On the subject of taint...

[Mandar]

Currently I'm in a game with heavy taint. Like anywhere you go its likely to get a point of taint:smallfurious:. From touching tainted treasure (which is every treasure) to doing anything slightly corrupt or deprave. So, what I'm asking is does anyone have any advice on what to do? I know this is not a lot of information so ask if you need to know anymore. Thanks.

- Manny

[Eurus]

Take the Pure Soul feat for taint immunity, if it's that important.

[Giggling Ghast]

Try drinking darkspawn blood. :smalltongue:

Seriously, I don't know what you do. That sounds kind of ridiculous.

[Boci]

There's a feat from Heroes of Horror that render's you immune to taint. Only preq is you yourself be untainted.

[dextercorvia]

1. Necropolitan
2. Tainted Scholar

[Mandar]

Sorry! I forgot to mention the DM banned the Pure Soul feat.

[The Glyphstone]

This sounds like one of the like, three situations ever, where Tainted Scholar isn't considered to be Overkill. That assumes you're a caster though, you didn't tell us anything about your character.

[erikun]

Here you go (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/taint.htm), in case you didn't know that the SRD had a section on Taint. Basically, it sounds like you'll need magical healing to get rid of the Taint, or at least get it down to a managable degree. You can also buy items to absorb taint, depending on your DM.

The other option is the Tainted Sorcerer prestige class, in the same link, which powers your spellcasting via your taint score. Of course, you get more taint that way too...

[balistafreak]

Currently I'm in a game with heavy taint. Like anywhere you go its likely to get a point of taint:smallfurious:. From touching tainted treasure (which is every treasure) to doing anything slightly corrupt or deprave. So, what I'm asking is does anyone have any advice on what to do? I know this is not a lot of information so ask if you need to know anymore. Thanks.

- Manny

1. STOP whatever hopes and dreams you had of your previous class. Now that you have been tainted, you have only one path that does not end in madness. You can choose to give in, or you can walk the path to redemption.

2. Kill yourself while impeaching the gods to give you strength against your madness.
2a. By which I mean die in the process of becoming a Necropolitan.
2b. Congratulations, you are now immune to all the negative effects of Taint.

3. Take levels in a full-casting arcane class. Retrain as much as you can away - your past is unimportant, only your future.

4. Take your first level of Tainted Scholar.
4a. Embrace your Depravity. Get it to >9000.
4b. Your foresight in becoming immune to Taint means that you now have >9000 spells to cast a day.

5. Go forth and purge the Taint that once infected you from this world.

6. For the lulz, take Exalted feats and become a Saint.
6a. Rise above the clutches of the darkness and shine forever as a beacon of hope to all.

"Sainted Scholar" for the win.

[Eloi]

Die, and let yourself be raised by tainted items. Then, you can take a Tainted Prestige Class automatically. You will not only be immune to taint as you have embraced it, but everything else as you are an Undead.

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B6bkr0xwDk09N2U5Nzc2YjItMjBkNi00M2IwL WE1NDctZGYwNDk5MWRmODAw&hl=en

[ShneekeyTheLost]

1. STOP whatever hopes and dreams you had of your previous class. Now that you have been tainted, you have only one path that does not end in madness. You can choose to give in, or you can walk the path to redemption.

2. Kill yourself while impeaching the gods to give you strength against your madness.
2a. By which I mean die in the process of becoming a Necropolitan.
2b. Congratulations, you are now immune to all the negative effects of Taint.

3. Take levels in a full-casting arcane class. Retrain as much as you can away - your past is unimportant, only your future.

4. Take your first level of Tainted Scholar.
4a. Embrace your Depravity. Get it to >9000.
4b. Your foresight in becoming immune to Taint means that you now have >9000 spells to cast a day.

5. Go forth and purge the Taint that once infected you from this world.

6. For the lulz, take Exalted feats and become a Saint.
6a. Rise above the clutches of the darkness and shine forever as a beacon of hope to all.

