Looking for some help developing an Arcane Addiction, using the Corruption system from Horror Adventures


Homebrew and House Rules


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I've got a few ideas on how to go with this, however, I'm very new to all of this in general. I'd like some help if it's at all possible.

The basic idea is a corruption that is essentially an addiction to Arcane Magic. If you're familiar with Blood Elves from WoW, something like that. Magic is their lifeblood and they addicted to it. If they go overboard, they turn into husk-like monsters, withered out from frying their bodies with arcane energies.

Treat Corruption Points like how the Possessed Corruption path has: You start at 1 each day.
At 3 points, you begin to blend your corruption with your personality.
At 5 points, you make a Will Save at DC 12 + 2*Manifestation Level + 2 for previous save within the same day. If you succeed, you drop down to 4 points. If you fail, you advance a Corruption Stage

Corruption Stages: Not entirely sure on what the triggering event should be here for advancing stages, emptying out your spells? Here's a basic idea of the stage though:

Stage 1 - You overindulged on magic, causing some kind of havoc and mayhem. Wherever you "overdosed" becomes barren of life (as you blew it up) and your body recoils from the flood of too much energy, taking a permanent -2 to CON. You are now moderately addicted to magic (Moderate Addiction works great for this, I want to figure out how to apply to use of magic directly though)

Stage 2 - You did it again, this time destroying an even greater area of life, rending the land rotten. Your mind is beginning to get weaker, take a permanent -2 to all mental stats. Additionally, you are now Severely Addicted to magic (same thing as before)

Stage 3 - You blow up a small town's worth of land, and arcane energies flooded your body, consuming your mind and body. Your character becomes a husk of yourself, becoming an NPC for the GM (or you've blown yourself up and died. either one works)

- Side note, are there any good monsters that represent a mana husk? Someone who over-indulged on so much magic, they basically "flooded" themselves? They'd be perfect for this.

Now for Manifestation Powers.

Metamagic Power
Gift: Pick a specific metamagic feat you currently possess, decrease the cost of it by 1, increase your Corruption by 1

Greater Metamagic Power
Prereq: Metamagic Power
Gift: Take that singular metamagic feat you chosed, it now costs nothing to use, increase your Corruption by 1

Spell Machinegun: As you cast spells within a certain amount of time, gain an ever increasing potent magic
Gift: After casting 3 spells within in an hour, saves increase by 1. After 6, up by 2
Increase your Corruption by 1 to double this bonus

Enhanced Magical Items: Channel arcane energy into your items, increasing their powers somehow.
Gift: All items on you increase their bonuses somehow (more AC, better saves, etc.), increase Corruption by 1
Stain: after a few rounds, the item ceases to work for an hour

Forbidden Access:
Gift: Cast a spell that you currently don’t have prepared or learned, equal to half your manifestation level, rounded down. Increase your Corruption by 1
Stain: Your mind’s defenses are weakened, take a permanent penalty to your Will Save (-2?)

Arcane Form
Manifestation Level 5 (also up for change)
Gift: Temporarily overflow your body with Arcane magic, turning into an elemental of some kind, lasts 5 rounds. Increase your Corruption by 1 to use this form.

Side Note - I’m imagining this is the “unlimited power moment” where you turn into Xerath (pure arcane energy, but confined into a singular being). I want people to enter this form, gain some nifty buffs, but then heavily drain/punish you after leaving it
Stain: leaving this form drains you of your spells somehow. Lose a hefty chunk of your spells per day, items are drained, something along those lines.

Blood Power
Drain your health and life in order to recover your magic
Lose X amount of life in order to regain a spell used at your highest level, or 2 spells of one level lower
X = your level total level?

Possible Alternative to Enhanced Magical Item and Blood Power
Drain the power of your items temporarily in order to recover used spell slots?

________________

And that's what I've got so far. Again, any constructive criticism and tweaks I could make would be greatly appreciated. Any solid, yet still slightly punishing "Stains" for Corruptions would also be welcomed.


I don't have any ideas on this (as of yet), though I really like the look of this! I'm eager to see how this progresses!


It might be too complicated, but interesting addition would be to base the corruption on the most commonly cast school of magic.


