D&D 5E UA 8 Bastions and Cantrips playtest survey is now live. Update now closed.

[darjr]

Im at Gameholecon and haven’t had a chance to look at it.

Anyone take it yet?

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[fluffybunbunkittens]

Did it a few hours ago. They ask you to rate and comment on each building/cantrip separately, so at least you can target the feedback.

Like, you may lose access to two buildings for one Bastion turn if there's an attack! But 95% of the time there won't be an attack, so you could just spend that time benefiting from buildings that actually do something instead of ever building barracks/armory.

Arcane Study makes sense for a wizard, right? Only, its only benefit is that you can cast Identify. Which is a ritual spell. Making Arcane Study useless for wizards. Ah, but it might be good for Eldritch Knights, so cool! Only they don't have an arcane focus, so they're not allowed to have one.

Plus the usual 'why is True Strike encouraging casters to use crossbows for everything, I thought we put in magic cantrips so they could do magical stuff instead of pewpew-ing with a crossbow' full circles.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I just finished it. I ended up trashing the bastion system but was fairly positive on most of the cantrip changes though I had a lot of quibbles.

I was happy this survey ran about an hour for me this time. Three to four hour surveys that I am not getting paid for are simply too much.

 

[Stormonu]

I'm reading over it.

I certainly like the idea, but their implementation feels half-baked and way too conservative. There should be options for the bastion to be available at 3rd level, if not 1st - or to be "owned" by a patron but used by the PCs.

For a fantasy game, a lot of the options feel too mundane (need more fantastical beasts available in the menagerie, need options for fantastic creatures to be stabled out of the gate if you have the funds/level - like pegusi, griffons, dragonnels and the like). Some of the options become available at silly levels - A pub at 13th level? No thought on mobile bastions of the like of ships (sea, sky or spelljamming!), Howl's moving castle/Baba Yaga's hut, cloud castles and the like.

I really don't like tracking BP points. It would, in my opinion, be a lot better if there were just base actions that you could enhance by spending GP or combining two or more actions.

I'd like to see more revisions to shore up the mechanics, but this really feels like an incomplete first draft.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'd like to see more revisions to shore up the mechanics, but this really feels like an incomplete first draft.

That's my take. I hope they don't go "well, not everyone loved it; let's never speak of it again," but actually refine it.

 

[Charlaquin]

This should probably get cross-posted in the actual playtest subforum, yeah?

 

[Vaalingrade]

I hope the community doesn't kill Bastions. It's a good idea that just needs more time in the oven/generally a lowering of the level requirements.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Almost off-topic but now I would like to suggest an update of a spell from Savage Species: Blood Wind. Why not a nerferd version as at-will cantrip with a shorter range? My opinion is this spell should be useful for PC species with natural weapons, for example the horns by the minotaurs.

Blood Wind​

Evocation
Level: Cleric 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S,
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: A single creature with Intelligence 4 or higher
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

After you complete the spell, the subject's limbs ripple with power and grow slightly in length.
The subject can take a full attack action to use all of its natural weapons or unarmed strikes as if they were thrown weapons with a 20-foot range increment. The subject gestures as if making a melee attack, but the result of the attack affects a target within range. This spell does not actually grant reach, and so does not help provide a flanking bonus or allow the subject to make attacks of opportunity at any range greater than normal. The subject uses its normal melee attack bonuses and deals damage normally if it hits, though the target of the attacks can benefit from cover or concealment.

 

[pukunui]

Honestly they already have a perfectly good "bastion" system in the form of the Acq Inc franchise mechanics. All they need to do is file off the serial numbers and not only will they have a decent system, but one that already plays nicely with the existing downtime system as well.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Now I am thinking an idea. You can unlock new "rooms" in the bastion in the 5th level, but of course the reward will be a nerferd version, something style an ummovable magic item. For example with the garden you can craft medicinal herbs, and with a tavern you can collect magic spirit drinks, working like a single-use magic item with a cantrip-level effect.