When your adventuring party gets to a certain level, it’s time to make a home base. But what should yours be?
Every D&D party, at some point, comes across the idea of having a home base set up for them. Whether this is a party of adventurers who decide that they’d rather spend most of the time investing in, fixing up, and running a local inn and adventuring only when necessary (to protect the inn, say), or a hardcore group of dungeon delvers who have a fortified encampment semi-permanently installed on the first level of the dungeon. Every adventurer needs a place to call home.
And while the new edition has rules for making a Bastion, not every DM uses those. But nearly every DM I’ve played with is usually happy that their players want to have a space to call their own – because then there’s something to keep the party coming back. So, whether you use the Bastion rules or not, here are some great home bases in D&D that aren’t just “we run an inn.” Though, no shame to you if that’s what you want – it’s just that enough people know that one that it’s a meme.
Guildhall
The idea of an adventurer’s guild is a more recent, but common enough one that often, even people who have never played D&D know to look for an adventurer’s guild. Or a job board. There are a million different ideas for a guild; warriors guild, mages guild, thieves guild, or to look at the canonical D&D examples, Harpers, Zhentarim, Lords Alliance.
Why not make your home base your own personal guildhall. This means you can have a reason for other NPCs to come by, maybe at one point you start training up NPC followers you recruit on your adventures. Or maybe you have a wealthy patron who gives you missions. But a good guildhall has a place to sit and eat, places to train and learn, maybe a library and of course, plenty of wannabe adventurers.
Estate
Show off your party’s ostentatious wealth with a stately manor on an estate within the city of wherever you are. This is your chance to live out your Pride & Prejudice dreams in D&D. Usually this comes with some sort of noble title – maybe something you’ve been granted by a city official after saving them from goblin raids or what have you.
But a sprawling estate gives you a chance to establish yourselves within a community. You can have horses stabled, have hot baths waiting for you after your adventures, and of course, a separate dining room for each meal. Plus an excuse to have lots of parties, balls, masquerades and other such opportunities for intrigue.
An Actual Castle
A castle is a D&D classic. This is an example from early editions, when you would hit like 9th level, and you could build a keep somewhere and then just having one would attract men-at-arms, mercenaries, and other followers to your side. Plus when you have a castle, you not only have a cool place to call your own, you also have a highly defensible fortress, in case your DM starts getting ideas.
Plus, with a castle, and features like a big banquet hall, an armory and even a little barracks or so, you can start your own town. Sort of. Speaking of which…
Nature Commune
For those adventurers who are a little more primal – your Druids and Rangers and the like – these options might not be the most appealing. But that’s where a cool nature preserve and/or commune comes in handy. You can have a cool lodge to stay in, where everyone sleeps and looks out at the stars. But then your home base is like an amazing natural expanse, with a lake and maybe some people farming nearby, or doing occult stuff in the woods.
You can really flavor it any way you like. And plus this is a fun aesthetic for other non-primal PCs to dabble in.
Research Facility
Or on the opposite end of things, build yourself a “research facility.” Now, usually in D&D, this means a magical/arcane research facility. That’s probably where your mind went first, let’s be honest. It’s what I was thinking too – but you can do all sorts of magical research. Have creature tanks where you make new monsters, or study the weird egg you found.
Sure, you might end up the villains of a low level adventure, but having the option to make a cool space in your world is one way to give back to your DM, if you will. Why let the bad guys be the only ones researching the problems of the world?
Happy adventuring!
