Bastions of
the Black

What is a Bastion? Overview

A Bastion is a location that belongs to your character: a base, stronghold, ship, hideout, temple, tower, keep, or other seat of power. It offers refuge from adventuring and gives access to crafting bonuses, harvesting, defenders, hirelings, buffs, and story events.

Building & Costs Construction

Basic Facility Build Costs

Upgrading Facility Rank

Hirelings Core Rules

If the basic or special facility you just built needs a hireling, it provides the first one for free. If you upgrade a facility from Roomy to Vast, you get up to two additional hirelings for free upon completion. After that, new hirelings must be purchased.

This is a one-time expense that covers salary and upkeep going forward. You must pay this cost even if the hireling is an NPC invited to your Bastion during or after an adventure.

Cost Reductions

• Charisma: 13+ = –25%, 15+ = –50%, 17+ = –75%, 19+ = free. Magic items count.
• Disguise Kit: Proficient = –10%; Expertise = –25%.
• Costs cannot be reduced below 0.
• Combined Bastion: Share half your reduction with allies. Only the highest shared reduction applies.

Moving Hirelings

You can move a hireling from any basic or special facility to another within your Bastion as long as the facilities are the same rank. If moving a hireling into a higher-ranked room, pay the cost difference. If your total reduction is 100% or more, moving them is free.

1. At the start of your Bastion Turn, hire new hirelings, move existing hirelings, or upgrade them.
2. Roll your Individual Bastion Turn event.
3. After rolling, you cannot hire new hirelings until your next Bastion Turn.
4. You may still move or upgrade existing hirelings until the beginning of your next Bastion Turn.

Hirelings cannot be lent. If a non-Acolyte hireling is given to another player for roleplay purposes, that player treats the hireling as a new acquisition and pays the normal cost each time the hireling changes hands.

Acolytes as Hirelings

If you have an Acolyte, they can work as a hireling as long as they meet the facility prerequisites. Acolytes work for free and can work in a room up to one rank above their own. If an event would kill or lose your Acolyte, they cannot work in any facility until the beginning of your next Individual Bastion Turn.

Bastion Turns Core Rules

There are two kinds of Bastion Turns: Monthly Bastion Turns and Individual Bastion Turns.

• Monthly Bastion Turn: Happens on the first day of every real-life month and is rolled by a Dungeon Master.
• Individual Bastion Turn: Happens when a DM calls for it during or immediately after a quest or dungeon. You do not get one every quest unless the DM calls for it.

Combined Bastions Core Rules

• Up to six players can combine their Bastions.
• Players in a Combined Bastion can share all facilities.
• You can only benefit from passive bonuses of someone else's facilities.
• When you initiate a Bastion Order, it only affects you and your Bastion, not other players.
• Bastion hirelings and defenders cannot be lent or given, except for the roleplay exception under Moving Hirelings.
• Bastion Defenders can be temporarily deployed to block an attack or lift a siege.

Defending Your Bastion Combat

You cannot be attacked until you have at least four facilities in your Bastion. If an attack event happens before then, the enemy ignores you.

Barracks, Graveyards, and Menageries let you hire or house Defenders. Some events can grant extra Defenders, such as Mercenary Guest, Ronin, or Duel to the Death. Hiring Defenders from a Barracks does not cost gold, but other events and facilities might.

Bastion combat works by rolling a Defender's combat die. If the roll is 3 or lower, the Defender dies but successfully kills their adversary. This can be improved by Battlements or an Armory. Barracks and Graveyard Defenders normally use a d6, beasts may range from d6 to d12, and Knights use d12.

You may sacrifice Battlements to repel an attack, or release a Friendly Monster if you have one. Repelling an attack by destroying Battlements or a similar defense grants no reward.

Siege weapons block a set number of attackers or deal damage during an Invasion. Ballistas kill 6 attackers or deal 3d10. Catapults kill 8 attackers or deal 10d6. Cannons kill 16 attackers or deal 8d10.

Fall of a Bastion Core Rules

Monthly Bastion Events Events

Individual Bastion Events Events

Basic Facilities D-Rank

Basic facilities are available to all Bastions starting at D-Rank. You may have one of every Basic Facility type unless a rule states otherwise.

Barracks

Sleeping quarters for your Bastion Defenders.

OrderRecruit: Recruit up to 4 Bastion Defenders.

Bedroom

Long resting in your Bastion grants 1d4 + Constitution Modifier maximum HP, plus an additional 1d4 per rank above D.

