I want to build a city. a huge metropolis port city, but relatively poor, with several flying castles above it where the rich/noble live. what's the best way to build a flying island with buildings on it? my players are gonna try to figure out what's keeping them up, and if it's possible to bring them down.
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D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 flying castle.
- Thread starter heymejack
- Start date
thewallshadow
First Post
The simpliest explanation would be to have it be linked the the plane of air something similar to Sharn in eberron.
HoboGod
First Post
Yeah, doing this with a preexisting spell would be a hellish ordeal. Even if you make a custom levitate spell that could lift 10x more, it'd probably be an 8th level spell and still require a group of 20th level wizards to lift something as heavy as a castle. Gods, feys, elementals, and outsiders are the only ones who'd probably be able to pull off something like what you're trying to accomplish.
But, just for the sake of trying, lets try to lift your castle like a human! First, we'll need that levitate spell I was talking about. Let's call it Greater Levitate, it works the same as Levitate, but instead may lift 1000 lbs/level. A brilliant inventor has created a special device to pull power from every wizard in the castle. With this device, the most powerful wizard has an effective caster level equal to the sum of all the caster levels in the castle, but takes a spell slot (at the highest level) from each person when this super powerful spell is cast. Let's say the castle weighs 100 tons and the average caster level of your typical mediocre wizard is 3, each castle would require about 60 mediocre wizards and one truly powerful wizard. Not an impossible task for a rich aristocrat to persuade wizards to live in luxury atop a floating castle. Free living expenses in an eccentric surrounding, probably filled with rare artifacts and extensive libraries, what wizard would turn down an offer like that?
But, just for the sake of trying, lets try to lift your castle like a human! First, we'll need that levitate spell I was talking about. Let's call it Greater Levitate, it works the same as Levitate, but instead may lift 1000 lbs/level. A brilliant inventor has created a special device to pull power from every wizard in the castle. With this device, the most powerful wizard has an effective caster level equal to the sum of all the caster levels in the castle, but takes a spell slot (at the highest level) from each person when this super powerful spell is cast. Let's say the castle weighs 100 tons and the average caster level of your typical mediocre wizard is 3, each castle would require about 60 mediocre wizards and one truly powerful wizard. Not an impossible task for a rich aristocrat to persuade wizards to live in luxury atop a floating castle. Free living expenses in an eccentric surrounding, probably filled with rare artifacts and extensive libraries, what wizard would turn down an offer like that?
Persiflage
First Post
A few ideas, expanding on the linked-to-Plane-of-Air theme from thewallshadow:
1) Perhaps the island is held up by 1001 Huge Air Elementals, bound to service for 1,000 years (or more, or less) by...
...a powerful caster
...an ancient compact or treaty that ended a war between the Material Plane and the Plane of Air
...a powerful elemental being, see later
The elementals can't be simply dismissed or slain, because...
2) The main bulk of the island is actually in the Plane of Air, and is encapsulated in a planar bubble which makes it visible from the Prime Material plane: like a hole in a wall allowing you to see into a room. Depending on how hard you want to make this, it could (and probably should) be impossible to cross the bubble's boundary from the Prime Material, whether by flying to the base of the island or digging from its surface: it's just impervious to most forms of tampering. *[1]
3) Perhaps an Antimagic Field can temporarily suppress the boundary, allowing a character to cross... but when they do, they find themselves in a random point in the Plane of Air, quite possibly plummetting towards one of the few chunks of solid matter with local gravity.
4) The island and immediate environs are co-terminous with the Plane of Air instead of the Ethereal Plane. This has the side-effect that creatures who are ethereal before arrival can't approach the island any closer than whatever effect radius you want. Any spell or effect that would normally render a character ethereal when cast on the island instead shunts them to the island's location on the Plane of Air, where they see something entirely different...
5) On the Plane of Air, the island is the domain of a powerful elemental entity such as the Sultan of the Djinn or somesuch. (Yes, that's right, it's a Djinn Palace
) He's aware of the island's use in the Prime Material and...
...doesn't care, or;
...is actively sponsoring its use in the Prime for whatever reason, or;
...hates the fact with a passion;
And so...
...he would be MOST upset if the party somehow unbound the elementals moving his palace around, or;
...he doesn't care what they do but is annoyed at having the party on his plane and gives them 48 hours to sort it out and get lost again, "or else", or;
...he desperately wants to be free of the situation and gives the party a quest to find the MacGuffin that will permit him to finally pull the whole thing fully into the Plane of Air where it belongs
6) Should the party succeed in undoing the spell or agreement that keeps the elementals in place, the island falls/is banished to the Plane of Air: if the former, this has little or no effect on its existence in the Plane of Air, but brings it crashing to the ground on the Prime Material. This could be achieved by...
...getting rid of all the Prime Material entities on the island (by convincing them or tricking them to leave, or just stabbing them all in the face) so the ancient agreement binding the elementals to service ("for howsoever long shall a single mortal soul still abide upon its surface") will be fulfilled and the elementals just bugger off and leave the island to fall
...finding the Crystal Heart of Air. This is a MacGuffin - er, sorry, "minor artefact" - used in the weaving of the binding spell, which now sits in the Unlikely Location of Doom, guarded by Eldrtich Creatures of Not-Quite-Adequate Power. Destroy it or give it to the Ruler of the Djinn Palace to end the spell.
...Killing all the elementals: extremely freakin' unlikely, as a) if it were that easy, someone would have done it, b) only half of them are required to hold the island up, and a slain elemental is replaced 1d4 hours later and c) it's not remotely cool enough
...smashing the control rods at various locations on the island (or other plot-dictated Site of Special Arcane Interest), which can only be achieved by casting 20 levels of spells with the [Earth] descriptor at each one. The control rods probably regenerate (after an amount of time you choose that's inversely proportional to the level of the party: that's just how these things tend to work, it's like a law or something), making it a race against time to finish the job.
7) The party realise on a DC 1 Knowledge (Pretty-Much-Anything) check that 310,000,000 tons of rock falling from thousands of feet up in the sky might just possibly have a tiny effect on the local ecology*[2] and decide that banishing it to the Plane of Air is a much better idea: at which point, see above.
Anyway, help yourself: I hope some of it's useful
***
*[1] A nice special effect, rather than just "an invisible wall of force", might be that as a creature approaches the encapsulated boundary, they are blown back by increasingly ferocious winds: extremely strong or massive characters might be able to get closer before being hurled away by the tempest, but still nowhere near crossing the actual planar interface. The howling winds are transdimensional, affecting even incorporeal creatures. This effect could give the party clues:
a) They can see birds attempting to fly to the base of the island: they get within a certain distance and then are suddenly thrown backwards as though in the teeth of a terrible gale, although the party can't sense any wind
b) If they view the island with see invisible or similar spells or effects, they can detect small, vaguely bird-like forms landing on and taking off from the base of the island, which seem to appear out of nowhere as they arrive (they appear from "out of shot": a part of the Plane of Air outside the bubble) and disappear just as suddenly when they get a short distance from the island.
*[2] Such as "scything the area clean of every living thing in a 50-mile radius", for instance.
1) Perhaps the island is held up by 1001 Huge Air Elementals, bound to service for 1,000 years (or more, or less) by...
...a powerful caster
...an ancient compact or treaty that ended a war between the Material Plane and the Plane of Air
...a powerful elemental being, see later
The elementals can't be simply dismissed or slain, because...
2) The main bulk of the island is actually in the Plane of Air, and is encapsulated in a planar bubble which makes it visible from the Prime Material plane: like a hole in a wall allowing you to see into a room. Depending on how hard you want to make this, it could (and probably should) be impossible to cross the bubble's boundary from the Prime Material, whether by flying to the base of the island or digging from its surface: it's just impervious to most forms of tampering. *[1]
3) Perhaps an Antimagic Field can temporarily suppress the boundary, allowing a character to cross... but when they do, they find themselves in a random point in the Plane of Air, quite possibly plummetting towards one of the few chunks of solid matter with local gravity.
4) The island and immediate environs are co-terminous with the Plane of Air instead of the Ethereal Plane. This has the side-effect that creatures who are ethereal before arrival can't approach the island any closer than whatever effect radius you want. Any spell or effect that would normally render a character ethereal when cast on the island instead shunts them to the island's location on the Plane of Air, where they see something entirely different...
5) On the Plane of Air, the island is the domain of a powerful elemental entity such as the Sultan of the Djinn or somesuch. (Yes, that's right, it's a Djinn Palace
) He's aware of the island's use in the Prime Material and......doesn't care, or;
...is actively sponsoring its use in the Prime for whatever reason, or;
...hates the fact with a passion;
And so...
...he would be MOST upset if the party somehow unbound the elementals moving his palace around, or;
...he doesn't care what they do but is annoyed at having the party on his plane and gives them 48 hours to sort it out and get lost again, "or else", or;
...he desperately wants to be free of the situation and gives the party a quest to find the MacGuffin that will permit him to finally pull the whole thing fully into the Plane of Air where it belongs
6) Should the party succeed in undoing the spell or agreement that keeps the elementals in place, the island falls/is banished to the Plane of Air: if the former, this has little or no effect on its existence in the Plane of Air, but brings it crashing to the ground on the Prime Material. This could be achieved by...
...getting rid of all the Prime Material entities on the island (by convincing them or tricking them to leave, or just stabbing them all in the face) so the ancient agreement binding the elementals to service ("for howsoever long shall a single mortal soul still abide upon its surface") will be fulfilled and the elementals just bugger off and leave the island to fall
...finding the Crystal Heart of Air. This is a MacGuffin - er, sorry, "minor artefact" - used in the weaving of the binding spell, which now sits in the Unlikely Location of Doom, guarded by Eldrtich Creatures of Not-Quite-Adequate Power. Destroy it or give it to the Ruler of the Djinn Palace to end the spell.
...Killing all the elementals: extremely freakin' unlikely, as a) if it were that easy, someone would have done it, b) only half of them are required to hold the island up, and a slain elemental is replaced 1d4 hours later and c) it's not remotely cool enough
...smashing the control rods at various locations on the island (or other plot-dictated Site of Special Arcane Interest), which can only be achieved by casting 20 levels of spells with the [Earth] descriptor at each one. The control rods probably regenerate (after an amount of time you choose that's inversely proportional to the level of the party: that's just how these things tend to work, it's like a law or something), making it a race against time to finish the job.
7) The party realise on a DC 1 Knowledge (Pretty-Much-Anything) check that 310,000,000 tons of rock falling from thousands of feet up in the sky might just possibly have a tiny effect on the local ecology*[2] and decide that banishing it to the Plane of Air is a much better idea: at which point, see above.
Anyway, help yourself: I hope some of it's useful
***
*[1] A nice special effect, rather than just "an invisible wall of force", might be that as a creature approaches the encapsulated boundary, they are blown back by increasingly ferocious winds: extremely strong or massive characters might be able to get closer before being hurled away by the tempest, but still nowhere near crossing the actual planar interface. The howling winds are transdimensional, affecting even incorporeal creatures. This effect could give the party clues:
a) They can see birds attempting to fly to the base of the island: they get within a certain distance and then are suddenly thrown backwards as though in the teeth of a terrible gale, although the party can't sense any wind
b) If they view the island with see invisible or similar spells or effects, they can detect small, vaguely bird-like forms landing on and taking off from the base of the island, which seem to appear out of nowhere as they arrive (they appear from "out of shot": a part of the Plane of Air outside the bubble) and disappear just as suddenly when they get a short distance from the island.
*[2] Such as "scything the area clean of every living thing in a 50-mile radius", for instance.
Physiker
First Post
The castles could be build on 30 immovable rods.
How the material was brought up in the air is an other question, but I guess this could be done by some telekinesis spells.
I remember an artefact which was able to levitate a small city. It was in the Drow War Book IIRC.
How the material was brought up in the air is an other question, but I guess this could be done by some telekinesis spells.
I remember an artefact which was able to levitate a small city. It was in the Drow War Book IIRC.
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Theo R Cwithin
I cast "Baconstorm!"
- A powered up ritual version of "reverse gravity"... which also means there's an anit-grav field beneath the castles, possibly with elevators: wind the winch to pull the elevator down to earth, and it slowly unwinds, letting the elevator slowly fall upward to hovering castle.
- The castles aren't floating, but instead are hanging. They are suspended by (nearly?) unbreakable cables connected to something way up in/above the sky-- or perhaps connected to the sky itself.
- Helium. There are immense balloons holding the castle aloft, possibly there to supplement air elementals. Or maybe the elementals themselves are special "helium elementals" giving them special lifting capacity. Likely there would be great chains to anchor the castles in place, or they might float away in bad weather.
- Gargoyles. The entire underside of the castle is a seething mass of gargoyles fused to the rock, and cursed to forever flap their wings to keep the city aloft.
- The castles aren't floating, but instead are hanging. They are suspended by (nearly?) unbreakable cables connected to something way up in/above the sky-- or perhaps connected to the sky itself.
- Helium. There are immense balloons holding the castle aloft, possibly there to supplement air elementals. Or maybe the elementals themselves are special "helium elementals" giving them special lifting capacity. Likely there would be great chains to anchor the castles in place, or they might float away in bad weather.
- Gargoyles. The entire underside of the castle is a seething mass of gargoyles fused to the rock, and cursed to forever flap their wings to keep the city aloft.
If you want the actual spell to make it - Player's Guide to Faerun, an epic spell know as Proctiv's move mountain(page 137), cuts the top of a mountain off and flips it. Cool Nethrese magic funny when they all fell out of the sky when Mystral died So if not in Faerun just convert it to some Arch mages being hardcore.
So if not in Faerun just convert it to some Arch mages being hardcore.
IronWolf
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I would think there are a number of ways to accomplish this in a high fantasy setting. Do any of the Dragonlance books explain the flying citadels?
If it were my campaign I think I would lean towards the powerful artifact that is kept extremely well guarded somewhere within/under the city. Perhaps an artifact stolen or otherwise acquired from the plane of air. Or an archmage that managed to create some such artifact thousands of years ago with aide of some astronomical even that occurs one every thousand years.
Lots of other good suggestions in this thread as well.
If it were my campaign I think I would lean towards the powerful artifact that is kept extremely well guarded somewhere within/under the city. Perhaps an artifact stolen or otherwise acquired from the plane of air. Or an archmage that managed to create some such artifact thousands of years ago with aide of some astronomical even that occurs one every thousand years.
Lots of other good suggestions in this thread as well.
The enclaves of Nethril were made by the creation of mythallar, a minor artifact that required 10th or 11th level spells. Kraus of Nethril cast the only 12th level spell developed to steal the divine power of Mystryl. This threatens the weave itself, Mystryl sacrifices herself to isolate the weave. A few miniutes later Mystrl is reborn as Mystral and bans mortals from magic greater than 9th level. Epic spells are the only way to exceed this ban in Faerun.If you want the actual spell to make it - Player's Guide to Faerun, an epic spell know as Proctiv's move mountain(page 137), cuts the top of a mountain off and flips it. Cool Nethrese magic funny when they all fell out of the sky when Mystral died
By the act of a god, I think, because I never read how it is done in DL novel. Then again I stopped reading DL when they banished the Gods for the age of mortals.
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IronWolf
blank
Quite possible!
I did not recall the reason or if one had been noted. I did a quick google search and didn't turn up much, at least nothing that jumped out. Didn't know if it was explained in a source book outside the novels or not.
