Sorcery in third edition explained

I mentioned in a prior post that in third edition, Sorcery underwent an overhaul. Starting in second edition it was renamed Magic (Magie in French). In third edition, the fixed spells of prior editions were augmented by a syntactic magic mechanic that allowed players to construct their own spells according to universal guidelines and, in a break with prior editions, to cast these on the fly without needing foci or inscriptions. 

Sorcery in Nephilim: Revelation

Note: The rulebook has some editing errors, so I’m using unofficial errata from a fansite when recapping. That source incorporates the fanzine Palimpseste n°1 and Palimpseste n°4.

Spells were constructed as sentences with verbs and nouns chosen by the sorcerer to tailor the effect. A typical sentence consisted of the verb, the target(s), and one or more analogies selected from the "Analogy Table". Various concepts associated with each of the five Ka-elements were given on this  table in the appendix, thus the analogies used determined the Ka-element used to cast the spell. If a specific word was not on the table, then the sorcerer had to speak an "analogy chain" of synonyms or descriptors connecting the desired word to one on the table; each additional step applied a −1 penalty to the d20 roll, and beyond four steps the rules applied a flat −10 penalty.

Each Circle had 2 or 3 verbs or "Domains" associated with it. Each Domain was rated as an Occult Technique at three levels of proficiency: Apprentice, Journeyman and Master. The level determined what targets the sorcerer could affect. 

• Lower Magic had the Domains of Model, Perceive and Sense. (Modifier, Percevoir and Sentir in French.)
• Model allowed the sorcerer to modify the physical dimensions of the target without altering its chemical makeup (see Transmute, below). 
• Apprentice: alter outward cosmetic properties of any non-conscious material target. E.g. change the shape, color and texture of an object.
• Journeyman: alter outward cosmetic properties of any material target, conscious or not. E.g. change a person’s facial features.
• Master: increase or decrease the physical characteristics of the target. This cannot add new properties or remove existing properties. E.g. make an object tougher or flimsier, a person stronger or weaker. 
• Examples: I change [the shape, color, etc.] of [the target], I increase/decrease [the resistance, power, fragility, etc.] of [the target].
• Perceive allowed the sorcerer to extend and expand his mundane senses. 
• Apprentice: increase the five senses to superhuman degrees, but not hear into a soundproofed room or smell a scent located under the ocean. E.g. see faraway as though using a telescope, smell as well as a bloodhound, search for instances of a specific object.
• Journeyman: employ the five senses in supernatural ways, such as seeing infrared and ultraviolet, hear normally inaudible sounds, ignore physical barriers to using a sense, etc. He cannot detect things without physical definition, like usefulness, information, danger, the past or the future.
• Master: perceive thoughts and feelings. This doesn't extend to memories. E.g. read the thoughts, emotions and sensations currently experienced by the target.
• Examples: I perceive [the target] [as an animal, with a tool], I perceive the [lies, decisions, friendships, sensations, etc.] of [the target], I dowse [the sought object] [in an area, on a target].
• Sense allowed the sorcerer to extend and expand his Ka-vision.
• Apprentice: general and imprecise detection and dowsing of magical phenomena. Dowse Plexi, Nexi, Ley Lines, etc. with a general sense of its location in relation to the sorcerer. Dowse the presence of Solar-Ka, Black Moon-Ka and Saturnian-Ka, but not measure its power. 
• Journeyman: Precisely measure what the sorcerer sees. Discern a Nephilim's Initiation level, effect of a Spell, power of an Elemental Beast, etc.
• Master: reveal the most subtle details. Concealed information, Spells available to a magician, the subject of a text, usefulness of an object, if a situation is dangerous, a Nephilim or Ar-Kaïm's level of Khaiba or Black Moon, etc.
• Examples: I dowse [a manifestation] around myself, I sense [the enlightenment, knowledge, properties] of [the target], I sense the presence of [an analogy] on [the target].
• Higher Magic had the Domains of Commune, Move and Transmute. (Communiquer, Déplacer and Transformer in French.)
• Commune allowed the sorcerer to impart mental states, information and illusions.
• Apprentice: Telepathically commune with animals, plants and minerals.
• Journeyman: Telepathically commune with human beings.
• Master: Telepathically commune with all conscious beings, including those of Ka.
• Examples: I impart [a mental state] to [the target], I send [information] to [the target], I impart to [the target] the illusion of [a perception].
• Move allowed the sorcerer to telekinetically move targets.
• Apprentice: Move inert objects.
• Journeyman: Move living things and emotions.
• Master: Move magical principles, like Plexuses, Nexuses, Pentacles...
• Examples: I move [the target] in [movement mode].
• Transmute allowed the sorcerer to change the chemical composition of a target, but not directly change its physical dimensions (see Model, above). He changes matter into matter or magic into magic, but not matter into magic or magic into matter.
• Apprentice: affect all inert materials.
• Journeyman: affect living beings and mundane energies.
• Master: affect magical energies.
• Examples: I transmute [the target] into [a new state of matter], I transmute [the target] into [a material], I enchant [the target] with [an element].
• Grand Secret had the Domains of Create and Destroy. (Créer and Détruire in French.)
• Create allowed the sorcerer to condense and transmute the magic fields into tangible matter. 
• Apprentice: create inert nonliving matter.
• Journeyman: create living matter. It may have mechanical activity, but not consciousness.
• Master: create thoughts and feelings, as well as magical phenomena like a Plexus or Elemental Beast.
• Destroy allowed the reverse.
• Apprentice: destroy nonliving matter.
• Journeyman: destroy living matter and anything related to thought.
• Master: destroy magical matter, i.e. magical fields and Ka-elements. This cannot apply to Solar-Ka or Black Moon-Ka, which remain beyond the knowledge of Nephilim.

