Retrofitting 5e’s Vécus to 3e

Fifth edition replaces the long list of skills from previous editions with past lives used as skills instead. But this isn’t the first edition to do so. Nephilim: Initiation, fast-play rules simplified from third edition, did this back in 2006. (For more information on Initiation, you can download the whole thing here, overviews here, web bonuses here, and a bonus scenario here.)

The way Initiation handled this was by introducing Vécus or “Life Experiences”, measured as Characteristics rather than Skills; Skills proper didn't exist in the fast-play rules. These were labeled with the adjective Doué or “talented, gifted.” The adverb was determined by the “degree of implication”: Pas Doué at Apprentice degree, Assez Doué at Companion (Journeyman) degree, Doué at Master degree. If a relevant Vécu applied, it would substitute for the Simulacrum’s Characteristic on that action; rather than modifying it like Skills did. Obviously this was only useful if the Vécu was higher than the Characteristic.

This should be fairly to retrofit to the full third edition rules, removing the tracking of individual skills granted by past lives. However, as with fifth edition, I would have characters list Esoteric Lore (e.g. Arcanum Lore, Astrological Lore, Hermetic Lore, Kabbalistic Lore, Secret Society Lore, Tarot Lore) as individual skills. Because the game is about contemporary occultism, it makes sense to put the focus on occult skills while abstracting mundane skills.

Fifth edition removed Characteristics entirely and just had all task resolution use Vécus. Why am I not doing that? Well, I want the Simulacrum to be more important than it previously was (both in terms of rules and roleplay), and one way to do that is have the Simulacrum's Characteristics be the primary way that the player resolves tasks. To use a Life Experience, the skill modifies the Characteristic instead of substituting for it. To use an Approach (Meta-Characteristic) is gonna be risky, so that won't let the player ignore this either. 

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