My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

The rules for Narcosis underwent a number of revisions in the French version. For my own campaigns, I wanted to have some guidelines for handling this. While this post won't provide detailed rules, I will go over my ideas so far. Progression of Narcosis Narcosis actually has two stages progression: crystallization and anchorage. Furthermore, the effects of anchorage vary depending on whether the Nephilim is incarnate or not. A paredrus outside of a human body, and unable to return to stasis, is subject to crystallization. The exact cause is unknown, but some suspect it is an immune response to the trace amounts of Orichalc present in all the magic fields. Its Ka-elements retract and contract, like Sektet, eventually rendering it unable to move. At this point, the paredrus enters Narcosis shock and anchorage begins.  Once fully crystalized, the paredrus' Ka-elements bleed into and gradually merge with the surrounding magic fields, a process known as encysting or fossilizing. Thi...

In the character creation for Ar-Kaïm, during the Past step the note determines how much of their mortal life the character remembers. Apprentice means they have total amnesia, Journeyman means they remember only dreams and confuse it with reality, and Master means no memory loss. However, this section contradicts the rest of the book(s): Ar-Kaïm don't suffer any Skill loss and amnesia is never mentioned in their lore. I suspect this text was leftover from an earlier draft as an oversight. It obviously creates problems for roleplaying so I can understand why it was revised. However, the Ar-Kaïm Codex has a short story where the narrator briefly mentions she sometimes has difficulty distinguishing dreams from reality. This inspired me to imagine a new degeneration just for Ar-Kaïm, one I tentatively call "Reverie." Ar-Kaïm have a close bond to the Astral and to the dreams of humanity. The idea behind Reverie is that it represents a loss of control and identity as a result ...

Inspired by some things I've read in 5e, and the mailing list, I've got some ideas for simplifying and standardizing the Degenerations in 3e. These are tentative... All Immortals have three lines of Degenerations on the character sheet, and may only have three at a time. Each magical race has a different set: For Nephilim, these are Khaiba , Narcosis , and Shouit . For Selenim, these are Ahasuerus , Malediction , and Narcosis . For Ar-Kaïm, these are Instability , Khaiba , and Narcosis . Each Degeneration has its own symptoms. These symptoms may be persistent, or these may be latent until the Immortals suffers a seizure with magical consequences. Degenerations are measured with adjectives and adverbs like Characteristics and Difficulties. Khaiba represents a Nephilim's or Ar-Kaïm's elemental nature becoming unstable, going berserk and taking control at the expense of their human side. A Nephilim in such a terrible state is known as a Khaiban or Mahrimè  (Romani for “unc...

In a prior post , I went over how various editions ruled the "Sundering", the transformation into Selenim. Mostly verily clunkily, as usual for this game. It turns out that I forgot something, not that I'm surprised given how incoherent and scattered the Nephilim rules are in every single edition.  Bizarrely, 5e  La Toison d'Or  p127 introduces the rules for "Lunar Entropy" rather than the 5e  Selenim  book released prior. The latter lazily copyedited the text from the 1e supplement, ignoring every supplement published since, and which wasn't properly adapted to match the 5e rules. By contrast, the new Lunar Entropy is written in line with the other rules for Downfalls of Khaiba, Narcosis and Shouit. The text doesn't explain if this supersedes the older rule or not, but for simplicity's sake I will assume so.  Recap of Lunar Entropy rules Lunar Entropy "degrees" are gained by: Accepting a physical consequence from a Black Moon creature ...

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...

A key difference between the French version and the US version is the rules for Khaiba.  In the French version, the effects of Khaiba were persistent. The more Khaiba points accrued, the more Khaiban the Nephilim grew physically and mentally. This gradually replaced the Metamorphosis with the corresponding Khaiban form. In the US version, this was changed to the Nephilim suffering Khaiba episodes . Khaiba points had no effect on their own, but affected the chances of the Nephilim suffering an episode during certain enthronements. During an episode, the Nephilim would become indistinguishable from an elemental beast.  I don’t know why this change was made. So that the Nephilim could more easily blend into human society? To match how Shouit operated? It was thought redundant to Metamorphosis Transformations? I can only ever guess why.  I didn’t know about this change until recently, but now it really helps me to understand details in the French version that I didn’t underst...

