held until someone younger is born, and it is off to the food processer?

Is it all humans? Are there any strange mutations due to the centurys of isolation in a magic-filled tower?

Are magical items common? Who fixes something if it breaks? Is the water supply based on the use of one or more magical items, and what would happen if one or more are damaged?

How are jobs managed?

Are there living animals that are used for food? How are they adapted to the life in the tower?

How is waste treated, such as rotten food and such? Where does it go?

[Landis963]

There is a lot of magic used(continual lights,etc) for the light purposes, the sheer bulk of the tower and its outer walls means that heat is lost very slowly, there's very little need for temperature regulation.

Ah yes. Of course. Magic makes everything work.

For the safety of the tower(or so its been said) any passageway of even view-way of the outside has been destroyed/collapsed/sealed behind 20ft of reinforced masonry.

That's convenient.

...Except for the rooftop accessible only from the top floor and by the ruler of the city(which does not exist, according to the rulers, any such rumours are seditious in nature and will be punished.)

Of course, you can't have a dystopian setting without the giant secret that only those at the top know. But why don't the rulers just say that the rooftop is barred from them too? I mean, the builders of the place would want to make sure the ruling body couldn't resign permanently and unexpectedly by walking through the wrong door. (assuming of course that this monolith was built for the purposes of a post-apocalyptic habitat).

[Pokonic]

Of course, you can't have a dystopian setting without the giant secret that only those at the top know. But why don't the rulers just say that the rooftop is barred from them too? I mean, the builders of the place would want to make sure the ruling body couldn't resign permanently and unexpectedly by walking through the wrong door. (assuming of course that this monolith was built for the purposes of a post-apocalyptic habitat).

They could bar people who actualy know by saying that whatever happened outside still is out there, and even then there are hostile golams up there contaminated with it in the sealed-off areas. Of course, they dont say that they are the ones who put the contaminated iron golams up there, but hey, whose gunna ask...

[motoko's ghost]

A few questions:

How is the food managed? Is it one gigantic communist wonderland in it, or what?

Who makes the decisions? A group? A heriditary position? What do the "nobles" do?

How are uniqe substances handled? There can only be so many Roc feathers left after a few centurys of isolation from any outside vender.

How is magic handed by the rulers? Are magic users handled on a tight leash, and how much do they know about the outside world? Are the walls magic-proof?

How is the population handled? Are positions held until someone younger is born, and it is off to the food processer?

Is it all humans? Are there any strange mutations due to the centurys of isolation in a magic-filled tower?

Are magical items common? Who fixes something if it breaks? Is the water supply based on the use of one or more magical items, and what would happen if one or more are damaged?

How are jobs managed?

Are there living animals that are used for food? How are they adapted to the life in the tower?

How is waste treated, such as rotten food and such? Where does it go?

The food is handled by the lower classes farming and whatnot, then that food is bought by the higher-ups and the lower classes use that money to buy ...stuff(I don't know think early feudalism)

The decisions are made by a variety of people depending on how important they are, bulk paperwork is handled by clerks in charge of a small area who report to people in charge of the floor, who report to the ruling class(who are each in charge of multiple floor) who are ultimately report to the ruler.
The "nobles" rule and scheme against each other, with the supreme title going to the most powerful(politically,economically,etc)

Most substances can either be mined from the lower levels or there already exists a supply of them(remember these people were fleeing an apocalypse and prepared for the long haul), there could certainly be shortages(in which case they'd probably restrict access to them, what do farmers need Roc feathers for?)

The magic users are all kept on a tight leash by the ruling class, they dont know too much about the outside because the outer walls seem to block most divination spells(they didnt want whatever they were hiding from to find them)

Ok that food processor Idea is kinda disturbing(SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE OF PEOPLE!) but the population is generally managed by the fact that the tower can only support so many(according to the noble in charge of population management). Positions may be passed down or they may be given up when someone retires or moves to a new job.

The population is mostly human, but there are other races in there(should they be second class citizens?),If your looking for subtle warping of the human genome by magic-saturated environments there are several templates for that(from barely noticeable magic-blooded to an arcane-corrupted spellwarped monstrosities)

some magical items,such as the continual lights,the continuous gust of wind fans and the levitating elevators are quite common however otherwise they not that common(a +1 sword could feed a family of 4 for years)
They are maintained by those tightly-leashed spellcasters, and you are right the water supply is maintained by decanters of endless water, if damaged they would probably divert all available resources into fixing it then get very... serious at whoever broke it.

