For any players who fancy themselves an entrepreneur or those who would like to engage in commerce on the side - talk with your DM to see if they allow the following.
What to make: By RAW a bastion order allows the Workshop Special Facility to create "1 item per bastion order... " we'll that's a bit of a downer really as there are not as many items that you can readily make profit from. Say it takes a bastion turn (technically 5 days) for the Workshop to create a heavy crossbow. It all depends on the setting as to how much you can sell it for. Most games I played in allow me to sell the item back (if in good condition) at the price indicated in the PHB - that is 50GP. At other time - half that price (25GP)... but it cost 25GP to make the crossbow in the first place so you'd make 25GP at best or at worst, break even...
To ensure that you turn a decent profit I propose that you arrange to have the Workshop hirelings work on making the "Silk" trade good worth 10 GP per lb (2024 DMG - Chapter 7: Trade Goods). As far as I can tell you're not limited to creating just 1lb of silk but you should discuss with the DM first before going further as the rest assumes that you got the all clear from the DM to do so.
In addition to the 3 hirelings that come with the Workshop Special Facility - hire 4 more hirelings at the expense of (at least) 2 GP per day (2024 PHB - Chapter 6: services-> Hirelings). I'll assume that the wage is 2GP per day for argument sake and you can do the math to match your setting to see if it's worth it. The idea is to have your hirelings make silk for the storehouse special facility to sell. The hirelings should be able to create the silk trade good at half the cost + labour that you can use the Storehouse Special Facility to "sell" at 10% profit at level 5, 20% at level 9 and 50% at level 13. The number of hirelings you should have on contract should be proportionate to the amount stock the storehouse can sell at any given bastion turn - that is to say 500 GP at level 5, 2,000 GP at level 9 and 5,000 GP at level 13.
Given the option of creating just under or over the storehouse limit, pick 1 hireling under as any surplus stock will do you no good. At level 5 you'll be paying 301 GP in costs for labour and material to create 490 GP worth of silk which will sell for 539 GP when sold for a profit of 238 GP - a far cry better than 50GP for each bastion turn.
Things to bear in mind:
This method requires DM approval at multiple stages - good luck in getting the OK for this
You should purchase the initial 500 GP worth of trade goods (doesn't have to be silk) before obtaining the bastion so that your storehouse has something to sell on the first bastion turn
You are using two Special facilities to create a profit of 238 GP a bastion turn between the levels 5-8
The DM may ask that you pay for a weaver's tool per additional hireling beyond the 3 free that comes with the Workshop Special Facility. Work with the DM to see if hirelings can work in shifts. Worse comes to worse the Weaver's tools are only 1 GP each so consider it an initial overhead cost.
DM may rain on your parade by introducing the "over supply argument" but to that I say, "poor form". China's silk industry didn't just keel over and die because other countries produce their own silk.
As a DM I would say that the workshop already has a full staff from the start and that additional Workshop workers can't be hired. The only way to get more workers would be to enlarge the Workshop.
Also, producing woven silk cloth in a pre-industrial setting is extremely labor intensive. Read up on the process. It's fascinating. Allowing the production of a single pound of silk cloth in a single bastion turn is already beyond generous.
DM may rain on your parade by introducing the "over supply argument" but to that I say, "poor form". China's silk industry didn't just keel over and die because other countries produce their own silk.
I believe that it is not poor form as oversupply is an issue. Not sure what time period you are referring to. The supply & market for a country's industry is a huge difference for a Bastion. Making a generic assumption, the Chinese silk industry couldn't supply the world because the market was the world of Billions of people.
Is the Bastion's market world wide? Is the Bastion shipping product world wide? How many people in that world? If you are not a small cog in a world wide shipping endeavor, then the over supply argument is valid.
This all just makes me think, "Why not just play a system that caters to a game that contains these things instead of shoe horning it into 5e?" https://xender.vip/
If you don’t anything else, everything is a homebrew question. I’ve been trying to get my to at least learn pathfinder, because puts so much of 5es problems into perspective, making it easier to explain why I refuse to homebrew certain things.
