An Orichalc POT?

A new rule introduced in the French 2nd edition was the Orichalc POT. Instead of dealing a standard1d20 Ka damage on a successful strike, the Orichalc weapons dealt an amount based on their Virulence POT (see "Potentials", Nephilim rulebook p102). The Nephilim was entitled to resist with a Ka vs Virulence POT roll on the Resistance Table. On a success, the attack only dealt Ka damage equal to half the Virulence POT. On a failure, the attack dealt Ka damage equal to the Virulence POT. (Disembodied Nephilim automatically failed.) In either case, this subtracted an equal amount from the Orichalc's Capacity. Virulence POT was temporarily increased by the Saturnian Astrological Modifier on Saturdays.

Orichalc had a number of other effects than just Orichalc weapons dealing Ka damage or Orichalc amulets increasing magic resistance (see Nephilim rulebook p191). The presence of Orichalc sickened Nephilim in proximity, applying a penalty to rolls and potentially causing Shouit. Likewise, it made casting spells harder by applying the Virulence POT as a penalty to Ka rolls. However, the effect was mutual: each spell cast temporarily decreased the Virulence POT by the spell's (Threshold÷10)×Circle. Summoned entities could instinctively sense and were repulsed by Orichalc just like Nephilim were. I find these rules interesting and I would use these in my campaigns. 

The unfinished English fanbook Ex Oculis had some something similar to Virulence POT. The damage die is affected by the purity of the Orichalc. Pure Orichalc weapons, which are exceedingly rare by modern times and only ever forged from meteoric metals, have higher Virulence POT (2d6×10). Most modern Orichalc weapons are Orichalc-augmented: alloyed with Orichalc-impregnated ore or etched with Orichalc runes, so they have lower Virulence POT (3d6). Capacity ranges from 50–100 for minor weapons to hundreds or even thousands for extremely powerful weapons. Since awakening Orichalc requires blood sacrifice of Solar-Ka, usually in the form of human sacrifice, the most powerful weapons date to events like the Holocaust (see Secret Societies p38-9). 

In third edition, Orichalc damage and capacity was further revised. Now Orichalc weapons dealt 1-8 Ka damage per strike, depending on the type of weapon, rather than 1d20. The examples in the GM book were: Templar's Sword (3 damage, 50 Capacity), Mystery's Glaive (4 damage, 100 Capacity), Assassin's Dagger (8 damage, 300 Capacity), and the most feared: the Orichalc Bullet (1 damage, 2 Capacity; very rare, GM invited to use only very sparingly).

Also, the Characteristics were revised so that (paraphrasing for understanding without recounting the whole system) only the 10s unit was counted for task resolution, so you only needed to recalculate Characteristics once all the 1s were lost; this made calculations a lot easier. So the Orichalc weapons were less immediately deadly, but still deadly with multiple strikes. I'd probably use a similar revision in my campaigns.

The spell to awaken Orichalc from Secret Societies was never updated for the revised sorcery and alchemy rules, so I'll undertake that in a future post...