"Sainted Scholar" for the win.

This.

Hey, if your GM is running a railroad game wherein everyone ends up tainted, you may as well max maximum benefit for it...

[Mandar]

Okay, I guess I wasn't thinking right... I'll give you ALOT of info considering its really important...

My current character, Mandar (Hence the name) is an archivist 8/tainted scholar 3. The DM allowed it to be applied to divine casters and can use taint to fuel the spells. I currently have around 50 points of taint. Since the DM made the taint a little homebrew I'm still alive and partially sane. However in about 10 more points, or if my wisdom drops my taint will either kill me or make me insane. Like I said before, taint fuels my spells. Bonus spells are 10+1/4 Depravity Score, and Saving throws are 10+ 1/5 Corruption Score. I have about 40 Dep. and 10 Cor. (I know, unbalanced). My problem is that I want to keep playing this character because I've put so much time and fluff into him, but it seems like he's about to die from taint.

[Mandar]

Oh! And I'm CG, I want to still help my party (Which is CG-LG).

[erikun]

Necropolitan. Any undead will do, but going through the ritual for Necropolitan is the easiest and has no LA.

[Mandar]

Where can I find Necroplitan? I love PDF's :)

[PersonMan]

Oh! And I'm CG, I want to still help my party (Which is CG-LG).

Simple.

To help all of those who are with me...to aid those who depend upon me in combat...I must make a sacrifice, to purge the evil from this world, by using evil against itself! I am but a drop in a river, but with this power I can stop the flow of death, and turn back the tides of fate!

Then follow through with the aforementioned steps.

Necropolitan is in Libris Mortis(AKA the Book of Bad Latin).

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Where can I find Necroplitan? I love PDF's :)

The mods, however, don't.

[PersonMan]

Where can I find Necroplitan? I love PDF's :)

You love PDF's what? What does this "PDF" have that you love?

Apostrophes have rights.

[Umael]

Stay out of the Shadowlands.

[Boci]

Where can I find Necroplitan? I love PDF's :)

Under templates on crystalkeep.com.

[Scorpions__]

Ba! Hahahahahaha!!!





DM[F]R

[The Glyphstone]

Where can I find Necroplitan? I love PDF's :)

It's printed in Libris Mortis: The Book of Bad Latin Undead.

[Eloi]

It's printed in Libris Mortis: The Book of Bad Latin Undead.

The Book of Bad Latin is "Jus Dident Giv Duo Phucces Abutda Lingua".

[PersonMan]

It's printed in Libris Mortis: The Book of Bad Latin Undead.

It's the Book of Undead, and within it is the ghost of Good Latin, corrupted by vile necromantic forces into the beast that feeds upon grammar...Bad Latin.

[DragoonWraith]

For those not getting this, "The Book of the Dead" would be "Liber Mortis" in Latin. "Libris Mortis" would sort of be "for the Books of the Dead" or "from the Books of the Dead", though in both cases it really makes absolutely no sense in a title as opposed to a full sentence.

[PersonMan]

For those not getting this, "The Book of the Dead" would be "Liber Mortis" in Latin. "Libris Mortis" would sort of be "for the Books of the Dead" or "from the Books of the Dead", though in both cases it really makes absolutely no sense in a title as opposed to a full sentence.

I don't know, "NAME: from the Books of the Dead" sounds pretty cool to me. Or just "From the Books of the Dead".

[Yora]

It's not "coming out of" but "belonging to".

"Dead's Book's" would be the closest english translation, I think.

[deuxhero]

Go go tainted scholar!

[PersonMan]

It's not "coming out of" but "belonging to".

"Dead's Book's" would be the closest english translation, I think.

Still sounds cool. Just add "the" and you have a good title.

[Yora]

But Libris is genitive case and genitive case can never stand alone. "XYZ Libris" is "XYZ of the Book". As "ABC Mortis" is "ABC of the Dead".
Libris Mortis is not just sounding stupid, it's gramatically impossible. "Belongs to the book that belongs to the dead" is no noun.

