Hexensyndrome Corruption

A strange magical disease that contracts in young girls and transforms them into malicious, evil entities.

**Catalyst**

Surviving a fall into a pool of raw mana or ingesting raw mana. Being subject to powerful magic for a prolonged period of time, suffering a curse, or other similar scenarios can trigger Hexensyndrome.

**Progression**

The corruption causes a single eye to grow on your forehead. This eye remains closed until you reach Corruption Stage 1. You gain a Hexensyndrome Threshold equal to your Constitution modifier. This Hexensyndrome Threshold begins at 1 point, and certain actions cause you to gain more points, however points can rarely (If ever) be taken away once gained. For some witches it's years before this eye opens and they become a witch, though for others it happens very quickly.

Whenever you fail a saving throw vs. a spell or technique, the Hexensyndrome threshold increases by 1. If you are willingly effected by a spell of any sort, or are effected by a useful spell of some sort (Such as a buff or a healing spell) you also gain 1 point. If the spell lasts for longer than 10 minutes you gain an additional point for every 10 minutes it lasts. If you are effected by a status ailment from a spell, you gain 1 point. If you are fatigued you gain 1 point, and if you are exhausted you gain 2 points. If you contract a disease or poison you gain 1 point. If you are knocked unconscious you gain 6 points. If you are submerged in raw mana or a pit of raw magic or are otherwise bathed in the energies of wild or primal magic you gain 6 points.

Once your Hexensyndrome threshold is filled, You reach Corruption Stage 1 and your eye opens.

After you reach stage 1, it progresses based on how the DM decides. Usually with the Witch attempting to find ways to crush the other personality that it used to be. The DM however can instead rule however that the original personality has died upon reaching the first stage of corruption. If a player would like to actually play as a witch with this corruption, the Dualsoul Witch Archetype or Hexensyndrome Witch archetypes are the best bet for them, this is more for DM's who wish to introduce it as more of a hindrance than anything.

When a witch is killed before awakening, it dies normally, however after it reaches Corruption Stage 1, if it is killed without taking proper precautions it becomes a Dark Witch, also known as a Venifica. Venifica are like walking charred corpses, twisted and mangled by the overload of magic in their bodies.

Unlike other corruptions, your first manifestation must be the Third Eye.

**Corruption Stage 1**: The Witch awakens within you and you gain a new personality and memories.  This personality is Chaotic evil, and oftentimes childish. Your base Intelligence and Charisma in this form become 18 and 15 respectively, unless your scores are already higher than that, in which you gain a +4 and a +2 to those ability scores. In addition, you change your current most class level to be a level in the witch class and you can only take levels in that class from now on. This Personality takes center stage in your life. The things that your personality does are seen as a dream to the other and vice versa. The DM determines when you switch back and fourth, though it's very common for a witch to never revert back to their original form. If it does revert back to it's form, it loses all witch class abilities and reverts back to it's original self, though it now is treated as a level 1 commoner. Some of these witches possess powers beyond what a normal creature would be capable of, as such the DM may grant them access to spells and abilities far surpassing what a creature of their level should be able to accomplish.

**Corruption Stage 2**: During the constant mental struggle of survival between the two personalities, if you fail another save, you become the witch more prominently and your mind is shunted to the recesses of her own. The witch can now speak more freely with the original personality inside of her, though it is much weaker and rarely is allowed out. If one of the personalities is effected by a mind effecting spell and they know it, they can willingly switch places with one another, leaving the mind controlled personality in the recesses of the mind as the other emerges. This is the only way many original personalities remain as the witch will sometimes switch simply to attempt to avoid mind control. Sometimes if the witch does something to harm a loved one of the corrupted creature, the creature can take control back from them.

**Corruption Stage 3**: The Third time you fail your saving throw, the original personality dies and is absorbed into the witch's mind. The witch gains all of their knowledge and memories, however the witch remains as the only personality, completely consumed with Chaos and evil as well as destruction and the further study of magical power.

**Removing the Corruption**

The Corruption can only be removed through a Wish or Miracle or other intervention from a godly creature. It can be resisted through avoiding all magic or physical strain and ailment, however it never truly goes away without a god getting involved.

