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Here is a bit on how I plan on handling Taint, which will be quite prevalent among demonic forces. Basically, you should be sure to have some form of protection against taint if plan on fighting the legions of The Abyss.
[Edit]
I have revised these rules slightly.
Taint
Taint represents the innate evilness of a creature, item, or location. Tainted creatures are not just villains, but the most foul of monsters. Only the vilest items have taint scores, as do truly evil locations.
Taint Scores· Untainted creatures have taint scores of 0 and do not provoke taint checks.
· Some creatures have Taint Scores.
· A creature’s Taint Score = 10 + ½ hit dice + Charisma modifier.
· An object’s Taint Score = 10 + ½ caster level to create.
· A location’s Taint Score is arbitrarily set.
Taint Checks
· A Taint score is a DC opposed by a Fortitude save. Your own Taint score is subtracted from your Taint saves. In this way, the more tainted you become, the harder it is to resist further taint in the future, unless cleansed.
· Encountering a tainted creature provokes a taint check.
· Handling, possessing, or being struck by or affected by a tainted item provokes a taint check.
· Entering a tainted location provokes a taint check.
· Only one taint check need be made for a single tainted creature, object, or location.
Successful Taint Checks
· No taint is acquired.
· Immune to the taint from the specific source that provoked the check originally for 24 hours.
Failed Taint Checks
· Your Taint Score increases by 1, and you must roll on the table below. The DC to avoid ill effects of taint is the same as the original Taint save DC.
· All future saves against taint and the effects of taint are reduced by your new taint score.
· When a creature’s Taint score equals its Constitution, its alignment shifts one step closer to Evil. When a creature’s Taint score equals twice its Constitution score, it shifts another step closer to evil.
· On a critical failure, your alignment shifts one step closer to Evil.
01-10 -- 1d4 Strength damage; Fort save
11-20 -- 1d4 Dexterity damage; Fort save
21-30 -- 1d4 Constitution damage; Fort save
31-45 -- 1d4 Intelligence damage; Fort save
46-60 -- 1d4 Wisdom damage; Fort save
61-75 -- 1d4 Charisma damage; Fort save
76-83 -- Minor Madness; Will save
84-91 -- Moderate Madness; Will save
92-99 -- Major Madness; Will save
100 ---- Random Corruption; Fort or Will save, whichever is higher
Corruptions
· Corruptions are physical deformities that result from exposure to taint.
· Corruptions can be extremely debilitating, if not lethal.
· Corruptions cannot be prevented in any manner, including magic, magic items, or artifacts.
· Corruptions can only be removed by one wish or miracle spell per corruption afflicting the character.
01-05 -- Your body turns into jelly. You die.
06-09 -- Your lips fuse and seal your mouth shut. You are permanently mute and must find some way to ingest water and food or die of thirst and starvation.
10-13 -- Your nose and olfactory rots off. You permanently lose the Scent ability, if you had it.
14-17 -- While you still to grow hair, it continuously falls out in bloody clumps. You are fatigued from blood loss at the start each day until you receive magical healing that day. A ring of regeneration negates this fatigue, but the hair continues to fall out.
18-21 -- Your tongue swells and becomes covered in boils and scabs that prevent you from articulating any form of speech. You cannot speak, taste, or use verbal components.
22-25 -- You're skin rots off. You are so overwhelmed by the pain of your exposed flesh that you cannot use your sense of touch.
26-29 -- Your tongue swells and becomes covered in boils and scabs that prevent you from articulating any form of speech. You cannot speak, taste, or use verbal components.
30-33 -- You're skin rots off. You are so overwhelmed by the pain of your exposed flesh that you cannot use your sense of touch.
34-37 -- You develop aberrant bone growths all over you skeleton that greatly restrict your movement. You can move only at half speed. You cannot run or even hustle.
38-41 -- Your legs whither and you are no longer able to walk.
42-45 -- Your arms shrivel and become useless.
46-49 -- You become sickly. You receive a –6 vile penalty on all saves against diseases.
50-53 -- You become deathly pale and your eyes grow sensitive to light. Whenever you are exposed to any light brighter than that of a candle, you suffer a –1 penalty to all rolls, checks, and saves.
54-57 -- You lose all spellcasting abilities. If you do not have spellcasting abilities, you take -4 to all saving throws against spells and spell like effects.
58-61 -- Your genitalia become permanently deformed and useless. You are sterile.
62-65 -- You instantly age to the start of the next age category. You incur all of the penalties for this and receive none of the benefits.
66-70 -- Your face and all defining features melt away, leaving a grotesquely smooth head and body.
71-75 -- Your tongue grows preternaturally long and forked.
