Tainted

Condition Severity: Weak

   You have been exposed to a drug, allergen, or agent, which is making things a little strange right now.

Effects

• Tainted is usually the result of a weaker poison or drug affecting a creature's system. Poisons are typically written in the following format:

Scableaf Essence (Injury vector; Tainted intensity)

Fort DC 15; frequency: 1/round for 3 rounds

Effect: 1d3 STR and 2d6 non-lethal damage per interval; fruition: none

• Poisons have the following characteristics, which detail how they affect a creature which fails a saving throw against them: Name, Vector, Intensity, Save, Onset, Frequency, Effect, Fruition, and Cure.

• Name: This is the name of the poison or drug. ("Scableaf Essense" in the example above.)
• Vector: This is the means by which the poison must be introduced to a subject to cause it to become tainted: contact, ingested, inhaled, injury. Note that vectors are not interchangeable — an injury poison won't harm a target that ingests it, unless the poison also has an ingest vector listed.
• Intensity: The intensity of a poison states whether the poison inflicts tainted, poisoned, or blighted, which determines how easily the effects of the poison are cured.

• Save: This is the saving throw type (Fort, Refl, Will) and DC for the poison. A creature subjected to poison makes a saving throw against the poison immediately upon its introduction to their system, and one saving throw for the second and third intervals of the poison's frequency. The save DC is always the same for all of these saves. A creature which fails a saving throw against poison will always take one interval worth of effects from the poison as a result. If the saving throw is successful, the poison is shrugged off, and deals no further effects to the target.
• Frequency: Many poisons act immediately upon their introduction to a target, but some poisons are designed to be slower to act. The frequency determines how often the poison will attempt to inflict its effects on the victim, and when its first effects are felt. There are three frequencies for poisons: "1/round for 3 rounds", "1/hour for 3 hours", and "1/day for 3 days". Poisons never have more than 3 intervals of their frequency. The first interval's effects are triggered by the failure of the initial saving throw, but may not occur until the first interval has passed, as detailed below:

• "1/round for 3 rounds": Poisons with a frequency of "rounds" inflict their first interval of effects as soon as the poison is introduced into the system of its victim. (E.g. a drow blademaster stabs the fighter, inflicting melee damage, and forcing the fighter to save against the drow's languishroot poison. If the save is failed, the fighter immediately takes the first interval of effects of the poison.) The target of a poison with a frequency of "rounds" takes the second interval of effects at the start of their next turn, if they fail a second save. The round after that, at the start of the target's second turn after being poisoned, they make their third (and final) save against the poison. If this save is also failed, the third interval of effects are inflicted, and the poison's fruition is also inflicted (if it has one).
• "1/hour for 3 hours": Slower poisons, such as many ingested poisons, may act with a frequency of "1/hour for 3 hours". In this case, the target creature makes their first saving throw as soon as the poison is introduced, but they take no effect from the poison until the first interval (1 hour later) occurs. The victim doesn't get a second save until the second interval (2 hours after the poison's introduction). If they fail the second save, they take a second interval of effects. At the start of the 3rd hour, the third (and final) save is made. If this save is also failed, the third interval of effects are inflicted, and the poison's fruition is inflicted (if it has one).
• "1/day for 3 days": This frequency is extremely rare for poisons. Much like a poison with a frequency of "hours", the target creature makes their first saving throw as soon as the poison is introduced, but they take no effect from the poison until the first interval occurs, at the beginning of the next day. The victim doesn't get a second save until the second interval (2 days after the poison's introduction). If they fail the second save, they take a second interval of effects. At the start of the 3rd day, the third (and final) save is made. If this save is also failed, the third interval of effects are inflicted, and the poison's fruition is inflicted (if it has one).

• Effect: This is what the poison does to a tainted creature at each interval of its frequency, if the saving throw was unsuccessful. The most common poisons inflict a combination of ability damage (or ability drain) and Non-Lethal Damage, although poison effects can vary wildly. Note that non-lethal damage from poison, though physical damage, cannot be mitigated with DR, unless the DR explicitly states it can be used to mitigate non-lethal damage (such as the Endurance (Feat)).
• Fruition: This is the effect inflicted if the poison's third tick of its frequency allowed to occur before a successful saving throw against the poison is made. Fruitions always list a duration after which the effect(s) expire on their own. This can be some number of hours, days, or even (rarely) permanent. Note that a poison's fruition can only occur after 3 failed saving throws. Drugs and poisons which inflict the tainted condition do not typically inflict a fruition effect. If they do, it is usually a non-damaging effect with a limited duration, such as requiring the victim to speak the truth for an hour.

Ended By

If the ability, trap, or effect description includes specific directions for how the condition is ended, then that is the primary means of ending this condition. In many cases, it is the only way to end the condition. If nothing is specifically listed for ending the condition, then the following methods can be used to end it, instead:

• Curing the Poison: You get a saving throw versus the poison's listed DC immediately upon being subjected to the poison (to resist the first interval's effects), and a second saving throw just before the second and third intervals. If any of these saving throws is successful, the poison is shrugged off, and causes no further effects (though the existing damage and effects linger, as described below).

• If a Neutralize Poison (Spell) or some similar effect is cast on the victim of a tainted condition, the condition immediately ends, as though the victim had successfully made a saving throw against the poison or drug in question.
• Unlike most conditions, restoration spells and similar effects which broadly cure weak status conditions do not work on Tainted creatures, unless they explicitly state they can be used to treat poison. If the spell, ability, or effect can be used to treat poisons, the tainted condition is immediately ended by such a spell, ability, or effect, when applied to the tainted creature.
• If not otherwise cured, the poison or drug runs its course when after all three intervals of its frequency occur. If the poison has a "fruition" effect, it occurs at the same time as the third interval's effects.

• Curing Damage: Any hit point damage (including non-lethal damage) caused by the effects or fruition of a poison or drug with an intensity of tainted can be cured normally, even before the poison itself has been cured.
• Curing Effects: All effects (excluding hit point damage or non-lethal damage) that are inflicted by the effects of a poison or drug with a tainted intensity linger until the creature takes a full-night's rest, regardless of any successful saving throws made by the tainted creature. Any status conditions caused by the effect of the poison or drug are also cured after a full-night's rest, even if these conditions cannot normally be cured with a full-night's rest.

• This full-night's rest may only be taken after the poison has been cured or has run its course.
• The poison or drug effects may also be cured separately, if the creature isn't willing to wait for a full-night's rest.

• Curing the Fruition: Poisons with an intensity of tainted do not usually inflict a fruition effect. However, if they do, the fruition is always cured by a full-night's rest, if it doesn't end sooner than that. Fruitions can always be cured with a Wish (Spell) or Miracle (Spell), but are not otherwise curable by any other magic, including Restoration, Greater (Spell), unless the spell, ability, or effect specifically states it can cure the fruition of a poison or a disease.

Array

Tainted → Poisoned → Blighted