# How to build a Wizard's Tower?



## Liquidsabre (Jun 20, 2004)

6th Level Human Necromancer
13,000 gp
5 Feats

I'd like to begin playing a Necromancer (looking for suggestions on opposition schools) and I've always wanted to have the classic Wizard's Tower with all it's protections and secure enough so an adventurer wizard can go out and adventure, and still have things secure there. Though I suppose the Leadership Feat and a reliable apprentice would be a good step towards that end if I leave them at the tower. But is the creation/building of a secure Wizard's Tower actually feasible in-game and by the rules? Early levels won't usually see this sort of thing but when's the earliest it could be done? Is it better to build your own from scratch (where noone knows it is) or to find a used one, a fixer-upper so to speak?

I'm pretty sure it's not possible yet but at 6th level I'd like to start gathering, collecting what I can get towards building one (spells, items, resources, beasts, etc.) and how where to keep this stuff (warehouse, wizard's guild house perhaps?) in the meantime? In other words, how to do this as early as possible? I'm brainstorming right now myself and will post any thoughts I have later.

Cheers!


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## Thanee (Jun 20, 2004)

You can do a lot with just two spells, Wall of Stone and Stone Shaping. 

There's a D&D sourcebook for building such stuff, the name currently eludes me, however.

As for opposed schools: Enchantment would be one that fits, as it is so heavily aimed at the living. Illusion maybe?

Bye
Thanee


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## EvilGM (Jun 20, 2004)

I'll second the choice of Enchantment as your opposition school.  The other schools have some nifty stuff that would be hard to give up.

The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook will help in construction of a wizard's tower, but a tower does not come cheap.  Start saving that gold and platinum.  And, as Thanee said, try to get access to construction-friendly spells:  wall of stone, stoneshape, move earth, fabricate, telekinesis, levitate, etc. 

It might be easier to take over a tower/dungeon site, setup a base of operations, and expand from there.  Definitely let your DM know your plan.


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## Nightfall (Jun 20, 2004)

Or you could auction off your soul to some nice Demon Prince/Archfiend for a truly powerful tower. I hear they like having necromancers for hire.


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## James McMurray (Jun 20, 2004)

Yeah, auction off your soul for a Daern's Instant Fortress. Then you get an adamantine tower that you can carry in your pocket.


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## EvilGM (Jun 20, 2004)

*Beginner's Wizard Tower*

A 30' diameter, three story basic wizard's tower in a favorable location will cost you about 15,000gp.

Temperate climate, hill terrain, within 17-48 miles of a small city.

You'll get...

Common area - Plain room, bare floors, benches and uninspiring artwork/tapestries.  Serves as waiting room or all-purpose room.

Storage area - Unfinished floor, holds 2000 cubic feet.

Bedrooms - Two small bedrooms, rough furnishings (straw bed, chest of drawers, mirror, rough cotton bedclothes, patchwork quilt, bench, small table), includes a privy.

Bath - Room with wooden or metal tub, chamber pots and wooden benches.

Study - Small room contains: desk, bookshelves, chair and a closet.

Library - Wooden shelves, small table or two, lectern.  Holds up to two lots of books, the 15k tower price includes one lot of arcana books - giving +2 circumstance bonus to Knowledge (arcana) checks.

Magic Lab - Simple lab contains: small mystical library, writing desk, lab table, basin, open barrel of water, and a fireplace - grants +2 circumstance bonus on Spellcraft checks to determine if a new spell is viable.

Exterior walls are masonry (1' thick, 8hard/90hp)
Interior walls are wood (6" thick, 5hard/60hp)
Main door is stone (4" thick, 8hard/60hp) with a good iron lock (Open DC30, 15hard/30hp)

Each room can have two wooden doors (1" thick, 5hard/10hp).  The bath and study can only have one as they are half size rooms.  The 15k cost includes three Everburning Torches and six shutters to be placed on any wall(s).

It's not much, but you have to start somewhere


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## Thanee (Jun 20, 2004)

Altho the walls really shouldn't be paid for (dunno how much they cost), since you can do them yourself at no cost once you reach 9th level.

Bye
Thanee


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## EvilGM (Jun 20, 2004)

True... and the exterior walls make up the bulk of the tower's price - about 10k of the 15k cost.

For some reason though they only give you a discount on walls until you are higher level and the castings required are sorta screwy as well...
Wall of Stone (9th lvl caster) -15% (48 castings)
Wall of Stone (12th lvl caster) -50% (72 castings)
Wall of Stone (16th lvl caster) free (72 castings)
Wall of Stone (20th lvl caster) free (30 castings)

Also, the walls would then be hewn stone walls (3' thick, 8hard/540hp).
edit- hewn stone walls cost 2.4 times what masonry walls do.

This info from the Stonghold Builder's Guidebook btw and pertains to the 15k tower I posted above.


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## Lord Pendragon (Jun 20, 2004)

I suggest contracting a bard with a _lyre of building_.


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## Liquidsabre (Jun 20, 2004)

Wow, thanks guys. I'll check out the stronghold builder's guide for more details,  sounds good! Starting with a small tower at early levels is a good idea and I'll talk to my DM about making the necessary arrangements.

What are some good ideas for defense or security for a small tower? At 7th level I'll be able to animate dead and create skeletons and zombies for some basic defense/warning. Would a spell like Hallucinatory Terrain help hide the tower in case of a serious attack (plains to forest for example)? To buy time to prepare defenses/spells. Arcane Lock for all the doors, Fire Traps possibly as well. Alarm everyday if staying at the tower for those sneaky intruders. Anything else I might be missing? The Symbol spells should be useful for defense at higher levels, as a necromancer I intend to employ.


