Building Bhakashal - Character Creation - Player Characters
I have run through the creation of NPCs, and it is time to run through the creation of a PC for Bhakashal. Everything here can be randomized, so you can generate a PC and let the dice decide what you get. Or you can make choices all the way, or you can do a combination of both. I tend to come in with a class expectation, the rest I leave to the dice. So I’ll do that here too.
I decided to start with the Bhakashal Seer as it is VERY DIFFERENT from the AD&D cleric, so it is worth a run through.
Process
A. Choose a character class
B. Choose a Playable Group and Faction
C. Generate Stats
D. Calculate Saving Throw Bonuses and HP
E. Add Skills and Playable Group Abilities
F. Choose Deity and Languages
G. Choose Equipment and Clothing
H. Calculate Wealth
I. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
J. Calculate Encumbrance
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
M. Assign Personality Traits (optional)
N. Customize Playable Group Lore (optional)
O. Create Name
A. Choose Class (d20)
Beastial (druid)
Cavaral (monk/magic-user - all/only evocation magic)
Chimerist (all/only alteration magic)
Conjuror (all/only conjuration magic)
Gyre (Generic magic)
Jinx (spider/druid - all/only plant magic)
Justiciar (paladin)
Mercenary (fighter)
Myrmidon (fighter/magic-user - potions only)
Necromancer (all only necromantic/abjuration magic)
Phantasmist (Illusionist)
Seer (cleric - all regular cleric spells and all divination magic)
Slayer (ranger/assassin)
Spartan (monk)
Spellbinder (druid/magic-user - all/only elemental and animal spells)
Spider (spider)
Thaumaturge (spider/magic-user - scroll spells only)
Theurgist (fighter/illusionist - all/only enchantment and illusion spells)
Vox (bard - all sound spells and sound based versions of other spells)
Warlock (magic-user)
Choice: Seer - Faction - Temple
B. Choose Playable Group
Playable Groups - Bhakashal (d12)
Chitin - Insect People
Garudin - Bird People
Humans - Primate People
Jugyi - Turtle People
Kutya - Dog People
Malu - Fish People
Rakasta - Cat People
Saan - Lizard People
Togmu - Frog People
Urdyll - Plant People
Vodnik - Castor People
Yalan - Snake People
Rolled - Malu
C. Generate Stats
For each stat roll 3d6
Numbers:
4 3 6/ 4 6 6/ 3 1 3/ 3 1 2/ 3 4 2/ 5 1 3
S13/I16/W7/D6/C9/C9
Apply stat minimums
WIS 13 CHR 14
S13/I16/W13/D6/C9/CH14
Switch any two stats (you cannot produce a result less than a minimum)
I will switch DEX and STR
S6/I16/W13/D13/C9/CH14
Apply playable group bonuses
+1 CON, +1 CHA
S6/I16/W13/D13/C10/CH15
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%
So that gives us:
S - 6 [-1]
I - 16 [+3]
W - 13 [+2]
D - 13 [+2]
C - 10 [+1]
C - 15 [+3]+15%
D. Calculate Saving Throw Bonuses and HP
All classes get a +1 bonus per 2 levels of experience and bonuses based on their stats. So that’s +1 across the board, then:
Paralyzation STR and CON [+1]
Poison CON and DEX [+4]
Death Magic WIS and CON [+4]
Petrification CON and CHR [+5]
Polymorph WIS and CHR [+6]
Breath Weapon DEX and INT [+6]
Spell WIS and INT [+6]
Hit points are class based, a seer has a d6 roll, roll or take the average of 3. I choose to roll, and get a 4.
HP: 4
E. Add Skills and Playable Group Abilities
In addition to skills related to their playable group, all PCs get a roll on the general table for skills: I get a 7, artist.
Bhakashal Skills
All playable groups and have skills/abilities associated with them.
For a Malu it is as follows:
All Malu are barterers and gemologists, many are jewelers as well. I decide to roll for this and in this case not a jeweler.
Move 12” on land and 18” in the water.
Infravision (60 feet)
Amphibious
Natural attack routine of 3 attacks per round (CCB) for 1-2/1-2/1-3.
Tough scale (WvrsAC of leather)
Flexible bodies, fit through narrow spaces half their size
F. Choose Deity and Languages, Factional Alignment
There are three gods listed as most common for Malu, I roll and get Vekka, god of water/lakes for his Deity.
The PC can speak Malu automatically, and gets one “free” language, I take Saan as Saan is the most common language spoken in Bhakashal. Due to their INT bonus they get three further languages.
Bhakashal Languages - (3d12)*
I roll and get Garudin, Malu and Togmu. If you roll a duplicate you get to roll on Special Table 1, the Malu result is a duplicate
Special Table 1 - (d12)
I roll a 3 for Marsh Giant, and decide that the PC lived in a village near a marsh giant’s cave, and the village traded fish in exchange for the giant protecting the village against bandits. The PC picked up the language from here. So their language list is Malu, Saan, Togmu, Garudin and Marsh Giant.
Factional Alignment - In Bhakashal PCs do not have an alignment, however, alignments do apply to institutions and groups, for example, in Bhakashal every Noble House, Guild, etc., has an alignment
Lawful institutions prioritize and reward groups and cooperation, chaotic institutions prioritize and reward individuals and independence.
Good institutions behave altruistically and avoid harming others wherever possible
Evil institutions will harm to achieve their goals and are fundamentally selfish
This PCs faction is the Temple of Vekka, which is aligned as Lawful Neutral, which means they are a group focused faith, and are very pragmatic with respect to willingness to harm others institutions to achieve their goals. This factional alignment is NOT listed to limit the PC, but to let the PC and the ref know that the PCs faction (in this case the temple) frowns upon individual initiative vrs following protocol and instructions.
