Each 10footbya10-foot section of stone has AC 15 and 30 hit points per inch of thickness. The walls, turrets, and keep are all made of stone that can be damaged. Each servant functions as if created by the unseen servant spell. Furnishings, food, and other objects created by this spell crumble to dust if removed from the fortress.Ī staff of one hundred invisible servants obeys anycommand given to them by creatures you designate when you cast the spell. The keep is furnished and decorated however you like, and it contains sufficient food to serve a nine-course banquet for up to 100 people each day. The floors of the keep are connected by stone staircases, its walls are 6 inches thick, and interior rooms can have stone doors or open archways as you choose.

Each of the floors can be divided into as many rooms as you like, provided each room is at least 5 feet on each side. The keep has a square base that is 50 feet on each side, and it has three floors with 10-foot-high ceilings. You can place up to four stone doors in the fortress’s outer wall.Ī small keep stands inside the enclosed area. Each panel is contiguous with two other panels or one other panel and a turret. Each wall is 1 foot thick and is composed of panels that are 10 feet wide and 20 feet tall. The turrets are connected to each other by stone walls that are each 80 feet long, creating an enclosed area. The fortress has four turrets with square bases, each one 20 feet on a side and 30 feet tall, with one turret on each corner. Any creatures in the area are harmlessly lifted up as the fortress rises. The area is 120 feet on each side, and it must not have any buildings or other structures on it. Mark Galli is associate editor of Christian History.Ĭopyright © 1993 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.Ĭlick here for reprint information on Christian History.A fortress of stone erupts from a square area of ground of your choice that you can see within range. His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure. The prince of darkness grim? We tremble not for him. Not until late November did the epidemic abate and the ill begin to recover.ĭuring that horrific year, Luther took time to remember the tenth anniversary of his publication against indulgences, noting the deeper meaning of his trials: “The only comfort against raging Satan is that we have God’s Word to save the souls of believers.” Sometime that year, Luther expanded that thought into the hymn he is most famous for: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” This verse, translated by Frederick Hedge in 1853, comes from one of more than sixty English versions: And though this world with devils filled Even though his wife was pregnant, Luther’s house was transformed into a hospital, and he watched many friends die. But Luther considered it his duty to remain and care for the sick. As fear spread, so did many of the townspeople. Meanwhile, in August, the plague had erupted in Wittenberg.

But through the prayers of the saints, God began to have mercy on me and pulled my soul from the inferno below.” Completely abandoned by Christ, I labored under the vacillations and storms of desperation and blasphemy against God. My entire body was in pain, and I still tremble. Looking back on one of his bouts, he wrote his friend Melanchthon, “I spent more than a week in death and hell. But this depression and illness overcame him again in August, September and late December. With a doctor’s help, Luther partially regained his strength. In a loud prayer, he surrendered himself to God’s will.

He went to lie down, when suddenly he called, “Water … or I’ll die!” He became cold, and he was convinced he had seen his last night. Then, on July 6, as friends arrived for dinner, Luther felt an intense buzzing in his left ear. To Luther, their errors were as great as those of Rome-the very gospel was at stake-and Luther was deeply disturbed and angry. Now he was battling other reformers over the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. For ten years, since publishing his 95 Theses against the abuse of indulgences, Luther had been buffeted by political and theological storms at times his life had been in danger. On April 22, a dizzy spell forced Luther to stop preaching in the middle of his sermon. It’s hard to imagine he had the energy or spirit to compose one of Christendom’s most memorable hymns. It was the worst of times-1527-one of the most trying years of Luther’s life.

Mighty fortress doom sure