Building Bhakashal – High Level NPCs

Our session this week involved a high-level NPC, something they don’t come across that often.

My Wednesday group opened a hellgate in the Forgotten City, they bargained with a pit fiend, Baeral, releasing him on the condition he would lead them to great treasure. Baeral betrayed them and fled to a nearby desert city to gain revenge on a warlock, Haegemal the Heliotrope.  

The party eventually decided to leave the city after looting it. I rolled to see what happened between the Baeral and Haegemal. It ends up that the fiend attacked, the warlock fled, and used divination magic to determine what happened. He then decided to find the party and convince them to help him return the fiend to the pit. He flew across the desert, Baeral in pursuit, on an Opinicus. He asked the party for help, and they agreed. They went to the hellgate to await the pit fiend.

Now, a brief word of context. Haegemal the Heliotrope is a Technal Magus Warlock from House Ghan in Bhakashal. High level Bhakashal Warlocks are very powerful, Haegemal had captured the pit fiend and used it in rituals for months before it broke free. It was thirsty for revenge. Haegemal, as a representative of powerful Bhakashal warlocks, had to be a big deal. As an NPC he was modeling what was possible, and he was of a level to be a patron as well.

He had to have the flash.

I rolled him up according to the rules for NPC creation.

A few things to note. First, he has a broadsword, Bissandrith’s Sword of Cleaving, the sword only has a +1 bonus, but can hit any target, even those normally restricted to weapons of higher “+”, or whatever other restriction.

Warlocks with swords are PURE BHAKASHAL.

Next, his major magic item is Konkarrin’s Iron Sentinel. Konkarrin the Cyan is the Magus Warlock of House Viinos (18th level). The Iron Sentinel transforms you into enchanted iron and gives you low AC and a bunch of HP.

However, you can’t cast spells while using it.

The party was gathered, and Baeral appeared in the sky to the East, death in his eyes. Haegemal took out a scroll and cast Globe of Invulnerability on himself while the beast approached. Baeral positioned himself about 300 feet in the air above them. Then the Pit Fiend spoke, his voice like damnation and fire, “Haegemal the Heliotrope, your soul shall be mine to play with.” Haegemal snarled back, “Come collect your toll fiend, I shall pay you dearly.”

I rolled to see how the fiend would attack, and I ended up with teleport. Pit Fiends can at will teleport no error, the fiend had been to that location before, so he can teleport there at will. I decided that when the fiend appeared after teleporting amongst the party members we would roll for surprise, if it won, it got the drop on the party and could have one free attack. This is one of those make it or break it situations, the dice could end things with one roll, as the fiend in proximity to the party would be carnage. If the party won surprise, the fiend appeared amongst them, and the party attacks it first. We rolled, the party won surprise, Haegemal and the party had a chance to act.

However, Fiends also  “shed Fear in a 20’ radius”. So, even though the party won surprise when the devil teleported, the Fear effect is in play automatically as soon as he was in proximity, so all had to make a save.

Two of the 7 party members failed, and left in terror, running as fast as they could. Then… the rest of the party took off too! I’m not sure if it was the way I role played the fiend, or the fact that a fully loaded Bhakashal Magus Warlock had shown up, but they decided this was out of their weight class and booked it.

Abandoned, Haegemal had to act.

As a referee, I know what is going to happen, but Haegemal doesn’t, he has no idea what ability the fiend was going to use, from gating in another fiend to wall of fire to psionics. In that situation I roll between all his options, to be fair. Haegemal decided to use the Iron Sentinel. As a referee I will then interpret the dice. Haegemal had gambled that the fiend, due to his sheer hatred, would want to get up close and personal to destroy him, so he opted for defense.

Another issue here is that the party has all fled, so they have nothing to do. That’s not on. So, I handed Haegemal’s sheet over to the party, they were told to each take turns directing his actions, and I ran Baeral.

Game on!

Haegemal was covered by the Globe of Invulnerability and was made of enchanted iron. Bissandrith’s Sword of Cleaving was drawn. His surprise action done; he decided to charge and on charge longest weapon strikes first, so Haegemal charged and swung at Baeral with the Sword of Cleaving.

Haegemal gets +6 to hit with the sword (this includes level-based, proficiency, strength, and magic bonuses), and +3 for the WvsAC adjustment against no armor for a total fixed bonus of +9. Also, charging gives you +2 to hit, so +11.

A pit fiend has an AC of -3, in Bhakashal you add the AC to the to hit roll, so in this case you deduct 3 points. So, the total modifier to hit for Haegemal is +8. To hit for full damage, Haegemal needs to roll a 20-24 with bonuses, to crit requires 25+ with bonuses. So, he hits on 12-16 and crits on a 17+, the player rolling for Haegemal rolled a 14, and since he was charging the damage is doubled. Haegemal normally gets a +1 damage bonus from STR, this increased to +4 with the Iron Sentinel, so I add +3 to the damage bonus for the weapon for a total of +6.

In Bhakashal when damage is doubled you roll the base dice damage, double that, and add bonuses. The next player up rolled the damage, he rolled 6 hp of damage, doubled to 12, and added the +6  damage bonus for 18 total. In Bhakashal when you damage a creature for the first time you roll their hp. A pit fiend is 13 HD, so I scooped up 13 d8 and rolled them, and it had 72 hp, less the 18 done by the sword, for 54 hp left.

“Haegemal swings a wide arc across the fiend’s chest, leaving behind a bloody gash, wide as the blade, spewing foul ichor”

The fiend hissed, “scratches warlock, I feel nothing!”, I rolled for his action, and he retaliated by casting a Hold Person, hoping to neutralize Haegemal instantly. However, the Globe of Invulnerability abjured the spell.

