D&D General Corruption and Feats (i.e. Temptation)

[Azzy]

I immediatelly had flashback to 3.5 taint. You do not want anyone to see your taint, as you never know how people may react to being shown your taint, so you may waynt to conceal your taint....

laughs immaturally

 

[Horwath]

Its harsher.

An origin feat costs 1 corruption.
A general feat is 4 corruption

A PC with 12 Con and Cha can get 1 general and 1 origin feat and look normal.

One more feat an they start to look or act off.

At 8 worth of feats, they get physically deformed or mentally twisted.

At 12, NPC mode.

numbers are always up for grabs, but if you value origin feat at 1 pt, then general feat would be 2 on average.
Drop the ASI from general feat and everything is 1 pt.

also why even tie to charisma? or any ability? That would just be free extra feats for sorcerers... or some other class if you chance key ability.
tie it to prof bonus.

up to prof bonus, you look and act normally(mostly)
over it, you show some marks,
over 2×prob bonus, you basically become twisted NPC.

 

[Minigiant]

also why even tie to charisma? or any ability? That would just be free extra feats for sorcerers... or some other class if you chance key ability.
tie it to prof bonus.

Retaining control of your Personality is Charisma.

 

[Maxperson]

If you were going to give free feats (or spells, abilities, etc) for gaining corruption...how many would you let a character have before they succumbed to madness and became (a formless chaos gibbering mouther/fiend/crazed npc/etc) ???

You could make it dependent on charisma(sense of self) and/or wisdom(willpower) bonus. Charisma bonus +2 and wisdom bonus +4 and you can have a maximum of six corruption before going mad.

Also, how do they get these feats? Do they have to earn them through game play, or are they just able to pick them whenever they want?

 

[SkidAce]

numbers are always up for grabs, but if you value origin feat at 1 pt, then general feat would be 2 on average.
Drop the ASI from general feat and everything is 1 pt.

also why even tie to charisma? or any ability? That would just be free extra feats for sorcerers... or some other class if you chance key ability.
tie it to prof bonus.

up to prof bonus, you look and act normally(mostly)
over it, you show some marks,
over 2×prob bonus, you basically become twisted NPC.

I've been using 1-2, 3-7, and 9-10 as the tiers.

But using proficiency bonus is interesting, it would allow for weaker characters to be overwhelmed quicker (good), and "stronger" characters to endure.

Hmmmm.

 

[SkidAce]

You could make it dependent on charisma(sense of self) and/or wisdom(willpower) bonus. Charisma bonus +2 and wisdom bonus +4 and you can have a maximum of six corruption before going mad.

Also, how do they get these feats? Do they have to earn them through game play, or are they just able to pick them whenever they want?

They gain feats as they gain corruption, its a bribe/temptation for MOAR POWAR. Through gameplay. (edit)

"Do I use the forbidden spells, and risk getting closer to oblivion and our fuzzy lord Hastur?"

 

[TwoSix]

So if a PC had a 12 Con, they could get 6 free feats and start showing changes, with a total of 12 before becoming and NPC?

That much power would be tempting indeed. Seems a bit high. My players would gladly take 5 free feats and say "thanks", never gaining another one.

Yea, if you can get X number of feats for free without consequence, that’s what everyone will take.

Corruption should fall into a “risky gamble” category, with each feat you take giving you a cumulatively increasing chance of acquiring a permanent physical or mental corruption.

 

[Maxperson]

They gain feats as they gain corruption, its a bribe/temptation for MOAR POWAR. Through gameplay. (edit)

"Do I use the forbidden spells, and risk getting closer to oblivion and our fuzzy lord Hastur?"

Then you control the pace, so 4-10(assuming two 20's in cha/wis) feats over 20 levels isn't so bad. Plus, if if they are bribes, you get to offer the feats you choose to them.

Given that monsters can be the CR you want and in the numbers you want, these extra feats aren't game breakers, but are really cool story wise.

 

[Maxperson]

Another idea is to have corruption offer some small negatives as they build, with madness being the end result. That can balance them a bit.

 

[TwoSix]

I think I’d also want to know what a corruption feat “means”, in the narrative. Is it a ritual the character does to gain that power? Is it just a grant from dark forces, hoping that the character will do something bad? Is it something the character sought out, or was it unwanted?