[DragoonWraith]

I don't know, "NAME: from the Books of the Dead" sounds pretty cool to me. Or just "From the Books of the Dead".
But you would more properly need another word, a preposition that means "from". That particular case (the -is ending) has the general meaning of "from" but it is always paired with a preposition to specify exactly what is meant - "ab" for just "from", "ex" for "out of", "de" for "down from" or sometimes "about", etc. So "Ab Libris Mortis" would make sense. "Libris Mortis" on its own would not. Especially since the "-is" ending can instead mean "to" or "for", in the sense of an indirect object, but that requires a verb, at least, to say what exactly what is being done to or for the books.


It's not "coming out of" but "belonging to".

"Dead's Book's" would be the closest english translation, I think.
"Liber" is a second declension noun, not third. The "-is" ending in the third declension (like, for example, in "mortis") means "belonging to", as in the possessive, since that is the genitive singular ending, but in the second declension, "-is" is either either the dative plural ending or the ablative plural ending.

{table=head]~ | Singular | Plural | Meaning
Nominative | liber | libri | Subject of a sentence
Genitive | libri | librorum | Possessive
Dative | libro | libris | Indirect Object
Accusative | librum | libros | Direct object, object of prepositions going "to"
Ablative | libro | libris | Object of prepositions coming "from"[/table]

{table=head]~ | Singular | Plural
Nominative | mors | mortes
Genitive | mortis | mortum
Dative | morti | mortibus
Accusative | mortem | mortes
Ablative | morte | mortibus[/table]
Yes, Latin is ungodly confusing.

[PersonMan]

@^I see. That makes perfect sense, all of it. Seriously.



But Libris is genitive case and genitive case can never stand alone. "XYZ Libris" is "XYZ of the Book". As "ABC Mortis" is "ABC of the Dead".
Libris Mortis is not just sounding stupid, it's gramatically impossible. "Belongs to the book that belongs to the dead" is no noun.

Hmmm.

I think that "Belongs to the book that belongs to the dead" is a perfectly acceptable title. Most titles don't need to be grammatically correct, do they?

[2xMachina]

I heard you like books, so we have books belonging to books.

[lesser_minion]

Articles are free in Latin, by the way.

My understanding is that "Liber Mortis" is off-limits because of Warhammer. Or something like that.

[DragoonWraith]

@^I see. That makes perfect sense, all of it. Seriously.
Yeah, confusing was the wrong word. It's fairly consistent. Complicated was what I was going for. Why do there need to be 5 different declensions? Why on earth would you have the same ending mean two different things in different declensions?


Hmmm.

I think that "Belongs to the book that belongs to the dead" is a perfectly acceptable title. Most titles don't need to be grammatically correct, do they?
They can be sentence fragments, but they should still say what they mean, and "Libris Mortis" does not mean "belonging to the book belonging to the dead", because that would be "Libri Mortis".


Articles are free in Latin, by the way.
As in, Latin doesn't have them? Yes. The language does not have any articles. It also (bizarrely) has no words for "Yes" or "No", though the Romans used the words for "Thus" and "Leastly" to mean the same thing.


My understanding is that "Liber Mortis" is off-limits because of Warhammer. Or something like that.
Now that makes sense. But they could have easily found a replacement that actually is correct, and we wouldn't be laughing at them.

[lesser_minion]

Bizarrely, Ex Libris <coolname> would have worked pretty well, IIRC.

And it's a vaguely Anglicised phrase anyway, so there wouldn't be any real danger of people laughing at the Latin usage.

[Tiki Snakes]

Latin is a Dead Language. So, really, who cares if it's used correctly? :smallwink:

[Eloi]

Latin is a Dead Language. So, really, who cares if it's used correctly? :smallwink:

*slaps you* Never utter that again, language-cur!

[Eldariel]

Latin is a Dead Language. So, really, who cares if it's used correctly? :smallwink:

Dead? Try Vatican!

