Disease
Diseases are categorized in the same way as poisons, with Rarity, Lethality, and Transmissibility. Disease stat blocks have five parts: Infection, Outbreak, Contagion, Symptoms, and Treatment.
Infection explains what must happen for a creature to become infected.
Outbreak is an optional tool that an MC can use when facilitating the outbreak of a disease.
Contagion explains how quickly the disease might spread, and how to determine whether it spreads to certain heroes or relevant NPCs.
Symptoms convey on an hour-by-hour or day-by-day basis what happens to an infected creature.
Treatment informs you on the steps you must take to cure a disease. This will typically involve making multiple INT/ Medicine check. Certain expensive ingredients or magical healing abilities might make this process easier or be required to even attempt this process.
Some Notes:
- Cumulative Symptoms persist until stated otherwise. The MC may also rule that certain circumstances, such as receiving Greater Restoration, may end a symptom early.
- A quick note for epidemiology nerds and other smart people: The term “disease” is used here despite its inaccuracy as an umbrella term for any disease, infection, or virus. Furthermore, some of these diseases have been highly fictionalized and have had fantastical elements added to them. This is not intended to represent any real world medical information and should not be used in such a fashion.
- If your table is uncomfortable with some disease names, here are Alternative Names for re-world diseases.
| Name of Disease | Rarity | Lethality | Transmissibility | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthrax | Rare | High | Medium | Harker's |
| Beasian Boils | Very Rare | Medium | High | CRB |
| Boil Plague | Common | Low | Extreme | CRB |
| Bubonic Plague | Uncommon | Medium | High | Harker's |
| Chicken Pox | Common | Low | Medium | Harker's |
| Common Coronavirus | Common | Very Low | High | Harker's |
| Danse Macabre | Rare | High | Low | Harker's |
| Deathboil Plague | Rare | High | Medium | CRB |
| Deepshroom Poisoning | Rare | High | Low | CRB |
| Dysentery | Rare | Medium | Low | Harker's |
| Fleshling Fever | Rare | High | Low | CRB |
| Gangrene | Uncommon | Medium | Low | Harker's |
| Gift of the Chosen | Rare | High | Medium | CRB |
| Influenza | Uncommon | Medium | Medium | Harker's |
| Leprosy | Very Rare | High | High | Harker's |
| Lycanthropy | Rare | Low | Medium | Harker's |
| Malaria | Rare | Medium | Low | Harker's |
| Pneumonia | Common | Low | High | Harker's |
| Polio | Common | Low | High | Harker's |
| Rabies | Uncommon | Extreme | Low | Harker's |
| Scarlet Fever | Rare | Low | High | Harker's |
| Scarlet Sickness | Rare | High | High | CRB |
| Stonerot | Uncommon | Low | High | CRB |
| Shingles | Rare | Low | Medium | Harker's |
| Tetanus | Common | Low | Low | Harker's |
| Tuberculosis | Common | Medium | High | Harker's |
| Typhoid | Common | Low | Low | Harker's |
| Vampirism | Rare | Low | Low | CRB |
| Zombie Plague | Uncommon | Extreme | High | CRB |