Taint

Taint was first introduced into the D&D game in Oriental Adventures. It was greatly expanded upon in Unearthed Arcana, but it was not until the publication of Heroes of Horror that rules existed that made Taint a realistic option for a player character. The following rules are based heavily on Heroes of Horror with one or two slight changes. The Iourn Game of Souls campaign makes significant use of these rules. Throughout these rules I draw upon the Iourn game (and the Great Dark in particular) as examples, but these rules are easily transported to any setting.

What is Taint?

Taint is the lingering corruption of places and objects by unfathomable evil. We are not talking about the evil created by an unhallow spell or the foul taste to the air a paladin can detect when he senses a vampire.... this is something deeper, something more profound and utterly overwhelming. A weapon used to slaughter thousands of innocents, a forest grown on land soaked with the blood of an evil god, a book bound in the flesh of an archfiend for its own twisted purposes.... these are all examples of tainted items and locations.

On Iourn, all of the Great Dark is tainted to some extent. It has always been a place where evil has permeated the very soil, but the presence of the Enceinte has intensified and concentrated this taint. Almost everyone and everything in the Great Dark will be tainted to a greater or lesser extent. But that does not mean they are actually evil.

Being tainted is seldom a good thing. It is debilitating to the body and the mind. Certain creatures and certain classes can turn taint to their advantage, but they are few and far between. On the most part, even characters of an evil alignment do not want to be tainted. This is worth bearing in mind.

Types of Taint

There are two types of taint:

Taint that affects the body is called corruption and is resisted with a Fortitude saving throw. Corrupted individuals may development pustulent sores, deformity, seizures, illness or other obvious effects. The more corrupted you are, the more hideous and disabled you become. Too much corruption is fatal, and the dead character will rise from the grave as a force of evil. The character takes on the Tainted Minion template and becomes an NPC. How much is too much depends on your character's Constitution score.

Taint that affects the mind is depravity and is resisted with a Will saving throw. Depraved individuals develop bizarre quirks, traits and debilitating insanities. The more depraved you are the more mentally unstable you become. Too much depravity drives a character to permanent madness. The character takes on the Tainted Raver prestige class and becomes an NPC. How much is too much depends on your character's Wisdom score.

Becoming Tainted

Simply entering an area or taint, or touching a tainted item bestows 1d3 points of taint (either depravity or corruption, but seldom both). A character can make the appropriate saving throw: Will for depravity or Fortitude for corruption, at a DC of 10 + the taint bestowed. If they succeed they do not gain taint.

All beings that enter the Great Dark (or are born there) must make this saving throw. Roughly three-quarters of population of the Great Dark will have failed, and will therefore have between 1 and 3 points of taint. Some creatures would have willingly failed. Player characters can always choose whether they have taint or not. It is entirely up to you. There are some races that cannot acquire taint, but we'll get to those in a moment.

Prolonged exposure to taint: such as remaining in a place of high taint, or continuing to carry a tainted item bestows an additional +1 taint per day. Most average mortals of the Great Dark will have shied away from such areas and practices.

Acquiring taint can have some immediate game-related effects:

• Gaining corruption greater than a character's constitution modifier at one time makes character nauseated for 1d4 rounds, or sickened if the save is successful.
• Gaining depravity greater than a character's wisdom modifier at one time makes character stunned for 1d4 rounds, or dazed if the save is successful.

Magic and Taint

Magic and Taint do not necessarily go hand in hand. However, if the magical weave is itself tainted (as is the case in the great Dark), then casting magic is very dangerous indeed. Spellcasters (especially arcanists) run the risk of absorbing taint into themselves whenever they cast a spell. See the section on Magic in the Great Dark.

Deeds Most Foul

If you behave in an evil manner you are likely to acquire additional taint. The Great Dark is like a vast sentient creature, constantly hunting for beings to corrupt. Certain acts will force a Will or Fortitude save against taint. Any of the following could result in corruption or depravity depending on the circumstances. It's all up to the GM really.

Remember that saving throws still apply. For example, a PC engaging in the sadistic torture of a known evil creature is allowed a Fortitude save at DC 20 to avoid becoming tainted with 10 additional points of corruption.

Unholy Acts

In addition to mundane nastiness and violence, the Great Dark is extremely inclined to punish those who violate their own religious beliefs, or the religious beliefs of others. Basically it takes a special kind of evil to piss over someone else's faith. Again saving throws apply normally.

Tenets are general rules that members of a faith follow (e.g. I must eat fish on a Friday). Oaths are more important laws that all members of a faith follow (e.g. I must never strike another man in anger). Vows are only held by clerics. They are the most fundamental parts of the religion (e.g. I must not suffer a goblin to live). A cleric that breaks a vow will probably receive censure from his god as well as receiving taint. Defilement removes the sacred blessing from an object, place or relic. Desecration is similar but does so in such a way that is inimically offensive to the deity.

