My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

In the first edition and US version derived from it, Sorcery was named Sorcery. In subsequent editions, French only, this occult science was renamed Magic. In fourth edition, it  was specified  that the Enochian name was “HeKa.” This  comes from  Ancient Egyptian. In the unfinished Ex Oculis fanbook, “HeKa” was the Enochian name for Raw Magic. That is, the Elemental Effects from Liber Ka p88.

What follows are my current latest musings on Assuaging and Entropy, largely based on 3e. My rules for Assuaging are much the same as that given in  Ian’s notes , with the following adjustments: If the Selenim is Assuaging the same emotion as one of their Emotional Traits, they add that Trait as a bonus to their Ka value. This is similar to fulfilling a Trait (see Chronicle of the Awakenings p58). The modifier for familiarity varies between −20%, −10%, +0%, +10%, or +20%. Each step takes progressively more effort. Reducing the −20% penalty for a complete unknown to −10% only requires a few minutes of casual conversation, while any bonus will require months of interaction. (This bit is based on 5e.) The points drained/transferred are equal the emotion’s Intensity Potential, not one-tenth of the Selenim’s Ka. This generally ranges from 0–5, e.g. from a coma patient to a fundamentalist witnessing a miracle. For a group of any size, multiply this value by 1.5 (rounded up). The Seleni...

In this post I want to talk about two things: metamorphosis transformations’ game effects and subtlety a la Liber Ka . Transformations’ game effects In the rulebook, metamorphosis transformations were purely cosmetic and had no useful mechanical effects. In Chronicle of the Awakenings , each metamorph generally had 2 game effects at 16+ points each. Water breathing, flight, claws, vengeance sense, prophecy, etc. The  unofficial Australian metamorphs  were especially powerful. In the  Ex Oculis fanbook , every transformation would’ve had a useful mechanical effect. (Often costing 1 or more ch’awe.) I would definitely use that instead, especially comparing it with the Selenim’s Anamorphosis. The latter always provided useful game effects. I’m not gonna provide a whole conversion in this post. I encourage groups to customize their metamorphs to suit their styles, using the books as inspiration. Shelby Babb's old page has  some ideas , unfortunately written for the ru...

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...

When a Selenim's Assuaging fumbles or overfills, then it contaminates the victim with Black Moon Ch'awe. This has a variety of disturbing effects, the exact rules for which varied across the French editions. In 1st and 2nd edition, the victim could develop a variety of symptoms based on the amount of contamination: morbid thoughts, nightmares, hallucinations, a sensitivity to the lunar field, sensitivity to the doomed field, a telepathic connection to the Selenim who infected him, growing a metamorphosis transformation resembling that of the Selenim who infected him, and reanimating after death. The rules were pretty vague and wishy washy. In 3rd edition, the rules were formalized and standardized. Accidental contamination still occurred as a result of fumbling or overfilling during Assuaging, causing the target to accumulate a Cursed Characteristic based on the number of Black Moon Ch'awe transferred. This sensitizes him to the doomed field, causing him to steadily go mad....

One house rule I saw over in an adventure archived from the old mailing list's files was that Nephilim were effectively immune to ranged weapons. (This presumably applies to Selenim and Ar-KaIm too, but that wasn't explicitly mentioned.) As author Jeff James put it: The second change is because I like the highlander feel of having people running around with swords and duelling on skyscrapers. Nephilim allows this, of course, but it really doesn't make any sense for your average templar to use a sword if he can spray the nephilim with an M16. So I have decided that only damage at short range (when 'auras' can interact) is effective on nephilim. Long range damage is healed by the Ka of the nephilim at a very fast rate (probably depending on his Earth-Ka, or maybe the physical closeness of his Major Ka-elements). The exception, of course, would be Orichalka bullets, which damage the Ka even if the body heals. This gives a very good reason for templars and other secret...

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...

"Raw Magic" is my term for a miscellaneous collection of intuitive magical abilities available to the Nephilim that aren’t part of the occult sciences or arcane techniques. These include Elemental Effects, Metamorphosis Transformations, and Transmitting Ka. The occult sciences and other magical techniques derive from a more refined understanding of these basic processes. Some background “Elemental Effects” are an optional rule introduced in  Liber Ka  p88. Basically, it means that Nephilim have a very limited form of  Avatar: The Last Airbender -style elemental bending. This was expanded upon in the  Ex Oculis  fanbook on the mailing list, which renamed the mechanic “Raw Magic” or  HeKa . While I think ExO's rules were a bit too situational, I liked the name "Raw Magic" and decided to use it as an umbrella term for various magical effects created by Nephilim that don't fall under the occult sciences or other magical techniques. I like the idea of raw magic ...

These are my house rules for Selenim Assuaging, inspired by the French 1e–3e and incorporating the Selenim’s Metamorphosis Traits. The format is derived from Ian’s  character creation rules . I consider Assuaging to be a form of Raw Magic (see my post on Raw Magic for details), but a couple of spells are presented that play into it. Assuaging These are the basic rules for draining Solar-Ka from mortals. STEP 1: The Selenim must find a mortal to Assuage, the more emotional the better and preferably exhibiting an emotion she shares in her Metamorphosis. The GM should assign the mortal’s current emotional state an Intensity POT ranging from 0–7 (to determine randomly roll 1d8−1).  Examples of Intensity POT: 0: Comatose. 1–2: Watching a b-movie. Deep sleep. 3: Amorous. Dreaming sleep. 4–5: Won the lottery. 5–7: Fundamentalist witnessing a miracle. See the table “The Analogical Charge” from my post on recharging ch’awe Ar-Kaïm-style for further examples. STEP 1A: The Selenim may ...

Although the rules for sorcery in Enlightened Magic were largely reprinted verbatim from Liber Ka , there are some significant differences. Most notably is that the rules are written for the BRP rulebook, not Nephilim . POW replaces Ka (so no derived Ka-elements), power points replace ch’awe, there’s only four elements, no spell inscription (altho there are similar rules for enchanting items), cast spells have their own POW (POT), no Ka roll is needed to cast spells, the modifiers for astrology changed, plexi and nexi were replaced by nexus points, etc. While interchangeable or easily convertible for the most part, the rules have been streamlined, simplified, and generally cleaned up in places. Overall, I find most of these changes quite welcome and would like to retrofit select revisions to the Nephilim setting. Some spells were renamed between LK and EM, while others changed their element (as moon element was removed) or were removed entirely. My preference is to use both versions,...

The Nephilim magic system underwent several revisions, with the most recent version of the rules presented genericized in Enlightened Magic  (so check that out for the full details). What follows is my attempt to unify, codify, and simplify the magic system. Nephilim practice three types of magic or "occult sciences." The nephilim don't see what they do as magic, but as the applied knowledge of manipulating the universe. These occult sciences are Sorcery, Summoning, and Alchemy, in order of their development. The occult sciences are each divided into three circles, and advancing to the next circle requires mastering the previous circle. Sorcery The rules for sorcery were extensively revised in Liber Ka and a genericized version of this revision was published in Enlightened Magic . Most of the differences are minor (e.g. name changes, some spells absent, some spells changed element), but there is one big change: the EM rules don't have a lunar element, so lunar spells...