Destroy a City Contest: Taking Submissions

[strongbow]

Assume you have four 17th level characters, with only 2 pure spellcasters (cleric, druid, sorceror, wizard). Here are the rules:
1)You have recommended character wealth for your level (340,000 gp). Your two spellcasters may craft up to 1/2 of their character wealth into items without losing xp.
2) Destroy a City of various sizes: population 10,000, 25,000, and 100,000 respectively. If you only want to destroy one size, that is fine, but destroying a larger city may require different tactics. As a reference, Greyhawk proper is 69,500, but certainly has more than normal high level NPCs.
3) Assume the populace/government is hostile to you.
4) Submissions are in two categories: A) PH, DMG, MM only B) All WOTC material only. All WOTC errata and faq apply, and use 3.5 edition rules.
5) You may assume average rolls for NPCs, using the guidelines on pp 136-141. Most of the details are left to your imagination.
6) For a variety of challenge, you may destroy a city A) underground B) aboveground C) undersea but for the most part assume standard aboveground.
7) Destroying a City is good; living to tell the tale afterward is better. If possible, destroy the city in such a way as to place blame on someone else, or simply to not get caught.
8) When they certainly don't have to, I hope that this thread will get enough submissions that the moderators may elect to serve as judges after two weeks or when interest dies down.
9) It is very helpful to read the 3.5 DMG pp 136-142. Be creative. Raw destruction, sabotage, the method does not so much matter as the end.
10) You may have your PCs be evil, or good destroying an evil city, or good destroying an evil city without killing any innocents (really tough), or neutral. It really doesn't matter.
11) Destroying the City is a bit subjective. Whether my fire, flood, earthquakes, wind, hurricanes, starvation, once again the method is open to the imagination. You must actually destroy the city (assume that you can't take over for the current regime for some reason). Preferably, the majority of the city's buildings will be turned into rubble or somehow rendered useless.
12) Look beyond the text here. The blanks of what the city looks like, its racial composition, etc. is for you to determine. These are just guidelines.

 

[Gaiden]

Where is this city?

 

[drunkmoogle]

1) Use divination to find Tarrasque.
2) Don't wake it up.
3) DON'T WAKE IT UP!
4) Dominate Monster until it works. Given that you'll have +100 tries due to character wealth (completely dedicated to puchasing Dominate Monster scrolls, it's almost given that you'll penetrate SR and it'll fail it's save.
5) Beef it up with some Persistant Spells if you wish.
5) Go to town. (pun intended)

OR...
1) Elect Bush. >rimshot<

/dodges rocks, flames
//sarcasm, not to be taken seriously

 

[Votan]

Assume you have four 17th level characters, with only 2 pure spellcasters (cleric, druid, sorceror, wizard). Here are the rules:
1)You have recommended character wealth for your level (340,000 gp). Your two spellcasters may craft up to 1/2 of their character wealth into items without losing xp.
2) Destroy a City of various sizes: population 10,000, 25,000, and 100,000 respectively. If you only want to destroy one size, that is fine, but destroying a larger city may require different tactics.
3) Assume the populace/government is hostile to you.
4) Submissions are in two categories: A) PH, DMG, MM only B) All WOTC material only. All WOTC errata and faq apply.
5) Have fun, and may the best method win.

If you are going after the population, I think create greater undead is the way to do. It really only takes the cleric.

Any killed by a wraith will rise as one in 1d4 rounds (say 15 seconds on average). Let a couple of wraiths loose in a crowded hall filled with commoners (use command undead, a 2nd level spell to get them to work with you). After a while there should be about 100 wraiths or so (a while defined as about 10 minutes). Only people with magic weapons can hit them. They can penetrate walls and defenses. It's hard to hide. High level characters can go down quickly to a lot of wraiths.

The daylight powerlessness means they will haunt the sewers by day and depopulate the city by night.

Better hope the city has lot's of high level clerics (limited number of turn attempts).

Oh, yes, and it is advisable for the 17th level party to employ teleport to escape from this plague as it will shortly be very unhappy to be here.

