Building Bhakashal - Character Creation - PCs - Necromancers
Necromancers are a staple of fantasy literature, but this version is a bit different than the default, mustache twirling baby-eating villain. Bhakashal is set billions of years in the future, where ideas about life and death have changed. The bodies of living beings are shells for their housing, animating dead bodies is not taboo, bodies, when the spirits are gone, are dead matter.
Still, whether sacred or not, bringing a dead body back to some semblance of life is an uncanny thing, and only those aligned with the gods of the dead dare attempt it in any form. Only the Noble Houses associated with gods of death will have necromancers. Necromancers form pacts with powerful extraplanar beings in order to animate the dead.
Today we will create a 5th level necromancer, one who has just made their pact.
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. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
I. Calculate Wealth
J. Calculate Encumbrance
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
M. Assign Personality Traits (optional)
N. Customize Playable Group Lore (optional)
O. Name Character
P. Assign magic items (for creating NPCs and PCs above level 1)
A. Choose Class (d20)
Necromancer - Faction - House Ghan [LG]
B. Choose Playable Group (3d12)
Emberi (human)
C. Generate Stats
For each stat roll 3d6
3 2 1/ 5 3 4 /6 3 1 /5 1 1/ 2 2 2/ 6 2 2
S 6 / I 12 / W 10 / D 7 / C 6 / C10
Apply stat minimums
INT 15 DEX 10 CHR 16
S 6 / I 15 / W 10 / D 10 / C 6 / C16
Switch any two stats (you cannot produce a result less than a minimum)
No switch
Apply playable group bonuses
+1 CON / +1 WIS
S 6 / I 15 / W 11 / D 10 / C 7 / C16
Apply Ability Modifiers
S - 6 [-1]
I - 15 [+2]
W - 11 [+1]
D - 10 [+1]
C - 7 [-1]
C - 16 [+3]/+15%
D. Calculate Saving Throw Bonuses and HP
All classes get a +1 bonus per 2 levels of experience, so +3 base
Paralyzation STR and CON [+1]
Poison CON and DEX [+3]
Death Magic WIS and CON [+3]
Petrification CON and CHR [+5]
Polymorph WIS and CHR [+7]
Breath Weapon DEX and INT [+6]
Spell WIS and INT [+6]
Hit Points
Class based, d6, roll or take the average (1/2 HD), I’ll roll for 2, 6, 4, 1, 5= 18 HP
Bhakashal - Hit Points
Table 1 - Hit Point Progression by Class
Notes:
E. Add Skills and Playable Group Abilities
PCs get a skill(s) related to their playable group
Rolled: Scribe
Since scribe was rolled, I decided to make them a Scribus warlock for their class progression role.
All PCs then get a roll on the Bhakashal Skill table once for every point of INT bonus
Rolled: Heraldry, Stoneworker
Playable groups also have abilities
- move at 12” on land and 9” through trees.
- selective vision control:
infravision 120’
+4 on saving throws against brightness related blindness.
- selective hearing control
Stop take an action and concentrate: enhance hearing, reducing surprise to 1 in 6 as longa as maintained
+4 on saves against sonic damage
Bhakashal Skills
F. Choose Deity and Languages
Necromancers will generally worship a god of Death, so in this case, Omagh
Characters get the language of their playable group and one other language of their choice, and then one roll on the table for every point of their INT bonus. If a duplicate is rolled, roll on Special Table 1 instead
Taken: Emberi, Saan
Rolled: Malu, Yalan
Bhakashal Languages - (3d12)* Special Table 1 - (d12)
G. Choose Equipment and Clothing
Backpack, 50’ rope, (3) iron spikes, flint and steel, (3) torches, waterskin, iron rations, blanket, (3) candles, (3) flasks of oil, lantern, small sack - 250 gp encumbrance, 20gp cost
Clothing: Black robes, hard leather boots, black, sleeveless shirt and black pants
H. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
Armor type determines Armor Class - No armor - AC: 9
Attack bonus:
+1 to hit for every HD for monsters
+1 to hit for every 2 levels of experience for martial characters, e.g. +1 at 1st, 3rd, 5th
+1 every 3 levels for martial/arcane characters, e.g. +1 at 1st 4th, 7th
+1 every 4 levels for arcane characters, e.g. +1 at 1st, 5th, 9th
So attack bonus is +2
Initial number of weapons determined by class, 1 weapon by 5th for a necromancer
We will take a Chigiriki
Chigiriki* [+1/-1] 1-6/1-8, WS: 4, WvrsAC: -3M/-2L, Critical: Entangle (ChainAC4/HP6)
*All polearms give a 1-point AC bonus when used two handed.
2. Weapon Proficiency Slots: Each class has an initial number of slots, a Non-Proficiency Penalty and gets new slots as they gain levels.
Forfeiting a weapon proficiency slot allows a +1/+1 bonus with an existing weapon
I. Assign Wealth
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
For PCs and NPCs above 1st level, add [100 gp + 100 gp gem + 100 gp jewelry]/level plus 50gp per ability score “+” to wealth.
