Need stats for a disease not in the SRD: Rabies

[lordbasl]

I checked the SRD and MSRD -- no specs for rabies. I have plans for my PCs to encounter a pair of rabid badgers (yes, I NEED the steenkin badgers). In addition, one of the players is running one of the Tosti from that Secrets of the Squirrel PDF she bought, so I am thinking her people, being rodentiod, might have some special wisdom about rabies -- or vulnerability to the disease.

Any links or bright ideas appreciated

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You might want to treat it like a nonmagical form of lycanthropy.

It takes some time (weeks) to run its course, the victim becomes extremely aggressive (permanent Rage?), is not curable with ancient medicine (but would be with "modern immunology" or magic), and has a high fatality rate.

CNN reported a case of a kid surviving rabies untreated in the news last year. It made the national news because it was the first survivor of untreated rabies affliction in many decades.

As for carrying the disease, from what I understand, rodents are more likely to be carriers (individuals who can be contagious but do not suffer the full effects of the disease) than other mammals, but even they have more fatalities than carriers. They do, however, tend to survive longer than most other mammals, even if they aren't technically carriers.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Well, what's rabies do? It tends to make the animals that contract it violent, right? Doesn't it also play havoc with your senses?

Sounds like a Wisdom-attacking disease to me.

 

[werk]

Well, what's rabies do? It tends to make the animals that contract it violent, right? Doesn't it also play havoc with your senses?

Sounds like a Wisdom-attacking disease to me.

It makes your brain swell.

(the following is courtesy of CNN's health library)
Rabies is a serious viral disease that affects the central nervous system. It typically spreads by way of the saliva of infected animals — often, but not always, through a bite.

Once you're infected, the virus spreads from your muscle to your peripheral nerves to your spinal cord and brain. From initial flu-like signs and symptoms, the illness progresses to convulsions, hallucinations, paralysis or breathing failure and almost always death once the infection is established. It's important to seek treatment immediately after exposure.

Signs and symptoms of rabies usually appear within one to three months after exposure. Rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear. Death from breathing failure often happens within a week after the appearance of signs and symptoms.

Early signs and symptoms of rabies in humans are general and not unique to the disease. They may include:
-Fever
-Headache
-Malaise

As the disease progresses, signs and symptoms may include:
-Insomnia
-Anxiety
-Confusion
-Slight or partial paralysis
-Excitation
-Hallucinations
-Agitation
-Excessive salivation (hypersalivation)
-Difficulty swallowing
-Fear of water (hydrophobia) because of the difficulty in swallowing

A bite's severity and its location on your body can determine how quickly signs and symptoms appear. A severe bite to your head might cause problems to appear in a much shorter time than might those of a bite to your leg. In rare cases, signs and symptoms might not appear for a year or longer after exposure to the virus.

 

[Krelios]

I'd say 1d6 Wisdom and 1d4 Constitution per day sounds about right, given the onset and symptoms. The feral aspect should be roleplaying advice and not actually make the person Rage (since that's almost always a benefit).

 

[LordBOB]

1d6 Wisdom and 1d4 Constitution per day


that sounds horrible. As mentioned above the Disease takes months to be fully seen in people or animals. You could make the damage a week or something just to act like rabies actually does.

Of course if you have a Paladin than let him fight the badgers since the Paladin is immune to disease. Also you if you say that they are rabid than the group might immediatly think about rabies. Why dont you say that if they get bitten, they see salavia dripping off of their arm and after a while if someone doesnt try and see if they have a disease their arm begins to tingle and goes away after some time. You could slowly increase the pain.

Just a thought

Also Since wisdom and Constitution are being drained, Increase STR. to simulate them going into a rage.

 

[Bad Paper]

1d6 Wisdom and 1d4 Constitution per day

yeah, that's a heck of a lot. How about 1d3 Wis and 1d2 Con per day? And this is only if you start failing your Con checks, of course.

 

[Krelios]

1d6 Wisdom and 1d4 Constitution per day


that sounds horrible. As mentioned above the Disease takes months to be fully seen in people or animals. You could make the damage a week or something just to act like rabies actually does.

Of course if you have a Paladin than let him fight the badgers since the Paladin is immune to disease. Also you if you say that they are rabid than the group might immediatly think about rabies. Why dont you say that if they get bitten, they see salavia dripping off of their arm and after a while if someone doesnt try and see if they have a disease their arm begins to tingle and goes away after some time. You could slowly increase the pain.

Just a thought

Also Since wisdom and Constitution are being drained, Increase STR. to simulate them going into a rage.

A disease should never grant a bonus to stat, otherwise barbarians/fighters traveling with a Paladin will be infecting themselves with Rabies all the time, and that's just silly. Perhaps reduce it to 1d3 Wisdom and 1d2 Constitution if you want the disease to act more slowly, but increase the DC to something fairly high to represent the fact that almost no one recovers without intervention. Again, though, you should NOT get stronger as the result of a disease--just because you're angry, doesn't mean you're actually stronger, unless you have a special ability that says otherwise. How many rabies patients have become stronger as a result of their disease?

 

[LordBOB]

good point. I was just throwing out something, if no one likes it than dont use it.

I still think the time which you loose the stats should be increased. Rabies doesnt affect the body immediatly as far as i know ( i might be wrong)

As time goes along it gets worse and worse making it harder for someone to get rid of the disease

 

[werk]

Disease..Infection DC..Incubation...Damage
Rabies....Injury 20......3d20 days....1d2 Dex/1d2 Con