Taint

“Some places and items are so evil that exposure to them marks, or taints, a character in a very real and difficult-to-cleanse way. Taint is evil. It is a corruption so deep it warps the very plane of reality.”
Unearthed Arcana

“There are as many theories on the origins of taint as there are scholars. If Your Grace may permit, the most plausible is this: The Precursors, in their hubris trafficked with the nameless blasphemies outside and brought their dark powers to our world. Taint is no more or less than ruinous effects of calling upon the powers of the Old Gods. For this reason, Your Grace, I urge you to consider taint the equivalent of apostasy and the precursor to diabolism itself. May the Guardian protect us!”
Letter from Dominion Arcanist Eril Wohlmuth to Duke Edward of Scotia

There are two kinds of Taint: Item Taint and Acquired Taint. Item Taint is taint a character has due to the magical items in his/her position. It cannot be removed or reduced (except by the Taint Tolerance Feat or Halfling Racial Ability). Acquired Taint is taint a character has from going to tainted places or interacting with tainted items not in his/her (e.g. relics) possession. These two sum to give the character a total Taint rating.

Effects of taint

Mild Taint: Take a -2 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and opposed rolls.
Moderate Taint: Take a -4 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and opposed rolls.
Severe Taint: Take a -6 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and opposed rolls.

Taint Threshold

Your Taint thresholds are set by your character level.

Character level	Mild Taint	Moderate Taint	Severe Taint
1-4	1	2-5	6+
5-8	1-3	4-11	12+
9-12	1-5	6-17	18+
13-16	1-7	8-23	24+
17-20	1-9	10-29	30+
21+	1-11	12-35	36+

When a character reaches mild, moderate, or severe taint choose an effect from the Table: Taint Effects to roleplay. These effects disappear when your taint drops below the threshold for a sustained period of time.

Bonus Feats

The first time a character reaches moderate taint, and again when they reach severe taint, they gain a bonus feat. This can be any feat for which the character has the prerequisites. However, falling below the specified taint level for a feat for a sustained period of time renders that feat inoperative, though they regain access to the feat if their taint rises to the required level again.

Taint Sources

Item Taint

All magic items that have a 5th level spell or higher as a prerequisite that is not on the Healer’s spell list is always tainted. Other items may or may not be tainted. A tainted item has an Item Taint score equal to the caster level of the item’s creator. This cannot be removed or reduced (except by the Taint Resistance Feat) so long as the item is in the character’s possession and for 24 hours afterwards.

After 24 hours of a tainted item being out of the character’s possession, the character makes a Fortitude save to determine how much of the item’s taint converts to acquired taint:

Acquired Taint += max(0, Item Taint Level - max(0,Rolled Fort Save - 15) )

Basically, roll a Fort Save and subtract 15 (with a minimum of zero). Add the result to your acquired taint score.

Acquired Taint

Acquired taint can be acquired via items (see above). It can also be acquired by exposure to tainted places or objects (e.g. relics). There is no save against initial exposure. However, continued exposure (or activation of certain very powerful tainted objects) requires a Fortitude save to avoid additional Taint.

Reducing Acquired Taint

Every month spent without exposure to tainted items, relics, or places reduces your acquired taint by half (to a minimum of 1).
Atonement or Greater Restoration (Spell): Reduces acquired taint by up to caster’s level.
Heal(Spell): Reduces acquired taint by up to caster’s level / 3.
Remove Curse / Remove Disease (Spell): Reduce acquired taint by 1.
Restoration(Spell): Reduces acquired taint by up to caster’s level / 4.
Lay on Hands(Class Ability): Reduces acquired taint by 1 per 10 points of LoH used. Cannot be used on self. Each character may only have their taint reduced by LoH once per day,.
Sacred Spring (Action): Reduce taint by 1 for each full day spent in bathing and meditation at a sacred spring sacred to your religion.