 

[strongbow]

I added some more information to the original post for clarification.

 

[Liquidsabre]

1) 17th level Druid casts Extend Spell-Control Winds: Tornado destroys everything in path.
2) Rinse and Repeat until nothing is left standing.
#) Tornadoes are natural hazards, no one to blame


This came up in a discussion not long ago. Druids are scary.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

1. Get yourself elected "Grand Poobah" of said city. Use whatever means you feel most comfortable with.
2. Open gate to any sufficiently powerful, evil diety.
3. In the name of the townspeople, offer the entire city: people, buildings, everything, to the god if he'll just let you go free. If he needs further encouragement, tell him you'll do it again with another city.

(Can anyone say Galactus?)

 

[Sejs]

Druids.

Control Winds.
Control Weather.
Earthquake.
Firestorm.


What city?

 

[Tonguez]

Druid Storm of Vegeance range 1000+ ft combine with some Earthquakes and maybe a Summoned Natures Ally too - then blame the Natures Ally!

 

[Kyamsil]

Group of characters:
17th level Cleric (Evil and Pestilence domains)
4th level Sorcerer/3th level Druid/Mystic Theurge 10
Any other two.

Cleric creates spectres with Create Greater Undead (caster level 18th due to evil domain) to the limit of his command undead ability. (Boosted as much as possible with feats and items). They are commanded to wait hidden under the ground outside the city.

Then the cleric casts Spread of Savagery (BoVD Clr9) on the most numerous concentration of people (most likely a marketplace bazaar or the town hall or some sort of public event with great crowds) while being invisible thanks to the theurge if needed (the spell has a long range after all, even with the 1 hour casting time) to sow confusion and make a diversion.

Then, the two of them with the spectres following along the ground infiltrate the city temple via Teleport/Dimension Door/Invisibility Sphere/Ethereal Jaunt... Most clerics would be tending to the wounded or trying to figure what is happening at the market/town hall or even engaged on a fight against enraged crowds. Cleric then defiles altar, casts desecrate spells as needed.

Then cleric protects them with Hide from Undead, heightened if possible to boost save DC, theurge casts Ectoplasmic Enhancement (BoVD Sor/Wiz6) to boost the spectres, and they let them loose along the people that will likely be seeking protection from the madness inside the temple doors. This will mean that as most people would have less than 2 levels (mostly they will be commoners and experts of low level), the spectres will kill them in a single round and multiply their numbers at a high rate. The theurge continues to cast Ectoplasmic Enhancement repeatedly at newly created spectres (in as high numbers as possible 14 spectres per spell if possible)

The two characters proceed to flee the site before a lot of angry spectres want to attack them after the cleric gives orders to the spectres of waiting for more victims on the temple and sending their spawn to the site of the Spread of Savagery spell with orders of creating "moooore" spawns (I have just pictured a host of spectres with the face of Smith from Matrix Revolutions ) .

They then go to the poor district or the part of town with the older buildings, most of them will be made of wood, so they both cast some Firestorms and we have a fire spreading through the poor part of town.

Cleric animates as many of the victims of the conflagration as possible with Animate Dead as zombies 4x18=72HD of zombies, 36 zombies that do not need to be commanded. The theurge can also contribute with Animate Dead spells with 4x14=56 HD more, 28 zombies for a total of 64. They are bolstered in groups of the maximum the cleric can affect to prevent easy turnings and sent also to the site of the Spread of Savagery spell.

Then, the theurge casts Control Winds (downdraft version) with Strong winds, to spread the fires caused in the buildings by the Firestorms outward.

Add some plague spreading spells from the cleric: Plague or Rats, Scourge, Otyugh Swarm, Pestilence... and the city is doomed. As a final touch, the cleric can cast again Spread of Savagery on the firefighting populace.

Between the zombies, the spectres multiplying at leisure, the infighting on the populace, and the fires spreading all around town, lots of diseases spreading among the citizens... you can count the city as destroyed.