G. Choose Equipment and Clothing
I’ll choose a standard equipment loadout, type A - Backpack, 50’ rope, (3) iron spikes, flint and steel, (3) torches, waterskin, iron rations, blanket. Add a knife, chisel, file and hammer for his carving - 210 gp encumbrance
The Malu entry gives some guidance on clothing so I take it directly, the PC wears a black kilt, has large silver loop piercings on their back fin, a large black hat and a bright red cloak.
H. Assign Wealth
Currency in Bhakashal is based on the gold standard as follows:
10 cp = 1 sp
10 sp = 1 gp
2 ep = 1 gp
1 pp = 5 gp
All PCs start with 50 gp, a 50 gp gem and 50 gp piece of jewelry, plus 10gp per ability score bonus point in whatever form they want. Their ability score bonuses total:
S - 6 [-1]
I - 16 [+3]
W - 13 [+2]
D - 13 [+2]
C - 10 [+1]
C - 15 [+3]
+10 total, so an extra 100gp, they will take it as follows:
140 gp, 100sp, 50gp emerald, 50gp silver earring (total 250 gp wealth)
Deduct cost of equipment, armor and weapons, approximately 10gp.
I. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
Seers can wear heavy armor but take casting time penalties, so in this case they will not take armor.
Attack bonus for a 1st level Seer is +1 to hit
Since this PC worships Vekka and is a Seer, their first weapon has to be a spear, they get two weapons to start, so they take the spear and the sling.
J. Calculate Encumbrance
210 gp from equipment
Weapons are spear (40gp) and sling + 20 stones (40gp) so 80 gp
No armor.
- 50gp for CON bonus
Encumbrance 240 gp, that means they can pick up 260gp in weight before moving down one speed category
Encumbrance: +260 gp
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
Seers in Bhakashal are free casters, when they gain the ability to cast a new level of spells they gain access to the whole spell list for that level (e.g. all of the 1st level spells are available at 1st level), and may cast the spells without any advanced prayer or preparation. They pray for their spells on the spot as needed (this is reflected in the longer casting times for many Seer spells). They still have a limit on how many spells may be cast per day by level, but any spell from the lists can be cast. At first level they can cast 1 spell per day from this list:
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
All Seer spells that have a material component require the seer’s holy symbol, and nothing else.
As Bhakashal doesn’t use alignments in the standard way, two spells here are modifications of the standard spells for the setting. Detect Intent does just that, determines if the creature you are using it upon plans to harm you, help you, ignore you, etc. Protective circle works like protection from evil in terms of what creatures it hedges out, the list is actually a bit bigger, and it gives a temp AC and Saving Throw bonus against attacks directed at the protected party.
Their Holy Symbol, necessary to cast all their spells, is their spear, which has holy runes inscribed on it.
Seers get one initial valuable item or set of items outside of their initial allocation of gold related to their god. In the case of Vekka, god of water, it is a fine crystal water flask filled with holy water (value, 100gp).
They have an effective charisma of 18 with respect to water snakes when casting a speak with animals spell.
Turning - total [Seer’s save bonus versus death (4) + level (1) + WIS bonus (+2)] and deduct the HD of the target, this is your turning bonus. Roll a 20 or higher, with the turning bonus applied, and you have successfully turned the target. As a 1st level priest of Vekka, the Seer can turn 1 water creature per attempt, if successful, the turned creature will either flee or perform a service for the seer (seer’s choice) for 4-16 rounds.
Seers get bonus spells outside of their standard allocation, these spells are from another class but related to their deity’s sphere of influence, can only be cast once they are capable of casting spells of that level, and can be cast once per day. The Seer gets one spell per point of WIS bonus, of increasing level. So a seer with a +1 bonus would get 1 first level spell, a seer with a +2 bonus would get a first and a second level spell (but the second level spell could only be cast when that seer reached 3rd level). A +3 bonus gets a first, second and third level spell. Our PC gets 2 bonus spells, only the first would apply at first level. So they get a spell from another class that relates to their god’s domain in some way. Vekka’s domain is water, these spells are water related and not duplicated by his existing spells.
1-2. Firewater
3-4. The Cleansing Spell of Munnar the Mad
5-6. Wall of Fog
7-8. Locate Land
9-10. Predict Weather
I roll for this, and get a 3, the spell cleanses someone who is dirty or covered with a slime, or acid, or whatever. So they can cast this once per day at will.
Divine Aid - When a seer makes a “god call”, they may only do so once, but they add their level to their roll, e.g. 1% + [WIS bonus]% + [level]%.
Conversion
L. Assign Personality Traits
This is optional for PCs, but if you are seeking some role playing guidance this is another possible step, I generally roll on the DMG tables and pick up to 4 traits, this time I got:
Studious, dreaming and aesthetic
M. Draw on Playable Group Lore
In Bhakashal you can decide how much of the lore associated with playable groups is of interest to you, so, for example, each playable group has “popular” or “common” appearances and clothing, but your PC can look different, or dress differently. Just like the real world, people come in all shapes, sizes and hues, so if you want YOUR Saan to be blue when all other Saan’s are green, red or brown, then that’s fine. They will stand out, but it’s up to the player to go through and decide which lore they want to keep.
So for our PC:
8 feet tall, large, bulbous eyes, greenish yellow skin, webbed feet and hands, nictitating membranes on eyes, long back fin. When threatened or surprised their back fins become rigid and stand out.
Will generally spend no more than a day at a time above water if possible, prefers to stay near or in water
This PC prefers to stay near or in the city, as opposed to many Malu who are nomadic by nature.
They have uncanny memories, never forget names or faces, and are good barterers and negotiators.
Malu are renowned for their courage
N. Name - Mugloss Grewl
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