#don't breathe in while glassblowing

[fantasyfantasygames]

Glasswork

Glasswork, The Refractory, 2007

Glasswork has a fair amount of standard fantasy RPG to it - elves, feudalism, rangers, priests, dragons, magic, swords, magic swords. Scratch the surface and things start diverging quickly.

The world is post-post-apocalyptic. The apocalypse in question is implied to be nuclear, but the game skips past overused radiation/mutation tropes. Instead, it posits that the heat from the explosives not only pulverized stone and fused the sand into glass, but pressed all the magic of the world into that glass. Much of that was used raw, and used up in the process. It was over a century before people figured out how to house the glass in special metals so that the magic didn't escape after use.

Your characters seek out that glass - maybe to use it themselves, maybe to deliver it to a nobleman who hired them, maybe to keep it from their enemies. There's a neat quest-tracking system that pushes your characters in interesting directions, demanding that they choose between various conflicting goals.

The magic system is one of my favorites, and the game's greatest strength. It's tied strongly into the quest system mentioned above, and a crafting system that's honestly mostly a pacing mechanism but still useful just as a pacing mechanism. You pick a kind of glass that you found, melt it, mix in some carefully chosen ingredients, and expose it to light at dawn/dusk/midnight/etc. to imbue it with power. You then set it in metal and, using the metal to cut yourself (lightly), bond it to your own blood. Every spell you have is thus the result of your character's work. You can have any number of items, but there are only so many you can really wear or use at once, so you have a limited number of them available at once.

Magic is mostly elemental effects, with the elements in question being weather, "light" (radiation), metal, and "blood" (the body in general). Weather and light clash with each other, as do metal and blood, so you can't use those at the same time. You have to specialize, which means you'll want to work together. In D&D4e terms, weather is really good for Controller effects, light does Striker, metal does Defender, and blood is Leader, but each of them has a range of unique side effects. A simple glowing amulet might only smell faintly of ozone, but a metal wand that fires burning rays might not only damage your target but melt the ground around them, or burn your hand, or blind people who don't shield their eyes. Every spell-item feels very unique, but you're in control of how it's unique and can swap it out.

Stat names are a little twee - Hardness, Clarity, Sharpness, etc. It feels like a PbtA game that maybe went a little too hard on matching flavor and setting. You get specialties in each one that are sort of like skills, and can be named more reasonably. Stats are dice ratings (d4 to d12) and specialties are flat bonuses (+1 to +3). The standard target number is 4, or (average dice roll) + specialty if you're rolling against someone else. If you're up against someone with d8+2, your target number is now 6. You don't actually suffer injury - instead, the damage that would be done is all bound up in your glass, and once you're out of the hit points it provides you, the magic explodes and then you're injured, probably very badly.

The setting is mostly points-of-light, but with strong connections between places. Cities send each other messages using weather magic. Navigation is easier because of metal control - you can make a compass quickly and also spot large underground deposits that help guide you along. Each of the city-states has a very distinct feel, often focused around an alignment or clash between the citizenry, the leaders, and their magic. Major antagonists include other city-states, as well as dragons (no "types", all unique individuals) and their mortal armies.

The book's artistic direction is unique as far as I know. Some pages have a layout that puts the text into the shape of a mountain, a dragon, a giant, a vase. It's fairly well-done. There were no pages where I couldn't recognize the shape immediately. It does sometimes make the text harder to read, like when it breaks words across the teeth of the dragon. There's no other art except the cover, which is a (probably stock) photo of a gem set in the hilt of a sword.

Glasswork was PWYW on DriveThru for a while. I think The Refractory went under at some point (the game never got a supplement), but since you could always get the PDF for free I wouldn't feel bad about grabbing a copy if you see it for download.

[yeetmeoffjueyunkarst]

Would you by any chance be willing to do Lynette being given a flower from reader? But like instead of it being a real flower its glass? They made it themselves for her and it has all these different colors of glass to try and make it look as pretty and real as possible?

