Corruption and Mutation Rules

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CORRUPTION

The bane of those following the Blessed Pantheon and a boon for those under the thrall of the Ruinous Powers, Corruption is a measure of how tainted you have become by the corrosive powers of the Warp. If you thought Death and Insanity were the worst things that could happen to you, wait 'till you get a load of Corruption.


CORRUPTION POINTS

Corruption Points (or CP) operate very similar to Insanity Points, only that they are gained through exposure to the Warp, dark rituals, cursed artifacts, and daemonic influence. The more Corruption Points a character has, the more afflicted he become; should a character reach 100 Corruption Points, they are Damned and removed from play.

MORAL THREATS

The exact level of Corruption Points inflicted by a particular event, revelation, or encounter are determined by the SM. Here are some examples of what can corrupt you.

WARP SHOCK

If a character suffers Insanity from a failed Fear Test involving entities from the Warp, the number of corruption points inflicted on him are equal to the being's Fear score.

RENDING THE VEIL

Characters caught in a full-blown intrusion of the Warp into corporeal reality can gain Corruption Points from the experience. This can be anything from one point to several d10s worth of them, depending on the severity.

DARK ARTS

The practice of forbidden spells, witnessing dread rituals, and invoking foul daemons are all acceptable causes of Corruption, regardless of reason. Minor ceremonies can inflict 1d10 Corruption Points, and major ceremonies can cause many more.

FORBIDDEN LORE

Knowledge itself can be a source of corruption, and the study of certain tomes, pic-logs, or imageboards can cause varying degrees of Corruption in the viewer.

DARK DEEDS

Evil acts done in the furtherance of a malignancy, in the pursuit of forbidden lore, or done to appease a daemon always cause Corruption.

VILE PERSUASION

Many daemons and cult leasers are masters of insidious temptation and of sowing the seeds of doubt in a faithful heart. Their words and arguments can corrupt where force alone would fail.

WARPSTONE

Unrefined warpstone is incredibly radioactive. The rules on using Warpstone are found on the Warpstone page.


CORRUPTION, ALIGNMENT AND DEGENERATION

Corruption is, for the most part, a bad thing. However, it can be seen as a blessing in the eyes of deranged cultists who believe they are being rewarded for their degenerate actions. Whether this is true or not is up for interpretation. For a member of the Blessed Pantheon, Corruption 100 means you have been smote before you could become something wicked. For those of the Ruinous Powers, Corruption 100 means you have degenerated into a minor creature of Chaos, or reached a dark apotheosis and ascended as a Daemon Prince.

For every 10 Corruption Points a character gains, he must roll for Willpower against a TN of 15, plus one for every 5 Corruption points the character has accumulated (17 at Corruption 10, 25 at Corruption 50, etc). If the character fails this test, then the character must roll for Degeneration as if he went down in Devotion and failed an Alignment check.

Unlike Degenerations from Alignment, these Degenerations can be fought. 11-Devotion sessions after the session which Degeneration was received, the character may attempt another Willpower test to suppress and remove the Degeneration, however the TN of this test 15 + one for every 5 Corruption Points the character has accumulated at the time of this test, which may be a higher number than it was when they originally received the Degeneration. If this test is a failure as well, they may test again after 11-Devotion sessions in a similar manner.

MUTATION

A character's Corruption Points total is also used to determine the warping effects of the Warp upon his body. As his Corruption builds, his flesh may revolt, twisted into new and unwelcome forms. For every 30 Corruption Points a character gains, he must make a very hard (TN25) test using one characteristic of choice. If successful, he does not suffer mutation. If he fails, the character must roll on the mutation table below. A character may not use the same characteristic twice to resist mutation.

Mutations that would change a characteristic can take you above your regular characteristic cap, modifying your current characteristics similar to Power Armor or Spells. Conversely, mutations that would lower a characteristic also decrease your cap for that characteristic, but cannot lower a characteristic to less than 0. Neither positive or negative modifiers from Mutations change what your actual characteristic dots are considered for the purposes of experience expenditure. If you would get a mutation on the table that you already have, roll again until you get one you haven't gotten before.

