Bastions in AL

Last updated: 2025-11-25

Introduction

Bastions were introduced in the 2024 version of the D&D 5e Dungeon Master’s Guide. Adventurers League (AL) has allowed the use of Bastions for your AL characters once they reach level 5.

Please see page 2 of ALPG v2026.2 for AL rules for Bastions.

There’s been some questions in #adventurers-league on how exactly Bastions work, so I’m summarizing it here. Note that I won’t go into too much detail as not to eliminate the need to still read the DMG.

Logs

Just like your characters, Bastions (Bastion Turns, orders, benefits, etc. ) must be fully logged.

Instructions

Read About Bastions in the Dungeon Masters Guide

The Dungeon Masters Guide includes the rules for Bastions.

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If you don’t read the rules, you cannot possibly understand how Bastions work. Only after reading about Bastions will you understand what all the information below means.

Creating Your Bastion

You can create a Bastion for your AL character once they reach level 5 (or if you create a new character at level 5). If your AL character is already past level 5, you can still create your Bastion. When you first create your Bastion, you get 20 “Build Days” for each level of your character (20 x level).

Here’s some examples:

1. You get 1 Cramped and 1 Roomy Basic Facility (like a kitchen or courtyard) for free.
2. You can spend any of your “Build Days” to add more Basic Facilities. You must also spend any gold costs (depending on the size).
3. You can spend any of your “Build Days” to enlarge your Basic Facilities. You must also pay the gold costs required to enlarge the facility. This really would only apply to your free Cramped and Roomy facilities you were granted.
4. Add your Special Facilities for free based on your character’s level.
5. You can spend gold to upgrade your Special Facilities. The gold cost is specified in the description of each Special Facility that is upgradable. Days are not required.

Once you have completed building your Bastion, any remaining “Build Days” are lost.

Mapping Your Bastion

Now that your Bastion is built. Take this opportunity to document its location and create a map. Having a map of your Bastion is not a requirement. There are some useful tools and software you can use to create your map.

• Dungeon Alchemist
• Dungeon Scrawl (with or without Roll20)
• Dungeondraft
• Paint.net
• or simply graph paper & pencil

Bastion Turns

Before each D&D AL sessions, you are allowed to take one (and only one) Bastion Turn.

ALPG v2026.2 (page 2):

Bastion Turn. You may make one Bastion turn (taking 7 days), spending 7 DT for each turn.

Later:

Each player character benefiting from an order describing their participation must spend the listed DT cost.

For AL, it is assumed that 7 days pass during your Bastion Turn. This can be used when determining how long you need to wait when adding/expanding basic facilities and crafting.

Any time you take a Bastion Turn, you must spend 7 Downtime Days for that Bastion Turn. If your player spends any time in the Bastion (meditating, short rests, long rests, etc.) you must spend the appropriate Downtime Days.

Your DM may include one turn at the beginning or end of your game session.

• If you take a Bastion Turn at the end of one game session, you cannot take a Bastion Turn at the start of your next game session. That would be two Bastion Turns between your game sessions and that is not permitted. If the DM offers, you must decline.
• If you don’t take a Bastion Turn at the end of one game session and the DM of your next game session doesn’t want to do a Bastion Turn for you, then you miss that Bastion Turn (it does not happen, 7 days have not passed).

Some Special Facilities require you to roll dice to determine some outcomes. These rolls must be in the presence of your DM.

However, many of the orders and benefits of Special Facilities don’t require rolls. I think it is reasonable that you could self-adjudicate these. Just be sure to properly log these Bastion Turns.

During your Bastion Turn, you can do the following:

Add a Basic Facility

You can add another Basic Facility to your Bastion.

1. Declare the type of Basic Facility that is being added.
2. Pay the gold cost per the DMG.
3. Wait the required number of Bastion Turns for the new facility to be complete. For example, adding a Roomy facility requires 45 days. This means you need to wait for 7 more Bastion Turns (7 turns x 7 days per turn).
4. Add it to your map.

Enlarge a Basic Facility

You can make one of your existing Basic Facilities larger.

1. Declare the Basic Facility you want to enlarge.
2. Pay the gold cost per the DMG.
3. Wait the required number of Bastion Turns for the facility to be enlarged. For example, enlarging a Cramped facility to Roomy requires 25 days. This means you need to wait for 4 more Bastion Turns (4 turns x 7 days per turn).
4. Update your map.

Add a Special Facility

When you reach certain levels (9, 13, 17), you’re given more Special Facilities. These new facilities are given to you immediately at no cost.

1. Ensure you meet any requirements for the Special Facility you want to add. Your character must continue to meet these requirements in order for this Special Facility to exist.
2. Choose your Special Facility type and add it to your Bastion.
3. Add it to your map.

Enlarge a Special Facility

You can enlarge an existing Special Facility by paying the cost. Only certain facility types can be enlarged. The cost is described in the facility description.

1. Declare the Special Facility you want to enlarge.
2. Pay the gold cost per the DMG.
3. Update your map.

Swap Special Facilities

Once per Bastion Turn, you may change one Special Facility into a different type of Special Facility. The facility being replaced cannot be in the process of completing any orders, however.

