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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[dave2008]

The 5e monster design tools literally do not work to produce the MM monsters. If you really think that a CR 1/8 monster having 7-36 hp and a CR 1/2 monster having 50-70hp (DMG p274) rather than these numbers being ridiculous I sincerely do not know where to begin.

I'm not sure how they could.

Oh goodness, please don't link to Paul's work, he makes so many mistakes. I have actually checked a lot of the MM monsters against the DMG and it mostly works. Paul makes the mistake of not using the DMG guidelines correctly and then saying it is the guidelines fault.

You can, in fact, reproduce the MM monsters, with a few exceptions, from the DMG. And the ones you can't (like dragons) have been revised in more recent examples to more closely follow the DMG.

So if the MM doesn't follow the DMG, it is sometimes the fault of the MM, not the DMG. That being said, it is not 100%. but they guidelines are quick and account for most of what makes a monster (unlike the 4e ones).

Example:
The CR 22 Green (from the MM) and the more recent CR 22 Sapphire (from Fizban's) Dragons. The green has more HP, higher, AC, does more DPR. Yet they are the same CR. Guess what, the Sapphire dragon is CR 22 per the DMG, just like Fizban's, but the Green is CR 24 per the DMG and CR 22 per the MM. The issue is the MM, not the DMG guidelines.

 

[AnotherGuy]

@Parmandur that very first screen grab by Crawford he mentions "FR is the focus of OP..."

I know I'm gonna kick myself but what does OP stand for? For the life of me I can't seem to figure it out right now.

 

[dave2008]

The 5e monster design tools literally do not work to produce the MM monsters. If you really think that a CR 1/8 monster having 7-36 hp and a CR 1/2 monster having 50-70hp (DMG p274) rather than these numbers being ridiculous I sincerely do not know where to begin.

I'm not sure how they could.

FYI, I added an example in my previous post explaining how the MM CR is wrong and more recent CRs follow the DMG guidelines better using the Ancient Green and Sapphire dragons as examples. So the issue is not with the DMG rules, but the MM execution.

 

[dave2008]

@Parmandur that very first screen grab by Crawford he mentions "FR is the focus of OP..."

I know I'm gonna kick myself but what does OP stand for? For the life of me I can't seem to figure it out right now.

I think it is a typo: OP = AP = Adventure Path

 

[AnotherGuy]

I think it is a typo: OP = AP = Adventure Path

Well that was disappointing

 

[Neonchameleon]

FYI, I added an example in my previous post explaining how the MM CR is wrong and more recent CRs follow the DMG guidelines better using the Ancient Green and Sapphire dragons as examples. So the issue is not with the DMG rules, but the MM execution.

That depends what level you are at. The DMG is at its absolute worst at low level where a CR 1/8 monster is supposed to have about 21 hit points (which is going to lead to a boring slog) and a CR 1/2 monster is supposed to have about 60hp.

It probably gets better at higher level - but the guidelines are most important at the lowest levels which is where the newest DMs play.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I think it is a typo: OP = AP = Adventure Path

I think it's organized play, i.e. Adventurers League.

 

[Parmandur]

@Parmandur that very first screen grab by Crawford he mentions "FR is the focus of OP..."

I know I'm gonna kick myself but what does OP stand for? For the life of me I can't seem to figure it out right now.

No worries,"Organized Play." Even the Adventurer's League has multiple Settings these days.

 

[Parmandur]

I think it is a typo: OP = AP = Adventure Path

No, Crawford had another Tweet in thst series where he clarifies that he meant the Adventurer's League.

 

[darjr]

Yea OP == Organized Play.