Building Bhakashal - Character Creation - PCs
Today’s contribution to the January Character Creation Challenge is the Theurgist. A theurgist combines physical discipline and skill with weapons along with mental powers. Since the focus is on the ability to influence foes with the mind, I decided to make the Theurgist a mercenary/phantasmist (fighter/illusionist) combination.
Theurgists have their own unique versions of the standard illusion spells, in particular, theurgist illusions occur in the minds of the victims only, they don’t manifest as 3d illusions that everyone can see. When you are fighting a Theurgist illusion you appear to be fighting the air around you.
As opposed to other classes, Theurgists do not serve the Noble Houses or the various temples, but instead the Temple of Palashurem specifically. The priests of Palashurem created an army of Theurgists, known as The Bharran, whose job it is to root out corruption. The priests believe that all forms of governance will eventually succumb to corruption, so they work to find and eliminate that corruption whenever they can. Theurgists pass themselves off as warlocks, mercenaries or phantasmists, sometimes working for Noble Houses while serving the Temple in secret.
Their combination of martial prowess and spell casting ability makes them formidable.
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)
Theurgist
Faction - Temple of Palashurem [LG]
B. Choose Playable Group (3d12)
Emberi (human)
C. Generate Stats
For each stat roll 3d6
3 3 5 /5 4 1 /6 5 1 /4 3 1 /5 1 6 /5 5 3
S 11 / I 10 / W 12 / D 8 / C 12 / C 13
Apply stat minimums
STR 10 INT 15 DEX 10 CHR 15
S 11 / I 15 / W 12 / D 10 / C 12 / C 15
Switch any two stats (you cannot produce a result less than a minimum)
No switch
Apply playable group bonuses
+1 CON +1 WIS
S 11 / I 15 / W 13 / D 10 / C 13 / C 15
Apply Ability Modifiers
S 11 [+1]
I 15 [+2]
W 13 [+2]
D 10 [+1]
C 13 [+2]
C 15 [+2]/+10%
D. Calculate Saving Throw Bonuses and HP
Base bonus for 3rd lv PC +2
Paralyzation STR and CON [+5]
Poison CON and DEX [+5]
Death Magic WIS and CON [+6]
Petrification CON and CHR [+6]
Polymorph WIS and CHR [+6]
Breath Weapon DEX and INT [+5]
Spell WIS and INT [+6]
Hit Points
Class based, roll or take the average (1/2 HD) - Rolled: 11
E. Add Skills and Playable Group Abilities
PCs get a skill(s) related to their playable group
Rolled: Weapon smith
All PCs then get a roll on the Bhakashal Skill table once for every point of INT bonus
Rolled - Teamster, Navigator
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, concentrate: enhance hearing, reducing surprise to 1 in 6 as long as maintained, +4 on saves against sonic damage
F. Choose Deity and Languages
Palashurem – Loyalty, Duty, Honor
Languages - Emberi, Saan, Rolled: Togmu, Yalan
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
H. Pick Armor and Weapons and Assign Attack Bonuses
Armor type: None - AC: 10, DEX mod 1 - AC:9
Attack bonus is +1 every 3 levels for martial/arcane characters, e.g. +1 at 1st 4th, 7th… so +1 for a 3rd level Theurgist.
Initial number of weapons determined by class - 3, new weapon proficiency at 3rd.
Theurgists usually take a missile weapon and specialize in a main weapon, usually an axe of some sort (as this is their deity’s weapon), and stack bonuses on it. So with that distribution they would get [+2/+2] on the bardiche from proficiency bonuses and [+1/+1] from STR.
Bardiche [+3/+3] 2-8/3-12, WS: 5, WvrsAC: -1M/+2L/+3N, Criticals: Cleave/Dismount / Sweep/Remain
Weight - 125, Cost 7gp
Shortbow (12) [+1/+1] 1-6/1-6, WS: 3, ROF:2, Range: 5/10/15, WvrsAC: -3M/+1L/+2N, Criticals: Remain
20gp encumbrance, 15gp cost - Arrows 1 gp for 12
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.
