Help with building the ultimate mage's tower

I've had an idea for a while now... A whole floor as a maze, filled with animated chains and ropes... with several gates to other areas in the maze, making it hideously complex, within a small ammount of space.

Edit: By hideously complex, I mean impossible to do with euclidean geometry.
 
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad


I've done alot of these, and if I get time (and the thread is still active), I'll try to post more ideas later, however... one of my favorites was the use of a pet guardian... a greater basilisk... in a basement lair adjacent to the more sensitive areas of the wizards residence. This little (not so little) pet can see into the ethereal and astral preventing infiltration of the tower by those means (and its gaze turns ethereal intruders into ethereal stone). At least thats how it was handled in 2E. Not sure how 3E handles it.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
=============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
 

Great map making page

Just looked at your web site, Denis. I really enjoyed the map making page.

Thanksf or the idea!

Maldin said:
I've done alot of these, and if I get time (and the thread is still active), I'll try to post more ideas later, however... one of my favorites was the use of a pet guardian... a greater basilisk... in a basement lair adjacent to the more sensitive areas of the wizards residence. This little (not so little) pet can see into the ethereal and astral preventing infiltration of the tower by those means (and its gaze turns ethereal intruders into ethereal stone). At least thats how it was handled in 2E. Not sure how 3E handles it.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
=============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
 

Just a thought on the whole "Mage's Tower" trope. 20th level wizards surely have lots of enemies and rivals--but most of them are probably 17-23 level wizards/heroes/NPCs, too. From that point of view, a Wizard need only have two levels of defense in his tower: a little something (hidden doors, traps, a few minions, etc.) to keep the rabble out, and the no holds-barred KILL setting for his real rivals. A maze and a tesseract and a minotaur and minions in rope-trick shelters are great, but not if your adversaries can fly right past all of your defenses to the observatory on the roof and then sneak in to your inner sanctum from there.

So my advice--build the tower like two towers: defenses from above and from below with the inner sanctum in the middle. Make the power level of foes ramp up very steeply towards the wizard's library/prized possessions, and don't forget that some areas really will just be workshops/labs/fermenting vats, and don't need to be filled with enemies. Nothing is creepier than a room with nothing in it but dusty old equipment and the sound of a slow dripping of....something.
 

I think that is logical with one exception. I think a smart mage would expect a rival to either hire a group or come with several constructs and followers. I think if you go with just two levels of defense, you don't account for a group attacking.
 

I do think you are right that many of the rooms would be for research or storage. One of my favorites is a very large area or areas which hold plants, animals and monsters useful in the creation of magic items or for spell components. A giant aquarium with a giant squid in it is essential for ink, a chained troll for troll's blood, a giant for giant sweat, etc. Of course, 3.5e isn't as explicit about some of the ingredients, but I think it adds an interesting twist espcially if the giant decides to help the party.
 

What level is the party, and what level is the wizard?

If we are talk archmage here then I'd have the tower itself merely be a gate to an extraplanar space, ala Mord's Mansion.

Traps are killers; symbols behind curtains, etched in spell books, disintegration spells. Guardians of course litter the space from gargoyles to golems, maybe even a demon or two in "flesh-to-stoned".

False doors lead to planes, the ether, or teleport the character away, to the underdark (as far as possible underground), a tribe of giants, or even just to prision in the local town: a jail that is specially created for people who break into my tower!

All doors require passwords, or some key/symbol.

Of course, in taking on the tower information is key. The party should be able to buy, or discover some information about the tower. Others will have tried and failed. The local guild may have information, a local bard may have the tale of a rogue who died trying, a little visit to the temple of death mayallow a commune with the thief. Or maybe, his remains teleported to the local jail and his remains await the party in the graveyard... a raise dead or ressurection would provide a party member with an axe to grind. Who built the tower? Local help, planar help? All may have a little information to share...

Whatever, this is a deadly encounter.

Of course, it could just be a rouse as well. This is not the real tower. The Wizard simply enters and leaves from this place and teleports to his real tower, and this is nothing but a death trap.... hehehe....
 
Last edited:

Great ideas! Thanks!

As for the level, it is high. The mage is an arch mage of at least 18th level. The party is 16th level right now. It will be a while before they encounter the tower, so they should be ready for it. Maybe... :)
 

vstorm said:
Just looked at your web site, Denis. I really enjoyed the map making page.

Thanksf or the idea!

Thanks vstorm! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It did stir up a bit of controversy on another list for mapmaking-software users. ;-)

Denis aka "Maldin"
==============================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
 

Remove ads

Top