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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[Parmandur]

What's a PJ'S?

PCs

 

[Parmandur]

It's barely better than Running 5e with Tasha and later supps. It's 5.1.

Which is what was always promised. Evergreen.

 

[Krachek]

It’s a nice idea to add flavor to a game.
it will be fine, until the the release of the first guide who will rate all « must have bastion » at each level to optimize characters!

 

[Emberashh]

Hate to break it to you but an IRL Theater doesn't allow its writers/performers to get a boost to punching people and IRL Sacristies doesn't give Rings of Water Walking but the Bastion versions do.

Do you believe I don't also find those incoherent just because I didn't mention them?

And besides all that, there's a far more evocative wealth of adventuring tropes to tap for flavoring these mechanical benefits that would both be more coherent and lead to the potential of more interesting content.

Throwing some random mechanical benefits in and flavoring them with also random, mundane and vaguely medieval building types is just lazy.

ACKS, its creator aside, had the right idea as far as this goes in making the Strongholds more class specific and thematic. Though its execution wasn't ideal either as it buries its evocarive ideas in a great mass of wanky worldbuilding minutia.

 

[OB1]

After reading thru the Bastion rules again, I'm surprised about how much of what's in there I already do naturally running campaigns (without the strict ruleset). Some good ideas that I'll like steal for my own games, but excited that this will be in the DMG for new DMs or DMs who haven't done something similar on their own. If this is what we can expect out of the new DMG, I think it will be a must have book, and could really help open up DMing to more players.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

The cantrips are indeed mostly well-improved, though the idea that Shocking Grasp was OP is the funniest damn thing I've ever read. Not once in the 9 years 5E has been out, have I seen a single DM or player complain that Shocking Grasp was overpowered. Not once. This is again WotC proving themselves out of touch, and their priorities are not sensible priorities. They're rebalancing stuff no-asked, nor would ask, be rebalanced, as a priority.

I agree, except for 2024 monster design they seem to be getting rid of legendary actions in favor of additional reactions. That's probably really why they redesigned it.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

It literally says druid on the spell.... So I'd hope it's useful for them.... Hence my question about it being so or not.

Druids don't get extra attack, so Shillelagh is obviously useless to them.

Every time the new Shillelagh scales up for +1 avg dmg, Primal Savagery scales up by +5.5 avg dmg.

 

[bedir than]

Druids don't get extra attack, so Shillelagh is obviously useless to them.

Using a better stat and using Force damage is useless?

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Using a better stat and using Force damage is useless?

May I introduce you to every other cantrip that uses Wisdom as the casting that and does elemental damage, but actually scales for them.

 

[bedir than]

May I introduce you to every other cantrip that uses Wisdom as the casting that and does elemental damage, but actually scales for them.

None of which add Wisdom to attack and damage and elemental damage isn't as significant, while Shillelagh also scales at higher levels.