Castle Floor Plans - Need some advise / help!

[Novea]

I pulled two cards from the Deck of Many things and LIVED!  One of the things I received was +6 to diplomacy and a small keep.

Our DM has given us the following:  12 bedrooms, 1 great room, 1 dining room, 1 kitchen, 1 infirmary, 2 storage rooms and 3 misc rooms for a keep that takes up 15 acres itself.  He also granted us 50 acres (the 15 for the keep are included) for our 'city'.  Long story short, we have 100 refugees that have taken to building homes and such around the keep that are now loyal to my little gnome. 

We will at one point relatively soon have to defend our 50 acres from one of the other 'parties' in this campaign.  (3 different groups of people (good, neutral and evil) in the same world). 

Any suggestions for fortifications of the wall around the keep?  We do plan on having a large courtyard in the middle of the castle/keep itself for just in case they evildoers are able to get past our walls.

& any suggestions on places on the net to help me plan out the castle's floors themselves?  We have someone working on the 50 acres and what is where, but I've been given the keep to do since my character is now a Countess of Twin Mountains Reach.... (we had a perverted king name it).

Thank you in advance!

[phaedrusxy]

Your level and the expected level of enemies you might defend against? Flight is pretty easy to come by in D&D, and makes walls fairly useless. The level of the game will heavily impact your options (and those of your enemies, hence what you need to defend against).

[Novea]

All the groups (good, neutral and evil) are 7th level.  Since we were low in numbers, I get to play in all three games.  The only way the other groups will find out about it is if they roll an epic level gather information or scry on us... which we do know one of the members of the evil party has one of those crystal balls.

Is there anyway to put Non-Detection on the whole castle? or the keep itself? 

My character is an artificer and we have an NPC vampire wizard (He's Lawful Neutral) to help us out.

[phaedrusxy]

You can probably get Private Sanctum. It has a 24 hr duration, and can be made permanent.

[Novea]

Love that spell!  I may have to put that in the major areas of the castle, but I guess we'd have to work it out.  The castle is 15 acres itself.

[phaedrusxy]

Love that spell!  I may have to put that in the major areas of the castle, but I guess we'd have to work it out.  The castle is 15 acres itself.

You're not really going to be able to put anything on 15 acres... But I doubt you need to, anyway. Your enemies will probably be scrying on the PCs, or they're powerful NPC allies, right? So just make sure those people all stay within an area small enough to cover with the spell (audience chamber, personal quarters, etc) while they're inside your castle/keep.

[Novea]

Thank you!  I'm going to get that set up before our next evil game.. just in case they decide to scry.  Makes me wish that I could make a wand of it or permanency, but that would be SOOOO expensive.  Come in mightily handy.

[CaptRory]

Walls lose efficacy at higher levels because of things like flight, but you can sort of turn that back around.

My first thought was Wall of Dispel Magic but I'm not sure it can be made permanent but a bunch of other wall spells can be, so it might be worth asking about. "Haha! I'm flying over the wall!" *Crash~*


The other idea is... don't make a traditional medieval style keep.
This is the sort of fort constructed in the 1800's. Overlapping fields of fire, trench works, tiered fortifications. It doesn't matter if they fly over the walls, and there are a lot of things that could be considered walls here, they've opened themselves up to bombardment by everyone. This is Fort McHenry and Fort Ticonderoga.

For a Keep Level fortification, maybe something like Fort McHenry but instead of all those loose buildings, build a bastion with them integrated into it.

[kitep]

Isn't there a crystal somewhere with a 6 mile radius that prevents scrying & teleportation?  I seem to recall it being used in a drow city.

You could also use divination to protect the city.  Ask the powers that be when the next attack is coming, how it will be done, etc.

[kitep]

PHB, p173, last paragraph under "Divination"

Lead sheeting or magical protection (such as antimagic field, mind
blank, or nondetection) blocks a scrying spell, and you sense that the
spell is so blocked.

Lead tends to be cheap, though I don't know how much you'll need to cover the entire keep.  Just don't let the children lick the walls

[phaedrusxy]

Isn't there a crystal somewhere with a 6 mile radius that prevents scrying & teleportation?  I seem to recall it being used in a drow city.

You could also use divination to protect the city.  Ask the powers that be when the next attack is coming, how it will be done, etc.

Yes, but it is insanely expensive (like 300k gp).

[Keldar]

If you are serious about your keep, I'd recommend getting your hands on the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook.  Its 3.0, but that really doesn't matter.  It has everything you need, including ways to make a stronghold scry resistant at a reasonable cost, and the example Cheap Keep is intended to be used as the castle from the Deck of Many Things.

Recommendation: Illusory Landscape (14k, CL7, Craft Wondrous Item) Puts Hallucinatory terrain over 47 stronghold spaces (Cheap Keep is 28)
There sadly isn't any information on lead lining, but 3 inch Iron walls would cost 168000 for the cheap keep (6k/space), and  3 foot earthen, 7000 (250/space), so your DM can wing it from there.  I'd probably consider lead half value of iron, then divide again by 6 or 12 for a thin lining to get a cost of 14000 or 7000 for the project.

[Karlton]

There was a thread on the old boards with som very nice points in it. You may find useful info there.

[Gazzien]

If you are serious about your keep, I'd recommend getting your hands on the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook.  Its 3.0, but that really doesn't matter.  It has everything you need, including ways to make a stronghold scry resistant at a reasonable cost, and the example Cheap Keep is intended to be used as the castle from the Deck of Many Things.

Recommendation: Illusory Landscape (14k, CL7, Craft Wondrous Item) Puts Hallucinatory terrain over 47 stronghold spaces (Cheap Keep is 28)
There sadly isn't any information on lead lining, but 3 inch Iron walls would cost 168000 for the cheap keep (6k/space), and  3 foot earthen, 7000 (250/space), so your DM can wing it from there.  I'd probably consider lead half value of iron, then divide again by 6 or 12 for a thin lining to get a cost of 14000 or 7000 for the project.

Lead Lining is in the SBG, if I recall correctly...

Edit: Page 37, 1000gp/SS.

[Keldar]

Your search skills are better than mine.