Building Bhakashal - Generating NPCs - The Mercenary
Two classes lie at the base of Bhakashal, the warlock and the mercenary. Mercenaries are the Lords that direct the Noble Houses, they fight in the arena for honor, they direct troops and gain followers. They are thoroughly embedded in the game world. And they are formidable in combat. In a deadly world, a well trained warrior is a sight to behold. Combat criticals, weapon criticals, new weapons, the mercenary holds their own against the powerful spell casters of Bhakashal.
This one in particular is different from the previous examples, I look to the internet for inspiration, and at some point I found the above picture by Wiggers at Deviantart.
https://www.deviantart.com/wiggers123/art/Female-warrior-v2-94214802
From the look on her face to the way the weapons are being shown, she’s saying, “Go ahead, make my day”.
So let’s build her. Note that I won’t be detailing all of the aspects of this as I have done a few already, I’ll jump on in more detail for the mercenary specific stuff.
A. Choose from Bhakashal’s 20 character classes
Mercenary - 4th level
B. Generate Stats
Stats rolled: 6 5 4/3 2 4/3 4 6/ 3 6 5/ 2 2 5/ 4 6 5
Rolls: S-15 I-9 - W- 13 - D- 15- C- 10 - C- 14
Switch DEX and CHR
Apply stat mins
Mercenary - STR 10 DEX 10 CON 10
C. Choose a Playable Group
Human
Apply ability score bonuses:
+1 CON, +1 WIS
Apply Ability Modifiers
Bhakashal uses the following spread of modifiers:
3: -3
4-5:-2
6-8: -1
9: 0
10-11:+1
12-14: +2
15-17: +3
18: +4
For Charisma use +1=5%
S-15 [+3] I-9 - W- 14 [+2]- D- 15 [+3]- C- 11 [+1] - C- 14 [+2]
D. Calculate Saving Throw Bonuses and HP
All classes get a +1 bonus per 2 levels of experience (+4) and bonuses based on their stats.
Paralyzation STR and CON [+8]
Poison - CON and DEX [+8]
Death Magic - WIS and CON [+7]
Petrification - STR and CON [+8]
Polymorph - WIS and CHR [+8]
Breath Weapon - DEX and INT [+7]
Spell - WIS and INT [+6]
Hit Points
Mercenaries roll a d8 for HP, or you can take the average. I tend to roll first, if that goes badly I’ll take the average. So I roll a 5, roll again for a 7, roll again for a 3 and decide to roll again and get a 4. So that’s 19 HP.
E. Add Skills and Playable Group Abilities
- I roll on the skill table and get armorer for skill
- Infravision, +4 on saving throws against bright light, reduce chance of surprise to 1 in 6 (requires one action)
F. Choose Deity and Languages
Deity - Rjam – Courage, Skill in Combat
They get no additional languages due to INT of 9
G. Choose Equipment and Clothing
Backpack, 100’ rope, grappling hook, (3) iron spikes, hammer, flint and steel, (2) torches, (3) candles, waterskin, bag of marbles, sack
When not in full armor, leather jerkin and leggings, high hard boots, leather gloves and cap
H. Assign Wealth
30gp
40sp
200gp diamond, 100gp pearl
50gp silver ring
I. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
This section will be big.
Armor is fairly clearly plate from the illustration, but not full plate, so we will stat this as plate
Plate (e.g. Conquistador armor) AC:2 - segmented metal plates over chain, Weight 450gp, movement rate penalty -3” and initiative penalty is 1. Note also that plate armor negates DEX bonus to AC.
In Bhakashal you add your opponent’s AC to your “to hit” roll, so with plate armor (AC:2) only 2 is added to the roll. In addition, plate armor gets WvrsAC adjustments for “Metal”, which carry penalties for most weapons.
For attacks it is as follows:
Level based attack bonus +2
Mercenaries get 4 weapons to start, and an additional weapon at 4th level, so that’s a max of 4 weapons. In the picture I see a sword, a dagger and an axe. I will give her a crossbow (that could be behind her) and instead of taking an additional weapon, I will take a bonus on an existing weapon. Since the bardiche has the best critical options, I will take the (+1/+1) bonus in that. Attack bonus and STR are added to that to give the total to hit and damage bonuses. Keep in mind that rather than using tables, Bhakashal takes your progression and expresses it as your “to hit” bonus, rather than applying that bonus to an existing number on a table that progresses regularly. So Bhakashal “to hit” bonuses might look very high for low level PCs, but they are not as high as they look.
