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Message: <blockquote data-quote="negativtoo" data-source="post: 74595" data-attributes="member: 1918">hmmmm, some points in this discussion grab my attentiona) A castle/stationary defense has more uses than to defend against major (army/invasion scale ) assaults. Even if it does not keep the Evil Magical Horde at bay for more than  few days/hours, it serves rather well as a base for protecting the surrounding country, defending against smaller incursions, raids and providing shelter from beasts, lesser monsters as well as a rallying point for defenders.  Not every attacker has access to powerful magic - nor should he. Also fortresses are impressive demonstartions of power (keep cowing the unwashed masses ), are rarely disloyal, and can be defended with less-skilled soldiers instead of a highly mobile, elite, logistically nightmarish magical commandos. b) Second, assuming that an attacking army employed a variety of fabricated siege engines ( hmm, I do (mistakenly) assume a certain degree of mechanical knowledge on part of the wizard - for whatever reasons he has acquired it ), the same option is available to the defenders. Also, the attacking army has to camp/deploy out in the open , making to a certain degree much more vulnerable . Bad weather usually plays into the hands of the defenders, especially if magical controlled, and will certainly play havoc with the logistics of the attackers. Also, eliminating opposing spellcasters will become a high priority for  both sides. As has already been pointed out, powerful spellcasters require lots of time to "replace", barring ressurection and like magics ( and even these carry a heavy price ) - therefore these highly trained, irreplacable casters will be loath to place themselves into harms way- and even then a definite part of their arsenal would be devoted to self preservation, not offensive destruction. Even if their general/king/whatever will risk their death, they temselves might feel different about being "heroically" sacrificed.c)  The Human factor - imagine a king/depot/general who has to rely heavily on powerful individuals (e.g. war wizards) to protect his realm - power these people can wield at a moments notice, killing dozens (maybe the king himself ), charming their way into power and influence, holding the population at their (benevolent ?) mercy. Paranoia anyone ? IMHO, wizards, sorcerers and other spellusers would try to keep out of the way of such "suspicious" rulers, and even avoid creating them through blatant use of power. The same holds true for common folks - would you trust someone in real life hefting a Machine Gun ( comparison for destructive powers sake ) calmly walking down main street, shopping at the local store ? Or would you be slightly nervous as to the individual's trustworthiness, sensibility and restraint, not to say ethics ? If i was a medieval farmer/merchant/craftsman, i would feel  apprehensive.And why would any sensible wizard actually want to run a country, except to prevent prosecution of himself and his kindred ? Besides it being a heavy workload ( and some paranoid moments regarding his fellow wizards ), what does he get out of it, that he (assuming he is NOT the archetypical megalomanic archmage ) could not get another way ? And if he actually ran the country - how would the population like it ? And would he actually have the skill to do so efficiently ? Influential, but secret cabals of wizard are an option, but not failsafe....But no doubt, such an kingdom/realm would make a terrific adversary..... But never underestimate the power of the basest human emotons, hatred, envy, insecurity and fear..... even in the good and presumably "just". Oh, and lets not forget greed and lust....Also, wizards may have other goals (even ethics ) in life than to blast opposing armes and fortresses to smithereens..... Lets not confuse high intellgence and a gift for magic  with bloodlust, megalomania or a zest for wargaming.d) As for established High Magic creations ( even/especially  those by players ) - as is most often the case, PCs tend to be on of the "main forces of change" in a campaign, but  there usually are ( or should be for an interesting world ) many other powerful groups, who might either covet such creations, or plan to destroy/oppose them as "abominations/ herersies/ unnatural". Repeated (and intricate, planful and/or determined ) assault/takeover attempts on such creations might be repulsed, but the possible defense may become annoying, too demanding or infeasible. PCs, and other NPCs will always face aspiring contenders.e) High magic campaigns rely heavily on the "power for free" aspect of magic - anyone skilled (high level ) enough, can effectively build armies of powered golems, automatons, elementals hordes etc., which cost littlöe or nothing to maintain, employ  or store. Then again, no resource is ever truly for free and/or limitless - probably the "natural order" has some defensive mechanism against magical overload, intense magical concentrations or similar occurences - or some dire events are sheduled to happen if too much magic is cast in too small an area in too short a time..... Even the gods might care or feel insulted about upstart wizards and uncontrolled high magic.</blockquote>

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