Doctor Despair
2020-05-28, 10:48 AM
I was hoping for some outside perspective on how an undead (say, someone taking the Necropolitan template) scores with regard to taint. I'm not sure if I'm parsing the ability properly.
Heroes of Horror states that...
"Creatures with the Evil subtype and undead creatures are
immune to any negative effects from taint. They automati-
cally have effective corruption and depravity scores equal
to one-half their Charisma score, +1 for undead or +2 for
outsiders. They take no penalties due to these taint scores,
but they can use them to qualify for feats or prestige classes
(see Chapter 5)."
Now, this seems fairly straightforward, except that the actual effects of taint aren't granted purely by points; they're granted at various score thresholds depending on ability scores.
Con or Wis Score
No Taint
Mild Taint
Moderate Taint
Severe Taint
Dead/Insane
1-4
0
1
2-5
6-13
14+
5-8
0
1-3
4-11
12-27
28+
9-12
0
1-5
6-17
18-41
42+
13-16
0
1-7
8-23
24-55
56+
Now, the first quotes declares that Undead have effective corruption scores based on the formula. As an Undead creature, however, you have no constitution score, so regardless of being immune to the negative effects of corruption, doesn't that mean you can never achieve even mild corruption, barring you from gaining any of the beneficial traits that corruption might bestow to an undead creature?
Mild Corruption:
Skin Seeps: +2 Escape Artist/Grapple
Moderate Corruption:
Bones Thicken: +2 Str
Paralyzed Face: +1 Bluff
Skin Thickens: +1 AC
Severe Corruption:
Lich Eyes: 60 feet dark vision, or +30 existing
Wrigglers: +2 Intimidate
However, if I'm parsing it correctly, you don't need both corruption and depravity to achieve taint threshholds, but rather one or the other; if you have a low enough wisdom score, you can still achieve tain threshholds by merit of your depravity, right? Which would allow you to get the benefits of depravity traits (notably, guaranteed "Hubristic" granting immunity to divine healing when that divine healing would negatively impact you) and the "free" bonus feats so long as you have that low wisdom score/high charisma?
Heroes of Horror states that...
"Creatures with the Evil subtype and undead creatures are
immune to any negative effects from taint. They automati-
cally have effective corruption and depravity scores equal
to one-half their Charisma score, +1 for undead or +2 for
outsiders. They take no penalties due to these taint scores,
but they can use them to qualify for feats or prestige classes
(see Chapter 5)."
Now, this seems fairly straightforward, except that the actual effects of taint aren't granted purely by points; they're granted at various score thresholds depending on ability scores.
Con or Wis Score
No Taint
Mild Taint
Moderate Taint
Severe Taint
Dead/Insane
1-4
0
1
2-5
6-13
14+
5-8
0
1-3
4-11
12-27
28+
9-12
0
1-5
6-17
18-41
42+
13-16
0
1-7
8-23
24-55
56+
Now, the first quotes declares that Undead have effective corruption scores based on the formula. As an Undead creature, however, you have no constitution score, so regardless of being immune to the negative effects of corruption, doesn't that mean you can never achieve even mild corruption, barring you from gaining any of the beneficial traits that corruption might bestow to an undead creature?
Mild Corruption:
Skin Seeps: +2 Escape Artist/Grapple
Moderate Corruption:
Bones Thicken: +2 Str
Paralyzed Face: +1 Bluff
Skin Thickens: +1 AC
Severe Corruption:
Lich Eyes: 60 feet dark vision, or +30 existing
Wrigglers: +2 Intimidate
However, if I'm parsing it correctly, you don't need both corruption and depravity to achieve taint threshholds, but rather one or the other; if you have a low enough wisdom score, you can still achieve tain threshholds by merit of your depravity, right? Which would allow you to get the benefits of depravity traits (notably, guaranteed "Hubristic" granting immunity to divine healing when that divine healing would negatively impact you) and the "free" bonus feats so long as you have that low wisdom score/high charisma?