Taint
After blighting the land, a group of corrupted warriors rises from their graves to fight once more.When one goes indulges in their desires at the expense of others, when one revels in the pain and suffering of others, when one kills others in cold blood, it's an experience that leaves marks, even if they're not noticed right away. Deep, poisoned marks that twist both one's body and mind, making them more focused on themselves, caring even less about others, more willing to hurt, to inflict pain and suffering. And it can spread. To your belongings. To your close ones. To the very land around you. That is the essence of Taint.
This is meant to fully replace the Taint system made by Wotc.
Taint has no less than 3 versions across D&D for 3.0/3.5, yet, altough they're all quite flavourful, they all kinda suck from a mechanical point of view. That's because you're either taking crippling penalties, or you're almost fully ignoring those penalties
while gaining insane bonuses with Tainted Scholar (pun intended)
Thus I decided to overhaul the whole thing. Bonus and penalties always comes grouped now, never just one or the other. A tainted being gains straight power boost, at the cost of depravities. A tainted item is more powerful than others, but may betray you when you need it the most. Tainted terrain is an excellent place to hide from others, but still a pretty nasty place to live. And all the while the Taint keeps spreading, contaminating others.
This Taint rules are meant to add a level of "encroaching evil" to the campaign. It can be anywhere. It is tempting power waiting to be grasped, but that will inevitably twist the user in a darker version of their previous selves.
Use them if you want corruption to be a possibility in your games, if you want beings of evil to grow more dangerous and numerous over time if left unchecked, and if you want people to think twice before jumping to grab any apparently powerful item.
There's no really foolproof ways to make one immune against Taint. Whenever a Fortitude Save is called to resist Taint, a Natural 1 or 2 automatically counts as a failure to resist. If the creature did not automatically fail saves on a natural 1, they still automatically fail on a natural 2. Even undeads and constructs and can be affected by Taint. Willingly failing a save against a Taint-granting effect automatically shifts your alignment one step towards evil.
First physical contact with a tainted creature/object, or entering a Tainted Terrain demands a Fortitude DC with DC 10+respective Taint level or automatically gain 1 taint. As Tainted Terrain has increasing levels of taint the closer to the center you get, each sphere counts as a different contact, with its own appropriate DC and demands a new Fortitude save (check Tainted Terrain description).
From then, for every 24 hours spent in a tainted place, or spent carrying a tainted object (even if it is not equipped), a character must make a Fortitude Saving Throw. The base DC is 10, +1 for every consecutive 24 hours of exposure +1/5 the taint of the terrain/object itself. Multiple simultaneous exposures (such as carrying a tainted weapon in a tainted place) increase the DC by +1 per extra source of exposure every 24 hours. If the character fails his saving throw, his taint score increases by 1. The multiple spheres of a specific Tainted Terrain count as a single area for this checks.
Commiting certain acts also carries the risk for taint. Every time a character performs one of the following, they must suceed on a Fort save or receiving the following amount of taint (initial DC 10, plus +5 for each extra act of the list on the previous hour).
Using an evil spell – 1
Engaging in intimidating torture -1 Taint gained
Stealing from the needy – 1 Taint gained
Desecrating a good church or temple – 1 Taint gained
Betraying a friend or ally for personal gain – 1 Taint gained
Causing gratuitous injury to a creature – 2 Taint gained
Perverting justice for personal gain – 2 Taint gained
Inflicting cruel or painful torture – 2 Taint gained
Building a grandious temple or shrine to an evil god- 3 Taint gained
Inflicting excruciating torture or worse – 3 Taint gained
Killing a sentient being that didn't threaten you* – 3 Taint gained
Killing a defenceless sentient being*- 3 Taint gained.
Murder for Pleasure -4 Taint gained.
Murder a creature while they are under your control or that of an ally, like charmed/dominated/binded/leadership/trallherd/similar-4 Taint gained.
Trapping a Soul-4 Taint gained.
Destroying a Soul-5 Taint gained.
Act of unspeakable evil (something so horrendous the DM decrees it worst than any of the above)-6 Taint gained
*At the DM's discretion, certain campaigns may replace those acts with "Killing a sentient being with evil intent", meaning that killing a defenceless sentient being that didn't threaten you wouldn't carry the risk of taint, like for example killing a paralyzed loved companion because you believe it will end their suffering and send them to a better place.
An object used for one of the above deeds has a 10% chance of gaining the same amount time of Taint, up to a maximum of 25 Taint. Whetever the item gains Taint or not, it doesn't risk gaining taint from that same deed for 24 hours. Once an item has gained Taint, it cannot gain Taint again for one week. If multiple items are used on a tainting act, only the one most relevant can gain taint. Expendable items cannot gain taint.
The 15 feet radius terrain sphere centered where the deed was performed can gain Taint as if it was an item, except the Taint gained is reduced by 2, to a minimum of zero. An area cannot have more than 50 taint.
A tainted creature inhabiting an area or regularly using an object for a decade is also enough to automatically grant it 1 Taint.
Destroying a tainted object/area will simply directly carry the taint to a random nearby non-tainted object/area.
To get rid of the taint for good you need to properly purify it (see the Healing Taint section).
