• Cure Disease

    From Spalls Hurgenson@21:1/5 to All on Mon Mar 2 11:52:25 2020
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    A brief search on the Internet sees opinions on both sides. On the one
    hand, from a gameplay perspective, it would seem silly for a cleric to
    cast "cure disease" on player 1 only for him to immediately get
    re-infected by player 2, also suffering from the same ailment. On the
    other hand, 2nd edition rules do actually specify reoccurrence is
    possible, and granting immunity would minimize the threat of things
    like werewolves or gargoyles; get bit, get the cure and then never
    worry about their infectious properties again!

    Personally, I think I would play it with the immunity angle, albeit
    only for that very specific strain, somewhat similar to how modern
    vaccines work. You'll be safe from the flu this year, but watch out
    next winter! Things like lycanthropy and vampirism wouldn't be
    affected, since - despite spell description claims to the contrary -
    I've always considered them more of a curse than a disease.

    I've not used disease too much in my games. The setting for one of my
    current campaigns suffered through a plague prior to the adventure
    start, but I've used it mostly as backstory than anything that really
    affects gameplay. I mostly avoid creatures that give disease from
    attacks, and with the ever-useful "cure wounds" spells, the PCs rarely
    have to worry about infection. I'm tempted to run a plague-campaign,
    but it might be a bit too on-the-nose to be comfortable for my players
    right now.

    What are your thoughts on the matter? How effective is cure disease
    RAW, and how would you interpret it for your own campaigns? Have you
    used disease much in your own adventures?

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  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Mon Mar 2 10:18:33 2020
    On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 8:52:31 AM UTC-8, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    A brief search on the Internet sees opinions on both sides. On the one
    hand, from a gameplay perspective, it would seem silly for a cleric to
    cast "cure disease" on player 1 only for him to immediately get
    re-infected by player 2, also suffering from the same ailment. On the
    other hand, 2nd edition rules do actually specify reoccurrence is
    possible, and granting immunity would minimize the threat of things
    like werewolves or gargoyles; get bit, get the cure and then never
    worry about their infectious properties again!

    Personally, I think I would play it with the immunity angle, albeit
    only for that very specific strain, somewhat similar to how modern
    vaccines work. You'll be safe from the flu this year, but watch out
    next winter! Things like lycanthropy and vampirism wouldn't be
    affected, since - despite spell description claims to the contrary -
    I've always considered them more of a curse than a disease.

    I've not used disease too much in my games. The setting for one of my
    current campaigns suffered through a plague prior to the adventure
    start, but I've used it mostly as backstory than anything that really
    affects gameplay. I mostly avoid creatures that give disease from
    attacks, and with the ever-useful "cure wounds" spells, the PCs rarely
    have to worry about infection. I'm tempted to run a plague-campaign,
    but it might be a bit too on-the-nose to be comfortable for my players
    right now.

    What are your thoughts on the matter? How effective is cure disease
    RAW, and how would you interpret it for your own campaigns? Have you
    used disease much in your own adventures?

    I haven't really used disease much in D&D. The only ones I've used are ones that occur from being bit/scratched by monsters. Rat fever, Mummy rot, Lycantrhopy. I don't think I'd allow disease from bites/scratches to be immunized against.

    If for some reason I used a normal communicable disease, I'd probably allow immunity for some time like you suggested though.

    - Justisaur

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  • From uglyvan@21:1/5 to All on Tue Mar 3 05:29:50 2020
    Le lundi 2 mars 2020 17:52:31 UTC+1, Spalls Hurgenson a écrit :
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    A brief search on the Internet sees opinions on both sides. On the one
    hand, from a gameplay perspective, it would seem silly for a cleric to
    cast "cure disease" on player 1 only for him to immediately get
    re-infected by player 2, also suffering from the same ailment. On the
    other hand, 2nd edition rules do actually specify reoccurrence is
    possible, and granting immunity would minimize the threat of things
    like werewolves or gargoyles; get bit, get the cure and then never
    worry about their infectious properties again!

    Personally, I think I would play it with the immunity angle, albeit
    only for that very specific strain, somewhat similar to how modern
    vaccines work. You'll be safe from the flu this year, but watch out
    next winter! Things like lycanthropy and vampirism wouldn't be
    affected, since - despite spell description claims to the contrary -
    I've always considered them more of a curse than a disease.