76-80 -- Your skin grows pustules that cause a nauseating stench to fill a 5-foot radius around you. Anyone aside from you in that area must make a Fort save (DC 15) or be nauseated for 4d6 rounds after leaving the odorous area.
81-85 -- Your jaw falls off and your tongue hangs limp from your head. You drool uncontrollably and are always accompanied by the sound of dripping saliva and blood.
86-89 -- Your feet turn into cloven hooves. You grow 1 foot in height as a result.
90-94 -- You become infested with worms that live and burrow through your flesh, but cause you no damage. You can see them moving under your skin and occasionally one or two eat their way out of you and crawl away.
95-100 - Roll twice.
Protection against Taint
· Some materials can bestow protection against taint. Protected characters do not need to make Taint saves for so long as the protection lasts.
· A small broach or amulet of white fluorite costing 100 gp will protect a wearer for 7 days. A larger broach or amulet of white fluorite costing 400 gp will protect a wearer for 14 days. As the days progress, the fluorite slowly acquires an ashen hue and at the end of its time, crumbles into ash and dust. Such broaches and amulets have a hardness of 5 and 5 hit points.
· An amulet of black jade the size of a human finger wrapped in a clasp of gold and silver costing 150 gp will protect a wearer for 7 days. A necklace made of multiple fingers will protect the wearer for an additional amount of time as follows: 2 fingers for 14 days, 3 fingers for 18 days, 4 fingers for 21 days, 5 fingers for 24 days, 6 fingers for 26 days, and 7 fingers for 28 days. As fingers of jade absorb taint, they slowly gain an ashen hue and at the end of their time, crumble to ash and dust. A finger of jade has a hardness of 5 and 5 hit points.
· Some magic can protect against taint. It can do so in a manner of ways, ranging from providing bonuses to Fort saves against taint to completely warding a creature against taint.
· Some magic items may provide bonuses against taint or completely ward against Taint. Specific information as to how this works is given in the description of such objects.
Cleansing Taint
· As a creature acquires a Taint score, he begins to become more and more evil, but this can be reversed in a number of ways.
· A clear diamond worth 10,000 gp can be used in conjunction with certain rituals to draw the taint out of a subject. Doing so removes 1 point of taint per diamond, as well as any effects the taint may have caused. This is the most thorough way to rid someone of taint. At the end of the ritual, the diamonds have gained a blackish crimson glow that swirls in their center and are thoroughly evil, but have no taint score of their own.
· Some magic can be used to remove some taint, but no mortal magic can completely rid a person of taint. Similarly, no mortal magic can remove the effects of taint, even if all of the taint itself is removed.
· Good deeds may reduce a creature’s Taint score to 0. Only holy quests ordained by the deity to whom it is dedicated can remove taint. For every week spent completing a quest, the creature’s taint score decreases by 1.
· Some springs and locations sacred to various deities of good and purity may be able to remove taint. Such locations are characterized by their extreme remoteness and the dangers involved in reaching them. For each day a character spends resting at such a location, his taint score is reduced by 1 point. A character using this method to reduce his taint score can undertake no activities other than resting, eating, sleeping, and normal conversation. Such cleansing can remove all taint and all effects of taint.
· Areas can be cleansed of taint by priests and the like. Priests must hallow the ground for a year and a day, and during that time no other people may attempt to unhallow it. If someone even attempts to unhallow it, the priests must begin again.
· Unintelligent items left in a hallowed area for a year and a day lose their taint. Items that have an Intelligence score can only be cleansed through the use of magic, and even then they cannot be completely rid of their taint except under extremely special circumstances.
Evil and Taint
· Being of an evil alignment does not shield a person from the effects of taint. Taint represents something far viler than merely being evil. It is the pure essence of evil itself.
· Only the undead and creatures with the [Evil] descriptor are immune to the effects of Taint.
[Edit]
I have revised these rules slightly.
Taint
Taint represents the innate evilness of a creature, item, or location. Tainted creatures are not just villains, but the most foul of monsters. Only the vilest items have taint scores, as do truly evil locations.
Taint Scores· Untainted creatures have taint scores of 0 and do not provoke taint checks.
· Some creatures have Taint Scores.
· A creature’s Taint Score = 10 + ½ hit dice + Charisma modifier.
· An object’s Taint Score = 10 + ½ caster level to create.
· A location’s Taint Score is arbitrarily set.
Taint Checks
· A Taint score is a DC opposed by a Fortitude save. Your own Taint score is subtracted from your Taint saves. In this way, the more tainted you become, the harder it is to resist further taint in the future, unless cleansed.
· Encountering a tainted creature provokes a taint check.
· Handling, possessing, or being struck by or affected by a tainted item provokes a taint check.
· Entering a tainted location provokes a taint check.
· Only one taint check need be made for a single tainted creature, object, or location.
