Mechanics for shadowlands taint?

By sidescroller, in Rules Questions

I remember in 4e there were rules by which a tainted characters' corruption got worse. They had to periodically make earth ring checks to resist further corruption. The Shadowlands supplement for 5e describes how the taint gets worse over time, but I don't see similar mechanics. Am I looking in the wrong spot? Specifically, I'm wondering if there are mechanics for the following:

  1. Acquisition of taint
  2. Progression of taint
  3. Jade's protection against taint
  4. Jade petal tea's suppression of symptoms

House rules are welcome too, if there aren't rules for these things.

Right, I am the first to say that the book organization is awful. What you are looking for is page 271 of the Corebook.

Specifically the Afflicted condition. That covers questions 1 and 2.

Page 241 has the keyword for equipment talking about how Sacred equipment protects from the Afflicted condition and page 242 shows that a finger of jade has that keyword.

Jade Petal Tea is covered in page 113 of the Shadowlands book.

Thank you! That's very helpful.

Okay after reviewing those sections, I guess I'm still curious about how shadowlands taint progresses within a character.

Based on:

  1. the narrative--that the taint infection grows over time and eventually consumes the person, and
  2. the afflicted condition, which is how new taint-related disadvantages are added,

I would expect there was some mechanism by which a taint-related disadvantage re-applies the Afflicted condition--otherwise, I don't see how it could grow over time.

Just notice that a finger of jade protects two times. The first time it becomeS Damaged and the second time it becomes Destroyed.

Also, if you interpret that the Shadowlands is a huge Place of Power for Jigoku, the entire shadowlands is dangerous and defiled.

Edit: Defiled terrain causes the Afflicted condition and the only way to remove the Afflicted condition is by either doing a Cleansing Ritual or passing a TN 4 Meditation or Fitness test. If you fail, another Ring becomes Tainted.

Edited by DSalazar

But other than that, you are right. If you are careful enough, it's possible to only have one Ring Tainted and be able to spend the rest of your life with only that one Ring.

Another thing is that Jade Strike only affects Otherworldly creatures and the sidebar on page 127 tells you that once a character has 3 Tainted Rings, they become Otherwordly.

Seriously, it's amazing how messed up this information is spread out.