Editing Midnight Taint Rules

==TAINT RULES MISSION STATEMENT==

 

 

 

 

='''MIDNIGHT TAINT RULES'''=

:  When Izrador was flung from the heavens, his flaming god-flesh was destroyed as it tore a great wound in the earth. The dark god’s spirit was shattered, dispersed like a foul mist over the frozen north. Then followed countless years, long ages in which his black essence coalesced, gathering strength with painful slowness until finally it was able to manifest as a shadowy presence in the north: bodiless, malevolent, and no longer truly a god. In all this time, Izrador’s dead god-flesh had mouldered in an icy grave deep within the Scar. As strength returned to his spirit, the Shadow reclaimed this divine flesh and began to reshape it to suit his purposes, pushing dark tendrils into the surrounding lands in order to leach out their vitality and tap the arcane energy that pulsed in Aryth’s flesh. For millennia these black veins infiltrated the northern lands, transforming the already ravaged region into a desolate and malignant wasteland. But still Izrador’s recovery was too slow, and so the dark god devised the zordrafin coriths and set his legates to building a network of black mirrors to steal the very magic of the world.  

:  But Izrador didn’t just steal the world’s arcane energies. He polluted and tainted them with his touch. The vile liquid of the mirrors is the same tarry substance that moves through the dark god’s monstrous black veins: arcane power corrupted by the essence of evil.

:  Every day spent in the Shadow’s tainted heartland exposes the mind to the dark god’s insidious whispers and the flesh to his crawling taint. The hardiest warrior feels strength drain from his limbs and the staunchest soul finds doubt creeping into her heart. When a living creature (corporeal or incorporeal) enters a tainted area, comes into contact with a tainted object or tainted creature, or is the subject of a spell cast with tainted spell energy, it must succeed at a Will save or gain taint. A creature that accumulates enough taint may eventually become a corrupted creature or corrupted spirit. The DC of the Will save is determined as described in the Tainted Places sidebar, which also indicates the interval of the saving throws and the amount of taint gained.

:  Taint is a measure of the Shadow’s corruption and can be increased by several different means (see Increasing Taint, below). Once a creature gains a certain amount of taint, the creature undergoes a transformation depending upon its nature. The Shadow’s dark essence works its corruption in different ways. Living, corporeal creatures become twisted physically and mentally; when they gain taint equal to their Constitution, they gain the corrupted creature template. Spirits fade into shadow at the dark god’s touch, their incorporeal forms becoming hateful and foul. When a spirit gains taint equal to its Charisma, it gains the corrupted spirit template. However, those who can channel magic expose themselves most directly to the foul essence of the dark god, and are corrupted most completely. A creature with the Magecraft feat risks becoming a tainted channeler, as described below. The corrupted creature and corrupted spirit templates are detailed in Chapter 3.

:  A creature’s taint is increased when it comes into contact with an area, object, person or effect that has a higher taint score than its own (for areas, objects, and spells, this is its Taint DC). The creature must succeed at a Will save or gain taint. The DC of the Will save is determined as described in the Tainted Places sidebar, which also indicates the amount of taint gained on a failed save and the interval at which a save against taint must be made if the creature remains in the area.

:  For Example: Aryn, a tainted Dorn fighter with taint 9, enters the icy wastes of the Vale of Tears (Taint DC 12, interval 1 week). After one week in the Vale, Aryn must succeed at a DC 12 Will save (with a –1 penalty to his save because of his 9 Taint points) or gain another point of taint. Aryn fails his save and his taint increases to 10. Later, his mission accomplished, Aryn heads south and sneaks into the Weal. He does not need to make another Will save during his time in the Weal because his Taint is already equal to the taint DC of the Weal, 10. However, if Aryn ever returns to the Vale of Tears and stays for a week, he will have to make another DC 12 Will save (this time with a –2 penalty to his roll because of his increased taint); if he stays for two weeks, he will have to make two saves.

:  Upon acquiring the corrupted creature or corrupted spirit template, the creature is thereafter immune to taint—the shadow’s essence has infused it completely, changing it forever.

:  Once touched by the dark god’s corruption, it is hard to resist the insidious growth of his taint. However, there are certain herbs, charms, and spells that offer some protection against the spread of taint. Of the former, the leaf of an unassuming herb called uryl can be used in the preparation of infused oil to give up to a +5 alchemical bonus to Will saves made to resist the Shadow’s taint and its effects.

:  Creatures born and bred beneath the dark skies of the Northern Marches, such as orcs, goblin-kin, giant-kin, and shadowspawn, are more resistant to the effects of the Shadow’s taint. Instead of making Will saves to resist taint, these races instead make Constitution checks to resist its effects. Furthermore, they gain a +10 racial bonus to these checks. However, it is still possible, though more difficult, for one of the shadow born to become tainted, and they can purposely fail the check; many of the kurasatch udareen drink the vile fluid of the Shadow in order to receive his dark blessings.

:  The ultimate result of taint is destruction. If a creature’s taint reaches 30 or higher, the creature must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + Taint score) each day or dissolve into a pool of black ichors and foul smelling vapor. From this vile mess, the last remnant of the creature’s spirit rises as a near-mindless wraith called an allip (see MM), a tattered shadow wracked by madness and cold hunger. These creatures flee into the north, drawn to the depths of the Scar and the Endless Ice where they wail in darkness until they fade altogether. The same thing inevitably happens to those who attempt to fight taint, however. Outside of a tainted area, tainted creatures lose 1 point of taint each day. For the purposes of losing taint, the area of effect of a black mirror is considered tainted, though it does not have a taint rating or otherwise cause taint except as described in the Tainted Places sidebar. If a creature goes from 1 or more taint to 0 taint, however, it suffers the same effects as above . . . but it automatically dissolves and becomes an allip, with no saving throw.

