Setting

The afterlife has always been at a decisive stalemate: the armies of Heaven and
Hell forever glaring at each other across Purgatory, waiting to destroy the other so they
can swarm over the Earth. One wants to save humans, but take away their humanity, and
the other wants to set them free, but forever corrupt them into something less than
human. Purgatory has always been the silent middle man, simply directing souls into the
appropriate afterlife.
Then, not too long ago, Purgatory threw down the balance and said no more.
They viewed the only solution as being the total destruction of all humans; thus, they
could not be enslaved or turned bestial. Neither Heaven nor Hell expected this move,
which made Purgatorys assault unhindered.
The Purgons flooded the Earth, blasphemous and non-Euclidean creatures set out
to destroy man kind. Some attacked with full force, while many are still waiting in dark
corners for the appropriate time to strike. Humanity is doomed, for the most part.
Not wanting to lose Earth to the terrible Purgons, Heaven and Hell made an
uneasy truce; they were going to purge the Purgons from Earth. Demons and angels,
disguised as humans, were sent down to combat the threat. Though they both had slight
markings of their heritage (demons may have small horns, while angels could have a
slight glow about them), the disguises of these Nephilim were flawless. Their mission is
to investigate, interrogate and destroy any Purgon activity they may find, lest humanity
be wiped from Earth.
Setting questions
When does this game take place? Though I made Nephilim to be played during the
modern era, due to the generic nature of weapons and specialties, it can really be played
during any time period. The Crusades would be an interesting setting, or something like
an alternate World War 2. You could even do a sci-fi setting with a little elbow grease.
Are these angels and demons from Christian mythology? Yes and no. While they are
divided by Christian Sins and Virtues, this can easily be modified. Most religions brought
from the collective unconscious have an evil afterlife, a good afterlife, and a neutral
afterlife, with holy and unholy characters. The types of Nephilim can easily be modified
by choosing a Virtue/Sin they embody along with a racial specialization. These Virtues
and Sins dont even have to be Virtues or Sins, they could instead be dominions of gods
such as fire, war or storms. In this way, you could play as descendants of Greek gods.
You could also play as just exceptional humans involved in the conflict, with their racial
specialization relating to their former profession. They would still have a Sin or Virtue
they embody, but their True Form power would turn them into a Paragon of
Humanity(this would actually bolster the populace to fight, instead of flee in terror).
Can I modify the rules? Sure! Id encourage it, actually. These rules were written in
under 24 hours, so things will most likely be missing or not balanced. Keep rule zero in
mind, and just have fun with the game
Character Creation
1. Choose attributes
Your attributes, (Body, Mind and Soul), all start at 1. Distribute two points
between any of these three attributes, to get an array of 3-1-1 or 3-2-1
2. Choose skills
You have 6 points to distribute between all your skills. Skills can go over their
linked attribute. Linked attributes, and skills, are as follows:
Body- Strength, Dexterity and Stamina
Mind- Perception, Intelligence and Wits
Soul- Appearance, Manipulation and Charisma
3. Choose specializations
Roll 1d3 for amount of specializations. These can be placed on any skill, but what
the skill is specialized in must be made clear. A specialization allows you to reroll a failed
die on a linked skill roll. Specializations can stack, but a character can have no more than
3 per skill, and only 1 at creation. Below are some suggested specializations:
Strength- Brawl, Melee, Might, Lift
Dexterity- Athletics, Firearms, Stealth, Drive
Stamina- Endurance, Resistance
Perception- Awareness, Investigation
Intelligence- Science, Survival, Computers
Wits- Art, Business, Rapport
Appearance- Intimidation, Style
Manipulation- Interrogation, Streetwise, Subterfuge
Charisma- Command, Etiquette, Perform
4. Choose your Nephilim type
You are either an Angel that embodies one of the Seven Virtues, or a Demon that
embodies one of the Seven Sins. Each type gives a unique specialization that allows you
to reroll a failed die on a linked skill roll (in addition to ones from regular specializations)
Chastity- Stamina Lust-Appearance
Temperance- Perception Gluttony- Stamina
Charity- Wits Greed- Manipulation
Diligence- Intelligence Sloth- Perception
Patience- Dexterity Wrath- Strength
Kindness- Charisma Envy- Wits
Humility- Strength Pride- Intelligence
5. Calculate other stats (subject to change)
Health= Body x 3
Magic= Mind x 3
Spirit= Soul
6. Get equipment
You start with what is in your pockets in real life. You also start with one of the
following:
*Two Rank 1 weapons or one Rank 2 weapon
*One Rank 1 weapon and one Rank 1 armor
*One Rank 2 armor or two Rank 1 armors
Characters Continued
Health
If a non-player character ever reaches zero health, they die. If a player character
reaches zero health, they fall unconscious. Every turn after that, they lose an additional
health until they reach -5, upon which they die.
Another character can stabilize the dying character by making an Intelligence roll,
aiming to get a number of successes equal to the negative health of the character. This
keeps the dying character at unconscious.
All of a PCs health is restored if they have a good nights rest.
Magic
Magic in Nephilim is very freeform. When a character wants to cast a spell, he
describes the effects to the GM. Then, based on the effects described, the GM sets a
difficulty that must be beat. The character then spends a Magic, and if the difficulty is
beat, the spell goes off. If the difficulty is not beat, the spell fizzles away and the
character wasted a Magic. Magic restores to full after a good nights rest.
Magic is divided up into six schools: Blood, Bone, Skin, Bile, Nerves and Muscle.
The names arent just gruesome, the effects should be as well. Note, that even though the
effects may look painful, they do not hurt the caster.
Each school corresponds to both a type of magic that it does, and the skill you use
to cast the spell. Below is a list of the schools, their linked skills, the kind of effects they
can produce, and a few suggestions for effects.

