Khaiban Arcane Techniques

I recently transcribed and auto-translated the rules for playing Khaibans from the third edition French supplement Le Codex des Nephilim. In this post, I would like to compare and contrast that with the Devil's Arcane Techniques given in the US version's Major Arcana. As I noted previously, Khaiba works different in the French and US versions. In the US version Khaiba total just affects how likely the Nephilim is to suffer a Khaiba episode during certain enthronements (but Khaiba total doesn't affect the Metamorphosis ratings), is decreased relatively easily, and won't kill the PC if it reaches 100. Whereas in the French version the effects are persistent, while Khaiba total determines how deformed the Nephilim is, how warped their emotional state is, and kills the PC when it maxes out.

One bit I find interesting is in how the Metamorphosis changes between the two versions. In the US version, a Khaiba seizure raises all Metamorphosis traits to max and then warps it into a Khaiban type (dwarfism, gigantism, elementalism or etheric). In the French version, the Khaiban type replaces the Nephilim's Metamorphosis transformations entirely (remember, the French Metamorphoses had no mechanical benefits like the US version gave in Chronicle of the Awakenings). So rather than a warped version of their Metamorphosis archetype, the French Khaibans all come in one of four types. I find myself preferring the US version. Anyway...

In the French version, the Major Arcana don't provide any mechanical benefits to PCs who join them and thus are largely superfluous to gameplay. In the US version, the supplement Major Arcana gave every Arcanum one or more Arcane Techniques to make them attractive to players. However, Codex des Nephilim for the third edition in the early 2000s did include some mechanics for a couple of the Arcana, namely The Devil and The Star.

In Major Arcana, The Devil has two widespread Arcane Techniques: Nesheni ("terrify") and 'Ari-Kheperu ("Transformation of the Beast"). Nesheni allows the Devil to terrify targets into fleeing or cowering in terror and doing anything the Devil demands. 'Ari-Kheperu allows the Devil to temporarily boost a Metamorphosis Transformation or gain the benefit of one type of Khaiba transformation. The Devil's Initiate Spells have a Khaiba Threshold that the Devil must meet to cast the spell.

In Nephilim: Revelation (NR) the Khaiban transformation goes through three stages: infection, manifestation and dissolution. Khaiba points (noted under Inkhaibatement, NR's Khaiba Total) are potentially inflicted by magical mishaps, Orichalc exposure, etc. Once these accrue, it affects the Nephilim's mood and body. The Khaiba manifests as a mutation of the Nephilim's Metamorphosis and personality disorders. Once the degeneration level maxes out, the Nephilim can no longer maintain his stability and dissolves into the magic fields.

In Le Codex des Nephilim, Khaibans may start play with levels in Khaiban Occult Techniques and may customize the expression of their Khaiba transformation. There are three Techniques, learned hierarchically: Chaos Infection, Khaiban Essence, and Elemental Dissolution. These Techniques are rolled using the Khaiban's Inkhaibatement as a Characteristic, not his Ka-elements or physical Characteristics.

If the PC doesn't start play initiated into the Khaiban Occult Path, then these Techniques may only be developed if he Fumbles a test of Ka vs Inkhaibatement. Usually he remains a "simple" Khaiban who never develops along the Khaiban Path and thus ultimately dissolves into the magic fields when Inkhaibatement maxes out.

Chaos Infection has three maneuvers given:

  • He can assault and humiliate another Nephilim, causing the victim to suffer wound penalties. This is similar in concept to Nesheni.
  • He can isolate himself from the magic fields, making him unable to cast spells but immune to spells too.
  • By meditating and communing with the magic fields, he can curse a target so that all magical actions made during the trance automatically Fumble.

Khaiban Essence has three maneuvers given:

  • He can scream in fury and release a magic shockwave that inflicts magic damage on all targets, regardless of their dominant Ka.
  • He can terrify targets into fleeing or cowering in terror. This is almost identical to Nesheni.
  • He can create a natural disaster associated with the element of the current Enthronement.

