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Exotic Siege Weaponry
- Thread starter Saagael
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Squire James
Explorer
How about a horde of boulders chucking titans?
On a slightly more serious note, perhaps it is more the ammo that is exotic than the actual siege weapon. My favorite is catapults launching minions that explode upon death!
On a slightly more serious note, perhaps it is more the ammo that is exotic than the actual siege weapon. My favorite is catapults launching minions that explode upon death!
DracoSuave
First Post
Well... for exotic siege weaponry...
You either have to go mechanical or magical to get more exotic.
Magical is easy. 'It's like a room-sized wand of 'magic missiles' that is used as a battering ram once it's time to breach.'
Mechanical is also easy. All the work has been done for you... just look at the history of large scale weaponry since the trebuchet. You'll notice a catch: at a certain point, castles became obsolete, and with them siege weaponry. Go too far and you go into mechanized tanks. Which might actually qualifiy for your campaign.
You either have to go mechanical or magical to get more exotic.
Magical is easy. 'It's like a room-sized wand of 'magic missiles' that is used as a battering ram once it's time to breach.'
Mechanical is also easy. All the work has been done for you... just look at the history of large scale weaponry since the trebuchet. You'll notice a catch: at a certain point, castles became obsolete, and with them siege weaponry. Go too far and you go into mechanized tanks. Which might actually qualifiy for your campaign.
Sappers were an interesting of weakening and breaching fortifications. Perhaps something along the lines of an astral variant of the purple worm?
Also, it gets trickier when you add in planar interactions. If you really want to take out a city with strong walls in the planar realm, why not just open a gate to the elemental plane of fire above it and fill it with living fire? (add in other elemental planes for different flavors of fun)
Trojan horses seem more feasible, too. That purse the ambassador hands the calpih doesn't holds astral diamonds, just a demiplane full of legions of soldiers waiting to assault the city from within.
I'm really just talking about subverting physical defenses, though. In a realm where many of the really dangerous things can teleport or fly, castle walls are mainly symbolic-it's the magical defenses that you really want to thwart.
Also, it gets trickier when you add in planar interactions. If you really want to take out a city with strong walls in the planar realm, why not just open a gate to the elemental plane of fire above it and fill it with living fire? (add in other elemental planes for different flavors of fun)
Trojan horses seem more feasible, too. That purse the ambassador hands the calpih doesn't holds astral diamonds, just a demiplane full of legions of soldiers waiting to assault the city from within.
I'm really just talking about subverting physical defenses, though. In a realm where many of the really dangerous things can teleport or fly, castle walls are mainly symbolic-it's the magical defenses that you really want to thwart.
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Dr_Ruminahui
First Post
MV: Threats to Nentir Vale has the Arkhosian Siege Tower in it - basically, a cross between a siege tower and a golem with a flame thrower. Haven't used one yet, but will be shortly - will have to tweak the rules, though, as it doesn't actually have a means of disgorging troops onto castle walls, instead being more of a base for archers.
Its only lower-mid paragon in level, so it may be a bit low for what you want... though looking at its stat block may provide some inspiration.
Its only lower-mid paragon in level, so it may be a bit low for what you want... though looking at its stat block may provide some inspiration.
Saagael
First Post
This is perfect! I can turn it into a standard monster from an elite, bump up damage, and its good to go as a level 20 threat. I'll likely add in an archer volley attack, and have the tower explode rather than collapse when destroyed, but that's minor stuff.
Barastrondo
First Post
This page of Girl Genius seems relevant.
Dr_Ruminahui
First Post
Glad to help (the arrow volley rule sounds like a good idea, and exploding sounds much more epic - and gives me the idea of having mine fall oversideways into each other for a much more dynamic game... though, I still think having them as elites sounds about right, even at epic) - and look forward to hearing how it goes.
Incidentally, Matt James has done the Soldiers of Fortune PDF available for about $10 at Kobold Games, and its got a bunch of interesting stuff in it for military style games. Its mostly heroic tier, and doesn't have much about siege warfare, but its not expensive and has some good tips for military campaigns that are good for all tiers. That, and it does have some rules for siege weaponry that might be handy.
Incidentally, Matt James has done the Soldiers of Fortune PDF available for about $10 at Kobold Games, and its got a bunch of interesting stuff in it for military style games. Its mostly heroic tier, and doesn't have much about siege warfare, but its not expensive and has some good tips for military campaigns that are good for all tiers. That, and it does have some rules for siege weaponry that might be handy.
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Peraion Graufalke
First Post
I was about to suggest armored zeppelins with lightning guns (crewed by storm sorcerers), but that's even weirder.
How about enchanted projectiles that teleport a certain volume of matter several yards away on impact? Or instead of teleporting, they transmute stone to mud or metal to wood.
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