Blood Stamina Healing Cure 1d6 health, cure poison, etc

Bone Manipulation Buffs Shield, temporary skill boost, etc.
Skin Appearance Movement Wings, teleportation, speed, etc.
Bile Wits Damage Inflict poison, magic missile, etc.
Nerves Perception Debuffs Blind an enemy, read minds, etc.
Muscle Strength Conjuration Summon small demon, make items
Spirit
Spirit offers narrative control to a Nephilim. Spirit only restores after every
session. Each Spirit effect costs a different amount, but does a different thing, as listed
below.
1 Spirit- Re-roll. Allows you to pick up and re-roll all of your dice (even the
successes). You must keep the new result.
2 Spirit- Story Edit. You can make a minor change to the story, as long as the
GM clears it.
3 Spirit- Instill Virtue. You can instill the Sin or Virtue that you embody into any
living creature. This is an extreme form, so a Glutton would cause someone to
immediately search and devour any food they could find.
5 Spirit- True Form. You shed your mortal flesh for a moment, and assume your
true demonic or angelic form. All of your attributes and skills temporarily increase by 1,
you can fly (allowing you to move the range of a run, but still be able to attack), and you
can Instill your Sin or Virtue as an action (Appearance vs. Wits). This lasts until the end
of a battle, and can only be used once per session. Most normal people go insane upon
viewing a true form.
Task Resolution and Combat
Task resolution is very simple in Nephilim. First, when you have to resolve a task,
add together the total of your relevant attribute and the most relevant linked skill. If no
skill is relevant, just use the attribute.
Now, roll that many dice. The dice can be of any type. You then count up the
results, with evens being successes. The GM determines the amount of successes needed
to pass the task, with more successes correlating to harder tasks. If you meet or exceed
this number of successes, you complete the task.
Also, as stated before, if you have specializations, either from your skill or variety
of Nephilim, you can re-roll an odd die roll for every relevant specialization.
Opposed Rolls
If you are competing against another Nephilim, a human, or a Purgon, you make
an opposed roll.
This functions like a regular task check, except you compare the successes of each
person. The person with the most successes wins, and if the successes are even, there is a
tie.
Combat
Combat is a series of opposed rolls, but with a modification. When you compare
the rolls, you subtract the defenders results from the attackers. The result is the amount
of damage the defender takes.
Melee combat is an opposed roll between Strength (attacker) and Stamina
(defender). Ranged combat is an opposed roll between Dexterity (attacker) and
Perception (defender). Initiative is only a d6 roll between opposing sides.
If in combat, a character would have a bonus due to good positioning, a flavorful
attack, a well defended position, or something else, treat this as a temporary
specialization allowing a re-roll. Each bonus could allow a reroll, but a maximum of 3 is
recommended. The GM should also be the final arbiter on what is appropriate. This can
work in favor of either the attacker or defender.
Movement and Range
Range is divided into bands: Close, Near, Far, Distant and Beyond. Close range is
within melee distance. A character can move a range band and then do an action (attack,
cast a spell, defend, pull a lever), or they could move two range bands and do nothing.
Ranged weapons can also only shoot to a certain range band, but not beyond it. Ranged
weapon ranges change by rank: 1=Near, 2= Far, 3&4=Distant, 5=Beyond. Melee=Close.
Weapons and Armor
Weapons and armor, at least the kind available to Nephilim, are ranked on a scale
of 1 to 5. The rank adds a success to an attack roll if damage was landed (which means
if there is a tie, no damage is landed). So, if you got a result of 4 with a rank 2 weapon,
you would do 6 damage. Weapons can either be ranged or melee.
Armor works similarly, except each rank deducts a success from the attacks
result. So, if the previous attack hit someone wearing rank 3 armor, the attack would only
do 3 damage. Armor can either be a shields (max of rank 2) or body armor.
Specialty Rules
Status Effects
Status effects can include things such as blindness, poison, lameness, insanity,
paralysis or other such things. These can either be inflicted through magic or physical
harm. If trying to inflict it through physical harm (as long as it makes sense), the GM
should add some additional successes a character needs to beat after hitting on enemy.
If a character has the effect, treat it as an inverse specialization: instead of re-
rolling a failed die, you re-roll a successful die. The severity of the injury should state
how many die are re-rolled. The severity should also determine how one can be cured of
the effect (e.g. blindness can be cured by visiting a doctor, insanity with a psychiatrist).
Environment
Sometimes, Nephilims will journey into unwelcoming environments: hot deserts,
frozen tundra, muddy swamps and high cliffs. If the area would be damaging, have the
characters do a Stamina test for every amount of time set by a GM. If the effect would
slow down a character, have their movement range cover only half the distance. If the
effect could cause damage (like falling or a fire), do a Stamina roll to resist damage (with
the difference in required successes being the damage taken).
Vehicles and Mass Battles
Vehicle combat is similar to regular combat. Vehicles are built like characters,
except they only have Body and its related skills. When a vehicle is defending, every
success they get over the attacker results in them getting an escape point. If they get 5
escape points, they get away easily.
Mass battles function like regular character battles, except each
battalion/squadron/whatever is treated as an individual character, with their stats being
the average of all the units.
Advancement and Rewards
Character Growth
After every session, the GM should hand out 1 to 3 experience points to every
character. The more they participated in the story and in combat, the more experience
they get.
The experience can be spent on several things, as follows:
5 Experience- Get a new skill point, specialization or increase the rank of a piece of
armor/weaponry
10 Experience- Get a new attribute point
When attributes go up, be sure to recalculate Health, Magic and Spirit
accordingly. Skills and attributes can go no higher than 5.
More Spirit
A GM should be encouraged to reward characters during a session by giving them
a point of Spirit they can use at any time during the rest of the session. This should be
given as an incentive for good roleplaying or good ideas and narration. Though a GM can
give out as much as he wants, a maximum of 3 per session is recommended.
Magic Items
 Magic items in Nephilim should be important and game changing. The artifacts
will be heavily desired by everyone. Their powers should also be drastic, but dangerous
to use. Characters dont get a +2 sword, they get the Ark of the Covenant.

