Table of contents
Pure Soul
Prerequisites: Non-evil alignment, no acquired taint
You do not gain acquired taint (only item taint). This includes the acquired taint gained after disposing of a tainted item. You still have to wait 24 hours, however.
Silencer
Prerequisites: Knowledge(Arcana) 6 or Knowledge(Religion) or Knowledge(History) 6
Gain +4 on all checks to silence Tainted Relics. Gain +4 to all saves against effects of Tainted Relics.
Soul Binding 1
Requires GM approval
Prerequisite: Character level 4th, must have previously acquired at least Mild Taint
You can contact a vestige and make a pact with it. You can make a pact with one vestige at a time. You must complete the summoning and binding process with the vestige. You bear physical sign of binding for the vestige. Your effective binder level, or EBL, is 1. You can bind 1st level vestiges.
To contact a vestige, you must draw its unique seal visibly on a surface (generally the ground), making the image at least 5 feet across. Drawing a seal requires the ability to mark a surface and 1 minute of concentration, and the act provokes attacks of opportunity. A seal not used within 1 minute of its drawing loses all potency, and you must draw a new one to contact the vestige. A vestige might also have other requirements for contact, as noted in its entry (see Tome of Magic p. 16).
Once the seal is drawn, you must perform a ritual requiring a full-round action to summon the corresponding vestige. During this time, you must touch the seal and call out to the vestige using both its name and its title. The ritual fails if you cannot be heard (for example, if you are within the area of a silence spell). Otherwise, a manifestation of the vestige appears in the seal’s space as soon as you finish the ritual. This image is not the actual vestige; it is merely a figment - an illusion that cannot harm or be harmed by any creature. Creatures that interact with the image or study it carefully automatically recognize it as illusory. The summoned image ignores everyone but you. If you fail to address it within 1 round, it disappears. The vestige speaks in whatever language you used to call it.
To make a pact with your summoned vestige, you must make a binding check (1d20 + your effective binder level + your Cha modifier). This process requires 1 minute, but you can choose to make a rushed binding check as a full-round action at a -10 penalty. The DC for this check is provided in the description of each vestige. You must make your perilous pact alone; others cannot aid you in any way.
Whether the binding check succeeds or fails, you gain the powers granted by the vestige for 24 hours. Success or failure does, however, determine other aspects of the pact. If you fail the binding check, the vestige influences your personality and your actions, and you are said to have made a poor pact. (Specifically, the vestige’s presence changes your general demeanor, and it can force you to perform or refrain from certain actions.) If your binding check is successful, the vestige has no control over your actions and does not influence your personality. In this case, you are said to have made a good pact.
While under the influence of a vestige, you must adhere to its requirements to the best of your ability. If you are conscious and free-willed, and you encounter a situation in which you cannot or will not refrain from a prohibited action or perform a required one, you take a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and checks until that vestige leaves you.
As long as you are bound to a vestige, you manifest a specific physical sign of its presence, as given in its entry. This sign is real, not an illusory or shapechanging effect, and someone using true seeing perceives it just as it is. You can hide a sign by mundane or magical means without penalty.
Vestiges are bound to your soul by the pact. They cannot be targeted or expelled by any means, nor can they be suppressed except by an antimagic field or similar effect.
The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against any supernatural power granted by a vestige is 10 + 1/2 your effective binder level + your Cha modifier.
Special: Whenever you bind a 1st level vestige, if you have less than Mild Acquired Taint, increase your acquired taint by 1.
Soul Binding 2
Prerequisite: Character level 8th, Soul Binding 1
Your effective binder level increases to 3. You can bind up to 2nd level vestiges.
Special: Whenever you bind a 2nd level vestige, if you have less than Moderate Acquired Taint, increase your acquired taint by 1.
Soul Binding 3
Prerequisite: Character level 11th, Soul Binding 2
Your effective binder level increases to 5. You can bind up to 3rd level vestiges.
Special: Whenever you bind a 3rd level vestige, if you have less than Severe Acquired Taint, increase your acquired taint by 1.
Soul Binding 4
Prerequisite: Character level 14th, Soul Binding 3
Your effective binder level increases to 7. You can bind up to 4th level vestiges.
Special: Whenever you bind a 4th level vestige, if you have less than Severe Acquired Taint, increase your acquired taint by 2.
Taint Resistance
Prerequisite: Fort +3
Reduce the penalty caused by taint on attacks, saves, ability checks, and opposed rolls by 1.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times and its effects stack.