Help a Factotum build a cliff-dwelling fortress

[RUMBLETiGER]

So I'm playing a NG Factotum in a campaign right now. Much fun. He's one of 4 brother's adventuring together, the other three are a CG Favored Soul of Kord, a CG Warblade/Crusader (who also worships Kord) and a NN Psion. We're currently all level 6, except the Favored Soul, who just got himself killed and will be returning as level 4ish.

Anyway, my DM and I have been discussing the future of my character so he can keep it in mind as we adventure along. So far, I'd like to breed Rust Monsters in the very near future (see How to Raise a Rust Monster Mount Guilde), and I'd like to take the Create Portal feat at level 18 to make me a fortune by aiding kingdoms in networking travel in the far flung future.

What I'd like to do somehwere in the middle, and I request your input to help me figure out how to make this possible, is to have my Factotum gradually carve out a mansion/fortress/city within the inside of a cliff and underground like The People of Mesa Verde. Time isn't an issue because he'd gradually work on this during downtime between adventures.

What I want to figure is at what levels can I use what items, skills, Arcane spells and make use of a quality UMD check to possibly access scrolls of divine and other spells off his normal casting list, all to carve out, shape and otherwise build cool things into the side of a cliff and underground? Everything from swining a pickaxe, hiring workers, crafting explosives, burrowing tunnels, Stoneshape, Wall of Stone, and casting desintigrate are all the sorts of things I'm looking for. I do have access to Stronghold Builder's Guide (as well as a ton of most of the 3.5 books)

I want to lay out a plan before my DM of at what level I can start doing the most simple and effective things to carve out a single room, and work my way up level by level with additional abilities. This will affect at what point he gives me access to such a piece of land. This may also affect how I invest those skillpoints, likely affectg now I spend my money.

I turn to you, ENworlders!

 

[Dandu]

Shape Stone and Rock to Mud will be your friends.

Also, summon monster, as it will enable you to get monsters that can burrow.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Shape Stone and Rock to Mud will be your friends.

Also, summon monster, as it will enable you to get monsters that can burrow.

Alright...

-Summon spells. I'm currently level 6, so I could summon a Celestial Badger plus 1d3 Celestial Badgers which could dig small sized tunnels at 10' per round, and I can keep them out for 6 rounds. Assuming I have them zigzag around vertically and horizontally, I can have a barely medium sized ceiling room that's about 10'x10' if they dig thru anything softer than stone. That will make a nice starting cave to camp out in along my cliff face.
once I hit level 8 I can summon a Celestial Dire Badger, who can dig me a 5'highx10'x40' room thru anything softer than stone.
What else might be useful to summon Pre-fifth level spells? Anything that should be able to burow thru stone specifically?

-Stone Shape I can access at level 13, clearing out 23 cubic feet per day, assuming I can shape all that stone pressed compactly against the stone behind it, shape it right out the opening of the cliff, or simply shape it away into nothingness.

-Transmute Rock to Mud I can also access at level 13, converting up to 2, 10' cubes per level, or 26 10'x10'x10' rooms instantly and permanently into mud. That's awesome. Now I need to become really effective with a shovel, or have a lot of assistance to help me clear that out. I'm imagining a muddy waterfall cascading out the side of my cliff face, as if the stone itself has the runs.
Perhaps day one, I'll cast this spell to create a hallway, a 230'x10'x10' tunnel (230' is max range at level 13) at a downhill incline, so that all the mud pours outwards. I could than spend day 2 creating 13 rooms on either side of said hallway, creating the equivalent of an apartment complex with 2 days of spell casting and a lot of shoveling.

What other ideas? Does anyone know official rules on digging mundanely with tools and skill checks?

 

[Jack Simth]

Alright...

-Summon spells. I'm currently level 6, so I could summon a Celestial Badger which could dig small sized tunnels at 10' per round, and I can keep him out for 6 rounds. Assuming I have him zigzag around vertically and horizontally, I can have a barely medium sized ceiling room that's about 10'x10' if he digs thru anything softer than stone. That will make a starting cave to camp out in along my cliff face.
once I hit level 8 I can summon a Celestial Dire Badger, who can dig me a 5'highx10'x40' room thru anything softer than stone.

Sadly, you'll need to wait until you can get a Dire Badger, as the regular badger doesn't leave a usable tunnel (it's in the description of the Burrow movement speed - Dire Badgers have a specific exception in their description). However, you can get a scroll of Speak with Animals (Druid-1) and a scroll of Summon Nature's Ally II to serve the same purpose a little earlier on. Three rounds for a tunnel five feet wide, up to sixty feet long (double move is permitted). If you burn a wand of both, you can get a fairly hefty chunk opened up that way.

