Magical Corruption

Since Between the Serpents of Smoke & Steel will be using Wonder & Wickedness for its magic system I had to address the question of Catastrophes. Now, I do think the Catastrophes in the book are cool, but they are uh...a bit dramatic, let's say? And while my plan initially was to just leave them like that and see where things go, I got cold feet and instead decided to scale things back down.

So instead of Catastrophes, I decided to go for the DCC approach and have Corruption. This way there are still consequences to unrestrained magic use, but they are mostly tied to the sorcerer performing the magic, rather than everyone else. Below is an excerpt from my Player's Handbook document for that campaign, specifically on how to handle Corruption, reposted here for potential and dubious use to other people.

 

    Magic in Between the Serpents of Smoke and Steel is inherently dangerous. Not only are the spells themselves capable of being very volatile, but using magic without a good deal of caution (such as sticking to your daily limit of spells or not trying to cast them in disruptive situations such as in the middle of combat) risks exposing the body and mind of the Sorcerer to Corruption.

Corruption Roll

Whenever you are asked to roll for Corruption, roll 1d6 and add the number of previous times you have had to roll for Corruption that day, then consult the following chart:

1d6	Corruption Roll Result
1	You avoid Corruption, but lose 1 hit point.*
2	Roll on the Minor Corruption Table with a -2.
3	Roll on the Minor Corruption Table.
4	Roll on the Minor Corruption Table twice.
5	Roll on the Major Corruption Table with a -2.
6	Roll on the Major Corruption Table.
7	Roll on the Major Corruption Table with a +2.
8+	Roll on the Major Corruption Table twice.

*If this will lead to your character dropping down to 0 hit points, do not make a Saving Throw. Your character simply falls unconscious for 1d6 exploration turns, but is otherwise still alive.

On any result except a 1, consult the appropriate following Corruption tables.

Minor Corruption Table

    Roll 1d10 on the table below, adding any modifiers from the Corruption Roll. If you roll a corruption that you already have, pick the one below it.

1 or Less — You grow horns upon your head. Roll 1d6, they are: 1-goat horns, 2-bull horns, 3-antelope horns, 4-deer antlers, 5-water buffalo horns, 6-kudu horns. This corruption can happen multiple times — if you get this a second time, you simply grow another pair of horns. After the third set, the horns start to impact your movement and vision. If you ever get 6 pairs of horns your mind shatters and you become one of the Horned Men. Make a new character.

2 — The eyes are a window to the soul, so they say, and yours reveal the magical force within. Roll 1d6, your eyes turn: 1-permanently bloodshot, 2-pure white, 3-pure black, 4-shrunken and tiny, 5-bulging and googly, 6-upturned into your skull. It does not impact your sight in any meaningful way.

3 — You grow two extra fingers on each hand. They always look black like your skin is charred, but otherwise operate as normal fingers.

4 — Your voice changes permanently, either into a booming and reverberating shout or a strained whisper, barely audible unless someone is right next to you. You may choose which one it is.

5 — Your blood is boiling hot. You feel overheated constantly and must make efforts to keep yourself cool. If your blood is spilled it sizzles like hot water spilled over coals and will cause minor burns and irritation on your skin if not cleaned up quickly.

6 — You now permanently smell of brimstone. Most animals will avoid you or feel aggravated around you, and people recognize you as tainted by magical forces, causing a -1 to reaction rolls with non-magical or non-demonic individuals.

7 — The undead are unnaturally attracted to you, for better or worse. Any undead that you encounter will always prioritize you as a target if possible.

8 — Any food or drink you consume from now on only tastes of ash. You soon lose any ability to derive any pleasure from those things, only eating and drinking enough to keep yourself from dying. You can only spend half as much money on Carousing from now on and can no longer detect if food or alcohol is poisoned, rotten, or in any way gone bad — it all just tastes of ash.

9 — Your spine elongates and bends, making you unable to stand up straight. Your head hangs, just barely above ground, making it very difficult to look up. You can no longer carry more than two items on your back, as it's very painful and uncomfortable.

10 — Roll twice on this table without any modifier to the roll. If you get this result again, instead roll on the Major Corruption Table below.

Major Corruption Table

    Roll 1d6 on the table below, adding any modifiers from the Corruption Roll. If you roll a corruption that you already have, pick the one below it. If you have to pick below 1, lose 3d6 hit points instead.

1 — Your shadow becomes detached. If you do not pay constant attention to it, it might wander off. That's not a problem in and of itself, but your shadow might be used to target you with curses or other malevolent magics as if you were physically present there yourself.

2 — Your flesh turns hard and cracks like thick dried mud. Your AC when Unarmored is now 7, and your base Movement Rate is reduced to 9. You also lose 1 point of Dexterity.

3 — You grow a third eye in the middle of your forehead. If you close your normal eyes, you can see incorporeal beings through your third eye. They can also always tell if you are looking at them too. Most of them don't like it.

4 — From now on anyone within several paces of you can faintly hear your surface thoughts. The closer they are the louder and more clearly they can hear your thoughts. This makes it nearly impossible to lie and can affect reaction rolls.

5 — All hair on your head falls off and you grow a second face on the back of your head. Your eyes, nose and mouth each get randomly shuffled between the two faces. If you end up with an eye on both faces you lose your depth perception, but can no longer be surprised from behind.

6 — Your soul becomes fixated on your mortal existence and you develop an extreme phobia of death. This is not unfounded — when you die your soul will not leave, but instead transforms into a vengeful and angry wraith, bent on enacting vengeance on all it perceives as responsible for your death, both enemy and ally alike.

7 — You become dependent on magic to sustain yourself. You must be targeted by another person's magic at least once a day, or else you start withering away, temporarily losing a point of Constitution. Once you have been exposed to magic you restore all temporarily lost Constitution. If your Constitution ever reaches 0 you die. Magical potions or items will not suffice — it must be a spell cast by another person. On the other hand, this dependence on magic makes you more attuned to it — you may cast double the amount of spells per day that you normally would, without it causing you further Corruption.

8 — Your skin slowly (and very painfully) turns inside out, starting from your face and working it's way down over the course of 13 days. It then takes a week for the reversed skin to callous enough for you to not be in constant agony. Make a Trauma Survival roll — if you succeed you permanently lose 2 points of Strength and Constitution. If you fail you lose 4 points of those instead. In either case you also lose 5 points of Charisma.