Hello!
I am not a frequent poster here, but you amazing guys already helped me last time and I wish to again tap into your expertise. Thank you in advance! Sorry for the wall of text I wanted to give a good context so the question can be more focused and clearer.
I had an idea long ago and planning to finally get to probably GM-ing it.
I wish to run this campaign with the Pathfinder first edition ruleset, but in the pre spell-plague Forgotten Realms setting.
I am willing to bend the rules if it will help storz-wise, I am the "rule of cool" type of GM, but trying to stick to the rules as much as possible to have better consistency.
Some crucial points of the story:
A vampire is aware of a secret undead army building up not too far away, that will most likely attack his home city also.
He is also in hiding and building up his influence in the city (through agents and in incognito).
He discovered a powerful artifact in the city that he is trying to repair.
The artifact is a mythallar, that will lift a good part of the city and help him create magical weapons and items cheap and quick.
Because of the vampire’s knowledge of this secret army, he wants to finish the mythallar to lift the city to basically making it a floating fortress. (I know, I am already bending the rules with the mythallar. He is not high level, but I want to lean on being the mythallar almost complete, that is how it could survive lore wise and how he is able to repair it being mid-level only. Also, I am aware that a mythallar per role would only create quasi-magical stuff, but, rule of cool.)
The vampire is working on the mythallar and it will only be ready not long before the army arrives. The army will build up for a couple more years in secret, so he has time (although no access to the mythallar for most of the time).
However, he also wants to create a good amount of defense in it, that he can already work on. He needs a good amount of "soldiers" too, that can withstand a siege. He also would prefer to stay incognito or appear as a hero, so the city people would not want to remove him or attack him (he is narcissistic).
He does have access to a good amount of wealth, the city is a larger one (Iriaebor to be precise) so he can get supplies.
The army of undead as he has knowledge is roughly built up as the following:
Foot soldiers
-Hordes of skeletons, zombies ű
-bulk of the army, they are cheap and easy to replace.
-Max 1-2 buffs.
-1000s
Heavy hitters
-Good amount of advanced undead, incorporeal, minor spellcasting abilities etc.,
-like ghosts.
-No, or only few character levels.
-100s
Tactical groups
-high value undeads, basically undead commando
-vampires with character levels, etc.
-10s
Commander(s)
-high level spellcaster
-lich/high level vampire, etc.
-Only 1-3
(I am more than willing to limit the army, to make it less indestructible force, but the point is, that it is scary and even teaming up and helping a probably evil vampire will seem a good idea. Also, the army should be able to conquer vast amount of lands too.)
In case of an attack our vampire plans on making the city a harder nut to crack. Of course, it will not be able to withstand a prolonged siege and single focus of the whole army. But, if the city has a flying fortress that can burn a good amount of the army before falling, the army will skip this city and focus on higher value easier targets. (The army is ambitious.) Some complications: that the army builder has already spies and assassins, so the preparations need to be made in quasi-secret.
So, what type of preparation would the vampire in hiding do, the prepare for an invading undead army, without giving out the information about the army?
I am specifically asking about against the skeletal foot soldiers and heavy-hitter ghosts.
The tactical groups and commander can have a better counter, a team of adventurers or a highly specialized vampire-spawn commando.
But the numerous foot soldiers are problematic.
With the flying city, its already has a good advantage, but some hitters are also needed.
The vampire would try to avoid positive and negative energy as much as possible.
Positive energy: could be used against him.
Negative: can give away his preparation to the army builder and the people of the city, plus, if he is creating a bigger undead army too... well the enemy is specialized in controlling those, so that’s risky, he could lose that to them.
He would like to have an army, that cannot be raised as undead (thus feeding the enemy).
He would prefer a cost-efficient way and he is mid-level, so 10-ish. He has wealth, but not unlimited. I can easily change this aspect to fit, but I want to keep it low/mid-level party compatible and not going into epic territory at all (except for the mythallar).
Originally, I thought creating high amounts of golems would be cool, but reading up on them, they might not be the best solution. Pro: the city people would not oppose such a defender force, it is not necromantic, and the vampire can easily hire crafters who will sunk in the time and materials, so it is more like a wealth issue. Constructs can not be raised as undeads. He could arm up the golems with cheap magical items too (thanks to the mythallar), but I am not sure how efficient would this be.
Animating object might also be viable, but I am not sure if that is a good and efficient way.
So, the question at last:
-What would be the best mass produce-able soldiers/automatic defense to have in a floating fortress against a large amount of commanded skeleton, zombie, ghost army, that has high level spellcaster commander?
---If golems would be good, what type of golems?
-What kind of extra preparation would help defending this floating city/fortress?
Constraints:
-Preparations need to be concealed.
--Stealthy preps, or easily justifiable causes (not obviously specialised against undead)
-The one who is fortifying is a mid-level vampire, but
--Wants to avoid using positive or negative energies
-Fortifier has a couple of years (1-2)
-Fortifier has access to the market of a large city
-Fortifier has good influence, but not unlimited.
-Fortifier has good wealth, but bot unlimited (but can do a lot with machinations)
Thank you very much in advance!