👌done.

lynette x gn!reader fluff, whether they are together or not, i leave it up to you. Reader is not Traveller, small spoilers for Lyney story quest

A flower for you.

To say making a glass flower is a challenge is an understatement.

When you signed up for a glass flower making workshop that was held by a local glassblower, you did not know it was this hard.

It's not that it isn't difficult, it's just that... You wanted it to be perfect for Lynette. Sweet, quiet, but absolutely wonderful Lynette.

As to how that happened...

flashback 2 months ago

'Say, wouldn't this show on September 30 be your 100th show with Lyney?" You casually ask over tea, as Lynette sips her tea. Today's tea is Earl Grey tea, one of the classics. "Exiting Standby Mode. Yes, it would be. Lyney has been thinking of celebrating afterwards." She replies softly.

"How do you feel about it?"

"Much happy, actually. We've come a long way since our first show." Lynette replies simply, before eating a macaron.

You go silent at her words. Having met at a back alley while feeding some alley cats, the both of you have fostered a budding friendship over feeding cats, and over time, drinking tea as well.

"Perhaps I should take you up on your offer to reserve a ticket to a show after all." You state softly to Lynette.

"Really?"

You nod.

"Alright then, I'll pass you a ticket the next tea session."

What you don't add is the fact that you'll be bringing a small gift for her to celebrate her 100th show with Lyney.

Much thought had been put in place for the gift.

To buy it? To make it? The thoughts plague you. She can't have anything strong smelling because she's sensitive to scent, so no perfumes, no flowers...

Wait a minute...

And that's how you're in the workshop for a private studio session, trying to ambitiously make a rainbow flower.

The first time you went for a workshop, you made a decent simple flower.

And you were going along with that until...

"My brother gave the Traveller a Rainbow Rose during a private magic show for them." Lynette once offhandedly mentioned to you.

"He was probably imitating Mr Cesar, but even I can't deny that was rather smooth of my brother."

And that's how you're trying to make a glass rainbow flower for her.

Sitting down, you take in a deep breathe, trying to calm down.

After lots of money, time spent on this, and only a week left to that 100th show, This was literally the last chance.

With that, you begin shaping the petals, petal by petal. Even though you had decent practice, you still unfortunately burned your finger a little, causing you to take a short break when you were making the green petal.

After a while, all 7 petals are done, and set to cool.

Next up, the stems and leaves, in the color of silver, just to somewhat match her outfit during shows.

Slowly, slowly, you combine everything.

It wasn't the most ideal compared to what you had seen others do, but it'll have to do.

At least it wasn't like the 2nd try where everything went wrong.

"Welcome to Lyney and Lynette's magic show!" Lyney warmly welcomes the audience, you among them.

Most people would keep their eyes on Lyney, for he is the star of the show. However, your eyes were always on Lynette, watching her throughout the show.

The first time you went to watch the show, while most of your friends focused on Lyney, your eyes always focused on Lynette, causing you to miss out the main show every single time.

Call it infatuation, but you were smitten at the start. Daydreams of hugging her, kissing her, cherishing her filled your mind.

You never thought you'll see her outside the show, that day you were feeding cats.

But ever since, you've been blessing the cats, least to say.

In a blur, the magic show was over. Your mind focused on Lynette all the time, the way she'll simply pop out of nowhere, her stoic demeanour, sharp and calculated movements aimed at being a shadow in the presence of the overwhelming light that was her brother.

The show ends, and you head backstage to find Lynette.

"Ah, and you are?" Lyney appears with a polite smile, but what it does not betray is his deep suspicions that you have insincere motives.

"Y/N. I'm looking for your sister. Do you know where she is?" You ask gently, knowing from Lynette's mentions of her brother that he's very protective of her.

"Ah, Y/N." The twins ring out at the same time.

