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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Loincloth of Armour" data-source="post: 3412676" data-attributes="member: 28201">In my campaigns places like castles and forts are allowed to get magic defenses at reduced costs.  After all, in a world with magic it’s as silly to build a fort without considering magic assault as it is to build a fort with only 3 out of 4 walls.So I include things like scry blockers and summon monster traps that activate upon unauthorized teleports and the like.  Basically, the castle designers have access to the PHB and its spells and have set out thaumaturgical defenses against common spell and spell caster tactics.For permanent structures I slightly bend the rules regarding the defensive spell’s abilities, while keeping to the spirit of the spell’s effects.Unfortunately, in defending against one specific part, I acknowledge I’ve created a problem, and wish to plug it.The idea is not to punish my players: if they can think of something new and cool, that’s fine.  But if I can think of the idea, then the mages/clerics responsible for assisting castle protection should have thought up defenses for it.The problem is my defenses against the “flying, invisible” or the “wild shaped into a bird” invader.  What I usually place over castles is something akin to a wall of greater dispel magic, shaped like a hemisphere with a base at the top of the castle wall and peaking above the central keep.  This is a basic security device, designed to inhibit (not necessarily just prevent), anyone from just flying over.  You cross over and there’s a good chance your invisibility, flight, or shape-shifting magic gets cancelled, dropping you down and letting people know you’re there.  It also has the added bonus of keeping down the instances of mages doing the whole, “Greater invisibility and fireballing the castle wall from 400+ feet away” situation.The problem is that with this set up, I know someone will take a bunch of boulders, cast shrink item on them, and then fly above the castle and drop them.  Boulders hit the dispel magic field, turn back to their real size, and crash down to cause damage.I have no problem with the flying overhead with boulders idea, I use air forces of mounted griffons and hippogriffs to deal with fliers, but I’m looking for a way to deal with the shrink item issue.  I’m thinking of a wide area mage hand effect, just above the dispel magic dome.  Anything non-living that weighs less than 5 pounds that is falling towards the castle get mage handed and flung outside the castle walls.  This won’t affect regular birds and such, and rain won’t be affected (although it might help against natural hail damage as a side affect).  Anyone have other (preferably low level magic) ideas on how to defend against the “shrink the boulders” concept?</blockquote>

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