My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

What follows are some thoughts on the Solar Approach, informed by my reading of the fifth edition and some fan-made rules. While the Immortals may call upon their Ka-elements to boost their mundane attributes and skills, they cannot do the same with Solar-Ka. (With the notable exception of the Ar-Kaim, who learn Solar Talents that exalt the potential of their bodies.) Meanwhile, the Initiates of certain Illuminati Conspiracies are able to invoke their Solar-Ka to boost various actions. Applications of the Solar Approach: Augmenting mundane actions . The Solar Approach may be invoked to boost a roll on any mundane action. In other words, replicating all of the Elemental Approaches! The most exceptional human beings, like famous athletes, pedagogues, and politicians, likely rely on a boost from their Solar-Ka to accomplish their feats. This is a key reason why The Sun Arcanum is so interesting in harnessing Solar-Ka. (This rule comes from a fan document by Hieldayn.) Resisting coercion ....

In this post I’m gonna present my ideas for adapting the Emotional Metamorphoses mechanics from Chronicle of the Awakenings  (p56-8) to the d20 system in Nephilim: Revelation , with some ideas taken from Ex Oculis . In the NR core rules In NR, Metamorphosis Transformations are noted with adverbs from Not (1) to Very (5) like other Characteristics. The associated adjective is Hidden: Not Hidden to Very Hidden. Mortals who encounter the Nephilim test their Solar-Ka against Hidden on the Universal Resolution Table (hereafter URT) to glimpse the Metamorphosis.  These Characteristics have associated “bullets”, a line of 10 per level.  When the Characteristic overflows with "bullets," then any these are erased and Hidden increases by a level. When the line is empty and loses "bullets", then the Hidden decreases by a level. The characters  gains  bullets for acting  against  his elemental nature, thus becoming more Hidden, and  loses  bullets for ac...

In this post, I’m gonna explain "Approaches" and provide some lists of correspondences. When an Immortal performs an action that resonates with a Ka-element, then he may apply a bonus to that action; these were known as Meta-Characteristics in editions prior to 4e. Each Ka-element is associated with a Characteristic (1-3e), a list of Skills (4e), and an Approach (5e), as I'll explain below. Meta-Characteristics Characteristic associations were introduced in 1e and modified in 3e. For Nephilim and Ar-Kaïm, the associations work like so: Ka Characteristic Air Intelligent Earth Endurant Fire Strong Moon Magnetic Water Agile In 1e/2e these bonuses were constant, whereas in 3e they must be deliberately activated. A Characteristic under the influence of the Pentacle is a "Meta-Characteristic." Fumbling a Meta-Characte...

I'm still translating the 3rd edition, and my knowledge of the 4th and 5th editions is fragmentary, but I think I know enough of the rudiments to start thinking about my own rules revisions. The BRP rules aren't a good fit for Nephilim . So I've decided to devise a new system based on the French version, third edition and beyond. Currently my ideas are like so: The Nephilim's Ka, Personality Traits and Degenerations are treated as Characteristics and measured from 1-5 levels. Instead of numbers, Characteristics are described using adjectives and adverbs. E.g. Not Strong, Little Strong, Enough Strong, Strong, Very Strong. Each Characteristic has attached a pool of 0-10 "bullets" used to track progression: when the character accumulates 10 "bullets", then the "bullets" are erased and the Characteristic increases by 1 level, and vice versa.  Instead of persistent Meta-Characteristics, each Ka has an associated “Approach” that must be deliberat...

Something criticized  on the old mailing list  was that the one-to-one correspondence between Ka-elements and mundane Characteristics was too much like GURPS, when the lore itself specifies that all the elements have physical, mental and spiritual manifestations. In the French 5e, this was written into the rules for task resolution. There are no longer Characteristic rolls: instead, "Experiences" (a consolidation of Skills and Past Lives) are always rolled for all tasks. However, Nephilim may use an "Approach" to apply a bonus to an action based on a relevant Ka-element. These don't map to specific uses like Fire for strength or Water for dexterity. Instead, each Ka-element represents an approach to how the task is resolved (hence the name). Each element represents a different approach. Fire is for blatancy, brute force, recklessness, etc. Air is for analysis, planning, prudence, using knowledge, etc. Water is for adaptation, flexibility, circumventing problems,...

In the French rules, Selenim didn’t have meta-characteristics. In Ian’s notes they would’ve retained Meta-CHA but that was it. In the third edition of the French, the Selenim gained the ability to curse mortals by giving them the  evil eye . This rule was next to the rule for Meta-Characteristics, so it was their equivalent. This inflicted a penalty equal to the Selenim’s Initiated level (-1 to -5), with the duration determined by the amount of points spend from the Pool (one turn for 1 point to one month for 5 points). The amount of points the Selenim could spend was capped by her Initiated level. (For comparison, each level of Initiated corresponded to 20 points of Ka in the BRP rules.) A mortal under this effect is called "cursed." This is  not  contamination. I think it’s an interesting idea, so I’d like to incorporate it into my own campaigns. I’d classify this under Raw Magic, too. In terms of rules, I suggest that this  Evil Eye works like any of the Casual M...

A rule introduced in 3e was that Nephilim no longer had persistent Meta-Characteristics. Most of the time they used the Simulacrum’s Characteristics, but could apply their Ka as a bonus to rolls of the linked Characteristic. This risked inflicting Khaiba or Narcosis points. Some fans were disappointed by this and introduced various house rules: e.g. " Release the Meta-Characteristics " and " The Meta-Characteristics, new rules ". Those house rules presented three approaches: Tying each metamorphosis aspect to a Ka-element and its Characteristic, so that the Meta-Characteristic bonus was based on how developed the aspect was. This was based on a similar rule in  The Immortal Gazette  #1  p4, which offered an optional rule for metamorphosis applying a modifier to occult sciences. The Nephilim may substitute mundane test against a secret society initiate with a Ka vs Ka contest instead. E.g. a Phoenix gets into a fist fight with a Templar, but contests his Fire-Ka agai...