Zal'Kazzir's Dark Gambit

Zal'Kazzir Glulvenne is relentless in his hatred of the Corpse-God Izrador, and has ventured onto perilous roads to better arm himself to overthrow the Shadow in the North.

Toying with Taint

Places of Evil carry with them an insidious, corrupting energy, and those long exposed to these places, or who are witness to truly abominable scenes or places may be touched by this energy, called 'Taint'.

The effects of taint are subtle at first, but as taint points proliferate, they become more profound and more horrendous.

Tain poses an especially dire hazard for channelers, who gain a 'taint pool' when they gain taint, which can be used to cast spells, spending taint points in lieu of spell energy. Taint is spent on a 1-1 basis in tainted areas, and a 2-1 basin in non tainted areas. Casting tainted spells is further corrupting, however, and each tainted spell cast prompts a Will Save (DC 10 +Spell Level +Number of Taint points used to cast the spell) failure results in the gain of 1d2-1 additional taint points. Additionaly, the corrupting nature of taint meant that a tainted channeler must make a Will Save (DC 10 +Taint Pool Max - Spell Point Max) success allows increase in spell energy as normal, while failure results in the channeler's taint pool increasing, rather that her spell energy increasing; failure by 10 or more also lowers available spell energy by one and increases taint pool by an additional one.

Tainted channelers whose taint pool exceeds their maximum spell energy are called 'corrupted channelers' and they are forever marked by their embrace of dark power. The amount by which a corrupted channeler's Taint pool exceeds her maximum spell energy is called her 'Corruption Score', and this corruption brings power, but also severe drawbacks.

Zal'Kazzir is a Corrupted Channeler; after being afflicted with taint, he has chosen to use it's power, and has already been touched by the dark touch of taint. Zal'Kazzir has been affected by the following dark gifts and dark marks:

• Worm-Tongued: Taint has given the corrupted channeler the malevolent power to influence the minds of others; the corrupted channeler gains a +4 Profane bonus to Diplomacy checks and the difficulty of saves against his compulsion effects is increased by one.

• Black Eyed: The corrupted channeler's eyes turn into inky black pools; staring into them is like staring into the abyss itself. The corrupted channeler is extremely sensitive to light, taking a -1 penalty to attacks and skill checks in bright light, and is effectively blind in full daylight.

• Dark Speech (Requires Worm-Tongued and Black Eyed): The corrupted channeler's voice throbs with the undeniable authority of dark power. The corrupted channeler may use the spell Command as a spell like ability at will (DC 10 +1/2 caster level +casting ability modifier), however this ability is not language dependant, and can therefore affect even animals. In addition, the difficulty of saves against his enchantment effects is increased by one (This stacks with Worm-Tongued for enchantment, compulsion effects).