Tale of the Necromant

Setting
#1

Sit around. I have a tale to tell. Its the tale of the destruction of our world, Athas. It was beautiful once. The gem of the cosmos. The world was destroyed by misuse of magic. It was avoidable, because we always knew the way to prevent the destruction.

As neophyte magic users, we cannot help but use plant energy to power spells. That is because we lack the proficiency in spellcasting to use the gray as the source of energy so early on. It doesn’t take long, however. By the time we reach the third circle of spells (some people call it the third level of spells), with a little willpower and knowledge the energy of the gray can be drawn upon to power magical spells.

We necromants are the true preservers of life. We take life from plants only at the beginning of our magical studies, and then nevermore. The preserver hypocrites point finger at defilers for their open destruction of plant life, while slowly draining the plants of their essence in a more covert manner.

Woe to the hypocrites of the Veiled Alliance! I speak not in ignorance, for I was once one of their number. For years I begged them to take clean and pure path of graycasting and abandon the taking of life from plants, but they rejected my words and side-lined me. They said that graycasting is wrong, that it interferes with the spirits in the afterlife, and other such ignorant words.

I was apprentice to Ktandeo himself. I pleaded with Ktandeo to abandon the life sucking path of the “preserver” and learn graycasting, because if Ktandeo did so, the others in the Veiled Alliance may have followed. Alas, he did not! Worse, Ktandeo obtained a magical cane which allowed him to drain life from animals and living, sentient beings! When I first witnessed Ktandeo use the cane, my tears nourished the desert sands.

To my shame, I participated in the scapegoating of “defilers” by the Veiled Alliance. Once young woman, a self-taught magic user and did not know any better, was burnt at the stake by the Veiled Alliance in an act of ritual torture as a warning to others. If only I had the the courage, I could have counselled her and taught her the pure ways of graycasting, just like I did with Darmun who is sitting over there. I met Darmun years after I left the Veiled Alliance, which was years after I realized that killing is wrong. Darmun was like that young woman. Self-taught. Talented. He was being hunted by the Veiled Alliance for defiling, when his defiling only differed from the preservers of the Veiled Alliance by degree, not substance. I took Darmun under my wing and taught him graycasting. Darmun has never taken energy from plant life since. The hypocrites of the Veiled Alliance have not withdrawn their death sentence that they proclaimed on Darmun. No matter. We protect our own.

Rumour claims that the Sorcerer Monarchs are defilers. So says the Veiled Alliance. I tell you now, this is not true. The Sorcerer Monarchs are necromants, just like us, and they hunt down defilers and Veiled Alliance preservers with equal vigor because our rulers understand that “defiler” and “preserver” are the same life draining menace. We graycasters are caught in the crossfire, collateral damage, as the templars say. If the Sorcerer Monarchs were defilers, their cities would be naught but ash. The Sorcerer Monarchs draw on the limitless energy of the Gray to power their spells.

I bring a message of hope. Some months ago I encountered a radiant and beautiful being. It told me that it is an “avangion” (I know not what it means, but the word fills me with calm), and that it supports my work. It told me that through graycasting, we can restore the world. Ten leagues due south of here we will find an oasis and a forest, where none stood before. This miracle was created by the energy drawn from the Gray. Death to life. Understand this - no magic that draws from the land can restore the land. Only our graycasting can do that.

I task all of you with a mission. Go forth. Tell the people of our world about graycasting. Inform them about the lies of the Veiled Alliance. Tell them that our kings and queens are graycasters, and we follow their example in safely using clean and pure magic. Finally, try to convert defilers and preservers from their destructive, life draining path.

Go in peace.

Explanation: You become a necromant by taking a level in the PrC. You can enter at your 6th level. Entry is very permissive.

necro1

You get this class feature.

necro2
necro2700×29 9.96 KB

Why are the Sorcerer Monarchs not necromants? If you can’t answer this question without grasping at straws, the Dark Sun setting is affected by setting warping because of this.

