D&D (2024) What do you want to see from the bastion system?

[Charlaquin]

In theory I like the idea of a system for downtime and home base management. But I don’t have faith that WotC will make such a system in a way I will find satisfactory.

 

[Xamnam]

Things I want from a home base:

• Number one by far: High customization/modularity. Every time we've had a home base in the game, everyone gets excited about customizing "their" area of it, and I think that's vital to getting full buy in from an entire party.
• Provides mechanically actionable benefits. Maybe you can embark from it with boosted Temp HP, maybe you get unique one time use skill, or have a crafting station in order to reduce the cost/time required. There are a lot of ways this could run that would make me happy. The boosts to class features from MCDM's Stronghold's and Followers (SaF) are a decent form of this.
• Scalable through all the tiers. This is the biggest failing of SaF to me. It's clearly meant for rich and powerful characters (which is fine, that's their goal, they're aiming for the Fighter>Lord progression). I want something that be introduced to the characters at level 1/2 so they can really build a bond to it.
• As mentioned by others, either allowing for it to be mobile, or having decent methods of returning. A home base can get boring if by virtue of adventuring you have to abandon it for years at a time. Is it really worth maintaining one then?
• Additional/improved downtime activities was another good suggestion here.
• Faction interplay?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I don't know much about what support D&D had for this in previous editions - can anyone provide any insight into what existed before, what worked, what didn't, etc.?

Off the top of my head, i think different kinds of bases might be better for some kinds of downtime activities than others, so it'd be neat to see that reflected.

In 2e, nearly every class at level 10 or so gets followers, most of them if they build a home base.

Fighters need to build a castle and attract the most followers.
Bards get fewer followers of a bit lower level.
Wizards need to build a tower and get an apprentice.
Rangers automatically gain an animal companion IIRC.

 

[Aldarc]

In theory I like the idea of a system for downtime and home base management. But I don’t have faith that WotC will make such a system in a way I will find satisfactory.

Linear Fighter's Bastion and Quadratic Wizard's Bastion.

 

[James Gasik]

Same. I want to see it embrace the fantastical. Airships, extradimensional bases (think Skeeve's home on Deva, from the Myth series, or some of the wild stuff in 2e Planescape), you name it.



I also want to see aesthetic changes be incentivized. Let there be, not just functional options, but style.

Does the base come with a mysterious back door to another dimension?

 

[NaturalZero]

The current game I'm playing in features a brotherhood/militia/rotary club that has been built up and run the party and features a rotating cast of characters. Some solid stronghold rules could be exactly what we need.

 

[Incenjucar]

Hopefully they include rules for adventure-inducing bastion locations. A haunted house or castle with hidden layers or a dungeon with sealed passages or a planar oasis with activatable portals can easily make for a motivation to explore deeper and deeper, growing your hideout as you clear out dangers and befriend denizens. Any threats that start to claw their way up are then a threat to your home and friends.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I hope it will be a bit like 2e. Where fighters just attract more followers than wizards (which are commonly more feared by the common people).
This was one of the ADnD 2e ways of balancing out martials vs casters.
This way at higher level, everyone had a meaningful way of engaging with the bigger troubles.

I just don't think that jives with the cosmopolitan, kitchen sink, ultra-high magic settings of contemporary D&D.

I think it's a solid mechanic for a setting where mages are rare and people live insular, provincial lives. But 5.5 looks like it's going to follow in the 5e footsteps of almost every character being at least a little magical. I don't think it really makes sense for people to be wary of a Wizard but flock to the Fey-Touched Drow Rune Knight.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I just don't think that jives with the cosmopolitan, kitchen sink, ultra-high magic settings of contemporary D&D.

I think it's a solid mechanic for a setting where mages are rare and people live insular, provincial lives. But 5.5 looks like it's going to follow in the 5e footsteps of almost every character being at least a little magical. I don't think it really makes sense for people to be wary of a Wizard but flock to the Fey-Touched Drow Rune Knight.

That does not mean, you can't try it. Even in high magic settings, somehow kings are seldom mages themselves...

 

[Benjamin Olson]

In theory I like the idea of a system for downtime and home base management. But I don’t have faith that WotC will make such a system in a way I will find satisfactory.

I mean obviously the base will have a number of rooms equal to your proficiency bonus, each of which will support a number of followers equal to your proficiency bonus of a level equal to your proficiency bonus.