S-15 [+3] I-9 - W- 14 [+2]- D- 15 [+3]- C- 11 [+1] - C- 14 [+2]
Note: Since she is in plate armor, each weapon takes a 1 point intiative penalty, so that means that the numbers listed below for weapon speed are adjusted upwards by 1
Bardiche [+6/+4], 2-8/3-12, Weapon Speed 6, WvrsAC: -1M/+2L/+3N, criticals: Cleave/Dismount / Sweep/Remain
Sword, bastard [+5/+3], 2-8/2-16, Weapon Speed: 5, WvrsAC: +1M/+2L/+3N, criticals: Cleave
Dagger [+5/+3], 1-4/1-3, Weapon Speed: 2, WvrsAC: -2M/+1L/+3N, Criticals: Dual Wield/Remain/Stab
Crossbow, Light [+5], 2-5/2-5, Weapon Speed: 4, WvrsAC: -1M/+2L/+3N, Range: 6”/12”/18”, Criticals:
Remain
Now, Bhakashal uses this attack table for all classes:
Attack Table (d20)
1-14 - miss
15-19 - hit for ½ damage
20-24- hit
25+ critical hit
D20 roll + bonuses + AC of target = hit number
So, just for reference, this 4th level mercenary attacking someone in chain and shield with her Bardiche would get a +6 to hit, -1 against metal armor makes it a +5, add the AC of 4 to the roll, and that means they would do a regular damage hit on an 11 or higher, and critical on 16 or higher. By comparison a 4th level AD&D fighter with a 15 STR would need a 14.
Since this is a warrior, let’s look at those weapon criticals. So, say this warrior came to fight against a bandit in chain and shield, on a 16 or higher with the bardiche, so 25% of the time, and on a 17 or higher with the sword and dagger, so 20% of the time, she would score a critical, what criticals does she have access to?
With the bardiche she gets the most options for a critical, Cleave/Dismount / Sweep/Remain
Cleave - Weapon does full dice damage - so on a shot against that city guard, a critical does 8hp damage, more than enough to cleft them in twain as 0-level guards have 1-6 hp.
Dismount – Weapon dismounts a rider.
Sweep – weapon trips victim, fall prone and lose next attack, +4 to hit against them, making a critical 45% likely on the next attack.
Remain – Weapon stays embedded in the opponent, does minimum dice damage each round until removed, which is 2 hp in this case.
The bastard sword only has cleave, but that’s also enough damage to kill on one strike
The dagger has Dual Wield, Remain and Stab
Dual Wield – On a critical hit the second weapon also strikes, otherwise it is assumed to be blocking (gives one point AC bonus)
So if she desires she can lower her AC by one point by using the dagger and bastard sword at the same time (though the bastard sword works like a longsword for damage when used single handed, so 1-8/1-12). If she does this the 1 point AC bonus is constant while dual-wielding, and on a critical, the dagger gets to strike as well.
Remain - as above
Stab - Deep wound, damages muscles, target is -2 to hit for remainder of combat
Finally, the crossbow has Remain, which is 2 hp of damage per round until removed, so shooting that bandit and getting a critical does 2-5 damage against a bandit with 1-6 hp, if you get a critical and the bolt remains, that’s 2 hp damage the next round, or waste a round to remove.
These are just the weapon criticals, mercenaries get the best “to hit” modifiers based on class, so they are more likely to hit and therefore more likely to get combat criticals as well, these are weapon independent and against our hypothetical chain and shield bandit, would come up 25% of the time with the bardiche. Let’s take a look.
Combat Effects Criticals - Bhakashal
When a PC, Monster or NPC gets a critical, they can choose an effect from the table in addition to damage. Monsters/NPCs/Animals- ref can choose or roll.
