Building Bhakashal - Weapons and Combat!

One of the features of Bhakashal that is best explained through example is the variety and impact of weapon choice. Weapons are meant to be different and to give players tactically meaningful options. Years of unsatisfying “you hit for dX damage” led to a design where the weapons you pick help to define your tactical choices, and all weapons bring something different to the table. This can be most clearly seen by combat between two unequal, but closely matched foes. 

Bhakashal is built on the premise that small, cumulative modifiers add up to significant advantages/disadvantages. When a combatant tries to strike, there are a number of modifiers in play:

“Fixed” Modifiers

Attack Modifier  - every class gets a level based attack bonus. Martial classes get the largest bonus, +1/2 levels, e.g. a 5th level mercenary (fighter) gets +2 to hit (5/2 round down).

Proficiency Modifier - all classes can forgo an extra weapon when they gain a proficiency slot, gaining a +1/+1 with an existing weapon. Only martial classes can stack these bonuses, and not at first level.

Magic Modifier - if the combatant has a “+X” magic weapon, then they get +X to hit, +X to damage with that weapon

These bonuses can change, but not for the most part during combat, so they are deemed “fixed”. They are totalled and listed on the character sheet after the weapon name, + to hit/ + to damage, e.g,. “Battle Axe [+4/+2]” 

Variable Modifiers

WvrsAC Modifier- weapons get variable bonuses/penalties based on the armor of their target, mods are given for wearing no armor, leather armor or metal armor. WvrsAC is listed with the weapon entry, e.g,. “WvrsAC:  -1M/+2L/+3N”, with “M” for metal armor, “L” for leather armor and “N” for no armor.

Situational Modifier- attacking from behind, from high ground, by charging, while blinded, etc. all carry situational modifiers

Armor Class Modifier- Bhakashal uses descending AC, and the AC of the target is added directly to the “to hit” roll

There is only one attack table in Bhakashal, all bonuses apply to it. 

Attack Table (d20)

1-14 - miss

15-19 - hit for ½ damage

20-24- hit

25+ critical hit

The Combatants

This sample combat takes two typical low level characters, both fighters, and pits them against each other. They are close in level and stats with the main difference being their weapons.

Broggak the Bold - 3rd level mercenary (fighter)

AC: 7 (breastplate/greaves - metal), HP: 14

Weapons: 

Battle Axe [+4/+2] - 1-8/1-8, 4,  WVAC -2M/+1L/+2N - Cleave

Crossbow [+3/+1] - 2-5/2-5, WS: 4, ROF: 1, Range: 6/12/18, WvrsAC: -1M/+2L/+3N - Remain

Mace [+3/+1] - Mace - 2-7/1-6, WS:4, WvAC: +2M/+3L/+4N - Bludgeon

Broggak is third level, so he gets a +2 to hit attack bonus, he gets 4 initial weapon slots, he takes 3 weapons (battle axe, crossbow and mace) and gets a +1/+1 with one weapon (the crossbow). He also gets +1/+1 from his STR on his melee weapons. When he gets to 3rd level he takes a +1/+1 on the battle axe rather than a new weapon. 

Sayle Rokshir - 2nd level Mercenary

AC: 4 (Chain - metal)

HP: 10

Weapons:

Spear [+3/+2]- 1-6/1-8, WS: 4, WvrsAC: -1M/+1L/+3N - Set Against Charge/Dismount/Stab/Sweep

Longsword [+3/+2]- 1-8/1-12, WS: 3, WvrsAC: -1M/+1L/+3N - Remain/Stab

Dagger - [+3/+2] - 1-4/1-3 ,WS: 1, WvrsAC: -2M/+1L/+3N - Dual Wield/Remain/Stab

Crossbow - [+2] - 2-5/2-5, WS: 4, ROF: 1, Range: 6/12/18, WvrsAC: -1M/+2L/+3N - Remain

Sayle is 2nd level so gets a +1 attack bonus. Her STR is 13 and gives a +2/+2 on all melee weapons. Sayle has 4 weapons so gets no proficiency bonuses. Her DEX is 10 and gives a +1/+1 on missile weapons

Broggak is in the forest near the hideout being used by Sayle’s party. Sayle is on watch and walking the grounds, Broggak decides to try for a lucky shot when she is at the furthest point in her watch from the hideout, and if it doesn’t succeed, to charge the warrior and hopefully overwhelm her before she can raise the alarm

The referee rolls for surprise, Broggak rolls a 4, Sayle rolls a 2, and is surprised.

