D&D 5E (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]

Haven't listened to it yet, so this goes into more detail than the ranges per category from the DMG?

Not here, byt a while back Perkins was talking about how there would be specific price lists unlike the 2014 book.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Quick note on Friends - I think Crawford said something in the video about Charmed being now just advantage to relevant skills by the charmer.

 

[Yaarel]

The wording for the Friends spell is simple: "When the spell ends, the creature knows you Charmed it. How it response depends on how you treated it while Charmed."

 

[Kurotowa]

Blade ward: This seems a smidge too good. Disadvantage on a melee attack as a reaction, for free, at will? Obviously the old blade ward needed fixing, but given that spellcasters don't use their reactions nearly as much as melee warriors, this feels like too much of a "must-have."

Friends: Got rid of the automatic hostility on expiration, which is a good thing, but the resulting spell seems very strong at first glance. I'd have to see it in play to be sure, though.

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.

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.

 

[Minigiant]

True Fantasy Finally

Home ownership!

 

[dave2008]

Yeah, unless they've vastly redesigned gold rewards (which they won't have done, it wouldn't be "backwards compatible"), you're still basically going to have the problem of no gold sinks, and this was an... well a golden opportunity to have a gold sink. And they ignored it.

This cuts to the heart of my problems with 5E's design, honestly - it's so thoughtless, so failing to understand their own game and own players. Like, they've read enough feedback to know people want a fortress system, but instead of looking at how to build that in a way that across-the-board enhances 5E, and solves other problems, they've just made it this weird, overcomplicated floating system that feels like something straight out of a late-3.5E book, except 3.5E would totally have understood how to build a gold sink, it was full of them.

Sounds like you have some good feedback to give!

 

[dave2008]

But will official WotC adventures actually make time for the use of the Bastion system?

No

 

[Incenjucar]

Quick note on Friends - I think Crawford said something in the video about Charmed being now just advantage to relevant skills by the charmer.

"not mind control"

"advantage on your charisma checks against the charmed creature"

"while they're charmed by you, they can't attack you"

 

[Kinematics]

Cantrips

Acid Splash – Changes from two creatures within 5' of each other to just a 5' AOE. Nice simplification. Changes to an Evocation, which means it can also benefit from an Evoker's Sculpt Spell. Overall, I like it.

Blade Ward – Changes from an action to a reaction. Massive improvement on action economy. Imposes disadvantage on an attack rather than resistance to physical damage. Downgrade since it only affects one attack, rather than lasting the whole round, however for a single attack is a similar net effect. Overall, much improved.

Note: Jeremy mentioned its range increasing at higher levels, in the YouTube video. I think he was mixing Blade Ward up with Spare the Dying, or they failed to include the higher tier effects in the PDF, as no such modification is included here.

Chill Touch – Made it actual touch range. Eliminates a big point of confusion, though it's still necrotic, and not cold, damage. Increased die from 1d8 to 1d10. Unsure if the loss of range is worth it.

Friends – Gets rid of the automatic hostility at the end of the spell. Very happy about that. Makes it a 10' range instead of casting on self, and the target gets to make a save. Unclear how the likely visibility of the spellcasting would affect things. Perhaps it's just accepted if the target fails its save? Loses effect if you are active in any sort of combat. Overall, a nice improvement.

Edit: No verbal component, so you're not chanting a spell, just waving your hand around like Dracula mesmerizing people in old 30's movies. I can see it working thematically.

Poison Spray – 30' range instead of 10', and an attack roll rather than a save. Seems a reasonable improvement.

Produce Flame – Produces light in a 20'/20' radius instead of 10'/10', which is a welcome improvement. Does not end the spell if you throw the fire, which you can do at a range of 60' instead of 30'. Makes it far more balanced for something which is kind of a cross between the Light spell and Fire Bolt. Overall, a nice improvement.

Shillelagh – Can do force damage instead of "magic" damage, which is line with other changes they're making to magic damage. Increases the weapon die size at higher levels. A nice minor improvement to go along with the cleanup on damage types.

Shocking Grasp – Only prevents opportunity attacks instead of all reactions, and doesn't give you advantage if the target is wearing metal armor. General downgrade in power, but probably doesn't change much in actual use. Might have expected it to be a 1d10 spell, in line with Chill Touch.

Spare the Dying – Gives it actual range, starting at 15', and doubling at higher levels. I thought they were getting rid of the "stable" condition, though? I mostly like the change, but the "stable" part adds uncertainty.

True Strike – Completely rewritten. This actually seems decent. I'd actually consider taking this.

 

[Yaarel]

By the way, I am delighted the designers are looking at the subpar spells in each slot, and updating them.

Now that they are all decent spells, I feel I have so many more options.

I am glad they playtest it so more players can make sure the spells are balanced in play, and can watch out for unexpected combos.