So I decided to redo the blood power and figured out how to do the Magic Item drain.

Drain Magical Item

Temporarily suck the magic out of a magical item you are wielding in order to regain a spell slot used in the day. Item must be magical in nature, and the caster level (or total GP worth) of the item directly impacts what level spell can be brought back. Increase your Corruption by 1 each time you do this.

Stain - Mundane goods simply aren’t worth your attention as they do not fuel your addiction. You take a -2 to all saves and actions related to those items. For example, this includes saves against sundering, stealing, attacks using a non-magical weapon, etc.

Hostile Drain Magical Item
Prereq - Drain Magical Item

Make a sunder check targeting an opponent’s magical device, using your primary casting stat instead of STR for CMB, and drain the magical power from the item temporarily, refueling a spell cast that day. Increase your corruption by 1 regardless if you succeed or fail

Stain - Items you wield are inherently worn out and old. Items contain half the hardness, and you take a -4 to saves against item destruction and damage

Also, instead of doing the "blood" sacrifice, I figured I would make it more like burn for a kineticist: effectively losing max hp, but in turn, gaining stronger spells

Mana Burn: Like a kineticist and their ability to take burn, you take burn in order to imbue your spells with deadly power.

You can take burn up to your Manifestation level, 1 point of burn = your level in non-lethal damage. This can not be healed away through magical means. This only comes back with rest

For each point of “Mana Burn” you currently have, you can apply 1 specific buff to your spells:
* Increase the damage die by 1 (a 10d6 blast becomes 11d6 as an example)
* Increase the duration of a spell by 1d6 rounds if that spell has a duration
* Increase the DC on saves of your spells by 1

You can increase your Corruption by 1 to apply even stronger buffs to your spells:
* Increase all damage die of a single spell by 1 step. D4 to d6, d6 to d8, etc.
* Increase the duration of a spell by 2d6
* Increase the DC on all saves of your spells by 3

Stain: Your body craves magical attention, even those with harmful effects. Enemy spells against you gain a +1 for the DC per point of mana burn you have and have a +1 to hit you with a magical attack (ranged touch attack spells for example).

Side Note: I feel like mana burn would be something of the lynch pin of the overall corruption based on this. I feel like if it were too strong (which it might be), you can up the penalties of this.

Arcane Form: Manifestation level 5, prereq - mana burn

Temporarily overflow your body with Arcane magic, turning into an elemental of some kind, lasts 5 rounds. Increase your Corruption by 1 while using this form.

Gain elemental traits as well as a power of an elemental type, using your manifestation level to determine what “size” of power you gain.
Initially, you gain the power of a medium sized elemental of your choice, but for each manifestation level you gain, the elemental power grows by 1 step. For example, at manifestation level 6, you gain the power of a large elemental of your choice.

While in Arcane Form, you count as having double your mana burn for purposes of your spells.

Upon leaving Arcane form, you are fatigued, as well as taking a temporary -2 to all mental stats due to tiredness as you overloaded your mental capacity with magic.

Stain: Your body reacts even worse to being targetted by spells: You now take additional damage whenever hit by a spell. You take an extra 1 point of damage per die rolled (10d6 fireball would deal 10 extra damage) or take 3 points of damage for each attack within said spell (Magic missile that shoots out 4 missiles deals 12 extra damage), whichever is worse.

Again, this can be balanced out somehow, but I'm just trying to figure out some new ideas on how to do this.

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8

The corruptions from Horror Adventures all revolve around turning into a specific monster, which makes it easier to design fitting manifestations around a tight concept.
However, I can't think of an iconic monster that revolves around being burned out by magic (while quiet common in fantasy, the trope doesn't really exist in Pathfinder, where using magic is rather safe). A devourer, perhaps? It uses soul-energy to fuel its spell-like abilities. Anything daemon-related would also work for soul magic. Maybe corrupt magic users are unable to regain their spell slots through natural rest and need fresh souls to recover their arcane energy?

If it may be Golarion-specific, a connection to the mana-wastes would also make sense.

You could also take a look at spellblights for inspiration (there are even rules for a spell addiction).

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