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Development Discussion for Dead Lands
Contemporary rationale for banning certain classes in DS 3E
#2

Grey energy has no impact on the physical corporeal environment, but it does hurt your soul.
It’s a bit like listening to Toby Keith…

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#3

As neujack says,
plus remember the gray is some sort of warped athasian astral plane, that does not exist on other worlds not warped by magic overuse

1 Like
#4

I asked ChatGPT-4 about this. This is what it had to say.

The introduction of alternative power sources—gray, cerulean, and black—might seem like an exciting expansion of magical possibilities. Yet, I understand your argument that these additions risk diluting the core moral struggle that defines Dark Sun. They offer an easy sidestep around the harsh dichotomy of Athas’s magical ecosystem, a way to wield magic without paying the price it demands.

In Athas, magic isn’t just a tool—it’s a testament to the caster’s character, a measure of their respect or disdain for the world’s life force. Preserving and defiling are not simply different ways of casting spells—they represent contrasting worldviews, philosophies of life and power.

To introduce alternative power sources that do not carry similar moral weight, that do not resonate with the hard choices of survival in Athas, seems to bypass this crucial narrative element. It’s akin to introducing a new species into a delicate ecosystem. The consequences may not be immediately obvious, but the ecosystem’s balance is fundamentally disrupted, and that disruption can echo down the ages.

The character of Athas—the true essence of Dark Sun—is intertwined with this stark choice between preserving and defiling. To blur this choice, to offer magic users an easier path, does more than just change the magic system. It changes Athas itself. It risks diluting the tension, the desperation, the life-and-death struggle that defines this unique world.

If we introduce these new magic sources, what becomes of Athas’s struggle? What happens to its spirit, its essence? The world of Dark Sun isn’t just about surviving in a harsh environment—it’s about making hard choices, choices that carry weight and consequence.

In the end, preserving the dichotomy between preserving and defiling isn’t just about maintaining a game mechanic. It’s about keeping the heart and soul of Dark Sun beating strong. It’s about remembering that in Athas, every act of magic is a testament to the caster’s character and their relationship with the world. That’s a part of Dark Sun that deserves preserving.

#5

I have been thinking about this for a while. Here is my suggested fix for the necromant. It provides an explanation of why every man and his kank isn’t a gray caster, and also why Athas is replete with undead arcane spellcasters.

Gray Casting: Necromants draw energy from the Gray for spells. When casting a spell, you choose plant or Gray energy. Gray energy has no environmental impact, but is risky. Plant energy avoids taint accumulation. Using Gray energy adds Gray Taint equal to spell level. If accumulated Gray Taint reaches twice the sum of your current Constitution score and your Necromant level, you transform into an undead creature (DM’s discretion). Taint reduces by 1 per hour. Constitution ability damage reduces your safe taint threshold.

#6

That seems to require a lot of additional tracking for the player or DM and doesn’t allow to many spells to be cast using Grey Casting before having to drop back to plant energy without becoming undead. Did you have a particular type of undeath planned for this or a newly created kind?

I tried to resolve this and the other alternate power sources here:

For Necromants it was 1 extra roll per encounter and potentially an extra one per spell. The only other tracking was an additional encounter when leveling against at low levels, an admittedly more powerful creature than yourself. That creature and the potential Grey Zombie attacks were what kept more Necromants from existing.

I feel your version as is turns wizards into a few “free” casts per day using an alternate source and maybe even rewarding them with undeath. Is there something I’m missing?

Your question of “Why are the Sorcerer Monarchs not necromants?” can be answered with “It’s not more powerful than just defiling”. My own version’s answer is “It’s not as powerful, reliable enough and it’s dangerous”. Defilers don’t care about the damage they do, they do it in exchange for speed and power (feats) and only care about themselves. Preservers would probably like your version of necromants though, so “Why aren’t Avangions necromants?” becomes a good question.

#7

The complications for casting as a Necromant or even a Shadow (Wizard or Templar) for that matter should have different implications in my opinion. I feel like it is the equivalent of dealing with pollution by sending it to another place, rather than using more “green” alternatives. It is an adjacent plane that can take the load, in theory, but only because it hasn’t been as despoiled as of yet. Athas as a whole also has not practiced it in such wide scale measures.