:  As described under dark energies, a tainted channeler can reduce his taint to zero by using it to power spells; if he does so, he suffers a similar fate. Even a creature that has gained the corrupted creature or corrupted spirit template, though immune to future taint, can suffer this effect.

 

 

:  When a creature attempts to cast a channeled spell in a tainted area, he opens himself to more than just the magic of Aryth . . . he also channels the Shadow’s corrupting touch. Ever hungry for magic to fuel his re-ascension, Izrador prizes tainted channelers most of all. If the tainted spellcaster continues to channel Aryth’s arcane energies, the dark god’s corruption spreads and the channeler becomes like a disease vector and magical sump in one. Like disease-carrying insects, tainted channelers corrupt the threads of arcane magic they touch; and when their mortal forms can hold no more, Izrador drains them in a final consumption that leaves the channeler a tattered shade, a hollow shadow of horror and rage. Only living creatures may become tainted channelers.

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:  Whenever a living creature with the Magecraft feat would gain taint, regardless of whether it is a spirit or a corporeal creature, something far more insidious happens. He instead gains a pool of taint points that are very similar to spell energy points. If he already has a pool of taint points and would gain taint, the pool of taint points instead increases. In the discussion below, the term “tainted channeler” refers to any creature with the Magecraft feat who has a pool of taint points. For all purposes dependent upon a creature’s taint level, a channeler’s effective taint is equal to the maximum size of his taint pool.

:  Taint is not without benefits for tainted channelers. First of all, while in a tainted area, a tainted channeler may use his pool of taint points as if they were spell energy points.  

:  Outside of a tainted area, if a tainted channeler wishes to use taint instead of spell energy to power a spell, the cost in taint is doubled. For example, sleep (a 1st-level spell) can be cast using one point of taint within a tainted area, or two points in a non-tainted area. A tainted channeler may mix and match these methods of payment, so a channeler casting hideous laughter, a 2nd-level spell, could pay for it in a tainted area with 1 spell energy point and 1 taint point; in a non-tainted area this same approach would cost the channeler 1 spell energy point and 2 taint points.

:  In lands fouled by the Shadow’s taint, taint points are recovered more quickly than normal spell energy. A tainted channeler recovers taint points at a rate of 1 per hour. The tainted channeler recovers all of his taint after a night of rest, just as for normal spell energy. However, outside of a tainted region, taint cannot be recovered at all, and in fact diminishes at a rate of 1 taint per day (see Redemption or Destruction, above).

:  For each spell cast using taint points, the tainted channeler must succeed at a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + spell level + taint used to pay for the spell, or his taint pool increases by 1d2–1 points of taint (minimum 0). On the one hand this increases the tainted channeler’s power, but it also accelerates his decline into corruption and ultimate annihilation (see Corrupted Channelers, below).

:  Additionally, each time a tainted channeler’s spell energy pool increases (e.g., for gaining a level in channeler or a prestige class that offers art of magic as a class ability), there is a chance that this additional power is added to her taint pool rather than her spell energy pool. The channeler must make a successful Will save (DC 10 + channeler’s taint pool score – channeler’s total spell energy) to resist the spread of taint. If the save succeeds, the channeler’s spell energy pool increases as normal. However, if the spellcaster fails his save, his taint pool increases by the amount his spell energy pool would have increased. Furthermore, if the channeler fails his Will save by 10 or more, his existing spell energy pool is decreased by 1 and his taint pool increases by an additional 1. :: A tainted channeler, unlike other creatures, is not destroyed when he reaches 30 taint. Instead, he undergoes a transformation when his taint exceeds his spell energy pool: he becomes a corrupted channeler. From this point on the difference between her taint pool and her spell energy pool, called her corruption level, is used to determine what effects the tainted channeler is subject to, as described in the table on the following page.

:  The taint spreading through the channeler’s body empowers her body and mind with its dark touch. The tainted channeler is granted one of the benefits as chosen by the DM. Tier 1 traits may be granted at any level of corruption, while tier 2 and tier 3 traits have prerequisites that may limit their availability. All traits are supernatural abilities unless otherwise noted. Spell-like abilities listed below have a caster level equal to the tainted channeler’s caster level. All Fortitude saves associated with dark traits have a DC of 10 + 1 / 2 the tainted channeler’s caster level + Con modifier. Will saves have a DC of 10 + 1 / 2 the tainted channeler’s caster level + key spellcasting ability modifier.

::*  '''Unraveled Sight''' (Requires Black-Eyed and Forbidden Lore): The tainted channeler is continuously under the effects of arcane sight. The effect can be dispelled, but the channeler can resume them as free actions.

:  Taint brings corruption and decay as well as dark power. As the Shadow’s taint grows within her, a tainted channeler suffers a mark of the appropriate trait as selected by the DM. All Fortitude saves associated with dark marks have a DC of 10 + 1 / 2 the tainted channeler’s corruption level. All Will saves associated with dark marks have a DC of 10 + 1 / 2 the tainted channeler’s corruption level.