[3.5] Heroes of Horror: Ability Boosts, Penalties, and Taint?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

According to Heroes of Horror, corruption and depravity are based on your taint levels and your Con and Wis scores, respectively, and it talks about how taint scores accrue and how they can be cured. But it says nothing whatsoever about what happens if you take ability damage or drain or burn, or even just a penalty, or what happens when such a reduction is cured. Nor does it mention what happens if you get extra Con or Wis somehow, such as through an enhancement bonus item, a spell, or through level-ups.

I imagine you keep any corruptions or depravities even if your taint score doesn't match up with your corruption or depravity levels, but the book is frustratingly silent on how this works, unless I've missed something.

Anyone else got a clue?

[OldTrees1]

Your thresholds are based on your current Con/Wis (see 1st quote) but your thresholds are sticky(you can get worse easily but getting better takes treatment).

RAW: Any change to your Con/Wis can increase but not decrease your taint level. However (see 2nd quote) an increase in taint level from a decrease in Con/Wis does not make that new taint level sticky because it was not caused by an increase in taint.
Personally: I think the authors forgot about changes to Con/Wis so I would have relative increases in taint (from decreased Con/Wis) to count as increases in taint for the purposes of new taint levels being sticky.

Any feat with a taint level as a prereq will count more severe taint levels but will stop working if you recover to a point where you no longer satisfy the prereq (see 3rd quote). I think this counts all the bonus feats gained from moderate/severe taint.

The effects of Mild/Moderate/Severe Depravity/Corruption are merely that, they are effects of that taint level. If you are cured of a taint level then you no longer receive the effects of that taint level.


To determine the severity of a character’s taint symptoms, first find his Constitution score in the leftmost column of Table 4–1: Taint Thresholds, and read across until you find the column to the right that includes his current physical corruption score. The top of that column indicates the severity of his physical taint symptoms. Then repeat the process with his Wisdom score and her depravity score to determine the severity of her mental taint symptoms.


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).


When a character reaches moderate taint, and again when he reaches severe taint, he gains a bonus feat. This can be any feat for which the character has the prerequisites.

Since taint is cumulative, a character with a feat whose prerequisite is a specific level of taint retains access to that feat even after she acquires enough taint to rise to the next taint level. For example, a sorcerer with the Corrupt Arcana feat (see page 120), which has mild depravity as a prerequisite, still benefits from that feat if her depravity rises to moderate or even severe.

By contrast, falling below the specified taint level for a feat renders that feat inoperative. For example, a character with the Tainted Fury feat (see page 124), which has moderate corruption as a prerequisite, cannot benefit from that feat if his taint falls to mild but regains access to the feat if his corruption later rises to moderate again.