Building Bhakashal - Generic Magic - The Gyre

I've always liked the idea of a “generic” spell caster, one who could use magic to do things, not with specific spells detailed beforehand, but general effects tied to a theme or kind of magic, something that would scale with level. I have toyed with the idea for a while, and when I decided to move forward with Bhakashal the idea was waiting to be developed.

Then a few months back I had a Twitter exchange with @BrianRideout7 of DeathTrap Games, and he mentioned that there were games that did this, which convinced me it was time to give it a try.

1e AD&D (of which Bhakashal is a hack) actually made this easy. As anyone who has played the game will know, spells are not balanced in power between classes or within them. The classic case is sleep, yes, some creatures are resistant, and yes,it only impacts up to a certain HD of targets, but for low level casters it is gold, so much more powerful than magic missile or shocking grasp. 

All levels have a variation in power, even damaging spells of the same level don’t do the same amount of damage, and some spells have in-game consequences that are bigger than their fantasy precedents. Invisibility is a great example of this, a second level spell that can make you invisible in essence forever, if you don’t attack anyone in the interim.

However, AD&D is not ENTIRELY unbalanced either. Levels mean something. A 5th and 10th level caster using fireball do different damage most of the time, the higher level caster doing statistically better. Lower level spells that don’t scale damage with level generally do less damage than higher level spells. Blink is less powerful than Dimension Door which is less powerful than teleportation which is less powerful than teleport without error, plane shift, etc.

In short, AD&D uses level as a rough guide to power, but not an exact one. So that means that any “generic” magic using class can be built using existing level mechanics, with allowances that sometimes it will be a bad fit and they will end up with a spell that is more or less powerful than most of the other spells of that level they can cast. 

So last month I came up with the class description, and I ran an NPC Gyre in my home game for a few sessions. It went well, and suggests to me that it would be a viable PC class as well.

With this in mind, here is another Warlock subclass for Bhakashal, the Gyre.

The Gyre

A gyre is a warlock who has focused her entire study on one particular element or aspect of the environment/world, and can use magic to influence that specific aspect. 

Gyres are hard to play and require significant creativity on the part of the player and flexibility on the part of the referee. In essence, the player has to think up each spell they cast, and the referee has to adjudicate every spell they cast. This would likely be too onerous on the ref and the players for the majority of cases, but for a single PC/NPC class it is manageable.

Statistics

INT: 15 WIS: 12 CON: 12

HD: d6

Level Progression: As Warlock

Saves/To Hit: As Warlock

Weapons/Armor: As Warlock

Gyre Power

Gyre’s get their narrow but flexible magic powers through a special conduit to the forces of magic. Normal casters tap into that with specific spells, Gyre get access to this power “in the raw” and then shape it to their desires. 

When a PC becomes a Gyre, they are tattooed by their patron/teacher with powerful, ancient runes, these runes mark the Gyre and help to make the magic they tap into more amenable to their shaping. These tattoos are permanent and magical. 

Typical Gyre Aspects

Here are some examples of aspects that a gyre could focus on. Any other area that the referee and player can agree is also fecund for adaptation. The important point to remember here is that the player will have to come up with applications for the magic, so if they can’t find inspiration in the aspect they have chosen it will probably not work that well. 

Be open to abstract aspects as well, it doesn’t all have to be tangible, material stuff like water or earth, it can be emotions, abstract concepts (time), whatever inspires the player and ref to be able to come up with fun applications.

1. Animals

2. Fire

3. Water

4. Air

5. Earth

6. Lightning

7. Light

8. Body

9. Mind

10. Space

11. Time 

12. Inspiration

13. Emotions

14. Plants

15. Objects

16. Life/Death

Notes: 

1. Gyres can create [X HD / Y damage / +Z] magical effects based on level of experience, where X and Z are the Gyre’s level, and Y is d2 per level.

2. Gyre spells get an indoor range of 1” per level, outdoor range of 3” per level

3. Gyre AOE spells are 1” per level in radius

4. Gyre spell durations are 1 round / level or 1 turn / level depending on the nature of the spell 

5. Spells that impact the Gyre get no save (e.g. body alteration)

6. Spells that amplify existing tendencies in targets do not get a save (e.g. magnifying emotions, growing a fire)

7. Otherwise all Gyre spells get saving throws, and any with AOE damage get saves for half. 

8. All spell parameters associated with the Gyre can be split up in any way desired within an individual casting, e.g. if the Gyre is 6th level and can charm up to a 6HD creature, they could also charm two 3HD creatures.