Mutations (Roll 1d100)
01-05	Grotesque: The mutant is either badly deformed, scarred, or bestial, marking it as accursed or impure. Gain the Ugly as Sin Hindrance, and a +1k1 bonus to Intimidation tests.
06-10	Tough Hide: The Mutant has 2 AP worth of Natural Armor thanks to dense skin or scar tissue.
11-15	Misshapen: The mutant's spine and/or limbs are horribly twisted, causing it to lose 1 Dexterity.
16-20	Feels No Pain: The mutant cares little for injury or harm. +1 HP.
21-25	Brute: The mutant is physically powerful with deformed masses of muscle. Apply +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, and -1 Dexterity.
26-30	Nightsider: The mutant gains the Dark Sight trait, but suffers a -1k1 penalty to all actions in bright light or daylight conditions unless its eyes are shielded.
31-35	Mental Regressive: The mutant has regressed mentally. Roll 1d10 for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Willpower separately. On a roll of 1-8, reduce the Characteristic by 1. On a 9-10, there is no change. In addition, the mutant also gains 1d10 Insanity.
36-40	Malformed Hands: Apply a -2k1 penalty to all tests involving fine physical manipulation.
41-45	Tox Blood: The mutant's system is saturated with toxic pollutants and poisonous chemicals. As a result it gains a +1k1 bonus to resist to toxins and poisons, but loses a dot in Intelligence and Fellowship.
46-50	Hulking: The mutant grows in stature and body mass. It gains +1 Size, +1 Strength, and +3 HP.
51-55	Wyrdling: The mutant has spellcasting abilities that it has so far been able to conceal. You gain two random level 1 or 2 spells that you can cast using your Level in the place of a magic school. Regular casting rules apply.
56-59	Vile Deformity: The mutant is marked by some terrible deformity that shows the touch of the warp, and should not exist in a rational universe. There is no end to the dire forms this might take, such as writhing tentacles in the place of arms, skinless, glistening flesh, rearranged facial features, or thousands of restless eyes studding the body to name a few. This mutant gains the Fear (1) trait.
60-63	Aberration: The mutant has become a weird hybrid of man and animal. The mutant increase its Strength and Dexterity by 1, and decreases its Intelligence and Fellowship by 1.
64-67	Degenerate Mind: The mutant's mind is warped and bizarre. Reduce Intelligence and Fellowship by 1. Also, roll 1d10. On 1-3, it gains the Frenzy feat; On 4-7, it gains the Fearless feat; on an 8-10, it gains the Common Sense feat.
68-70	Ravaged Body: The mutant's body has been entirely remade by the Warp. Roll 1d5 times on this table. Such mutations, regardless of their nature, still show the obvious touch of Chaos.
71-74	Clawed/Fanged: The mutant gains razor claws, a fanged maw, barbed flesh, or some other form of natural weapon. It gains a natural weapon with the following profile; 1k1 I or R, Brawling.
75-78	Necrophage: The mutant gains +1 Constitution and Regeneration (1), but must sustain itself on copious quantities of raw meat or starve.
79-81	Corrupted Flesh: Beneath the mutant's skin a blasphemous transformation has taken place, exchanging living organs for writhing creatures and blood for chorus, maggot-ridden fiesh. Whenever the mutant takes critical damage, it gains Fear (2) for that round.
82-85	Venomous: The mutant's natural attacks are toxic. Its natural weapons and/or unarmed attacks gain the Toxic quality.
86-89	Hideous Strength: The mutant gains +2 Strength.
90-91	Multiple Appendages: The mutant has sprouted additional function limbs in the shape of arms, tentacles, or prehensile tails. It gains the Ambidextrous and Two Weapon Fighting feats, and a +1k1 bonus to climbing and grapples.
92-93	Worm: The mutant's lower limbs have fused together to form a worm or snake-like tail. The mutant gains +3 HP and the Crawler trait.
94	Nightmarish: So warped and horrific is the mutant's appearance it can cause enemies to flee in fear. It gains the Fear (3) trait.
95	Malleable: The mutant possess a sickening liquid flexibility and is able to distend and flatten its body. Increase its Dexterity by 1. It gains a +2k1 bonus on climbing and grappling tests. Also, it may fit through spaces as small as one quarter its usual body dimensions.
96	Winged: The mutant's body has warped to accommodate a pair of leathery wings or the like. It gains the Flyer trait equal to twice its ground speed.
97	Corpulent: The mutant's huge and bloated frame gives it +5 HP and the Unnatural Toughness trait. It may no longer take the Run action.
98	Shadow Kin: The mutant has only a tenuous grip on our reality and, though wasted and gaunt, it can slip partly into the Umbra at will. It gains the Phasing trait and decreases its Strength and Constitution by 1.
99	Vile Projectile: The mutant may vomit burning bile, flesh-eating grubs, or some other horrific substance instead of attacking normally in close combat. The mutant gains a ranged attack with the following profile (2k1 R or E, 20m, Tearing).
100	Hellspawn: Saturated with the energies of the Warp, the mutant is more than part daemon, granting the Daemonic, Fear (2), and Stuff of Nightmares traits.

