Illnesses and Diseases

Illness can strike characters at any time that they are potentially exposed to a disease. Cities and towns could be ridden with disease due to poor hygiene. Marshy fens or riversides may be full of parasites, which can be treated as diseases. Characters who suffer serious wounds in battle may be exposed to infection. When exposed to a potential source, there is a 5% chance your character might be exposed to an illness, disease, or parasite, modified by a character's CON modifier. Likewise, in situations where disease is particularly prevalent (for example, in a city during a plague epidemic), all characters have been exposed.   Exposed characters should make a saving throw versus poison to determine if they are infected with a disease they were exposed to, modified by the character’s constitution modifier; particularly virulent diseases confer penalties to the roll. After this, the characteristics of the disease is determined as being mild or severe, and whether it is fatal:

• Mild diseases have symptoms that will be incapacitating, temporarily reducing ability scores, or causing penalties to combat bonuses and/or skill checks. These diseases require new saving throws at regular intervals (be it days or weeks, rarely longer) and the character will recover fully after successfully making one of these saving throws.
• A severe disease has more significant effects, usually reducing ability score bonuses cumulatively over a certain period of intervals (for example, every day, or two days, or one week), each time a PC fails a saving throw. However, succeeding the saving throw does not remove the disease, but only avoids further increase in penalty. If the severe disease is not fatal, the number of intervals will be determined beforehand (for example, a saving throw every 2 days to avoid losing one point of constitution, for two weeks total and after the duration of the disease is over the player character should recover gradually (at a rate of one ability point per day) until fully cured. Thus, a severe disease may still kill someone who is very weak, by cumulative ability score loss.
• If a disease is fatal, then there is no end to the intervals requiring saving throws; characters just continue to gradually or rapidly deteriorate until they die.

  Ability score loss from diseases that do not prove fatal will recover, after the disease duration ends, at a rate of 1 point per ability score per day; unless permanent loss is specifically indicated.  

SAMPLE DISEASES

 

• Cholera:
Exposure risk to this disease happens from being in the poorer areas of any city, or in any village where Cholera is prevalent. This is particularly true when eating food prepared in an area where the disease exists. It causes extreme intestinal disruption, and vomiting, as well as chills.
—Saving Throw modifier: –4
—Classification: Severe
—Duration: 5d6 days, Saving throw vs. disease every 2 days to avoid losing 1 point of CON. While affected the character will have a –4 penalty to all skill checks or attack rolls.

• Cold/Flu:
Exposure comes from being near someone else with this ailment, or suffering extreme temperature shifts. Anyone exposed should make an initial saving throw; if they succeeded the ailment is only a cold and is mild. Otherwise, it is a full-blown pneumonia and potentially lethal.
—Saving Throw Modifier: –2
—Classification: Mild/Severe
—Duration: 1d6 days for colds, 2d6 days for pneumonia. Characters suffering from Colds will have to do a saving throw each day of the duration; any day they fail they have a –2 to all actions, if they save it is only a –1. However, any character with a cold who engages in strenuous activity may at the GM’s option develop a more serious pneumonia. Characters who are potentially exposed to infection or any other disease in this time will have double the chances of catching it. Characters suffering from pneumonia will have a –4 to all checks and need to roll a saving throw each day to avoid losing 1 point of CON. They will also have double the chance of catching any other illness. After the duration is finished, the character will continue to feel slightly unwell for the next 1d6 days, with mild coughing and runny nose. They will have -1 to all checks each day, and will continue to be twice as susceptible to other ailments.

• Infection:
A consequence of any cutting injury, will cause strong fever, swelling, difficulty breathing and potentially death.
—Saving Throw Modifier: –4
—Classification: Severe
—Duration: 1d8+1 days. Saving throw vs. disease every day to avoid losing 2 points of CON. On any day the character fails their saving throw, they will be feverish and unable to take any strenuous actions.

• Leprosy:
A dreaded disease that seems to rot away the flesh. Exposure comes from direct contact with lepers. As such, Lepers are usually required to wear special cloaks and bells to alert others of their presence.
—Saving Throw Modifier: +1
—Classification: Fatal
—Duration: Every three months infected, the PC will have to make a saving throw for each physical stat (STR, DEX, CON) plus CHA. For each one he fails he will lose 2 points in that ability score as his body rots away.

• Plague:
Also known as "Black Death", this plague murdered one third the entire human population a few centuries ago. Although seemingly less deadly now, it still periodically strikes entire regions and kills hundreds or thousands there. Those infected develop intense fevers, to the point of bedridden semi-comatose incoherence, and horrific black bumps on the neck or armpit.
—Saving Throw Modifier: –6
—Classification: Severe
—Duration: fever for 1d4 days, during each day the PC must make a saving throw to avoid losing 1 point of CON. Then the black marks appear, and for the next 1d6+4 days the PC is bedridden and must make a saving throw each day to avoid losing 2 points of CON. If he survives at the end of this period he must make a final saving throw to avoid permanently losing 1 point of CON.