A member class. Upgrade from a Paladin, Cleric, or Sorcerer at level 15 or higher by completing the Leviathan tutorial (active membership required).
The Bastion is the figure a front line forms around. Not a duelist and not a commander: a fixed point in a battle that everyone else organizes on. It walks to where the line is breaking, plants a staff, and the line stops breaking.
It is the game's apex tank, and it is nearly incapable of killing anything.
| Hit Die | d12 |
| Primary Ability | Constitution and Intelligence |
| Saving Throws | Constitution, Wisdom |
| Armor | Heavy armor and shields (granted on entry) |
| Weapons | Staffs only |
| Base class | Paladin, Cleric, or Sorcerer (level 15+) |
| Alignment | Any |
Hit Points at 1st level: 12 + Constitution modifier. At higher levels: 1d12 (or 7) + Constitution modifier per level.
Ability Score Improvements: 4, 8, 12, 16, 19 (you may take a feat instead at each).
No spellcasting, at all. Despite its divine and sorcerous origins, the Bastion casts nothing. Its whole kit is taunts and auras. Whatever it used to do, it traded away. It also suffers no armor penalty, because there is nothing left to penalize.
| Level | Prof. | Features |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | +2 | Taunt (1 target), Energy pool, Unyielding, Aegis, heavy armor & shields |
| 2 | +2 | Mending Vigil |
| 3 | +2 | Doctrine (subclass) |
| 4 | +2 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 5 | +3 | Taunt widens; Bulwark; aura rank 2 |
| 6 | +3 | Field auras unlocked |
| 7 | +3 | Doctrine feature |
| 8 | +3 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 9 | +4 | Unbroken Line; aura rank 3 |
| 10 | +4 | Taunt DC gains your proficiency bonus; Ward of the Staff; Boost unlocked |
| 11 | +4 | Taunt duration & radius step up |
| 12 | +4 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 13 | +5 | Doctrine feature; aura rank 4 |
| 14 | +5 | Situational auras unlocked |
| 15 | +5 | Immovable |
| 16 | +5 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 17 | +6 | Doctrine capstone; aura rank 5 |
| 18 | +6 | Greater Concentration |
| 19 | +6 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 20 | +6 | The Bastion |
A mechanical taunt. Forced target acquisition, not a suggestion. Enemies who fail the save must attack you.
Against equals you hold the line. Against something far above your weight you are buying seconds, unreliably, which is often exactly what the party needs.
Every aura costs an action to activate, then drains Energy every turn it stays up. That makes tanking a resource game: bank Energy for the push, or run everything at once and burn out.
| Energy pool | 100 at level 1, +10 per level (290 at 20) |
| Recharge | 5 per turn, rising to 15 per turn by level 20 |
| Drain | Minor 5/turn · Standard 10/turn · Greater 20/turn |
| Refills | 10 per long rest, plus 4 per short rest (a separate allowance), at most 2 short rests between long rests |
Aura ranks. Your auras strengthen as you level, gaining a rank every 4 levels (ranks 1–5 at levels 1, 5, 9, 13, 17).
Boost (from level 10). Any active aura can be Boosted for 1.5× effect at double drain. Running a Boosted Greater aura costs 40 Energy a turn, so it is a decision, not a default.
Concentration is everything. You concentrate on your auras, and losing concentration drops all of them at once. Crowd control is the counter to this class: stun, fear, knockdown or displacement turns a Bastion from a wall into a very well-armored statue.
| Aura | Effect | Drain |
|---|---|---|
| Aegis | AC by proximity: full bonus beside you, +1 at the edge (see below) | Greater |
| Mending Vigil | heal 2% of max HP per turn, +1% per rank (2 → 6%) | Greater |
| Bulwark | allies can't be shoved or knocked prone; +1/rank vs forced movement | Standard |
| Unbroken Line | allies resist fear and charm, +1/rank to those saves; you don't | Standard |
| Ward of the Staff | resistance to a damage type of your choice; a second type at rank 4 | Greater |
| Aura | Effect | Drain |
|---|---|---|
| Deepwade | allies swim in heavy armor; +1/rank to Swimming | Standard |
| Forced March | +5 ft speed per rank (+5 → +25) | Minor |
| Hearthward | ignore environmental extremes; each rank covers a harsher tier | Minor |
| Steady Hands | +1/rank to allies' concentration saves (never your own) | Standard |
| Rally Point | allies regroup faster after a rout | Minor |
| Aura | Effect | Drain |
|---|---|---|
| Siegewall | 2 damage reduction per rank vs siege and collapse | Greater |
| Breakwater | +1/rank vs boarding shove, deck hazards and weather at sea | Standard |
| Lantern | the square is lit and cannot be magically darkened | Minor |
| Quicksilver | +1 initiative per rank to allies who start in the aura | Minor |
| Last Stand | below half health, allies gain temp HP equal to 2% of max per rank, each turn | Greater |
Aegis is the strongest protective effect in the game and the most expensive to run, and its bonus depends on where your allies stand.
| Position | AC bonus |
|---|---|
| Adjacent to you | full value (+1 at rank 1, up to +5 at rank 5) |
| Each band further out | −1 |
| The outer edge | +1 (it never drops lower while inside) |
Allies who want real protection have to stand on top of you. Which puts the whole party exactly where you can hold for them, and exactly where area attacks hurt most.
Stacking. Where several Bastions overlap, the strongest Aegis applies in full and each additional one adds a quarter of its value, to a maximum of three auras on any one target.
Why it's this strong. A party sheltering under your Aegis loses all of it the moment you lose concentration. That makes you the correct thing for the enemy to stun, frighten, or knock down, which is the fight this class exists to invite, and to survive.
Unyielding. You also gain +3 HP per Bastion level on top of the d12. With heavy armor, a shield, and your own Aegis, no one in the game is harder to remove.
Chosen at level 3.
See Classes for the rest of the roster.
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