Successful Taint Checks
· No taint is acquired.
· Immune to the taint from the specific source that provoked the check originally for 24 hours.
Failed Taint Checks
· Your Taint Score increases by 1, and you must roll on the table below. The DC to avoid ill effects of taint is the same as the original Taint save DC.
· All future saves against taint and the effects of taint are reduced by your new taint score.
· When a creature’s Taint score equals its Constitution, its alignment shifts one step closer to Evil. When a creature’s Taint score equals twice its Constitution score, it shifts another step closer to evil.
· On a critical failure, your alignment shifts one step closer to Evil.
01-10 -- 1d4 Strength damage; Fort save
11-20 -- 1d4 Dexterity damage; Fort save
21-30 -- 1d4 Constitution damage; Fort save
31-45 -- 1d4 Intelligence damage; Fort save
46-60 -- 1d4 Wisdom damage; Fort save
61-75 -- 1d4 Charisma damage; Fort save
76-83 -- Minor Madness; Will save
84-91 -- Moderate Madness; Will save
92-99 -- Major Madness; Will save
100 ---- Random Corruption; Fort or Will save, whichever is higher
Corruptions
· Corruptions are physical deformities that result from exposure to taint.
· Corruptions can be extremely debilitating, if not lethal.
· Corruptions cannot be prevented in any manner, including magic, magic items, or artifacts.
· Corruptions can only be removed by one wish or miracle spell per corruption afflicting the character.
01-05 -- Your body turns into jelly. You die.
06-09 -- Your lips fuse and seal your mouth shut. You are permanently mute and must find some way to ingest water and food or die of thirst and starvation.
10-13 -- Your nose and olfactory rots off. You permanently lose the Scent ability, if you had it.
14-17 -- While you still to grow hair, it continuously falls out in bloody clumps. You are fatigued from blood loss at the start each day until you receive magical healing that day. A ring of regeneration negates this fatigue, but the hair continues to fall out.
18-21 -- Your tongue swells and becomes covered in boils and scabs that prevent you from articulating any form of speech. You cannot speak, taste, or use verbal components.
22-25 -- You're skin rots off. You are so overwhelmed by the pain of your exposed flesh that you cannot use your sense of touch.
26-29 -- Your tongue swells and becomes covered in boils and scabs that prevent you from articulating any form of speech. You cannot speak, taste, or use verbal components.
30-33 -- You're skin rots off. You are so overwhelmed by the pain of your exposed flesh that you cannot use your sense of touch.
34-37 -- You develop aberrant bone growths all over you skeleton that greatly restrict your movement. You can move only at half speed. You cannot run or even hustle.
38-41 -- Your legs whither and you are no longer able to walk.
42-45 -- Your arms shrivel and become useless.
46-49 -- You become sickly. You receive a –6 vile penalty on all saves against diseases.
50-53 -- You become deathly pale and your eyes grow sensitive to light. Whenever you are exposed to any light brighter than that of a candle, you suffer a –1 penalty to all rolls, checks, and saves.
54-57 -- You lose all spellcasting abilities. If you do not have spellcasting abilities, you take -4 to all saving throws against spells and spell like effects.
58-61 -- Your genitalia become permanently deformed and useless. You are sterile.
62-65 -- You instantly age to the start of the next age category. You incur all of the penalties for this and receive none of the benefits.
66-70 -- Your face and all defining features melt away, leaving a grotesquely smooth head and body.
71-75 -- Your tongue grows preternaturally long and forked.
76-80 -- Your skin grows pustules that cause a nauseating stench to fill a 5-foot radius around you. Anyone aside from you in that area must make a Fort save (DC 15) or be nauseated for 4d6 rounds after leaving the odorous area.
81-85 -- Your jaw falls off and your tongue hangs limp from your head. You drool uncontrollably and are always accompanied by the sound of dripping saliva and blood.
86-89 -- Your feet turn into cloven hooves. You grow 1 foot in height as a result.
90-94 -- You become infested with worms that live and burrow through your flesh, but cause you no damage. You can see them moving under your skin and occasionally one or two eat their way out of you and crawl away.
95-100 - Roll twice.
Protection against Taint
· Some materials can bestow protection against taint. Protected characters do not need to make Taint saves for so long as the protection lasts.
· A small broach or amulet of white fluorite costing 100 gp will protect a wearer for 7 days. A larger broach or amulet of white fluorite costing 400 gp will protect a wearer for 14 days. As the days progress, the fluorite slowly acquires an ashen hue and at the end of its time, crumbles into ash and dust. Such broaches and amulets have a hardness of 5 and 5 hit points.
