Corruption

#mechanics #corruption #magic
Corruption
Using magic, whether Arcane, Divine, or Primal, is altering reality to bend to your will. When that happens, you are corrupting the very essence of existence. Creatures from outside time and space take notice of your breaches, divine beings fueled by the faith of men recognize your existence, or the very entropy resulting from the decay of matter and energy itself touches you directly. Each time you get noticed, you risk opening a rift to other dimensions, or having a deity siphon your soul to enhance its power, or the accelerating the decay of everything in localized pocket of entropy.

Integrity and Void
Use two dice to track the state of the characters' metaphysical wellbeing. Start with 6 showing on the Integrity die and 1 showing on the Void Die. Whenever a character Fumbles when casting a Spell, or uses certain higher level Spells, they mark Corruption, and tick down the Integrity Die by 1. If you create an Act of Anchoring, you remove Corruption and tick up your Integrity Die. You can never have more than 6 Integrity. This represents the caster losing pieces of their soul in order to break the laws of reality.

Whenever the character's Integrity Die equals the value of their Void Die, they suffer a Mutation. Then reset Integrity Die to 6 and increase the Void Die by 1. This represents the character trading away their integrity and getting closer to the Void.

At Void 5, you can cast any Level 1 Spell you know without Taking the Measure.

Mutation - A physical or metaphysical scar reflecting the characters' repeated attempts to alter the fabric of reality.

Act of Anchoring — After each Overnight Rest, instead of regaining your Nerve and Health, you may create something that does not use magic. A poem, prayer, work of art, koan — something earnest and substantial. Consult with your GM, then Take the Measure of whatever Ability applies. On a Rule of 7, reduce Corruption by 2. On a Hit, reduce Corruption by 1. You may attempt this once per Overnight Rest.

The End State - As the Void Die continues to increase (from 1 down to 6), the threshold for suffering a Mutation becomes increasingly tight. When the Void die reaches 6, the caster has traded away the last of their Integrity and permanently joins the Void. They have either been replaced by some non-Euclidean creature, absorbed by a god to fuel their divinity, or consumed by the primal universal entropy.