So that's the friend Lynette has been mentioning lately, Lyney muses to himself.

"How was the show?" Lynette asks, internally glad that you, someone close to her, made it for such an occasion.

"It was great! And I, well, have something for you." You awkwardly take out the glass flower, embarrassed at giving her this in front of her brother.

"I'm sorry if it's not very beautiful compared to real flowers, but you told me before that you were sensitive to the scent of flowers, so I thought I would get you another type of flower. I hope you like it." You state weakly, feeling more and more embarrassed.

"Any.. anyway, congratulations for your 100th show, and um, all the best for future ones!" And with that, you left backstage, leaving the twins with each other.

"So... Y/N..." Lyney cheekily asks, with an underlying hint of suspicion and concern.

"They're fine." Lynette replies, stroking each glass petal of the flower. "They had a small burn on their finger." She states softly, face turning red at the realisation that it wasn't bought, but made by you.

"Sounds like you like them, sister." Lynette eggs her on for an answer.

"How about you worry on how to gain back more of the Traveler's trust first? Wouldn't want to lose their affections, would you?" Lynette rebutts back softly, still recalling your blushing face.

She knows of your eyes on her throughout the show, ever since the first one you attended. While she was initally... scared because of past experiences, her personal interactions with you, and all the things her feline friends have been telling her about you when you're feeding them...

A small smile creeps onto her face. Lyney watches, not used to seeing his calm sister a little lovestruck.

Perhaps she would ask Lyney for some advice to be more bold in expressing her affections for Y/N.

Or maybe not, I'm still not sure about how I feel for Y/N. All I know is that Y/N is special to me, friend or more.

"Still, be careful, Lynette." Lyney warns her softly, in reference to their Fatui ties.

She sighs.

"I know, don't worry. We will be alright."

I spent 15 minutes considering what a glass flower was and googling how to make a glass flower.

You can use the link here

As always, likes and reblogs appreciated, Requests are still open as usual

[tegu-the-tegu]

Flavoured Artificer Concepts

Artificer is by FAR my favourite class in Dungeons and Dragons, primarily for how customisable they can be with regards to their flavour; because of the ability to cast through any tools you are proficient in, it gives a LOT of range to how your magic works. As such, I will put some ideas I have had to build unique Artificers.

An Artillerist that uses woodworking to carve totems; they are flavoured as a tribal shaman that summons the spirits of magical creatures to aid in battle. Their flamethrower turret conjures a dragon spirit to burn their foes, their protector turret calls the spirit of a unicorn to protect the virtuous, and their ballista invokes a manticore spirit to pepper distant foes with spikes. Their other spells can also be flavoured this way, such as Thunderwave being flavoured as an Aerosaur spirit emerging from a totem and flapping its wings to blow enemies away!

A Battlesmith that uses leatherworking to create a horrific stitched Frankenstein's monster for their steel defender. Every time they kill things, they skin the corpses to repair their hideous flesh monster. Or, if you prefer, you could stick with the shamanistic theme from the Artillerist entry, and use leatherworking to maintain the pelt of the first wolf you killed; its spirit inhabits that pelt, and defends you to this day!

An Alchemist that uses chef's tools to create supernaturally delicious food that cures illnesses and grants supernatural abilities. I have actually played this, he used brewers supplies to create caustic acidic drinks, had peppers so hot that it made your breath ignite to cast fire spells, and he would spray sticky toffee over the area for web. He would make food puns, and was named Guido Fiero.

An Armorer that uses jeweller's tools to create bling that imbues them with magical powers. A circlet that grants a force field, a ring that shoots lightning, a pair of bracelets that create thunderous shockwaves when brought together. Then, when you hit level 9, you can have distinct infusion tied to each one! A circlet or diadem or whatever for head armour, necklace for chest armour, anklets for boots, and bracelets or rings for the weapon! Perfect for a wealthy nobleman artificer who wants to broadcast their glamorous lifestyle.