Oh, and here's another detail: while some of these mutations have some surprisingly nice benefits attached to them, almost all mutations are obvious in some way, shape, or form. You might want to cover them up unless you want to be purged as a threat to society. Nothing says CHAOS quite like a mutant, and people don't usually get mutations unless they did something stupid to invite them in.

[Traskus]

Expunged.

[Traskus]

Added in a more narrative requirement for ascension, reworded spellcasting bonus, reduced prices of some gifts, moved flight into ultimate power.

[ScrapyardDragon]

I'm gonna speak my mind in a form that can't be forgotten with time:

I think the corruption rules are WAY too liberal with throwing out degenerations. Keep in mind that degenerations are NASTY things, and for all my issues with alignments conceptually, were implemented into it in an at least 'fair' way (unless you use the book 2 commandment ladder, screw those things), in that YOU BRING THEM ON YOURSELF, for going against the small handful of basic principals your character supposedly ascribes to. "be a good sigmarite and you'll be fine" and all that. but then corruption rules waltz in working like insanity rules, in that the SM can just throw them at you and you really can't do much about it but pray to the dice gods you pass your one specific save. I get that throwing around degenerations at anyone who doesn't have good Willpower is supposed to ape the trauma table, but most of the effects on the trauma table are just temporary, not a multiple-session potentially crippling debuff that can even halt character progression (or did everyone forget that degenerations also prevent RAISING the affected characteristic?).

I'm still not that big a fan of mutations either since many are prone to utterly screwing over any mental or social build with no recourse (derangements change how you RP sometimes but at least they don't cripple a build you've been working on for several sessions because you rolled badly on a table one time), but I seriously think slapping degenerations on people left and right is way too overboard considering how in their intended application, you just need to throw some exp to get back to your baseline and you're fine, and again, you bring it on yourself specifically through your own fault rather than the SM just going "today I will field warp-entities". Sure, him doing that may throw insanity at you, but at least insanity doesn't just break your character.

edit; i will admit to my mistake and point out i was mixing up the shock and trauma table. Regardless I still think that, in most situations, being forced to play through degenerations for multiple objectively stated sessions is worse than suffering it for a few in-game days, but i'm also the type of SM who likes to give his players downtime so milage may vary depending on your table.

[ScrapyardDragon]

Scrap at it again, with a more though out pitch.

Instead of 11-devotion, why not make it 1d10 - devotion (min1) sessions? You still have it be fixed to a regular 'increment' so you don't have to deal with the nightmare scenario of several sessions all taking place within 1 hour all in the same scene, but its more likely than not that you'll be able to immediately attempt to overcome it again next week (assuming you're LUCKY enough to have weekly sessions, and that uncertainty of how long things will take irl is in truth my biggest issue with anything lasting a fixed x-amount of sessions, the sm can always give downtime in-game if things become unmanageable, but most people have not obtained the power of time compression in the real world), and it'd be more consistent with most other things that have you waiting x-amount of time for something to happen or stop happening. Plus it would let you pop reroll effects on it if you ended up rolling a 10, which is handy, and something you can do with things like trauma duration and cybernetic installation time as well mind, so there's definitely precedent for that kind of thing being valid.