Enlightened alchemy comparisons

To complement my post on enlightened sorcery comparisons, I present this companion post on enlightened alchemy.

Some history: Before the Nephilim line was cancelled in 1998 there were plans to revise the alchemy rules in a supplement titled Slaying the Dragon similar to how Liber Ka revised the sorcery rules. A draft was written before the cancellation and two chapters containing playable rules written by John Snead were shared on the mailing list (BRP Central hosts a copy). This material was later adapted to the enlightened alchemy rules in the 2014 BRP supplement Enlightened Magic. The rules between the two are nearly identical, aside from the enlightened version being modified for use in general BRP and not the Nephilim rules.

Overview of changes

These differences are small, but they exist. Notable examples include:

• Number of elements: In EM the element of Moon was removed and its various procedures were folded into the other elements as the writer deemed appropriate. Some procedures of other elements were reassigned too. [I leave it up to GMs to decide which list to use. I use both, i.e. I treat some procedures as having different versions for multiple elements.]
• Ka rolls: Ka rolls to cast magic are removed. The enlightened alchemist just rolls their alchemy skill. Their POW plus modifiers determines the spell's POW, which derives its magic modifier and resistance rolls. [I prefer the EM version, as Ka rolls struck me as clunky.]
• Works of art: In StD the alchemical works of art maintained their effect indefinitely, but in EM the works will gradually lose their effect. A physical work of art (e.g. painting, jewelry, instrument) will be effective for one day for every power point spent when creating it (up to a maximum of 7 for a full week), but spending one point of permanent POW enchants the effect permanently. [I leave it up to GMs to decide which version to use and how.]
• Performance art: EM specifies that a work of art that must be performed (e.g. stage plays, sheet music) may be created, which weren't mentioned at all in StD. The instructions cannot be enchanted by spending POW like physical works, and don't need to. The instructions never lose effectiveness: as long as the alchemist is personally involved with the performance and spends the required power point, then the effect works every time it is performed. [There's a contradiction here: p65 says a play or sheet music may be permanently enchanted so that it works for unenlightened performers, but p80 says only physical artwork may be enchanted. I leave it up to GMs to decide whether to allow enchantment.]
• Inscription: The StD rules adapted inscription to let an alchemist reduce prep time to one day, but EM removed inscription except for third circle alchemy. In EM an alchemist could "enchant" themselves with a meditation to prepare it in one minute, rather than the one day specified in StD. [I prefer the EM version.]
• Recalling procedures: StD allowed an alchemist to prepare a procedure they'd already prepared before, without having the design on hand, if they succeeded on an Idea roll to recall it. EM doesn't allow magicians to recall designs, which must be kept in personal grimoires. [I leave it up to GMs whether to allow magicians to recall designs without written notes.]
• Enchanted items: In EM alchemists can enchant athanors. Athanors can be enchanted to provide a bonus to preparation rolls, similar to enchanting magical tools to provide a bonus on sorcery rituals. Athanors can be enchanted with a single procedure to let anyone perform it, but it becomes useless for alchemy. [I consider enchanted athanors and works of art to be alchemical artefacts. I'll write more posts on magic items.]

On this blog I try adapting and converting between the rules, trying to marry what I consider the best of both. Previously I included suggestions for adapting inscription to the enlightened magic rules. To recap: inscribing first and second circle procedures worked identical to StD (i.e. inscriptions are prepared in one day), while enchanting/inscribing third circle meditations worked identical to EM (i.e. prepared in one minute, not one day). Alchemy inscriptions lack fixed POWs like sorcery inscriptions have (as only the knowledge is inscribed, not the effect itself, even for meditations), which I leave up to GM's discretion to change.

Specific procedure differences

Here's a list of where the procedures differ between StD and EM:

• The following procedures from StD aren't present in EM: Draught of Understanding, Waters of Growth, Renewal (Black Stone version), Removal, Waxing of New Beginnings, Miracle of Creation.
• The following procedures changed their element from StD to EM: Ultimate Purification of Gold (fire to earth), Binding Attraction of the Alchemical Tide (moon to air), Alteration (moon to water), Creating the Universal Solvent (moon to water), Renewal (water to fire). [I leave it up to GMs to decide which element to use. My preference is that the procedure may use either element, but each version must be designed separately and cannot substitute for the other.]

I'm omitting smaller changes like renames, since none are great enough to interfere with intelligibility between the texts. There is one exception: Creating the Golem was renamed to Creating the Homunculus, which creates an intelligibility problem as homunculi in the Nephilim setting are Nephilim brutally transformed and enslaved. However, this discrepancy may be explained in-universe: secret societies' procedure to create homunculi is a perverted form of Paracelsus' research in Liber de Homunculus. To distance themselves from this perversion, the Nephilim renamed the original homunculus procedures to "golem" even though it's a creation of living tissue and not clay. 

[Aside: I know Chronicle of the Awakenings and Secret Societies say the procedure was invented by Gerbert of Aurillac aka Pope Sylvester II (!). In my campaigns that's an older version of the procedure where the Homunculus was permanently trapped in an alchemical alembic, whereas the "improved" procedure based on Paracelsus' work allows the Homunculus to move around and interact like a true familiar. I'll discuss this further in my future post converting the Black Star spells to the enlightened magic format.]

Other differences are too large to summarize here and deal with concepts specific to the Nephilim setting like Ka, stasis objects, power levels, and so on. Most such procedures were simply omitted from EM (creating a problem in one case as the Fire procedure Renewal doesn't have a Black Stone version), but some were adapted for general BRP rules and thus the description significantly differs between the two versions. Some procedures were rebalanced, but this is rare as the StD procedures were already balanced to complement LK's sorcery revisions.

Converting 1e-compatible formulas

The alchemy formulas from the Nephilim rulebook, as well as any fan-made formulas (such as from Chaosium Digest 13(6)), cannot be readily converted for StD in the way that sorcery spells can be mostly easily reassigned for LK. Most of the relevant effects are included in StD and EM anyway, so consult the guidelines for inventing new procedures. However, other first edition alchemy formulas may be appropriate for converting to sorcery spells or summoning invocations. Some potential fan-made examples are given here.

As I said with sorcery spells, some formulas may be adequately covered by Elemental Effects (see Liber Ka p88) or Metamorphosis Traits (see Chronicle of the Awakenings p65). See my upcoming post on "Raw Magic" for further details...

The supplemental formulas printed in Secret Societies and Major Arcana will need to be converted or adapted. I will undertake that myself in later posts...