There are loads of other things you can do with each tool proficiency, and it's a shame that the class is so easily pigeonholed into "The Tech Class". Not to say I don't like the gnomish tinker that creates fantastical and crazy gizmos to mimic magical effects. Hell, my character in the campaign I'm not DMing is exactly that, an autognome (Flavoured to look like a normal gnome in the face, so they appear normal when wearing their clothes) that woke up one day in a tinker's lab next to his deceased creator, and then left to try and find a purpose in the world. He has an insect motif, so all of his spells and things are flavoured as small clockwork insects he makes.

But the point is, while that's a staple of the Artificer class fantasy, there are loads of other ideas to flavour it! A calligrapher that writes arcane runes in the air, a potter with a terracotta soldier for a steel defender, a weaver that knits arcane circles, a painter whose drawings become magical effects, a glassblower whose glass figurines come to life, I can't think of one for cartographer's tools, but I bet there is a dope idea in there somewhere!

Even as I mentioned before with leatherworking, you can have the exact same class, the exact same subclass, and the exact same tool, and STILL have wildly different flavour! One is Doctor Frankenstein, the other is a mystical shaman with a spirit guide!

Anyway, that's today's rambling. I would also do a thing on subclasses the Artificer could have, given they only have four, but that's a whole other rant. Besides, this is already a thesis.

[coldcanadianwinters]

just looking at this from a purely technical perspective, as someone who's had the opportunity to blow glass before (I'm terrible at it but it is incredibly fun lmao), these forms are truly impressive. I'm looking specifically at that second to last one there - the fact that it is still clearly hollow all the way through, despite the incredible obstruction to the shape and the necessity to lay the molten glass while still on the blowpipe onto the mold they had to make before the glass (cooled-off) could ever touch the stone seen in the picture is remarkable. Getting that fold in the top part of the glass without losing the structural integrity of the overall form while it was still able to be shaped without shattering probably took multiple attempts, and the fact that the outside of the shape is still so rounded and flawless overall, without any part of the entire shape looking overblown or thinned, or even way too thick, speaks to some good skill.

I love glassblowing. It's so neat. If you ever get a chance to, I recommend trying it out haha

Erik Olovsson (Swedish, b.1982)

INDEFINITE VASES - various types of marble, granite and onyx combined with mouth blown glass - 2016

“The project is an exploration of the relationship between geometric and organic forms – transparent and opaque. Indefinite melting materia interacts with definite angular forms and gravity determines the relationship in between. Indefinite Vases are sculptures or containers. Functional or decorative. The contrast between the cut stone and the form of the hand blown glass emphasizes the relation between space and object, an interplay between a fragile material and its solid counterpart.”

https://studioeo.com/p/infinite-vases

[imnotrevealingmyname]

eighth

Loki X Fem!Reader one shot

A/N: this is very soft. I'm soft. Please don't send me hate if I got something wrong, guys.

Warnings: Excessive fluff, slightly suggestive themes

↩️Back to series masterlist

Playlist

Sign up for a one-day glassblowing workshop.

The first Valentine's Day with a partner couldn't get any better than this, really. The entire studio buzzed with the whispers of giggly couples in love.

That's what we are now, you thought, feeling slightly giddy as you pulled on your heat resistant gloves. A couple in love. Enjoying our first Valentine's together.

Loki didn't seem to sure about the furnaces, but you definitely caught the glint in his eyes when the instructor skillfully manipulated the molten glass from an abstract glob into a vase that now sat in the annealer.

Of course, the lecherous looks he gave you while you were blowing air through the pipe into your glob didn't escape your notice. Judging from the frequency and intensity of his stares, he had quickly changed his mind about the place, and seemed to barely be bothered by the heat anymore.

You, on the other hand, were suddenly very interested in his craft instead of your own.