9. Objects created by the Gyre that need to have HP assigned to them (e.g. a wall of stone) get [d2 per level + the Gyre’s level] in HP, e.g. a 5th level earth Gyre could create a wall of stone that was 5’ across, 5’ high and 5” thick that could absorb 5d2+5 damage. Generic creatures not detailed in the monster books get HD like normal monsters, so for example a light Gyre could create a “light elemental” with 5HD, e.g. 5d8 HP.

10. As the Gyre increases in level their penalties/bonuses get quite high, meaning that by name level many Gyre spells are effectively no save as the penalties are so large. 

So for example,

1. A 1st level Gyre who specialized in animals could:

1. Summon or charm a 1HD animal

2. Grow wolf fangs that would do d2 damage on a bite

3. Increase the ferocity of a guard dog, adding +1 to its damage. 

2.  A 2nd level Gyre who specialized in Fire could:

1. Create a 2HD fire creature that does 2d2 damage

2. Make a fire sword that does 2d2 damage

3. Add fire to an existing sword to do +2 to damage

3. A 3rd level Gyre who specialized in Water could:

1. Summon a 3HD sahuagin

2. Make an ice shield that absorbs 3d2+3 damage, or adds +3 to their save versus fire

3. Create a patch of ice 30’ in radius which forces a saving throw versus petrification to cross without falling, save penalty of -3.

4. A 4th level Gyre who specialized in Air could:

1. Make up to 4HD of creatures fly

2. Allow the Gyre to fly for 4 turns

3. Create a wind that would slow down flyers to a ¼ of their speed

5. A 5th level Gyre who specialized in Earth could:

1. Create a 5HD rock creature that could fight, doing 5d2 damage in total per round divided between attacks

2. Create a wall of stone that can take 5HD damage

3. Kick up a storm of dust that would blind all opponents for 5 rounds

6. A 6th level Gyre who specialized in Lightning could:

1. Sheathe themselves in lightning making their touch do 6d2 damage, or anyone hitting them saves versus spell or take 6d2 damage

2. Shoot chain lighting that magnetizes 6 targets in plate mail armor, or one target at a save of -6 

3. Absorb up to a 6HD lightning bolt and fire it back at its caster

7. A 7th level Gyre who specializes in Light could:

1. Create the illusion of a 7HD monster

2. Envelop all targets in a 7” radius in darkness

3. Make themselves so bright that all attackers take a -7 to hit against them

8. An 8th level Gyre who specializes in Body could:

1. Paralyze up to 8HD of targets within a 8” radius

2. Enlarge to become 8’ taller than they already are

3. Grow 4 extra arms that each get a +2 to hit

9. A 9th level Gyre who specializes in Mind could:

1. Charm up to 9 targets of no more than 9HD total

2. Cause a target to forget the last 9 minutes

3. Read their opponent’s mind, giving them a 9 point bonus on their armor class versus attacks from that opponent

10. A 10th level Gyre who specializes in Space could:

1. Dimension door 300 feet (3” per level for range)

2. Make themselves appear to be 10’ away from their actual position (like a displacer beast) for 10 turns

3. Clear a 10’ radius of all objects and targets within

Transformation

Note that any Gyre can transform themselves into an animate/monster version of their aspect, if one such version exists in the game, upon reaching the level equal to their HD. So for example, an animal Gyre could transform themselves into a 1HD wolf at 1st level, a 3HD wererat at 3nd level, a 4HD werewolf at 4th, etc. A space Gyre could transform into a 4HD blink dog at 4th level and a 6HD displacer beast at 6th. A water Gyre could transform into a 3HD water weird at 3rd level, or a 8HD water elemental at 8th. However, they are allowed only one such transformation per day when they are less than 5th level, two from 5th to 9th, and 3 per day from then onwards.

Spell Casting Progression

The listed HD/Range/Effects listings by level are the maximum castable, a 6th level Gyre can charm no more than 6HD of creatures, no more than 6 creatures at a time, do no more than 6d2 damage, etc. 

The Gyre gets one casting at their level of power (e.g. for a 6th level Gyre, charming up to a 6HD creature) per level per day.

So, for example, a 3rd level water Gyre could summon a 3HD sahuagin, charm a 3HD merman and create a 3HD water elemental (that does 3d2 damage per attack) in one day. 

A 10th level Gyre could summon a 10HD creature ten times.