850gp + 250gp gem + 250gp jewelry = 50gp, (2) 400gp diamonds, 250gp ruby, 250gp bracelet
Deduct cost of equipment, armor and weapons - 43gp
Final: 7gp, (2) 400gp diamonds, 250gp ruby, 250gp bracelet
J. Calculate Encumbrance
Weapon Weights are found in the weapon listings - 150gp
Armor Weights are found on the Armor Table - none
Equipment weight is precalculated for equipment packs, otherwise consult the Equipment Weights table - 250gp
Deduct 50gp per point of CON and STR bonus - 150 gp
Total all weight and consult the Weight/Movement table - 250gp, so 250gp can be added before slowing down
Weight/Movement Table
K. Assign Spells/Class Abilities
Theurgist spells are learned in a unique way. Theurgists follow a 1/2 spell progression (rounding up) with respect to what level spells they may cast, e.g. a 5th level Theurgist can use up to 3rd level spells, etc. Theurgists are free casters within their selection of spells for each level, e.g. they do not have to choose which spells to memorize each day, all of the level appropriate spells they have learned are available to them.
Each theurgist will have a mentor/patron to train with. Theurgist’s gain spells by learning meditations with their patrons/trainers. Each mentor/patron has a number of learned spells from each level group equal to [2 x INT modifier] + [Level/2]. At 3rd level our PC will have access to 1st and 2nd level spells.
I roll up the spells for this PC’s patron (9th level, INT 16 - 9 spells per level) and get the following:
1st level - Animal Friendship, Detect Magic, Illeana’s Dry as Dust, Remove Fear, Sivir’s Scuttling Terror, Speak with Animals, The Indomitable Matador, Whisper of the Jaema, Ventriloquism
2nd Level - Augury, Detect Lie, ESP, Fight or Flight, Hold Person, Mirishan’s Misplacement, Snake Charm, The Artful Eyes of the Sharper, The Mad Rage of Rikkitan
The Theurgist PC now chooses which spells, they get to learn [2 x INT modifier] + [Level/2] spells per level, so 6 spells per level. The player can choose which spells to try first. INT for this PC is 15, so a 65%+ 3% = 68% chance to know each spell. You check for spells in the order the player desires, any spell that is not “known” you can try for again if desired at half the odds, if that fails, the spell is barred to the Theurgist forever (except on scroll).
So the player tries for Animal Friendship, Illeana’s Dry as Dust, Speak with Animals, and Whisper of the Jaema and is successful on all. They fail once at Detect Magic, but try again at 1/2 odds and are successful. They roll twice and fail on remove fear, so that may only be cast from scrolls, and they try successfully on second roll for Sivir’s Scuttling Terror.
That’s all 6.
From the second level list the player successfully tries for Augury, Detect Lie, ESP, and Snake Charm. They try and fail both times at The Artful Eyes of the Sharper and The Mad Rage of Rikkitan. They get Mirishan’s Misplacement and Hold Person on second roll
Note that when a PC Theurgist gains levels and can go back and try for more lower level spells they may have to find another patron to learn from, as they may have permanently failed at enough of their patron’s spells that they have no more to learn from them at that level. However, if the PC rolls once through every spell of a particular level and does not meet their required amount, they should re-roll for everything.
So this PC Theurgist now has:
1st Level - Animal Friendship, Detect Magic, Illeana’s Dry as Dust, Sivir’s Scuttling Terror, Speak with Animals, Whisper of the Jaema
2nd Level - Augury, Detect Lie, ESP, Hold Person, Mirishan’s Misplacement, Snake Charm
The Theurgist can cast a total 3 spells per day selected from these, it can be 3 2nd level spells, 3 1st level spells, or a mix of both totalling 3
Bhakashal Spells
Illeana’s Dry as Dust (Illusion/Phantasm)
Level: 1
Range: 4” + l"/level
Duration: 1 round/level
Area of Effect: 1 individual
Components: S,M
Casting Time: 1 segment
Saving throw: neg.
When this spell is cast the victim immediately experiences raw thirst that grows with each passing round. Every round they must make a saving throw versus paralyzation or immediately leave combat to find liquids to consume or retire from immediate melee combat to drink liquids they have. Once liquids are located it will take a full round to consume them and break the spell. There is a penalty of 1 point to the saving throw for every 4 hours the victim has went without some form of liquid to drink. The material component for this spell is a small empty tin cup.
Sivir’s Scuttling Terror (Illusion/Phantasm)
Level: 1
Range: 6" + l"/level
Duration: 2 rounds/level
Area of Effect: special
Components: S,M
Casting Time: 1 segment
Saving throw: neg.