Issue Orders to Your Special Facilities

You can issue orders to your Special Facilities.

Special Facility orders cannot produce the same product twice in a row. This is on a per-facility basis, not across your entire Bastion. This definitely pertains to crafting magic items, but it may also pertain to other effects (clarity on this is pending).

If you issue the Maintain order, then no roll is done and the order always results in All is Well.

Bastion Turns, Days, and Timelines, Oh My!

Don’t try to make Bastion time make sense. You will hurt yourself.

Each time your take a Bastion Turn, 7 days pass in “Bastion Time”.

Any time you take a Bastion Turn, you must spend 7 Downtime Days for that Bastion Turn. If your player spends any time in the Bastion (meditating, short rests, long rests, etc.) you must spend the appropriate Downtime Days.

Attacks Against Your Bastion and Defenders

AL has ruled that the Maintain order will always result in an All is Well result. This means your Bastion will never be attacked. For this reason, recruiting Bastion Defenders or building walls are not necessary.

Crafting in Your Bastion

Crafting Mundane Items

Some Special Facilities in your Bastion allow crafting of mundane items, such as swords or armor. Your hirelings perform the crafting.

To craft mundane items, the following requirements must met:

• The facility must have the tool(s) required to craft the item,
• You must have enough gold to cover the cost of raw materials (50% of the normal PHB24 purchase price of the item), and
• The item must be available for purchase in the PHB24 (no firearms).

Calculate the number of Bastion Turns required to complete the crafting of your item:

• The number of days required is the normal PHB24 purchase price divided by 10.
• Divide that by 7 (7 days per Bastion Turn).
• The result (rounded up) is the number to Bastion Turns you must wait to complete your item.

For example, a 100 gp item takes 10 days to craft. This requires 2 Bastion Turns. 10 / 7 = 2 (rounded up).

To craft your item:

1. Ensure all prerequisites are met.
2. Declare the item being crafted in your Special Facility.
3. Pay the cost of raw materials.
4. Wait the required number of Bastion Turns for the item to be crafted.

Crafting Magical Items

Some Special Facilities in your Bastion allow crafting of magical items and consumables. Your hirelings perform the crafting and have the required skills to do so.

Only common and uncommon magical items from the specific tables in the DMG can be crafted. If you were hoping to craft rare, very rare, or legendary items, then you’re out of luck.

The items you craft must follow these restrictions:

• It must be in the 2024 DMG.
• It must be an item available to your AL campaign.
• It cannot be a firearm.
• It cannot include minor properties, quirks, or be sentient.
• When crafting a spell scroll, the spell must be base-level only (no upcasted spells).

If the magical item you want to craft casts spells, then you must craft the item in your Bastion instead of your hirelings. Your hirelings can assist you, however. This means:

• You must have proficiency in Arcana.
• You must have proficiency in the required tool to craft the item.
• You must have the spell prepared on your character for the entire time the item is being crafted.

Note: Magical Items that cast spells, but the spells can be chosen (such as Enspelled items), are not permitted to be crafted due to other AL rules.

To craft an item:

1. Ensure all prerequisites are met.
2. Declare the item being crafted in your Special Facility.
3. Wait the required number of Bastion Turns for the item to be crafted.

Important Notes

• Any magical items crafted are not tradable.
• These magical items count towards your magic item limit.

And please don’t cheese the system by rebuilding your character simply to meet requirements, then rebuild back. Don’t be an asshole.

Combining Bastions

AL allows for combining of Bastions during a game session. So you could theoretically allow other players to benefit from your Special Facilities. However, since the combining of Bastions lasts only for the session, long-term orders are out.

Special Facilities

I will describe here how the various Special Facilities work under AL, their benefits, and their timings. I’m not going to duplicate or eliminate the need to read the Dungeon Master’s Guide. So this is the bare minimum information.

Some assumptions I’m making here:

1. Much of what’s below assumes you’re playing mostly one-shot Adventurers League adventures. If you are playing a multi-session adventure or hardcover, these timings may need to be adjusted. Talk to your DM.

The Maintain Order

The Maintain order is a special order for your Bastion. If you don’t issue any orders to any of your Special Facilities, you may issue the Maintain order to the entire Bastion. If you issue a single order to a single Special Facility, you cannot issue the Maintain order during that same Bastion Turn.

Under AL rules, your Maintain orders will always result in All is Well.

Auto-Maintain

The DMG says that if you are away from your Bastion and cannot issue any orders, then your Bastion “acts as though it were issued the Maintain order”.

This is only if you are away and cannot communicate with your Bastion.

If you can say you’re at your Bastion during your Bastion Turn (which should be typical if you’re playing AL one-shots), there’s no need to Maintain if you don’t want to. Hardcovers and some longer-running AL series is probably where this may come up.

FAQ

Additional Bastion Options

Bastions were introduced in the 2024 version of the Dungeon Masters Guide. The following sourcebooks add additional Bastion options:

• Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun
• Eberron: Forge of the Artificer
• Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

References

1. Chapter 8: Bastions in the 2024 version of the D&D 5e Dungeon Master’s Guide
2. Under Bastions in the AL Players Guide v2026.2 📄Documents