The parameters of the spell were governed by a "Generic Table" in the appendix. These parameters were: duration, range, number of targets, and casting time. By selecting different values for the parameters, the Difficulty of casting the spell would be altered. The fanzine Palimpseste n°1 expanded the generic table to add speed, size, damage and adverb. (A combined table may be found here.)

While sorcerers could create spontaneous effects on the fly, the rules of prior editions weren't forgotten. Using a Habitus, a prewritten spell encoded in a Focus or Inscription with inflexible effects, the sorcerer gained a bonus to casting compared to spontaneously creating an effect on the fly. This bonus was +2, equivalent to two “free” steps in an analogy chain.

Starting at Higher Magic, the sorcerer selected a path that would color their practice of sorcery thereafter. (Paths were originally introduced in late 1e then included in the rulebook for 2e.) Each path was favored by a particular Dominant Ka. These were given some roleplaying guidelines, but weren't given any rules. The fanzine Palimpseste n°4 invented benefits and drawbacks to the sorcerer's choice of path. These were (translated names courtesy of ganonso):

• The Labyrinthine Way of the Soul Maze: Discover your own potential hidden in your mind. Favored by Onirim Sorcerers. Benefit: Create vivid illusions with the Commune Domain for all elements. Drawback: The sorcerer risks losing himself in the minds of his targets.
• The Natural Way of the Winding Paths: Look to Nature to heal the wound of your Fall. Favored by Faerim Sorcerers. Benefit: The sorcerer may readily affect his immediate natural environment without an analogy chain. Drawback: Risks obsession with that place.
• The Winding Way of the Schematic Labyrinth: Understand everything on Heaven or on Earth. Favored by Eolim Sorcerers. Benefit: The sorcerer may target knowledge as if it was magical energy. Drawback: Risks obsession with new knowledge.
• The Axial Way of the Wandering Principles: Fight the darkness and learn from the struggle. Favored by Pyrim Sorcerers. Benefit: faster reaction time to threats. Drawback: risks berserk rage directed at target.
• The Primal Way of the Rising Spiral: Change yourself to change the world. Favored by Hydrim Sorcerers. Benefit: the sorcerer may draw analogies that cross multiple elements. Drawback: risks obsession with experimenting on new variations.

Grand Secret introduced a further unique mechanic in the creation of the Elemental Realm. Following the guidelines presented, a Master Sorcerer could construct their own Elemental Realm, with its own landscape, inhabited by artificial elementals, and raise it into the Astral as a parcel of a "new Atlantis". This would presumably have played a role in the Sorcery Quest, but the supplement on Occult Sciences and their respective quests was unfortunately never written due to the publisher going under shortly after third edition's release.

This magic system produced various oddities and powerful combat effects. For example, the Spell Regard of Petrol turned the target's eyes into petrol for the duration (the petrol turned back into eyeballs when the Spell expired, but it wasn't clear if they returned to the target's sockets or not). Meanwhile, the Spell Eat Wounds would reverse damage for the duration, but when the Spell expired then the damage returned in full if it didn't have time to heal naturally.