Avoiding & Resisting Taint

The best defence against becoming tainted is to stay well away from tainted areas and objects. That is not an option in the Great Dark. There are certain objects that can absorb taint, these include a pure jade rod the size of a human finger, a blessed piece of vellum made from the skin of a month-old lamb and so on. To an extent, the more of these objects you carry the better protected you are. However, there is a point at which the law of diminishing returns applies. Once an object has absorbed a certain amount of taint (a number of points of either depravity or corruption) it crumbles and is useless.

Rather unsurprisingly, these taint-absorbing items are not very common in the Great Dark. Even if they were, their use would be limited because you would always have to carry one on your person. So how else can you avoid taint? Well, here are some options:

• Having a nonability in Constitution makes a character immune to corruption. Having a nonability in Wisdom makes a character immune to depravity. However, such nonabilities may also make the characters utterly unplayable.
• Any race that is of the Evil type is immune to the effects of taint, although they can still acquire taint and still have a taint score.
• Undead creatures have no constitution score, therefore they are completely immune to the effects of corruption. They are also immune to the effects of depravity - they can accrue depravity normally, but they do not suffer the negative effects for having it.
• The Nezumi (a race of rat creatures) are completely immune to the effects of taint, and never have a taint score. No-one knows why.
• You can select the feat Pure Soul (Heroes of Horror p124). This makes you immune to taint in the same way as a nezumi. However, you must be of an non-evil alignment to select this feat.
• Certain prestige classes, notably the Tainted Warrior and the Tainted Scholar, acquire taint normally but they are able to ignore much of its effects and actually use it to their advantage.

Effective Taint

In addition to actual taint, a character can also have an Effective Taint score. Effective Taint is a figure that is added to both your corruption and depravity scores. It doesn't count toward the debilitating effects of taint, but it does count toward your taint level in regard to qualifying for certain feats and classes. Class abilities that utilise taint always use taint + effective taint.

All creatures of the Evil subtype have an effective taint score of half their Charisma modifier (minimum 1). Add +1 to this figure if the creature is undead or +2 if they are an outside (such as fiend).

Other characters can gain effective taint by taking Vile Feats. A full description of Vile Feats and Vile Damage is described elsewhere. Any vile feat that alters the appearance or innate abilities of a character also bestows +2 effective taint. The vile feats that bestow effective taint are: Deformity (Clawed Hands), Deformity (Eyes), Deformity (Face), Deformity (Gaunt), Deformity (Obese), Deformity (Skin), Deformity (Tall), Deformity (Teeth), Deformity (Tongue), Vile Ki Strike, Vile Martial Strike, Vile Natural Attack and Willing Deformity.

All effective taint is cumulative. So a character with four of the above feats would have 8 points of effective taint. If the character had acquired a further 10 points of taint through conventional means his effective taint level would be 18. However, he would only suffer debilitating effects as if his taint score was 10.

The Mechanics of Taint

Up until I have documented how characters can acquire and avoid taint. I have not said what happens when you have taint. Corruption and depravity manifest mild, moderate and severe symptoms, the higher the taint score the more affected a character becomes. However, characters with higher constitution and wisdom scores can resist more corruption and depravity respectively. The thresholds are as follows:

Characters select one effect when they reach each level of corruption and each level of depravity. Definitions of what each effect means is listed in Heroes of Horror pp63-66. These changes are not cosmetic. Each imposes penalties on skills and/or stats. Some corruption effects may give small bonuses, but they are overshadowed by the penalties.

These changes can significantly affect how characters are role-played. This can be fun, but I don't want to be too prescriptive. I don't want the rules to inadvertently 'ruin' a character concept. As a result I am happy for players to come up with different effects that are along the same lines as the ones listed below. So consider these effects to be examples:

Corruption Effects

Depravity Effects

There are many options about where a character can take Corruption and Depravity effects. Think of them a little like the effects of failed power checks in the old Ravenloft second edition game. It is the influence of the Great Dark creeping into your character. If the Great Dark is sentient then perhaps it has a purpose in mind. Perhaps in this game, as in Ravenloft, characters are actually turning into something as they acquire more taint. Maybe they are turning into a devil or some other creature of warped evil. Think about it.

It is worth mentioning that the corruption effect "Internal Corruption" can be used to cover-up the outward appearance of taint. - althought you have to be severely corrupted to select it. Some prestige classes use this quite effectively.

Benefits of Taint

Reading the above you would think that there are no benefits from taint; but D&D strives for nothing if not balance. Having taint can cripple a character. To slightly off-set this, characters receive a bonus feat when they reach Moderate Taint, and another when they reach Severe Taint. Therefore a character with severe corruption and severe depravity would receive a total of four bonus feats. Effective Taint does not count toward this total. The bonus feats can be any to which the character qualifies. If the character has her taint reduced to beneath the level where she gained the bonus feat, then she loses the feat.