"They're gonna let us take home whatever we make,"you mumbled, inching closer to where he was working on transferring his glass-bubble-vase-thing to the pontil, trying not to stare at the way his muscles flexed beneath the ridiculously thin shirt. He grinned, reaching down to tap your nose lightly, making your heart flutter.

"I know, darling, it was on the website."

"I'll make something for you,"you breathed. Damn, he looked hot in those goggles. (That wasn't a sentence you'd ever thought you'd think but hey, this was Loki. He could wear anything- or nothing- and still look hot.) "Will you make something for me?"

He laughed softly, scrunching his nose. "Nope."

He made something for you. Halfway through the workshop he had abandoned his tools and was working on two tiny blobs of glass, molding them with his seiðr.

"What are you doing?"you hissed. "Someone will see-"

"Look,"Loki said brightly, holding out two gorgeous glass heart shaped pendants that shone in all colours of the rainbow in the dim light of the studio. "One for you, one for me. We'll match!"

Maybe love was forcing your heart to stay calm as you reached up to let your smiles touch, then.

Seems nice.

----

Tags: @myraiswack @ohdearhiddles @whatafuckingdumbass @poetic-fiasco @your-favourite-skittles @xlehukax @kellatron55 @shiningloki @latent-thoughts @loki-yoursaviourishere @kiara-36 @toozmanykids @allegra-writes @me-ep @shinisenko @lucywrites02 @hufflautia @buckyandlokirunmylife @gaitwae @piccolaromana @caffiend-queen @a-midwinter-night-dream-86 @high-functioning-lokipath @moumouton4 @sigridlaufeyson @alsieswitchbook @theaudacitytowrite @idunnomayn @tenshi-angel-of-healing @emilythezeldafan @paradoxiii @lokiperfection @charistory (lmk if you want to be added or removed!)

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #199

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're making the Jotaro Kujo of FGO, Semiramis! (Seriously, how does that cape/hair... thing work? It's wild.) The queen of poisons is a Graviturgy Wizard to make building a floating castle slightly less difficult to make and cooler to live in, plus a Witherbloom Druid for some dove friends and extra poisons. If you've seen our builds for Waver and Edison, you might know already that building things with magic is costly and time-consuming, and for once that is 100% accurate to the character. Get ready, this is gonna be a weird one.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: I'm 40% appendicitis!

Race and Background

Semiramis is technically an aasimar, but she doesn't fly around or heal people, so we can just focus on her human side. .... Oooor we can focus on those ears, because we need to nick some stuff from being an Elf. Specifically, we're going with the Vahadar Elf from Plane Shift Kaladesh, since they've got the ears, the proficiencies we'll need later, and their backstory's still about living in general society, unlike wood elves and other Kaladeshian elves. Thanks to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, this gives her +2 Intelligence and +1 Wisdom, as well as Darkvision, Fey Ancestry against being charmed, a Trance instead of sleep so she can't be put to sleep, Keen Senses for proficiency in Perception, the Mending cantrip to piece together the castle later, and most importantly Elf Weapon Training. Normally this would give her proficiency with four weapons, but thanks to Tasha's we can swap this out with four tools instead. Carpenter's, Glassblower's, Mason's, and Smith's Tools proficiency should give us everything we need to build a castle later- we'll go into the why when we get there.

Semiramis is also a Noble- grab History, but swap out Persuasion for Deception. Yeah, not even her background can escape how weird this build is.

Ability Scores

Poisoning skills come from Intelligence (I think. WotC are really nonspecific about how to actually fucking make poison), and it's also your main casting modifier: put that first. Second should be your Charisma, nobody drinks poison on purpose, so you'd better get good at lying. After that is Wisdom. If your poisons aren't made with Intelligence it'll definitely be wisdom. That means your Dexterity isn't great- yeah, you fight in a dress, but if you're fighting and not your lackeys, something's gone wrong. We're not dumping Constitution because we're not stupid, so dump Strength instead. You've got minions to carry rocks around for you.

