D&D: ‘Unearthed Arcana 8’s Bastion System Puts the “Base” in “Basic”
One D&D’s new Bastion System, introduced in Unearthed Arcana 8, promises a base of operations for your adventurers, alongside meager rewards.
In the surprise Unearthed Arcana 8, WotC introduced the Bastion system. This is a basebuilding guide for players that hearkens back to the best part of 2nd Edition D&D: hitting a high enough level that your character can build a fortress/castle/wizard’s tower and start attracting a and of NPC followers.
PCs establishing permanent fixtures in the world is a huge deal. It not only encourages buy-in to the game but also gives player characters goals to work towards independent of the DM’s plot. And the new Bastion system plays into that idea.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen base construction in D&D 5th Edition. Acquisitions Incorporated added mechanics for this. The monumentally successful Strongholds and Followers book did this and broke Kickstarter records while doing so. Bastions are WotC’s hat, thrown into the ring. And owing to the nature of WotC’s footprint might be the one most players encounter.
Strongholds and Followers might have more depth, but Bastions still have a fair bit to offer. Let’s dive in and take a look.
Bastions and Bases
First of all, let’s go over the basics. Bastions are structures that your player character gets, either via inheritance or as a reward, or whatever, when that character hits 5th level. A 5th level Bastion is the character’s first mark on the world, and is a nice symbol of the campaign hitting a new stride.
Your Bastion can take many forms. Ultimately you’ll have a handful of basic rooms like bedrooms, kitchens, living areas, and the like. But the real meat of the Bastion system comes from its Special Facilities. These are special-purpose rooms that not only give your Bastion new flavor and potentially a touch of magic, but they also confer mechanical, in-game benefits.
At 5th level, a character has limited options to pick from but gets 2 special facilities added to their Bastion at no cost. Then every four levels after that, (9th, 13th, and 17th) they gain two new facilities. Each character can have its own base, so in theory, your party can coordinate to make sure a wide variety of Bastion options are available to the whole group.
Each of the special facilities can help confirm the theme of a character. A Wizard or Bard might pick up an Archive that is capable of researching any creature. Or a Laboratory capable of brewing up potions and poisons. While your Cleric might pick a Sanctuary or Sacristy for empowered Holy Water. And while some special facilities are “soft-locked” to classes—some require a Fighting style or the ability to use an Arcane or Druidic focus, or a Holy Symbol—it’s not hard to finagle your way into it.
The best part of the Bastion system is in these special facilities. They give characters a lot more character. Suddenly your Wizard isn’t just throwing fireballs, they’re researching ancient texts. And you have hirelings that you’re instructed to give names and personalities to.
What’s the Points
However, Bastions play another role in any campaign that uses them. They also confer “Bastion Points”. These are a pool of points for each character, usually generated in batches of d4s. These can be spent to give yourself advantage on Charisma checks as long as you’re within 50 miles of your Bastion. Or you can spend 100 Bastion points to come back to life. Or, most likely, you can spend them on a single magic item when your character gains a level.
Within reason, of course.
And this is a sort of passive thing for Bastions to do. Usually, if you’re earning Bastion points, it’s because your special facilities are either dormant (taking the Maintain order) or you’re away from the confines of your Bastion. So there’s still a feeling of something happening while you’re gone.
And honestly, it’s not bad. It feels like there’s perhaps another way to make your Bastion more a part of your life while you’re away on an adventure, but giving players a way to earn magic items isn’t a bad idea.
We’ll take a closer look at some of the special facilities soon. In the meantime, get ready to start your own Stardew Valley in D&D.
