FOLLOWERS

Followers are people who come to pledge their service to you.

RANDOM FOLLOWER TABLES

RETAINER TABLE (DM ONLY)

ARTISANS

Artisans are individuals skilled in their specific craft. When you gain an artisan they begin construction on their own special facility. This facility does not cost you anything, but does count against the maximum number of special facilities a bastion can have. The construction takes 7 days.

Arcane Blacksmith

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Arcane Blacksmith Artisan

Space: Roomy

Hirelings: 1

Order: Craft

A skilled blacksmith is one of the most valued and useful members of any town. And a blacksmith who can forge enchanted armaments? Priceless. This Smithy contains a forge, an anvil, and other tools needed to craft weapons, armour, and other equipment. Further, the arcane blacksmith is trained in arcana and can craft magical weapons and armour.

Craft Options. When you issue the Craft order to this facility, choose one of the following options:

Craft: Smith’s Tools. The facility’s hirelings craft anything that can be made with Smith’s Tools, using the rules in the Player’s Handbook.

Craft: Magic Item (Armament). If you are level 9+, can you commission the artisan to craft a Common, Uncommon, or Rare magic item chosen by you from the Arcana, Armaments, or Implements tables in chapter 7 (DMG). The facility has the tool required to craft the item, and the hirelings have proficiency with that tool as well as proficiency in the Arcana skill. See the “Crafting Magic Items" section in chapter 7 for the time and money that must be spent to craft the item. If the item allows its user to cast any spells from it, you must craft the item yourself (the facility’s hirelings can assist), and you must have all those spells prepared every day you spend crafting the item. The cost and time required to craft the item is halved.

Commander - Commander's Office

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Commander Artisan

Space: Roomy

Hirelings: 2

Order: Recruit, Empower

The experienced soldier tired of campaigning abroad, the watch commander sick of fighting endless crime in the big city. Any commander used to command might retire their post when they hear tell of a new lord or lady with a keep or tower to defend. Like other artisans, commanders sometimes come from local villages the heroes saved. More than other artisans, the commander knows how hard an adventurer's job is. Respects them. If you saved the village from the conspiracy of lizardmen in the swamp, the local watch commander may well decide it would be better to serve you, than continue taking abuse from the town council, none of whom have ever lifted a sword. Commanders like serving characters who act, rather than deliberate.

The commander runs a special version of the Captain's Office. The Commander's Office contains an armoury and a recruiting for hiring soldiers. The commander runs a tight crew, reducing the cost of recruiting and maintaining units by 20% for the whole castle.

Recruit: Warfare Units. Each time you issue the Recruit order to this facility, you can pay the recruitment fee to gain up to two warfare units. The units can be of any ancestry, class, and armour type you have access to and start as inexperienced. The units are ready on the next Bastion Turn.

Empower: Train Units. Each time you issue the Empower order to this facility, you can train one unit you control to go from inexperienced to regular on the next Bastion Turn.

Enlarging the Facility. You can enlarge your Commander's Office to a Vast facility by spending 2,000 GP. When you do so, you can recruit an additional two units when using the Recruit order and train units up to veteran experience level when using the Empower order. You can enlarge this facility one additional time to reduce the recruitment and monthly upkeep cost of your warfare units by an additional 20%.

Farmer - Farm

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Farmer Artisan

Space: Vast

Hirelings: 5

Order: None

Build a stronghold, attract a few farmers, and pretty soon you have a village! That's how new towns get started. As carpenters harvest the trees around your stronghold, exposing fertile earth, farmers come to work the land. They bring with them trade, roads, order. Without farms and farmers, your stronghold is just a mysterious tower in the middle of the forest, little known and avoided by locals. With farmers, it's the beginning of a town. Part of the great network of civilization. The buildings, shops, and homes we associate with a village begin as a market, temporarily erected by the local farmers at the crossroads by the stronghold. From here they sell their excess production, the taxes of which benefit the lord, which benefits everyone.

When a farmer joins your bastion, they construct a farm, which in time grows a village around it. The farm with crops and domesticated animals can produce many times the food required to sustain the farmer's family. The excess is traded via carters who regularly pass through and buy and sell at the local market. Taxing this commerce provides income for the lord of the stronghold. The farm produces 2d8 X 10 GP every Bastion Turn.

A single bastion can have multiple farms if more farmers arrive.