Though this is the case, it is not widely known. In fact many believe there to be a way to cure the disease through the surgical removal of the third eye utilizing a magical scalpel and forceps, however the best surgeons and alchemists know that in removing the eye, the witch will suffer for up to three days and nights before dying a husk of her former self. The eye of the witch however is known as a witch's tear and can be utilized as a magic item. In attempting to remove it, the witch is usually fed a magic parasite which inhabits it's gut and consumes their mana power so their power doesn't grow too much if they should awaken during the procedure. If the witch had awakened and was in Stage  1-3 of their corruption, they instead release a burst of destructive energy, transforming into a Venifica, an arcane beast made only of destructive magic and an endless hunger for dismantling the world.

This blast of energy is 10 feet wide and deals 2d6 damage to all creatures in the area. The effect increases by +10 feet and +2d6 damage for every hit dice the witch possesses. A successful reflex saving throw DC: 10+1/2 witch's hit dice+ Witch's intelligence modifier+ Manifestation level halves the damage. Some witches have specific effects that trigger however if they become Venifica that are triggered upon their transformation.

**Manifestations**

The following are manifestations of the Hexensyndrome Corruption.

**Heightened Senses**

**Gift**: You gain Darkvision out to 60 feet, and the scent extraordinary ability. The range is doubled when attempting so sniff out religious people, holy objects, or virgins. In addition, you gain a +1 bonus to one of the following skills. Climb, Acrobatics, Fly, Perception, Survival, Swim, or Sense Motive. Every time you gain a manifestation level you can gain another +1 in one of these skills to a max of +8. When you reach Corruption Stage 2, you gain another +1 per manifestation level you can allocate however you'd like following the previous rules, and it happens a final time at Corruption Stage 3.

**Stain**: Your senses are incredibly great, but they can be a hindrance because of this. You gain the Light Sensitivity racial feature, and you take 50% more damage from sonic effects.

**Soul Scent**

**Prerequisite(s)**: Must have Heightened Senses

**Gift**: Your scent ability works on creatures usually immune to scent so long as they have a soul, you can track them. In addition, you gain another ability. The witch can tell whether or not creatures within 30 feet of her that she can see are living, wounded, dying, or dead. She can also tell if those creatures are confused, disabled, diseased, nauseated, poisoned, sickened or staggered. At Corruption level 2, when using life sight she is able to sense all nearby living creatures; this functions similar to blindsight, but only for living creatures within 30 feet of her. The witch can use this ability a number of rounds per day equal to her level, but these rounds do not need to consecutive.

**Stain**: The witch can smell these souls, and as such it causes her sense of smell to be heightened to an insane degree. As such the witch suffers a penalty equal to her manifestation level against effects based on smell that sicken or nauseate, or against effects based on smell in general (Such as a gluttonous witch ignoring the aroma of a delicious meal or a predator that mind controls through strange pheromones or spores that the witch breathes in).

**Third Eye**

**Prerequisite(s)**: Must be taken as first Manifestation.

**Gift**: You gain a third eye in the middle of your forehead. This gives you a +1 bonus to intimidate checks per manifestation level. Once you reach Stage 1 of the corruption, you gain the evil eye hex of a witch. If you already possess the Evil Eye hex, you gain the feat Mal Ojo Evil Eye as a bonus feat. Whenever this reaches the 2nd and 3rd stage of corruption you gain the Mal Ojo Evil eye feat again for each stage, selecting a different option each time.

**Stain**: You have a piercing eye on your forehead. This gives you a -1 penalty to all charisma based skill checks other than intimidate when dealing with non witches unless you keep the eye effectively hidden from sight.

If the spirit has 3 or more points of influence over you, you must attempt saving throws against harmless spells cast by allies (but not yourself ), and you no longer count as willing.

**Manacaster**

**Gift**: You gain the feat Manacaster as a bonus feat. In addition, at the start of every day when preparing your spells, you gain an amount of mana equal to your Manifestation level.

**Stain**: Your dependence on mana is quite problematic. In areas without much mana or in an anti-magic zone, you lose 1d6 mana a minute until you leave that area. In addition, if your mana total ever drops to an amount equal to or lower than your hitpoints, you take a -8 penalty to all d20 rolls until your mana is brought back up.

**Bad Blood**

**Gift**: Your blood is tainted by mana and can eat away at the flesh of those who touch it. When a creature deals damage to you in melee combat (Unless wielding a reach weapon) they take 1 damage. This damage bypasses their damage reduction. This deals 1d4 damage when you reach stage 2 and 1d6 damage at stage 3.

**Stain**: Your blood may be dangerous, but because of this it becomes difficult to heal. You heal 25% less from all magical sources.