[DragoonWraith]

Latin is a Dead Language. So, really, who cares if it's used correctly? :smallwink:
We do, because then we get to point and make fun of WotC for it.

[Sliver]

Latin is a Dead Language. So, really, who cares if it's used correctly? :smallwink:

Necromancers. Warped bodies don't make reliable zombies.

[Optimystik]

I heard you like books, so we have books belonging to books.

http://blogs.bet.com/entertainment/spotlight/bet-blog/assets/2009/02/xzibit.jpg


Latin is a Dead Language. So, really, who cares if it's used correctly? :smallwink:

Now why did I think of this comic? (http://xkcd.com/191/)

[lesser_minion]

http://blogs.bet.com/entertainment/spotlight/bet-blog/assets/2009/02/xzibit.jpg

I don't get it...

The picture isn't broken - it's just not appearing here.

[The Glyphstone]

*opens a bag of chips to watch his own accidental thread derail*

[Flickerdart]

Yeah, confusing was the wrong word. It's fairly consistent. Complicated was what I was going for. Why do there need to be 5 different declensions? Why on earth would you have the same ending mean two different things in different declensions?
Russian has 6. :smallbiggrin:

[Eldariel]

Russian has 6. :smallbiggrin:

Finnish has 13. On the flipside, we don't need articles, prepositions or any of that nonsense. And English is a pain to learn since there's an exception to every rule, and every exception for that matter.

[DragoonWraith]

Russian has 6. :smallbiggrin:
Latin's 2nd declension actually has two separate endings lists (one for masculine nouns, the other for neuter nouns). The 4th has the same thing. The 3rd has four, two which each contain both masculine and feminine words, and two that contain only neuter words. Looking at it that way, Latin has 10. Ten declensions with ten endings each made for a very obvious test for my teacher...

There are also four conjugations, in at least three voices, in six tenses each, each tense having six possible ending for each combination of person and number.

Classical Latin authors also had a habit of putting all the verbs at the end of a sentence. This works OK when the language has no hard and fast rules on word order, but oh god, I routinely wanted to strangle Cicero - a sentence that is seventeen lines long with no less than half a dozen separate clauses, and all of their verbs at the very end? Maddening.

Then again, as I recall, the US military considers Russian to be one of the hardest languages to learn out there.

[Flickerdart]

That's because English is silly. Russian has exceptions too, but those exceptions have their own rules. What English needs is proper rules for loan words, then it wouldn't be so bad...

But yeah. Taint. Grab some undead race or template (Gravewight from the Standing Stone is +1 LA IIRC, and gives you a bunch of shinies, but Necropolitan is "cheaper").

[Eldariel]

That's because English is silly. Russian has exceptions too, but those exceptions have their own rules. What English needs is proper rules for loan words, then it wouldn't be so bad...

What English needs is to be based on less than three separate language groups; having Romance, Germanic and Celtic influences (and words) can't produce too clear a language. German & French are both a hundred times more consistent (though French cheats).

[Eldan]

The problem is that, basically, english is a language that started as a collection of loan words and then just grew from there.

But come on, it has one of the simplest grammars around. Pronunciation is mostly done by guessing, but the grammar is simple.

[Eldariel]

The problem is that, basically, english is a language that started as a collection of loan words and then just grew from there.

But come on, it has one of the simplest grammars around. Pronunciation is mostly done by guessing, but the grammar is simple.

Grammar would be simple if it were consistent. Turns out there's an exception to every grammatic rule too, and they too are inconsistent. The exceptions, that is.

[Eldan]

Yeah. But the basics are simple enough that I've seen schoolchildren form correct sentences after two, three hours of basic introduction. Try that with german or french.

[lesser_minion]

Yeah. But the basics are simple enough that I've seen schoolchildren form correct sentences after two, three hours of basic introduction. Try that with german or french.

Well, in the UK, the main issue seems to be that schools are more concerned with the ability of their students to translate "I have a door in my bedroom" into French than actually teaching anything even remotely useful.