There probably are some fisheries or ranches on the lower levels, im not sure how they would have adapted it depends on how realistic the environs are.

I'm guessing waste would be composted to soil for the farms and any scraps of metal or whatnot would be reforged into new...metal things.

@Landis963 they're claiming that there is no rooftop access from anywhere, Wether or not the apocalypse is still out there is ambiguous.
There are huge defensive structures around the doorways out(massive gates/portuculuses, forming airlocks around large stretches of heavily corridors with 54HD iron golems programmed to kill anything going through it)
whatever they were trying to keep out, they were playing for keeps.
Those doorways however are the only real way out, the outer walls are extremely thick, and by the time anyone could dig through them,someone already spotted them and reported the "dangerous"individuals trying to destroy their tower by letting in the apocalypse.

Thanks for the input, It's really helping this come together.

[Pokonic]

Things like roc feathers are needed for magical spells and the like, so the supply of such exotic substances should be managed with great care, lest you have security mages who cannot cast feather fall or somesuch.

I was wondering about the water decanters, and was wondering what would happen, if say, a rouge mage tainted it with some necromatic energy. Or, gods forbid, make it a focus for some Far-realm energy.

Also, the correct term is "protein recyclers".

Also, who made the iron golams programed to kill anything that comes out of it? This is sounding less like a haven and more like a Vault.




One last thing before sleepy-time: are all floors currantly maintaned? Is there a "basement" of sorts farther down that few go into anymore and house some importaint things that keep the place running? Could there be supplies down there that is non-existant in the compound proper?

[motoko's ghost]

Things like roc feathers are needed for magical spells and the like, so the supply of such exotic substances should be managed with great care, lest you have security mages who cannot cast feather fall or somesuch.

I was wondering about the water decanters, and was wondering what would happen, if say, a rouge mage tainted it with some necromantic energy. Or, gods forbid, make it a focus for some Far-realm energy.

Also, the correct term is "protein recyclers".

Also, who made the iron golems programmed to kill anything that comes out of it? This is sounding less like a haven and more like a Vault.




One last thing before sleepy-time: are all floors currently maintained? Is there a "basement" of sorts farther down that few go into anymore and house some important things that keep the place running? Could there be supplies down there that is non-existent in the compound proper?

As its a tower with fairly thick,strong floors,there's virtually no need for feather fall, unless the elevator your in collapses or you deliberately hurl yourself into a pit for some reason
There probably a small stock on hand for just such an emergency, but a lot of them may have eschew materials.

This is another reason the mages are kept on such a short leash, I'm not sure how they'd infuse it with those sorts of energies though.

also known as "citizen meals"-made by people for people from people

The golems were made by the first generation, who fled here from the Outside, in order to keep It out(whatever It was), they are there purely to maintain safety citizen(to imply otherwise is treason, treason must be reported to your friend computer...I mean leader) as are the numerous traps.

As I mentioned earlier the sheer size of the tower means not every part of it is inhabited, it may get a brief checkover by the armed forces every now and again, but there are significant part that are abadoned, and may contain important relics/stockpiles from Before,so who knows

[Pokonic]

This is another reason the mages are kept on such a short leash, I'm not sure how they'd infuse it with those sorts of energies though.

Any spell that involves negative energy could be used to infuse the water. Of course, stuff like that does not realy need to be realy fleshed out into concrete spell.

also known as "citizen meals"-made by people for people from people

Better than tofu.

As its a tower with fairly thick,strong floors,there's virtually no need for feather fall, unless the elevator your in collapses or you deliberately hurl yourself into a pit for some reason

Unless your are in one of the older, rusty places.

There probably a small stock on hand for just such an emergency, but a lot of them may have eschew materials.

Ah. Just how prepared where the founders of this place?

As I mentioned earlier the sheer size of the tower means not every part of it is inhabited, it may get a brief checkover by the armed forces every now and again, but there are significant part that are abadoned, and may contain important relics/stockpiles from Before,so who knows

Just what happened outside? Magical war poisoning everything? Warforge revolting? Feurun finaly imploding from the shear amount of increadbly powerful idiots running everything? Someone merging Athas with a normal fantasy world for a few moments? Someone made a kill sat and let it loose? The gnomes managed to create a working nuke?

[motoko's ghost]

Any spell that involves negative energy could be used to infuse the water. Of course, stuff like that does not realy need to be realy fleshed out into concrete spell.


Better than tofu.