**Black Blood**

**Gift:** You must possess the Bad Blood manifestation to select this. Creatures who damage you within 10 feet of you take the damage. At Stage 2 you deal an additional amount of damage equal to your manifestation level. At Stage 3, creatures who take this damage are at risk of contracting hexensyndrome themselves unless sterilized with holy water. Often times creatures who come in contact with a witch's blood sterilize their items in holy water so as to not contract the disease or spread it around.

**Stain**: There is a 50% chance magical healing will not work on you when accepting magical healing of some kind.

**Mana Resistance**

**Gift:** You gain the Mana Resistance feat as a bonus feat. In addition you add your manifestation level to your class level to determine how much protection it grants.

**Stain**: Your body can resist the effects of mana, but is otherwise somewhat frail. Your hitpoints are lowered by -2 per hit dice..

**Manaeater**

**Prerequisite(s)**: Must possess Manacaster.

**Gift**: You gain the feat Mana-drinker as a bonus feat. In addition, when you use it, you gain an additional amount of mana equal to your manifestation level times your corruption level. This is added after you make your save.

**Stain**: You are addicted to the power that absorbing mana and expelling it brings. You must use your Mana Drinker ability as soon as you can when it refreshes every week. Whenever using your mana-drinker ability, you have a 75% chance to be unable to stop yourself from consuming more and must spend the time to move to the next step. If you can't or are interrupted you are exhausted. Every day that you don't you are exhausted. When resting at night you must sleep for 2 additional hours and when preparing spells in the morning you often take too long glutting on your mana feast and take 2 hours instead of 1 hour to prepare. If you don't have the time to do so, you will have only 1 spell slot of each level you have, prepared.

**Witch Healing**

**Gift**: You gain fast healing 1. This increases by 1 for every manifestation level you possess.

**Stain**: Your body heals quickly but it uses a lot of energy from you. If you are ever fatigued, you are instead exhausted, using the usual rules for exhaustion. If you are ever exhausted, you take an additional penalty to your rolls equal to your manifestation level.

**Mana Sustenance**

**Prerequisite(s)**: Must possess Manaeater.

**Gift**: You no longer have to eat to sustain yourself.

**Stain**: Though you don't eat anymore, you still have a gnawing hunger that you can't rid yourself of. This imparts a penalty to concentration checks equal to your manifestation level.

**Greater Manaeater**

**Prerequisite(s)**: Must possess Manaeater.

**Gift**: You can consume magical effects to heal. When you are subject to a beneficial magical effect, you must choose to make a fortitude saving throw Vs. the spell's effect. If successful, you heal a number of hit points equal to your Manifestation level times the spell level you consumed. If you fail, the spell ends as if it were dispelled. If this spell effected multiple creatures it dispels it for all of the effected creatures.

**Stain**: You can only consume so much magic in a day. As such every time you use this ability you take a penalty to your next fortitude save for it equal to your manifestation level. If you use it successfully a number of times per day equal to your manifestation level,  on your next round you will take a full round action to vomit, and will lose 1d6x5 mana from it.

**Blurred Soul**

**Prerequisite(s)**: Manifestation level 5th.

**Gift**: Spells that affect a limited number of targets can fail when targeting you unless the caster selects you as two separate targets. Against such spells that target you only once, you have an amount of spell resistance equal to 11 + double your manifestation level. A spellcaster who finishes casting a spell that targets you only once and succeeds at a caster level check against your spell resistance notices the interference and can attempt a DC 25 Spellcraft check to realize she needs to target you twice to circumvent it with future spells.

**Stain**: You feel yourself superior to other creatures and feel you don't need their assistance. Any ally attempting to cast a touch spell on you must succeed at a touch attack. You can spend a move action steadying yourself to allow allies to touch you without a touch attack for 1 round.

If you are at corruption stage 2 or higher, you must attempt saving throws against harmless spells cast by allies (but not yourself ), and you no longer count as willing.

**Temporary Clarity**

**Gift**: Once per day, without spending an action, you can sublimate all of your negative thoughts into the spirit to clear your mind in response to gaining one of the following conditions: dazed, frightened, panicked, shaken, staggered, and stunned. This allows your base personality to shine through while retaining the abilities of the witch. You ignore the effects of that particular instance of that condition for a number of minutes equal to your manifestation level (if you suffer from that condition from another source, it applies normally). This time still counts against the condition’s duration. Once the duration expires, the witch takes control of your body again.

**Stain**: You make the spirit more powerful by feeding it your darkest thoughts. The witch gains a Permanent +2 bonus to all of it's saves and skill checks to remain the dominant personality.