The New DnD Bastion System (Rules Deep Dive)

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One of the amazing things about a longterm Dungeons & Dragons campaign is seeing characters growing in power and influence. In some cases, this means building and managing physical spaces in the game world, whether it be a simple tavern or a sprawling keep. In fact, the concept of a home base actually stretches back to the earliest editions of the game and is even discussed (albeit briefly) in the 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide. Over the years, the idea has also been fleshed out in third-party DnD materials like MCDM’s Strongholds and Followers and Warlock Homebrew’s Fortresses, Temples and Strongholds.

Now, Wizards of the Coast has unveiled a new set of rules centered around building and maintaining a player’s base of operations. Known as the Bastion system, it’s officially featured for the first time in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, providing players with a place to kick back after a long hours of adventuring and offering a variety of in-game benefits.

So are Bastions worth building into your game? Below, we put together all the pieces.

What is a Bastion?

In the new DnD 2024 rules, a Bastion is a stronghold or base of operations available for players and their party. These unique sanctuaries serve as a retreat where characters rest between quests, but also come equipped with a variety of facilities and hirelings that can provide in-game benefits. Players can either run their Bastions individually or combine them to form a larger base of operations. They can also customize the size and features of their Bastions, unlocking Basic Facilities (such as a kitchen, bedroom or cellar) and Special Facilities (such as a pub, alchemy lab or meditation chamber) that provide additional benefits.

Mechanically, it’s up to players to manage their own Bastion (with DM approval), which they can do at the table or even in between play sessions. To do this, players engage in a Bastion Turn where they can issue orders to their Special Facilities (even if they’re not actually at the location). These occur every 7 days in game world time (or at the DM’s discretion), with orders broken down into seven basic actions: Craft, Empower, Harvest, Maintain, Recruit, Research and Trade. For example, issuing the “Research” order to a Pub Bastion facility can allow your hirelings to pick up useful rumors and secrets from patrons.

Bastion Events may also occur, either randomly from a table or at the DM’s discretion. This can be either harmful of beneficial. For example, an enemy force might attack a player’s Bastion. In some cases, players can also impact these events, either choosing a Bastion Event directly or canceling one out.

Notably, the rules for Bastions appear in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, but are based on Unearthed Arana material that was originally released in late 2023 as part of the One D&D playtest.

How do you get a DnD Bastion?

In the new DnD 2024 rules, whenever a character reaches Level 5 they are entitled to a Bastion. There are, however, several ways that players can actually get them, including:

• Reward: A Bastion can be awarded to a character (or a party) as a reward for successfully completing a mission or performing a particularly heroic action. For example, the local Duke may award players with a manor in the nearby village as a recognition for their defeat of the local Bugbear Chief.
• Build: Players can choose to build a Bastion from scratch. This should usually be initiated at an earlier level, so it’s ready to go when their characters hit level 5 and the DM may choose to include costs associated with its construction.
• Capture: Players may also take a Bastion for themselves after defeating an enemy. For example, players may choose to take over a local tavern after defeat the thieves guild that had previously used it as a base of operations.
• Rebuild: At the DM’s discretion, players may also choose to rebuild or fortify a particular location. For example, they could choose to rebuild an ancient temple after driving out the vampire spawn that had inhabited it.

How can you customize a Bastion?

Once a player reaches level 5 and gets a Bastion, they can then choose to customize it to suit their particular tastes and needs. In particular, players can customize the following elements in their Bastion:

• Facility Size: Each Basic Facility and Special Facility in a Bastion has three sizes: Cramped, Roomy and Vast. These are measured in 5 foot squares which can be spread out across the Bastion and reconfigured in an endless variety of shapes. A Cramped space has a maximum area of 4 squares, Roomy has a maximum of 16 squares and Vast has a maximum space of 36 squares. Notably, you can enlarge a space by spending gold and time.
• Number of Facilities: At level five a player’s Bastion starts with two basic facilities (one Cramped and the other Roomy) and two special facilities for which the character qualifies (for example, a Reliquary requires a character to be able to use a spellcasting focus). Characters can build more Basic Facilities by spending gold and time but Special Facilities can only be gained a higher levels (a character gets two more at level 9 and one more at levels 13 and 17, respectively).
• Swaping Out Special Facilities: Starting at level 6, whenever a character gains a level, they can replace one of their Bastion’s special facilities with another that the character qualifies for.
• Combining Bastions: Players can also combine their Bastions to create a much larger structure. For example, a group of four Level 5 characters could combine their Bastions together into one location. This would provide them with a total of 8 Basic Facilities and 8 Special Facilities, which the party can decide to manage individually or as a group.
• Aesthetics: Players are free to customize the look of their Bastion and facilities, choosing to spend more gold if they wish to make it look more luxurious. Notably, Wizards of the Coast has show examples of constructing a 3D version of a Bastion using the new DnD Virtual Tabletop, which could potentially allow players even more customization options.

The Potential Limitations of Bastions

Despite the appeal and in-depth mechanics, not all players are likely going to enjoy Bastion system. One of the biggest drawbacks is something that longtime RPG designer Sly Flourish recently pointed out: it’s yet another point system that players and DMs need to track. It also complicates how gold is spent, since the system is more reliant on Bastion Turns than any sort of wealth.

Timing could also be problematic for some campaigns, since each Bastion Turn takes place over a week. That could require some tricky juggling of both the narrative and the rules if players are away for long stretches of time during an adventure. And while the rules do provide more player agency, it’s ultimately still up to the DM to decide when and how Bastion construction and use can take place.

Final Thoughts

The new Bastion system seeks to codify and simplify a concept that’s been around for almost as long Dungeons & Dragons has existed. The rules really put the onus on players to manage their own Bastions and are fairly straightforward, offering unique mechanical and narrative possibilities. It remains to be seen, however, if this is something players will actively be using at the table.

You can find the complete rules for Bastions in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, which is available now on D&D Beyond and Amazon. Below is also a recent video from Wizards of the Coast which discusses Bastions in more detail.

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