D&D Taint/Corruption Revisited

D&D Taint/Corruption Revisited

A long time ago, I tried to adapt the D&D Taint/Corruption system from Heroes of Horror and Oriental Adventures based on the corruption system from GURPS Horror, but it didn't really work well in practice. The rate of corruption accumulation was too slow, and the countermeasures were absolute and relatively cheap, making the entire system questionable. However, doesn't GURPS have something that ruins your characters gradually, depending on exposure time, rarely has absolute countermeasures, plays well with powers, and isn't really used in fantasy games? Yes, I'm talking about radiation. That framework seems perfect - you'd just have to adjust the effects.

Of course, I'm not talking about radiation rules from GURPS Basic Set, but about the simplified radiation rules from GURPS After the End 1: Wastelanders.

    Everyone has a new secondary characteristic, Taint Threshold Points (TP), the base value of which is equal to (HT + Will)/2, rounded down. It may be raised to a maximum of HT + Will for 1 point/level, but it cannot be lowered.

    The TP score is used to track taint absorption. Losing 1 TP is roughly the equivalent of accumulating 10 rads (this is only important for the purpose of creating Innate Attacks that inflict taint in the form of "radiation"). As your TP drop, you suffer from the following effects.

Less than 1/3 of your TP left - roll 1d, 1d to see what kind of taint progression track you get afflicted by. You remain on this progression track until you recover all TP. After than, if you reach this TP threshold again, you have to roll again to determine your new taint progression track. Consult the table below for further effects of taint. If the character already has one of the listed disadvantage, increase its severity by one step or stack them, if possible.

1d, 1d	Less than 1/3 of your TP left	0 TP	-1xTP
1-2, 1*	-1 to DX	-1 to DX, Bad Back (Mild)	-1 to DX, Bad Back (Severe)
1-2, 2*	-1 to DX	-2 to DX	-4 to DX
1-2, 3*	-2 to ST	-4 to ST	-6 to ST
1-2, 4*	Colorblindness	Colorblindness, Bad Sight (Low Resolution)	Blindness
1-2, 5	Bad Temper (12)	Bad Temper (9)	Bad Temper (6)
1-2, 6	Berserk (Battle Rage) (12)	Berserk (Battle Rage) (9)	Berserk (Battle Rage) (6)
3-4, 1	Bloodlust (12)	Bloodlust (9)	Bloodlust (6)
3-4, 2	Chronic Depression (12)	Chronic Depression (9)	Chronic Depression (6)
3-4, 3*	Chronic Pain (9) (Mild; 2 hours)	Chronic Pain (9) (Severe; 2 hours)	Chronic Pain (9) (Agonizing; 2 hours)
3-4, 4	Cowardice (12)	Cowardice (9)	Cowardice (6)
3-4, 5*	Dread (Religious Symbols; 5 yards)	Dread (Religious Symbols; 10 yards)	Dread (Religious Symbols; 20 yards)
3-4, 6*	-1 to HT, Hemophilia	-2 to HT, Hemophilia	-3 to HT, Hemophilia
5-6, 1*	Neurological Disorder (Mild)	Neurological Disorder (Severe)	Neurological Disorder (Crippling)
5-6, 2	On the Edge (12)	On the Edge (9)	On the Edge (6)
5-6, 3	Phantom Voices (Annoying)	Phantom Voices (Disturbing)	Phantom Voices (Diabolical)
5-6, 4	Pyromania (12)	Pyromania (9)	Pyromania (6)
5-6, 5	Sadism (12)	Sadism (9)	Sadism (6)
5-6, 6*	-1 to HT, Slow Healing 1	-2 to HT, Slow Healing 2	-3 to HT, Slow Healing 3

-5xTP - You fall unconscious and will not wake up unless you can heal your TP above this threshold. Make an unpenalized HT roll every hour. On a failure, you are treated as mortally wounded (p. B423); on a critical failure, you die.

-10xTP - You are dead.

If you die at -5xTP or below, 1d hours later you rise as a tainted raver (or tainted minior, for taint progression tracks with an asterisk (*)), if you were a humanoid being. Otherwise, you become a zombie. The tainted raver and tainted minion lenses are yet to be done.

Gaining Taint

Tainted lands make you lose 1d TP per day, rounded up. Highly tainted lands instead make you lose 1d+2 TP per day or even more. Undead, deathless, and creatures with the Evil subtype do not gain taint.

Recovering from Taint

Once outside tainted lands, you recover 1 TP per day, whether you are resting or not. Sacred springs let you recover 1 TP per hour.

Protecting from Taint

A jade rod the size of a human finger ($100, 0.1 lb.) provides you PF 2. Thus, you divide lost TP by two, rounding up. A single rod lasts for a week in tainted lands after which is crumbles into dust, but all rods on your person deteriorate at the same time. Thus, you should only carry one at at time.