Daerderak, The Infernal Sands (God, I bring this thing back more times than a Cabbage Patch Lich)

[Endless_Helix]

Bumped for the starving children. Please, think of the children!

[Endless_Helix]

Began the timeline and did a bunch of minor edits in the main body of text. (40000+ words! Ridiculous.) Also thinking about doing something with this.

Thoughts?

[Tybalt]

I like the idea of a slave-redemption cult. It's neat to find other worlds with some themes faintly similar to mine. In the Republic of New Edom in my setting emancipation is practically a religious doctrine of the republic.

I would say that such beliefs among slaves would probably be disquieting, especially since the overall culture you present is one with slavery as a main basis for the economy. Its complexity probably makes it almost ineffective at present, which I gather is the idea you are presenting.

[LD]

Crunch


Taint
This is an entirely different system then either Dark Sun's (a major source of inspiration for me over the years) Defiler system or the Taint from HoH (or OA). I've chosen the name "Taint" because of the spells I use to detect it.

Assuming Taint
One can assume taint to power a spell or use a spell-like ability an additional time per day (or use a metamagic feat on it). On the table below is the metamagic feat and how much taint you must assume to spontaneously apply it to any spell (or spell-like ability) you are capable of casting

Silent spell +1
Still Spell +2
Extend Spell +3
Enlarge Spell +2
Heighten Spell +1 per level
Maximize Spell +4
Quicken Spell +6
Widen Spell +2

You may also assume taint to get additional uses of a previously cast spell or spell-like ability. To do this you assume 1 taint per level of the spell (or spell-like ability) being cast and recast the spell.

The assuming of taint from spell casting is caused by basically scouring the life-force from every living plant or single-celled lifeform in a certain area. The area rendered infertile by assuming taint is different for each type of environment, also there is a cap as to how much life you can suck from the area, depending on the environment.

Lush: 1ft per total taint taken. Cap at +7
Plains: 5 ft per total taint taken Cap at +6
Dry: 7ft per total taint taken. Cap at +5
Arid: 10 ft per total taint taken. Cap at +4
Barren: 30 ft per total taint taken. Cap at +3

Also being in certain areas of great magical or divine power, wild magic zones, unhallow spells and other such phenomenon. Certain items and creatures can give off an aura of taint as well. There is generally a fortitude or a will save to resist gaining taint from the aura.

To assume taint from the environment or an aura you must first fail a fortitude or a will save (specified at the time). In an environment this occurs every hour. The DC increases by 1 for every hour you are in the tainted environment. The base DC's are below.

Neglible Taint DC 5
Mild Taint DC 10
High Taint DC 15
Dangerous Taint DC 20
Demonaic Taint DC 25
Totally Corrupted DC 30
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The Effects of Taint
The effects are cumulative.

1-15 -2 on all Charisma based checks
16-30 -2 on all Wisdom based checks and an additional -1 on all Charisma based checks
31-45 You gain a deformation (chosen by the DM) You get an additional -1 on all Wisdom and Charisma based checks.
46-60 You gain an additional deformation and spend a number of hours per day under the effect of an Insanity spell equal to your charisma modifier (minimum 1 hr). This effect cannot be dispelled or healed untill you have lost all your taint. You also get a -1 on all Wisdom and Charisma based checks
61+ You become a Tainted One
----

This sounds like a really interesting way to limit magic. How do you get rid of taint? Does it only decrease over time? Can you do anything, like restoring the land to life to speed up the decrease?

[Endless_Helix]

Oh wow. It's been years since I thought about this setting.

Anyway, to answer your question, LD, you don't, under normal circumstances. Taint is permanent. That's kinda the point. The only way to get rid of it would be divine intervention or a Wish spell. I was working up a couple of Prestige classes that were based on the idea of Taint. A redeemed mage that would slowly become more resistant to Taint, be unable to to use it, and gradually lose the taint points they'd gained. Also I was thinking about a couple of prestige classes that wallowed in taint, but I only had very sketchy notes. I think I had some notes on Trael's war on Taint, sort of. I'll have to dig them out of my various notebooks.

[LD]

Hm. I can see some good justification for making Taint permanent, but doesn't that really discourage most spell-casting?

It brings a new sort of meaning to the "1 adventure adventuring day" except that spellcasters may need to be retired after 7 adventures. And the other players might get jealous of the spellcaster who can do everything... and then does nothing.

I understand that it is only used for extra spells, but the existence of Taint seems to encourage its use by players- I would want to play a mage in your setting to experience the nuances of taint- but after 3 or 4 drains, then I would be done. I realize that people often "bank" action points in Eberron and do not spend them all at once, but it's sad to have something this interesting and not use it.

Could perhaps taint decrease over time?
-
I am interested in the prestige classes and the war on taint.

[Endless_Helix]

I was thinking about it, however, what I wanted was basically a last resort sort of thing combined with a certain level of cosmic horror and dark survivalism. Taint is really there to allow the players to sucker punch  the Bosses that might be a little too powerful for them normally, or when they are starving/sick/otherwise indisposed. Setting-wise and gestalt-wise, it's there as a massive glowing neon sign saying "Yes, the Universe is out to get you. What tipped you off?" just in case the rest of the setting didn't kill you first. It also plays up the Lovecraftian motif of psychological and spiritual wounds that never quite heal or fester over time, generally from meddling with things beyond mortal understanding.

Realistically speaking, most casters who played in this world stayed away from Taint magic like the plague, unless there was absolutely no choice. However, the party still got tainted. They got directly exposed to the Revenant and basically had their spirits blackened beyond all recognition (which is the real reason that I brought Taint into this world). Ah, fun times for all. They actually had a lot of fun with Taint as it was, and had a lot of fun after being hopelessly contaminated. Go figure. I can't find any of my notes for this setting, but I do remember the Tainted caster being able to use someone else (fort save DC 10+ PrC lvl to negate, as I recall) as a vessel for Taint, and the Tainted Warrior dealt taint damage with a special attack. I also think the Redeemed caster had the ability to assume taint from somebody else, and then slowly dissipate it.