Unless your are in one of the older, rusty places.



Ah. Just how prepared where the founders of this place?



Just what happened outside? Magical war poisoning everything? Warforge revolting? Feurun finaly imploding from the shear amount of increadbly powerful idiots running everything? Someone merging Athas with a normal fantasy world for a few moments? Someone made a kill sat and let it loose? The gnomes managed to create a working nuke?

1.ok
2.Blasphemer! tofu is amazing!
3.even then a floor collapse is pretty unlikely and you'd have to go out of your way to find one.
4.Im assuming they had at least a couple of months(remember this would have been the evacuation plan of a small nation.
5. ALL OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME (I've deliberately left it ambiguous because I'm not sure whether or not it should still be there, It would have a big impact on the tone of the game, if it is still there the rulers are behaving as such because to do so otherwise would invite destruction i.e we do this because we must, if its not then the rulers are evil and trying to hold onto power i.e we do this because we can)

Ps; has anyone made an adventure with one(or all) of those disaster premises?

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Ps; has anyone made an adventure with one(or all) of those disaster premises?

I have a setting (on the back-burner sadly) where I basically said, "Hey! You know that huge part of the map? The part that makes up 50% of the landmass? A Magic-Meltdown happened. If you go there, the nicest thing that will happen will be when the sky grows a mouth, shrieks, awakens the Centaurs, and then they eat you with seven mouths but you can never die."

If you absolutely have to keep players in the Tower, go all out. Sure, story-wise it's more satisfying for them to find a world re-born after centuries of recuperation. But depending on the mood you set it could be better for the PCs to overthrow the established order only to discover a Hellish Nightmare World beyond the Tower's walls.

Good place to reach Epic Level...

[motoko's ghost]

If you absolutely have to keep players in the Tower, go all out. Sure, story-wise it's more satisfying for them to find a world re-born after centuries of recuperation. But depending on the mood you set it could be better for the PCs to overthrow the established order only to discover a Hellish Nightmare World beyond the Tower's walls.

Good place to reach Epic Level...

Yeah, one of the ideas I had was that the thing was a visit from atropus and that the entire campaign world had been overrun by high-lv undead(angels of decay,vampires,lichs all with class levels or templates on them) which allowed the far realms to enter unopposed(illithid,aboleth,etc) and small pockets of the insane mutant offspring of any survivors all engaged in some sort of massive war with insane weapons of mass destruction devastating the landscape.
Epic level indeed

Alternately it could just be empty, no cities, no animals,no plants, just barren earth and sand stretching to the sea, with nothing to show there ever was anything outside in the first place.

[The Witch-King]

Alternately it could just be empty, no cities, no animals,no plants, just barren earth and sand stretching to the sea, with nothing to show there ever was anything outside in the first place.

Okay. Crazy thought.

The whole planet's absolutely barren. No trees, no grass, no lichen, no moss, no bacteria, no nothing. Just earth, sand and water.

And...this...guy.

The whole planet has been turned into an inverted prison for ONE IMMORTAL OLD MAN. The mechanisms of the tower are what keep him on the planet and its defenses are sufficient to keep him out of the tower. Nobody is allowed to leave the tower for fear he could influence them, take them over, whatever. That's also why the planet's been entirely scoured of life. All to keep this insanely powerful madman prisoner.

[motoko's ghost]

Okay. Crazy thought.

The whole planet's absolutely barren. No trees, no grass, no lichen, no moss, no bacteria, no nothing. Just earth, sand and water.

And...this...guy.

The whole planet has been turned into an inverted prison for ONE IMMORTAL OLD MAN. The mechanisms of the tower are what keep him on the planet and its defenses are sufficient to keep him out of the tower. Nobody is allowed to leave the tower for fear he could influence them, take them over, whatever. That's also why the planet's been entirely scoured of life. All to keep this insanely powerful madman prisoner.

Ok I was just sorta going for a "something capable of completely wiping the earth clean" mystery vibe, but that also sounds cool, whats his power level though, I mean he has to be kept out of the tower but for when the players fight him.(disintegrate SLA usable at will?, is that how he did it?)

[Landis963]

Ok I was just sorta going for a "something capable of completely wiping the earth clean" mystery vibe, but that also sounds cool, whats his power level though, I mean he has to be kept out of the tower but for when the players fight him.(disintegrate SLA usable at will?, is that how he did it?)

