Necromancy & Other Dark Arts
So, black magic has to be initially appealing & eventually crippling.
Often in game systems nasty magic or devilish deals are straight-up unattractive. For example, it’ll offer a +1 on checks to overcome damage resistance at the cost of losing 1 hp every time you see the sun, a -4 to Cha, and your dick falls off.
So, how about this: you get Taint or Corruption or whatever any time you call on black magic. When you reach certain degrees of Corruption you get MORE power, not less (until…). Further, the more Corruption you get, the more quickly it accumulates. When you reach a certain tipping point, your Corrupt gifts persist but you begin to suffer otherwise (here’s where your dick falls off). The important part is, the early stages have to grant a small but noticeable bonus, and the middle stages have to offer Big, Real bonuses.
Sample starting bonuses:
+1 spell of your highest level per day
Gain 1 temp hp per HD when you kill a creature
Fast heal 1
+1 to spell DCs
Use your patron’s casting stat in place of your own (a minor bonus for most casters, a huge boost for novices that take a pact)
(every time you use said bonus, add 1d6 Corruption)
Sample medium bonuses (50+ Corruption):
Resistance to a damage type of your choice
Cast spells using hp from slain enemies or yourself
+2 to DCs & spell attacks
+4 Str/Dex/Con for 1 minute
Drink blood to short rest
Gain a 1/day spell or monster ability (invisibility, dragon breath, etc.)
Hide taint (disguise)
(add 1d10 Corruption on each use; show visible signs of taint & suffer disadvantage on social checks w/ non-evil folks)
Sample high bonuses (100+ Corruption):
Gain immunity to a damage type
Swap bodies with others (ignore negative taint effects, but gain 1d10 taint every day in new body)
Killing touch
Undead servants, or demonic
Persistent magical effect (flight, truesight, etc)
(gain 1d10 Corruption on use; look like Emperor Palpatine’s asshole; reduce max hp by 1d10 each day; disadvantage on any roll w/o corruption effects;
Could also use this as magical Attunement. The more plant magic you do, the more planty you get.
This is what turns arcanists into elves, necromancers into liches, and so on. Each path of attunement grants different abilities. Taint/corruption layers over that - most are not as severe or powerful.
The attunement you gain depends on the magic you do. If you perform several types of magic you track their attunement separately.
Divine: angelic/demonic. You gain appropriate features and inspire an emotion related to your divinity.
Occult: shade. You become fey, pale, and can feel memories like a breeze.
Primal: spirit. You adopt cosmetic plant or animal features. You become part of the great web, and can sense the ecosphere innately.
Arcane: aelfr. Your ears point, you get wispier and stranger. Aether pours off you and you begin to ignore the laws of the natural world (i.e., hover, talk backward, etc.).
Nether: taint, appropriate cosmetically to your source of power (lich, demonic, outsider etc.)