Hunter - Hunter's Lodge

Construction Cost: None 

Prerequisite: Hunter Artisan

Space: Vast

Hirelings: 3

Order: Recruit, Empower, Research, Harvest

The Hunter's Lodge is a combination of a menagerie and a trophy room. It has a room for the trophies of countless hunts and enclosures big enough to contain up to four Large creatures. Four Small or Medium creatures can occupy the same space as one Large creature there.

Prized Trophy. In this room you can keep trophies of any specific type of creature other than humanoids (such as beasts or fiends). When you kill a creature, you can spend 10 minutes to take a trophy of it, such as its head, horns, or pelt. Your trophy room can house any number of trophies. If the CR of a trophy is equal to or greater than your level, you can select it as your prized trophy. If your level exceeds the CR of your prized trophy, it can no longer be your prized trophy.

Empower Options. When you issue the Research order to this facility, choose one of the following options:

Research: Lore. You gain the following boons against the creature type of your prized trophy until the next Bastion Turn:

• Advantage on Survival checks made to track these creatures.

• Advantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks made concerning these creatures.

• Advantage on initiative checks when you can see at least one of these creatures and that creature is hostile.

• You deal an additional 1d4 damage on attacks made against these creatures.

Research: Change Prized Trophy. Your hireling changes your prized trophy to another trophy you have in this room.

Research: Lore. You commission the facility’s hireling to research a topic of your choice. The topic can be a legend, any kind of creature, or a famous object. The topic need not be directly related to items on display in the room, as the trophies provide clues to research a wide variety of other subjects. The work finishes on the next Bastion Turn. When the research concludes, the hireling obtains up to three accurate pieces of information about the topic that were previously unknown to you and shares this knowledge with you the next time you speak with them. The DM determines what information is learned.

Recruit: Creature. When you issue the Recruit order to this facility, you commission the facility’s hirelings to add a creature from the Menagerie Creatures table to your Menagerie. The recruitment finishes on the next Bastion Turn and costs you the amount listed in the table. The hirelings look after the creature.

If you are able to bring a large or smaller creature (such as a griffon or wyvern) to your menagerie, you can house it here. Creatures above CR 3 may be able to cause problems for your menagerie.

Harvest: Hunt. When you issue the Harvest order to this facility, you can send the Hunter to attempt to capture or kill a creature (must be either a beast, monstrosity, dragon, or elemental) within 100 miles of your Bastion. It can be a specific creature you know of or any of the type. Roll 1d4+1. If the result is higher than the CR of the creature, the Hunter is successful. If not, you learn where the creature is and can try again, or make the attempt yourself.

Empower: Tame. When you issue the Empower order to this facility, you can have your hirelings begin to tame a creature there. Choose a creature in your menagerie then roll 1d10 and note the number. You can issue this order multiple times on the same creature and when the total number rolled is equal to or higher than the creature's CR times 10, it is tamed and becomes friendly to you and your allies. A friendly creature still takes up a spot in your menagerie (or in your stable if your Bastion has one).

With the DM’s consent, you can add different creatures than those shown in the Menagerie Creatures table to your Menagerie. The cost of a creature depends on its Challenge Rating, as shown on the Creature Costs by Challenge Rating table. Typically only Beasts and some Monstrosities, Dragons, and Elementals can be kept in a Menagerie, though the DM might allow other creatures.

Creature Costs by Challenge Rating

Mason - Quarry

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Mason Artisan

Space: Vast

Hirelings: 2

Order: None

A skilled mason and a reliable quarry makes it that much simpler to build a strong bastion, providing you with quality stone and resources.

When you build or enlarge a facility in your bastion, the cost you pay is reduced by 20%. If your bastion is in a castle with other bastions, they pay 10% less when building.

Miner - Mine

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Miner Artisan

Space: Vast

Hirelings: 20

Order: Harvest, Empower

If you're lucky enough to place your stronghold near a source of metal - which it turns out, you did if you attract a miner - such as a natural cave or a valley dug by an ancient river, you can extract metal near the surface. An experienced miner can survey the terrain in a moment and tell what kind of rock you're on, what kind of ore can be found underneath, and how long it will take and costly it will be to extract. They bring with them their own experienced crew and often their families. As many as twenty men and women could be working your mine by the end of the first season.

The ore extracted from your mine is valuable, and you can sell what you don't use in improving your stronghold and the weapons and armour of your units.

Harvest: Dig. When you issue the Harvest order to this facility, you instruct your artisan and hirelings to bring what precious ore they have mined to market, generating 5d10 X 10 GP.

Empower: Arm Units. Each time you issue the Empower order to this facility, you can improve the armour level of a number of units equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down).

