Revising inscriptions

The rules for inscribing spells have different relevance in light of the revisions made by Liber Ka, the unpublished Slaying the Dragon (a draft of two chapters was shared by John Snead), and Enlightened Magic. This is my attempt to unify and revise it further.

Memorizing designs?

Enlightened Magic has some somewhat unclear rules for memorizing spells and procedures (see EM p36-7, 50, 61, 67, 80, 89, 100), altho I think I managed to interpret the spirit correctly. If a sorcerer has previously performed a ritual, an alchemist has previously performed a procedure, either has been taught by another occultist, or has deciphered a design from a grimoire, then all are assumed to keep written copies of their designs in a "personal grimoire" (see LK p84, EM p61) and/or maintain an occult library by collecting grimoires written by others. If I'm cross-referencing the rules correctly, then they cannot memorize whole designs on their own despite some lines suggesting such. This is where inscriptions come in (see below).

I'll refer to these saved written designs as "foci" [see my post on foci for detail]. A focus saves time on casting spells by providing a ready design, and may help when designing variations of the same spell (see LK p61). The character sheet should note what foci the occultist has saved in their personal grimoire and occult library. These foci are separate from inscriptions.

If a character doesn't have their personal grimoire on hand, then at the GM's discretion they may be entitled to an Idea roll to reproduce the effect from memory (or at least recreate the design faster than from scratch) with a penalty based on the amount of time passed since it was last performed (see Snead's alchemy doc p16, 35, 55).

Introducing inscription

Altho casters cannot memorize whole foci, they can "inscribe" the focus instead. Similar to third circle alchemy meditations, other spells can be enchanted onto a caster’s magical aura for the same benefit as enchanting an item (see Enlightened Magic p20-1, 49, 64-5). This is known as inscription (see Nephilim rulebook p138, Liber Ka p86, Snead's Alchemy p11). The benefits of inscription are that the caster never needs to design the ritual or procedure in advance nor consult a grimoire or foci, the casting or preparation time is greatly reduced, the casting chance is (maybe) unadjusted by astrological modifiers when recast, and (sometimes) the effect’s POT is fixed upon inscription so it doesn’t fluctuate with astrological modifiers. [These last two benefits were introduced in EM and not present in LK.] If the design roll resulted in a special or critical success, then that bonus should be noted in the inscription's POT (or an inverted effect in the case of a fumble!).

Since magicians can already design any spell or procedure and save the resulting foci in grimoires, they generally only inscribe very important spells that benefit the most from accelerated casting and fixed POT. The benefit compared to an enchanted item or grimoire is that an inscription can never be lost or stolen, but conversely it cannot be shared as easily or at the same efficacy with other magicians.

Inscribing rituals

Inscribing a sorcery ritual onto the caster’s magical aura provides similar benefits to enchanting it into an item (see Enlightened Magic p20-1, Liber Ka p86). Casual Magic spells receive no benefit and cannot be inscribed: only second and third circle spells may be inscribed. An inscribed spell may be cast as a Casual Magic spell and benefits from a fixed POW (POT in Nephilim's rules) determined by the conditions of the initial casting. This means the POT is not adjusted by the current astrological modifier and neither is the Casual Magic roll (see Enlightened Magic p49). Hence, these spells are normally inscribed during grand enthronements within a major nexus point for maximum POT. However, the fixed POT is compensated by requiring a cost of POT÷20 (round up) in Ka to inscribe (+1 for High Magic spells).

[EM specifies that an enchanted High Magic spell isn't limited to casting on the appropriate day and the caster doubles their POW for the purpose of determining whether they meet the spell's Threshold. Conversely, LK specifies that a sorcerer may only inscribe a High Magic spell that they can cast without assistants and are still limited to casting only on the appropriate day. I leave it up to the GM to decide which version to use, but my preference is that EM typically supersedes LK.]

Likewise, inscribing a summoning ritual (aka evocation) allows the user to cast it without a magic circle and at a fixed POT. However, an inscribed evocation is known as a pact and has additional stipulations. [These will be explored in my revisions to summoning.]

Inscribing procedures

Inscribing an alchemy procedure allows the character to prepare the effect in one day if the preparation time is normally more than that (see Snead's Alchemy p11). Those procedures already prepared in one day don't benefit from any further reduction. Third circle meditations (see Enlightened Magic p65), which are inscribed onto the alchemist by default (i.e. there aren't separate rules for enchanting vs inscribing, they're synonymous), may be prepared in just one minute! 

The same procedures exist at all three circles of alchemy and a given circle of a procedure may have multiple versions, but the three different circles (and alternate versions thereof, if any) of the same procedure must be inscribed separately. When inscribing a Black Stone procedure the alchemist specifies which version of the procedure, if any: e.g. Draught of Healing may be used to heal living creatures or to repair broken objects and machinery, but not both! (The Laboratory and Material uses of the same effect don't count as separate versions and are included in the same inscription.) Likewise, when inscribing a White Stone procedure the alchemist specifies that the art evokes a single specific emotion or perception. All inscriptions are quite specific, but save the alchemist significant time and effort (see Snead's Alchemy p11).

[The rules don't specify if the associated mundane skill needs be included in the inscription. Presumably alchemists who learn multiple mundane skills and maintain multiple athanors for this purpose are so rare that it wasn't relevant to note. I leave it up to the GM to decide whether alchemists who learn multiple mundane skills should note which applies to which inscription.]

In addition to the accelerated preparation (if any), an inscribed procedure’s POT may be baked-in at the moment of its inscription (see Enlightened Magic p20-1, 64-5). However, enchanted meditations aren't specified to have fixed POW anyway so this is up to GM's discretion. [It's hard to see how alchemy inscriptions could have fixed POT if the alchemist only has the design knowledge. My suggestion: if the POT is fixed then the Ka costs to inscribe should be the same as with sorcery above (POT÷20, rounded up, +1 for Philosopher's Stone meditations), otherwise use the fixed costs specified in EM.]

Transcribing designs

An inscribed spell essentially provides the same benefit as a written focus [see my post on converting foci for detail]. That is, the magician doesn’t need to design the spell in advance. At the GM's discretion, he can copy the design onto paper or into a grimoire for others to use (see Enlightened Magic p36, 61, 67, 80, 100) or reverse-engineer the inscription to boost the design roll or save time (see LK p61). However, the copies don’t benefit from a fixed POT: the magician is recounting the design of the spell, not the conditions of the initial casting! Nonetheless, any bonuses from a special or critical success on the design roll (or opposing effects from fumbles!) are retained by copies.

It may be possible to transcribe or reverse-engineer foci from artefacts, enchanted athanors, and alchemical works of art, at the GM's discretion.

If the GM is feeling sadistic, fumbled designs might be deliberately created and planted as traps. In this case, the designs may be further obscured to apply a penalty on attempts to discern the flaws.