New Emotional Attribute: Corruption

[Cereth]

Just wanted to run an idea I had for an Emotional Attribute for Sorcerers in my campaign world. Not sure if anyone else has thought of it or not but it is very tolkienesque and would fit my campaign world well.

Corruption : This emotional attribute represents the nature of man in that they are more easily corrupted by the attainment of power than the other races. It also represents the "dark lord's" influence over them. As their corruption rises from using magic or magical items, the dark lord begins to notice them. He sees men of power as potential tools to his will and tries to corrupt them to do his bidding. Of course, like Dwarven Greed, Corruption can be used to gain more power more quickly, but doing so walks a fine line. If the Corruption score rises to 10, then then the character becomes a pawn of the dark power.

Very preliminary idea...just wanted some opinions on it.

Thanks

[Cereth]

oops...sorry...this is probably in the wrong forum.... :oops:

[Thor Olavsrud]

No worries. Moved.

I think I remember someone else here working on something similar. Was it you Angaros?

Anyway, how do you envision this working in your game? Do you think all the players will be sorcerers? If not, the ability to tap corruption could make sorcerers, already extremely powerful in the core rules, pretty overwhelming. While we don't give much heed to character balance in Burning Wheel, you should think about what effect it will have at the table before you implement it.

This is not in any way intended to be discouragement, by the way. I just wanted to raise the issue.

[Kevin]

It was me. Although I had a slightly different take (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=542) on Corruption, I'd be glad to compare notes.

[Angaros]

Nope not me. I've been thinking about an Insanity attribute though inspired by both WHFRP and Cthulhu. But this corruption thing sounds interesting. I have a friend who runs two Middle-Earth games using BW and this might be something that could affect the humans at least. :)

[Cereth]

Yeah, that's very much along the lines I was thinking. I'll write something up and post it within the next few days. It was an idea I just came up with so I haven't developed it much yet. Maybe I'll call it something different to differentiate it from your corruption idea.

I was thinking that the more powerful a sorceror gets, the more "the great eye" would take notice. As far as an in-game effect, my thought was that it would somehow alter advancement making it a quicker and easier path towards gaining knowledge. Of course, if you go too far too fast you risk losing yourself to the dark powers altogether. Maybe certain items could have some sort of rating that would corrupt you faster or something. I'll have to come up with the mechanics to tie it into the BW system.

Anyways, I'll write up something more coherent and I'll get it posted within the next few days.

[mike_ravenwood]

In my campaign enchanted or magical items are few and far between. The players have been searching for a few Legendary items that could even up odds against a demon the need to kill. The only problem is the items they have found so far have some rather nasty side effects. These items are powerful beings trapped within the confines of each item. They allow special abbilities based on spending energy stored within each item. Unfortunately the only way to get more energy is to kill, or drain them from other sentient beings. The more they drain or use the abbilities the farther down they slide towards unity with the items. The scale is similar to the way the Great Wolves work, but I don't want to post too much because I know at least one of my players reads the forums.

For example one player is a Wizard, he found a staff that enhances his casting abbility. He's become quite attachted to it and has used it quite a bit. He gains charges buy draining them with "Emperor's Hand", one of the downsides is that the character is slowly losing points of Forte. The staff keeps giving him extra dice for tax so his casting abbility is uneffected but this last game session he dropped to B3 Forte and his MW dropped as well. This and the fact that he is losing the need for food and feels the need to only feed himself with the life force of others is giving him interesting things to roleplay and fun abblities to work with when casting.

[Cereth]

Ok, here is what I came up with for my corruption Attribute. Some of the descriptions refer to my particular setting and are easilly adaptable to whatever setting. I haven't play tested it yet to see if it is out of balance, but it is the product of my brainstorming. Kevin's take on Corruption really put me on the right path. Anyways, I'd love any input.

Corruption

Corruption is a new Emotional Attribute that represents the call of the dark powers, and it is something that everyone who wishes to be a sorceror in Praeterea must contend with. The more powerful a sorceror gets, the more they are noticed by the Dark Servants and the more they are tempted by forbidden knowledge. Sorcery itself is not inherently evil, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. The thirst for more and more power can consume mortals for the more power they achieve, the more they want. To be a sorceror is to walk a fine line, for attracting the gaze of the Black Kings can lead to becoming one of their pawns.

Starting Corruption

All human characters who have the gifted trait also start with the Corruption trait as well. Players should answer a series of questions about their character to determine the trait's starting level:

+1 if the character has ever used magic to cause the death of another person.
+1 for every spell the character starts with.
+1 if the character has ever studied with any major magical organization.
+1 for each of the Aura of Malevolence, Brutal, Cold Blooded, or Murderous traits.
+1 if the character has ever summoned a being from another plane.
-1 for each of the Aura of Innocence, Faithful, Devout, or Merciful traits.
+1 if the character has taken the Rogue Wizard and/or Mad Summoner Lifepaths.
+1 for each of the Enchanting, Sorcery, or Summoning skills.

The character may use five points to shift his Corruption score to gray.

Advancing Corruption

Tests for advancing corruption are earned through behavior in play. If the character meets any of the conditions below, they must make the appropriate test. If the character succeeds in the test, he avoids having his corruption attribute increase. If he fails the test then he, then he marks down the appropriate test for advancment purposes. If the character's corruption score ever reaches 10 he has succumbed to the will of the Dark Servants and he becomes a pawn of their machinations. The player loses control of the character and they become the property of the Game Master. Artha can be used to resist the corruption.

Obstacle 1 Corruption
Casting a spell. Summoning a being from another plane for any reason.

Obstacle 2 Corruption
Learning a new spell. Casting a spell that affects another person. Casting a spell that harms an animal.

Obstacle 3 Corruption
Casting a spell that harms another person. Commanding a summoned creature.

Obstacle 4 Corruption
Casting a spell that kills an animal.

Obstacle 5 Corruption
Casting a spell that kills another person. Studying forbidden Lore.

Obstacle 6 Corruption
Commanding a summoned creature to do something that causes the death of another person. Using a spell to twist the will of another person.

Obstacle 7 Corruption
Using forbidden Lore for any reason.

Obstacle 8 Corruption
Using Forbidden Lore for personal gain.

Obstacle 9 Corruption
Communing with the Dark Servants.

Obstacle 10 Corruption
Coming face to face with one of the Dark Servants.

Calling on the Darkness

When spending a Deeds artha point to double dice, a sorceror may instead add his Corruption exponent to the roll. For the purposes of advancement this always counts as a challenging test for Corruption. There is no way to resist Corruption advancement when calling on the darkness.

Magic Items

All magic items in Praetera have a Corruption score. Those characters without the gifted skill who use magic items will gain the Corruption Attribute the first time they use the magic item. While they will no doubt progress much slower than a character with the gifted skill, they can still be corrupted by the use of magical items. Some items in Praeterea were never meant to be used by mortals, and the corruption scores of these items will be much higher than normal magic items. This score acts as the obstacle for the Corruption advancement.

In order to put down, remove, or give away a magic item a character must make a will check using the corruption score of the item as the obstacle. If the corruption score is higher than the character's will, he will not willingly relinquish the item and must use artha to make the roll.

Forbidden Lore

There are certain knowledeges that were not meant to be learned. These are most commonly referred to as the black arts and learning their secrets has corrupted the most powerful of beings. The first to ever pursue these forbidden knowledges was Croym, the first evil. Others have mastered the dark arts since then, always with the same result. Among these dark arts is the ability to command the undead. For the most part it is up the GM to decide what falls under the Forbidden Lore description.