Level Advancement in Bhakashal

Next up in my setting notes is level advancement. 

This was another thorny one for me, I LOVE the AD&D advancement system, it’s a bit math heavy and requires some accounting but it’s straightforward and works well with the treasure tables. However, one thing I wanted to get away from is the need to accumulate tons of gold. I think GP=XP is a terrific system, but it does produce a particular kind of play, e.g. wealth accumulation becomes the primary goal of the game. If you want to move the game away from it’s colonialist themes, severing advancement from wealth is a great way to do that. 

Character Advancement 

There are two options for level advancement in Bhakashal, informal and formal.

Informal

When the referee feels that the party’s actions and achievement have earned them the right to increase in level and gain extra abilities, HP, spells, etc, then the party qualifies to level. To be honest, I would expect veteran refs to do this, and new refs can run the formal system for a time then switch over. The formal system exists because some prefer to have a more objective set of criteria to use, but the game works perfectly well if the ref just paces level advancement informally. 

Formal

I have replaced the XP system in AD&D with this system, but retained the level system attached to it. The assumption is the following. The magic items/spells/special abilities in AD&D are roughly tied to the HD/Level of the NPC/Monster/PC. There is no one to one correlation, so for example it is possible for a low level PC to have a powerful magic item, so the system is not exact. But the baseline is clearly there. You don’t see many low HD monsters with a ton of abilities, and you don’t see that many low level NPCs with a ton of magic items. 

The procedure is as follows.

1. The PCs set a goal. It can be as small as “finding out where the thieves’ guild meets” to “taking down the thieves guild”. 

2. The PCs then attempt to achieve that goal. When the attempt is complete (e.g. a success or a failure as agreed upon by the ref and the players), the ref will calculate their action score. 

3. To determine the action score of the adventure:

a. Total the HD/Levels of the group in opposition to the party*

b. Total the HD/levels of the party, including henchmen and animal/monster followers

c. A trap has a level equal to its maximum damage divided by 5. Save or die traps have a level equal to the average level of the party 

d. Add one level/HD to the opponent’s side for every member of the opposition more than the party

e. Deduct one level/HD from the opponent’s side for every member of the party more than the opposition*

f. These values represent the total action scores for both sides

g. If the party’s total action score is less than half the opponent’s total, the challenge is considered very strong

h. If the party’s total action score is more than half but not equal to the opponent’s total, the challenge is considered strong

i. If the party’s total action score is almost equal to the opponent’s total, the challenge is considered moderate

j. If the party’s total action score is greater than the oppositions by no more than half, the challenge is considered weak

k. If the party’s total action score is greater than the oppositions by more than half, the challenge is considered very weak 

l. If the referee feels that the opposition, due to a particular magic item/ability/situation has a significant advantage not captured by their HD/Level, they can bump the category up one, e.g. from weak to moderate, similarly if the opposition is hobbled in some way, the ref can drop the category down one, e.g. from strong to moderate.

Note that two 0-levels are equivalent to a single 1st level character/NPC

Experience Score

Use the party’s action score to determine their experience score 

A party that fails against a very weak challenge gets nothing.

A party that fails against a weak challenge gets an experience score of 1

A party that fails against a moderate challenge gets an experience score of 2

A party that fails against a strong challenge gets an experience score of 3

A party that fails against a very strong challenge gets an experience score of 4

A party that succeeds against a very weak challenge gets an experience score of 1

A party that succeeds against a weak challenge gets a experience score of 2

A party that succeeds against a moderate challenge gets a experience score of 3

A party that succeeds against a strong challenge gets a experience score of 4

A party that succeeds against a very strong challenge gets a experience score of 5

The party’s experience score is applied to each surviving member of the party. Then you look at the XP progression chart, and determine if the individual PCs gain a level. 

Then you apply the success criteria: in addition to achieving the required score, the PC in question must have succeeded in meeting more challenges since the last level gained than they have failed. 

If the PC’s score is sufficient to gain a level, but they have not met the success criteria, then they will not be able to level until they have met the requirement, even if they continue to set goals and attempt to achieve them. If the PC has the requisite score and has met the success criteria, they can level up. 

When a PC levels up all existing experience scores are reset to 0.

Experience Progression Chart

Class - Required Score to Level

Adventurer (thief) - 2+current level

Justiciar (paladin) - 5+current level

Mercenary (fighter) - 3+current level

Seer (cleric) -  3+current level

Slayer (ranger/assassin) - 4+current level

Spartan (monk)-5+current level

Vox (bard) - 4+current Level

Warlock (magic-user) - 3+current level

Alchemist (magic-user) - 4+Current Level

Chimerist (magic-user) - 4+Current Level

Conjuror (magic-user) - 4+Current Level

Diviner (magic-user) - 4+Current Level

Enchanter (magic-user) - 4+Current Level

Evoker (magic-user) - 4+Current level

Necromancer (magic-user) - 4+Current Level

Phantasmist (Illusionist) - 4+current level

Example

Your party consists of the following:

4th level Fighter

4th level Magic-User

3rd level Illusionist

5th level Thief

You have all leveled recently and have experience scores of 0.

The party has taken on a job to break up a group of bandits who have been attacking caravans from your House. Your goal is thus to either kill or neutralize the bandits. The party has 4 members and their combined level is 16. 

The bandits consist of 12 0-level’s fighters, a 4th level fighter and a 4th level magic-user. Two 0-level opponents represent 1 1st level opponent, so the level total is 6 for the 0-level’s + 4 fighter + 4 magic-user = 14. 

In addition, since two 0-levels count as one opponent, the bandits have a total of 8 opponents to the party’s 4, so they outnumber them by 4, bringing the bandit’s total total to 18.

Party: 16

Opposition: 18

So in this case the party’s score is more than half the opponent’s but not equal, so this is considered a strong challenge. Let’s say they fail, and the bandits get away. They each get an experience score of 3 for this.

4th level Fighter - Ex Score 3

4th level Magic-user - Ex Score 3

3rd level Illusionist - Ex Score 3

5th level Thief - Ex Score 3

Next the party discovers that one of their allies has been kidnapped by a magic-user, so their goal is to attempt a rescue. They catch up to the magic-user when she is holed up in a tower in the marshes. The opposition consists of:

7th level magic-user

(2) 4HD ogres

The magic-userhas laid a trap in the marshes around her tower, there is a spike filled pit that rings the tower, covered by an illusion, if anyone falls in the pit they take 2-10 damage, so the pit is level 2. 

In addition the magic-user has Conjure Elemental on a scroll.

Total level/HD: 17

Total party level/HD: 16

Normally this would make it a strong challenge, but the ref decides that the presence of the scroll bumps it up one category, as none of the PCs have weapons that can hurt an elemental. 

Say the party manages to sneak in and rescue their ally, they lose one member (the fighter, who falls in the pit when fleeing), but they achieve their goal.

Success against a very strong challenge means they each get 5 points. Our new totals are:

4th level magic-user- Ex Score 8

3rd level illusionist - Ex Score 8

5th level Thief - Ex Score 8

So does anyone level? The magic-user requires 7 points to level, as does the illusionist and the thief, but none have met the requirement of having more successes than failures since last leveling, so none level. If their next goal is successful they all level up, if it is not, then they need at least two successful goals to do so.

Levelling Up

When the party achieves a sufficient score to level up and they have met the requirement of successful goals they can level up. There is no need for separate training, training is assumed to be “on the job” and happening between adventures. However, magic-users will still have to go to their patrons to get their “level up” spell. Levelling up gives all the standard benefits of HP, spells, abilities, etc. In addition for every level the PC gets a +5% bonus on their repute.