But that brings up a different problem. You know that old adage, "if you can stat it, you can kill it?" The same problem applies for applying power levels to immortal creatures, even super over-powered ones. However, that doesn't mean such an immortal monster so heinous that everyone runs from him can't make good final-boss material. Just make sure that a) the punishment fits the crime, so to speak, and b) give your players some way of dealing with him after the climactic battle (of course, it's not your fault if they squander it). For a start, give him something like the old "Desert Touch" ability (turns all water in an area to sand), then apply it creatively and cruelly to your players (how much water is in the standard human's body again?). This could also be one way the immortal rated everyone running away from him - if he was too Desert-touch-happy, no one would be safe around him.

[Pokonic]

Ps; has anyone made an adventure with one(or all) of those disaster premises?

My party actualy had to stop a mage from opening a portal to Athas, in order to save a entire continent. We failed, but we managed to shove the fool into it. Still made the biggest pach of farmland in the world barren, however.
Later, we learned that the spell went wrong, and it was actualy more like a boched Plane Shift. The end result? The entire climate dried up, monsters became more common, and mages discovered defileing. We all ended up in a cave in the Underdark with a small towns worth of survivers (+ one good young red dragon), and managed to make peace with Umber Hulks so they could close off the tunnels in excange for food.

A rather nice game, I must say.

The whole planet has been turned into an inverted prison for ONE IMMORTAL OLD MAN. The mechanisms of the tower are what keep him on the planet and its defenses are sufficient to keep him out of the tower. Nobody is allowed to leave the tower for fear he could influence them, take them over, whatever. That's also why the planet's been entirely scoured of life. All to keep this insanely powerful madman prisoner.

His name starts with Elm and ends with minister, correct?

[motoko's ghost]

My party actualy had to stop a mage from opening a portal to Athas, in order to save a entire continent. We failed, but we managed to shove the fool into it. Still made the biggest pach of farmland in the world barren, however.
Later, we learned that the spell went wrong, and it was actualy more like a boched Plane Shift. The end result? The entire climate dried up, monsters became more common, and mages discovered defileing. We all ended up in a cave in the Underdark with a small towns worth of survivers (+ one good young red dragon), and managed to make peace with Umber Hulks so they could close off the tunnels in excange for food.

A rather nice game, I must say.



His name starts with Elm and ends with minister, correct?

Awesome concept, love it
Also its obviously pun-pun, CURSE YOU PUNPUN!... ... ... I'm okay now.

[Pokonic]

Awesome concept, love it
Also its obviously pun-pun, CURSE YOU PUNPUN!... ... ... I'm okay now.

The best/worst part? The Umber Hulks felt the shifting, and where understandably freaked out when a bunch of squishy humans came down from the surface. When we managed to explain what was going on, the parties mage managed to convince them (the only one who bothered to learn there language.) that we can grow food down here as long as they close the tunnels. And so they did.

[motoko's ghost]

The end result? The entire climate dried up, monsters became more common, and mages discovered defileing. We all ended up in a cave in the Underdark with a small towns worth of survivers (+ one good young red dragon), and managed to make peace with Umber Hulks so they could close off the tunnels in excange for food.

A rather nice game, I must say.

This is a rather nice concept, do you think it would be possible to do something like this on the outside, either a shiding out from the crazy farscape/undead/angry mutant turfwar or the rather ominous kills things immortal guy?
If you wanted to hide out inside the tower you could take the group and attempt to find an abandoned greenhouse in an unused part of the tower(lower down where the troops dont patrol as much)

[Pokonic]

Well, first, can you give a "list" of sorts about what the outside has? If its filled with, say, ambient necromantic energy, than everyones screwed. If there are raiders, for example, who do they raid? A group of savages will disaband if they do not have any reason to come together.

[motoko's ghost]

Well, first, can you give a "list" of sorts about what the outside has? If its filled with, say, ambient necromantic energy, than everyones screwed. If there are raiders, for example, who do they raid? A group of savages will disaband if they do not have any reason to come together.

