Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Building Bhakashal - Roll-Playing and Role-Playing


Some people will come to Bhakashal to roll dice and kill stuff, and won’t really care what their PC is wearing. 


That’s cool. The game offers a stripped down version of character creation that skips the “extras” for those who aren’t enamored with that sort of stuff.


However, if you want the bells and whistles, we have you covered.


For some, “role play” is playing themselves with a different coat of paint. 


That’s cool too.


But some people want to play a role, they want to be their characters not just in terms of what weapons they wield or what spells they cast, but also in terms of how their character interacts with the larger game world. If there was one complaint I have heard repeatedly is that different races in fantasy games tend to be played in the same way, like humans but with funny ears.


To help with role playing a unique character, Bhakashal provides multiple prompts in regular character creation. Rather than going the route of creating a “backstory”, Bhakashal gives your PC various components create all the “backstory” you need.


Here is how it’s done.


First, I rolled up a 3rd level PC to use as an example, Khyne Jamas. Note that every aspect of this PC was randomized, so the resultant character is a surprise to make as well. This is one of the most interesting aspects of Bhakashal character generation, if you embrace the randomization you will end up with a compelling character that surprises you as much as your fellow players.



Khyne Jamas – 3rd level Kutya – Spider -  Extorter - Brass Blade Guild [LE]

MV:16” - AC: 7 - HP: 12


Ability Scores

S – 15 [+2] 

I – 10 [+1]
W - 8 [-1]
D – 10 [+1]
C – 9 
C – 16 [+3]/+15%


Saving Throws

Paralyzation [+7]

Poison [+6]

Death Magic [+4]

Petrification [+8]

Polymorph [+7]

Breath Weapon [+7]

Spell [+5]

Deity - Yaal – Death, Cleansing, Rebirth

Languages – Kutya, Saan, Rakasta

Appearance – Black coat, long tail, green eyes

Skills/Abilities  

- Hunter [+1]

- Territory: Docks (5% recognition, +6% HIS, +12% haven)

- Neutralize one combat critical per day

- Surprise: 3 in 6, then HIS or MS

- Surprised: 1 in 6

- Backstab: +4 to hit, x2 to damage

- Thieving Abilities:

PP:45% / OL:40% / FRT:35% / MS:30% HIS:25% / HN:20% / CW: 87%


Clothing:  Large black hat, dark green cloak, wine red silk sleeveless shirt, black pantaloons

Personality: Scheming, Spendthrift, vengeful

 

Weapons - Class Attack Bonus: +2

1. Broadsword - 2-8/2-7, WS: 3, WvrsAC: +2L/+3N, Criticals: Cleave

2. (2) Sai - 1-4/1-2, WS:1, WvrsAC: -2M/+1N, Criticals: Dual Wield/Remain/Stab

3. Kusari-gama* - 1-6/1-4, WS: 3, WvrsAC: -3M/+1L/+2N, Criticals: Entangle

*Weapon disarms on a regular hit

 

Equipment: Backpack, 50’ rope, (3) iron spikes, flint and steel, (3) torches, waterskin, iron rations, blanket, Thieves Tools

Encumbrance: +155 gp

Wealth: 300gp ruby, 300gp emerald, 50 gp, 200gp ring

Magic Items

Ring of Protection +2

Potion of Invisibility

Potion of Gaseous Form

 


1. Class and Faction

First off, Khyne is a spider, a Bhakashal thief. As he is third level his level title is “extorter”, which connects to his path of advancement in the thieves guild. The guild has “branches”, so one branch is associated with intimidation and physical banditry, another with forging and laundering money, etc, Every PC progresses within their branch, and each has level based tasks. They can be both adventure hooks for the referee to give to the party, or they can be role-playing hooks for Khyne. So, for example, Khyne’s level based guild tasks are: 


Hired muscle

Bodyguard

Scout

Caravan guard

Robbery

Info gathering/surveillance

Burglary

Guild fee collecting


These are all physical tasks that require him to be in the field and intimidating, so Khyne will have some presence, and not be easily shaken. He has a 16 CHA, which plays into this nicely. 


Also, institutions and factions have alignment in Bhakashal, the guild is Lawful Evil, which means that, as a rule, it does NOT reward individual initiative (Lawful) and it does tolerate harming others to achieve the goals of the guild (Evil). The player decides if they want to play into that, will they try to be enterprising and go against the grain or will they tow the line and attach their wagon to a rising star? The player might role-play Khyne as conservative with respect to following guild orders, knowing them to be a lawful organization. As with all role playing prompts, the player can run the PC to type or against type. 


2. Ability Scores

The aforementioned CHA is a gift, he gets encounter reaction bonuses, so Khyne might be a smooth talker, and might trash talk to provoke foes. He’s also pretty strong, so that fits.


