Enchanted Castles!

[Jezrael]

Far Madding, Wells, and the Vallorean Empire

I don't know much about your campaign world SHARK, but it seems that a canny enemy of the Vallorean Empire would put their main base of operations in a (relatively) small magic dead zone...and field armies away from the zone getting full benefit of magically empowered combatants while reducing the chance of a)magically emnpowered sneak attacks on the base b) ambitious wizards and sorcerers from blasting each other and the leaders of that enemy.

I was thinking specifically of Far Madding in the Wheel of Time series; there are ter'angreal in that city that disrupt channeling unless the channeler has access to a rare ter'angreal called a Well that stores magical energy (in this case saidin or saidar). This concept could be extrapolated further using D&D magic to give players in charge of a magically powerful army in any campaign setting a good challenge, esp. if enemy wizards found the secret of well-type magical items while denying them to the enemy.

Just a rambling thought I had.

 

[mmadsen]

When I think "enchanted castle", I think "fairy tale". Doesn't anyone else fill their enchanted castles with animated candelabras and teapots?

 

[mmadsen]

The degree to which wizardry can effect the medieval battlefield is incredible.

The degree to which wizardry can affect everything is incredible -- incredible in multiple senses. If you don't reign in D&D magic a bit, it's hard to imagine what it might lead to, and it's hard to build a plausible world. After all, any wizards in a D&D world would know the magical system far better than a few of us reading the Players Handbook and discussing it here, and look how many world-changing ideas we can implement by the rules.

 

[Speaks With Stone]

Wow. Somebody read the Castles & Ruins book. And I thought nobody cared.

Seriously, I think it's very reasonable for lots of these castles to be built and destroyed.

I think its reasonable for lots of these magic powered armies to fight and the ramifications to spill out all over the campaign world.

The world should not be stagnant. People should make mistakes. Technology and magic should increase at times and be knocked back at times.

I recently spent a lot of time working out the impact of magic on a Renaissance-esque period with perpetual motion machines and so forth. It makes for a fun excercise and keeps you thinking.

Like mmadsen said, we are just kicking around ideas and anything that could be done, either has been done or will be done by someone. Knowing these ramifications can allow you to expand on your world and let it change.