Yeah I could...most of the campaign would probably be inside the tower though, so I was hoping to focus on that.
But;

• Undead;
  • Liches(normal,dry,good?)
  • Vampires(with the libris mortis variants as well)
  • Shadows/spectres/ghosts
  • Angels of decay
  • Lots of mooks(zombies,skeletons,ghasts,ghouls)
• Far-realms stuff
  • Aboleth,illithids
  • refluffed quori(eberron specific=>from the far realms)
  • half-farspawn beholders
• Misc
  • spellwarped ettins,dragons
  • Insane great wyrm red/gold dragons(were strong enough to survive?)
  • living spells(6thlv and up)
  • elminster shackled so he cant move or escape,even with his magic but still with magic
  • so on

for the crazy turf war thing(everyone sticks together because otherwise they would be horribly slaughtered in about a dozen different ways)
I dont know though this is just a list from the top of my head

[Pokonic]

Depending on what the event that happened outside was, I suggest using this guide to dragons:

When advancing up a age level, dragons fall into a deep century-long sleep. During the event, many had adsorbed some of the substances from it, making them warped by it in horrble ways. Some who where awake could excape the attack, but where driven to madness because of it. The ones who awakend either was now Spellwarped, infused with far realm energys, or simply became undead (self-aware and otherwise) during it. The ones who where tainted with the far realms energy would probably be sterile, and of course a bunch of undead baby dragons could not reproduce. Spellwarped ones, however, would spawn creatures who would at first resemble dragons with mutated limbs (Linnorms are those with atrophied back legs, Hydras are those realy mutated in the egg.), and those would have degenerate kin who would have little resembalence to there grandfathers (Landwyrms and Drakes and such).

Naturaly, some elder dragon who excaped the whole thing could wish to "Repopulate" dragonkind, but where is there a willing wyrmess whose not utterly insane around this place.



Same thing coud be used with Giants, with Ogres and Trolls each being the lowest form of Giantkind left after there great-great-grandfathers die of age.

[motoko's ghost]

Depending on what the event that happened outside was, I suggest using this guide to dragons:

When advancing up a age level, dragons fall into a deep century-long sleep. During the event, many had adsorbed some of the substances from it, making them warped by it in horrble ways. Some who where awake could excape the attack, but where driven to madness because of it. The ones who awakend either was now Spellwarped, infused with far realm energys, or simply became undead (self-aware and otherwise) during it. The ones who where tainted with the far realms energy would probably be sterile, and of course a bunch of undead baby dragons could not reproduce. Spellwarped ones, however, would spawn creatures who would at first resemble dragons with mutated limbs (Linnorms are those with atrophied back legs, Hydras are those realy mutated in the egg.), and those would have degenerate kin who would have little resembalence to there grandfathers (Landwyrms and Drakes and such).

Naturaly, some elder dragon who excaped the whole thing could wish to "Repopulate" dragonkind, but where is there a willing wyrmess whose not utterly insane around this place.



Same thing coud be used with Giants, with Ogres and Trolls each being the lowest form of Giantkind left after there great-great-grandfathers die of age.

Why is the word repopulate in quotation marks? Actually dont answer, I'm probably better off not knowing.

Sounds interesting though, I just want to see how the players react to an insane three-headed spellwarped red dragon that breathes far plane energy...with a moustache

[Pokonic]

Sounds interesting though, I just want to see how the players react to an insane three-headed spellwarped red dragon that breathes far plane energy...with a moustache

That, or the player killing a few lizerds the size of a large cat eating a cow, that awakinging the couple of Plains Landwyrms that are its inbreed parents, and then alerting the 100+ year old Fleshwarped Linnorm who spawned the entire clan.



Any reason on only having the most powerful kinds of dragons in your world, tho?

[motoko's ghost]

That, or the player killing a few lizerds the size of a large cat eating a cow, that awakinging the couple of Plains Landwyrms that are its inbreed parents, and then alerting the 100+ year old Fleshwarped Linnorm who spawned the entire clan.



Any reason on only having the most powerful kinds of dragons in your world, tho?

Because the weaker ones would have been horribly slaughtered by the invading high CR stuff, then either used as cannon fodder or slaughtered for food/religion/fun/cause their rulers were bored

EDIT:also because we've been working under the assumption that they wouldnt find a way out of the tower till high/near-epic levels.

PS EDIT: have them find several cows eating a lizard the size of a large cow Carnivorous spellwarped dire cows! just kidding

[Pokonic]

EDIT:also because we've been working under the assumption that they wouldnt find a way out of the tower till high/near-epic levels.

Indeed. Whose to say that they find a way outside when there cleaning the lower pipe system of oozes and such? There must be some sort of low-level life out there, along with a food supply, otherwise everything would have killed eachother by the time the PC's find a way out.


Also: whats stopping a Vampire or another undead from getting some zombie giants rounded up to dig until they hit a weak spot? I know that the place is magicly inhanced, but there must be some spots that are mostly there to protect pipes and stuff. Water tanks and that sort of thing.