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## tarchon (Jun 20, 2004)

You might want to start collecting skulls and bones for the decor.
Necromancers also tend to have it easy with the labor costs.


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## Fieari (Jun 20, 2004)

EvilGM said:
			
		

> True... and the exterior walls make up the bulk of the tower's price - about 10k of the 15k cost.
> 
> For some reason though they only give you a discount on walls until you are higher level and the castings required are sorta screwy as well...
> Wall of Stone (9th lvl caster) -15% (48 castings)
> ...



That is odd... I just checked my copy and you're right.  I think the thought here is that even though you're getting the raw materials for free each casting, at lower levels you don't have as much control in fitting it all together and shaping it perfectly, so you still need to hire workers to touch it up, and the lower your level, the more "touching up" needs to be done.  At 16th level you're assumed to have enough control to not need any help in that regard.

Does that make sense?


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## Thanee (Jun 20, 2004)

Best defense is to not leave any valuables inside! 

Otherwise just some basic stuff so random bypassers can't get in.

Later you can think about more specific stuff, like teleport protection and so on.

Bye
Thanee


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## Liquidsabre (Jun 20, 2004)

tarchon said:
			
		

> You might want to start collecting skulls and bones for the decor.
> Necromancers also tend to have it easy with the labor costs.




Damn, good point. Well usually it's the barbarian who takes heads but I better start collecting, a try to lose my sense of smell btw. You know I bet many promising young necromancers are nipped in their budding prime by being arrested on trumped up charges of petty grave robbing crimes. Where's a good necropolis when you need one?


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## tarchon (Jun 20, 2004)

Oh, and research a _Wall of Bone_ spell too - you could probably make a case for it as a 5th level spell with a little more volume than _Wall of Stone_, since bone isn't quite as strong.  I was thinking also of some kind of necromantic spell that assembles piles of bones into structures, but that would be a little more debatable than just altering one of the standard Wall spells slightly, I'd guess 4th or 5th level.


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## Liquidsabre (Jun 21, 2004)

Sweet, that's a great idea for a new spell for a necromancer, though I'd be guessing conjuration may be the place for such a spell (ala summon undead spells, just summon undead wall!?  ). Thanks for the great idea tarchon, I like it alot!


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## DM with a vengence (Jun 21, 2004)

Okay, if I we're making a wizard's tower, or just a generally defensible structure.

If you're the DIY yourself type, Walls of Stone are probably the best bet, but if you don't want to spend a few months casting wall of stone, it may be in your interests to animate a few teams of undead workers and have your apprentices oversee them while you go adventuring.

Walls of Stone are good for basically shaping the tower, but not so much for the volumn.  If you want historic 10' thick castle walls, either get your zombies to quarry stones and fill the thin walls you've put up, or just dump a lot of dirt in their, water with a Everflowing Bottle, and get the local druid to cast Transmute Mud to Stone.  Make sure to put lead, or medusa's blood, or something in the mortar to block Scrys.

For rooms, you'll want a scrying room, summoning room, crypt, and the usual run of the mill storage and living area.

Being a necromancer, you should contract with the local Church of Evil to cast Unhallow on the area, and if you're the paranoid type, a Dimensional Anchor to block teleports.  Some useful spells to have on hand (which you'll need to get through Limited Wish) would be Control Weather, to block armies, and Guards and Wards.  G&W is especially nice if you have a maze or similar to really mess with your enemies. Your undead should be immune to the worst effects, so they'll be really effective.

For specific point defense, setting up Wall of Force traps to block doorways, as well as the usual run of the mill symbols and glyphs of warding as well as mechanical traps should be good.  Make sure to get guards with Blindsight or Tremorsense to stop assassins, and have some areas only accessable to flying creatures.

And for feats, Craft General should let you build enchantments directly into your tower.  A bonus to CL would be pretty useful.  Hopes this help.


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## Sledge (Jun 21, 2004)

Dont forget stoneshape.  One level to go before you can turn that nasty looking cliff into a wizards tower.  It would still take a lot of work, but with some engineering/architecture knowledge you could accomplish things very fast.  Use the spell to actually cut gaps into rocks rather than to build something of stone.  Expect to spend a week or two, but in the end you'll have a cool tower for free.


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## silburnl (Jun 21, 2004)

Thanee said:
			
		

> As for opposed schools: Enchantment would be one that fits, as it is so heavily aimed at the living. Illusion maybe?




Those were the two opposing schools I picked for my recent "how to f*ck with the party's collective head" necromancer cohort. I'm hoping he'll survive the Paladin's outrage long enough to wheel out his profound philosophical objections to enchantment ('mind-rape') and illusion ('nothing more than lies and deceit - I cleave to the truth in all things'), but am resigned to the strong possibility that he'll get lynched before then.

Regards
Luke


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## Liquidsabre (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks for the suggestion on opposition schools Thanee, I was already considering Enchantment but wasn't sure about illusion but what's the point of being a necromancer unless you get to show off your scary decor!? So again, thanks and I opted to take those two schools as my opposition schools.

Thanks for the suggestions DMV! Especially on rooms, I hadn't gotten that far yet so that'll help get started there. 

Hmm, stoneshape, I'll have to add that to my spellbook, thanks Sledge. It'll get me started and if I am able to find a fixerupper I'd even be able to *ahem* rearrange things a bit.


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