I know several of us (in the old forums) have discussed different opinions on the acquisition of corruption points. (With myself falling along the opinion that being a bad person doesn't equal being chaos tainted.)

But the truth is, I am not a fan of the rules for the effects of corruption points either. I just think your chances of gaining a mutation are too high, too soon, and I'm not sure how I feel about malignancies either. On my long list of GM to-do's is to come up with an alternate corruption point progression.

Has anyone else done any work on this they'd be willing to share?

Unless you're constantly exsposing your Accolytes to Daemons and GF failures I'm unsure how the current system, as written, promotes rapid acquisition of mutation or malignancies. I personally think the system in DH is actually more 'forgiving' than my own. Someone with up to 60 Cps would 'only' take a -10 penalty to their test?! And a player will only ever test vs. Mutation three times, if that before they are 'retired'. That's pretty generous from my POV 60 CPs is pretty bloody tainted. Although I am likely biased as the system I've been using for years is much diffrent and tends to be the benchmark for which I base my comparision.

However though, I do think the system in the RAW is a bit 'off' but this is again more likely due to be bias as I've been using an alternate system for so long that this one, perhaps just be the sole merit of being diffrent seems intreisticaly flawed. I know I realy dislike the mechanic of testing against attributes to resit mutation, and I dislike the 'orderly' graded nature of the tests (every 10 points or 30 points) also there is t he fact that you will only ever make a static number of tests (most likely) before your character is auto retired (9 for Malignancy and 3 for Muatation). At all seems a bit too formalised for my tastes. Sorry I really couldn't offer a more helpful reply, however in case you're interested this is the system I've been using since WFRP v1 and will likely continue using in DH:

Corruption Points

Corruption Points are gained whenever a character encounters the deleterious emanations of Chaos, and track the level of pollution the character currently suffers. Whenever a character receives a Corruption Point they must make an immediate Corruption Test , they needn’t make a separate test when receiving multiple CPs at once, allowing that all the points were awarded at one time, in the same round from the same source.

Upon gaining new CPs a character must make a test against their WP minus the number of CPs they currently possess, this includes any CPs they were just awarded. If the test is passed they may simply add the newly acquired CPs to their Corruption Point total and continue as usual. If, however, a character fails their Corruption Test they must now make a Corrupting Influence Test to see if they succumb to the growing cancer within. The character has a % chance equal to their current CPs of suffering the mind shattering and body warping effects of Chaos, this may manifest itself in the form of Insanities, Magical Disorders, or outward Chaos Mutations. How the corruption manifests is entirely up to the GM, whatever the result, all CPs are removed when a character fails their Corrupting Influence test.

Many Witch Hunters are trained to perceive the vile taint of Chaos in all of its insidious and surreptitious forms and will often be able to make out a character that has been corrupted by contact with Chaos, any character with the Identify Chaos skill is allowed a Notice Test whenever they encounter a character with CPs , receiving a bonus to the test equal to the current number of CPs the character possesses.

Example: Arzt Hierlich has managed to defeat the band of thieves masquerading as Witch Hunters. Having thwarted their most recent attempt at murdering him and stealing his book he decides to commemorate his good fortune by taking time to study the very tome they were trying to steal. Arzt retires to his study where he spends the next three hours reading the Book of Syaega. Each Hour spent reading the gruesome volume earns Arzt 1d3 Corruption Points.

Arzt already has 8 CPs and gains another 2 CPs after his first hour of reading, bringing his new total to 10, and he must now make an immediate Corruption Test. His WP is 77, reduced by the value of his current CPs (10) he must roll equal or under to 67 to pass, he rolls a 45, passing, and continues reading. At the end of his second hour he gains another 1 CP requiring another test, his new Corruption Test is 66, Arzt rolls a 91, failing and must now make a Corrupting Influence Test to see if he gains any Mutations or Disorders.

Since Arzt currently has 11 CPs he has an 11% chance of gaining mutations. He rolls a 46 and manages to avoid mutation. After another hour of reading Arzt gains 2 more CPs and must make yet another Corruption Test. His new CP total is 13 making his test 64, he rolls and gets a 92 requiring another Corrupting Influence Test, his chances of gaining mutations has now improved to 13% he rolls and scores a 56. It seems Arzt has yet again managed to keep his book, mind, and body intact.

WP – CPs = Corruption Test

CPs = Corrupting Influence Test

Wu Ming said:

No, thanks very much. Some of the points you make above are some of the things I don't like in the system as well.

Naturally everyone is going to have their own take on what is too forgiving and what isn't. (And frankly even "60 points" is a subjective measure when you consider some GM's might hand corruption points out by the d10, and others in 1's and 2's.) Even if thresholds don't suit my personal tastes, just seeing what other people have come up with is nice food for thought. Thanks for sharing.