Under Siege, Send Help! -- Tips For Defending Your Awesome Stronghold in D&D

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"I'm on my way, I'm on my way, home sweet home." -- Motley Crue

One of the most important goals for any adventuring group is establishing their own base of operations. At low levels, of course, this will likely entail working out of a few rented rooms in an inn or tavern or relying on the generosity of family to put up a rag-tag group of strangers for a bit. Eventually though, as the group starts socking away funds and reaching more prestigious levels, the fighter's going to itch for a place to garrison some followers, the cleric's thoughts will turn to establishing a temple, the mage will want some place to study where she's not interrupted every ten minutes with a round of hearty, drunken singing, and the thief will dream of being able to pick all the pockets he wants without leaving home. Sooner or later, the DM will relent and your group will find themselves in charge of their very own stronghold.

Then it's only a matter of time before disaster strikes, because no DM worthy of the screen can long resist the urge to unleash hell on a tightly-packed and unsuspecting group of players chillaxing in their own home.

But it doesn't have to be that way!

An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes, and that's never been more true than in an RPG where the players acquire, inherit, take over, or otherwise gain control of a stronghold. While you'll never be able to fend off the DM's desire to play out the Siege of Helm's Deep forever, I put on my Headband of Epic Intellect and sat down to compile this list of strategies, tactics, plans, and downright dirty tricks to help keep the orcs at bay. While I'm writing this article with a D&D slant, most of the things I talk about can be adapted for use in other settings, even non-fantasy ones. I'm also assuming you don't have unlimited funds--if you have fifty million platinum lying around, you're wealthy enough to hire the best military, mages, and healers in the known world to keep things on track while you're leading hunting tours for bored royalty through your magical dinosaur preserve before the nightly Tarrasque steak and unicorn pie feast begins.

For everybody else who didn't Game Genie themselves more money than Mephisto and more levels than the Empire State Building, I learned many of these things the hard way so you wouldn't have to. Let's begin!

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1) Know Your Stronghold

Let's get one thing straight: until you know the grounds you'll be keeping inch by inch, you are at risk of the most horrendous surprise ass-kickings since your freshman year of high school. The single most important part of defending your fortress is knowing what you'll be defending inside and out. If you were fortunate enough to oversee construction of the place yourself, then you're already a step ahead since you'll have access to the engineers, blueprints, and stonemasons carrying out the work. You'll also be able to look at the terrain literally from the ground up and identify potential weak spots and problem areas before construction even starts.

This, however, isn't how most groups acquire their first stronghold. You might be deeded the property in exchange for service to a baron, king, empress, or other ruler, or you might be shown the location of a run-down, monster-filled property the local duke is willing to let you restore in exchange for clearing out its less-desirable elements. If this is the case, make sure your exploration and clean-up is more thorough than your last prostate exam. The last thing you want is to move your family in only to discover a few days later you missed a pack of ghouls roaming the cistern or a turd-demon infesting the latrine. You want to go over your new home with the assumption that everthing you know about the property is a filthy lie, because medieval real estate agents are under no obligation to disclose hauntings or other annoyances to prospective buyers.

If one of your PCs is a dwarf, use him and a few of his or her dwarven buddies to scope out the basements and underground areas for sloped passageways, secret doors, improperly-supported walls, hidden tunnels, and other things not immediately obvious. Buy a Wand of Secret Door and Trap Detection or similar item if necessary, and burn through the charges. Have the thief scope out every room for un-detected and un-sprung traps, and disable any you find. Use spells like Detect Magic in every room, and if you have a Gem of True Seeing or similar goody that reveals illusions and whatnot, make sure you view every surface. For the truly paranoid, consider getting rid of any furniture and decor that the previous occupants left behind and commission new ones--nobody wants to wake up to a bunch of animated statues or gargoyles attacking in the night. If there are any cemeteries, crypts, burial grounds, potter's fields, torture chambers, oubliettes, or mass graves in or around the stronghold, commission members of the local church to consecrate the grounds and bless the area so you don't get a bunch of ghosts, zombies, and skeletons in your face should the besieging group bring a necromancer.