Class Levels

Wizard 1: Starting as a wizard nets you the weakest hit die in the game, but it also gets you proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, plus the Arcana and Medicine skills. You're half caster, and if you want to ruin someone's bodily functions you have to know what those are first. Starting as a wizard also gets you Spells that you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. You get six at first level and two each level after. That's a lot, so we're just going to over spells that are important for the build here, though there's a full list of what we'd get in the character sheet. For cantrips, grab Infestation and Poison Spray for poison damage. For once infestation is completely kosher as is, since Semiramis can summon any creature as long as its poisonous. Also, grab Message. Castle halls are big and echo-y, and it's probably not a good idea to shout at people to find out which glass they put the poison in. Aside from that, grab Mage Armor so you die less, Magic Missile for Assassin balls, and Tenser's Floating Disk to carry all the raw materials you'll be using later. Finally, you get an Arcane Recovery once per long rest, letting you recover a couple spell slots on a short rest. The total level you recover is equal to half your wizard level, rounded up.

Wizard 2: Going into second level of wizard gives you a school of magic, and it's hard to lift several tons of stone into the air if you're not into Graviturgy. When you take the subclass, you can Adjust Density as an action, doubling or halving a large or smaller creature/object's weight for up to a minute with concentration. If you reduce a creature's weight it'll increase their speed by 10', double their jump distance, and have disadvantage on strength saves and checks, and vice versa if you increase it. I checked, and stone is roughly 1,000 times denser than air, not 2, so we'll have to do some brewing later to make this work out. Make your strong minions stronger, your fast minions faster, or do the opposite for your enemies.

Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells. You won't get any dragons in this build, sad to say, but you can use Dragon's Breath to turn just about anything into a dragon. They can even spit poison breath, which is really good with the poisoner's feat. Speaking of..

Wizard 4: First Ability Score Improvement of the build, so grab the Poisoner's Feat for more poisony goodness. All poison-based damage rolls you make ignore resistance, you can coat weapons as a bonus action, and you get proficiency in the poisoner's kit. You also learn a special poison that'll force a dc 14 constitution save on the creature you use it on, dealing 2d8 poison damage and poisoning them for a round.

Wizard 5: Fifth level wizards get third level spells. Animate Dead will help you make dragontooth warriors, a.k.a. skeletons. You can make one per casting right now, but you can recast the spell to retain control over up to three skeletons at once. Otherwise they'll be uncontrollable monsters, which is probably less of a goal.

Druid 1: Semiramis might be known for her poisons, but she's really a multifaceted person. Well, not really, but if you want poisons, you're going to get them from animals. If you want animals, you're going to get them from druids. First level druids learn Druidic- it's a language! They also get another set of Spellcasting using their Wisdom to cast and prepare spells. Check the multiclassing table to figure out your spell slots. Grab Guidance and Resistance to be a bit better than everyone else. For first level spells, look for Entangle and Snare to summon chains to slow down enemies, and Speak with Animals to make sure your dovey-woveys know their work is appreciated. We haven't gotten dovey-woveys yet? Don't worry, they're coming.

Druid 2: Second level druids join their circle, and you're so goddamn smart you just joined another school. At the college of Witherbloom, you'll learn how to turn the vitality of nature into deadly poisons. Right off the bat you get circle spells, which are always prepared for you and don't count against how many spells you can prepare. Right now you get the Spare the Dying cantrip as well as Cure and Inflict Wounds. Now you don't literally have to summon a whip every time you want to hit someone. You can also tap in creatures' essences with your Essence Tap. As a bonus action, you empower yourself for 1 minute, gaining one of two options. Overgrowth lets you heal yourself with a hit die each turn as a bonus action, adding your wisdom modifier to the amount healed. Withering Strike lets you change your damage to necrotic when you hit someone with any sort of damage, ignoring resistances to make your poisons even deadlier. You can use this proficiency times per long rest. Most importantly, you gain a Wild Shape / Wild Companion. Both features use the same two charges per short rest. You're limited to what you can turn into based on its CR and movement options, but those limits and how long you can transform/summon a creature for grows as you level up. Currently I'd stick with Wild Companion for dove familiars, but some versions of Semiramis' story include her turning into a dove herself at the end, so Wild Shape isn't out of the question. As long as we sink eight levels into druid, at least.

