What's a good way to detect Tainted creatures? Is there a spell for this?

And is there some way to detect a Shadowland zone?

Jde Fist them. Or throw jade at them. Or jade-anything. : P

The Witch Hunters have a school tech for that

If it weights more than a duck, it is Tainted!

Give them a hug. If you feel a sudden urge to rampage through the countryside - they're tainted.

Source: Personal Experience.

This is not the taint you're looking for.

You can go about your business.

Move along.

It generally can be sensed although Shugenja have a harder time if they are not specifically trained to do it. Just Jade striking random dudes is considerably rude and doesn't hit certain creatures like Oni no Pekkle and Tsupai. Taint warps the land in general the stronger the corruption the worse the area looks.

Offering people tea with Jade in it can have fun results. I think we did that once in the RPG. That Goju was not happy. Or maybe he was just an offended Crane. I can't remember.

Good times.

1 hour ago, Devin-the-Poet said:

Offering people tea with Jade in it can have fun results. I think we did that once in the RPG. That Goju was not happy. Or maybe he was just an offended Crane. I can't remember.

Good times.

The whole "the Goju are Shadowlands now!" thing was silly. Yeah, I get it: Shadow Dragon. Still silly.

Anyone remember the great story where Shosuro Yudoka (man, he was awesome) had that crazy running battle against Goju Nishiko along the Crab Wall? The bit where she taunts him, asking why he's been so silent, and he spits a bunch of powdered crystal into her face was one of the most badas* moments in L5R.

(For those that don't know: Crystal harms minions of 'The Lying Darkness', similar to the way jade harms creatures of the Shadowlands).

In an RPG campaign, we discussed it and came up with the conclusion that samurai along the Wall would press jade against their skin and see whether they flinched from the pain. Further into Rokugan, this is less convenient as people are less likely to walk around carrying jade.

Very low levels of taint are not detectable, by 3rd edition rules at least. It'll lie dormant until it grows stronger, which could take years or decades. There are probably lots of stories about Grandad, who fought on the Wall alongside the Crab in his youth, getting up one night without warning and going on the rampage.

16 hours ago, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

In an RPG campaign, we discussed it and came up with the conclusion that samurai along the Wall would press jade against their skin and see whether they flinched from the pain. Further into Rokugan, this is less convenient as people are less likely to walk around carrying jade.

Very low levels of taint are not detectable, by 3rd edition rules at least. It'll lie dormant until it grows stronger, which could take years or decades. There are probably lots of stories about Grandad, who fought on the Wall alongside the Crab in his youth, getting up one night without warning and going on the rampage.

Have you read Way of Shadow? Yes, it's Nothing rather than Shadowlands, but boy, it's a good book (and an adventure to make your players paranoid s anything)

Contact with Jade on a tainted creature will typically show a reaction. Jade strike as well. Doing either of these without permission is considered very rude and could result in honor loss and/or a duel. Also, Jade is super precious, and as such it is uncommon for anyone to just be carrying it around for this purpose. Typically the Crab buy it all to send to the Wall, since carrying Jade supplies limited protection from being tainted.

We always assumed that Kuni just greeted each other by casting Jade strike instead of bowing or shaking hands or whatever.

There are a few techniques that will reveal it, but they are specifically hard to come by. I think the Emerald Magistrates are the primary source for this technique. Kuni might have something, but I don't recall the witch hunter school very well. If a creature does not have a full rank of taint (10 points or more), then they will not show any reaction to the taint though.