After that, it's down to remembering what kind of world your PCs live in. Simple measures like adding iron bars over upper-floor windows or shutters that can be closed and locked from the inside can frustrate flying enemies from sneaking in unaware. Reinforce all outermost doors with metal and fit them with locks and/or bars that can be dropped in place to delay would-be attackers. Make the best use of arrow slits, murder holes, tower crenelations, and other avenues of fortifications (if the castle didn't come with these, use Stoneshape spells or a competent mason to build some for you). Your immediate goal is to cut off as many routes of potential surprise as you can. Yes this can be expensive and time-consuming, and I know you're anxious to start moving in and establishing your doman, but the alternative is an angry relative or friend of the deposed warlord whose castle you just took over slipping in through an undetected secret passage and assassinating PCs while they sleep. And if you don't think your DM will stoop that low, then I hope your next PCs will do better.

The other aspect of knowing your grounds involves knowledge of not just the immediate vicinity, but also the wider surrounding areas and their inhabitants and politics. If your fiefdom is established in the middle of a bustling country with regular military patrols and secured borders, then the chances of a surprise attack are relatively low. If your outpost is built on the frontier of civilization however, then you need to be extra informed about any other groups operating in the area. Scout the area yourself, hire the help of a local ranger, and consult nearby government centers or land owners to learn everything you can. If the nearby caves, for instance, are known to house a large tribe of kobolds, the forest five miles to the west is home to goblins, or a tyrant twenty miles to the north has been sending out raiding parties to test the response of the border patrol, you want to know about it so you can either take on the threat yourself or be prepared in case it knocks at your door.

2) Maintain Adequate Supplies

Most medieval sieges didn't involve climactic battles between thousands of troops and giant wall-destroying battering rams, they involved an army parking themselves just out of range from the defenders' catapults and archers and waiting for the food to run out. A few rumbly tummies among the locals will destroy morale faster than frequent floggings can maintain order, so your first line of defense after knowing your terrain is to ensure you not only maintain adequate stockpiles of consumables, but also that they are kept free of vermin and guarded against pilfering. If it's just your small group living in a modest-size castle this won't be much of a problem, but if you've built up a sizable economy behind or even outside your walls, it's important to keep the citizenry informed not only that adequate provisions have been taken to ensure their care in the event of a siege, but also where those goods are stored in the event of an emergency.

This preparation doesn't extend to simply hoarding grain and water barrels. If you have a garrison, make sure the quartermaster is delivering regular reports on supply stock and knows he or she can come to you with any concerns and will be expected to supply the populace with equipment in the event of an invasion. If you have the resources during construction, have the masons cut extra stone blocks to repair walls (or to levitate and drop on your enemies), have the wood workers make extra doors and build braces that can be deployed to shore up weakened areas. The stronghold's primary water supply should be dug behind the main walls and in a central location to prevent an enemy from easily poisoning the water, with one or two smaller ones dug for use in the event of a fire or other emergency requiring a bucket brigade (you did buy extra buckets, right? They're only five coppers each, so there's no reason to skimp here...). Have the local smith craft a few extra weapons and suits of armor every so often, and hold these back for either re-supplying the garrison when their equipment needs replacing, or distributing to the locals in the event of a raid where the guard alone is insufficient to hold off an attacking force.

Likewise, purchase a few hundred extra arrows and/or bolts from the fletcher to keep in reserve, since the last thing you want are your archers running out of ammunition. As a last resort, consider a small stockpile of scrolls inscribed with spells like Remove Poison, Purify Food and Drink, and Create Water so that even if the ranking priests are taken out of commission and the water supply is befouled, a single acolyte able to utilize divine magic can ensure everyone stays nourished and hydrated until help arrives.