The fiend regenerated 2 hp, back to 56.

Initiative was rolled again and Baeral won, just barely. I rolled for a choice of attack, as Haegemal was made of iron the fiend might not go for a direct physical attack. But I rolled and he did just that. Two attacks, unfortunately I rolled terribly, a 2 and a 5, so both attacks missed. “The fiend clutched at the warlock with his deadly claws, but he ducked beneath its massive arms, fast as a mongoose”.

Then the players had Haegemal curse the fiend out.

Haegemal was up, and the next player rolled a 19 for a critical hit! The player chose extra attack, the next player rolled a 17 and got another critical hit, they were screaming at this point, egging the player to choose extra hit and get a crit chain. The player went for it, and the next player rolled… an 18, to DEAFENING SCREAMS and chants of “CRIT CHAIN! CRIT CHAIN!” For the third crit the player asked for double damage. There was much heated disagreement about this, “CRIT CHAIN, CRIT CHAIN” was chanted again.

Players always want to press their luck.

But the player was resolved and chose double damage. The first attack did 3 + 6 = 9 damage, the second did 4 + 6 for 10, and the last rolled 5 x 2 = 10 +6  for 16, the three attacks together did 35 hp damage! The fiend had 21 hp left.

“Haegemal, crouched under the fiend’s arms, thrust his sword into it’s guts, pulled it back out and pivoted around, slicing an arc into the devil’s side as it’s momentum took it forward, the warlock completed the arc of the swing and brought the blade around to cut open the fiend’s back, as it howled in pure rage.”

Baeral regenerated 2 hp, up to 23.

Initiative was rolled and Baeral won. Now the fiend was desperate, I rolled, and it decided to Gate in another pit fiend. Unfortunately for me, I rolled too high, and the Gate failed.

Haegemal wasted no time and swung at the beast again, this time he missed.

Baeral regenerated 2 hp, up to 25.

Initiative was rolled again, and Baeral won. The fiend attacked twice and hit twice, the first time was a regular damage hit, the second was a critical. I rolled for critical effect and got double damage. The fiend rolled 7 hp damage from the first hit, 10 doubled to 20 for the second, for a total of 27 hp damage to the warlock. Fortunately, in transformed state, the Warlock has 100 hp, so he was down to 73 hp.

The fiend hissed, “your skin is not invulnerable, I will eviscerate you!”

Haegemal attacked and missed.

Baeral regenerated 2 hp, up to 27.

Initiative was rolled, this time the player rolled a 1 and Haegemal won. There was much shouting and banging of the table. They wanted to finish him off.

The devil pounced on the warlock while he swung his blade. The player rolled a 17 on the nose, another critical, and opted for another attack. This attack, however, only hit for half damage.

The first attack did 12 hp damage, the second did 8 /2 = 4, for a total of 16, and 11 hp remaining.

Baeral struck twice on landing, the first was a miss, but the second was a critical. I rolled for effect and it was a knock back, sending the warlock sprawling. He also did 10 HP of damage, lowering Haegemal to 63 hp.

“Baeral leapt forward, hoping to crush Haegemal beneath his bulk, but the warlock struck first, drawing his sword along the belly of the foul beast, and eliciting a howl of agony. The devil landed and lashed out, his huge fist sending his foe back through the air and to the ground.”

Baeral regenerated 2 hp, up to 13hp.

Initiative again, Baeral won, and I rolled to see what he would do, knowing that he was on his last legs there were options for fleeing or even attempting to return hell through the gate. Instead, he cast a Symbol of pain on the Magus Warlock.

One of the players rolled his save and was successful.

“The devil stared at the warlock while tracing out a glowing symbol in the air, the warlock stood his ground, pushing back against the magic, and the symbol wavered and dimmed”

Now it was Haegemal’s turn. He took out his Dust of Disappearance and faded from view. The devil howled in white hot rage.

“Coward, FACE ME!”

Baeral regenerated 2 hp, to 15.

Haegemal charged the devil, hoping it would think that he had fled and not prepare for the attack on charge longest weapon strikes first, and Haegemal struck out a mighty blow. One player rolled a 16 for the warlock, enough for a hit, but not a critical. Damage is doubled on charge, another player rolled 7 HP damage, doubled to 14, added 6 for the damage bonus for a total of 20 hp.

“The devil was swaying, ichor flowing freely from multiple stab and slash wounds delivered by the Technal Magus Warlock of House Ghan, as it stood seeking out his enemy, his head separated from his shoulders, flying through the air and landing, face first, in the dirt.”

And the table lost their minds, screaming, jumping up and down, dice all over the place.

At this point they weren’t even interested in what happened to their PCs, they were basking in a victory over a powerful pit fiend and talking about asking Haegemal to be their new patron! I suspect the Heliotrope wouldn’t be interested, given that the party had fled as soon as the pit fiend showed up.

I rolled to see if Haegemal was going to go after the party or not, given their betrayal, but the powerful warlock decided to leave, and I will have him meet the party at a later date, perhaps he will show up the next time they meet their actual patron, to have a few choice words, LOL.

Epic session, the players LOVED IT, and they got to see what a powerful Bhakashal warlock can do. High level spells and powerful magic items make Bhakashal warlocks badass and dangerous to know. Also, it showed that even if the players are not directly involved in the action, you can bring them into it by handing over dice rolls and even NPCs to them to operate.

They were talking about the fight on the way out the door, and they will be talking about it at school this week with their friends. The epic tale of how Haegemal the Heliotrope destroyed the pit fiend Baeral will be told again and again.

That’s the stuff!