My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

I read the fanzine  Vision-Ka #7 and it provided some much needed ideas that help me clarify my own ideas for reincarnation in my homebrew setting. As explained in the article on Yoga, the human soul (Sol, Solar-Ka) has two parts: the Atman and the Karma. The Karma is the record of life, while the Atman is the immortal soul that originates from the Brahman (the collective unconscious, the origin of the Subtle Planes). When a person dies, their Atman leaves the body and reincarnates, while the Karma remains within the corpse and decays with it. The Karma is the dead spirit that Selenim speak to with Necromancy. In my campaigns the Nephilim are fusional beings, an alchemical marriage of a human Atman and an elemental Pentacle born when the two meet under the right stars. This process awakens the Atman to knowledge of its true immortal nature, altering the Immortal’s worldview compared to their ignorant Karma alone. When a Nephilim dies, their Ka-elements dissolve into the magic fiel...

A Cruxim is a Nephilim who is missing one of his Ka-elements. He cannot practice magic of that element and his magical aura appears as a Cross in Ka-vision rather than the usual Pentacle. A Nephilim cannot have fewer than four Ka-elements, or they enter a permanent state of Narcosis (or Semktet while incarnated) and their Ka gradually disperses into the magic fields. In Nephilim: Revelation , Cruxim was part of a flaw available at character creation: "Second Downfall". Like other flaws, it was rated Apprentice (•), Journeyman (••), or Master (•••). Regardless of level, the Nephilim could no longer cast spells of linked to the lost Ka-element (except Alchemy, as the Athanor had its own Ka-elements).  At Apprentice level, the Nephilim merely saw one of his Ka-elements atrophy following a magical injury, rendering him unable to cast spells of that Ka. It isn't gone, but the game value is negligible. At Journeyman level, he became a Cruxim with the affected Ka-element absent ...

I'm currently studying the fourth edition from 2012 and it has given me some new ideas... The following rules are for the third edition d20 system. Some text translated and adapted from articles by "Ethaniael" and "Tchakaha", which I previously quoted in another older post. I recap that all here for ease of reference. Long story short, I nixed the rule for Solar Enthronements and some new astrology jargon from 4e and retrofitted it to 3e. Weirdly, the 3e rules never explained how to determine the element of Solar Enthronements, but I suppose this might count as unofficially errata. Magical Enthronements ( src ) Enthronements are the result of the concentrations of different magical fields. They depend on the current astrological day and month. The day influences more than the month, which is why we speak of Fire Enthronement on Tuesdays for example and not during the entire month of Aries or Scorpio. We speak of a Grand Enthronement when the day and the mo...

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...

Stasis items have a fixed capacity, which is a function of its enchantment and bond to its owner. Attempting to overfill a stasis item results in the excess charges bleeding off into the environment. This causes weird phenomena like random poltergeist activity, bizarre power outages, rains of frogs, etc. similar to that caused by a Paredrus in Narcosis. ​There are a few situations in which this happens, not all of which you would expect. I’m still working on my rules, so these may change. Leaving a Stasis item in a Plexus or Nexus after it has fully charged. A Stasis item only holds 20 charges. Releasing and reincarnating a Paredrus from a Stasis item after charging it in a Plexus. A Stasis item only stores 4 charges of each element while the Nephilim is incarnate. Losing Pentacle branches as a result of becoming Selenim. The lost branches are automatically sucked into the Stasis item, displacing any charges of that element. Casting the Ritual Magic Spell Stay of the Centuries . This s...

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...

Although the BRP rules don't have experience points, the third edition Nephilim: Revelation switched to an original d20 roll under system that introduced experience points. Mundane Characteristics and Skills were increased through study and training, but occult Characteristics and Skills were increased by spending experience points. As such, these points were named Agartha Points (AP). In third and fourth edition, the Sacrifice Ritual cost 1 bullet/point of Ka to ensure a Spell is cast. In fifth edition, which again changed the system, these points were retained but renamed to Sapience Points (SP). Ka sacrifice to ensure a spell is cast was replaced by spending SP instead. Additionally, no mention of bloodletting is made: the expenditure occurs automatically while casting the spell. I prefer this over the prior editions, as it reduces the already laborious book keeping involved with tracking Ka points. It should be easy enough to retrofit this rule to third edition. A Ka bullet co...

In a prior post I discussed how the French version liked to classify Metamorphoses by qualities like hot, cold, wet and dry. In any case, the metamorphoses aren't limited to any particular genders. Although some metamorphoses are inspired by mythological beings with particular genders, there's no rule that the Simulacrum must match that gender. So you can have a Satyress (Satyr), Tritoness (Triton), Undino (Undine), Dada Yaga (Baba Yaga), Fear Sidhe (Bean Sidhe), and so on, regardless of the gendered flavor text. Recently I discovered an old French netbook of metamorphoses , and what struck me upon reading was that it associated metamorphoses with specific genders (of the Simulacrum), neutral Ka-elements, and opposed Ka-elements. I recount these on the table below: Dominant Ka Metamorphosis Simulacrum's Sex Major Neutral Major Opposed Pyrim Djinn Man or Woman Earth Water Pyrim Phoenix ...

The rules for magic resistance and magic damage in Nephilim: Revelation are scattered, so I’ve decided to centralize what I've been able to find for easier reference. I found this fansite article very helpful in explaining things. I might use house rules in the future... Magic Resistance Magic Resistance in other editions works via the Nephilim resisting using the Spell's Ka-element (or one of the two opposed starting in 2nd edition onward), but this gets complicated when trying to adjudicate Selenim, Ar-Kaïm and mortals who don't have Pentacles. (In the US version at least, muggles cannot resist at all, awakened humans resist with half their Solar-Ka value, and Mithradites resist with their full Solar-Ka value.) Immortals do not make any resistance tests against Spells in third edition, only a few Spells here and there that increase the attacker's Difficulty. I assume this is because it would be difficult to cover all three magical races (see below), so no resista...

