D&D 5E (2024) Thoughts on Bastions

[Minigiant]

Been thinking about Bastions lately and I've came up with a couple thoughts.

1) Bastion Turn should be able to be speed up with gold.

Basically, a PC can invoke 1 Bastion Turn by spending a gold amount associated to their level. One issue people state is that many campaigns are too short to really use bastions. Well have an optional rule that a PC can have a Bastion Turn happen in 1 day. The party wizard has an Arcane Study and wants to craft a Uncommon Arcana item like Sending Stones, they can dump a huge chunk of their gold into getting that item crafted in a day and running back to the adventure after rolling the Bastion Events.

2) Bastions could be integrated into the settings


A smithy is a smithy. If you find one in the village, it can function as a Smithy Bastion provided the require staff and resources are there and the service is granted. Adventures can have locations written as Bastion Facilities and access to them could be a hook. (Hurren's house functions as a Smithy but he won't open it until the whereabouts of his children are known)

Dungeon rooms can be Bastion Facilities and have unclaimed Bastion rewards waiting inside.


3) Bastion Facilities should have Subtypes


I think I this didn't happen because WOTC didn't want to commit to Power sources, Facilities should have been categorized into Types.

For example, I would suggest the Arcane, Defense, Magic, Martial, Skill, Underworld, and Wild subtypes. So an Arcane Study might be a level 5 Arcane Facility but a Barracks is a level 5 Defense one. A Greenhouse would be a level 9 Wild Bastion.

Each PC would choose 2 subtypes and they would meet the nonlevel requirements of any bastion of that type. NPCs and magic items could be tied to a specific bastion. And DMs can offer treasure that can be spent for extra turns as rewards to specific bastion types.

This would also like WOTC and 3PP create to fill the gaps. No level 13 Martial Bastion in the DMG? EN Publishing can entice sales with their new Bastion options for high level Fightery types.

Just some thoughts.

Any thoughts of your own?

 

[aco175]

I like the spending gold idea to speed things up. This mirrors real world rich people getting things by spending gold. I'm still not a fan of bastions just being the player side and the DM should not interfere. My group lets me do anything I want to it though and sometimes things happen.

 

[Minigiant]

I like the spending gold idea to speed things up. This mirrors real world rich people getting things by spending gold. I'm still not a fan of bastions just being the player side and the DM should not interfere. My group lets me do anything I want to it though and sometimes things happen.

To me the handing treasure feed into the Bastion helps get DM affect Bastions without taking agency.

Also the Bastion Event table is too friendly.

 

[bedir than]

Also the Bastion Event table is too friendly.

Absolutely

 

[pukunui]

I would have preferred it if more bastions were available at lower levels and instead they just had more powerful outputs that you could unlock at higher levels (like a few of them do). It doesn't make sense to me, for instance, that you can't have a pub until level 13! I mean, WotC even put out a low-level adventure that can entail renovating and running a pub (Dragon Heist)!

Maybe instead of tying special benefits to specific facilities, they could have just had a grab bag of level-locked benefits and leave it to the players to decide what it is in their bastion that allows them to gain that benefit. Sticking with the pub theme, this means anyone could have a pub in their bastion from level 5, but you wouldn't be able to have any magical beverages in your bastion until level 13, and you could potentially just have the keg of magical drinks in your kitchen or man cave or whatever. It wouldn't be limited to just being in a pub.

Another option might be to consolidate the facilities. The sacristy (level 9) and reliquary (level 13) could just be folded into the sanctuary (level 5) and be things you unlock at those higher levels rather than separate facilities in their own right.

I feel also like they should have made an effort to provide more facilities / benefits for each class.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I would have preferred it if more bastions were available at lower levels and instead they just had more powerful outputs that you could unlock at higher levels (like a few of them do). It doesn't make sense to me, for instance, that you can't have a pub until level 13! I mean, WotC even put out a low-level adventure that can entail renovating and running a pub (Dragon Heist)!

Maybe instead of tying special benefits to specific facilities, they could have just had a grab bag of level-locked benefits and leave it to the players to decide what it is in their bastion that allows them to gain that benefit. Sticking with the pub theme, this means anyone could have a pub in their bastion from level 5, but you wouldn't be able to have any magical beverages in your bastion until level 13, and you could potentially just have the keg of magical drinks in your kitchen or man cave or whatever. It wouldn't be limited to just being in a pub.

Another option might be to consolidate the facilities. The sacristy (level 9) and reliquary (level 13) could just be folded into the sanctuary (level 5) and be things you unlock at those higher levels rather than separate facilities in their own right.

I feel also like they should have made an effort to provide more facilities / benefits for each class.

I don't think anyone at WotC remembers Dragon Heist. It was pre-Tasha's, and they've definitely lost institutional knowledge.

In any case, I've been tearing through the bastion rules for a while now looking for stuff to adapt to the A5e stronghold rules. Lots of potential, but my homebrew list is long and I haven't started in earnest yet.

 

[pukunui]

I don't think anyone at WotC remembers Dragon Heist. It was pre-Tasha's, and they've definitely lost institutional knowledge.

Perhaps not, but Chris Perkins was in charge of both Dragon Heist and the revised DMG, so ...

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I miss "wondrous architecture" from 3rd Stronghold Builder Guide. Maybe you can pay more for a faster crafted magic item but I imagine it like the magic delivery from other place.

I imagine crafting in bastions like "grogs" (nPCs) using the rooms for "incantantions" (ritual magic, slower but "cheaper", from 3.5 Unearthed Arcana). This means thanks "special rooms" spellcasters can craft magic items with a higher spell level, although it was slower.

Other idea is facilities can be "upgraded" or "leveled-up" using "storytelling points", these are like XPs but in a different pool. Something like you were playing "Mage: the sorcerer crusade" by White Wolf, more focused into storytelling than killing monsters.

My house rule is bastions can be "inherited", when a PC dies the player can enjoy the same bastion using a differnt PC.

 

[Minigiant]

I would have preferred it if more bastions were available at lower levels and instead they just had more powerful outputs that you could unlock at higher levels (like a few of them do). It doesn't make sense to me, for instance, that you can't have a pub until level 13! I mean, WotC even put out a low-level adventure that can entail renovating and running a pub (Dragon Heist)!

A lot of Bastion Facilities seem to just be ways to separate and create Craft, Empower, Recruit, etc order. Just to inflate the number of bastions.

A Smithy could create Uncommon Armaments at level 9, grant Mastery at level 13, and Rare Armaments at level 17.

Some Bastions Facilities can stay high level like Demiplanes