A creature's “safe” taint limit is equal to their Cha score. If a creature reaches that Taint limit, any Taint they gain is reduced by 2 to a minimum of zero, but every time they gain Taint from now on, there's a 5% chance per Taint point above their safe limit that their Taint overloads them, and they automatically become an Evil outsider (demon if chaotic, devil if lawful, yugoloth if neutral, or other evil outsider if the DM believes it apropriate for the situation) with a CR equal to their previous CR+2. Their Taint score becomes zero, but they cannot gain more than one class level per hundred years of material plane time from now on unless they're at their taint limit (see below). The transformation is irreversible short of a decade whitout gaining any taint followed by a Wish or Miracle from somebody else.
Undeads have a taint limit of their Cha score +1 instead, and automatically gain 1 Taint every year unless they're kept sealed in a proper sarcophagus, coffin, or similar. If a mindless undead reaches their Taint limit, they break free from any form of control they're in and attack any living creatures they can detect until destroyed, or just stand around doing nothing if they can't detect any living creatures. Either way they become immune to any and all forms of control.
Evil outsiders have a taint limit of their Cha score +2 instead. An evil outsider that is at their taint limit automatically breaks out of any binding they're in and cannot be binded again.
If a living creature with Taint above their safe limit dies, roll a 1d12
1-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 at the start of the next round.
2-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 2 rounds.
3-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 3 rounds.
4-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 4 rounds.
5-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 hour.
6-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 day.
7-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 week.
8-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 month.
9-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 year.
10-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 decade.
11-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 century.
12-The killed creature rises as an undead with as an undead with a CR equal to their previous CR+2 after 1 millenium.
If a living creature with a taint score higher than zero but still under the safe limit dies, roll as well, but they rise as a mindless zombie that will attack any living being they can detect, or roam randomly if no victims seem to be in the area.
Destroying the body or traping the soul won't stop this process, but bringing them back to life will. The exact type of undead depending of the DM's choice and condition, but never a mindless type. If it was a player character, the player still controls the undead. Their taint score is reset to zero, but they cannot gain more than one class level per hundred years of material plane time from now on unless they're at full taint score. Such undeads cannot be brought back to life unless they spend a decade whitout gaining any taint.
Obviously, it may be hard to find an undead/fiend of the exact CR for a character to turn into.
It is fine to pick a lower CR fiend or undead, and then give them some of the class levels the character had to close the gap. So for example a 5th level chaotic barbarian is overloaded by Taint. There's no core CR 7 demon, so you can just pick the CR 6 Babau and give it one barbarian level.
Or you can simply add a template to the character. Half-Fiend is +2 CR for creatures between 5 and 10 HD, while Ghost is a plain +2 CR.
Yet another solution is to use racial monster progressions that are divided in levels. Pick an higher CR fiend as base and then give the transformed character the appropriate number of levels of the racial class to replace their previous levels, along with retraining feats that don't work anymore.
Tainted undeads or evil outsiders that are destroyed/slain do not become even stronger undeads.
Undeads or evil outsiders that would go over their Taint limits instead gain 20 temporary HP and +2 to attack rolls, saves and skill checks per point of “excess” taint. Those temporary HP and other bonus last 1 hour. Gaining Taint again during the same period of time doesn't stack the bonus, just count the bigger one. Instead of temporary HP, the tainted evil/undead may choose to heal its HP by the same amount. This means an undead or evil outsider cannot go over their safe Taint limit, and thus never risk overloading.
Protecting against TaintSome natural substances absorb taint and thus protect those who are exposed to carry them. Examples include a pure jade rod the size of a human finger, a sheet of vellum prepared from a year-old lamb, an intricately carved piece of lightning-struck oak, or a silk sash. The DM can create other examples appropriate to the campaign as well.
Regardless of the shape or substance of the item, taint-absorbing items cost 100 gp each, and fill body item slot to be effective (holded in a free hand also works). They can only resist up to a week, and then crumble into useless dust. Multiple such items worn in plain sight protect a character for a longer time, but only to a point: two will last twelve days, three last sixteen days, four last nineteen days, and five last for twenty one days. Any more will simply render them all innefective. Similarly, such items created by magic means automatically fail to protect from taint as well, as they lack true purity.
Such protection is only good against external sources of taint. Willingly commiting taint-inducing acts or carrying tainted items will still result in taint gain. If the item is destroyed/removed, the protection is reduced by an appropriate amount (so for example if you were at ten days in a tainted place with two such items, and one got sundered in combat, then you would need 3 days worth of saves).
In alternative, you can sacrifice such items in an 1-hour ritual to temporaly decrease the Taint score of one area of Tainted Terrain you're standing by 1 on for 1 day. The amount of items you need to sacrifice is equal to the taint level of the Taint score of the terrain. You can sacrifice more items to decrease the Taint score by 1 multiple times. So for example if a piece of Terrain has 10 Taint, you could sacrifice 27 such items (10+9+8) to decrease its Taint score by 3 for 1 day.
Tainted TerrainEvil can seep into the land itself. Just as with creatures, the land visually changes. Skies are darker or the sun burns merciless, the climate becomes uncomfortably cold or hot, inanimate plants die off or become twisted things, water courses become oily and so on.
The radius of a tainted area grows 100 feet per week, with the new radius having one less taint than the one that spread the corruption. Thus a tainted “center” produces slightly less “tainted spheres” around it over time, with the most distant one having just one taint and not spreading any more taint of its own. Any new taint gained by the terrain apply to all the connected spheres. Tainted Terrain can only be detected with either a survival check with DC equal to 41-1/2 Taint level from anyone, or by a Heal check with the same DC. Evil/Good outsiders, or creatures with Aura of Evil/Good gain a +8 bonus on Heal or Survival checks made to detect Taint, as their essence makes it easier to instinctively detect Taint. Either demands being actually on the terrain. It takes one hour of observing and moving trough it, and cannot be retried if failed.
