Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bishop the Bardican 01-23-04, 11:43 AM	My players wanted to try a more stationary campaign based in Faerun and using the Stronghold Builder's Guide. Everyone will begin play at 12th with scouting a location and convincing local powers to allow if not support the building. By 16th they better have major work completed, because I am going to start throwing spies, strike teams, and catapults at them. I suggested the location of a deep well on the western edge of Anauroch, but I am giong to try to let the players decide. I thought that it might be fun to post the question to the boards. So, if you are interested, give a brief description of a character or party and the stronghold they would build. Have fun brainstorming!
Niftyone 01-23-04, 12:17 PM	The campaign I'm running now is in the Lake of Steam region, and has a pair of PCs (a Cleric and paladin who both worship Helm) who want to build a fortified temple/keep together in tribute to Helm. Just south of the Lake of Steam is the Border Kingdoms (or Bandit, I can never remember without my danged maps!) which are pretty much run by whoever has the biggest force or most power. Pretty much any adventurer can set up shop there if they can hold it. Perfect place for any PC to do so, and they can have smaller fights with some petty "nobles" before working their way up to maybe trying to take over that region for themselves and carving their own niche.
Bishop the Bardican 01-23-04, 12:29 PM	I applaud your brevity, but could you give just a little more detail. Mud wall with a wooden palisade? Rune-covered tower? Will it be a a walled base of operations for the party or a militant cathedral that shelters the commoners from robber barons?
FireHeart 01-23-04, 01:04 PM	Our epic campaign has a keep. (Long story...after getting the gods to a restore the local city after it had been decimated by a plague from the BOVD, in gratitude, the city helped build our keep.) It started as a simple keep and with one wizard's tower. My husband and I used the Strongholder's Guide to build it. But we've expanded...so we've got great halls, dining rooms, bedrooms, "prayer rooms," studies, a vault, a conference room that is shielded from scrying, oh and a dragon's lair underneath with a one-portal to the plane of Air (we're raising white dragonlings to be good- more long story), multiple protections to the keep and outside walls, all sorts of cool stuff. There are now two wizard towers to the side - filled with books. I have sorcereress whose an avid researcher. The keep does have a secret entrance to get out...but not in (trapped galore!). Between the leadership feats of 2 of the players...we actually have a small town and several farms being build up around the keep, well across the road actually. (The ranger ensured that the woods were kept safe.) Did you want more specifics or does that help? -Fireheart
Niftyone 01-23-04, 01:19 PM	Sorry Bishop, The PCs in this instance are going for the fortified temple/monastary type that was described in the FR Faiths book under the Helm entry. They liked the sound of it, and they're both very militaristic so it suits them. The other PCs aren't so thrilled with it, but they've been assure that there could be allowances for the rogue to be a spymaster type and the mages to have their owb attached tower. This is all still in the planning stages (as is yours so far) since the PCs are still about 5 levels short of when they want to start building.
King_Sloth 01-23-04, 02:24 PM	Originally posted by Niftyone Sorry Bishop, The PCs in this instance are going for the fortified temple/monastary type that was described in the FR Faiths book under the Helm entry. They liked the sound of it, and they're both very militaristic so it suits them. The other PCs aren't so thrilled with it, but they've been assure that there could be allowances for the rogue to be a spymaster type and the mages to have their owb attached tower. This is all still in the planning stages (as is yours so far) since the PCs are still about 5 levels short of when they want to start building. :cool: Western edge of the Anurauch?? Isn't that where the Mourme Blue Dragons hunt?? How about the Hobgoblins that serve them out of Doomspire?? Also, the shades are investigating a ruin near Ascore too. Seems like a busy place for someone of Helm. Also , you may want to recommend one, or both PC's take the 'Landlord' feat to get monetary help in building it. I'm sure Alustriel out of Silverymoon, or Helm DwarfFriend out of Sundabar would love to have a outpost of good out there in the wilds. Your plot seems interesting. Can you send me details on the PC's. I may want to incorperate that kind of outpost in my campaign . My PC's are all5-6th level (all 9 of them:eek: ) They have just arrived in DeadSnows and I'm going to take them through the "Blood & Gold' campaign from 'Silver Marches' . My table is busy , but it works for now. I'd love having a slightly smaller group (5-6), but I guess too many PC's is better than too few. :confused: :fight!::king: :fight!:
Bishop the Bardican 01-23-04, 02:38 PM	I like the castles, guys. Sounds like fun, but I don't think that I asked the question in the right way. So here goes the revision. Where in Faerun would you like to build a stronghold? What sort of character (10th-20th) would make a good stronghold owner? What is the building's apparent and concealed purposes? I am looking more for cool stories and exotic locales rather than workable strongholds for the party. This thread is just for fun. Example On a desert mesa in western Aunorauch, a council of representatives of the League of the Silver Marches met with a powerful Bedine warlord to forge a partnership in investigating the strange effects of the City of Shade. It was decided to build a keep on the defensible mesa to take advantage of the deepwater spring. Agreements were made to keep the stronghold's inhabitants from expanding into the Bedine's hunting grounds and oases and to have the Bedine pass on any information to representatives of the keep. A dwarven cleric/fighter of Marthammor Duin and Citadel Felbar was appointed lord of the keep due to his diplomacy, skill in battle, and experience with caravans and the desert. Great red-brown blocks of stone were cut from the desert's floor and used to build twenty foot walls. At each corner, solid forty foot guard towers allow the inhabitants to spot trouble at a great distance. The keep itself is thirty feet tall, made of the same rust hued stone as the walls, and covered in arrow slits. Thaelomar the Mule, as the lord of the keep is known, and his council of friends and allies have no idea that the spring which feeds their well is itself fed by a small crack in a seal covering a portal to the Plane of Water and a watery fiend who is bound there. Destroying this sleeping evil and safely tapping the portal could allow Thaelomar to reclaim a small portion of Aunoroch through irrigation. Hope you forgive the length.
Capn Charlie 01-23-04, 08:12 PM	My players have set up shop in the stonelands and built their keepo on the foundation of an ancient nethereses stronghold. Under it however is a capped and pure well, and the entrance portal to an ancient nehterese portal system. They paln to clean out the stonelands and have been sanctioned by Alusair to defend the portals. Makes for a lively wide ranging SG esque campaign.
Ssussunriyh 01-24-04, 02:02 PM	Originally posted by Bishop the Bardican Where in Faerun would you like to build a stronghold? What sort of character (10th-20th) would make a good stronghold owner? What is the building's apparent and concealed purposes? I am looking more for cool stories and exotic locales rather than workable strongholds for the party. This thread is just for fun. One of my characters is a half-elven 10th-level Sea Ranger named Volitar (the Sea Ranger was a 2E character kit from the Complete Ranger's Handbook - I'm still working on the 3.0/3.5 conversion.) Instead of a stronghold, he had a ship built named the Wanderlust. He sails around the Sea of Fallen Stars as a privateer, with letters of marque from a half-dozen countries and city-states. A second ship based on the design of the Wanderlust and christened the Spitfire was built as a Cormyrian Freesail, commanded by a former pirate captain, a female half-elf NPC named Azla. The ships are small, fast, agile two-masted topsail schooners, about 75 feet long and about 100 tons displacement, with a crew of 25 or so. Each is armed with a pair of light ballistae (one forward, one aft) and a dwarven-made light catapult mounted on a revolving cradle amidships. The torque of the catapult arm is incredible: every time it fires, the whole ship lurches violently.
Hoondatha 01-24-04, 09:48 PM	I used to have a half-elven arctic ranger who was looking to build an ice fortress literally inside a glacier. I had all the schematics worked out: the enterence was a disguised chute cut into the wall of a glacier and then disguised (actually it would have been made my the ranger's remorhaz follower, so it was very smooth, leading to a fun slide to get inside). Inside the citadel were numerous rooms spread over several levels: an armory, practice room, barracks, private bedrooms, dining room, homes for his various and sundry familiars, etc. The party also had an ice wizard who had spells to prevent ice from melting, thus allowing the interior to be as warm as they wanted. Air and light were also provided by magic. Unfortunately the campaign ended before the castle could be built, but I like to think that my guy (level 16 ranger by the end of it all) went on to build it.