Musician - Bard's Den

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Musician Artisan

Space: Roomy or Vast

Hirelings: 2 or 5

Order: Research, Trade, Empower

Folks come to the den to consume tasty beverages, socialize, and watch the show. The den contains a bar, coffee shop, or tea room as well as a stage, and might have a colourful name, such as the Rusty Flagon or the Dragon’s Loft. The facility’s hireling, who serves as the bartender, and the musician maintain a network of spies scattered throughout nearby communities. These spies are useful sources of information and frequent the Pub, often incognito. The musician regularly puts on shows to delight the crowd.

Empower: Theatrical Event. When you issue the Empower order to this facility, its hirelings begin work on a theatrical production or concert. Rehearsals and other preparations take until the next Bastion Turn, followed by at least 7 days of performances. The performances can continue indefinitely until a new production gets underway. You or another character can contribute to a production in the following ways:

• Composer/Writer. A character can compose music or write a script for a concert or production that hasn’t started rehearsals yet. This effort takes until the next Bastion Turn.

• Conductor/Director. A character who remains in the Bastion for the entirety of the production can serve as the concert’s conductor or the production’s director.

• Performer. A character who remains in the Bastion for the entirety of the rehearsal period can be a star performer in one or more of the performances; one of the Theater’s hirelings can serve as an understudy for additional performances.

At the end of a rehearsal period, each character who contributed to the concert or production can make a DC 15 Charisma (Performance) check. If more of these checks succeed than fail, you and any other character who contributed to the concert or production each gain a number of Theater dice equal to half your proficiency bonus. The die starts as a d6 and changes to a d8 when you reach level 13 and a d10 when you reach level 17. At any point after the rehearsals end, a character can expend their Theater die to roll it and add the number rolled to one D20 Test they make, immediately after rolling the d20. If a character hasn’t expended their Theater die before gaining another, their first die is lost.

Bard's Den Charm. After spending a Long Rest in your Bastion, you gain a magical Charm that lasts until you use it. You can expend the Charm as a bonus action to give yourself one Heroic Inspiration and one Theater die (as described above). You can’t gain this Charm again while you still have it.

Research: Information Gathering. When you issue the Research order to this facility, you commission the Den’s bartender to gather information from spies who are aware of all important events happening within 20 miles (or the local region) of your Bastion until the next Bastion Turn. During that time, these spies can divulge the location of any creature that is familiar to you, provided the creature is within 50 miles of your Bastion and not hidden by magic or confined to a location that the DM deems is beyond the spy network’s ability to locate. If the spies learn the target’s location, they also learn where that creature has been since the previous Bastion Turn.

Trade: Happy Hour. When you issue the Trade order to this facility, the Den’s bartender focuses their efforts on attracting patrons, and you earn 3d6 x 10 GP. A vast pub generates 6d6 x 10 GP

Enlarging the Facility. You can enlarge your Pub by spending 5'000 GP. If you do so, the Den gains the Den Special. You can enlarge once more to make your Den vast and to have two magical beverages from the Den Special list on tap at a time. A Vast Den gains three additional hirelings, for a total of five. These new hirelings are servers. Assign names and personalities to them as you see fit.

Den Special. The Den has one magical beverage on tap, chosen from the options below:

• Bigby’s Burden. Drinking a pint of this beverage grants you the “enlarge” effect of an Enlarge/Reduce spell that has a duration of 24 hours (no saving throw allowed).

• Kiss of the Spider Queen. Drinking a pint of this beverage grants you the effect of a Spider Climb spell that has a duration of 24 hours.

• Moonlight Serenade. Drinking a pint of this beverage gives you Darkvision out to 60 feet for 24 hours. If you already have Darkvision, its range is extended by 60 feet for the same duration.

• Positive Reinforcement. Drinking a pint of this beverage gives you Resistance to Necrotic damage for 24 hours.

• Sterner Stuff. For 24 hours after drinking a pint of this beverage, you automatically succeed on saving throws to avoid or end the Frightened condition.

At the start of a Bastion turn, you can switch to one of the other options. Your DM may create new options. A pint of this magical beverage loses its magic 24 hours after it’s poured.

Scribe - Master Scriptorium

Construction Cost: None 

Prerequisite: Scribe Artisan

Space: Roomy

Hirelings: 1

Order: Craft

A Scriptorium contains desks and writing supplies.

