Highlights
- Dungeons and Dragons has released a playtest for a new feature called Bastions, which introduces official rules for creating bases and strongholds in the game.
- Players can use Bastions to build and improve their home base, gain gold and magic items, and even resurrect characters who die during adventures.
- The playtest also includes changes to several cantrips, with some spells being reworked and others being nerfed. The revised rulebooks are expected to be released in 2024.
Dungeons and Dragons just released an Unearthed Arcana playtest that introduces official rules to create bases and strongholds. Called Bastions, this new gameplay subfeature will appear in the new Dungeons and Dragons rule books coming in 2024.
Last year, Dungeons and Dragons introduced One D&D, its ongoing project to revamp 5th Edition into an evergreen system. Since then, it has produced several Unearthed Arcana documents introducing updates to the core rules of Dungeons and Dragons.
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Now, Dungeons and Dragons has put out its next Unearthed Arcana playtest. The eighth in the series, this document primarily focuses on a new mechanic called Bastions. Using these optional rules, players can build, maintain, and command a home base that grows and improves as they gain levels. Bastions can look however players wish, but they all have ways to make and spend gold, obtain magic items, and use special powers to aid them on their quests. Players can even resurrect characters who die during an adventure via Bastions.
About once a week in-game, or when the DM says so, Bastions get to take a turn. Players can give orders to their various special facilities, ranging from an Arcane Study or Armory to a sacred Sanctum or a War Room. These facilities are automatically built at certain levels, and have unique actions they can take during each Bastion turn. Special facility abilities range from making items to sell or gaining Bastion Points to spend on goods and services to raising an army, scribing scrolls, or crafting useful magic items. With a bevy of new NPC hirelings to command, Bastions will also give Dungeons and Dragons players tons of roleplaying opportunities.
Though Bastions take up 21 of the 23 pages from this Dungeons and Dragons UA, the last pages of this playtest document also introduce changes to several cantrips. Spells like Blade Ward and True Strike, which fall behind the best cantrips from Dungeons and Dragons, have been completely reworked, while others like Chill Touch and Shocking Grasp have been nerfed instead.
After rigorous testing, Dungeons and Dragons is almost done with its user-friendly rulebook revisions. Players can expect a future Unearthed Arcana to introduce further tweaks to the Druid and Monk based on feedback, but Wizards of the Coast is satisfied with where many of the classes and subclasses covered in past playtests are at right now. 2024 is right around the corner, so players can expect to hear a release date for the first of these revised books soon, after which they can see the feedback they have given over the last year in action.
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Source: D&D Beyond