In the French version of the game, flashbacks were referred to by the in-game jargon Mnemos Effect . The exact rules for this varied across editions, with some editions treating it purely as a fluff thing. Flashbacks could consist of groups playing adventures that occurred during past lives rather than the present, or as individual PCs recalling forgotten events and gaining temporary skill bonuses or permanent increases as a benefit. This was never implemented in the US version. However, on the mailing list some freelancers discussed making a new edition with a flashback mechanic. For example, treating past lives as skills and recalling during play to explain skill increases. This was a decade before the French 5th edition would implement a similar idea. Another idea floated was "Sekhat" (from Egyptian  sḫꜣj ), where really stressed PCs could enter fugue states where they'd assume the personality of a past life and reinterpret present events in that light (e.g. a WWI nurs...

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...

In the original rules and setting, the Nephilim are elemental spirits that possess hapless human hosts they call Simulacra. Whenever the Simulacrum was possessed by some other elemental, such as a ruptured summoning or a Necromancy spell, then the Nephilim was ejected from the host. The astrological Nephilim aka Ar-KaIm were awakened humans, so when they were possessed their soul wasn't forced out. Otherwise, the Nephilim could only be forced out by killing the Simulacrum. In my campaigns, all Nephilim fusional beings formed by the fusion of an elemental beast's magic and a human soul's awareness, will and identity. Basically like the Ar-KaIm, but with Pentacles and Occult Sciences instead of Hearts and Talents. So whenever a Nephilim is possessed, then their soul remains trapped in their body… usually. There is no way to sever the fusion without causing death or at least severe spiritual damage, unless it was a temporary incarnation to begin with. The terminal stages of Kh...

A key point of contention in the US fandom was how to handle incarnation . Even in the French fandom, some people pointed out that the Nephilim were really  quite monstrous  and the Major Arcana were totes evil ! (The US version dramatically toned them down, and still players couldn't handle it!) One of my inspirations for revising Nephilim was Andrew Montgomery's series of articles on the game: part one , part two , part three , session zero and session one .  Rather than elemental spirits possessing hapless human hosts for which they feel only contempt, I interpret Nephilim as composite entities composed of an elemental pentacle orbiting a human soul (Sol) in a microcosm of the Solar System. The elemental spirit is driven by instinct no differently than other elemental beasts, but through incarnation it benefits from the human soul's identity, will and awareness. The human host benefits from a feeling of completeness, a new purpose and meaning in life. From this a...

The degeneration named "Instability" is the price that Ar-Kaïms pay for being able to utilize all eight elements without being limited by the Nephilim's Cardinal Balance or the Selenim's Entropy. The following rules are adapted from the French 3e. The Ar-Kaïm's Instability POT is equal to the difference between the highest and lowest Ka-elements in the character's Heart. This calculation uses the current/temporary values, not the permanent values. If an Ar-Kaïm overcharges his Heart or fumbles any magical roll, then he must make an Instability check. The character contests his Ka against his Instability POT on the Resistance Table, with the following effects: Effects of Overload FAILURE: 10 points from the Heart evaporate into the magic fields. This loss is distributed at the player's discretion. FUMBLE: 20 points evaporate. SUCCESS: Nothing happens immediately, but the character must release the excess as quickly as possible to resolve the overload. Anoth...

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...

In this post I will recap the rules for khaiba, offer an etymology, explain how the khaiba rules changed across the French editions, compare some house rules from the US mailing list, and finally offer my own thoughts on Khaiba. Khaiba rules Let's recap the rules for khaiba, since they're scattered throughout the Nephilim rulebook (p27, 43, 122-4, 130, 140, 220). I also do some minor simplifications here and there. The Khaiba total is recorded on the character sheet as a percentage. This is the base chance for Khaiba rolls. See  Nephilim  rulebook p122-4 for details. Nephilim increase Khaiba total under the following circumstances: +1 point when the Nephilim fumbles a magical technique, Ka or Ka-element roll ( Nephilim rulebook p27, 122, 139, 175). +1 point per hour disembodied ( Nephilim  rulebook p117).  +1 point when a disembodied Nephilim fails to dominate a new Simulacrum ( Nephilim rulebook p117). +1d6 points for each Ka-element drained into an Elixir vess...