Multiple nearby tainted terrains overlap, count only the effects of the one with highest taint.
When a character casts an evil spell in a tainted area, treat the caster as +1 caster level for spell effects that depend on caster level, plus another +1 per 5 levels of taint on the terrain. When a character casts a good spell in a tainted area, treat the caster as -1 caster level for spell effects that depend on caster level, plus another -1 per 5 leels of taint on the terrain. These changes in caster level have no effect on spells known, spells per day, or highest level of spell available.
Tainted terrain also automatically blocks any indirect divination effects and teleportation effects from creatures outside it, as long as the spell is of a level no bigger than 1/5th the taint level on the terrain. Thus a tainted area with 25 taint would stop someone from outside from using teleport to get inside, but not greater teleport.
Non-tainted creatures take a penalty on saves against poison and disease equal to 1/5th the taint level of the terrain. If the terrain has at least 25 taint, then non-tainted creatures normally immune to poison and disease can be affected by it, but they don't take the penalty on the saves.
All healing that non-tainted creatures in tainted terrain receive is reduced by an amount equal to the Taint level of the terrain. So for example if a creature had Fast healing 5 and were on Taint 4 terrain, they would just regain 1 HP per round.
Tainted Creatures.Some sages will claim taint weakens both the body and soul of the victim. If only that was true, the eternal fight against evil would be a much easier one. Unfortunately taint actually strenghtens the victim, and altough they may slowly slip into insanity, a madman's mind may be even more dangerous than that of a sane one. Thus most that know the truth about taint still try to hide it, in order to try to prevent power-hungry individuals who think they have nothing to lose from willingly becoming tainted.
For each point of Taint a creature has, they gain a Corruption of their choice (or two at random), and a Depravity at random (a player can choose to pick which Depravity they gain, but then must pick two depravities per point of taint). Usually Corruptions grant a bonus, while Depravity carries a penalty. If a creature loses Taint, they lose the respective Corruption and Depravity. If they later gain Taint again, they gain the exact same Corruption and Depravity.
Having Taint between 1 and 1/3 your Cha score results in Slight Taint, just some minor changes such as pale, grayish, dead complexion, sunken eyes, cracked lips, that can be easily covered with clothes and/or some make up. Only a full body check-up if you're helpless or willing will reveal it.
Having Taint between 1/3 and 2/3 your Cha score results in Moderate Taint, producing more drastic changes, such as Bleeding from eyes, nose, mouth, ears, or lips, hair falling out, eruption of painful sores that ooze blood, push, foul-smelling ooze, spiders, or insects. Clothes and make-up can still hide those at distance, but any adjacent creature will notice the clear presence of something quite strange on the subject. One can use the Disguise skill to try to hide it against adjacent observers. If one takes no measures to hide moderate Taint, then it is obvious to any observers.
Having Taint above 2/3 of your Cha score means Severe Taint, the creature is barely recognizeable as a member of its own race anymore. Mutated, deformed fingers or whole limbs, some parts of its body rot and fall, others grow, fuse and deform. The creature is clearly not normal no matter how you look at it.
The signs of taint may not necessarily be "instantly horrifying" things. For example, a tainted being may become actually prettier in slight taint, with smoother skins and body imperfections disappearing until they look more like a life-sized doll or a moving picture when they reach Severe Taint, rather than an actual living and breathing being.
The DM and player are free to discuss the details of the above, but they carry no mechanic effects by themselves. That's for what the Corruption and Depravities are for.
Each corruption manifests as physical changes in your body. The numbers before the names are only to be used to randomize results.
Unless otherwise noticed, each Corruption can be taken more than once, their effects stacking, but you can't pick the same corruption more times than 1+1/4 your HD.
1-Tainted Attack-You gain +2 to physical attack and damage rolls.
2-Tainted Power-Pick one of your abilities. The DCs of that ability increases by 2, and the DC of your other abilities increases by 1. If you have spellcasting, maneuvers, spells or similar, you can only pick a specific spell/maneuver/power to have its DC increased by 2.
3-Tainted Hide-You gain +2 to AC and saves.
4-Tainted Prowess-You gain a +2 bonus on all ability score checks. This does not include skill checks.
5-Tainted Growth-You gain the Powerful Build Trait. If you take this again (or already had Powerful Build), you actually lose Powerful Build and grow one size category, except your ability scores don't change and you just gain +1 Nat armor. You cannot take this option if you're already Colossal sized. If another effect would make you become even bigger, you gain +2 to Grapple, Bullrush, Disarm, Overrun, Trip attempts and damage rolls.
6-Tainted Shrinkage-You gain the Slight Build Trait. If you take this again (or already had Slight Build), you actually lose Slight Build and become one size category smaller, except your ability scores don't change and your natural weapons deal the same damage as before. You cannot take this option again if you're Fine sized. If another effect would make you become even smaller, you gain +2 to Hide checks, attack rolls and AC instead.
7-Tainted Skill-pick two skills tied to the same ability score. You gain +4 on checks with each of them. You can pick this multiple times either choosing the same pair of skills (which follows the usual limitations for HD), or picking a new pair of skills (which isn't limited by HD).
8-Tainted Healing-You gain fast healing 2, which stacks with any fast healing you already have.
9-Tainted Carapace-You gain hardness 2, or can increase one of your existing DRs by 3.