Autosponge 01-30-04, 09:28 PM	Go look at Forgotten Realms Castles Boxed Set TSR 1056. Page 28 has a list of Zhent schemes that can give you tons of great ideas for your campaign, and it's so old most people won't have a clue where you're getting all this great stuff from. Not to mention, it gives you info about seige weapons, economics, building practices, etc. You should be able to order it online and download it for a few bucks.
adrian 02-12-04, 06:20 AM	my group is building a underground stronghold in the caverns of Dead orc pass. we have cleared them of orcs, fought off the counterattack (first in what i'm sure is a long line of counterattacks) and even found a gold vein. my dwarf charachter (lvl 10 fighter/3 horde breaker) with his leadership feat and good connections with the local citadels got some free work from the dwarves. alustriel promised us some military help for keeping the pass open to traffic (a hundred from the argent legion or so). we'll see about turning the other orc and goblin tribes against the thornskulls when spring comes. maybe we'll even wipe them all out. silver marches gave us the whole pass and some of the surrounding mountains so we're thinking about building a small town down by the river to help us transport whatever we produce down to soundbar by river.
Lashan 02-12-04, 08:32 AM	Fields of Blood, by Eden Studios has gotten good reviews at EN World. It finally came out after waiting for about 2 years. I have ordered one and am planning on getting it. There is a thread on the EN boards about which of the various "country-running" books are best. Most are agreeing that FOB is very close to perfect. It has a whole system for mass combat, but it also has a system on running a small hold or kingdom. http://www.edenstudios.net/odyssey/7005.html
Rynthief 02-13-04, 02:31 PM	I am DMing for a Choson of Eilistraee, and plan to have him inhabit an old stronghold near Brightstar Lake on the High Moor. From there he will partailly reverse the fell magic that created the Moor, so that the northern end around the lake very quickly reforests itself. Then the plan is to set up a small community for the Church of Eilistraee to use as an outpost and freehold, a home for good drow on the surface. The creation of the community will let me play around with Realms politics, as the Lords Alliance, the Harpers, the Silver Marches, the Zhents, and most importantly the Elven Court will have something to say on the matter. and of course, Vhaeraun is none too pleased and plans to use the community to his own ends... -Ryn
Nahar 02-13-04, 11:08 PM	My paladin/sorcerer of Torm is itching to revamp Daggerdale. Build a fortress, and a temple, and kick Banite butt all day long. At 21st level I can't see it being that outlandish. Of course, the only problem is, she ALREADY has a price on her head from the Zhents, so what they'd do then might be very interesting.
dragonheart 02-21-04, 01:24 PM	have him/her or for others have the party take on the beholder in the floating tower (daggerdale-teshendale border area) and turn it into their stronghold and then have fun messing with the Zhentqrim and being messed with by them ;)
Neo 02-21-04, 05:39 PM	As was mentioned in an earlier post here, I think the Stonelands is an ideal place for a Stronghold. Large, relatively barren area, filled with monsters and used by enemies to spy upon Cormyr. Hard to Garrisson and patrol as well as all the other borders. It strikes me that the Regent could solve the problem easily by allowing Chartered Adventuring companies to request Land Grants in the region, and provide them help with the costs of a strongholds initial costs on the proviso they not only keep thier claim monster free but also swear an oath of fealty to the Kingdom. In this Way Cormyr sorts its problem, brings civilisation to a dangerous area, and makes some powerful new allies it can call upon in times of need.
Nahar 02-22-04, 05:23 AM	Originally posted by dragonheart have him/her or for others have the party take on the beholder in the floating tower (daggerdale-teshendale border area) and turn it into their stronghold and then have fun messing with the Zhentqrim and being messed with by them ;) Beholder!! YES!! I'm hunting the SOB's anyway! What sourcebook is that from???!!!
dragonheart 02-29-04, 01:18 PM	there is stuff in several sources - the dales boxed set ( 2e), Volo's guide to the dales, the Daggerdale adventures, etc. most is 2e and would need some converting but shouldn't be too hard. and you end up wiht a wild stronghold sitting right in the middle of everything - Anauroch just west, THe Border forest just north, The Citadel of the Raven to your NE, Daggerdale to your SW, Teshendale to your east, and Cormanthor and Myth Drannor not to far to your SE. of course survival may prove interesting :D
dragonheart 03-09-04, 09:49 PM	And the best part is you don't have to build it your self - I just finished putting together a stronghold and trying to put together its magical defenses and abilities is going to cost me about my next 2 levels in experience costs to get everything I want working.