"In addition to the 3 hirelings that come with the Workshop Special Facility - hire 4 more hirelings at the expense of"
bastions are weird in that you basically ignore all other rules regarding hirelings and whatnot. if you want more hirelings in your bastion facility, you have to pay to expand the special facility
"DM may rain on your parade by introducing the "over supply argument""
If a month of production over-supplies your market, you have to be in a town with a population of a hundred poeple.
as for just avoiding all the possible argumetns against making money, garden gives you all the materials to make a potion of healing every 7 days. 200gold a month.
Storehose lets you buy 2kgp of stuff every 7 days and sell it at a 10% profit. so, 800 gold per month. And the stuff you buy and sell is generic "stuff", so you can't really oversupply your customers on it.
At level 9 its 5kgp of stuff and sell at 20% profit (2k gold / month)
at level 13, its 5kgp of stuff sold at 50% profit (10k gold / month)
at level 17 its 5kgp of stuff sold at 100% profit (20k gold / month)
if you just want money, make all of your special facilities be storehouses.
if you just want money, make all of your special facilities be storehouses.
You are mostly correct. Each Bastion Special Facility can only be chosen once unless their description says otherwise. The Storehouse cannot be chosen more than once. However, you can also make money using the Gaming Hall (averages 73.5 GP per 7 days), Kundarak Vault (Eberron: Forge of the Artificer), and Stable. The Gaming Hall is a bit random, but the other two are basically more Storerooms.
You are mostly correct. Each Bastion Special Facility can only be chosen once
I mean, bastions are extremely underpowered. So if a DM wanted to enforce such a petty rule, I'd suggest finding a different DM. Life is too short to play with stingy DM's. If the player wants the bastions to make money because their DM is stingy with loot, all the more reason to find a different DM. Cause that just means the DM is going to find a way to prevent the player from spending the money anyway.
I've had players build an orphanage, a soup kitchen, a doctors office, and a sailing ship. It's the most can't-break-the-game thing there is.
You are mostly correct. Each Bastion Special Facility can only be chosen once
I mean, bastions are extremely underpowered. So if a DM wanted to enforce such a petty rule, I'd suggest finding a different DM. Life is too short to play with stingy DM's. If the player wants the bastions to make money because their DM is stingy with loot, all the more reason to find a different DM. Cause that just means the DM is going to find a way to prevent the player from spending the money anyway.
I've had players build an orphanage, a soup kitchen, a doctors office, and a sailing ship. It's the most can't-break-the-game thing there is.
For any players who fancy themselves an entrepreneur or those who would like to engage in commerce on the side - talk with your DM to see if they allow the following.
What to make:
By RAW a bastion order allows the Workshop Special Facility to create "1 item per bastion order... " we'll that's a bit of a downer really as there are not as many items that you can readily make profit from. Say it takes a bastion turn (technically 5 days) for the Workshop to create a heavy crossbow. It all depends on the setting as to how much you can sell it for. Most games I played in allow me to sell the item back (if in good condition) at the price indicated in the PHB - that is 50GP. At other time - half that price (25GP)... but it cost 25GP to make the crossbow in the first place so you'd make 25GP at best or at worst, break even...
To ensure that you turn a decent profit I propose that you arrange to have the Workshop hirelings work on making the "Silk" trade good worth 10 GP per lb (2024 DMG - Chapter 7: Trade Goods). As far as I can tell you're not limited to creating just 1lb of silk but you should discuss with the DM first before going further as the rest assumes that you got the all clear from the DM to do so.
In addition to the 3 hirelings that come with the Workshop Special Facility - hire 4 more hirelings at the expense of (at least) 2 GP per day (2024 PHB - Chapter 6: services-> Hirelings). I'll assume that the wage is 2GP per day for argument sake and you can do the math to match your setting to see if it's worth it.
The idea is to have your hirelings make silk for the storehouse special facility to sell.