Now as for the measure of side effects on the caster, becoming an undead is not exactly a downside. If someone is already a defiler, becoming an undead defiler is having their cake and taking someone else’s to have more cake. As a preserver, it allows for one continue the fight at a longer scale to go against these immortal beings. If one was going to have a side effect, it would need to hit them in ways that are not so easily dealt with - especially if one is already undead.

1 - Ability Burn - Undead are immune to a lot of things, but not Ability Burn, which is if I recall correctly, is unique to Psionics (in general). One could allow for Ability Burn if they try to defile from the Grey. Levels in the class could eventually negate this.

2 - Limited Resources - The ability to channel from the Grey could come at the cost of not being able to draw from plant life (but if one was a Leech, presumably they could still draw from life just to keep the grim side of things). They could also no longer cast in the Black, as the planes, to my understanding, do not mesh well. In areas where such casters are fighting, this could become really problematic (especially if someone got say, planeshifted there).

3 - Taint - Grey Taint is not a bad idea, but I would argue that the regular Taint mechanics would be more suited. This would induce a madness and corruption on those that would delve deeper into these planes for energy. Attacking a caster with madness because they are drawing deep makes the proposition more dangerous. The souls of the departed, their screams, the problems of the netherworld take a toll not just mentally but physically as the caster continues to use the Grey.

4 - Neighbor Problems - So you decide to be a Grey. Suddenly the veil becomes thinner as the caster is drawing more energy. Yay not a problem! Until it is. Creatures and entities could come through, leading to things long dead and departed. These things are not under the control of the caster, but instead are at an initial attitude of Hostile (because you know, the caster was trying to channel the material of the Grey for power, and they are becoming the Grey). Treating these things as “called” could create a devastating problem, as now you have various undead coming through depending on the size of the breach. This could escalate further with say a Crimson eventually finding out who’s tainting their food supply, and come a knockin’. A lot of stuff has died, and its probably not going to be happy if something stirs it. No matter the CR of the party, enough ancient dead things are going to be a problem.

I like the idea of channeling other sources of energy for power. Whether its Cerulean, Shadow Wizards, or Necromants. To me it represents different approaches to Arcane power. Yeah the Sorcerer Kings are great, but their power is limited to one energy source and that power source is finite. New power sources being used makes for a lot of good potential for rekindling ancient feuds.

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#8

Not a lot of additional tracking. Its a very simple mechanic.

Its supposed to be permissive, just not as permissive as the Athas.org ability. At low levels, a necromant can probably cast their entire complement of spells with gray energy. The risk is at higher levels. Undeath on Athas is no reward; almost all of the undead are tormented in some way.

The Sorcerer Monarchs definitely do care about defiling. They banned the use of magic to prevent it. The Sorcerer Monarch’s use trees of life to fuel their own spells and those of their arcanamachs. If there was a safe graycasting option, they would surely take advantage of that.

That is the core lesson of my Tale of the Necromant. In the context of safe gray energy, preserving is naught but utter hypocrisy.

This seems rather convoluted. It seems to me that all undead arcane casters should be able to use gray casting by default, and using gray casting as a living creature risks undeath.

#9

Spells cast per hour seems heavy for me. A round is 6 seconds, so we’re tracking a rolling timer of 600 rounds. Being somewhat lazy, I’d likely turn that into a per encounter timer which means they’d likely need to be careful during boss fights but not others. A single encounter is typically between 3 and 10 rounds, 6-8 encounters per day per the DMG plus an 8 hour rest, so up to average 2 encounters per hour but likely more since you don’t finish combat and drop right so sleep… Hourly timer means you now how have to track time between encounters and figure it in rounds.

