My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

A magical aura is an arrangement of a person’s spiritual essence (or soul), allowing them to perform magic or not. As introduced in the French version, different character roles have different magical auras. Mere mortals have a Solar Core composed of the singular Solar-Ka, Nephilim have a Pentacle composed of the five Ka-elements, Selenim have a Black Moon Core composed of the singular Black Moon-Ka, Ar-Kaïm have a Heart composed of 2–8 Essences, “magic bohemians” have the Brume (“mist”) composed of trace amounts of all 8 Ka, and the Kwisatz Haderach has a Prism composed of all 8 Ka plus Brume.  A couple other variations exist too, represented by flaws taken at character creation. Cruxim are Nephilim with only four Ka-elements, forming a Cross. Rejects are hybrids created by 666’s experiments: Nephilim whose Moon-Ka has been transformed into Black Moon-Ka without sundering their Pentacle and Selenim who had 1–3 Ka-elements grafted to their Core. The Necronim, of which only two exam...

While the Selenim were given rules in the first and second editions of the French version, these were wishy-washy and the original creative leads preferred them as NPC-only (which once again became the case in 4e and 5e, much to my chagrin). In third edition Nephilim: Revelation , the publisher opted to revise their rules for playability and compatibility with mixed groups of Nephilim and Ar-Kaïm. Additional rules were provided in their respective Codex . I recap the overarching structure of the 3e revisions here. I have divided this post into Initiation, Aspect, Sapience, Past, Downfalls, and Other details, mimicking the structure of character creation. Initiation Unlike the Nephilim's Pentacle of the five Elemental Ka, Selenim have only a Core of Black Moon-Ka. Thus, they can only perform their own Occult Sciences (see below). Additionally, they have a Black Moon Pool that is spend to cast spells. They suffer a degeneration known as Entropy : the Pool automatically loses 1 point...

Going over the rules for third edition, there doesn't seem to be any concrete guidelines for creating Simulacra. The Players' Book includes some sample Simulacra, and I've found some fan-made lists ( here and here ), but the books never seemed to actually provide Simulacrum creation rules. Fortunately, I've been able to invent my own based on the Codex Ar-Kaïm , the GM Screen , and Nephilim: Initiation . Mortals have three sets of nine Characteristics: Social Characteristics , Physical Characteristics , and Solar-Ka . The Social Characteristics are Education (measured by the adjective Learnèd ), Riches (by Wealthy ) and Relationships (by Sociable ). The Physical Characteristics are measured by the adjectives Agile , Charming , Enduring , Intelligent and Strong . Solar-Ka is measured by the adjective Initiated . The five levels of Characteristics are measured by adverbs: Not (1), Low (2), Enough (3), "..." (4), and Very (5). Not indicates a disability of som...

Initially the lore assumed only the Unnamed Arcanum accepted Selenim, and vice versa. However, the third edition Gamemaster's Book notes that it is possible for (at least some of) the other Arcana to "adopt" a minority of Selenim. The majority of members remain Nephilim, however. Although some Arcane Quests are reserved for Nephilim, like those of The Magician (see Gamemaster's Screen ) and The High Priestess (see Vision-Ka #3 ), others like those of The Moon (see Vision-Ka #5 ) have paths available to Selenim. The  Al-Mugawir  campaign supplement notes that Selenim adopted by Judgment have integrated their Simulacrum's Solar-Ka and may learn to cast the solar Occult Science of Qiyas. The reverse is not true. The 13th Arcane Quest, the Bronzen Sublimation (see Gamemaster's Book ), is reserved for Selenim. Death is a haven for all magical beings who carry the Black Moon within them: Selenim, Serpentaries, 666's Rejects...  I still need to research how the...

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...

In an older post I gave some thoughts on past lives for Ar-Kaïms. I wrote that before I started reading Codex des Ar-Kaïm , which provided some rules in this regard already! The third edition rules suffered from space constraints, so some key parts of character creation had to be placed in the Codex for each magical race. This includes "Past Points", which players used to purchase magic items and spells for their PCs that were acquired over the course of their past and retained into the present era. Ar-Kaïms gained a Lineage parameter that determined how many times they'd previously reincarnated, with each level representing one generation or ~3 decades. This only went back to 1900, the start of the Great Awakening. So they didn't have the ancient past lives like Nephilim and Ex-Nephilim Selenim had. However, the fifth edition rulebook briefly recaps their fluff in one chapter and specifies that they've existed for centuries at least but were concealed by the Rom...

5e revised the skill mechanics to treat past lives as skills in and of themselves. As suggested by “mandrill_one”, here is a house rule for adapting this to BRP rules: in the 5th edition, past or present "lives" (" vécus ") are rated on a 1-10 scale, which is then multiplied by 10 to obtain a percentage to roll under. So, it is quite easy to devise a BRP variant, where each vécu is a "skill group" rated 1-100. Each vécu is a skill group since it includes all knowledges, abilities, skills and aptitudes that are commonly, or conceivably, associated with that vécu : e.g., a "medieval female condottiere" vécu  could include abilities related to diplomacy, financial administration, accounting, sword combat, dodge, shield use, horse riding, communication skills, leadership, Italian geography, catholic religion, strategy and tactics, outdoor survival, encampment life, travel. All these skills have the same rating as the vécu itself.  If you want t...