Broggak gets one shot before Sayle can react. He waits until she has passed by and her back is to him to shoot. 

Modifiers - Broggak’s Crossbow

Weapon (ability, attack, proficiency, magic): +3

Situational: +2 from behind

WvrsAC: -1 against metal armor

Armor Class: +4 (Sayle’s AC)

Total Modifiers:  +8

Broggak rolls a 10 +8 = 18

Attack Table (d20)

1-14 - miss

15-19 - hit for ½ damage

20-24- hit

25+ critical hit

So that’s a half damage hit.

Broggak rolls a d4+1 and gets 3 hp damage, halved to 1 hp, +1 hp damage for the crossbow. Sayle takes 2 hp damage, reducing her to 8 hp, in this case a minor wound. 

Ref - “a crossbow twangs from the dark and clips your shoulder, sending a sharp flare of pain down your arm”

Surprise is done, now initiative:

Broggak drops his crossbow and charges with his battle axe. Sayle views Broggak and considers taking out her crossbow, but opts instead to take out her spear. On charge, longest weapon strikes first. Sayle decides to plant the spear against Broggak’s charge. The spear gives Sayle a 1 point AC bonus, and the charge gives Broggak a 2 point AC penalty (and +2 to hit)

Broggak closes the distance in seconds and attacks second as Sayle’s spear is longer.

Sayle has the following bonuses:

Modifiers - Sayle’s Spear

Weapon (ability, attack, proficiency, magic): +3

Situational: /

WvrsAC: -1 against metal armor

Armor Class: +9 (Broggak charging, 2 point AC penalty) 

Total Modifiers:  +11

Sayle rolls a 15, +11 equals 26, so a critical hit!

Sayle opts for a weapon critical, double damage.

She rolls a d6 for base damage and gets a 3, x2 = 6 +2 for her damage bonus with the spear for a total of 8 hp damage, reducing Broggak to 6 hp, which is less than half, so the referee turns over a Jack and Broggak takes a 1 point penalty on everything until healed. 

Ref - “Broggak charges across the distance from the woods, his axe pulled back for a full force swing, Sayle plants her spear and positions it such that it catches Broggak on the right, he screams as the spearhead takes a chunk out of his arm.

Broggak now gets to return the attack with an axe blow

Modifiers - Broggak’s Axe

Weapon (ability, attack, proficiency, magic): +4

Situational: +1 (Broggak charging, +2 bonus to hit, Jack overturned, -1 to hit)

WvrsAC: -2 against metal armor

Armor Class: +3 (1 point AC bonus from spear reduces Sayle’s AC from 4 to 3) 

Total Modifiers:  +6

Broggak rolls a 7 + 6 = 13, a miss! Broggak decides that he needs this hit, so he spends 2 hp, reducing his HP to 4, pushing himself hard, that makes it a 15, a half damage hit. Broggak rolls a d8, gets a 3, halved to 1, +2 damage from the axe for a total of 3 hp damage. Sayle is now reduced from 8 hp to 5, exactly half, so no penalties.

Ref - “Broggak pulls away from the gash in his arm made by Sayle’s spear and swings his battle axe, she manages to almost dodge the swing, but Broggak brings the axe down just enough to catch her shoulder, spraying blood into the air”

“That’s your last lucky shot” she sneers.

New Round

Initiative is rolled.

Broggak is below half HP and has a Jack turned up, so he takes a 1 point penalty on initiative. However, Sayle wears chain mail, so takes a 1 point initiative penalty, these cancel each other out. 