In accumulating Taint, assuming you take Necromant as your 6th level and ignoring 0 level spells you would need:

image

I’m not sure what CON score wizards in your game run with, but seeing one with more 15 is pretty rare for me, most don’t seem to bother with much more then 10. Those scores severely restrict the number of spells that can be cast before turning undead (the specific type of undead would let us know if it’s a good or bad thing). The risk certainly gets higher as you level. Terrors of the Dead Lands has a CR +0, LA +1/2 Necromant ability that converts undead into Grey Casters. Wraiths and Crimsons all have it, most of the Dead Lands folks do, I imagine whatever undead you turn into would as well, but I don’t think any of the currently defined Athas.org undead works lore wise.

Your version unfortunately makes all Necromants hypocrites, they have to rely more and more on plant magic the more they advance. As for the SMs, yes, in general they don’t want to use it, especially around their own cities which is why they use Trees of Life there, but if they really wanted to ban defiling, there wouldn’t be such a thing as a Royal Defiler, they would only use Preservers as their agents or fully ban arcane magic depending on if they were willing to give up arcane magic entirely for their agents. I figure Rajaat sold them on Defiling as a necessary sacrifice, the SMs simply choose to rarely make that sacrifice anymore and instead rely on Psioncs, Templars, and Trees of Life as much as possible.

I’m not saying my way is right and yours is wrong, I’m just pointing out that your version does not accomplish the task you set out for it. My only goal with mine was to explain why there are so few Grey Casters around, the answer was few survive even the initial level, learning it is practically a death sentence all on it’s own.

Rajaat created the Crimsons, who were powerful Grey Casters/Psions before he created his Champions. He gave up on the Crimsons when they weren’t working out and moved on to the Champions.

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#10

At level 6, as a with a 10 Con score, and an Int score of 16, they should be in this situation:
.
(including bonus spells): 21.

That means that the Necromant can unload its entire spell capacity at this level.

Character level 7 is a bit more dangerous.

Wizard 5, Necromant 2
Maximum taint: 24
Total combined spell levels: 30.
If the Necromant was to use all of its spells using Gray energy, it would turn into an undead creature. To prevent this, the Necromant can choose defiling or preserving. Either way, the core theme of the Dark Sun campaign setting is preserved (pun intended).

For what it’s worth, I think one could use the taint rules from Heroes of Horror just fine. Here is a summary:

THE TAINT OF EVIL

Core Concept: Evil is a corrupting force that can erode the body and soul of even the most virtuous characters. This is represented by “taint,” which manifests as physical corruption or mental depravity.

Acquiring Taint:

Characters can acquire taint through:

  • Evil Places: Entering areas suffused with evil.
  • Evil Objects: Contact with horribly evil objects.
  • Monster Attacks: Certain monsters’ attacks.
  • Evil Acts: Performing evil actions.
  • Using Gray Energy: You accumulate taint for casting your spells. Each time you cast an arcane spell, you must make a Will save (DC 10 + spell level) or increase your depravity score by 1. All arcane spells you cast are evil spells.

Taint Measurement:

  • Taint is measured in points of corruption and depravity.
  • Typical acquisition: 1-3 points per exposure.
  • Prolonged exposure: Potentially +1 point per 24 hours.
  • Specific amounts are detailed in other sections of the source material (Horror Environments, Dread Magic, monster descriptions).

Saving Throws:

  • Characters usually get a saving throw to resist taint.
  • Corruption: Fortitude save.
  • Depravity: Will save.

Immediate Effects (High Acquisition):

  • If a character gains more corruption points at once than their Constitution modifier, they must make another Fortitude save (DC 15 + corruption acquired).
    • Success: Sickened for 1d4 rounds.
    • Failure: Nauseated for 1d4 rounds.
  • If a character gains more depravity points at once than their Wisdom modifier, they must make another Will save (DC 15 + depravity acquired).
    • Success: Dazed for 1d4 rounds.
    • Failure: Stunned for 1d4 rounds.

Immunities:

  • Creatures with the Evil subtype and undead creatures are immune to negative effects of taint.
  • They automatically have effective corruption and depravity scores:
    • Half their Charisma score.
    • +1 for undead.
    • +2 for outsiders.
      *They suffer to penalties, but can use them for feats.

EFFECTS OF TAINT

  • Both corruption and depravity manifest in mild, moderate, and severe symptoms.
    *Severity is determined by comparing the character’s taint with their Constitution and Wisom scores.

