Thoughts on clerical strongholds
by James WalkerThe biggest advantage clerics have when building strongholds is getting 2 gp worth of construction for every gp spent. Since construction time is based on gp spent, this is also halved (although you will need to hire a full complement of engineers). To fully take advantage of this, any cleric should be recruiting other characters as vassals/associates. Mage can't quite afford a Tower? No problems, the Tower gets built as part of the Clerical Stronghold at half price! The Mage, Tower and his new apprentices are all integral parts of the defences, and they are protected by the stronghold. Win-win.
Similarly a Dale/Lonely Mountain setup can be arranged with a friendly Dwarf Lord, or the Breeland with a Halfling Sheriff. The Cleric's healing spells ensure that his new vassals/neighbours want to stay on his good side.
Other than lighting the stronghold with Continual Light, spells won't be particularly important for construction though. Possibly Sticks to Snakes can be used to raise beams; it all depends on how large the 'sticks' can be. Spells will be important for establishing relations with the surrounding creatures – Speak with Animals/Plants to learn and negotiate, Neutralise Poison to earn the gratitude of the local Sasquatches and so forth. Create Food reduces expenses.
There aren't many magical items worth creating to help build the stronghold. Possibilities include Rings of Animal Control or of Djinni Summoning, Stone of Summoning Earth Elementals, and Efreeti Bottles.
The free fanatical troops are awesome, but are a complication since you don't know what they will be while you are constructing your stronghold. So best to ensure that you have the necessary stables, archery platforms etc for all possibilities.
What have I missed?