Run down the supply list in the Player's Handbook or an arms & equipment guide and look at everything not a weapon or piece of armor. Consider each one carefully and use your imagination.Something simple like a blanket has all kinds of uses outside the one suggested by the book. In addition to using it just to keep warm, it can wrap supplies for quick transport, splint a limb when paired with a few pieces of wood, wet down to smother a small fire or escape a burning building, cut into strips for emergency bandages, immobilize a single enemy by wrapping them up, as a stretcher to move an injured combatant, held for safe landings for persons jumping out of upper-floor windows, as a filter for water, strung up to obscure the sun or cover a window and escape detection, padding under an injured leg, a quick covering for an impromptu meal on an otherwise unclean surface, written on with dyes or paints to create a message that can be relayed in silence across short distances, used with a fire to send smoke signals, dipped in pitch and set on fire to create distractions, traps, or large amounts of smoke, and so forth. That's a hell of a lot of versatility for something so inexpensive, and it's just one item. Uses for items like fishing nets, bells, and signal whistles may be obvious, but consider alternate uses for things like soap, perfume, and candles too. How about a blanket, soaked in oil, spread across the floor in a doorway, with a couple of lit candled balanced on it off to the sides--first person to step through the door and disturb the candles gets a rather heated surprise!

Flour, ashes, or even sawdust could be bagged and spread across infrequently-traveled surfaces to reveal invisible interlopers, and if you can't get Dust of Sneezing and Choking, have the cooks break out the black pepper, spices, and other irritants, have the artisan bake them into some hollow clay balls, and distribute a few to each of your rank-and-file defenders. Nobody's going to fight well with a face full of cayenne and vinegar, and creatures like dogs with sensitive olfactory areas won't be keen to get anywhere near a place saturated with anything overly smelly.

Finally, having contingency plans in the event of an assault or siege isn't enough if the locals aren't informed. Set up town hall meetings where people can ask questions and learn the location of everything important--no use having a bucket brigade if they don't know where the buckets are, after all, and yes, there's a reason I keep harping on the buckets. Have rendezvous points set up for civilians, evacuation plans if things go wrong, and run drills from time to time so the citizenry can practice in conjunction with the guardsmen. A few minutes every month or two lets the people know you have their interests in mind, and could be the difference between life and death for the citizens under your care.

3) Reward Pride in Ownership

If you've got a thriving economy going in and around your stronghold, make it worth the while of everyone to get involved with the defense of their homesteads. Offer tax breaks or other incentives to families whose members train in the local militia (even the full-time army requests assistance from the national guard), or apprentice themselves or their children to the local craftsmen, mages, priests, or other important groups. If you're concerned about an eminent attack, have the garrison offer to train younger children how to use a sling or a short bow--don't conscript kids into the front-lines, but don't overlook their abilities as messengers or runners, and don't leave them defenseless should the enemy actually breach your walls.

Likewise, blacksmiths could train willing students how to fashion caltrops from nails or use a whetstone to sharpen blades, carpenters could offer classes in basic woodworking and joining, mages and clerics could tutor in 0-level orisons and cantrips (imagine how useful a group of students with access to 'Spare the Dying', 'Mending', 'Thaumaturgy', 'Light', and 'Prestidigitation' alone could be for assisting in the medical ward, relaying messages, sowing confusion among the enemy, fixing damaged gear, and assisting with food prep if you're playing Fifth Edition, for instance), a healer could offer first aid courses, a local ranger or druid could teach a class on identifying and using (or avoiding!) native plants, tailors could show how to mend simple cloth items, and so on. The limit is your imagination, but the more options available to you and the people you're protecting, the better the chance of a positive outcome. A group of 0-level NPCs armed with boards, a barrel of nails, and a clutch of hammers may be the difference between the zombies breaking in and surviving another night, so give your NPCs the tools they need and the trust and training required to use them, and watch them rise to the occasion.

4) Psychological Warfare Is Your Friend

Just because a roving band of dung-smeared hobgoblins decided your place should be theirs doesn't mean you have to sit back and take it. Remember that in a siege, the defenders have the advantage since the attackers have to come to you. Unless they're striking from a nearby forest or cave system, they're probably going to set up camp somewhere close by where they can keep an eye on you...and you can keep an eye on them. Spyglasses are expensive, but you should have at least two so your lookouts can spot trouble sooner. Once they start digging in and setting up tents, it shouldn't take long to identify the commander's HQ, and that's when the real fun can begin.