If they actually tried to spend two years teaching the grammar (which, bizarrely enough, they do with Latin) instead of teaching people to say useless and inane things, then people might actually find French a little easier.

[Eldariel]

Yeah. But the basics are simple enough that I've seen schoolchildren form correct sentences after two, three hours of basic introduction. Try that with german or french.

Eh, it's no problem with German, really. I mean, sure, the articles make no sense but if you get those right, the rest is just a cakewalk. French...well, I'll give you that. Swedish though, is like German except with more sensible articles; it's truly easy as far as forming correct sentences goes. With English, it's always a matter of if some exception happens to apply (besides, nobody can make sense out of your comma use rules).

Like, it's clear enough when you use "who/which" and when you use "that", but knowing the proper usage of "whom" is pretty obscure and yet the scenario where it's needed comes up all the time. But yeah, I agree that basic English is approximately as easy as basic German or Swedish; it's just that basic English tends to contain more mistakes than basic German or Swedish.

[Eldan]

Not my comma rules, I'm swiss. We don't have rules. Or a written language :smalltongue:

Anyway: learning grammar doesn't help in french. I've had 9 years of french in school, and the word "subjonctif" still makes me cry. And the tenses. Oh god. Why would anyone need so many past tenses? Swiss german has two, and we do fine. Even the germans have their weird third one.

And english grammar is basically german grammar with the annoying subject of tenses left out.

[Scorpions__]

And now for the hilarity of the thread being derailed:

Bahahahaha!!!




DM[F]R

[Meta]

And now for the hilarity of the thread being derailed:

Bahahahaha!!!




DM[F]R

This. Google Taint. Then reread OP. That is all.

[Frosty]

Currently I'm in a game with heavy taint. Like anywhere you go its likely to get a point of taint:smallfurious:. From touching tainted treasure (which is every treasure) to doing anything slightly corrupt or deprave. So, what I'm asking is does anyone have any advice on what to do? I know this is not a lot of information so ask if you need to know anymore. Thanks.

- Manny

If you're a member of the Crab clan, join The Damned and die an honourable death in service to the empire.

...oops, wrong system.

[lesser_minion]

Not my comma rules, I'm swiss. We don't have rules. Or a written language :smalltongue:

Anyway: learning grammar doesn't help in french. I've had 9 years of french in school, and the word "subjonctif" still makes me cry. And the tenses. Oh god. Why would anyone need so many past tenses? Swiss german has two, and we do fine. Even the germans have their weird third one.

And english grammar is basically german grammar with the annoying subject of tenses left out.

I always felt that English grammar borrowed more from French - quite a few of the extraneous French past tenses exist in English, it's just that you're allowed to blend tenses a little more.

And English has three or four imperfect tenses - "I started to do", "I was doing", "I used to do", right off the top of my head.

[Eldan]

No idea. Swiss german has perfect (I have done), and nothing else. "I did" doesn't exist, and neither does "I had done", and we do fine, mostly.

[Eloi]

No idea. Swiss german has perfect (I have done), and nothing else. "I did" doesn't exist, and neither does "I had done", and we do fine, mostly.

Don't you mean "We have done fine, mostly"

[lesser_minion]

No idea. Swiss german has perfect (I have done), and nothing else. "I did" doesn't exist, and neither does "I had done", and we do fine, mostly.

Well, the pluperfect is kind of weird in English, considering that a lot of constructs change your point of view to a different time.


Don't you mean "We have done fine, mostly"

A good example. French has a construct along the lines of "I have done..." and another construct along the lines of "I did...", it's just that the second one is referred to as a different tense (Historic or Simple - either way, it's not generally spoken).

[Eldan]

Don't you mean "We have done fine, mostly"

We do have a present tense :smalltongue:

[PId6]

Don't you mean "We have done fine, mostly"
Actually, that should be "We have done well, mostly." /grammar_nazi

[Eloi]

Actually, that should be "We have done well, mostly." /grammar_nazi

Help! The Grammar Nazis are invading Switzerland's grammar!