-Stone Shape I can access at level 13, clearing out 23 cubic feet per day, assuming I can shape all that stone pressed compactly against the stone behind it.

Nah, if you've got a solid stone cliff, you just shape the stone into spheres, and roll them out. Build your fortress so that everything slopes slightly towards the exit, and it's just a matter of cast & step aside. Plus spills will drain out later on.

-Transmute Rock to Mud I can also access at level 13, converting up to 2, 10' cubes per level, or 26 10'x10'x10' rooms instantly and permanently into mud. That's awesome. Now I need to become really effective with a shovel, or have a lot of assistance to help me clear that out. I'm imagining a muddy waterfall cascading out the side of my cliff face, as if the stone itself has the runs.

Create Water is a cantrip, and can really help with that. Especially if you shape things so that everything runs towards the entryway, as suggested for working with Shape Stone. Of course, you're better off picking up a Decanter of Endless Water for washing out the mud.

Perhaps day one, I'll cast this spell to create a hallway, a 230'x10'x10' tunnel (230' is max range at level 13) at a downhill incline, so that all the mud pours outwards. I could than spend day 2 creating 13 rooms on either side of said hallway, creating the equivalent of an apartment complex with 2 days of spell casting and a lot of shoveling.

That'd work.

What other ideas?

If you can arrange a decent Perform skill, a Lyre of Building is your friend. Out of combat, you can take ten, so you need a perform modifier of +8.

If you can get a Beholder Dominated (or charmed, or Simulacrum'd, or Shapechanged) then the at-will Disintegrate makes digging go very, very fast.

Does anyone know official rules on digging mundanely with tools and skill checks?

Not specifically, no. Sorry.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Hm... I'm sure an errata must exist someplace to clarify this in the PHB, but Stone Shape exists on the 4th level summary list for Sorcerers and Wizards on p.194, but the spell entry itself says Sor/Wis level 5 on p. 284. Which should I trust? I'm inclined to err on the side of the more detailed entry.

 

[Jack Simth]

Hm... I'm sure an errata must exist someplace to clarify this, but Stone Shape exists on the 4th level summary list for Sorcerers and Wizards, but the spell entry itself says Sor/Wis level 5. Which should I trust? I'm inclined to err on the side of the more detailed entry.

If not errata'd, Text Trumps Table, so you'd be correct. However, there is Errata, and it's Sor/Wiz 4 with the errata.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Nah, if you've got a solid stone cliff, you just shape the stone into spheres, and roll them out. Build your fortress so that everything slopes slightly towards the exit, and it's just a matter of cast & step aside. Plus spills will drain out later on.

Oh... I'll have to keep one or two in reserve, at the top of my sloped hallway. Indiana Jones-style trap protecting my main hallway, FTW!

If you can arrange a decent Perform skill, a Lyre of Building is your friend. Out of combat, you can take ten, so you need a perform modifier of +8.

Yes, this would serve as my workforce to dig all that mud out, as well as chisel the smoothness to all my magically rough-cut walls. Cheaper then paying people in the long run.

If you can get a Beholder Dominated (or charmed, or Simulacrum'd, or Shapechanged) then the at-will Disintegrate makes digging go very, very fast.

I'll have to research the methods of acquiring one of these guys.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

If not errata'd, Text Trumps Table, so you'd be correct. However, there is Errata, and it's Sor/Wiz 4 with the errata.

WOO HOO! Indiana Jones stone balls at level 10 then! I can do some decent cliff carving with this spell. And build a pile of stone spheres at the bottom of the cliff face that I'll find some use for.

 

[Jack Simth]

WOO HOO! Indiana Jones stone balls at level 10 then! I can do some decent cliff carving with this spell. And build a pile of stone spheres at the bottom of the cliff face that I'll find some use for.

You mean like another few castings of Stone Shape to turn them into stairs? Just make sure that the stairs run perpendicular to the door. And ideally, zig-zag a bit.

I'll have to research the methods of acquiring one of these guys.

You just need a small piece of one, and a scroll of Simulacrum to UMD. Technically, you can do it with just a scroll of Simulacrum, as all material components are put into the scroll when the scroll is crafted, and a bit of the beast is one of the material components. A scroll of Simulacrum(standard Beholder) costs 7,775 gp (2,275 for a scroll of a 7th level spell, 5,000 gp for the 1,000 xp component, 500 gp for the ruby dust needed for a 5 hit die result). And of course, when you're done, you've got a loyal guard for the place.

 

[Dandu]

Remember, clerics get Summon Monster and Stone Shape as well.