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...

It's a plot point in the French that Nephilim and Selenim cannot use their simulacrum's Solar-Ka due to being parasites. One of the gaps in the rules and fluff concerns the relationship between the Nephilim and the Simulacrum. Namely, it doesn't change at all as a result of the character's occult development. He doesn't learn to manipulate his Solar-Ka or anything! Here's what a French player said once on sden.org : But this brings me to the great weakness of Nephilim in its first three editions: the importance of making felt the interaction between the ka-sun and the Ka of the immortal is too overlooked. It is a little touched upon in the case of the Selenim (with a rigmarole around the emotions of predilection in the third edition), but a Nephilim progressing towards agartha, reaching high levels of Ka, occult sciences or traditions, does not see never its relationship to the Ka-Soleil of the simulacrum modified. The case of the Ar-Kaïm is undoubtedly still ap...

The Nephilim rulebook had really complex astrology modifiers, to the point Chaosium released a pinwheel handout to make them easier to calculate. The French version would ditch this in the third edition, where an Enthronement shifted a flat ±1 level of Difficulty and a Grand Enthronement shifted ±2 levels (one shift is equivalent to a ±3 modifier on the D20 roll). In Enlightened Magic , still using BRP, astrology modifiers were heavily simplified and made explicitly optional. Instead of months there were flat seasonal modifiers of ±5 during that season. Daily modifiers were a flat ±10 (thus more important), bonus on the day associated with the spell's element and a penalty on the day of the opposed element. On a French fansite for third edition, I found a house rule that combines both approaches (and a recap of the days and the months they apply). I like this because I like the simplicity of third edition and I like the way modifiers were rescaled in EM. To translate tha...

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)....

Chaosium's adaptation of Nephilim was based on the 1st edition of the French, which was crude and unrefined compared to subsequent supplements. Case in point, the US version recaps the Olamot as the four summoning worlds: Assia, Yetzirah, Briah and Atziluth. In the French, these worlds would be discarded and replaced with Aresh, Meborack, Pachad, Sohar and Zakaï.  A brief summary comes from this rpg.net post by a reviewer translating the French: Kabbalah Kabbalah as a science knew many false starts whether the studies of King Salomon or the wanderings of Helen in mythic Greece. However it is Jesus the Son of Ether that drew the fundamentals of the Occult Science used today. The Messiahs posited that worlds exist around us in the magical fields. He could call the creatures of these worlds and draw Wisdom from their teachings. Kabbalah was the legacy he left to his Fallen creators hoping they would find solace in Sohar the world he had more often walked. Five worlds are studied...

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...

In the French version, subsequent editions after the first introduced the idea of sub-skills and sub-paths within the occult sciences. You had paths associated with the various Dominant Ka, and you had various skills which determined the exact applications, and the paths and skills within an occult science may or may not have been associated with each other. It was all very complicated and varied across editions. Sorcery For Sorcery ("Magic" in French), the paths were: The Central path of the stray Principle (Pyrim) The primal path of the Rising Spiral (Hydrim) The Natural Path of the Winding Trail (Faerim) The Torturous path of the Schematic Labyrinth (Eolim) The path of the Maze of the soul (Onirim) The skills were: Perceive (mundane phenomena), Feel (magical phenomena), Modify at First Circle; Commune, Transform, Move at Second; Create and Destroy at Third. Summoning For Summoning ("Kabbalah" in French), the paths were: Aresh, world of conflict (Pyrim) Meborack, ...

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 a prior post I mentioned the "black elements." These were basically evil versions of the conventional elements, briefly mentioned in both Serpent Moon and Major Arcana . I find that idea a bit silly, though. But the third edition French version has an idea that I think salvages this... The Black Moon is most strongly linked to the Moon field, but in truth it insidiously insinuates itself within and parasitizes all the magic fields. There is no Black Fire-Ka, Green Fire-Ka, Bitter Water-Ka, Dead Air-Ka, or whatever else you could think of... these are all manifestations of Black Moon-Ka. In the French version, there's a black summon named "Those whose Touch is a Red Iron." They're creepy green fireballs. The text states that they seem to echo Fire-Ka in their appearance in Ka-Vision. Are these Black or Green Fire-Ka entities? More or less, if you interpret Black Fire-Ka as the Black Moon's parasitizing of the Fire Field. In my planned rules for Black...

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...

Source The following extract was translated from the fourth edition’s  Le Codex de la Lune p30-1. The 666 is a secret organization organized by a Nephilim called the Devourer who resembles the god Seth or Anubis. Its existence was only hypothetical until the Major Conclave of the Apocalypse where the identity of the members of 666 was revealed. Some think that it has existed for more than three millennia. The Nephilim have long believed that the 666 was only a sect of Khaiban or Selenim dissidents, or even a new Minor Arcanum. Everyone now knows that the 666 is an initiative of five Nephilim whose Pentacle has a Black Moon Core instead of the Moon-Ka. Their members are perceived as aberrations by the Nephilim. However, they may sort their modified Pentacle and do not seek pure and simple destruction but renewal by a radical magical tabula rasa . The organization of the 666 is very opaque: around the council of the five gravitates a nebula of occult actors who act on its behalf. Th...