Combat Effects Table
1. Jam Weapon - one action to remove/fix, +2 to hit while doing so
2. Damage Limb - motive limb -3” to move, fighting limb, -2 to hit, until healed
3. Disarm - weapon knocked out of melee range, 1 action to retrieve
5. Snatch Weapon - mercenaries and spiders get a bonus attack/action with the weapon
6. Snatch Object - object from opponent removed (purse, potion bottle, etc.)
7. Knock Down - opponent -2 to hit, 2 point AC penalty, 1 action to get back on feet
8. Dodge - opponent slams into wall/tree/rock, extra d4 damage, 2 point initiative penalty
9. Knock Back - attacker may break off with no attack against them
10. Blow to Back - 4 point AC penalty for two rounds
11. Temporarily Blind - next two attacks are -4 to hit
12. Temporarily Winded - next two attacks do half damage if successful
13. Cut to Head - Disoriented - opponent loses next attack
14. Blow to Head - Stunned - Opponent is AC 10 against next attack
15. Opponent Knocked Into Another Combatant - both have 4 point initiative penalty on next attack
16. Extra Unarmed Attack - Opponent set up for free punch/kick/head butt attack
17. Set-Up Ally - next attack against opponent from an ally is +4 to hit
18. Set-Up Opponent - Opponent pushed into the line of fire of a nearby attack (missile or melee)
19. Extra Attack - attacker gets an extra attack
20. Extra Damage - attacker’s base dice damage doubled
Natural 1 - Weapon Damaged: - 1 to hit until repaired
Natural 20 - Armor Damaged/Target Damaged: 1 point of AC penalty until repaired/healed
You can set up an ally for the next attack against your opponent, knock targets into each other, disarm them, knock them back, knock them down, dodge them, or do extra damage. Players can suggest critical effects and the referee can adjudicate their impacts similar to those mentioned in the table.
Also, there is the potential for a chain of attacks, with the mercenary choosing extra attack with each critical.
J. Calculate Encumbrance
Total weight = 1020 gp, so base movement is 9”, if the movement penalty from encumbrance takes you to a lower speed than the armor itself does, you use the encumbrance penalty, otherwise you do not. She can pick up 30gp before shifting up a movement category.
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
Most mercenary class abilities are baked into the combat stats, better to hit and HP, more access to criticals, etc. so there is nothing to list here other than the mercenary gets a saving throw versus breath weapon to avoid all critical effects.
L. Assign Magic Items
At 4th level an NPC will have 1 permanent magic item and two temporary. For the permanent item I roll and get a +1 sword, +2 versus magic-using creatures. Since these are pre generated NPCs I’m happy to just make that sword a bastard sword to keep things simple. A +1 magic sword will add +1 to hit and +1 to damage, all magic swords, no matter what the plus, get a 1 point reduction in weapon speed, a magic weapon gets it’s wielder’s saving throw versus breath weapon, with a bonus equal to their “+”, to avoid taking damage on a roll of natural 1, and a magic weapon is 5% per point of “+” more likely to get a critical. I also name magic swords, just for fun, this one was forged by
is named “Bharra”, which in Urdyll means “Razor”
That will change the entry to:
Sword, bastard [+6/+4], 2-8/2-16, Weapon Speed: 4, WvrsAC: +1M/+2L/+3N, criticals: Cleave
For temporary magic items I roll:
Potion of Climbing, (8) +2 crossbow bolts*
* Bhakashal, like AD&D, has odds for shot arrows/bolts breaking, so they are not permanent magic items
M. Assign Personality Traits
Rolled: Imposing, precise/exacting, taciturn, brave
N. Assign Name
Ynir Freyil
Once the sheet is finished I like to survey the details to give the NPC some depth. In this case, her stats have her with strong will and a strong personality (high WIS and CHA), so she’s fairly independent. Add to that her specific traits of imposing, precise/exacting, taciturn and brave, and a picture starts to form. Add that she worships Rjam, god of courage and skill in combat, and it all comes together.
Yinr came to Bhakashal two years ago, she wanted to join a Noble House, but not through enlisting, instead she wanted to honor Rjam by earning her spot being noticed in the arena. She has so far gained enough notoriety that when she next levels (to 5th) she will be picking up her first followers (5th level mercenaries in Bhakashal get 2-4 0-level mercenary followers at 5th level, one of those who survive a season will become a 1st level mercenary in their permanent service. Whether she gets noticed by a Noble House and asked to join remains to be seen.
Since she is not with any particular Noble House she works as a sell sword, sometimes selling her services in the Raosk, sometimes joining adventuring parties headed into the marshes as extra muscle. She will be found in the arena at least once per week, joining a House hunt one a month, and in the Raosk looking for caravan guard work, bodyguard work, etc. about once a month.
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