Elemental Dissolution has three maneuvers and one passive effect given:

  • He may resist Temperance rituals to reduce his Inkhaibatement, or reverse the "healing" years after the ritual.
  • By touching the blood of another Nephilim's Simulacrum, he may "infect" them with Khaiba points. This is similar to The Devil's Initiate Spell Inkhaibate, but that spell only requires a connection.
  • He may ignore wound penalties.
  • Upon maxing out his Inkhaibatement, his Ka reincarnates within multiple Simulacra who come together and merge into a clone of his prior Simulacrum. He no longer risks death and dissolution as a result of Khaiba.

Fumbling a roll using any of these Techniques has one of the following consequences: the Khaiban suffers a penalty to all actions until the next enthronement of his dominant Ka or he enters a Plexus of it or any Nexus, he cannot use any Magic Techniques until the preceding condition is met, he suffers some magic damage to his Ka, or he enters a berserk frenzy until the next enthronement shift (similar to a Khaiba seizure in the US version).

As I mentioned in a prior post, my campaigns introduce the "old" or "true" Devils as the original Initiates of The Devil Arcanum whereas the Shabs are debased worshipers of The Dragon. Even then, Peter Larsen's writeup isn't intended for PCs. But the above goodies make me wish there were playable Devils. So the option here is that Devil PCs follow the original teachings of the Arcanum which are more philosophical and focused on taming Khaiba rather than rejecting it, but are willing to work alongside other Nephilim of other Arcana.

Devil PCs don't see Khaiba as something to be feared and rejected, but a challenge to be overcome and commanded. Just as The Hanged Man is enlightened by rejecting the occult in favor of a mundane lifestyle, the authentic Devil is enlightened by immersing himself in the elements and emulating Elemental Beasts. Or whatever, I guess it's up the player.

In the future I'd like to reconcile the techniques between the US version and NR. Hope you enjoyed!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Fixing” the setting

These posts assume that the reader is already familiar with Nephilim , so don't expect an explanation of the game here. In addition to the clunky rules, and probably more important, the Nephilim game had fluff that alienated players in the Anglosphere. The rulebook frontloaded potential players with millennia of lore that they had to keep track of. Perhaps the most criticized aspect was that the titular nephilim were presented as parasites who possessed unwilling human hosts to pursue their agendas. While players were seemingly okay with playing murderous psychopaths in other games of the 90s, apparently body-thieves just weren't kosher. The English mailing list had numerous debates over this during its heyday. Rather than rehash those here, I'll cut straight to the point: in my revision of the setting, the nephilim are fusions of a human being and a soulless mindless elemental spirit . The human soul (Sol, Solar-Ka) provides will, purpose, desire, etc. The elemental spirit...
Read more

Simplifying the rules

One of the problems with the Nephilim game was that its rules, a variant of the venerable  BRP , were overly complicated and probably not all that well suited to it. The French version eventually dropped BRP entirely starting in its third edition, and the current fifth edition uses a dramatically simplified rules system. This has inspired me to devise my own simplified rules system for the English adaptation. I'm not going to convert to Fate like certain others have tried . The task resolution system will still be BRP's roll under d100 with difficulty levels and variable results. But all the character traits will change. The standard attributes/characteristics are Air-Ka, Earth-Ka, Fire-Ka, Lunar-Ka, Solar-Ka, and Water-Ka. These represent the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the character. For nephilim characters, these also represent supernatural aspects. Rather than distinct skills, characters are described in freeform terms and given general competence ratings....
Read more

The spiritual pentacle and the elements

Image
In this post I explain the spiritual meaning of the Nephilim’s pentacle and the Ka-elements themselves. Although linked to specific game statistics, like Fire to Strength and Moon to Charisma, all of the elements have physical, mental and spiritual correspondences and manifestations.  It’s not one or the other . You don’t have to posit different cultures all have different elements to explain varying beliefs. Real occultism isn’t supposed to be accurate in the game world anyway, but the result of information leaks and cargo cults by muggles. Liam Routt gave a good explanation in  his old FAQ : (I’m putting it between horizontal rules because blogger has issues with formatting) The Spiritual Pentagram Traditionally, the pentagram represents our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical composition: Fire Doing—Fire is energy, the power to act. But it is pure action, undirected by thought or feeling. Air Thinking—Air is thinking, ideation, mental activity, but it can...
Read more