10-Touch of Rust-As a melee touch attack, you can deal 1d4 damage to any object or construct made mostly of metal, ignoring hardness. You can channel this ability trough natural weapons of Tainted weapons you wield as a free action when you hit with a melee attack, 1/attack. If you're grappling with someone, you can automatically inflict this damage each round the grapple lasts on a valid piece of their equipment of your choice. Each extra time you pick this, the damage increases by 1d4.
11-Touch of Withering-As a melee touch attack, you can deal 1d4 damage to any plant (inanimate or not) or object made mostly of wood or plant matter, ignoring hardness. You can channel this ability trough natural weapons of Tainted weapons you wield as a free action when you hit with a melee attack, 1/attack. If you're grappling with someone, you can automatically inflict this damage each round the grapple lasts on a valid piece of their equipment of your choice. Each extra time you pick this, the damage increases by 1d4.
12-Touch of Decay-As a melee touch attack, you can deal 1d4 damage to any object or construct made mostly of stone, rock, glass or earth, ignoring hardness. You can channel this ability trough natural weapons of Tainted weapons you wield as a free action when you hit with a melee attack, 1/attack. If you're grappling with someone, you can automatically inflict this damage each round the grapple lasts on a valid piece of their equipment of your choice. Each extra time you pick this, the damage increases by 1d4.
13-Touch of PoisonAs a melee touch attack, you can deal 1d4 damage to any non-plant living creature, or object made of animal made of bone, flesh, scales, skin, hide, or similar, such as leather. Resistance against Poison reduces this damage by the same amount, and creatures immune to poison are completely immune against this. You can channel this ability trough natural weapons of Tainted weapons you wield as a free action when you hit with a melee attack, 1/attack. If you're grappling with someone, you can automatically inflict this damage each round the grapple lasts on a valid piece of their equipment of your choice. Each extra time you pick this, the damage increases by 1d4.
1-Tainted Attack
2-Tainted Power
3-Tainted Hide
4-Tainted Prowess
5-Tainted Growth
6-Tainted Shrinkage
7-Tainted Skill (can be taken over the HD limit for different skills)
8-Tainted Healing
9-Tainted Carapace
10-Touch of Rust
11-Touch of Withering
12-Touch of Decay
13-Touch of Poison
Unless otherwise noticed, each Depravity can only be picked once. The numbers before the names are only to be used to randomize results.
1-Waste- Perhaps you simply buy the most fancy and luxurious versions of item, or perhaps you prefer to instantly spend your gains in fleeting pleasures from shaddy dealers, or perhaps you simply like to break and burn stuff. You automatically lose 10% of your belongings, and lose 10% of any new goods you acquire. Use their GP values to calculate what you lose (you can't lose stuff whitout a GP value). This depravity can be gained up to 10 times, stacking. You must still demand your fair share of treasure from a group, and obtain it by force, subterfurge or any other means necessary if denied.
2-Antisocial-You take a -3 penalty on Cha checks and on all Cha-based skills.
3-Arrogance-You take a -2 penalty to AC.
4-Canniballism-If you try to consume vegetable or prepared food, you automatically vomit it, including potions and effects such as Heroe's Feast or goodberry. You can only draw sustenance from eating beings of your own race. If you had no need to eat, now you need, even if you're under effects such as a ring of sustenance, or are an undead/construct, and fatigue from starvation bypasses any immunity you have.
5-Claustrophobia-You take a -3 penalty on Con checks and on all Con-based skills.
6-Compulsive Liar-You can never tell, draw, write or otherwise communicate the truth (or what you believe to be the truth at least). Even telepathy reveals nothing but a series of nonsense. Only direct mind-reading effects can detect what you think, but you must attempt to resist such effects to the best of your ability.
7-Depression-When you fail an attack roll or save or are damaged, you suffer a Crushing Despair effect as the spell for 1d12 rounds, bypassing any immunity you have and which cannot be removed by any means until its duration is up.
8-Enthralled- Evil looks pretty good to you. You cannot harm other tainted creatures in any way unless you have +2 taint or more than them.
9-Feebleminded-You cannot speak, cast spells/manifest powers/initiate maneuvers or stances/SLAs/PLAs/similar, neither use scrolls, dorjes, wands, staffs or similar, even with the Use Magic Device skill.
10-Festering Wounds-You have one or more wounds that you can't stop yourself from scratching and scrapping. Your maximum HP is reduced by 3 plus 1 per HD you have. You can take this depravity multiple times, they stack and can reduce your HP below zero.
11-Forsake Heritage-You no longer count as your original creature type for other effects and qualifying for feats/prcs, unless such would be disadvatageous to you.
12-Decaying Mind-One of your mental scores is reduced by 3. You cannot benefit from any immunity or reduction on damage/drain/burn attempts against that ability score, and any healing or restoration attempts are only half as effective. You can take this multiple times, either lowering the same mental ability score or another. Lowering a mental score below 1 this way renders you in a bersek rage, destroying all that you can see until you're destroyed somehow.
13-Dellusions of Grandeur-You count as the size category bigger than you actually are when such would be disadanvatageous to you. You can take this Depravity multiple times, until you count as “colossal”.
14-Dumb-You take a -3 penalty on Int checks and on all Int related skills.
15-Hesitation-You take a -3 penalty on Str checks and on all Str related skills.
16-Slow Thinker-You take a -3 penalty on Dex checks and on all Dex-based skills.