[magic9mushroom]

While I heartily approve of Tainted Scholar use in this situation, I must ask...

How on earth did you qualify for Tainted Scholar with only Archivist levels?

[PId6]

While I heartily approve of Tainted Scholar use in this situation, I must ask...

How on earth did you qualify for Tainted Scholar with only Archivist levels?

Okay, I guess I wasn't thinking right... I'll give you ALOT of info considering its really important...

My current character, Mandar (Hence the name) is an archivist 8/tainted scholar 3. The DM allowed it to be applied to divine casters and can use taint to fuel the spells. I currently have around 50 points of taint. Since the DM made the taint a little homebrew I'm still alive and partially sane. However in about 10 more points, or if my wisdom drops my taint will either kill me or make me insane. Like I said before, taint fuels my spells. Bonus spells are 10+1/4 Depravity Score, and Saving throws are 10+ 1/5 Corruption Score. I have about 40 Dep. and 10 Cor. (I know, unbalanced). My problem is that I want to keep playing this character because I've put so much time and fluff into him, but it seems like he's about to die from taint.
Emphasis mine.

[Eldariel]

Not my comma rules, I'm swiss. We don't have rules. Or a written language :smalltongue:

Anyway: learning grammar doesn't help in french. I've had 9 years of french in school, and the word "subjonctif" still makes me cry. And the tenses. Oh god. Why would anyone need so many past tenses? Swiss german has two, and we do fine. Even the germans have their weird third one.

And english grammar is basically german grammar with the annoying subject of tenses left out.

French is just a Romance language. They all have subjunctive and it's perfectly logical when you dwell into it. It's actually quite a common item in various languages across the globe; I'm only glad I had studied enough French to "get it" before starting with Linguistics.

It basically enables conveying some extra information of the sentence structure, things English and German don't. And...well, let's just say that one language lacking some tenses doesn't make them superfluous; it's more likely a matter of that particular language not conveying those meanings quite as well; it often also leads to natives just not thinking in those terms.


The psychological effects of your native language is really a fascinating topic, though I think even more off-topic than this particular discussion. Sufficient to say, I have studied a lot of languages and have yet to run into anything completely superfluous in any of them.


Actually, that should be "We have done well, mostly." /grammar_nazi

Isn't this a case of both being correct? Both "well" and "fine" function as both, adjectives and adverbs and have somewhat conforming meanings so the differences in their use are mostly habitual.

[Eldan]

It's not that it's superfluous. It's that for my final french exam, I had to learn tables upon tables of verb roots and endings, and couldn't get them right after weeks of studying nothing else.

[lesser_minion]

It's not that it's superfluous. It's that for my final french exam, I had to learn tables upon tables of verb roots and endings, and couldn't get them right after weeks of studying nothing else.

Now imagine what it must be like for a French student to have to learn three different imperfect tenses. There's a reason why the stereotypical attempt at English by a German includes such constructs as "I am liking xyzzy".

[Eldan]

Point. But usually, after you explain it to people, they can remember it.

I could never remember how which verbs worked in french. The romands still look at me funny when I try simple sentences.

[PId6]

Isn't this a case of both being correct? Both "well" and "fine" function as both, adjectives and adverbs and have somewhat conforming meanings so the differences in their use are mostly habitual.
Fine has been used as adverb in common usage ("How'd you do?" "I did fine."), but it's still grammatically incorrect (at least to me :P). Finely is the actual adverb form of fine, though nobody actually uses it that way anymore.

Oh, and unless you meant "both, adjectives, and adverbs" as a list (which sounds weird), that comma between both and adjectives is misplaced. /more_grammar_nazi

[Kaiyanwang]

Stay out of the Shadowlands.

Well in that case take taint would be even worse, because after a while you'd become property of the Fu Leng Inc. TMù

@ Book of Bad Latin: In Italy has been translated Liber Mortis.. people making the translation refused to keep the original :smallsmile: