Another solid article - Strongholds

[TerraDave]

Very good article.

It would have been better with a couple of maps of sample strongholds.

Actually it would be nice if they did what they use to back in the day and had some other stronghold/domain articles that elaborated on/complemented this one.

 

[Negflar2099]

Add me to the list of people that liked that article. It was exactly what I was looking for (although I agree that the bonuses for the rooms seem a little low). I can't wait. Even though my characters are 6th level I think I'm going to introduce this on the installment plan. Basically give them the beginnings of a lair and take out a little treasure from every parcel, then when they've paid off the full 25,000 gp they get to finally have the lair. Of course this only works if they are interested. I'll have to run this by them.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

That article shows what i want from DDI - short, concise articles i can read in a couple of minutes and are easy to expand. DDI has to stop trying to be two magazines and do what we need in todays day and age: small, flexible chunks of information.
Modifiers could be a little highter, but i'm already looking forward to "Strongholds II" or perhaps a campaign-world-specific article about Dark Sun strongholds etc.

 

[phoffman]

I agree

Excellent article! It's about time we had some stronghold rules, and these strike me as just the right balance of detail and abstraction. And I love the fact that we now have actual rules for making flying and extraplanar strongholds!

I'm a bit skeptical of Bigby's Construction Crew; after the initial investment, it lets you churn out new strongholds at 1/5 normal cost, which seems a bit much. I'd be inclined to reverse the market and component costs, so it's 5K to learn the ritual and 20K to cast it. But that's a minor detail.

I agree the prices should be switched. It should cost a lot more to use than to buy. If kingdoms could crank out Fortresses cheaper and faster than enchanted swords things start to get a little funky in my fantasy world.

 

[LightPhoenix]

You can still do that in your game, that is why we have DMs. I think the strength of the article is that it gives a flavourful but simple way of calculating the cost of a stronghold that does not require a calculator and autocad.
It also give good examples of flavourful rituals.

Which is all (IMO) fluff, which I'm pretty sure I said I liked.

That article shows what i want from DDI - short, concise articles i can read in a couple of minutes and are easy to expand. DDI has to stop trying to be two magazines and do what we need in todays day and age: small, flexible chunks of information.
Modifiers could be a little highter, but i'm already looking forward to "Strongholds II" or perhaps a campaign-world-specific article about Dark Sun strongholds etc.

I agree completely. My first thought after finishing it was "When are they going to print more?"

 

[I'm A Banana]

I also dislike skill DC's that vary based on the level of the person attempting the skill, and I find it odd that the article goes back and forth between set DC's and DC's that vary by level.

Yeah, that narmed me, too. Like some overzealous editor got halfway through changing it from one to the other and then got distracted.

I also find it a little wonky that a PC is expected to sink so much GP into construction when GP is such a closely moderated resource. I mean +3 armor, or a castle that gives me a non-staking +1 to some CHA checks on the off chance the DM happens to let me make some CHA checks in my castle?

That's kind of a problem with GP in 3e and 4e in general, though.

I do like the article, all told, and it gets me thinking about giving out strongholds "for free" to characters just as a lark. Not sure I would use the rules therein, but it's a useful story item to consider, and I like that there's an article for considering it.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Yeah, that narmed me, too. Like some overzealous editor got halfway through changing it from one to the other and then got distracted.

I also find it a little wonky that a PC is expected to sink so much GP into construction when GP is such a closely moderated resource. I mean +3 armor, or a castle that gives me a non-staking +1 to some CHA checks on the off chance the DM happens to let me make some CHA checks in my castle?

That's kind of a problem with GP in 3e and 4e in general, though.

I do like the article, all told, and it gets me thinking about giving out strongholds "for free" to characters just as a lark. Not sure I would use the rules therein, but it's a useful story item to consider, and I like that there's an article for considering it.

I'd have XP'd you for this one if I could have, but alas...

I agree with the 'gold moderation' being problematic in this case. It's also why I don't like the way stock ritual rules went and overhauled them for my campaign (they all burn surges, and sometimes gold, depending on the ritual).

 

[Shroomy]

I'd have XP'd you for this one if I could have, but alas...

I agree with the 'gold moderation' being problematic in this case. It's also why I don't like the way stock ritual rules went and overhauled them for my campaign (they all burn surges, and sometimes gold, depending on the ritual).

This is somewhat mitigated by the fact you can no longer purchase most magic items per RAW. Got to spend that money on something...

 

[Obergnom]

This is somewhat mitigated by the fact you can no longer purchase most magic items per RAW. Got to spend that money on something...

Yep. We use the rarity rules in our games and basically the effect is you start spending the money elsewhere once you are done "leveling" your 3 main items... mounts are currently rather popular as show of objects

 

[ppaladin123]

This is an interesting article. I am worried that that Robert Schwalb seems to be the only person writing for dragon anymore though!