I've read the entries on most of the corruptions from Horror Adventure and it seems like the DC just keeps climbing up until it inevitably becomes unbeatable by anything short of a nat 20.
I'm running a horror campaign and one of my characters is interested in having his character take in vampiric corruption (a 'fight monsters with monsters' approach). I like this narrative, but by the rules he'd inevitably just end up failing his will saves until, 2 failed saves later, he becomes an evil vampire under my control.
What advice can be given to help deliver the story we want to tell without being overwhelmed by an all-too-inevitable progression or making its negative side effects negligible? Even the beneficial corruption rule doesn't remove the progressive DCs that need to be overcome to prevent being fully overtaken.
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"unbeatable by anything short of a nat 20" is a bit hyperbole, since you can only get 9 Manifestations so the highest DC is 24. High, but not unbeatable.
Also if you don't pick a Gift once you hit the next Manifestation you get a +1 to the save.
And you also only get Manifestions when the GM sets it, the every two levels is just a suggestion.
Except that on top of the base formula, the corruption also tends to increase its DC each time you resist it. For instance, for the Curse corruption:
"If you fail the save but your allies or others prevent you
from exacting your retribution for three consecutive slights,
you shake off this urge. You avoid having to exact retribution
for the time being, and your corruption doesn’t progress.
However, the DC of the Will save against your corruption
progressing increases by 2. These increases stack each time
you shake off this urge, and they last until your corruption
reaches the next corruption stage."
Furthermore, some corruptions have much greater frequencies, and in such cases a PC can succumb to full corruption in as little as a week.
Yep- it's just a matter of time. Even if the DC didn't increase, you will eventually roll a one three times. Since there's no way to get rerolls on the saves, you'll eventually fail three times. Other factors just speed it up.