870 gp, 400gp gem, 50 gp gem, 400gp jewelry, 50 gp jewelry
Deduct cost of equipment, armor and weapons, 20 gp, 10gp. In addition, they will buy a mount
a giant lizard (in Bhakashal, a giant lizard is called a Gess) for 100gp, as well as an elaborate leather saddle and canopy for another 100 gp so that’s 230gp deducted. Finally, they will hire three Saan henchmen, with Hoplite armor (AC:5, 75 gp cost), spears (1 gp cost), battle axes (75 gp weight, 2 gp cost) and crossbows (3 gp cost) - 237 gp equipment, 150gp yearly fees, so 387 gp + 230 gp = 617gp deducted from 870 gives 253 gp in coin and a final wealth total of: 253 gp, 400gp ruby, 50 gp pearl, 400gp bracer, 50 gp silver ring
J. Calculate Encumbrance
Weapon Weights are found in the weapon listings - 60
Armor Weights are found on the Armor Table - none
Equipment weight is precalculated for equipment packs, otherwise consult the Equipment Weights table - 250 gp
Deduct 50gp per point of CON and STR bonus, in this case with negative modifiers you ADD this to the encumbrance, so it adds 100 gp
Total all weight and consult the Weight/Movement table - 410 gp, so they can carry an additional 90gp before being slowed
Weight/Movement Table
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
Like Warlocks, specialist casters like Necromancers permanently memorize spells, they do not have spell books and do not have to memorize their spells for the day every day.
However, unlike Warlocks, specialist casters like Necromancers DO NOT use the percentage chance to successfully cast and potentially fail casting odds.
They have a restricted spell list (necromancy spells and assorted miscellaneous spells only)
+10% on the "to know" percentage for spells from the list
They may cast warlock spells of any kind from a scroll with the same success/harm odds as listed in the DMG for scroll casting, with a [10-INT bonus]% penalty, but they may not memorize these spells
Each of the warlock subclasses is thus associated with a dragon type, in the case of necromantic magic it is a green dragon. Necromancers read and speak green dragon, and get a +20% on encounter reaction rolls with green dragons
Necromancers follow the spell casting progression of a green dragon, starting at the adult age category, see below:
So 4 1st, 4 2nd and 1 3rd level spell at 5th level
Initial spells at 1st level are Necromancer’s Touch, Bolerastun’s Mantle of the Dead and Protective Circle, then one other first and one other second level spell randomly determined and given by their patron
Because Necromancers get a lot of spells per day, it is recommended that they only have enough spells to fill their slots when creating pregens, PCs as played will have a different spread. I randomly roll for the spells in this case and get:
1st Level - Bolerastun’s Mantle of the Dead, Necromancer’s Touch, Protective Circle, Spider Climb
2nd Level - Feign Death, Levitate, Speak with the Dead, Strength
3rd Level - Animate Dead
Bhakashal Spells
Bolerastun’s Mantle of the Dead
Level: 1, Casting Time: 1 segment, Range: touch, Duration: 1 round/level, Area of Effect: special, Components: V,S,M, Saving Throw: none
Bolerastun’s Mantle causes the warlock to radiate negative plane energy, this energy is diffuse enough that it will not harm anyone, but it has the important benefit of making the warlock appear to be undead herself, and thus preventing undead monsters from attacking her. The deception only works against skeletons, zombies and ghouls for 1st - 3rd level warlocks, shadows, wights and ghasts for 4th - 6th level warlocks, and wraiths, mummy’s and spectres for 7th - 10th level warlocks. Any more powerful undead are immune to the spell’s deception.The warlock may include one extra target for every level, e.g. two targets may be hidden at 2nd level, 3 at 3rd, etc, to a maximum of 10. The material component for this spell is a bone from a skeleton and a black silk blindfold.
Necromancer’s Touch
Level: 1, Range: touch, Duration: Special, Area of Effect: creature touched, Components: V, S, Casting Time: I segment, Saving Throw: none
This spell requires that the necromancer touch the victim with their totem. If they are successful the victim will lose 1-4 hp + 1 hp per necromancer’s level. The spell remains active for 1 round / level, each round a successful hit drains 1-4 hp + 1 hp per level. If the necromancer has the spell active and is hit by an undead, or hits an undead in combat, the undead suffers twice the damage listed in the spell description. When combat has ceased, half the hp in the totem go to the necromancer’s Daanav, the other half stay in the token for a maximum of one month. The necromancer can store 8 hp per level maximum in the totem using this spell (after division). The necromancer can use that energy in one of two ways:
1) to heal themself, every hp drained gives a hp of healing
2) to animate dead, for every 8 hp drained, one HD of undead can be raised using the animate dead spell
Their Daanav is a Death Slaadi named Jumaggoth, their token is a carnivorous ape skull, the current “store” of HP in their token (max 8 hp per level) is 30.
L. Assign Personality Traits (Optional)
Up to four, rolled on DMG tables. Note that players should always get to:
Refuse or re-roll a personality trait
Interpret a personality trait
Rolled: Moody, aloof, proud
M. Customize Playable Group Lore (Optional)
None
N. Name
Calligaster Naukan
O. Magic Items
For PCs and NPCs being made above 1st level, assign magic items as follows:
Level / 3 in permanent magic items
Level / 2 in temporary magic items
So 2 permanent and 3 temporary items
Rolled:
Ring of Water Walking
Wand of Metal and Mineral Detection (30)
Potion of Clairaudience
Potion of Black Dragon Control
Scroll of 2 spells: Forget and Magic Jar
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