    I've not used disease too much in my games. The setting for one of my
    current campaigns suffered through a plague prior to the adventure
    start, but I've used it mostly as backstory than anything that really
    affects gameplay. I mostly avoid creatures that give disease from
    attacks, and with the ever-useful "cure wounds" spells, the PCs rarely
    have to worry about infection. I'm tempted to run a plague-campaign,
    but it might be a bit too on-the-nose to be comfortable for my players
    right now.

    What are your thoughts on the matter? How effective is cure disease
    RAW, and how would you interpret it for your own campaigns? Have you
    used disease much in your own adventures?

    a high CON stat provides a good Toxins resistance;
    then some corroded weapons might spread diseases
    :)

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  • From uglyvan@21:1/5 to All on Tue Mar 3 05:55:07 2020
    Le mardi 3 mars 2020 14:29:53 UTC+1, uglyvan a écrit :
    Le lundi 2 mars 2020 17:52:31 UTC+1, Spalls Hurgenson a écrit :
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    A brief search on the Internet sees opinions on both sides. On the one hand, from a gameplay perspective, it would seem silly for a cleric to
    cast "cure disease" on player 1 only for him to immediately get
    re-infected by player 2, also suffering from the same ailment. On the
    other hand, 2nd edition rules do actually specify reoccurrence is
    possible, and granting immunity would minimize the threat of things
    like werewolves or gargoyles; get bit, get the cure and then never
    worry about their infectious properties again!

    Personally, I think I would play it with the immunity angle, albeit
    only for that very specific strain, somewhat similar to how modern
    vaccines work. You'll be safe from the flu this year, but watch out
    next winter! Things like lycanthropy and vampirism wouldn't be
    affected, since - despite spell description claims to the contrary -
    I've always considered them more of a curse than a disease.

    I've not used disease too much in my games. The setting for one of my current campaigns suffered through a plague prior to the adventure
    start, but I've used it mostly as backstory than anything that really affects gameplay. I mostly avoid creatures that give disease from
    attacks, and with the ever-useful "cure wounds" spells, the PCs rarely
    have to worry about infection. I'm tempted to run a plague-campaign,
    but it might be a bit too on-the-nose to be comfortable for my players right now.

    What are your thoughts on the matter? How effective is cure disease
    RAW, and how would you interpret it for your own campaigns? Have you
    used disease much in your own adventures?

    a high CON stat provides a good Toxins resistance;
    then some corroded weapons might spread diseases
    :)

    ( I thought that CON was about Bones and Nerves, that is , Physical or BODY; actually, these derivate from STR )

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  • From uglyvan@21:1/5 to All on Tue Mar 3 06:02:28 2020
    Le mardi 3 mars 2020 14:55:08 UTC+1, uglyvan a écrit :
    Le mardi 3 mars 2020 14:29:53 UTC+1, uglyvan a écrit :
    Le lundi 2 mars 2020 17:52:31 UTC+1, Spalls Hurgenson a écrit :
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    A brief search on the Internet sees opinions on both sides. On the one hand, from a gameplay perspective, it would seem silly for a cleric to cast "cure disease" on player 1 only for him to immediately get re-infected by player 2, also suffering from the same ailment. On the other hand, 2nd edition rules do actually specify reoccurrence is possible, and granting immunity would minimize the threat of things
    like werewolves or gargoyles; get bit, get the cure and then never
    worry about their infectious properties again!

    Personally, I think I would play it with the immunity angle, albeit
    only for that very specific strain, somewhat similar to how modern vaccines work. You'll be safe from the flu this year, but watch out
    next winter! Things like lycanthropy and vampirism wouldn't be
    affected, since - despite spell description claims to the contrary -
    I've always considered them more of a curse than a disease.

    I've not used disease too much in my games. The setting for one of my current campaigns suffered through a plague prior to the adventure
    start, but I've used it mostly as backstory than anything that really affects gameplay. I mostly avoid creatures that give disease from attacks, and with the ever-useful "cure wounds" spells, the PCs rarely have to worry about infection. I'm tempted to run a plague-campaign,
    but it might be a bit too on-the-nose to be comfortable for my players right now.

    What are your thoughts on the matter? How effective is cure disease
    RAW, and how would you interpret it for your own campaigns? Have you
    used disease much in your own adventures?

    a high CON stat provides a good Toxins resistance;
    then some corroded weapons might spread diseases
    :)

    ( I thought that CON was about Bones and Nerves, that is , Physical or BODY; actually, these derivate from STR )

    ( and a high CON looks like having a good Health, like in food relatives, and also Willpower, derivative of Mental Care - french santé mentale )

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  • From JimP@21:1/5 to spallshurgenson@gmail.com on Tue Mar 3 10:31:41 2020
    On Mon, 02 Mar 2020 11:52:25 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    The few times the player characters got a disease, i used it as cure
    right then.

