D&D 5E Contagion and Boss Fights

[Vaeron]

That, or Lesser Restoration is going to be a must have on my BBEGs. (Or they are going to be undead / other immune to natural disease monsters).

Though it did in the Playtest, immunity to disease no longer appears in undead statblocks. It's a common sense issue, I suppose, but I do wonder why it was specifically removed.

 

[jadrax]

Thoughts?

I am really hoping the DMG has some more guidelines for disease. Right now, nothing aside from a few classes are immune to it, which just seems like an oversight.

5,000 year old liches with no pulmonary systems should not drop like a sack of spuds to a chest infection. It is taking manflu to whole new dimensions (literally).

I would also like to see some guidelines for non-magical contagion. You inflict Slimy Doom on the Tarrasque, and yu basically have a huge unstoppable Patient Zero wandering about. Local merchants/ kings/plantars/gods probably are not going to be happy about that.

 

[Dausuul]

The more I think about it, the more it seems like just banning contagion is the way to go. As others have pointed out, it really shouldn't be a combat spell in the first place. Clerics and druids have lots of other combat options.

 

[Kinak]

Has anyone asked Mike Mearls what his reading of that spell is? It seems like the sort of thing that is going to need errata regardless, so finding out the official answer early can only help.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[MightyZehir]

I could ask him, but he only seems to answer question for a specific period of time.

 

[Crothian]

Gen Con just ended, give the guy a few days to relax and get over his con crud.

How easy to diseases spread? Sure giving one to the big bad to defeat him is great but battles can get bloody and then all of sudden the fighter gets sick but not until he is back in town and soon you have an epidemic on your hand.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Another issue is that you actully have to hit wit the spell. It takes an attack roll so you can miss. If you want to use it on a creature like a dragon that means you have to run right next to the beast before it you know starts flying around or something.

 

[Kinak]

I could ask him, but he only seems to answer question for a specific period of time.

Might be worth a try. It'll probably be a while before people are actually seeing it in play, but it's important to know what the intent was when it does come up.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Dausuul]

Has anyone asked Mike Mearls what his reading of that spell is? It seems like the sort of thing that is going to need errata regardless, so finding out the official answer early can only help.

WotC has indicated they plan to be pretty sparing with functional errata in 5E. Mearls has been quite forthcoming when the issue is a rule that needs clarification, but this isn't such a case; it's clear what the spell does. It's just that what it does is wreck legendary creatures. Even if WotC does ultimately decide this spell has enough issues to require an official patch, the patch is unlikely to come via Mearls's Twitter feed.

 

[MightyZehir]

Gen Con just ended, give the guy a few days to relax and get over his con crud.

How easy to diseases spread? Sure giving one to the big bad to defeat him is great but battles can get bloody and then all of sudden the fighter gets sick but not until he is back in town and soon you have an epidemic on your hand.

The problem I have with diseases is that we don't have rules on them. Even monsters like undeads don't have immunity , which seems odd.