D&D (2024) Bonus Unearthed Arcana Reveals The Bastion System

A 'bonus' Unearthed Arcana playtest document has appeared, and it shows off D&D's upcoming Bastion System.

This October, we’re bringing you a special treat. While we’re continuing to develop and revise public playtesting material for the 2024 Player’s Handbook, we’d thought you’d enjoy an early look at what we’re cooking up for the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide.

The coming Dungeon Master’s Guide will be the biggest of its kind in decades and contain an assortment of new tools for DMs and their tables. In Bastions and Cantrips, we’re showcasing one of these tools, the Bastions subsystem. Dungeon Masters and their parties can use this subsystem to build a home, base of operations, or other significant structure for their characters.

And if you’re raring to test out more character options, we’re also including revisions for 10 cantrips in this playtest packet.

Claim Unearthed Arcana now! - D&D Beyond

www.dndbeyond.com

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[Dausuul]

Compare Blade Ward to Shield. Shield is cast in response to a hit from any sort of attack, adds a +5 to AC, and applies to all further attacks until your next turn. Blade Ward has to be cast before the attack roll is made and only works on melee attacks, gives Disadvantage which depending on target number is worth between +5 and +1, and only applies to the one attack. That's sufficiently weaker and narrower than it probably qualifies as a full step down from Shield.

First, shield is notoriously one of the best 1st-level spells in the game, ranging from "very very good" to "absolute no-brainer must-have" depending on playstyle and level. So this is not exactly making the case that the new blade ward is fine.

Second, even if shield weren't borderline (or not so borderline) OP, you can't just compare a cantrip to a 1st-level spell, say "Oh, the cantrip is weaker," and be done. Cantrips need to be evaluated against other cantrips. And one of the biggest red flags for any cantrip is if it doesn't use a regular action to cast. That means picking up that cantrip is a pure power boost.

If you have fire bolt and you get ray of frost, you get only incremental value; every ray of frost you cast means sacrificing a chance to cast fire bolt (and vice versa), so you only benefit to the extent that ray of frost is superior in a given situation. But if you get the new blade ward, it isn't competing with fire bolt -- you get the full value of the defensive buff and don't give up any offense to get it.

Friends also has enough limitations to probably qualify as a step down from Charm Person. Requires a Save, only lasts 1 minute, doesn't work in combat or more than once in 24 hours, breaks early if you take pretty much any offensive action... it doesn't even have Charm Person's special "The charmed creature regards you as a friendly acquaintance" clause. All it does is give you Advantage on Charisma checks and make it so the target can't attack you first.

See previous. Cantrips must be compared to each other, not leveled spells. Advantage on Charisma checks, usable at will, is a big deal. This one has enough limitations fencing it in that it might be okay... or it might not. As I say, I'd want to see it in play.

(I might add that even if the new friends is technically balanced, the reliance on nitpicky restrictions to do the balancing gives me pause. It's the same problem I have with guidance in the current edition. Guidance isn't too strong if you rigorously enforce all of its limitations -- require the player to have declared casting and target before you called for a skill check, enforce concentration, touch range, etc. But it gets pretty tiresome having to go down this list on every freakin' skill check, because players read the spell and think "Oh, the party just gets +1d4 on all skills, sweet.")

 

[Incenjucar]

Being able to straight up stop a target from attacking you is hardly trivial.

 

[Scribe]

"All the Cantrips got improved, I rate this a 10/10" - Everyone who was just buffed.

 

[darjr]

Also now a DnDBeyond article about it.

Bastions and Cantrips: Build a Base and Test Cantrips in This Unearthed Arcana

Our latest Unearthed Arcana features the Bastion subsystem from the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, as well as 10 updated cantrips. Read more here!

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I wonder if Bastion game mechanics could be an advance about ruling a domain in Birthright.

Can underage automs to drink alcohol? the SRD says they can't be affected by ethilic intoxation.

I am thinking about hiring cute or weird characters as hirelings: halflings, gnomes, plasmoids, owlings..

Maybe we could see new sidekicks classes: architect, gardener, cook, innkeeper. Some times the game could be about the PCs working as grogs(Ars Magica, the sidekicks, hireling or companions).

Can we build "killboxes" if we want tower-defense games style "Orcs must die!" or "Fortnite: Save the World"?

The 3rd Ed of the Book of the Stronghold could be rereaden for an "update".

LEGO wellcomes all those players who want to build their "bastions".

 

[Stalker0]

Of course, we're assuming the Charmed effect doesn't say something itself - it might now call out the negative side effects there.

We aren't assuming anything, we are operating under the rules of the playtest which is "if we havent changed it, use what's already there".

 

[Dausuul]

"All the Cantrips got improved, I rate this a 10/10" - Everyone who was just buffed.

The cantrips that got improved were the ones that sucked*. With the rare exception of acid splash, I don't think I've ever picked a single one of them.

Some of them got improved... ahem... a bit too much. And the nerf to shocking grasp is just weird, I have no idea why they felt that spell needed a beatdown. But overall I'm very glad to see them tackling the vast disparity in power among spells.

*Okay, okay, produce flame didn't actually suck. But it was decidedly mediocre.

 

[Yaarel]

Re the option of players who share a Bastion.

The UA says: "Multiple characters can combine their Bastions to form a single large structure."

This seems an ideal. So if the co-owners are a Wizard and a Fighter, the Wizard can have library area or wing of the Bastion for magical research, while the Fighter has an area with a barracks. And so on.

 

[Zaukrie]

The cantrips that got improved were the ones that sucked. With the rare exception of acid splash, I don't think I've ever picked a single one of them.

Some of them got improved... ahem... a bit too much. And the nerf to shocking grasp is just weird, I have no idea why they felt that spell needed a beatdown. But overall I'm very glad to see them tackling the vast disparity in power among spells.

I'd bet good money that people give feedback about not having advantage on attacks vs metal......I just hope they keep the reaction change, given they appear to be moving legendary actions to reactions.

 

[overgeeked]

So they’re going to put in save and respawn points. I definitely want D&D to learn from video games to improve design…but I’m not sure save & spawn is a great addition to the game.