In the first and second editions of the French version, all Selenim were former Nephilim. The third edition introduced a second origin, the natural Selenim, who appeared after the Great Awakening at the start of the 20th century (see “Return of the Magicians”, Nephilim rulebook p77). I am incorporating this into my homebrew settings, but with some adjustments for the US version’s changes and my own ideas. The Codex des Selenim divides the incarnated Selenim into three origins: contaminated, sacrificial, and natural. The contaminated and sacrificial are both former Nephilim, whereas the natural were always Selenim. Each origin has its own minor benefits and drawbacks compared to the other origins. Natural Selenim are perfectly comfortable with their state, whereas former Nephilim always experience some lingering regret. Some desperately seek to find and restore their sundered Pentacle, locked in a Stasis they can no longer track. (Note: When a Nephilim loses a Pentacle branch due cont...

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...

I'm currently translating the French third edition rulebooks from 2001 in order to get a good look at the rules and setting. That edition replaces BRP with a new system. I'll try to describe that below. Task resolution The 3e rules use much smaller numbers than BRP. Characteristics and Potentials have been consolidated into Characteristics and Difficulties. Characteristics and Difficulties are rated from 1-5, while Skills are rated from -2 to +1. However, the rules describe these with adjectives, adverbs, and shifts rather than numbers, like so: For Characteristics and Difficulties: Not (1), Little (2), Enough (3),  “…”  (4), and Very (5). For Skills: Profane (↓↓), Apprentice (↓), Companion (no modifier), Master (↑). Every task is resolved using the Resistance Table, or as it's called in this edition the "Universal Resolution Table", by comparing the Characteristic against a Difficulty level shifted up/down by the relevant Skill. Instead of a d100, a d20 is rolled...

In the unfinished Ex Oculis fanbook, a new mechanic called Assets, Burdens and Goals was added to past life generation at character creation. Assets and Burdens were similar to perks and flaws from other systems, while Goals were plot hooks that could be pursued for experience and such. These were basically a more systematized way of handling past life legacies, which were very vague in the rulebook. A similar idea appeared in another homebrew as Secrets, Quests, and Curses, and another as Resources. The French 3rd edition independently did something similar. Characters were created with their relative power levels measured, then balanced by adding an equal measure of flaws. To quote or explain for those who don't have those PDFs or cannot access them: Secrets, quests and curses (From Nephilim Redux 1.2 by Frank Rafaelsen) Secrets Every incarnation has given the Nephilim secret knowledge. To represent this, each past life allows the Nephilim to know one secret. These secrets a...

To keep this stuff straight, I’m putting it all in once place for reference. The Occult Sciences As explained on  Nephilim  rulebook p44, each occult science only becomes available after a certain date. Sorcery Sorcery is prehistoric and all three circles may be learned in any incarnation period. This is the only Third Circle technique that may be learned at character creation. Summoning For Summoning, the first two circles of the Kabbalist Tradition may be learned from circa 350 B.C. onward (rulebook p63, Chronicle of the Awakenings p13). The Third Circle technique, Keys, cannot be learned at character creation [this isn’t explicitly stated but is implied by the lack of eras offering it]. It is only practiced by advanced initiates among the Major Arcana (rulebook p170). With the GM’s permission, a different Tradition of Summoning may be taken instead and potentially earlier. I’ll explore Traditions of Summoning in future posts. Alchemy The First Circle technique, Black Stone...

This is a house rule adapted from the rules for  Psychomorphe and  Métamorphes totémiques from the French version. Totems for Western PCs The indigenous Nephilim of Northern America developed their own metamorphosis archetypes or "totems" independently of the Western Nephilim. I hope to provide detailed rules for them in later posts, but in the interim here is a way for their legacy to influence PCs following the Western Tradition. Nephilim PCs by default will be Western Nephilim that emigrated to the United States. A player may choose to play a Nephilim who was born from a Nexus in the United States after colonization and taught by the Major Arcana. Rather than a Western Metamorphosis, this Nephilim was born with a Totemic Metamorphosis. The rules for this are provided below. As with Western Metamorphoses, Totemic Metamorphoses are divided into several archetypes or "totems." Each Totem corresponds to a mundane animal that was/is held sacred or spiritually signif...

In this post I will recount how Nephilim become Selenim. Although the planned USA Selenim book was never published, the French version has a wealth of material. The BRP rules for becoming Selenim first appeared in the Selenim book and were revised in Le Ka . I will refer to the French along with Ian Young’s surviving notes  and print outs . This process was known by several names in French. In 1st, 2nd, and 5th edition it is  la Transformation Selenim ,  le Changement , la Métamorphose , la Ténèbre , le Basculement ,  « hanté » , etc. In 3rd edition as  la Malédiction de la Lune Noire , la contamination , and la transformation sacrificielle . These translate respectively to "The Selenim Transformation," "The Change," "The Metamorphosis," "The Darkness," "The Transition," "haunted," "The Curse of the Black Moon," "la contamination," and "the sacrificial transformation." Ian’s notes rendered le Ba...