My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

The Nephilim have developed several “Grand Rituals” (distinct from the rituals used for casting Ritual Magic) used as aids in their learning and casting of the Occult Sciences. In this post I'll be explaining how I'm adapting those to my campaign setting, based both on the US version, a fan wiki , and the French version's Nephilim: Revelation and Nephilim: Legend . The ideas presented here are tentative. The Ritual of Stasis: Nephilim use this ritual to tap charges from their Stasis item to boost spells and other uses of Ka-energies. Ar-Kaïm who have been bonded to a Stasis item may do the same, but may only charge the five elements available to Nephilim. Selenim require Sarcophagi or other special means to charge and tap Black Moon-Ka. The Ritual of Sacrifice : Nephilim use this ritual in emergences to ensure a spell succeeds. This costs Occult Development Points (my translation of the French version's XP mechanics) and may only be used when performing a Sorcery ritu...

Inspired by some ancient and long forgotten discussions on the old mailing list, I decided to dedicate a post to the concept of magical names in Summoning. The following is my musings on the subject, without specific rules text. The use of magical names is a vital part of the occult science of Summoning. Just as the names of targets provide magical connections for casting Sorcery, they provide connections for invoking and contracting named entities. There is power in names: naming an entity allows the summoner to call or compel the entity directly. Invoking a divine name allows the summoner to compel entities beholden to that name: e.g. speaking "The power of Christ compels you!" to exorcise a demon. In order to summon a specific entity, you must know its specific name. This can take any number of forms such as conventional words, occult sigils, musical notation, etc. The name must be written, spoken or performed as part of the summoning ritual.  Acquiring a name generally r...

In the French version, casting a summoning spell required either a focus or an inscription containing that spell. In both cases, the summoner needed to draw a summoning circle in which to call the entity. Both third and fifth editions introduced an additional rule for a pact , which tied into the French version's different rapport systems. In third edition The Players' Book , summoning an entity was a single roll rather than the two rolls of previous editions. The summoning rules stipulated that entities had a rapport with their summoner. Their level of positivity and hostility were rated respectively as the statistics Allié and Féal , translating to "allied" and "serfish" respectively. Being polite and respectful to the entity increased its  Allié  and decreased its  Féal , while being cruel and dishonest did the opposite. Whether it was friendly or hostile determined the severity of failing the summoning test: friendly entities inflicted inconvenient but n...

When the Liber Ka rules first came out in 1995, they more or less invalidated the rules for artifacts previously published in the Gamemaster's Companion . Nephilim no longer needed to find foci to cast spells, but cast Casual Magic without any and could design their own foci as needed to cast Ritual Magic and High Magic. It wasn't until Enlightened Magic in 2014 that LK-compatible magic item rules were finally added, and these amounted to single-spell inscriptions of Ritual Magic or High Magic that you could carry around and share with anyone who knew Casual Magic (as spell inscription wasn't included in EM except for third circle alchemy meditations). Meanwhile, the 2nd edition of the French and subsequent editions provided “Past Points” at character creation: letting players buy foci, artifacts, and other goodies saved from past lives to start play with. My quick-and-dirty house rule for reconciling these was... to do basically nothing. The GMC-style artifacts allowed ...

This post is just me musing about artifacts rules.  As introduced in the second edition French rulebook, artifacts are divided into active and passive types. Active artifacts have their Ka and can be used by anyone who know the keyword, even without elemental Ka. Passive artifacts require elemental Ka to power their effect, whether from a Nephilim or from a Ka Reserve (equivalent to the US version’s Elixir).  This distinction may be applied to the US version and derivatives thereof. The sorcerous artifacts in Gamemaster’s Companion and Enlightened Magic are passive artifacts. The alchemical artifacts in Enlightened Magic are active artifacts, since they produce their effects even for unenlightened users.  By combining both books we get two types of sorcerous artifacts: single spell artifacts that are enchanted with Ritual or High Magic spells (see Enlightened Magic ), and multi-spell artifacts that are crafted through a much more grueling process (see GMC p26-31)....

There’s a difference in the way that Nephilim inscribes spells and Enchanted Magic enchants spells. Previously I thought of possible ways to reconcile it, but since these don’t strictly contradict except on one or two points (see below) then you can use the rules as written. Having a spell inscribed on the caster's aura or enchanted onto an object obviates the need to design the spell in advance. This substitutes for a copy in a grimoire and provides other benefits. An inscribed spell is generally much faster to cast or prepare, while a spell or procedure enchanted onto an item has its POW fixed at the moment of enchantment. Ritual Magic and High Magic spells may be inscribed on the caster’s aura. This lets the spell be cast using Casual Magic instead. High Magic cannot be inscribed unless the caster can cast it without boosted Ka and is still limited to the corresponding day of the week. Ritual Magic and High Magic spells may be enchanted onto an object as Casual Magic in a simi...

In a previous post I provided a brief overview of the types of magic items presented in  Gamemaster’s Companion  and  Enlightened Magic . What follows is a more detailed conversion, revision, and unification of these rules.  I divide magic items into several types: Least Artefacts, Minor Artefacts, Major Artefacts, Relics (Living Artefacts), and Masterpieces (Unique Artefacts). All of these objects are invested with some amount of Ka to provide their effects. The Least Artefacts include magical tools and athanors enchanted to provide a bonus to corresponding magical workings. They are wholly passive and useless to non-magicians. The Minor Artefacts include objects enchanted to contain a single sorcery spell and athanors enchanted to produce a single procedure. Sorcerous objects are only useful to those who already know Casual Magic, but enchanted athanors may be used even by non-magicians. The Major Artefacts are objects made of special materials and enchanted with m...

The rules for inscribing spells have different relevance in light of the revisions made by Liber Ka , the unpublished Slaying the Dragon  (a draft of two chapters was shared by John Snead), and Enlightened Magic . This is my attempt to unify and revise it further. Memorizing designs? Enlightened Magic has some somewhat unclear rules for memorizing spells and procedures (see EM p36-7, 50, 61, 67, 80, 89, 100), altho I think I managed to interpret the spirit correctly. If a sorcerer has previously performed a ritual, an alchemist has previously performed a procedure, either has been taught by another occultist, or has deciphered a design from a grimoire, then all are assumed to keep written copies of their designs in a "personal grimoire" (see LK p84, EM p61) and/or maintain an occult library by collecting grimoires written by others. If I'm cross-referencing the rules correctly, then they cannot memorize whole designs on their own despite some lines suggesting such. This ...

As of the Liber Ka , Slaying the Dragon  (partly surviving in Snead's alchemy doc), and Enlightened Magic revisions, foci are no longer necessary for casting spells. Nephilim design their own rituals and procedures through research and preparation. These notes may be considered analogous to foci, so I will treat the two as synonymous (EM only mentions foci twice on p70, 81, but doesn't explain what foci even are). Some house rules for conversion from 1e to LK may be found  at this link  (an account is required to download the file). The benefit of using an existing focus or grimoire is that it saves the caster time on designing their own own ritual or procedure (see EM p36-7, 50, 61, 67, 80, 89, 100, LK p61, 86, Snead's  Alchemy doc p9, 11, 35, 68-9).  If a sorcerer has cast a spell before (see EM p36-7, 61), an alchemist has been taught a procedure by another alchemist (see EM p67) or has performed any procedure of any circle before (see Snead's  Alc...