Small Castle (3.5e Equipment)
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Small Castle
Commoners and their farms and thatched roofed cottages do not exist in a vacuum. They are often under the watch and protection of a local baron, duke, or other noble person of note who commands an army of knights at their beck and call. It is the fortresses which dot the landscape which host these knights and the nobility over their subjects many. Nobles, warlords, and powerful knights live in these small castles, great structures of solid stone with imposing walls, great towers, and other effects. Because castles double as both a home and a base of war, castles are usually built in strategic locations such as on top of a hill or by a cliff edge, or protected with moats natural and artificial alike.
The default generic castle consists of thick stone outer walls with a drawbridge over a 20 foot deep moat that is 20 feet wide, typically filled with water. The wooden drawbridge is reinforced with an iron portcullis which can be dropped, and a barbican (a room with murder holes within the floor for arrows or pouring oil) built into the gatehouse above. Inside the large stone building is usually between two to four stories high, with two watchtowers which allow guards to see five times as far as normal. On the inside the castle is built with barracks for the guards, courtyards which may be exposed to the air, dungeons for jailing prisoners, stables for horses, a forge, storage rooms for food and supplies, common rooms for any manner of activity or refuge, and of course the royal chambers for any nobility. These chambers are equivalent to a ranch house in and of themselves, often with greater luxuries at hand. A castle must be at least partially self sufficient in times of raiding, and it is common practice to bring in the common folk into the castle walls in times of war. Castles are large enough to host siege weapons, though they are sold separately.
A typical small castle is maintained by a crew of 10 or more hirelings as maids and maintenance, and 30 or more soldiers, not including incidental roles. Small castles can hold up to a crew of 50 other people without crowding, and up to 1000 extra people in times of need before it becomes too cramped, not including the owner's living quarters.
Small castles cover a roughly 180x180 foot area with two to four floors with basement, not including walls and any courtyard between the castle and walls, and with external and internal superior stone masonry (1 foot thick, hardness 8, 90 hp, break DC 35), and/or reinforced stone masonry (1 foot thick, hardness 8, 180 hp, break DC 45).
Craft Stonework DC 30; Price 30,000 gp.
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