Building Bhakashal - Character Creation - PCs
Image by Cristina Bencina
https://conceptartworld.com/artists/cristina-bencina/?replytocom=804261
For today’s January Character Creation Challenge I decided to go “back to basics” and generate a 1st level human (Emberi) Warlock. Warlocks are really at the heart of Bhakashal, I have played magic-users or illusionists almost every time I actually played D&D, there is something about the class that just resonates with me. Since most of the people who are seeing this have probably played or played with a human magic-user in the party, it will be a good comparison case.
So if you decided you wanted to play a human magic-user in Bhakashal, what would that look like?
Let’s go!
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)
Warlock - Faction - House Murgin [CG]
B. Choose Playable Group (3d12)
Emberi (human)
C. Generate Stats
For each stat roll 3d6
5 4 3 /6 4 5/ 5 2 2/ 6 3 5/ 3 1 4/ 5 1 6
S12 / I 15 / W 9 / D 14 / C 8 / C 12
Apply stat minimums
INT 15 DEX 10 CHR 16
S12 / I 15 / W 9 / D 14 / C 8 / C 16
Switch any two stats (you cannot produce a result less than a minimum)
No switch
Apply playable group bonuses
+1 CON +1 WIS
S12 / I 15 / W 10 / D 14 / C 9 / C 16
Apply Ability Modifiers
S - 12 [+1]
I - 15 [+2]
W - 10 [+1]
D - 14 [+2]
C - 9 [0]
C - 16 [+3]/+15%
D. Calculate Saving Throw Bonuses and HP
All classes get a +1 bonus per 2 levels of experience, so +1 base
Paralyzation STR and CON [+2]
Poison CON and DEX [+3]
Death Magic WIS and CON [+2]
Petrification CON and CHR [+4]
Polymorph WIS and CHR [+5]
Breath Weapon DEX and INT [+5]
Spell WIS and INT [+4]
Hit Points
Class based, roll or take the average (1/2 HD) - Rolled: 4
Bhakashal - Hit Points
Notes:
E. Add Skills and Playable Group Abilities
PCs get a skill(s) related to their playable group
Rolled: scribe
All PCs then get a roll on the Bhakashal Skill table once for every point of INT bonus
Astrologer, Astronomer
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
Gods of Bhakashal (4d12)
Rolled: Gallas – Jupiter, Wisdom
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
Emberi, Saan - rolled: Vodnik, Togmu
G. Choose Equipment and Clothing
Backpack, 50’ rope, (3) iron spikes, flint and steel, (3) torches, waterskin, iron rations, blanket - 200 gp encumbrance, 10 gp cost
Black robes
H. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
None - AC: 10
Attack bonus for a 1st level PC is +1 to hit
Weapon choice: Warlocks get one weapon to start, in this case I’ll take a Gunsen - a bladed fan.
(2) Gunsen [+2/+1] 1-3/1-2, WS:2, WvrsAC: -8M/-3L/+1N, Criticals: Dual Wield - 10gp encumbrance, 1gp cost
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
50gp, 50gp emerald, 50gp ruby, 40gp sapphire, 50gp gold ring
Deduct cost of equipment, armor and weapons - final: 38gp + 50gp emerald, 50gp ruby, 40gp sapphire, 50gp gold ring
J. Calculate Encumbrance
Weapon Weights are found in the weapon listings - 20gp
Armor Weights are found on the Armor Table - none
Equipment weight is precalculated for equipment packs, otherwise consult the Equipment Weights table - 200gp
Deduct 50gp per point of CON and STR bonus - 50
Total all weight and consult the Weight/Movement table - 170gp, so 330 gp can be added before slowing down to the next speed category
Weight/Movement Table
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
First level warlocks get 4 initial spells from their patron, randomly determined. You can either roll completely randomly, or you can roll on the “offensive, defensive, misc” tables. I will roll one offensive, two defensive and one miscellaneous spell.
Rolled:
Offensive: Enlarge, Sinshara’s Astounding Salt Spray
Defensive: The Indomitable Matador (Enchantment)
Miscellaneous: Mount
Bhakashal Spells
Sinshara’s Astounding Salt Spray (Evocation)
Level: 1
Casting Time: 1 segment
Range: 0
Duration: instantaneous
Area of Effect: special
Components: V,S,M
Saving Throw: neg.
When cast Sinshara’s signature spell creates a fan-like spray of salt that distributes itself in the same way as a burning hands spell (3' length in a horizontal arc of about 120" in front of the caster). Unlike the burning hands spell the caster can cast this spell one handed, swinging her hand in an arc while the magical salt flies out in a horizontal arc. All victims in the area of effect must save versus spell or be blinded by the salt, requiring their eyes to be washed out with water and unable to attack, defend or cast spells. If water is not available the blindness lasts for d4+2 rounds, if water is available it lasts for 2 rounds. If the victim makes her saving throw then they have managed to close their eyes before the salt hit but they will still be unable to spell cast for the remainder of the round as they must remove the salt from their face or risk it blinding them in the next round (additional save required if it is not wiped off). This spell does no damage. The material component of this spell is a pinch of salt and a copper piece.
The Indomitable Matador (Enchantment)
Level: 1
Casting Time: 1 segment
Range: individual
Duration: 2 rounds/level
Area of Effect: individual
Components: V,S,M
Saving Throw: special
For the duration of this spell the magic user can redirect any melee attacks against them, in the following manner:
- Unarmed attacks will suffer a -2 to hit, and the victim must save versus spells or lose their balance and fall, being prone for 1 round.
- Weapon attacks suffer a -2 to hit and must save versus spell or suffer one of two consequences (roll d4), 1-2: lose their balance and fall, being prone for 1 round, 3-4: drop their weapon necessitating a round to recover it
The material component for this spell is a small red handkerchief.
Spell Casting
Warlocks do not have to memorize spells each day, instead, any spell they find they can try to permanently memorize, using their “to know” percentage. Once this is successfully rolled, the spell is permanently in their mind
A warlock can cast 1 spell per level, + INT bonus per day
A warlock’s chance of successfully casting a spell is based on their “to know” percentage, plus a bonus based on level, as follows: 16- INT - Success [55% +2% per caster level] = 57%
If the spell fails, the odds of a harmful result are equal to the spell level X 5%, harmful results are interpreted by the referee based on the spell
A warlock may use the sheer force of will to counter a harmful result from a spell, but doing so burns one point of intelligence permanently. If the loss of a point of intelligence would cause them to drop below 15 intelligence, the point loss comes off of wisdom instead. A maximum of 3 points of wisdom can be lost this way, after that there is no safety valve for casting.
Note the important differences here between Bhakashal warlocks and regular D&D magic-users, Bhakashal warlocks get to cast more spells per day at 1st level, and do not have to memorize their spells anew every day, these are significant advantages. One of the challenges of D&D has always been that you may not memorize the spell you happen to need, and thus more “niche” spells often don’t get memorized or used at all. In Bhakashal, since you have access to all your memorized spells, spells get used, and “niche” spells become useful in a way they rarely are in a typical D&D game.
However, they also have a significant disadvantage, in that every spell cast has the possibility of failure or harm.
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
Diplomatic, suspicious, honorable
M. Customize Playable Group Lore (Optional)
Level headed, good tempered
N. Name
Ngai Eyona
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