Tainted Sorcerer
Heroes of Horror p113

The Tainted Scholar is the defacto class if you want to play a spell-caster corrupted (or depraved) by the effects of taint. This class supercedes (replaces) the Maho-Tsukai from Oriental Adventures and the Tainted Sorcerer from Unearthed Arcana. The mechanics presented in Heroes of Horror simply work better in the 3.5 version of the game. The change in mechanics does not affect any background material presented in the earlier books.

Tainted magic makes spell-casters extremely powerful relatively quickly. It is seductive and a hard habit to break. Once characters walk down this path there is often no turning back.

Game Rule Information

The following changes have been made to the powers and abilities of the Tainted Scholar. Any published rules for the tainted scholar or that do not directly contradict the contents of this page still apply.

Class Features

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Tainted Sorcerers do not gain any further proficiency in weapons or armour beyond that which they already possess.

Requirements: In order to qualify for this class characters must be an arcane spellcaster (a practitioner of wizardry, sorcery, draconic magic or be a warlock). The charatcer must also have moderate or greater depravity (see the rules on taint). Effective taint, gained by being of a certain race or taking certain vile feats, counts toward this figure. So a character with only mild depravity that has enough Effective Taint to push him over the threshold into moderate, will qualify for this class and gain all the class-related benefits of the higher depravity.

Characters that are immune to taint (such as the nezumi, or anyone with the Pure Soul feat) cannot gain a taint score. They are therefore ineligible for this class. Characters that are immune to the effects of the taint (such as the undead and Evil races) can still aquire depravity scores, they just don't suffer the deliterious effects. These characters can take this class normally, however some of them (particularly the undead) will find themselves unable to exploit it to its fullest potential.

Spellcasting: At each level Tainted Scholars giain new spells and an increase in caster level as if they had gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class they had before becoming a Tainted Scholar. No other benefits are gained. If the character was a member of more than one spellcasting class, then he must choose which spellcasting progression to advance. These are standard rules.

Blood Component (Su): The tainted sorcerer may substitute a drop of his own blood to increase the power of a spell. If the spell has an inexpensive component then the drop of blood replaces the need for the component. If the component is expensive (1 gp or more) then the component must be supplied in addition to the blood. Adding the drop of blood to a spell is a free action, and deals 1 point of lethal damage to the tainted sorcerer (no concentration check is required). Using blood in this way adds +1 caster level to the spell.

Obviously, to make use of this ability you have to have blood. Therefore sentient constructs (such as the warforged) and all undead are unable to make use of this ability. The only possible exception to this might be the vampire, but he would only be able to use Blood Component for a limited time after each feed.

Level Advancement: The power of the tainted scholar is seductive. If at any level a character wants to multiclass away from tainted sorcerer then he must succeed at Will save with a DC equal to 10 + his depravity score. If he fails he can try again next level. This mechanic is all well and good as long as it adds depth to a character and serves story needs. If it simply frustrates a player that wants his character to grow in a different direction then the GM has the discretion to over rule this class feature.

Tainted Spellcasting: The character's number of bonus spell points is based on a number equal to his Depravity Score + 10 rather than the attribute that normally governs his spellcasting. Tainted Scholars are likely to have many more skill points then other spellcasters of a similar level. Saving throws against a Tainted Scholar's spells do not use the standard equation (10 + spell level + attibute modifier) instead they are 10 + spell level + half the character's corruption score. Potentially this makes the spells of tainted scholars significantly more difficult to resist. It also means that undead (without a corruption score) do not make very effective tainted spellcasters.

Everytime a Tainted Scholar casts an arcane spell he must make a saving throw at DC 10 + spell level or gain 1 point of taint. He cannot choose to voluntarily fail this saving throw. All arcane spells cast by the tainted sorcerer are considered evil.

In the Great Dark of my Iourn campaign setting, the rules here override the effects of the Great Dark. The tainted scholar is far more resilient at tainted spellcasting that any other class, having lower saving throw targets to resist its effects, and only gaining 1 point of taint (instead of 1d2) if the save is failed. However, the tainted scholar must make this save every time he casts a spell. In addition to all his spells having the Evil descriptor, in the Great Dark all evil spells are cast at +1 caster level - therefore all the tainted scholars spells are at +1 caster level. If the tainted scholar also uses the Blood Component ability this increases the modifier to +2 caster level.

Taint Suppression: Tainted scholars automatically gain the internal corruption ability that hides any outward sign of physical corruption. Having his ability still costs the scholar -2 constitution, but he only pays this cost once regardless of how many physical manifestations of his corruption he has.

Secret/Lore: These abilities require no further clarification. See pp114-116 of Heroes of Horror.

The Tainted Scholar
(d6 HD; 4 skill points per level)

See Also:

• Taint
• Vile Damage
• Tainted Warrior