Sivirs scuttling terror creates the illusion of some small creature, a rat, a large spider, a scorpion, that scuttles into view, disappears, then appears to run into the victim’s clothes and remains there for the duration of the spell. The spell can affect any size of single creature. Victims will do one of the following (roll d4):
Remove clothing and armor to get at the creature (3 rounds for heavy armor, 2 rounds for light, 1 round for regular clothing)
Panic and flee (duration of spell)
Attempt to attack the illusory creature, doing damage to themselves by weapon type (duration of spell)
Attempt to immolate themselves to kill the creature (1-4 damage per round)
The spell works particularly well against giants, who take a penalty of - 4 on saves. Unclothed victims get a +4 on saves. The material component of this spell is a live insect of any kind.
Whisper of the Jaema
Level: 1
Range: 4”+1”/level
Duration: special
Area of Effect: Special
Components: none
Casting Time: 3 segments
Saving Throw: Neg.
Whisper of the Jaema works like Phantasmal Force, it creates an illusion of anything the caster has seen before (seen well enough to create a reasonable version with their mind). The illusion appears in the victim’s mind only. The Theurgist can impact one mind per level of experience with this illusion.
Victims must make a save, if they fail, they stand still, in a trance, and experience the illusion as if real for 2 rounds. Then they gain another save. If that is failed the illusion lasts two more rounds, etc. Anyone trying to wake them gives them a save. Taking damage gives them a save. The illusion lasts until the Theurgist ends it or the victim makes their save.
The Theurgist must remain motionless and focused to use this spell while the illusion is attacking the victim, she may carry out no other actions. At 5th level the Theurgist can move at half speed while maintaining the illusion, and may perform simple, non-attack, non-spell casting tasks while maintaining it at 10th they may move at full speed while maintaining an illusion and may defend themselves or attack with a weapon.
The illusion works exactly as the real world correlate, with the following limitation, if the illusion is to do damage to the target, then creatures, spells and effects duplicated with this illusion are limited to the casters level in HD/Spell level. Any illusion of a creature/spell above the caster’s level cannot do damage.
A target fights the illusion in their mind as if it were real, with all real stats and attacks, and the illusion does real damage, if the illusion slays the target in this mental combat they are dead. If they are not slain before the illusion ends when it does they have whatever HP they had left in the illusion.
Mirishan’s Misplacement (Enchantment/Charm)
Level: 2
Casting Time: 2 segments
Range: 1” per level
Duration: 1 round per level
Area of Effect: individual
Components: S,M
Saving throw: neg.
If the victim does not save versus the misplacement they will immediately forget the location of an important weapon or magic item. They will feel compelled to find it, even if in the heat of battle, and will immediately spend time looking for the item. Each round they have a cumulative chance of finding the item equal to ½ of their intelligence score. Eg. Someone with an intelligence of 12 would have a 6% chance of finding the object in round 1, a 12% chance in round 2, etc. Once the item is found the anxiousness of the spell wears off, otherwise it wears off at the end of the spell’s duration. The material component of this spell is a small item like a coin or a nail that is thrown away when the spell is cast.
Theurgist Abilities
Martial Arts - Theurgists follow a demanding physical regimen, and gain the martial arts proficiency (1 point AC bonus, so AC 8, 1-3 HP damage per attack, WvrsAC modifiers of +1L / +2N and 3/2 unarmed attacks per round)
Mental Toughness: +2 on all mental saving throws
Combined Powers: if more than one theurgist combine the casting of the same spell, all parameters of the spell are increased by a multiple equal to the number of participants +1, so a pair of Theurgists casting the same spell at the same time would cast a combined spell that had 3X the range, duration, AOE, etc. In addition, any saves against the spell are made at -1 for every Theurgist casting the spell.
Surprised on a 1 in 6
Language - All Theurgists speak a language only known to others of the class, it is the language which their spells are written in, and has many soft, sibilant sounds and odd clicks to it.
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
Stoic, Quiet, Determined
M. Customize Playable Group Lore (Optional)
None
N. Name
Cassindra Loke
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 1 permanent and 2 temporary items
+1 ring of protection (modifies AC and saves by 1)
Potion of Growth
Potion of Flying
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