The goal of any siege defense should be to shatter the morale of the attacking forces, unless the besieging group is comprised of constructs, undead, or other creatures that don't retreat unless ordered. If this is the case, feel free to fall back on brute firepower and the Cleric's Turn Undead ability. Otherwise an army needs to eat, sleep, and maintain discipline to succeed in its ultimate goal, and you're going to do everything in your power to undermine that. Think dirty, and the dirtier the better.

Use Speak With Animals and tell the local rats about all the great food your enemies have over in their camp, or ask a bird to fly high over the camp and report back with what it sees--eagles have the sorts of eyes we puny humans could only dream about. Set a Magic Mouth or two to scream out alarms ("FIRE!") at the top of their lungs in the enemy's camp randomly during the night--once they've gotten used to the noise and false alarms, start throwing Fire Bolts to ignite anything flammable and take advantage of the confusion when nobody stirs during an actual emergency. If you've got the means to control the weather, summon up a downpour or Gust of Wind to douse their fires, encase the place in fog, or expose the attackers to the unrelenting chill of a Sleet Storm or other annoying weather. Use Arcane Eye and Clairvoyance to reconnoiter the camp, get the lay of the land, spy on the commanders, and the like, all without putting yourself in harm's way.

Identify enemy commanders and target them with spells like Silence to prevent them from giving orders, or Darkness to cut their line of sight. Use Fog Cloud to create an area of mass confusion on the battlefield, or to obscure your own actions from the enemy (sneak out and seed fields with bolts for a Cordon of Arrows, sow caltrops, or get within range of the enemy camp to cause mischief with shorter-rage spells/abilities--the possibilities are endless).

Consider arming your sergeants with Rings of Spell Storing, and prepare them with spells like Shield, Command, Cure Wounds, Sleep, Aid, Expeditious Retreat, Hold Person, and other useful low-level spells to protect themselves, bolster the rank-and-file, or mess with enemies who get too close. Senior commanders could have access to rings with one-shot higher-level spells like Conjure Volley for crowd control, or Rary's Telepathic Bond to remain in contact with the PCs or their lieutenants no matter where they are in the fortress. These rings can be recharged during down times, making them especially useful in the long-term.

Finally, anybody with access to illusion magic can make the enemy absolutely miserable via means too numerous to name. Whether it's conjuring up phantasmal defenders to make it look like the attackers have more to overcome, summoning a Major Image duplicate of an enemy commander to issue irrational or contradictory orders, or a Minor Illusion to sound a call for retreat, there's no limit to the harassment potential posed by a wily Sorcerer.

5) It's Impossible To Prepare For Everything

No matter how prepared you are, you still have to face the fact it's impossible to prepare for everything. What I've presented are some reasonably effective and inexpensive ways to mitigate the effects of a siege on your home base. Higher-level PCs with access to higher-level magic are, of course, likely to encounter attacks from significantly more powerful enemies. If you find yourself fending off hordes of dragons or a bunch of berserking Umber Hulks, you'll need far more tactical help than I can provide here. This is meant to assist inexperienced players with guidelines on how to think about a protracted standoff, not offer solutions to every problem under the sun. If your DM wants your fortress, he (or she; I could tell you stories about some female DMs that would require a saving throw vs. insanity) is going to take it from you. Virtually all of these actions or preparations have counters, and those counters may have counters themselves, so run scenarios in your mind to get an idea of the tactics an enemy commander might employ and come up with at least two options for responding to each of them. You may never need them, but it's good mental exercise anyway, and you never know when the need for quick-thinking will arise.

The point is to not go down without a fight, and even if the walls eventually collapse and your PCs have to advance in the opposite direction, you'll still have an epic tale worth recounting over a mug of ale the next time we cross paths in a tavern. Here's to your success!