Dining Room

Hireling Capacity: 1 Roomy, 3 Vast.

Dining here grants Temporary Hit Points equal to 1d4 + Constitution Modifier. For each rank above D, gain an additional 1d4 Temporary Hit Points. You can share this facility with your Combined Bastion, but a player only receives the Temp HP appropriate to their own rank. A Cramped Dining Room serves 1, Roomy serves 4, and Vast serves 9.

Kitchen

Hireling Capacity: 1 Roomy, 3 Vast.

The Kitchen is where the magic happens. If you possess the Chef Feat, you may gain Expertise in Cooking checks made within this facility.

OrderLet's Cook! If at least one cook assists you, gain Advantage on crafting treats of the kitchen's rank or lower. In a Vast Kitchen with three hirelings, a successful treat craft creates 1d6 extra treats.

Parlor

Hireling Capacity: 1 Roomy, 3 Vast.

OrderParle: As long as you are the same rank as the facility and have one hireling to talk to, a short rest in the Parlor grants Heroic Inspiration. You can chat with anyone, including hirelings in other facilities.

Shop

Hireling Capacity: 1 Roomy, 3 Vast.

A Shop is a dedicated business space for selling trade goods and items in the Discord Server's Market channel. Without this, you cannot start one. You can share it with a number of players equal to the amount of hirelings dedicated to this facility.

Storage

Hireling Capacity: 1 Cramped, 3 Roomy.

Storage allows you to store equipment while adventuring. Storage can only contain items equal to or lower than its rank. Cramped stores 2 categories, Roomy stores 5, and Vast stores all categories. If destroyed, you lose access to equipment until fixed.

OrderStore: Store and withdraw goods or equipment any number of times.

Categories: Herbs; Weapons/Ammunition; Armour/Clothing; Potions; Leathers/Scrolls/Weaves; Metals; Jewellery/Gemstones; Stones/Wood; Perishables; Adventuring Equipment; Hazardous Materials.

Well Room

A reliable water source for defenders, hirelings, and crafters.

OrderFresh Water: Each size increases the number of Special Facilities that remain operational during a siege, up to 3. A Vast Well Room extends these benefits to your Combined Bastion.

Battlements

Battlements must be equal to your rank to function.

OrderMount Defenses: Repel attackers and reduce Defender deaths.

Repel Attackers: If all Defenders are killed, sacrifice Battlements to push attackers back. Destroyed walls must be rebuilt.

Reduce Defender Death: Defenders normally die on 3 or lower. This reduces the threshold by 1; Vast Battlements can make defenders die only on a 1. Applies to all Defenders, including knights, undead, and beasts.

OrderRebuild: 500g per rank above C; D-Rank is free. Issue three times to fully rebuild. Alternatively pay 5× the cost to complete by the next Individual Bastion Turn.

Harvestarium

Hireling Capacity: 1 Cramped, 3 Roomy.

Choose a specialization when building: Fertile Soil, Quarries, Mines, Hunter's Lodge, Pasturelands, or Black Forest.

OrderHarvest: When you gain a Reward, roll once on a specialization table for 1d4–1, minimum 1, materials at a rank three lower than the facility. Once per Individual Bastion Turn.

OrderRespecialize: Pay 500g and issue this order three times to change one specialization.

Humble Exterior

Requirements: No Armory, Battlements, Siege Workshop, or War Room, and no more than one Barracks.

You treat the Individual Event Surprise Attack! and Monthly Event Siege as Nothing Happens. If you have a Vast Bedroom, you can house five hirelings in reserve. This facility must be at least your rank to function.

Special Facilities Rules

Special Facilities grant specialized bonuses, crafting benefits, adventuring buffs, and special Bastion Orders. You cannot build more Special Facilities than you have slots.

Each Special Facility has a required rank and may also have prerequisites. At any time, you can immediately destroy an unwanted Special Facility for no cost or time. A replacement facility starts from scratch.

Special Facility Build Costs

Rank C Facility Requirements

Rank C Rooms Special

Rank B Rooms Special

Rank A Rooms Special

Rank S Rooms Special

Guild List Guildhall

Reward Tables Rewards

Roll on the table corresponding to your rank, if applicable. If the table has no rank, the reward is equal to your rank. If you do not have a Harvestarium, roll on the General Reward Table first when an event grants a Reward. You only get one reward unless you roll meat or blood, which grants five.

General Reward Table