Determining Symptom Severity (Table 4-1: Taint Thresholds):

  1. Find the character’s Constitution score in the leftmost column.
  2. Read across to find the column that includes their current physical corruption score.
  3. The top of that column indicates the severity of their physical taint symptoms (No Taint, Mild, Moderate, Severe, Dead/Insane).
  4. Repeat the process with the Wisdom score and depravity score for mental taint symptoms.

Taint Threshold Table Summary:

Con or Wis Score No Taint Mild Taint Moderate Taint Severe Taint Dead/Insane
1-4 0 1 2-5 6-13 14+
5-8 0 1-3 4-11 12-27 28+
9-12 0 1-5 6-17 18-41 42+
13-16 0 1-7 8-23 24-55 56+
17-20 0 1-9 10-29 30-69 70+
21-24 0 1-11 12-35 36-83 84+
25-28 0 1-13 14-41 42-97 98+
29-32 0 1-15 16-47 48-111 112+
33-36 0 1-17 18-53 54-125 126+

Taint Levels and Symptoms:

  • No Taint: No symptoms.
  • Mild Taint:
    • Requires restoration, heal, or greater restoration within 24 hours to reduce taint to 0, or becomes permanent.
    • Manifests one minor physical or mental symptom.
    • If both mild corruption and depravity, one of each symptom.
    • Miracle or wish needed to remove symptoms and taint.
  • Moderate Taint:
    • Requires heal or greater restoration within 24 hours to reduce to mild taint, or becomes permanent.
    • Manifests one moderate physical or mental symptom.
    • If both moderate corruption and depravity, one of each symptom.
    • Miracle or wish needed to remove symptoms and reduce taint to mild.
    • Keeps mild taint symptoms.
  • Severe Taint:
    • Requires greater restoration within 24 hours to reduce to moderate taint, or becomes permanent.
    • Manifests one severe physical or mental symptom.
    • If both severe corruption and depravity, one of each symptom.
    • Miracle or wish needed to remove symptoms and reduce taint to moderate.

Specific Symptoms (Tables 4-2 and 4-3):

  • To determine the exact symptom, roll 1d10 and consult the appropriate table (Corruption or Depravity).
  • If taint increases to a higher level, the character gains the next symptom to the right on the table.

Table 4-2: Corruption Effects (Physical Symptoms)

d10 Mild Moderate Severe
1 Dead eye Lips shrink Lich eyes
2 Ear scabs Fingers/toes fuse Shriveled flesh
3 Gums swell Bones thicken Great swollen growths
4 Feet curl Joint pain Spine twists
5 Lumps Eruption of sores Wrigglers
6 Odor of decay Paralyzed face Nose rots
7 Palsy Uncontrollable seizures Skull deformed
8 Skin seeps Blood eruption Internal corruption
9 Skin sloughs Skin thickens Skin lichen
10 Winded Chronic illness Lungs eaten away

Mild Corruption Effects Descriptions

  • Dead Eye: Vision clouded. Roll miss chance twice for attacks against opponents with concealment.
  • Ear Scabs: -2 penalty to Listen checks.
  • Feet Curl: Speed reduced by 10 feet.
  • Gums Swell: Difficulty with verbal spell components. DC 20 caster level check to cast spells with verbal components.
  • Lumps: Burning lumps, constant fever. DC 20 Fortitude save when running or charging or become fatigued.
  • Odor of Decay. -2 on Handle Animal, Ride, and Wild empathy.
  • Palsy: -2 on ranged attack rolls.
  • Skin Seeps: +2 circumstance on Escape Artist and resisting grapples; -2 on Climb and Slight of Hand. Opponents +2 to disarm.
  • Skin Sloughs: Face skin peels, -2 to Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Perform.
  • Winded: Staggered on the third and subsequent rounds of combat.

