Defending an Evil Fortress From PC Marauders!

Greetings!

In one of my campaigns, the player characters are playing epic-level characters of 30th level or so, with a few characters above that, and several cohorts that are 28th level. The players have made some friends at an ancient secluded elven fortress and temple, which also features a Lammasu, and several Storm Giants, located in a magical forest. The players stayed there for over a month, training, resting, and consulting the Lammasu and the elves. The players met a strange man, who appears to be an old, though powerful, barbarian warrior, and a man of wisdom and great devotion and piety to the god Ulric. After enjoying a feast, and speaking with the strange barbarian, the players learned of an ancient citadel high up in the mountains, about a two-week ride away, which is occupied by evil monsters and guards an ancient treasure.

Thus, the players are traveling in search of this ancient citadel. The journey along the way brings the players into contact with an evil character party that has established their own castle in the area, as well as several smaller citadels and border forts. The evil character party is composed as follows:

1. Chen Tsau; m Human; Fighter 30/Kensai 10
2. Zhanlor; m Human/Half Far Spawn; Wizard 20/Master Transmogrifist 10/Fleshwarper 10
3. Nimmarthu; m Human/Half Giant (Fire); Fighter 20/Legendary Dreadnought 20
4. Zeredorn; m High Elf; Fighter 20/Cleric 10/Thrall of Orcus 10
5. Kei Han; f Human; Rogue 20/Rake 10/Fighter 10
6. Rhaenathil; f High Elf; Druid 40
7. Korranna; f Human; Cleric 30/Thrall of Orcus 10
8. Jalnar; m Human; Barbarian 20/Fighter 20
9. Chou Bei; m Human; Monk 40
10. Lord Julius; m Human; Cavalier 20/Rogue 10/Knight of Infamy 10

What kind of servants, troops, or allies should these characters have? What kind of defenses would you suggest they have of their citadel, and the surrounding area? What kind of cohorts do you think they should have?

I appreciate your thoughts on the matter at hand. A variety of creative, interesting responses would be especially helpful. I have been swallowed up with classes for weeks, with exams and so on, and have simply not had time to give these deployments the thought that I know they deserve, and a game is due this weekend, so I thought I would consult my friends here at EN World.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

SHARK said:

1. Fighter 30/Kensai 10
2. Wizard 20/Master Transmogrifist 10/Fleshwarper 10
3. Fighter 20/Legendary Dreadnought 20
4. Fighter 20/Cleric 10/Thrall of Orcus 10
5. Rogue 20/Rake 10/Fighter 10
6. Druid 40
7. Cleric 30/Thrall of Orcus 10
8. Barbarian 20/Fighter 20
9. Monk 40
10. Cavalier 20/Rogue 10/Knight of Infamy 10

What kind of servants, troops, or allies should these characters have? What kind of cohorts do you think they should have?

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Each of them can have a pet balor, plus there is a couple of krakens in the castle's moat. Otherwise, the sentries and guards are all fighters 20 / Executioners 5, and the cook is a Rogue 15 / Assassin 10 and the chambermaid a Commoner 20 / Houri 18. That should suffice. (Oh, I forgot to add a bunch of evil treants in the kitchen garden).

For background on SHARK and how his high-level campaign works:

How Would You Defend A Mountain Fortress?
How Would You Defend A Mountain Fortress? (Volume II)

SHARK said:

What kind of servants, troops, or allies should these characters have? What kind of defenses would you suggest they have of their citadel, and the surrounding area? What kind of cohorts do you think they should have?

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Is there a theme I'm not seeing? I'm not familiar with all the prestige classes listed, but a few of the characters seem quasi-Chinese. That might suggest a pagoda-like citadel, wang-liang troops, etc.

Hi SHARK - long time no see. I use a lot of permanent Dispel Magic Zones and Antimagic Zones, these can badly disrupt an attack. Triggered Temporal Stasis Field traps are another nasty idea. Only a few secret locations in the fortress should be teleportable into. A fortress is only wothwhile if it makes the attacker fight on the defender's terms, so ways to channel attackers onto ground of the defenders' choosing is vital. Bars on magical access are absolutely necessary at this level - eg ethereal rock filling up the ethereal plane. Most of the fortress should be teleportable _out of_ but not _into_ - so no Dimensional Anchor fields except in the dungeon.

Allies & cohorts - up to you and the balance of your campaign; standard 3.5 rule would be a cohort 2 levels lower or whatever Leadership allows, either of same class or a complementary class. Personally for a high power game like yours I would use mostly regular NPC guards but high level, eg squads of NPC Fighter-20s with 25th level commanders; circles of Sorcerer-20s with Sorc-25 commander etc.

Query - what would you consider to be a minor threat to your PCs, such that 8-10 of them were roughly equal to 1 PC? I'd say that was a good level to put elite non-speedbump guards at. If your PCs are heavily min-maxed 40th level, probably around 25th-30th depending on how gear etc. Personally I wouldn't use squads of NPC above 20th though. A few random rolls of Epic monsters would be good; maybe packs of Zirrushi hounds with a BBn-25 handler?

Hey SHARK - seeing as how busy you are these days, will we ever see the Vallorean Empire in print?

Great Stuff!

Greetings!

Hey there! It's great to hear from you all! Hmmm...yes, indeed there is an Asian-influence to the group, though it, like many such character parties is somewhat diverse. Pogoda-like fortress, Wang-Liangs, 20-25th level soldiers, evil treants in the garden (Heh-heh!)...let's see, the defense ideas are cool, too. I'll write that up fast. Hmmm...random epic monsters? Yeah, I can certainly see a few of those. What else gang? More troop types, any suggestions for interesting treasures?

Oh, and yes, Vallorea is slowly coming together. It takes a lot of work, so we'll see my friends!

How about magical architectural details? Any interesting ideas for unusual personal chambers and such?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

With a 40th-level monk and a ECL 40 transmuter/far realms-type wizard, they should be able to produce and train a healthy supply of:

Tauric winged displacer beast/pseudonatural two-headed anthropomorphic octopus monk 12s. Allegedly, that's only CR 19.

Don't forget to teach them Improved Natural Attack for added fun.

SHARK said:

Pogoda-like fortress, Wang-Liangs, 20-25th level soldiers, evil treants in the garden (Heh-heh!) [...] How about magical architectural details? Any interesting ideas for unusual personal chambers and such?

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Perhaps the evil druid's personal abode is tower/treehouse -- composed of evil treants "holding hands". Once inside, the party finds out they're surrounded -- in all three dimensions -- by gargantuan, 21-HD enemies.