Craft Options.  When you issue the Craft order to this facility, choose one of the following options:

Craft: Book Replica. You commission the facility’s hireling to make a copy of a nonmagical Book. Doing so requires a blank book. The finishes on the next Bastion Turn.

Craft: Spell Scroll. You commission the facility’s hireling to scribe a Spell Scroll containing one Cleric, Warlock, or Wizard spell of level 4 or lower. The facility has the necessary Calligrapher’s Supplies, and the hireling meets all the prerequisites needed to scribe the scroll. The “Crafting Equipment” section in the Player’s Handbook specifies the time needed to scribe the scroll and the cost of the scroll. The time and cost of the scroll (which you must pay) is half as much when issuing this order.

Craft: Paperwork. You commission the facility’s hireling to create up to fifty copies of a broadsheet, a pamphlet, or another loose-leaf paper product. The work finishes on the next Bastion Turn and costs you 1 GP per copy. At no additional cost in time or money, the facility’s hireling can distribute the paperwork to one or more locations within 50 miles of your Bastion.

Spy - Den of Ill Repute

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Spy Artisan

Space: Roomy or Vast

Hirelings: 4 or 7

Order: Research, Trade, Empower

The Den of Ill Repute offers recreational activities and beverages to folks of all sorts. The important thing is that what happens in the Den of Ill Repute, stays in the Den of Ill Repute.

The den contains a bar, coffee shop, or tea room as well as tables for gambling and games, and might have a colourful name, such as the Rusty Flagon or the Dragon’s Loft. The spy, who serves as the proprietor, maintains a network of spies scattered throughout nearby communities. These spies are useful sources of information and frequent the Den, often incognito.

Trade: Gambling Hall. When you issue the Trade order to this facility, the facility’s hirelings turn the Den of Ill Repute into a gambling den until the next Bastion Turn. You then roll 1d100 and consult the following table to determine your portion of the house’s winnings.

Research: Information Gathering. When you issue the Research order to this facility, you commission the Den’s proprietor to gather information from spies who are aware of all important events happening within 20 miles (or the local region) of your Bastion until the next Bastion Turn. During that time, these spies can divulge the location of any creature that is familiar to you, provided the creature is within 50 miles of your Bastion and not hidden by magic or confined to a location that the DM deems is beyond the spy network’s ability to locate. If the spies learn the target’s location, they also learn where that creature has been since the previous Bastion Turn.

Trade: Happy Hour. When you issue the Trade order to this facility, the Den’s bartender focuses their efforts on attracting patrons, and you earn 3d6 x 10 GP. A vast pub generates 6d6 x 10 GP

Enlarging the Facility. You can enlarge your Pub by spending 5'000 GP. If you do so, the Den gains the Den Special and you roll on the table above twice when issuing the Trade order to this facility. You can enlarge once more to make your Den vast and to have two magical beverages from the Den Special list on tap at a time. A Vast Den gains three additional hirelings, for a total of seven. These new hirelings are servers. Assign names and personalities to them as you see fit.

Den Special. The Den has one magical beverage on tap, chosen from the options below:

• Bigby’s Burden. Drinking a pint of this beverage grants you the “enlarge” effect of an Enlarge/Reduce spell that has a duration of 24 hours (no saving throw allowed).

• Kiss of the Spider Queen. Drinking a pint of this beverage grants you the effect of a Spider Climb spell that has a duration of 24 hours.

• Moonlight Serenade. Drinking a pint of this beverage gives you Darkvision out to 60 feet for 24 hours. If you already have Darkvision, its range is extended by 60 feet for the same duration.

• Positive Reinforcement. Drinking a pint of this beverage gives you Resistance to Necrotic damage for 24 hours.

• Sterner Stuff. For 24 hours after drinking a pint of this beverage, you automatically succeed on saving throws to avoid or end the Frightened condition.

At the start of a Bastion turn, you can switch to one of the other options. Your DM may create new options. A pint of this magical beverage loses its magic 24 hours after it’s poured.

Tailor

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Tailor Artisan

Space: 

Hirelings: 3

Order: None

A tailor's job is literally to make you look good. They are experts in fashion and keep up to date on all the latest trends, not just in clothing but also style and taste and manners. Having a tailor in your retinue means you not only look good, but you also know how to act, know better how to create the reactions you're looking for in your allies and your enemies. Subtle changes to appearance and behavior act as a force multiplier for your natural charisma. Not every regent yearns for a good tailor. The barbarian considers such finery a sign of the corrupt and decadent cancer men call civilization. But many rulers consider a good tailor a necessity.