Broggak chooses to use his axe again, Sayle drops her spear and takes out her longsword and dagger to dual wield, drawing weapons takes a segment, so gives a 1 point initiative penalty.

Broggak rolls a 3 + 4 (weapon speed) + 1 (Jack overturned) = 8

Sayle rolls a 1 + 1 (penalty) +3 for the longsword (highest weapon speed applies) = 5

Sayle goes first.

The dual wielding critical ability of the dagger works as follows: 

Weapon gives a 1 point AC bonus. On a miss or a 1/2 damage hit by the primary weapon, the secondary weapon is assumed to be blocking, a regular damage hit does regular damage, a critical hit allows both weapons to hit that round and gives a single critical effect

Modifiers - Sayle’s Longsword

Weapon (ability, attack, proficiency, magic): +3

Situational: none

WvrsAC: -1 against metal armor

Armor Class: +8 (1 point AC penalty on Broggak as a Jack is overturned)

Total Modifiers:  +10

Sayle rolls a 12 +10 = 22, a hit!

Longsword does 1-8 damage, Sayle rolls a 5 +2 = 7 hp damage, Broggak only has 6 hp remaining, and goes down.

Broggak’s player decides that he wants to avoid going down, and chooses to take a broken limb as a consequence to get above 0 hp.

The referee rolls a d8 and gets a 2, left arm. Fortunately Broggak is right handed. So Broggak now has a broken left arm, -6 to hit with that arm, but he is at 1 hp. Since this was the second blow that occurred below half hp, Broggak is given a Queen and takes a -2 penalty on everything until healed.

Ref - “Sayle circles Broggak after he tagged her on the shoulder, she feints and misses as if too damaged to attack, Broggak gets closer and she brings the sword back across for a vicious slashing blow, it bites deep into Broggak’s arm, and Sayle is rewarded by a sickening ‘snap’ as his arm breaks.”

Broggak now gets his attack. 

Modifiers - Broggak’s Axe

Weapon (ability, attack, proficiency, magic): +4

Situational: -2 (Queen overturned)

WvrsAC: -2 against metal armor

Armor Class: +3 (as the last hit was not a critical, Sayle’s dagger gives a 1 point AC bonus)

Total Modifiers:  +3

Broggak has no HP to spend to improve the roll and has no situational advantages, so at this point it’s all luck and some skill. He rolls a 6 + 3 = 9, a miss!

Ref - “Broggak staggers to the side after the blow on his left arm, pulls back the axe and makes a powerful, sky to ground sweeping blow. Sayle moves to the side at the last second, and the axe bites dirt”

New Round

Broggak’s left arm hangs at his side, his axe, held desperately in his right hand, sways as he stares down his opponent. 

Sayle has a 1 point initiative penalty, she rolls a 2 + 1 (armor penalty) + 3 (longsword) = 6

Broggak has a 2 point initiative penalty, he rolls a 3 + 2 (Queen) + 4 (axe) = 9

Sayle goes first.

Modifiers - Sayle’s Longsword

Weapon (ability, attack, proficiency, magic): +3

Situational: none

WvrsAC: -1 against metal armor

Armor Class: +9 (Broggak takes a 2 point penalty on AC due to the Queen turned over)

Total Modifiers:  +11

Sayle rolls a 1 + 11 = 12, a miss. She has 5 HP left, she decides that she wants to push herself to finish him off, she spends 3 hp to make this a half damage hit. She rolls a d8, gets a 4, divided by 2 makes it a 2 + 2 for her damage bonus and its 4 hp. Broggak is reduced to -3 HP, and loses consciousness. He will bleed out a 1 hp a round until he reaches his negative CON score (10), then he will die. Sayle now has a Jack turned over as this takes her below half HP. She now takes a -1 penalty on everything until healed.

Ref - “Broggak is slow and in agony with his wounds, Sayle jumps to one side then strikes out directly forward, running the warrior through, her sword slipping just under his breastplate. Broggak slides to the ground, bleeding and dying.”

Sayle binds his wounds and ties him up, taking him into the party to decide his fate.

