How can I Guard my castle as a Wizard

[Winternight]

Hi,
how can a wizard (Necromancer w/o evo) guard his castle/lair.
He has a lyre of building, unlimted resources of stone and wood and that like. Exactly the amount of gold equivalent to his level (but some of it is in equipment already) .
He has a cleric folowwer of level3

What can he do
@ level9
@ level11
@ level14

 

[Pax]

Too many variables exist, to give a proper answer. And, too few portraits of dead US presidents for me to give sufficient NUMBERS of answers to cover most or all possible situations.

 

[Winternight]

Too many variables exist, to give a proper answer.

More Information:
@ level 9 he can spend about 10K gp.
He has a fortess in the hills about 1000 miles far from any sentient life.
He has +- 10 Zombies/Skelettons.
The DM allows any WotC, MonteCook Book, others he may forbidd. THe wizard has acces to one of the greatest library build ever (- so nearly every spell is there).
He don`t mind killing/surpessing people but the necromancer thinks they work better if asked nicely and get paid. (the old slavery-worker problem)
What else do you need to knowß?

He knows something about one enemy group:
a cleric/fighter, a paladin, a wizard, a rogue/sorcerer and a ranger (all are his level-2) They don`t know where he lives, but are searching for him.



The question about level 11 and 14 are just out of curiosity.
He still can`t make golems, which are worthless by the way.

 

[Norfleet]

Well, if you're guarding the castle as a wizard, you presumably guard the castle in the same way as any other guard: By patrolling the walls looking for intruders. Watching from a high tower works also. Being a wizard, you should focus on detection spells to enhance your ability to detect intruders attempting to approach the castle. True seeing is a good choice of spell.

If you mean DEFEND the castle as a wizard, you take up the role of counter-battery artillery, and destroy any enemy siege equipment being erected to fire at the castle. You may also be called upon to perform the above role of spotting invisible intruders. Dispatching magically transporting intruders, however, is a job for internal security people, as wizards don't do well in close-quarters combat like the sort you'd run into inside of a castle, unless you're willing to inflict a large amount of collateral damage to the castle itself, which I doubt.

If you're trying to BUILD a castle, and your expectations are to be attacked by small adventuring groups consisting of high and mid-level characters, rather than armies of mooks with a siege train, forget about castles, and go with a classic simple building. Since such people generally have means at their disposal to easily demolish any structure you can conceive of by means of magic, you're better off not tempting them to do so. A simple hut will suffice. With no normal people around for a thousand miles, siege is somewhat unlikely, and a high-level group will likely demolish anything you can make, messily.

 

[Quez The Lame]

At level 14 go for Guards and Wards, which is THE castle defense spell.

Also I would like to use some arcane locks in conjunction with a selection of trap spells to protect the more vital parts of the castle.
I would like to have information about where my enemies are crawling around, so be ready to have the right divination spells at hand.
Use illusions to cover important doors and pit traps.

Intruders should alway be afraid of traps, have to face locked door after locked door and so on...all nasty things to slow them down, giving you time to organize and refresh your defense around their actual position in your castle.

Your main problem ist the short duration of most spells in D&D. Since Permanency costs XP it would be wise to rely on metamagic feats like Extend Spell or (better) Persistent Spell.

Hope i could help
quez

 

[Darklone]

What I would do? Lesser Planar Binding all the way: invisible Osyluths with Ice wall rock. Hallow with Silence/Darkness. Glyphs at strategic places where your forces can't be approached without walking into the trap.

Permanent illusions of walls on every hidden door. Thin waterfalls on doors to notice invisible intruders. Lesser Planar Binding to have someone on the ethereal plane. Wraiths.

 

[Winternight]

Thank you both

guarding the castle as a wizard, you presumably guard the castle in the same way as any other guard: By patrolling the walls looking for intruders.

LOL thanx
Defending is the right term.
I (probably) have to defend it aggainst an (small) army of findish elves.

And an adenture group. I may be able to retard the clash aggainst the group but every two levels i advance they also advance one.

is a job for internal security people

That`s one of my questions also,
If the "internal security people" are just my zombies, neither the strike teams of the elves nor the adventure groups will be delayed for more than one round. I am not able to make better undeads or even golems.

collateral damage to the castle itself,

not as a necromance w/o evocation no collateral damage

BUILD a castle, and your expectations are to be attacked by small adventuring groups

The problem I have already built that castle I am searching for some ideas how to expand it, after getting my building society contract pay out.

At level 14 go for Guards and Wards, which is THE castle defense spell.

I have seen that already, the problem is the duration, even with extend spell or persitant spell I cant ward any place Any other good spells?
Do you have any suggestion for any possibilities how to ward my castle when I am off "adventuring"?

 

[Skinwalker]

Craft (trapmaking) and your Lyre of building should be a nice combo. If you have access to Fabricate, you could skip the annoyance of the Lyre's recharge time. Since Craft is an Int-based skill, it probably won't take many ranks in order to make it effective. The tricky part is to set triggers that your undead (and you) won't trip, but strangers will.

Even when you're away, your traps will be guarding the place. Even if the adventuring party gets past the traps unscathed, this should slow them down enough for you to muster your other defenses. I'd go for a combination of normal and magical traps

 

[Bozidar]

I've always felt that you shouldn't need to guard your castle. Just leave it really messy. You know, clothes laying around, bodies strewn about. Make signs letting everyone know that there's nothing of value inside, since you spent it building your castle. If needed, eat a lot of bad food and poop around the perimeter, to mark your territory of a sorts. Who's gonna want to approach a place like that?

You'll save money too, not having to hire guards or build magic traps.. just make the place a big dump!!

 

[paranoid]

The best option IMHO still is not to be seen (Monty Python, anyone?). Make extended use of Permanent Image, Mirage Arcana, or even better: Screen. Who would be interested in a boring hill / meadow / piece of desert? The second line of defense definitely would be traps like symbols and the like. And then of course, guards. Lots of them. Animate Dead, Create Undead, Planar Binding come to mind.

paranoid.