Druid 3: Third level druids get second level spells, like your freebies Lesser Restoration and Ray of Enfeeblement. Look, if you're going to make poisons it only makes sense that you'd have antidotes on hand. You can also grab spells like Animal Messenger to send your doves out for ingredients, and Locate Animals or Plants to find them yourself.

Wizard 6: Sixth level graviturgists can make a Gravity Well when you cast a spell, moving the target 5 feet in any direction if it is willing or you successfully hit it with the spell. Speaking of spells that push people, Pulse Wave does just that, stepping in for the big stompy dragon animation. Creatures in a 30' cone make a constitution save, and if they fail they'll take force damage and get pushed back 15', or 20' with Gravity Well. You can also pull them, but that's not really stompy at that point. You can also Summon Undead to create a stronger skeleton to lead the others.

Druid 4: At fourth level, druids can transform into swimming creatures, and you also get another ASI. Bump up your Intelligence for stronger spells. Also, grab the Control Fire cantrip, it'll be cold in your castle without it.

Druid 5: Fifth level druids get third level spells, like Revivify and Vampiric Touch. Neither of those are in character, but you can also Conjure Animals (as long as they're poisonous) and Dispel Magic to keep your throne room free of nonsense.

Wizard 7: Seventh level wizard get fourth level spells, including the one we've been working our way up to, Fabricate! As long as you have the raw materials, you can turn them into products of the same material. Since you're working with stone, you're limited to creating Medium objects this way. Just line the outside of the medium objects you make with halves of smaller objects, then mend them together, and eventually you'll have a castle. This will take a while. For a decent-sized castle of 300'x400', you'll be looking at roughly 480 medium-sized blocks per floor. At level 20 you'll have 12 spell slots of fourth level or higher, so you can knock out a floor in roughly 40 days, not including things like doors or other furniture. Also worth noting, you can't make fancy things like glass without proficiency in the tools required to make them normally, hence all the tool proficiencies from your racial bonuses.

Wizard 8: Use your next ASI to bump up your Wisdom for better healing and stronger druid spells. You also learn Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, so you can prevent creatures from spying into your hanging gardens. Especially useful is the ability to block creatures from teleporting or plane shifting onto your grounds, as that's probably the only way to approach your gardens safely. Or at least it is after you learn Ice Storm, a long range spell that pelts enemies with ice and turns the area into difficult terrain. Of note, it doesn't say the ground, so the entire cylinder will be difficult to fly through. If you want to build giant arcane cannons instead for authenticity, I salute you. Just remember that'll have to come out of your budget.

Wizard 9: Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, and Wall of Stone will help you speed up construction by making ten 10'x10' panels or ten 10'x20' panels. You can also use this spell to create bridges or the like, and if you hold concentration for 10 minutes the stone remains permanently. If you want to skimp on materials so you can just get this fucking thing in the air already, this'll help with that. You're also learning Geas. If you can't summon a dragon, forcibly controlling a dragon is the next best thing.

Druid 6: Did you think we were done with druid? I said we were stuck here for 8 levels, didn't I? Sixth level witherbloom druids can make a Witherbloom Brew thanks to their new proficiency with Herbalism kits. At the end of a long rest, you can use that kit to make Proficiency brews, which last for 24 hours. A Fortifying brew gives a creature resistance to a damage type chosen at brewing (cold, fire, necrotic, poison, or radiant) for an hour. A Quickening brew heals its drinker, and ends one disease or an effect of charming, frightening, paralyzation, poisoning, or stunning. Again, antidotes might be useful to have on hand, but the real reason we're here is for the Toxifying brew. You can apply the brew to a weapon, and the next time within an hour that weapon hits a creature, they take 2d6 poison damage and have to make a constituiton saving throw (DC 8 + your wisdom modifier + proficiency) or be poisoned for a minute. This is literally so much better than the poisoner feat what the hell.