Observations

Sayle had disadvantages, namely that she had a 1 point initiative penalty based on armor, smaller attack bonus and fewer HP. However, she took advantage of the fact that her opponent charged her, and used the spear to set against charge and to attack first in the round as her opponent had a battle axe.

The set against charge also means she gets a +2 to hit against the charging target, which improves her odds of a critical hit. Bhakashal combat is premised on the idea of small, cumulative bonuses mattering to combat, so making choices that amplify your situational bonuses is key. You get fixed modifiers for your weapons based on STR (ability score), proficiency (having fewer weapons but gaining proficiency bonuses with them) and attack bonus (level based). So initial choices of weapons matter, greater variety means less proficiency.

Note also that the low HP of the combatants makes fights fast and furious, this one took 3 rounds between two fairly evenly matched combatants. Most fights take about 2-5 rounds in Bhakashal. Gone are the days of long, drawn out fights.

Individual initiative is also important, as it impacts the flow of combat. Advantage can shift based on initiative rolls, it is also possible to hit your opponent “second” in the round, then win initiative and hit again before being attacked, essentially giving the PC two attacks in a row. 

Note also how each weapon had critical impacts and abilities beyond criticals. Spears were longer so attacked first on charge, the dagger didn’t hit, but it lowered the AC of the wielder when dual wielded. Weapon vrs AC adjustments are small, but in aggregate they can make a difference. Low penalties for changing weapons make it worthwhile to switch while fighting. 

Exhaustion is a major factor in Bhakashal combat, it gives the game a mechanism to give penalties when you have taken damage. One of the biggest beefs that players have had with D&D over the years is that opponents fight at full strength until they are downed. Exhaustion rules, flipping over cards to indicate severity, combined with lower overall HP, make combat particularly deadly.

Combat can go south very easily. If Broggak had rolled a critical on the first axe attack (he would have had to roll a 19, so he had a 10% chance of a critical) he could have chosen either to double damage (a combat critical effect, not weapon specific) or to cleave, give full HD damage to the weapon. Say he chose to cleave, that would have been 8 hp damage, +2 for STR for a total of 10, and Sayle would have went down on the first axe attack! This is one of the reasons why PCs travel in parties, numbers matter when any one individual can be taken out quickly.

Finally, a word about armor. In the quasi-Medival European setting of standard D&D, the weather is generally temperate to cold. In Bhakashal it is tropical jungle hot all the time, as well as very wet. As a result there are exhaustion penalties to wearing heavier armor. For example, PC’s can move at their regular Movement Rate for a period equal to their Movement Duration: 2x[AC + CON bonus + STR bonus] in turns. So someone in no armor gets an AC 10 for that value, someone in chain mail gets an AC 4, so for two warriors with equal STR and CON bonuses of +1 each, warrior A in no armor would last for 2X[10+1+1] = 24 turns before having to take a break. Warrior B in chain mail (AC 4) would last for 2x[4+1+1] 12 turns, half as long, before having to stop and hydrate and rest. If they choose to push through, they take an exhaustion penalty, a Jack would be turned over and the target would take -1 on all rolls until rested. 

In this sort of environment, full plate armor wearing warriors are rare, even warriors in chainmail are less frequent. Combined with the martial culture of the setting, which often views excessive armor as “dishonorable”, Bhakashal is a setting where high AC values are somewhat common. Since AC is added directly to the “to hit” for any attack, this means bonuses to hits will be large, targets will be hit more often, and combat will be much deadlier for both sides. 

Bhakashal is DESIGNED this way, combat is fast and furious, if you don’t get the advantage right away you can lose very easily, your HP are lower so you don’t have as much of a buffer, your armor is generally lighter, and once you are damaged your disadvantages add up fast. Weapon choice and strategy matters a lot, WvrsAC mods, weapon speed, criticals and non-critical weapon abilities (longest weapon striking first on charge or pole arms giving AC bonuses for example) mean that every fight is different. 

Bhakashal combat is deadly, fast and fun.