Building Bhakashal - Prominent NPCs - Hurna Gamelin, Priest of Omagh

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Today’s NPC for Bhakashal is a seer (priest) of Omagh, god of death. Seer’s in Bhakashal are different than clerics in AD&D in a number of ways, for example their “turning” mechanic is tuned to whatever force or creature is opposed to their deity, so not necessarily the undead, and they get bonus spells from other classes related to their god. 

In addition, seers in Bhakashal are free casters, which means that they do not pray ahead of time for specific spells, instead they pray on the spot for whatever level appropriate spell they need at the time, with access to any spell on a level appropriate list. The trade off is that the casting times are longer for most spells, so they are not as fast on the draw as arcane casters.

This makes seers much more flexible than arcane casters like warlocks and phantasmists, as the number of spells they have access to is significantly larger. Because they have access to more spells, and because they don’t have to pre-select the spells ahead of time, many more “utility” spells are used in game. It also makes seer’s invaluable members of the adventuring party.  So for the NPC here, I will show both the number of spells they can cast per day, and the full level lists for all spell levels they can use, to give an idea of the scope of spells available. 

Without further ado, I present Hurna Gamelin, seer of Omagh

Hurna Gamelin – Ward 4 – House Uarnon – Temple Ward – Temple of Omagh

7th level Seer of Omagh 

S: 9 I: 12 W: 16 D: 10 C: 9 Ch: 12 

HP: 30, AC: 2 (chain and shield), MV: 9”, THACO: 16

Holy Symbol: Mace 

Weapons

Mace - Weapon speed 4, Dam: 2-7/1-6, SR: 4’, WvrsAC +1 M/-1 N, Critical: Bludgeon

Staff - Weapon speed 2, Dam: 1-6/1-6, SR: 3’, WvrsAC -4 M /+1 L /+1 N, Critical: Set Against Charge/Sweep/Vault

Bludgeon - Weapon knocks opponent prone or back 10’

Set Against Charge – weapon does double damage on a critical when set against a charging opponent

Sweep – victim falls prone and loses next attack, +4 to hit against them

Vault – Weapon allows a vault of up to 20’ forward or 10’ up, or to knock down opponent, lose next attack, +4 to hit against them.

Magic Items

Staff of Striking (12), +1 mace, +2 chain mail, Incense of Meditation 

Spells Per day: 3/3/2/1

First Level  1. Bless 2. Combine 3. Command 4. Create Water 5. Cure Light Wounds 6. Detect Intent 7. Detect Magic 8. Endure Cold/Heat 9. Invisibility to Undead 10. Light 11. Protective Circle 12. Purify Food and Drink 13. Remove Fear 14. Resist Cold 15. Sanctuary

Second Level  1. Aid 2. Augury 3. Chant 4. Collective 5. Detect Charm 6. Dust Devil 7. Find Traps 8. Hold Person 9. Holy Symbol 10. Know Intention 11. Mantle of the Oracle 12. Resist Fire 13. Silence 15’ Radius 14. Slow Poison  15. Snake Charm 16. Speak with Animals  17. Spiritual Weapon 18. Withdraw  19. Wyvern Watch

Third Level 1. Animate Dead 2. Cloudburst  3. Continual Light 4. Create Food and Water 5. Cure Blindness 6. Cure Disease 7. Death’s Door  8. Dispel Magic 9. Divine Beast  10. Divine Pairing  11. Feign Death 12. Glyph of Warding 13. Grace of the Maker  14. Judgement 15. Locate Object 16. Magical Vestment  17. Meld Into Stone  18. Negative Plane Protection  19. Prayer 20. Prescience 21. Remove Curse 22. Remove Paralysis  23. Share Divine Favor  24. Speak with Dead 25. Supplication 26. Water Walk

Fourth Level 1. Abjure 2. Cacophony of Lies  3. Cloak of Fear 4. Cure Serious Wounds 5. Detect Lie 6. Divination 7. Exorcise 8. Giant Insect  9. Imbue with Spell Ability 10. Lower Water 11. Neutralize Poison 12. Protective Circle –10’ rd 13. Repentance 14. Reversal  15. Spell Immunity  16. Sticks to Snakes 17. Tongues  18. Whisper the Dead

Bonus Spells

Seers in Bhakashal get the bonus spells associated with a high wisdom, but instead of getting more of their own spells, each bonus spell gives them a spell from outside their class but associated with their god. Sometimes they get access to a spell at lower level than usual. Hurna gets the following bonus spells, related to her god (the god of death) each can be cast once per day:

1. Bolerastun’s Mantle of the Dead

2. Feign Death

3. Preserve

4. Decompose

Turning

Omagh is a god of death, but has no “enmity” with undead, as a matter of fact, priests of Omagh consider raising the dead to be a holy act in tribute to their god, as bodies without souls are corrupt and commanding them in Omagh's service cleanses them. As a seer of Omagh Hurna commands undead as evil 1e AD&D clerics do. However, she uses the following system for turning/commanding which is meant to be used with any type of creature that can be turned, not just undead.