· An amulet of black jade the size of a human finger wrapped in a clasp of gold and silver costing 150 gp will protect a wearer for 7 days. A necklace made of multiple fingers will protect the wearer for an additional amount of time as follows: 2 fingers for 14 days, 3 fingers for 18 days, 4 fingers for 21 days, 5 fingers for 24 days, 6 fingers for 26 days, and 7 fingers for 28 days. As fingers of jade absorb taint, they slowly gain an ashen hue and at the end of their time, crumble to ash and dust. A finger of jade has a hardness of 5 and 5 hit points.
· Some magic can protect against taint. It can do so in a manner of ways, ranging from providing bonuses to Fort saves against taint to completely warding a creature against taint.
· Some magic items may provide bonuses against taint or completely ward against Taint. Specific information as to how this works is given in the description of such objects.
Cleansing Taint
· As a creature acquires a Taint score, he begins to become more and more evil, but this can be reversed in a number of ways.
· A clear diamond worth 10,000 gp can be used in conjunction with certain rituals to draw the taint out of a subject. Doing so removes 1 point of taint per diamond, as well as any effects the taint may have caused. This is the most thorough way to rid someone of taint. At the end of the ritual, the diamonds have gained a blackish crimson glow that swirls in their center and are thoroughly evil, but have no taint score of their own.
· Some magic can be used to remove some taint, but no mortal magic can completely rid a person of taint. Similarly, no mortal magic can remove the effects of taint, even if all of the taint itself is removed.
· Good deeds may reduce a creature’s Taint score to 0. Only holy quests ordained by the deity to whom it is dedicated can remove taint. For every week spent completing a quest, the creature’s taint score decreases by 1.
· Some springs and locations sacred to various deities of good and purity may be able to remove taint. Such locations are characterized by their extreme remoteness and the dangers involved in reaching them. For each day a character spends resting at such a location, his taint score is reduced by 1 point. A character using this method to reduce his taint score can undertake no activities other than resting, eating, sleeping, and normal conversation. Such cleansing can remove all taint and all effects of taint.
· Areas can be cleansed of taint by priests and the like. Priests must hallow the ground for a year and a day, and during that time no other people may attempt to unhallow it. If someone even attempts to unhallow it, the priests must begin again.
· Unintelligent items left in a hallowed area for a year and a day lose their taint. Items that have an Intelligence score can only be cleansed through the use of magic, and even then they cannot be completely rid of their taint except under extremely special circumstances.
Evil and Taint
· Being of an evil alignment does not shield a person from the effects of taint. Taint represents something far viler than merely being evil. It is the pure essence of evil itself.
· Only the undead and creatures with the [Evil] descriptor are immune to the effects of Taint.
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2 Comments On This Entry
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RedSlayer
23 December 2005 - 12:50 AM
Hmm... this is very interesting system. However,
"Taint Checks
A Taint Score is a DC opposed by a Fortitude save."
Would not a more appropriate save be a will save? How the mind is able to resist the vile influences around it?
my thinking was along these lines: a fighter wouldnt nessasarily be more prepared to handle the evilness than a wizard or cleric who would have diciplined their minds against such horrors?
unless you are going to use the madness (aka Sanity) mechanic. then i suppose that it would be taint = fort, sanity = will.
I will have to look into this some more.
EDIT: another interesting thought, you should add the character's taint score to every roll on the corruption table, or the equivilant.
"Taint Checks
A Taint Score is a DC opposed by a Fortitude save."
Would not a more appropriate save be a will save? How the mind is able to resist the vile influences around it?
my thinking was along these lines: a fighter wouldnt nessasarily be more prepared to handle the evilness than a wizard or cleric who would have diciplined their minds against such horrors?
unless you are going to use the madness (aka Sanity) mechanic. then i suppose that it would be taint = fort, sanity = will.
I will have to look into this some more.
EDIT: another interesting thought, you should add the character's taint score to every roll on the corruption table, or the equivilant.
Raven Bloodmoon
04 January 2006 - 01:39 AMQUOTE(RedSlayer @ Dec 22 2005, 07:50 PM)
Hmm... this is very interesting system. However,
"Taint Checks
A Taint Score is a DC opposed by a Fortitude save."
Would not a more appropriate save be a will save? How the mind is able to resist the vile influences around it?
"Taint Checks
A Taint Score is a DC opposed by a Fortitude save."
Would not a more appropriate save be a will save? How the mind is able to resist the vile influences around it?
Taint is not a mental corruption; rather it is the entire creature's reaction to exposure to extreme evil. Sort of like an evil radiation.
QUOTE
EDIT: another interesting thought, you should add the character's taint score to every roll on the corruption table, or the equivilant.
That would only work if the table had things on it that were more desirable than others. Personally, I do not see the difference between one's skin rotting off and one becoming infested with worms. Both seem pretty nasty.
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