Taint: Any living creature who bears the mark of the flame is cursed to the fate of the undead. When he dies, he rises again as an undead creature. Each time he dies after that he will return to life. Eventually an undead's deaths will drive him insane. Undead must be rejected, exiled, and shunned so that they will have no desire to return and harm the living.

Undead are known to return even when their bodies are burned, somehow reappearing near the places they held dear in life. An undead who has not yet succumbed to taint will return to life when slain. At the next sunrise the undead and its equipment rematerialize at the nearest location he calls home. Undead are fully healed and rested when they rematerialize.

Sources of divine flame attract sane undead while repelling those who have succumbed to their curse. An undead who rests at a source of divine flame will usually return there when slain.

Gaining Taint: The first time an undead character dies he gains 1d3 point of taint. Each time he dies after that he gains 1 point of taint.

Some places, objects, and creatures can produce taint. In these cases, characters are allowed a Fortitude saving throw to resist. The base DC is 10 + 5 for every consecutive 24 hours of exposure. Multiple simultaneous exposures (such as carrying a tainted weapon in a tainted place) increase the DC by +5 per source of exposure every 24 hours. If the character fails his saving throw, his taint score increases by 1.

Removing Taint: The following are known methods of removing taint.

* Slaying a living creature who does not bear the mark of the flame and inhaling its last breath. This heals 1d6 taint if the creature had as many or more Hit Dice than the undead, and 1 taint otherwise.

* Slaying a sane undead and inhaling its last breath. This heals 1 taint, but the slain undead gains twice as much taint when he revives.

* Donating treasure or services worth 100 gp per character level to the cause of a good deity. This requires the guidance of a priest and requires a ritual or service that lasts at least 24 hours. This completely heals the undead's taint.

* Certain sacred springs are said to cleanse the taint of undeath.

* Certain objects are said to protect the bearer from taint.

A character whose taint score is reduced to 0 becomes living again (until he dies, again).

Effects of Taint: Taint is a rotting of the flesh and darkening of the mind. A character with taint applies his taint score as a penalty to his Constitution and Wisdom scores, to a minimum of 1. A character whose taint score is higher than both his Constitution score and Wisdom score becomes an insane undead monster.

Chaos: All undead characters may draw power from their inner flame, corrupting themselves in exchange for temporary strength. Living characters cannot use these abilities.

* You can gain 1 point of taint from an attack to gain a +4 bonus to attack and damage before any rolls are made.

* You can gain 1d6 points of taint from an attack to gain a +10 bonus to attack and damage before any rolls are made.

* You can gain 1 point of taint from a spell to increase its caster level and save DC by 2 before any rolls are made.

* You can gain 1d6 points of taint from a spell to increase its caster level and save DC by 5 before any rolls are made.

* You can gain 1 point of taint to take half damage from one attack, spell, or damaging effect after the damage total is declared. (Note: Normally dying only gives you 1 point of taint.)

* You can gain 1d6 points of taint to survive an attack that would normally kill you, leaving you with 1 hp. (Note: Normally dying only gives you 1 point of taint.)

* You can gain 1 point of taint to reroll a failed saving throw, using the second result if it is better.

* You can gain 1d6 points of taint to turn a failed saving throw into an automatic success.

Embracing Taint: A character with a high taint score may seek out forces of great evil and pledge himself to their cause. Often evil cults, temples of evil deities, and the militaries of evil warlords eagerly accept such pledges, giving the character access to new sources of power.

The following feats are available for the undead. A living character with any [Taint] feat may use chaos abilities even while he is living (instantly converting him into an undead).

Tainted Metamagic [Taint]

Prerequisite: One metamagic feat

Benefit: You gain the following chaos ability:

* You may spontaneously apply metamagic feats to a spell, increasing its casting time from a standard action to a full-round action. You gain a number of points of taint equal to the spell slot adjustment of the metamagic feat. Thus, casting an empowered vampiric touch spell grants 2 points of taint, because an empowered spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than normal. You cannot enhance a spell to a level higher than you can cast by this means. For example, a you must be at least a 9th-level caster to cast an empowered vampiric touch spell (or at least 10th level, if you are casting as a sorcerer), since the empowered spell requires a 5th-level spell slot.

Tainted Spellcasting [Taint]

Prerequisite: Ability to cast 1st-level spells

Benefit: When you use a chaos ability to improve your spellcasting you are allowed a DC 10 Will saving throw to gain no taint. Each time you succeed on this saving throw, the next save's DC increases by 5.

Tainted Strike [Taint]

Prerequisite: BAB +1

Benefit: When you use a chaos ability to improve an attack you are allowed a DC 10 Will saving throw to gain no taint. Each time you succeed on this saving throw, the next save's DC increases by 5.

Taint Suppression [Taint]

Prerequisite: Constitution 13

Benefit: You no longer apply your taint score as a penalty to your Constitution, and only apply one-half your taint score as a penalty to your Wisdom.

Undead Damage Reduction [Taint]

Prerequisite: Constitution 13

Benefit: When you are undead you have damage reduction 1/good. This damage reduction increases by 1 point for every feat you have with the [Taint] descriptor.

Undead Healer [Taint]

Prerequisite: Wisdom 13

Benefit: You gain the following chaos abilities:

* You can gain 1 point of taint to heal a touched undead for 1d8 points of damage per level as a standard action.