ADVICE NEEDED. can you give your players a cold?

[rathor]

My players are running from an army in the rain. They are going to be running all night and the entire next day before they stop. the ground is caked in mud. the rain is so hard they have about ten feet visabilty. it only lets up for short periods of time. i suppose they wont be stopping for food, rest, or water. I think they would probally have a % chance of getting a cold. I don't have my dmg so i need you guys to let me know what are the stipulations of getting sick.

also, how should i do lightning strikes?

 

[Crothian]

For the cold, make it a fort DC like all diseases. However, here they will have a neagtive circumstance modifier because of the conditions.

Lighnting strikes the highest points and is attracted to metal. However, lightning strikes are relatively rare, even in the most vicious of storms.

 

[jasper]

Fort save DC 15 every 4 hours for the conditions you describe. With Cure Disease making you well.
If they have cold then roll on chart below
1 bed ridden - 3 to str, dex, con
2-5 slightly bed ridden - 1 str, dex, con
6-10 fatigued see dmg
11-15 slightly fatigued see dmg
15+ minor will check dc 10 for sneezing when enemy near by.

 

[rathor]

nice

sounds good. i don't have my dmg though. what are the specifics to a fatigued player?

 

[bret]

All I've got to say is you really must have dedicated PLAYERS if they will run all night through the rain just to get to your game. No idea why an army would be chasing them, and I'm not sure I want to know.

Hate to think what sort of challenges you have their characters face.

 

[Mr Fidgit]

fatigued - cannot run or charge, effective -2 to Str and Dex. a fatigued character becomes exhausted by doing something else that would cause fatigue

 

[jmucchiello]

Fort save DC 15 every 4 hours for the conditions you describe. With Cure Disease making you well.
If they have cold then roll on chart below
1 bed ridden - 3 to str, dex, con
2-5 slightly bed ridden - 1 str, dex, con
6-10 fatigued see dmg
11-15 slightly fatigued see dmg
15+ minor will check dc 10 for sneezing when enemy near by.

That's more like a flu. A cold would only have DC 10. 50% of commoners can sit in the rain for 4 hours without catching cold. And 1-3 days later, you get better. Once they have the cold, then you might see about upgrading it to your flu. You should also reread the disease section in the DMG since "bed ridden 1d3 days" doesn't jibe with those rules.

Oh, and Roll what on that chart?

 

[Sulimo]

Hmm...and here I thought it was going to be a quaestion of how far away a DM with a cold had to be away from the players to not risk passing it on.

 

[Deadguy]

Hmm...and here I thought it was going to be a quaestion of how far away a DM with a cold had to be away from the players to not risk passing it on.

That's what the DM's Shield was made for: to catch sneezes! Later on someone thought it would be neat to put some game information on it, but I am pretty sure that was later.

 

[Saeviomagy]

First off, they're pulling a forced march if they want to move all night and all day. For every hour after the first 8 hours, they make a fort save with a DC of 10+1 per extra hour. Failure bags them 1d6 points of subdual damage.

Next off, they can't possibly be running the whole time. More likely, they are hustling. Hustling for more than 1 hr between sleep cycles causes subdual damage - 1 for the first hour, and double the previous amount for each subsequent hour (ie 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32...).

Finally, if they're doing it in bad weather, theres rules for that too. If the rain is that hard, then I'd apply the rules for cold weather of less than 40 degrees farenheit - DC 15 check each hour, or take 1d6 subdual. Wilderness lore and good clothing helps with this quite a bit. Also, anyone who takes this damage is considered fatigued.

I'm guessing your players won't consider the endurance feat a waste of space after this...

As for a cold? Pick one of the standard diseases and inflict that upon them.