I don't know exactly how you would go about doing it, but the Towers of High Sorcery book would be a good place to start... Above that, I don't know how much else I can help.
I remember reading (and building) labs in 2nd edition, I haven't attempted in 3 or 3.5 editions.
If you really want to let them do it, I would advise that they should be 25-30th level.
I'm fairly certain the original creators of the Towers were not epic-level characters. The essential element of such mighty works as the Towers, the dragon orbs, and so forth is time and conviction, and a lot of co-operation between the Orders. You'll note that all of these important creations required all three Orders of High Sorcery to participate.
Cheers,
Cam
I'm fairly certain the original creators of the Towers were not epic-level characters.
You're right, they weren't, but I would guess that epic spellcasting would be a lot 'easier' and faster. According to Towers of High Sorcery, the Tower at Wayreth took quite some time to coalesce into an actual tower, and all three Orders worked together as you say. He probably won't be able to get all three Orders to work together to build him a private residence.
HOwever, to make such a powerfull grove would be problematic. So a Wizard is going to more likely need gaurdians of some sort, like Mercenaries or Golems to safegaurd him, or would need some sort of "deal" with the locals. FOr example, in a campaign, an Elf magic user built a "tower" within area's controlled by the Kagonesti. In exchange for protecting the tower from outsiders, the Wizard had to assist the Kagonesti in matters as well.
When I did the Marvel Super Hero RPG, my character Merlin, whom was essentially an ADnD MagicUser (from 1st edition) in the Marvel SuperHero Universe, my character built a Wizard's Tower in the Bolsa Chica Wetlands of Huntington Beach, California. Aside from the actual construction process, which used magic and regular construction forces, I was able to acquire some golems and enticed other magical creatures to live in the Wetlands as protection, and used what Magic I could for security.
Really, there's any number of ways for the wizard to have a cool tower without overdoing it. Of course you have to ask how the wizard is going to adventure while maintaining the tower. ;)
You could have an adventure centered around finding a long-lost tower and clearing it out. When it is found, it is under considerable disrepair and there's no items of note inside, save maybe a spellbook. Perhaps it does have a magic grove, but it's a smaller one and only in effect when one of the moons is in high sanction.
Don't make it easy, either. If they want a magic tower, make them work for it. Perhaps becoming master of this minor tower has a price. You may have to defend it against hostile neighbors, or the moon gods have made some demand on the master of the minor tower.
The secrets of the tower could be centered around the mood or alignment of the spellcaster. Imagine a tower that had spell secrets akin to the secrets of the WoHS prestige class.
Hrm...the Tower of Arcanath. Has a nice ring to it. ;)
The tower at Zhaman (sp?), later to become Skullcap, is an example of a tower built for private use outside of the conclave. While the wizard who built it was most likely a WoHS he had his own personal tower, it is said that ther was no way it would have stood in it's original form were it not magical in nature. So from this I would say that it is possible to magically create your own tower. It'll take much reasearch, time, materials, and a fari amount of coin, but it's possible. The grove is a different matter. I was under the impression that the groves were a gift from the gods of magic themselves. Or at least that they enhanced by the gods to make them as potent as they were. You could simulate the effects via the use permanency and metamagic feats like empower, enlarge, heighten, and possibly maximize. Otherwise it'd take the power of a god to accomplish the same effects.
Absolutely. High ranking wizards, probably in the era before the Lost Battles, probably built their own Wizards Towers wherever they needed to, although these places were unquestionably attacked by the KingPriest. Causing them to withdraw to the TOwers, which in turn came under attack.
Now as to how to actually build a "Real" Tower of High Sorcery, it is not something you do on a whim. THe Original Orders divined a lot from the 3 God's of Magic as to where to build them and such. You don't just say "Oh, lets build a new Tower of High Sorcery in Solace" for example.
I will say, that if Dalamar was strong enough to move the Tower of Palanthus like he allegedly did, then it seems possible the other Tower's could have been moved as well. Hell, for all we know, the Daltigoth and Loscarum Towers were not actually destroyed, but moved.
For example, we saw the widespread devastation that happened to the surrounding area's just by the acts of opening the Portal to the Abyss, both when Raistlin and Fistandantillus did it at SkullCap. SO it seems possible it the process of moving a tower could be covered up by "destroying" the entire surrounding area.
IF i remember correctly there were supposed to be seven towers of high sorcery built. In one of the books the tower was supposed to be built near thorbardin in the hills there as prescribed by the gods. Magical forces had to be in an alignment of all three orders. The dwarves wouldn't let the mages build the tower and removed them by force. So it is my understanding that there are only seven areas in Krynn where a tower of high sorcery can stand.
Actually in ToHS it says that that the locations were chosen by each order. They were generally put in places that were inheirently magical. The Conclave was shocked and slightly apalled by the choice of Istar by the whiute robes as a location for the tower becuase it was in such an out of the way small fishing village/hamlet. The black robes made an arangement with the despotic rulers of Loscrum (sp?) in order to build a tower there. I'm pretty sure there were only supposed to be 5 on Ansalon, that or only 5 in total were built. Wwho knows about elsewhere on Krynn though. There could be an entire continent where magic is common place and everyone has their own tower. Sort of like a counterbalance to Taladas where the WoHS do not exsist.
Anyway, like Dragonhelm said, If he wants a tower even remotely closein calibur to an offical ToHS make them work for it. How's he going to upkeep it? What are the neighbors like? Is there a catch with the local rulers/population? Has this been sanctioned by the WoHS or has he done this without their knowledge? How is he going to acquire the spells and people to assist the magical creation of such a tower?
Getting a tower from an actively practicing wizard is tricky. He usually is well entrenched as an authority figure, and killing him will likely bring about serious repercussions. However, an isolated evil warlord despot usually can be brought down fairly easily. Luckily, the WotL left several black robes sitting on various villages as robber barons.
To create a true Tower of High Sorcery, you need to have one of the Stone of Threes, and there are currently only 2 of said stones unaccounted for... 1 may be hidden in Thorbardin, but as for the other one, I do not know...
My players are chasing one down after a lightning draconian took it from a party of dark knights and then handed it over to the highly-skilled tomb raider mother of two of the PCs. They're in Kendermore now, and the Stone of Threes is nearby, so do the math.
Cheers,
Cam