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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 2179719" data-attributes="member: 9254">First off, the campaign climax is never going to be "easy" to stat out.  Not going to happen.  Especially when it's a giant fortress.  But here's what help I can provide:1000 troops:  Assume 100 are warrior3 cooks, stablehands, and other scut workers.  Leather armor and shortswords all.  Bulk are grunts consisting of 30x 20-man squads consisting of 16x Warrior 4-6,  3x Sargeants W9 1x officer F7.  (Yes, I made sargeants tougher than officers.  Deal)  Leather or chain shirt, shortsword, 6x halfspear,  and either Lg. Metal shield or shortbow depending on task. Officers and seargents have potions CLW and Most have a minor magic item or two so give half +1 AC, a quarter +1 to hit & damage, and a quarter +2 to saves. 10x 20-man Heavy infantry (16x Warrior 8-10, 3x Seargent W12, 1 Officer F11.  All gear masterwork.  Half-plate, shortsword, 6x halfspear, longspear, and Lg. Metal shield or longbow.  Most troops have a minor magic item or two so give half +1 AC, a quarter +1 to hit & damage, and a quarter +2 to saves.  All should carry a potion or two of CMW.  Officers & sargeants have +1 armor and +1 weapons, officers have potions of heroism, sargeants have oil of GMW+3)5x 20-man cavalry, identical to heavy infantry but have chainmail barded hvy warhorses and Lance instead of longspear. The fortress should be constructed with magic in mind.  Walls are multi-layer.  3' of stone, 1" of lead, 1' of wood, 5' of sand, 3' of stone, 1' of air, 3" of lead, 2' of stone, 1' of water, 2' of stone, 1' of air and 3' of stone.   Shutters are heavy wood and cored with lead.  Most divinations and passwall fail due to the lead. Break through the wood and wach the sand pour out, mostly filling the hole.  Get past that and prepare to drown in the water. Security is tight and each unit is assigned to use & guard a particular gate (meaning not just emulate a generic Zhent but must be a *specific* Zhent).  Passwords change daily and vary between grunts, sargeants, and officers.  The inner gate has a banner with a permanenty enscribed Symbol of Stunning with a password.  This banner also changes daily and the password is not stated aloud.  Those passing the symbol must describe it to the guards to ensure they are looking at it.  Excluding the stables, mess hall, and barracks, the inner keep has an additional series of defenses.  Walls consist of 4' stone, 2" lead, 3' sand, 1' of wood, 2" of lead, 2' of stone.   Access is limited to a handful of gates.    These are barbican-type gates with outer gates, a hallway with murder holes in ceiling and inner gates.  During normal circumstances the main gates are not closed but a portcullis with a "man-trap" turnstile is in place at each gate.    Within the hallway, between the gates, there is a magic item that creates an antimagic field. Any changes and the turnstiles are locked, the main gates closed, and an assortment of acid, alchemist fire, and holy water poured through the murder holes.   Many sections of the innner keep are protected by Hallow with a Dispel Magic effect (each and every use of magic is automatically countered.  Yay!).  Areas where magic is needed may have a Screen effect or other anti-divination.  When intrusions are suspected, some hallways have small steps and pipes that add water 1" deep for stretches of 50' or more.  The splashing acts as an alarm and the water can be tracked across the sandstone floors for quite some time and distance.</blockquote>

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