Healing Taint

So, you've got taint and you want to get rid of it. Can you? The answer is that is possible, but by no means easy - especially in the Great Dark.

When a character crosses a threshold (from no taint to mild taint, mild taint to moderate taint, or moderate taint to severe taint) they have one day to receive a restoration, heal or greater restoration spell. If this spell is cast in time then the character's taint is returned to is initial level. For example, a character with mild taint gains moderate taint. If one of the listed spells is cast within one day then she is returned to mild taint. After one day the new level of taint becomes permanent and can only be removed by a wish or miracle spell.

Heroes of Horror states the following spells have some ability to reduce taint: Atonement, Heal, Miracle, Remove Curse, Remove Disease, Restoration, Greater Restoration and Wish. However, none of those spells will work if they are cast in an area of taint. They need to be cast in an area sanctified with Good magic. Good luck in finding one of those in the Great Dark.

Additionally, any spell caster that tries to remove taint must make a caster level check at a DC equal to 10 + half the taint level of the subject or become tainted themselves. They gain a taint equal the number they missed the check by. Nasty.

Tainted Feats

Heroes of Horror introduced a number of tainted feats. These feats require a certain level of depravity and/or corruption to select. These spells are a manifestation of the evil inside the character. For 2d4 rounds after a character makes use of the benefits of a tainted feat she appears to be evil to detect evil spells and any spells or special abilities that normally only work against evil targets (e.g. circle of protection, smite) will work on her. Tainted feats are supernatural abilities.

Corrupt Arcana (Heroes of Horror)
Spontaneous casters can prepare Corrupt Spells in the same way as a wizard.

Debilitating Spell (Heroes of Horror)
Adds the Evil descriptor to your spell and inflicts ability damage in addition to any spell effect.

Debilitating Strike (Heroes of Horror)
Your unarmed strikes are considered evil or the purpose of overcoming damage reduction, and they inflict additional ability damage.

Eldritch Corruption (Heroes of Horror)
Enlarge, extend, heighten or widen a spell at the expense of your ally's Con score.

Forbidden Lore (Heroes of Horror)
Gain +2, +4 or +6 bonus on bardic knowledge of similar checks regarding sinister topics.

Lunatic Insight (Heroes of Horror)
+2 initiative bonus, and treat all knowledge skills as if they were trained skills.

Mad Faith (Heroes of Horror)
Your depravity grants you bonus spells.

Surge of Malevolence (Heroes of Horror)
+3, +6 or +9 bonus on a single attack, saving throw or check.

Tainted Fury (Heroes of Horror)
Gain bonus hit points and a tainted smite attack while in a tainted fury.

Tainted Prestige Classes

Two classes in the game are specifically designed to make use of taint. The Tainted Scholar is the class that uses taint to further his magical pursuits, the Tainted Warrior uses taint to further his martial abilities. Give the right combination of feats and skills it is possible to qualify for both these classes at level six. Follow the links for more informtion about these classes.

Starting Taint

Okay, so it's character generation and you want to know how much taint your character has already acquired. There is no hard and fast rule for this. Regardless of the campaing, I wouldn't saddle any character with taint during character generation if the player didn't want the character to have it. If you want an untouched character with zero taint at the start of the game, then you can. Of course, I can't be responsible for what happens during the campaign.

You will start with your Effective Taint (if you have any). So characters of evil races, undead creatures or anyone who has taken vile feats will start with effective taint. There's no wiggle room here. You wanted the race and feats, so you deal with the consequences.

If you want to play a Tainted Scholar or Tainted Warrior, and if you meet all the other requirements, then you can start with the minimum required taint to qualify for the class.

On the whole I would prefer your character didn't start with a lot of taint. I'd prefer that we roleplayed its road to damnation. .

Taint and Vile Damage

As a note, the dark power behind taint is the same dark power that is used to inflict Vile damage. Anyone inflicting Vile damage is using the power of taint to violate their victims body to such an extent that the damage cannot be easily healed. Those who employ vile damage do not need to be tainted themselves, and those who are tainted do not necessarily have access to vile damage, although the two do often go hand-in-hand. A tainted weapon that has been used for acts of unspeakable evil may inflict vile damage on foes in combat, for example.

Vile Feats

The vile feats Deformity (Clawed Hands), Deformity (Eyes), Deformity (Face), Deformity (Gaunt), Deformity (Obese), Deformity (Skin), Deformity (Tall), Deformity (Teeth), Deformity (Tongue), Vile Ki Strike, Vile Martial Strike, Vile Natural Attack and Willing Deformity all duplicate the effects of taint on a mortal body. In addition to bestowing effective taint (as discussed above) characters with these feats are considered to be tainted and would be revealed by a detect taint spell.

See Also:

• Vile Damage
• Tainted Scholar and Tainted Warrior prestige classes.