3. Deity

In Bhakashal you choose the deity based on their area of influence. So for example, you pray to the god of bounty to bless your food, the god of war before battle, the god of water before a journey on the ocean, etc. However, your listed deity is the one associated with some important value or goal in your life, the thing that matters to your PC the most. You can pick one of the listed domains of deity, or roll between them. In this case Khyne worships Yaal, the god of death, cleansing and rebirth. So I decide that Khyne is unafraid of death, say he believes in reincarnation, and will role play him that way. 


4. Languages

All PCs and NPCs in Bhakashal speak multiple languages. The languages you speak connect you to other communities, they give you small positive encounter reaction modifiers, and they reflect involvement with the language speakers for some reason specific to the setting. So if your Malu PC speaks Togmu, maybe your grew up near a Togmu village. And there are “fantastic” options on the language table as well, for example, ogres work as “muscle” in Bhakashal, they are somewhat rare and keep to themselves. But if ogre was rolled on the language table some aspect of the PC’s past or present means they would know how to speak Ogre. Maybe one of their parents was a merchant and had an Ogre bodyguard. 


Players can riff off of these in the game.


5. Appearance

Every playable group (Bhakashal “race”) has a unique appearance within their type, so for example, Khyne is a Kutya, a dog person, so he could be black, brown, white, etc, look like a doberman, or a husky, or a retriever, etc, etc, etc. The player chooses these aspects as they like for each playable group.


6. Skills

PCs get class and playable group based skills, as well as INT based skills from level 1. When you roll a duplicate of an existing skill you get a bonus in that skill instead. These skills are interpreted broadly, so Kutya are often hunters, Khyne rolled this playable group based skill from a list of three, and rolled it again for his INT based skills, so he gets a +1 in the skill. Being a hunter means that Khyne will have the standard skills of a hunter that don’t require rolling, e.g., the ability to assess hunting gear, or hunting dogs, that sort of thing. This is another role-playing hook for the player to use, Khyne will be comfortable outdoors, familiar with hunters and used to being around dangerous animals. 


7. Abilities

Playable groups and classes have abilities, so in Khyne’s case, Spiders all have a “territory” in the game, Khyne’s is the Bhakashal docks, that gives him bonuses on recognizing regulars in the docks, on HIS (he knows where to hide in the territory) and gives him odds on finding safe hiding spots in the area. This is role playing gold for the character, who will have an area of the game world as “theirs”.


8. Clothing

Khyne dresses a bit the fop, with a large wide brimmed hat, a long cloak (Bhakashal is a HOT place, cloaks are not standard), rings, silk shirt and pantaloons.


9. Personality

Bhakashal has each PC roll up four personality traits, however, players always get to:

Refuse or re-roll a personality trait

Interpret a personality trait


It is up to the player to use these as prompts in whatever way they like. They can even go against type, and decide that their PC is different. These are prompts, they are meant to give players a tool to role play their PC if they need one. 


Khyne rolled up scheming, spendthrift, and vengeful.


The player decides to interpret these as Khyne keeping track of the people that the party interacts with in order to potentially exploit/ask favors of them (scheming), he tries to fix things rather than replace them (spendthrift) and he never forgets a slight (vengeful). You don’t have to have him avenging his dead parents, prompts like this are meant to be taken up and used by the player (or the referee) in any way they like. Prompts are not binding or restrictive, they are generative


10. Custom

Every playable group has customs associated with it, players can take them all, take some, or take none. In this case, Khyne takes on the Kutya customs of preferring the outdoors, to the point of often sleeping in trees or the roof of the inn and preferring rooms with windows. Kutya also like the yomai, a “ a pair of crystalline rods that are struck against each other to make strange, high pitched sounds that are blended together to produce subtle harmonies”. So for example, Khyne might stop to listen to a yomai performance during a session.


11. Virtue

Every playable group has a virtue or virtues associated with them. For Kutya they are energetic and optimistic. The player decides to run Khyne to type on the energetic part, but against type on the optimistic part. 


There are ample points of role-playing inspiration in this character, from appearance to clothing to personality traits, customs and virtues, languages and skills, preferred deity, faction, class specific roles, these are all points to use to define the character if the player wishes to engage with them. They also mean that different playable groups play differently at the table. 


It is truly rewarding to see these things happen in real time, in one case a Kutya PC in my home game was crossing the city with the party to get to a task. I described them passing a street party, with musicians playing to a large group of dancers. Well, one Kutya custom is a fondness for dancing in groups. The player remembered that, and asked to go take part. 


It had nothing to do with the task at hand, and didn’t contribute any information or advantage to the party. But the player felt like the game world was ALIVE for them, as it connected to an aspect of their character. That’s the appeal of having these points of contact for role playing inspiration. 


Khyne Jamas will go into the Bhakashal NPC section to be used by the referee or by a player as a pregen.



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