Selenim's Composition

The Gamemaster's Book introduced the third circle of Conjuration, Composition. At this circle, it was revealed that Conjuration was not truly Black Summoning but rather Black Sorcery. Where prior circles allowed the Conjurer to summon creatures of the Black Moon, Composition allowed the Conjurer to cast various spontaneous effects manipulating the Black Moon-Ka and related phenomena. The Conjurer could contaminate targets with BMK, cure targets, induce fear, manipulate Black Moon entities encountered, and so on. Composition doesn't have any Domains like Sorcery does, so the GM has to adjudicate what is and isn't allowed. The effects were limited and vague, probably because the writers intended to go into more detail in supplements dedicated to the occult sciences until the company went under. (See my prior post for details.)

Changes in subsequent editions

In fourth edition, these rules were heavily streamlined. All the Domain Techniques were removed as distinct Techniques and condensed into a single set of Lower Magic, Higher Magic, and Grand Secret Techniques a la first and second edition. Lower Magic allowed the sorcerer to perceive, Higher Magic allowed the sorcerer to manipulate (increase, decrease, alter, etc), and Grand Secret allowed the sorcerer to master (create, destroy, etc). By contrast, the Analogy Table was changed so that each sorcerer had their own Analogy Table to which they added new words (or "Domains" in new game jargon, confusingly) as they learned through experience. Any words not on the table had to be linked by analogy chains, but the words learnable for each element were not limited to that of the prior edition. While the quantitative complexity of third edition's verbs was removed, fourth edition compensated by increasing the qualitative complexity of its new Analogy Table with buying new words. Upon reaching Higher Magic, the sorcerer would select one of the five Paths and must take the three words associated with that path. The sorcerer started play knowing all Habitus associated with their words selected at character creation. In this edition, the benefit of a Habitus was that the first step of the analogy chain was “free”.

In fifth edition, the rules for spontaneous magic, the generic table and the analogy table were discarded entirely and the system reverted to that of first and second edition where sorcerers could only cast prewritten spells from foci and inscriptions. In the supplement on Third Circle magic, a simplified mechanic for spontaneous magic was introduced to adjudicate the creation of the Third Circle's dynamic sorcery spells or "Grand Secrets". The five verbs are virtually identical to those in Ars Magica: Comprehend, Control, Create, Destroy and Transform. The purpose of the Grand Secret was now to create a new neighborhood for the magical city Arcadia, a secret city only accessible to Nephilim that had access points scattered throughout the cities of Europe and which served as the overarching metaplot and adventure dispenser of fifth edition.

Spontaneous magic in the US version?

So... can spontaneous sorcery, the domains and the analogy chains, be incorporated into the US version?

To a degree, it already has. The revised rules for enlightened sorcery introduced in Liber Ka and Enlightened Magic make the first circle, Casual Magic, entirely spontaneous. Indeed, Casual spell cannot be inscribed or recorded in a focus unless cast as a second circle ritual. Spells of the second and third circles cannot be cast without a ritual unless inscribed. The book includes rough guidelines for inventing your own spells, but it doesn't include anything as rigorous as the domains, analogies and parameters given in Nephilim: Revelation. 

The effects allowed at each circle of enlightened sorcery don't strictly map to those of the eight domains: e.g. enlightened sorcery cannot transform or generate matter or beings (although alchemy can transform appearances and create golems, while summoning may generate elemental beasts). The reasoning for this limitation is twofold: firstly to prevent magic being unbalanced in combat, and secondly to be subtler and thus easier to explain why the mundane world remains ignorant of magic. Furthermore, under these rules the elements themselves limit the applications of verbs: e.g. while all elements can dowse a magical or natural phenomenon of that element, other forms of perception are generally limited to Air spells.

I intend to go into more detail in future posts, but here are my current starting ideas:

• I won't add spontaneous casting for the second and third circles.
• I would add a set of verbs to each circle.
• I would add a table of parameters for each circle.
• I would adapt the concept for the Great Secret from the French version, allowing master sorcerers to create and maintain dynamic spells such as Elemental Realms (or other effects as suits the player) as part of the Sorcery Quest.

Hope you enjoyed!