Shut it down! [Problem Solving]

[Jdvn1]

... Wait. Are we trying to give you plan to take over a castle? Are there details?

 

[The_Universe]

... Wait. Are we trying to give you plan to take over a castle? Are there details?

No. I just enjoy going over these types of hypotheticals, and I think other gamers find them useful - after all, while you may never have to take out *this* tower for *this* reason, it is useful to have a couple of plans that you're reasonably certain would work in a similar situation. I like making plans, and I find it helps to have a couple of other minds to give ideas.

It also may be tangentally related to a game I'm running, but I probably just put this sentence in my post to make my players paranoid.

 

[The_Universe]

Obviously the tower is not totally impregnable. Work out exactly what it is that defends the tower. Do NOT work out a way of getting in - let the players do that.

Make a primary and secondary objective. The primary objective is to get to the heart of the tower and take it out. The heart itself is probably soft and squishy. Take it out, then the explosives can do their work. Of course the heroes then have to escape before it blows - but with something like teleport, that's not really an issue unless you do something like suppress all magic within the tower (that might, however, be a secondary effect of destroying the heart?).

The secondary objective might be to kill everyone in the tower and take it for your own forces/bend the heart to your own will. Then you have the tower for yourself.

Now you just need to map the place out, and you've got a nice assault scenario.

Imagine for a moment not that you are the DM - but that you *are* the players. My original question was how would *you* do it?

You don't know how the tower gets its energy, so you'll probably have to depend on effects that - though temporary - are almost always effective. Stick with reliable.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Just to be argumentative, the mages and the tower could all succeed at the dispel check, making my attack moot. I know it's not statistically likely that everything/everyone will succeed....but it's hardly the most reliable plan. Is there a way to do something similar that would automatically suppress the area's (and the people's within the area) magical powers?

But as an area of effect and odds may work, same could be said of a battering ram 50+ charges on the head, by the time it does break through, could be very little magic left. I do think there are other spells that could be used the same way, summon swarm becomes a bug bomb, stinking cloud a gas attack, mass suggestion could be used, reverse gravity, cloud kill, desecrate could be very useful.

Or a combination, most of these attacks are not against single creature mut area of effects and can cause some strange results.

 

[Jdvn1]

Hm, if this battle has been going on for such a long time... Spellcraft the barrier. Create an opposite spell.

 

[Saeviomagy]

You don't know how the tower gets its energy, so you'll probably have to depend on effects that - though temporary - are almost always effective. Stick with reliable.

Start with legend lore on the tower - you can see it from outside the city, so the spell takes a mere 1d4x10 minutes. I'd expect things like
"the only way in is..."
"only wizards and their advisors may enter"
"there's a password"
"the magical defenses of the tower are fuelled by"
"the one weakness of the tower is..."
"they say that the attackers have secret agents who are working to bring down the tower"

Run through some of that information with contact other plane. At this sort of level, a DC 16 int check (for talking to a greater diety) should be easy.

"If we were to kidnap someone who has access to the tower, who is currently in the city, what is the name of the one who would be the easiest to access?"

"Will he be accessable during the day, or night?"
"Morning or afternoon?"
"Street name?"
"House number?"

Then, run with the lore that I got, handing it to a cleric using commune.
"If I destroy X, will that take down the tower?"
"Are there regular patrols within the tower?"
"Is there more than one patrol at a time?"
"More than two?"
"More than three?" etc.
"Are the patrols more regular than hourly?"
"Half hourly?"
"..."
"Constant?"
"Do the people in the tower recognise each other by sight?"
"Does the tower have someone in it that can detect invisible creatures 24/7?"
"Will my party be likely to prevail in an encounter with a single patrol?"
"With two patrols?"

At the same time, the sympathisers within the city will be gathering the same sort of information.

In short - my plan will be ENTIRELY dependant upon what YOU the DM have set up. I will gather very detailed information about the workings of the tower. I will formulate a plan based on that information. I will act based on that information.

Can you tell I play shadowrun?

 

[TheBadElf]

What about assassinating the wizards in the tower? A 15th level Rogue / Ninja / something similar with a magic item that lets him cast Anti-Magic Field would be able to do terrible things in this situation.