17-Isolation-You cannot trust others, even if they mean you good. You never count as an ally for anybody else's abilities. You must attempt to resist any harmless spell you receive.
18-Narcissim-You don't really care about anybody else but yourself. You can never count other creatures as allies for your abilities. You never grant a flanking bonus to others.
19-Merciless-You must always kill any helpless enemy you meet.
20-Nocturnal-You take a -4 penalty on all attacks, saves, skill checks and ability checks while under direct sunlight (including a Daylight spell or similar). You can take this Depravity up to 3 times, its effects stack.
21-Elemental Phobia- Pick acid, electricity, fire or cold. You lose any resistance or immunity you had to that element, and whenenever you detect an attack that deals damage of that kind being used, you must make a Will save with DC 15+CR of the user or become Frightned for 1 round. If you fail by 10 or more you become panicked for 1 round instead. Even if you save you're shaken for 1 round. If you're actually dealt damage of that kind, the DC increases by 5. You're fully affected by this Depravity even if you're immune to fear, and such fear conditions cannot be removed/prevented/delayed/similar until their duration is up. You can take this Depravity up to four times, each one picking an element again.
22-Metal Panic-Pick a kind of special metal that is used for fabricating weapons, such as adamantine or cold Iron. You refuse to use weapons/armor/shields of that metal, and the proximity of such weapons makes you hesitate, meaning they ignore any miss chances you have (including mirror image and siilar), plus making you lose all bonus to AC against such weapons except Armor, Natural Armor and Dexterity, and you can't take free or immediate actions against attacks from such weapons. If they hit you, you take a cumulative -2 penalty to all saves, skill checks and AC for 1 round, stacking multiple hits for a greater penalty. You also take a -2 penalty on attack rolls and ability DCs against opponents wearing armor or shield of that same special metal. Other creatures can figure out what special metal you're vulnerable to with a Knowledge check with DC 10+your Taint level.
23-Paranoia-Whenever someone makes a Diplomacy, Bluff or Intimidate check against you, you automatically become Shaken for 1 round, bypassing any immunity you have and that cannot be removed until the duration is up. You can take this option up to three times. The second one, you must make a Will save with DC 10+1/2 HD+highest stat mod of the one performing the social interaction or become frightned for 1 round, then shaken for 1 round, or shaken for 2 rounds if you make the save. If you pick this three times, then you become panicked for 1 round if you fail the save, then frightned for 1 round, then shaken for 1 round, or shaken for 3 rounds if you make the save.
24-Retaliation-If a creature harms you, you must attempt to harm them back on your next round. If multiple creatures harmed you, you get to pick which one to focus on.
25-Violence-You can't stop yourself from keeping hurting others. Each turn, if there's any active enemy you can detect that has taken damage or an ill effect in the last turn, you must attack them this turn. If there's multiple enemies that meet this criteria, you can choose which ones to attack.
26-Slipping Sanity-You take a -3 penalty on Wis checks and on all Wis-based skills.
27-Spite-Your very word and movement is distateful and offensive, making the whole world like you less. All other creatures become one step less friendly towards you than they would otherwise be, and that attitude cannot be changed while you have taint. This can be taken up to three times, in which case all other creatures are hostile towards you.
28-Strange Tastes-If you try to consume vegetable or prepared food, you automatically vomit it, including potions and effects such as Heroe's Feast or goodberry. You can only draw sustenance from eating animals/humanoids/vermins that are still alive when you sink your teeth on them. If you had no need to eat, now you need, even if you're under effects such as a ring of sustenance, or are an undead/construct, and fatigue from starvation bypasses any immunity you have.
1-Waste
2-Antisocial
3-Arrogance
4-Canniballism
5-Claustrophobia
6-Compulsive Liar
7-Depression
8-Enthralled
9-Feebleminded
10-Festering Wounds (any number of times)
11-Forsake Heritage
12-Decaying Mind
13-Dellusions of Grandeur- (up to colossal)
14-Dumb
15-Hesitation
16-Slow Thinker
17-Isolation
18-Narcissim
19-Merciless
20-Nocturnal (up to three times)
21-Elemental Phobia (up to four times)
22-Metal Panic
23-Paranoia-
24-Retaliation
25-Violence
26-Slipping Sanity
27-Spite
28-Strange Tastes
Unlike tainted terrain and tainted creatures, a tainted item still looks pretty much the same as a nontainted one. But the effects of using such items are darkly amplified. A tainted sword leaves deeper wounds, while someone wearing tainted armor looks more menancing, and a tainted tome reveals dark secrets to those that read it too much. To notice the Taint on an item demands good martial experience in order to notice sutle changes in balance and capacity. Taint level of an item can only be detected by a Bab check (1d20+Bab) against a DC of 10+Item's Taint level when the item is first used. Every time the user gains Taint, they're entitled a new Bab check to figure out its Taint level. Creatures with Aura of Good gain a +5 bonus on those checks.
Weapons-A Tainted weapon gains a profane bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to 1+1/5 Item's Taint score, counts as magic and evil whenever such would be benefical for it, and also gains one of the following bonuses per point of Taint depending on the conditions of the Tainting deed. Each option can be picked multiple times unless noted otherwise.
Deed was done against a creature with the Fire subtype-Weapon deals +1 fire damage.
Deed was done against a creature with the Water or Cold subtype-Weapon deals +1 cold damage.
Deed was done against a creature with the Air subtype-Weapon deals +1 electricity damage.
Deed was done against a creature with the Earth subtype-Weapon deals +1 acid damage.
