Kamikaze Midget said:
A few notes in general:
1: We're still missing the roles of some of the classes in Urbis. Rangers? Rogues? Fighters? Where do these people come from, where are they trained, and how do they grow up in the city streets?
Good point - I need to complete that section soon...
2: How monsters fit into this civilized world is left sketchy. It could use some filling it. Urbis takes magic into account very solidly -- how does Urbis take into account the wild beasts of the setting, the dragons, the beholders, the dire animals? What is the place of Ythraks in a massive urban sprawl?
Hmmm... I guess I should do a boxed text that explains which creatures might be found in the big cities
at all. Large and relatively unintelligent creatures (such as ythraks and most dire animals) will be exceedingly rare in cities, since they would be hunted down by the authorities very fast. In general, true monsters must be small or intelligent enough to hide themselves to prosper in cities...
Oh, and beholders unfortunately don't exist in Urbis, since they are not in the SRD...
3: It is said the Nexus Towers make the giant cities possible. But who controls the nexus towers? How are they controlled, especially in the more democratic areas?
In almost all cases, by the local city government, although they might allow various influential and/or wealthy spellcasters access to them in exchange for money or services.
Are they patrolled by guards who keep out the riffraff?
Definitely. These are the most vital piece of infrastructure of any city, so they are very strongly guarded.
Could an adept enough rogue sneak into the towers and control or level the city at will?
He couldn't
control the tower unless he was also a sufficiently competent spellcaster. But it
is possible to create sufficient havoc within the structure to render the Nexus Tower inoperable for a time if you know what you are doing (or even to cause significant damage through magical feedback if someone else attempts to use the Tower). This sort of sabotage happens from time to time between rival cities, which is one of the reasons why Nexus Towers are so strongly guarded.
How do some of these epic spells get their spellcasters?
I think this is already pointed out in the Nexus Tower chapter - you don't have to be an epic spellcaster to use Nexus Towers. All you need is Knowledge (Arcana) rank 10 or the equivalent.
Does a Nexus Tower provide anything to a fighter or a rogue or other non-magical class that manages to get into it, other than spellcasting?
Some finished magic items lying around, perhaps - but apart from that, not really.
And how, exactly, did they make the cities possible? They build buildings and enrich crops, but do they control disease?
If a disease gets out of hand, then yes, some epic disease curing spells
will be cast from a Nexus Tower. Since this uses up precious magical energy, many governments prefer to use more mundane precautions, but it
is an option.
Do they enforce law and order?
In generally, no (unless you are trying to cast some epic "charm person" spells or the equivalent), but they frequently provide the
tools for enforcing law and order, like specialized magic items.
Since they frequently create something tradable, such as magic items, the answer is yes. They are also sometimes used to create the local infrastructure such as by creating channels for ships, but this has a limited range outside of the city...
I'm sure each city-state has it's own unique uses for the towers...what are they? How do they help develop a unique personality for each city-state?
I will have to think about this some more...
Anyway, thanks for the feedback, and keep it coming!
