Chapter 03: Bastions in Khorvaire
Source: Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
The “Dungeon Master’s Guide” contains the rules for “Bastions”, which allow characters to establish a base of operations for their adventures. This chapter adds further options for characters to establish Bastions that use Eberron’s special qualities and resources.
Mobile Bastions
The “Bastion rules” in the “Dungeon Master’s Guide” assume that characters establish their Bastions in a fixed location and that their adventures might take them away from their Bastions at times, perhaps even for long periods. But in Eberron (and perhaps other settings), characters might establish a permanent base of operations that isn’t linked to a fixed location—maybe on a sailing ship, a lightning rail cart, or even an airship. The DM decides whether to allow characters to establish a mobile Bastion, which uses the following alterations to the normal Bastion rules.
A mobile Bastion has two basic requirements: it must be built in a vehicle form, and one of its special facilities must allow for propulsion. (The Lyrandar Helm, Navigator’s Helm, and Orien Helm described in this chapter fulfill that requirement.) If multiple characters combine their Bastions into a single vehicle, each Bastion must include the same kind of special facility that allows for propulsion, and in order for the vehicle to travel, the characters must all issue the Empower order to those facilities at the same time. In this case, however, the combined Bastion can travel more than 8 hours per day; the facility hirelings can operate the vehicle in shifts. Thus, a combined Bastion with at least three Navigator’s Helm facilities can sail for 24 hours a day as the three hirelings trade off navigation in 8-hour shifts.
If characters are traveling with their mobile Bastions, they can also have encounters and face obstacles just as if they were traveling away from their Bastions. When the DM is planning “obstacles for such a journey” (as described in the “Dungeon Master’s Guide”), a potential consequence of an encounter or obstacle is the temporary loss of access to one or more of the Bastion’s facilities, including the facility that allows propulsion.
Players and the DM should work together to create a “Bastion map” that fits within the chosen vehicle. Facilities can be slightly larger or smaller than the rules in the “Dungeon Master’s Guide” specify, at the DM’s discretion, in order to fit. A mobile Bastion can’t have defensive walls.
Special Facilities
The special facilities here are presented in alphabetical order. The Special Facilities table lists those special facilities, along with their prerequisites and orders, in order of level.