Deed was done against a Creature of a specific race (as per Ranger's favored enemies)-Weapon deals +1 damage against creatures of that race.
Deed was done against a creature with an alignment subtype-Weapon deals +1 damage against creatures with that alignment subtype.
Rolling a natural 20 with a Tainted weapon forces a Fort save with DC 20+Item's Taint level or gain 1 Taint instantly
Rolling a natural 1 with a Tainted weapon means you take damage equal to to the Taint level of the item.
Armor/Shield-A Tainted armor or shield grants a profane bonus to AC equal to 1+1/5 Item's Taint score, and also gains one of the following bonuses per point of Taint depending on the conditions of the Tainting deed. Each option can be picked multiple times unless noted otherwise. Resistances stack with other resistances. DR is either DR/-, or adds to your existing DR, whichever's better at the moment.
Deed was done against a creature with the Fire subtype-Armor/shield grants +1 fire resistance and +1 on saves against [Fire] effects.
Deed was done against a creature with the Water/Cold subtype-Armor/shield grants +1 cold resistance and +1 on saves against [Water] or [Cold] spells.
Deed was done against a creature with the Air subtype-Armor/shield grants +1 electricity resistance and +1 on saves against [Air] effects.
Deed was done against a creature with the Earth subtype-Armor/shield grants +1 acid resistance and +1 on saves against [Earth] effects.
Deed was done against a Creature of a specific race (as per Ranger's favored enemies)-Armor/shield grants DR 1 against creatures of that race, and +1 on saves against creatures of that race.
Deed was done against a creature with an alignment subtype-Armor/Shield grants DR 1 against creatures with that alignment subtype, and +1 on saves against creatures with that alignment subtype.
Rolling a natural 20 on a save while equipped with either Tainted Armor or a Tainted Shield forces a Fort save with DC 20+Item's Taint level or gain 1 Taint instantly.
Rolling a natural 1 on a save while equipped with either Tainted Armor or Tainted Shield deals damage to the wearer equal to the Taint level from the Armor or Shield, whichever's higher.
Tools-Items that only granted a bonus on a skill check now grant a profane bonus on that skill check equal to its Taint level. Rolling a natural 20 on the respective skill check while using the Tainted tool forces a Fort save with DC 20+Item's Taint level or gain 1 Taint instantly. Rolling a natural 1 on a skill check with a Tainted tool means you automatically fail the check and you cannot use that skill again for a number of rounds equal to the Taint level of the Tool.
Others-If an item does not fall on any of the above categories and is used for a tainting act, the user may choose to make it count as one of the above, either a simple single-handed weapon dealing base 1d6 bludgeoning damage for a medium creature (example: stone used as improvised weapon), a set of Armor whitout penalties and base 0 AC (example:clothes used for strangling), or becoming a masterwork tool for a certain skill (example: book used to plan a church betrayal now grants a bonus on Knowledge(Religion)).
Healing Taint.Gaining taint is easy. Cleansing it, not so much. It is based on Heal checks. Sucess means 1 Taint is removed. Failure by 5 or more means the one trying to perform the healing becomes tainted themselves. If other creatures are using Aid Another in this, they can also gain Taint if they fail their own checks by 5 or more. You can only take an auto 10 on this check by spending 10 times as much time in the healing process (you can still rest and eat in between, but can take no other activites). Interruption ruins the process and it must be restarted.
Healing Tainted creatures is performed at the rate of 1 taint per day and demands a sucessful Heal check from a creature with no more than slight taint. The DC is 10+creature's CR+Creature's Taint level. You can't heal Taint from yourself this way. In alternative, spending one decade whitout gaining any Taint automatically reduces Taint of that creature by 1. This consists of a careful check-up of the creature to be treated, use of inexpensive oils made from local plants, and shooting discussion to seek to make the victim abandon their depravities.
Healing Tainted terrain is performed at the rate of 1 taint per month and demands a sucessful Heal check from from a creature with no more than slight taint. DC is 10+Terrain Taint level (don't count temporary reductions by sacrificing items). The tainted terrain radius diminishes as the Taint is removed. This consists on ideitfying the focal points of Taint on the terrain, that will be inevitably concentrated on local trees/animals/people/spirits that will lay mostly inanimate, usually looking dead to untrained eyes. Altough one could destroy them directly, the Taint would simply spill and focus on something else on the area, probably even harder to find, so the only way of cleansing the terrain is treating those focal points.
Healing Tainted items is performed at the rate of 1 taint per month and demands a sucessful heal check from a creature with no more than slight taint. DC is 20+Item's Taint level. This consists of applying inexpensive oils made of local plants and ritual chanting in order to wash the Taint away.
Only one creature can assist on removing Taint from a creature, object or area of terrain at a time.
New Feats
Confessor"Tell me your sins my child."Prerequisites: -At least 5 ranks in Heal.
-Must have healed at least 20 Taint from creatures.