    Later exposure, recast.

    If I did the immunity thing, it would be for a limited time. Say, a
    week. In my game word the starting nations, Trillolara and Dank
    Forest, typically had cleaner cities than the rest of the game planet.
    So it was a bit harder to catch some disease there.

    --
    Jim

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  • From Michael Cole@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 4 14:21:40 2020
    It happens that Spalls Hurgenson formulated :
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    What is this "strain" or "immunity" you talk about? We all know that
    diseases are bad spirits, born on the winds. A cure disease will
    banish the spirit back to where it came from - one spirit, one cast,
    until such time as the spirit may return.

    Now the results of what the spirit has done may linger, but the spirit
    is gone from the material world. Unless you go on a spirit journey to
    meet and destroy the spirit itself. Or summon it back and use it to infect/affect others. Note that these spirits can be drawn to the
    material world through bad juju or to bad locations of their own free
    will as well.

    In other words, it is magic - don't mix the magic and the mundane.

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  • From Zaghadka@21:1/5 to Hurgenson on Tue Mar 3 23:01:26 2020
    On Mon, 02 Mar 2020 11:52:25 -0500, in rec.games.frp.dnd, Spalls
    Hurgenson wrote:


    What are your thoughts on the matter? How effective is cure disease
    RAW, and how would you interpret it for your own campaigns? Have you
    used disease much in your own adventures?

    One shot, RAW. There's nothing about immunity in there. If you're handing
    out recurring mundane diseases as a DM, somewhere along the line you've
    missed the point of the game, IMO.

    As an example, the Heal spell can cure diseases, even insanity. Would it prevent you losing hit points again? No. Then it won't prevent other
    kinds of damage from occurring. Disease is basically a flavor of ability
    score damage, or something like lycanthropy.

    I did have my group get fleas from carrying some hide armor they got off
    some orcs, though. That was fun.

    --
    Zag

    No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
    spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten

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  • From Justisaur@21:1/5 to Michael Cole on Wed Mar 4 09:36:34 2020
    On Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at 7:21:45 PM UTC-8, Michael Cole wrote:
    It happens that Spalls Hurgenson formulated :
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    What is this "strain" or "immunity" you talk about? We all know that diseases are bad spirits, born on the winds. A cure disease will
    banish the spirit back to where it came from - one spirit, one cast,
    until such time as the spirit may return.

    Now the results of what the spirit has done may linger, but the spirit
    is gone from the material world. Unless you go on a spirit journey to
    meet and destroy the spirit itself. Or summon it back and use it to infect/affect others. Note that these spirits can be drawn to the
    material world through bad juju or to bad locations of their own free
    will as well.

    In other words, it is magic - don't mix the magic and the mundane.

    I've thought about doing that, but then you really need an exorcism spell instead, and it's pretty clear from whence they first appeared in 1e that diseases are closer to real world diseases than malevolent spirits.

    - Justisaur

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  • From uglyvan@21:1/5 to All on Thu Mar 5 08:36:47 2020
    Le mercredi 4 mars 2020 18:36:36 UTC+1, Justisaur a écrit :
    On Tuesday, March 3, 2020 at 7:21:45 PM UTC-8, Michael Cole wrote:
    It happens that Spalls Hurgenson formulated :
    What with COVID-19 making such a splash in the news these days, I've
    been thinking about plagues in D&D, which in turn led to me to wonder:

    Does the spell "Cure Disease" just remove a disease from the target,
    or does it also provide immunity to that particular strain?

    What is this "strain" or "immunity" you talk about? We all know that diseases are bad spirits, born on the winds. A cure disease will
    banish the spirit back to where it came from - one spirit, one cast,
    until such time as the spirit may return.

    Now the results of what the spirit has done may linger, but the spirit
    is gone from the material world. Unless you go on a spirit journey to meet and destroy the spirit itself. Or summon it back and use it to infect/affect others. Note that these spirits can be drawn to the material world through bad juju or to bad locations of their own free
    will as well.

    In other words, it is magic - don't mix the magic and the mundane.

    I've thought about doing that, but then you really need an exorcism spell instead, and it's pretty clear from whence they first appeared in 1e that diseases are closer to real world diseases than malevolent spirits.

    - Justisaur

    exorcism is a tool for Demonologists :)

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