Les Ombres d'Esteren - Forum officiel

That could get wonderfully lovecraftian. Most of why i bring it up is because i have an occultist in my home game as well who wants to learn some sorcery. He wasnt into miracles or demorthen mysteries and said hed much prefer a sort of black magic type mage or sorcerer type. He didnt want to be blatantly evil or wicked so naturally Eberict (one of my favorite characters so far! Hes even my avatar right now) came to mind.

Having it slowly drive him insane seems like a good alternative. Id probably compound that with if a 1 is rolled on the summoning test then that spell may have unintended consequences or do something other than intended. If it is a critical failure instead attracting the attention of some nasty spirit or something. On second thought might be too much rolling on top of mental resistance.

It can indeed be a wonderful opportunity for good role-playing. Actually, a considerable part of him becoming a sorcerer could involve learning about such occult arts, either through a mentor, ancient manuscripts (Call of Cthulhu style, once more!), or the influence of an eldritch entity. After all, forbidden lore doesn't grow on trees!

If you want to make black magic less rules heavy, you can simply decide that overusing such powers will result in eerie visions, disorientation, and assorted hallucinations. As the GM, it's up to you to decide when and how such manifestations occur, without necessarily resorting to die rolls.