-No Taint
Benefit: While your Taint score is below moderate, you can use the following tactical options-
Amend-You can cure Taint from creatures faster by talking and helping them understand their own problems. You can willingly increase the DC before making the attempt. For each point over the DC the time taken is reduced by 2 hours, 0 hours at DC+12 becoming 10 minutes, then each additional point reducing by 2 minutes, 1 minutes at DC[+17] becoming 10 rounds and each additional point reducing by 1 round, to a minimum of 1 fullround action at DC+26 (in which case you basically listen them for a moment, then slap them and tell them to man up). You must decide how much you increase the DC beforehand, and if you fail the time is wasted. You still can't remove more than one taint per creature per day (but multiple people with this feat could remove multiple Taint points from a single creature in one day), and you can't benefit from Aid Another on Heal checks when using this ability.
| Base DC | Time |
| 10 | 24 Hours |
| 12 | 20 Hours |
| 14 | 16 Hours |
| 16 | 12 Hours |
| 18 | 8 Hours |
| 20 | 4 Hours |
| 22 | 10 Minutes |
| 24 | 6 Minutes |
| 26 | 2 Minutes |
| 27 | 10 Rounds |
| 30 | 7 Rounds |
| 32 | 5 Rounds |
| 34 | 3 Rounds |
| 36 | Full-Round Action |
-You can use this ability as an immediate action whenever a creature whitin your view in which you've used Amend at any time in the past fails a save against gaining Taint. That creature can reroll the failed save.
Penance-As a swift action, you gain a +2 bonus on saves and AC against a creature in which you have successfully identified the presence of Taint. This bonus lasts until you pick another creature in which to use this.
"I shall suffer so others don't need to."Prerequisites:
-At least +3 base Fort save.
-Must have reached moderate or worse taint, and then been healed back to zero Taint score.
-No Taint
Benefit:While your Taint score is below moderate, you can use the following tactical options.
Mortification of the flesh-You can heal yourself from Taint by engaging in painful tasks, such as crawling in your knees while praying on naked stone, self-flagelation, or engaging in mundane work while carrying an heavy load. Either way, you need to engage solely on the task for 1 hour, after which you make a Fort save with DC 10+your taint score (add only your base Fort save and your Con bonus to this save, ignore all other bonuses, and it cannot be re-rolled or replaced by anything else either). If you succeed, you lose 1 Taint. If you fail, the time is simply wasted. You can lose multiple points of Taint per day this way.
Your Pain is my Own-As a move action, you can touch a willing creature and transfer any amount of Taint they have to yourself, but no more than would make you go over Slight Taint. You can even use this to treat Tainted Terrain, but then you need one hour of communion with the respective Taint focal point, and to succeed on a Heal check with DC 10+Terrain Taint level. Any tainted creatures on the area become aware of your position and objective if you try to do so, and will most probably rush to try to stop you at all costs. If you're interrupted, you must restart from the begginning.
Taint Presence-You can detect Slight Taint on an adjacent creature with a Spot check with DC 20+Taint score. If you fail, you can't try again against that creature until you gain a new rank in Spot. You can also detect Moderate Taint on a creature at distance, if you succeed on a Spot check against their disguise check as if you were adjacent to them. If you fail, you can't try again against that creature until you gain a new rank in Spot (altough you can still identify moderate Taint if you get close enough). You can also use your Bab instead of your ranks in Spot, and your Con mod instead of your Wis mod for purpose of spotting Taint in other creatures.
"Fire washes the skin off the bone and the sin off the soul. It cleans away the dirt."-Franko Tildon the fiend burner"When in doubt, set it on fire."-Link, hero of the GoddessPrerequisites:
-At least 2 Bab.
-Must have detected a total of 20 Taint on items and/or terrain.
-No Taint
Benefit:While your Taint score is below moderate, you can use the following tactical options:
Burn it All!-You can destroy the Taint on an area of Tainted Terrain or item by setting it on fire until only ashes remain. Those ashes are useless for any recovery attempt, meaning it cannot be mended or used for other abilities that may repair/recycle/similar destroyed stuff. You must get a fire source strong enough to burn the terrain/item from somewhere still. You can use help from others (like, say, a mob of angry villagers with torches) to use this option, but you must still directly overview the pyre and be on the tick of the action. How much time is needed to destroy it depends on what you're setting on fire and what resources you have, but it's on average 1 hour per Taint for terrain, or 1 round per Taint for items. Special conditions like being inside an active volcano with boiling lava below you may allow one to destroy a tainted item as a fullround action.
Kill it With Fire!-As a swift action pick an enemy whitin your view. Until the start of your next turn, each time a creature deals damage to that enemy, said enemy takes extra Holy damage equal to 1/3 their own Taint score (minimum 1), even if they would be resistant or immune to the fire damage. If a creature with a Taint score over their safe Taint limit dies this way, they'll always take at least 1 year to come back as undeads.
Turn up the Heat!-Whenever an enemy whitin your view in which you've used Kill it With Fire! on the last round makes a save, attack roll or skill check, as an immediate action you can inflict on them a penalty on the roll equal to their own Taint score.
A Campaign that uses the Taint rules is one where the dangerous seduction of evil lurks around every corner.
Taint comes naturally to those that perform darker deeds, making them more powerful, but also progressively less sane, while simultaneously corrupting their belongings and the very land where they act. For most people those may sound like a price too heavy to pay, but for those that don't care much about others, taint will seem like an easy and fast path to power. A serial killer gets stronger and harder to catch with every kill he adds. A bloodthirsty soldier who cuts down civilians just trying to escape becomes harder to control. The noble who sits at his high tower exploring the peasants is not seen during the day at all, but when he does appear his presence is malefic. Other people may call those individuals fiends in human skin, and if they keep their paths, they soon shall become actual fiends.
That killed tainted beings come back as even stronger undeads should they be killed means that summary execution is not a very good solution to dealing with them. Better to try to cleanse their taint first, so they may properly stay dead. Still, should they prove too dangerous to keep alive in the short term, one may kill them hoping they don't return instantly, and then seal their remains in a tomb full of traps, so hopefully they can't get out when they come back.