Turning: Seers can turn creatures, using the power of their god to drive away creatures opposed to them. First total the following: [Seer’s saving throw versus magic + creature HD - Seer level - WIS bonus]. To successfully turn the creature(s) the seer must exceed this number on a d20. Turning manifests the power of the seer’s deity through their holy symbol, it impacts at most 1 creature per level of the seer, and turned creatures flee for 4-16 rounds. If the seer rolls a natural 20 and the creature’s HD is less than the seer’s level, the creature is destroyed, blasted out of existence by the power of their god. In Hurma’s case, a natural 20 means the undead will remain under her command permanently.

Conversion

Like all seers Hurna can attempt to convert those she meets into followers to Omagh. Hurna does not generally try to convert locals, but when she has defeated foes in battle who beg for mercy, or she protects a group from harm, Hurna may try to convert them. Any converts she does make she will take back to the temple where they will become acolytes of Omagh. 

Conversion - A seer may attempt to convert any non-classed 0-level NPCs, e.g. peasants, farmers, laborers, officials, soldiers, etc. to their deity. The character spends d4 hours extolling the virtues of their own deity to the subjects, and at the end of this, an encounter reaction roll is made with the following modifiers:

The seer’s charisma adjustment

If length of association is less than 1 month: -5%

Wealth or power is given: +10%

Strong existing religious affiliation: -25%

Recent past for the community or individual has been challenging +10%

The PC has performed a service for the community: +10%

The PC has recently healed someone in the group: +10%

The PC has recently healed someone in the group that the priests of their existing faith could not: +10

For each level of the PC attempting to convert: +1%

Conversion is achieved on a roll of 95% or higher on the chart

Notes

1. A separate roll must be made for all potential converts

2. A maximum of 1 convert per 2 levels of seer is possible

3. No matter what the modifiers, conversion is never automatic, so if the seer’s  modifiers make conversion automatic (e.g. push the roll up to 96 or above) then the chance of success is a flat 95%

4. The subject must be reasonably sober and not charmed 

5. Converts are treated like henchmen and at the end of the next adventure (and every subsequent one) a loyalty check is made with all the standard henchmen modifiers. If that check is successful the convert stays around for the next adventure, and the next check is made at +5%. These success modifiers are cumulative to a maximum of +25%

6. Converts must be fed, equipped and transported with the seer, failure to do so will give a -15% to the end of adventure loyalty check (-10% for “partial late or unfair” pay and -5% for indifferent and uncaring general treatment).

7. Converts must be preached to every day for at least a few turns to keep them in the faith, failure to do so will add a cumulative -1% penalty per day without preaching for their end of adventure loyalty check.

General Characteristics: Hurna is tall with short blonde hair and brown eyes, she has a clipped speech pattern and speaks fairly quickly. She has no patience for fools and will immediately part company with anyone who she feels is wasting her time. 

Background: Hurna was born in the city and unlike the majority of priests she left at an early age to adventure for a time. After several years away she found an important relic of Omagh (Omagh’s Axe – an axe supposedly used by Omagh himself to behead a massive dragon, the axe was thrown to earth when the fight was over) returned to the city, gave the axe to her superiors and took up duties in the temple. She is an up and coming priest in the Temple and is now responsible for the burial rites of all worshippers of the death god, a significant task given to her as her superiors believe she is destined for greatness. She has several rivals for power in the temple as well, but shares the favor of the lead seer, so for now is comfortable in her status.

Tactics: Hurna is accompanied at all times by a pair of jackals and rides a water buffalo when she travels in the city. She will use command and hold person to immobilize foes and her staff of striking for close combat against significant foes. Note that Hurna attacks on the seer’s “to hit” table (cleric table in AD&D) so do well in hand to hand, and can trigger roll over criticals despite her average strength. 

Intrigues and Associations: Hurna has an obsessive interest in religious artefacts and will attend to any possibility of gaining them, including adventuring away from her Temple. She starts many days speaking with the dead in her temple to glean any information about relics (she hopes to one day have spoken to all the dead kept in the temple), and meditating to determine her actions. She spends all of her off duty time in the archives researching the potential location of religious artefacts, and can be treated as a sage with respect to this subject, with a major concentration in religious artefacts, a minor concentration in religious traditions, and a specialization in Omagh. The party might encounter Hurna in her capacity as an expert about religious artifacts, and might employ a party to accompany her when attempting to retrieve holy artifacts. Note that “holy artifact” does not necessarily mean an item a god used, it can be something as simple as a +1 dagger but one that was wielded by a past servant of the deity, or one that was key to the deity achieving a goal in the game world. Holy means associated with the god, not artifact/relic level power. So she could also set after the party if one of the magic items they find happens to be a holy artifact of interest to Hurna.