Moderate Corruption Effects Descriptions

  • Blood Eruption: DC 15 Fortitude save at the start of combat or be sickened for 4 rounds.
  • Bones Thicken: +2 Strength, -4 Dexterity.
  • Chronic Illness: -3 to Fortitude saves, phlegm, and bouts of vomiting.
  • Eruption of Sores: -1 to Strength- and Charisma-based ability and skill checks.
  • Fingers and Toes Fuse: -2 on attack rolls; DC 20 caster level check for spells with somatic components.
  • Joint Pain: -3 to Reflex saves.
  • Lips Shrink: -2 to Charisma-based ability and skill checks.
  • Paralyzed Face: Can no longer express emotion with face; +1 to Bluff, -1 to other Charisma-based checks and skills.
  • Skin Thickens: +1 natural armor, -2 to Dexterity-based ability and skill checks.
  • Uncontrollable Seizures: -4 to Initiative.

Severe Corruptions Effects Descriptions

  • Great Swollen Growths: -2 to Armor Class
  • Internal Corruption: No visible effect, but organs are rotten. Constitution score is reduced by 2.
  • Lich Eyes: Gain Darkvision 60ft or add 30 feet to existing Darkvision, and gain light blindness.
  • Lungs Eaten Away: Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution are reduced by 1.
  • Nose Rots: Charisma reduced by 2.
  • Shriveled Flesh: Subtract HD from HP total, and subtract 1 HP from each level gained.
  • Skin Lichen: Black lichenous growths, -2 penalty on Strength-, Dexterity-, and Constitution-based ability checks and skill checks.
  • Skull Deformed: -2 to Intelligence and Wisdom, and -3 to Will Saves.
  • Spine Twists: Dexterity is reduced by 2.
  • Wrigglers: Parasitic worms protrude from your sores, sapping your strength. Reduce your Strength score by 2. You gain a +2 bonus to Intimidate checks and take a –4 penalty on other Charisma-based checks.

Table 4-3: Depravity Effects (Mental Symptoms)

d10 Mild Moderate Severe
1 Aggressive Treacherous Murderous
2 Bestial Deranged Unbalanced
3 Compulsive Hysterical Unresponsive
4 Crazed Jittery Craven
5 Disoriented Hallucinating Paranoid
6 Mildly phobic Moderately phobic Severely phobic
7 Neglectful Distracted Enthralled
8 Opinionated Solipsistic Hubristic
9 Prophetic Delusional Apathetic
10 Sycophantic Weak-Willed Fatalistic

Descriptions for these are available in the original text.
Mild Depravity Effects Descriptions

  • Aggressive: Easily angered, -1 penalty to Armor Class in combat.
  • Bestial: +2 circumstance on Handle Animal, Ride, and Wild empathy, -1 to other Charisma based checks.
  • Compulsive: Pick a compulsive ritual. To break the pattern eat bugs. DC 10 Fortitude save each day, failure = 1d4 non-lethal damage.
  • Crazed: When surprised charge or run away.
  • Disoriented: When suprised dazed for one round.
  • Mildly Phobic: Requires will saves around objects of phobia.
  • Neglectful: -2 penalty on Charisma-based ability checks and skill checks.
  • Opinionated: Always flat-footed in the first round of combat.
  • Prophetic: Get Prophecies (10% accurate) and effects of continual nightmares.
  • Sycophantic: -2 penalty on Listen checks and Spot checks. Enemies gain a +2 bonus on Listen checks to hear you.

Moderate Depravity Effects Descriptions

  • Delusional: Convince the world is an illusion. -2 penalty on Wisdom-based ability checks and skill checks.
  • Deranged: -2 penalty on Intelligence-based ability checks and skill checks.
  • Distracted: -2 on skill checks.
  • Hallucinating: -6 penalty on Initiative
  • Hysterical: Everything is funny, spend second round of combat with only a move or standard action.
  • Jittery: Panicked when hit while flat-footed.
  • Moderately Phobic: Requires will saves around objects of phobia.
  • Solipsistic: DC 20 Will save when struck in combat. If you fail the save, you take an additional 1 point of damage per die of damage received.
  • Treacherous: Any attack of opportunity, DC 20 Will save. If you fail the save, you must make the attack of opportunity, even on an ally.
  • Weak-Willed: -3 on Will Saves.