Enemies and Monsters

The main enemies in Nephilim are the Purgons, blasphemous creatures from
Purgatory that have invaded Earth to destroy it. Though they may be the main focus of
Nephilim, battling humans, angels, demons and even regular animals is not out of the
question.
Monsters have the same attributes and stats as characters, but they are not really
constructed the same way. You only give them the skills you think they need, and their
Health and Magic does not have to directly correlate with their Body and Mind (Note that
most enemies do not have Spirit). Furthermore, enemies dont have the 5-point limit on
skills and attributes, but try not to overdue it (nothing above 10). They can also have any
kind of special ability you can think up, such as invisibility, incorporealness, flight, or
whatever. This allows some interesting monsters to be made. Below is a simple list of
some example monsters, ranging from easy cannon fodder to city-destroying monsters
Human Soldier- A run-of-the-mill soldier who has no idea what hes doing.
Body 2 (Health 5)
Strength 1
Dexterity 2
Stamina 1
Mind 1 (No magic)
Perception 2
Rank 2 Ranged weapon (assault rifle)
Rank 2 Amor (riot gear)
Husk- Former human souls lost in Purgatory. They have featureless faces, and are the
grunt troops of the Purgon forces.
Body 2 (Health 5)
Strength 2
Stamina 1
Mind 1 (Magic 1)
Perception 1
Rank 1 melee weapon (claws)
Hunters- More elite soldiers of the Purgon army. Look like deformed dogs.
Body 3 (Health 8)
Strength 3
Dexterity 2
Stamina 2
Mind 2 (Magic 3)
Perception 3
Gigants- The city busters of the Purgons. Come in a large variety, but all are terrifying.
Body 8 (Health 25)
Strength 6
Dexterity 3
Stamina 5
Mind 6 (Magic 18)
Perception 5