The hirelings should be able to create the silk trade good at half the cost + labour that you can use the Storehouse Special Facility to "sell" at 10% profit at level 5, 20% at level 9 and 50% at level 13.
The number of hirelings you should have on contract should be proportionate to the amount stock the storehouse can sell at any given bastion turn - that is to say 500 GP at level 5, 2,000 GP at level 9 and 5,000 GP at level 13.
Given the option of creating just under or over the storehouse limit, pick 1 hireling under as any surplus stock will do you no good.
At level 5 you'll be paying 301 GP in costs for labour and material to create 490 GP worth of silk which will sell for 539 GP when sold for a profit of 238 GP - a far cry better than 50GP for each bastion turn.
Things to bear in mind:
As a DM I would say that the workshop already has a full staff from the start and that additional Workshop workers can't be hired. The only way to get more workers would be to enlarge the Workshop.
Also, producing woven silk cloth in a pre-industrial setting is extremely labor intensive. Read up on the process. It's fascinating. Allowing the production of a single pound of silk cloth in a single bastion turn is already beyond generous.
I believe that it is not poor form as oversupply is an issue. Not sure what time period you are referring to. The supply & market for a country's industry is a huge difference for a Bastion. Making a generic assumption, the Chinese silk industry couldn't supply the world because the market was the world of Billions of people.
Is the Bastion's market world wide? Is the Bastion shipping product world wide? How many people in that world? If you are not a small cog in a world wide shipping endeavor, then the over supply argument is valid.
If you don’t anything else, everything is a homebrew question. I’ve been trying to get my to at least learn pathfinder, because puts so much of 5es problems into perspective, making it easier to explain why I refuse to homebrew certain things.
"In addition to the 3 hirelings that come with the Workshop Special Facility - hire 4 more hirelings at the expense of"
bastions are weird in that you basically ignore all other rules regarding hirelings and whatnot. if you want more hirelings in your bastion facility, you have to pay to expand the special facility
"DM may rain on your parade by introducing the "over supply argument""
If a month of production over-supplies your market, you have to be in a town with a population of a hundred poeple.
as for just avoiding all the possible argumetns against making money, garden gives you all the materials to make a potion of healing every 7 days. 200gold a month.
Storehose lets you buy 2kgp of stuff every 7 days and sell it at a 10% profit. so, 800 gold per month. And the stuff you buy and sell is generic "stuff", so you can't really oversupply your customers on it.
At level 9 its 5kgp of stuff and sell at 20% profit (2k gold / month)
at level 13, its 5kgp of stuff sold at 50% profit (10k gold / month)
at level 17 its 5kgp of stuff sold at 100% profit (20k gold / month)
if you just want money, make all of your special facilities be storehouses.
You are mostly correct. Each Bastion Special Facility can only be chosen once unless their description says otherwise. The Storehouse cannot be chosen more than once. However, you can also make money using the Gaming Hall (averages 73.5 GP per 7 days), Kundarak Vault (Eberron: Forge of the Artificer), and Stable. The Gaming Hall is a bit random, but the other two are basically more Storerooms.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
I mean, bastions are extremely underpowered. So if a DM wanted to enforce such a petty rule, I'd suggest finding a different DM. Life is too short to play with stingy DM's. If the player wants the bastions to make money because their DM is stingy with loot, all the more reason to find a different DM. Cause that just means the DM is going to find a way to prevent the player from spending the money anyway.
I've had players build an orphanage, a soup kitchen, a doctors office, and a sailing ship. It's the most can't-break-the-game thing there is.
I mean, bastions are extremely underpowered. So if a DM wanted to enforce such a petty rule, I'd suggest finding a different DM. Life is too short to play with stingy DM's. If the player wants the bastions to make money because their DM is stingy with loot, all the more reason to find a different DM. Cause that just means the DM is going to find a way to prevent the player from spending the money anyway.
I've had players build an orphanage, a soup kitchen, a doctors office, and a sailing ship. It's the most can't-break-the-game thing there is.
Bastions are a "free", extra on top of normal loot.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.