Severe Depravity Effects Descriptions

  • Apathetic: Reduce both your Charisma and Wisdom scores by 2.
  • Craven: Always fight or cast defensively.
  • Enthralled: Always attack at -4 against evil, and damage is non-lethal.
  • Fatalistic: -3 on saving throws.
  • Hubristic: Divine healing has no effect.
  • Murderous: Must coup de grace.
  • Paranoid: Watch allies for treachery, -1 penalty to rolls.
  • Severely Phobic: Requires will saves around objects of phobia.
  • Unbalanced: Automatically confused first turn of every combat.
  • Unresponsive: Senses are dulled. Reduce Wisdom by 2.

Extreme Taint:

  • Corruption Exceeds Severe Threshold: Character dies, rises as a tainted minion (see Chapter 6) in 1d6 hours.
  • Depravity Exceeds Severe Threshold: Character goes irretrievably mad, becomes a tainted raver (see Chapter 6), and falls under DM control.

Taint and Bonus Feats:

  • Moderate Taint: Gain a bonus feat.
  • Severe Taint: Gain a bonus feat.
    *Retain feats even with taint level changes.

Resisting Taint:
*Using items that absorb Taint.
*Table for resisting taint:

Number of Items Points Absorbed
1 7
2 12
3 15
4 16
5 15
6 12
7 1

Taint and Alignment:
*Characters are increasingly inclined to evil acts.
*Register as evil to detect evil with moderate taint.
*Moderate taint generally neutral, severe taint generally evil.

Deities and Codes of Conduct:
*Clerics of good deities risk displeasure.
*Severe taint= loss of spells.
*Moderate Taint for Paladins= loss of powers.

Cleansing Taint:

It is possible to remove taint from characters in several ways, including through the use of spells, the performance of good deeds, and cleansing in a sacred spring. Taint cannot be removed unless the tainted character wants to be cleansed. If an increase in taint causes a character’s corruption or depravity score to cross over into a higher taint level (for example, shifting from mild to moderate), neither taint score can be reduced to a lower taint level unless quickly treated (within 24 hours) or through use of an atonement, miracle, or wish spell (see below).

Spells:

The following spells can reduce taint scores when cast outside tainted areas. No character can have a taint score reduced by any particular spell more than once per day, although dif- ferent spells can reduce taint if cast on the same character in the same day.

  • Atonement: This spell can remove taint, but with limits. First, it always requires a quest. Second, the caster chooses a number up to his caster level when he casts the atonement, and the spell reduces the target’s corruption and depravity scores by that amount. This use of atonement, which costs the caster 500 XP, can reduce taint to a lower taint level.
  • Heal: This spell reduces a character’s corruption and depravity scores by 1 point per three caster levels. If used within 24 hours of the target’s acquiring enough taint to qualify as mild or moderate taint, heal can reduce taint below that threshold.
  • Miracle or Wish: These spells remove sufficient taint to place the target at the highest threshold of the next lower taint level, regardless of how much time has passed.
  • Remove Curse: This spell reduces the character’s depravity score by 1.
  • Remove Disease: This spell reduces the character’s corruption score by 1.
  • Restoration: This spell reduces the character’s corruption and depravity scores by 1 point per four caster levels. If used within 24 hours of the target’s acquiring enough taint to qualify as mild taint, it can reduce taint below that threshold.
  • Greater Restoration: This spell reduces the character’s cor- ruption and depravity scores by a number of points equal to the caster level of the cleric casting greater restoration.

Good Deeds:
*Good deeds can lower depravity under ritual.

Sacred Springs:
*Corruption is reduced 1 point a day while resting.

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#11

Thought of a fun bit of irony for recovering from depravity/taint/corruption would be for them to be affected by an avangion’s restoring radius. Could be an interesting cause for interaction between the two.

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#12

Imagine the kind of depraved and corrupted entity a Gray infused advanced being would be like.

#13

That would be an undead monstrosity, right? The Gray powers undeath?