Druid 7: Seventh level druids get fourth level spells, like Blight and Greater Restoration for stronger poisons and antidotes respectively. You can also Dominate Beast to hold any poisonous critters still while you milk them, or summon Giant Insects instead. They obey you and stay giant until they drop to 0 HP, dismiss the effect, the spell ends.

Druid 8: Our last level of druid finally lets you turn into a dove with a second Wild Shape Improvement. You also get another ASI, so bump up that Wisdom for stronger spells and poisons.

Wizard 10: Tenth level graviturgists can create a Violent Attraction between a creature's face and a weapon, causing a nearby weapon attack to deal an extra 1d10 damage. Alternatively, you can increase the attraction between a creature and the ground, adding 2d10. I doubt your hanging gardens need help making the fall more deadly, but now you can help out of need be. You can do this Intelligence modifier per long rest.

Wizard 11: Eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells, like Guards and Wards. This will make it so much harder for enemies to breach your castle it isn't even funny, if the "hanging out in the stratosphere" thing didn't tip them off already.

Wizard 12: By twentieth level you should have a castle set up, so grab the Lucky feat. Basically, everything that can go right for you does while you're in your castle, so now you get 3 luck points per long rest to make sure that happens, letting you re-roll your attacks, saves, and checks, as well as attacks aimed at you.

So how the fuck do I get a flying castle?

So, admittedly this is up to DM fiat, but let's be real, a flying castle sounds sick as hell and gathering resources is a great reason to go adventuring. If I was your DM, it'd go something like this; After x months of research, you find a way to prepare materials so Adjust Density is permanent on them if you concentrate for the duration. Then you make and fuse together castle chunks as described in level twelve, and eventually you lighten the load on the special rocks so much they're lighter than air. Boom, liftoff, you're fucking awesome now. If you want to go down, just make the float rocks heavier again.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Even if you don't build a giant floating castle in your adventure, that doesn't mean all this prepwork went to waste. You are a master at protecting areas from invasion, so no matter where you lay your head you know it's going to be safe. Not as safe as a floating castle, but still, safe.

By mixing together all your tool proficiencies with Fabricate, you can make pretty much whatever you need from raw materials. No more paying a smithy for fancier armor!

If you do get your castle in the air or you're near a cliff, you are incredibly deadly, with plenty of ways to shove opponents around or otherwise control movement. Slow them down, trip them up, or shove them off a cliff it's so good. Pulse people off the edge of your garden and laugh at them as they fall.

Cons:

There's literally no rules about building your own castles & poisons, so most of this build is entirely dependent on your DM. If you get a cool one, cool! If you don't, this build is pretty much a writeoff.

You need to hide away in your castle and send out minions because you're kind of pathetic in person. With only 14 AC and less than 100 HP, you'll go down faster than Medb if you don't use your Wild Shapes well.

A lot of that can be chalked up to mixing caster classes, meaning we have to spend more ASIs to make both spell modifiers good, and we miss out on higher level spells. Also, spending 8 levels in druid just to turn into a dove isn't that great unless you really want the flavor. I highly recommend skipping out after 6, the last graviturgy effect is great both to knock people out of the sky and make them bow if they get to your throne room.

But, getting to your throne room is 90% of the fight. This build is one that emphasizes patience, and that's what puts you above the common folk. Hang out in the stratosphere, attend social events in style, and let your poisons and skeleton warriors do the fighting for you. Just be glad there aren't any wacky knights riding hippogryphs around.