Tailor's Charm. After spending a Long Rest in your Bastion, you gain a magical Charm that lasts until you use it. As a reaction to making a Charisma-based skill check, you can expend the Charm to replace the number rolled on the D20 Test with a 12 (before adding bonuses). You can’t gain this Charm again while you still have it.

Witch - Witch's Hut

Construction Cost: None

Prerequisite: Witch Artisan

Space: Roomy

Hirelings: 1

Order: Craft

A Witch's Hut seems akin to something between a garden, a laboratory, and your grandmother's house. It contains an enclosure where rare plants and fungi are nurtured in a controlled climate and a laboratory. This room comes equipped with alchemist's supplies, a poisoner's kit, and an herbalism kit that are all inherently part of its architecture. As such, each of these sets of tools is always considered to be present here.

Fruit of Restoration. One plant in your Witch's Hut has three magical fruits growing on it. Any creature that eats one of these fruits gains the benefit of a Lesser Restoration spell. Fruits that aren’t eaten within 24 hours of being picked lose their magic. The plant replaces all picked fruits daily at dawn, and it can’t be transplanted without killing it.

Craft Options. When you issue the Craft order to this facility, choose one of the following options:

Craft: Alchemist’s Supplies. The facility’s hireling crafts anything that can be made with Alchemist’s Supplies, Poisoner's Kit, or Herbalism Kit using the rules in the Player’s Handbook.

Craft: Healing Potion. You commission the facility’s hireling to create a Potion of Healing (greater) made from healing herbs. The work finishes on the next Bastion Turn and costs no money.

Craft: Poison. You commission the facility’s hireling to extract one application of a poison from rare plants or fungi. Choose the type of poison from the following options: Assassin’s Blood, Malice, Pale Tincture, Truth Serum, Burnt Othur Fumes, Essence of Ether, or Torpor. Once harvested, the poison can be contained in a vial. The work finishes on the next Bastion Turn and costs no money.

DIPLOMATS & AMBASSADORS

The ruler's of a nearby culture have taken an interest in you and your demesne, and they want an alliance. That may, of course, take some time. But in the meantime, you gain an ambassador! Ambassadors are representatives of some realm, government, or organisation. Their goal is eventually to broker some accord, either officially or unofficially, but for now they are happy simply having a representative in your stronghold who can advise you and pave the way for an eventual alliance.

Ambassadors allow you to hire units from their ancestry. When creating or being awarded a unit, you can choose to make that unit come from the ancestry of the diplomat.

Ambassadors allow you to hire units with special traits. When creating or being awarded a unit of the diplomats ancestry, it can gain additional special traits.

ALLIES

You might end up rolling on the Special Allies chart based on your alignment and attract something really interesting like a black dragon or a sphinx! Or a stone giant!

Unlike followers, allies don't actually work for you, as they are often way more powerful than your character. You can't give them orders and expect them to obey. But they are interested in helping you. They are local personalities who've been watching your development, they approve, and they arrive interested in doing you a favour.

SOLDIERS AND UNITS

Soldiers hired by the stronghold are formed into a unit. Each unit is collectively maintained and work together during warfare.

See Warfare for a more thorough explanation of units.

Recruiting and Attracting Units

Units are recruited most easily through the special facility Captain's Office. They can also be formed manually by Cs or by talking to people with the authority to gather soldiers.

You may also attract a unit when you roll on your follower table.

Additionally, if available, you can hire (buy) units for their unit cost. This can be through gathering and arming local supporters or gaining their services through an allied force. To do this, it is necessary to have a source of soldiers and that this source is not depleted. Units created in this way are not mercenaries. Each month, you can form a number of units from your domain equal to the maximum number of special facilities you can have at your level.

Individuals of the Unit. While a unit is collectively defined, they also have an associated statblock used by its individual soldiers.

Unit Cost and Upkeep

Upkeep. A unit's monthly upkeep is affected by its type, experience level, and armour. The cost to hire a unit is 10 times its upkeep. A Captain's Office can be upgraded to reduce the cost and upkeep of all units by 20%. The upkeep cost includes wages, maintenance of gear, etc. A unit that is not paid rolls morale checks with disadvantage for the first month since last pay, and disbands 2 months after its last pay. See Warfare for how unit cost is calculated.

Mercenaries. Mercenaries are a temporary unit you can hire. They are easier to hire than normal units and fight for you as long as their upkeep is paid. The cost and upkeep of mercenaries is doubled. Mercenaries are hired on a monthly basis and (hopefully) leave afterwards.