Fiends and undeads on the other hand will never "spawn" new threats when killed, so destroying them may be the most efficient way of dealing with them.
Meanwhile tainted lands are shrouded places where outside magic has trouble penetrating, where getting sick or poisoned is easier, and healing is harder, making it tempting hideouts for brigands, necromancers, and darker beings. In particular if they're already tainted. Healing the land is a lenghty process, so brave (and resistant) adventurers must flush them out before the restoration can begin.
Adventurers may be overjoyed by finding aparently superior gear on the dead cold bodies of their enemies, but overusing said equipment can easily end with them becoming tainted themselves.
Mindless undeads are dangerous tools, prone to spreading Taint and eventually going into a rampage. Sentient undead are not necessarily evil, but will start acumulating and spreading taint should they harm others.
Good clerics, paladins and rangers form the main defense against the Spread of Taint, able to detect it and heal it. Even evil overlords may choose to keep minions skilled in Heal around to cure some of the taint gained by their forces, so they don't become too depraved.
Still, some may decide that a little taint for a little power may be worth the risk in desesperate situations. Even a most holy paladin may decide to wield a tainted weapon in a time of crisis, using its corrupted power for good, and hope to cleanse the Taint away when the danger is gone, trusting his great Fortitude to keep himself from getting too corrupted. But luck may cheat him and he may suddenly find himself filled with too much Taint, warping him into dark and depraved being, the very same thing he seeked to fight against.
Example of Taint.Robert is a simple farmer (commoner 2), but after a passing plague that results in an hunger across the region, and he ends up stealing the grain reserves from his neighbours. He must make a Fortitude save with DC 10, which he fails so he gains 1 taint, and ends up with the Tainted Skill (Bluff and Diplomacy) corruption and Compulsive Liar depravity. Later he meets his wife and kid, hugging them and telling that a traveling noble offered them food, which means they must make a DC 13 Fortitude save or gain 1 Taint themselves dude to contact with a Tainted creature. They suceed, so no more Taint is spread around. Robert keeps telling lies due to his depravity and looks a bit pale due to slight Taint, but the family is happy because they have food.
Later that night, the neighbour discovers Robert has stolen his grain and comes begging to deliver at least some back so his own wife and kids won't starve. Robert will have none of that, so he kills the neighbour with his dagger. He must make a Fortitude save with DC 15 since he had commited a Taint act not very long ago. He fails and gains 3 more taint, gaining three more Corruptions and three more Depravities. There's also an 10% chance the dagger he uses gains 3 taint and a 10% chance the 15-feet area centered on the dead neighbour gains 3 Taint as well. Both dagger and terrain become tainted. Robert, that has 10 Charisma, now has Mild Taint, which forces him to start wearing ticker clothing. The disguise holds for some time, but Robert keeps acumulating Taint because of his knife, and meanwhile the tainted area spreads for 200 feet. Eventually he reaches 8 Taint, meaning he has severe taint and can't hide his corruption anymore, so he tries to run away. He gains two more taint until reaching his safe limit of 10, meaning he cannot gain any more taint by He's spotted tough by another farmer, and in panic murders him, reaching taint 11 (usually he would gain taint 13, but as he's already at his safe limit, it is reduced by 2). One point above his safe taint limit means there's a 5% chance to be overloaded by taint, but he resists. He's eventually cornered and killed by a nearby militia, only to raise as a Wight an hour later. He's however free of his depravities, so he chooses to flee for good rather than spread more violence.
His son, Billy, inherits his dagger, not knowing it is a tainted item. It actually cuts better than the other daggers around the house, so he keeps it around. Meanwhile the area around his house also becomes mostly Taint 1. He must first make a Fortitude save with DC 12, then +2 every day for simultaneous exposure to dagger and terrain, while his mother must make an initial Fortitude save with DC 11 that increase by 1 every day. Billy and his mother both acumulate Taint as time goes on, blaming their growing depravities on the Robert's death. Having reached his safe Taint limit, Billy (chaotic commoner 1) doesn't gain any more taint from the dagger and terrain, but soon turns to inflicting excruciating torture on animals he catches. This is enough to force him to start making checks to resist being overloaded by Taint, and eventually turns into a Dretch. His mother witnesses the transformation and manages to lock him up and goes call for help. Eventually, a cleric of Pelor trained in Heal and his asssistants come to help. They manage to heal the land and Billy's mother, but the young man is beyond salvation for now. He will be locked below a church, where he can't engage in tainting acts, and eventually an high priest of Pelor will cast a Miracle to turn him back into an human.
Alas, Robert the wight is still on the loose, and will be gaining Taint over the years, along with depravities and corruptions, while simultaneously spreading Taint across the forest where he lurks...
You may notice that Taint is only loosely tied to the Alignment System. This is intentional, as altough commiting Tainting acts should push a creature towards evil alignment, it is still possible for a creature to becoming Tainted whitout actually commiting such acts, meaning their alignment would stay the same, as in D&D 3.5 alignment is dependant on your personal attitudes. There is a difference between someone who actively pursues Taint, and one who finds themselves infected by it from other sources.
The depravities they gain from Taint however will probably force creatures that unwillingly gained Taint to start taking the path of evil. Some brave souls may hold to some vestige of good personality even after they're turned into fiends, but they'll find themselves unable to advance unless they're cleansed. Or embrace the darkness.
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