D&D (2024) D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)

[Yaarel]

D&D has never really had a great use of disease.

The mechanical role of disease is as a way to inflict a condition that robs characters of the option of rest (rests don't restore you, they make you worse), and drain your resources over long periods of time (so, when between adventures, or while travelling over land for many days).

Robbing the benefit of Rest is a simple and effective mechanic for a natural "disease". And it is noticeable during a game session. Perhaps over time it also inflicts Exhaustion levels.

 

[Kurotowa]

Diseases have hardly been used in any effective way in 5e. I think they just decided that the concept of being "ill" is modelled by Exhaustion, and/or the Poisoned condition, and that's enough - there probably doesn't really need to be a separate mechanic for Disease.

I believe Crawford said as much in one the PHB UA videos. It might have been in relation to Paladin's Lay on Hands, or Monk's Self-Restoration that used to be Purity of Body. Basically that "diseases" were not a well defined category in 5e, so they were just mechanically lumping them under the Poisoned condition and they would be cured by anything that targeted that.

I don't have an excite citation off hand, and would rather not dig through hours of video footage unless someone really cares about it.

 

[Distracted DM]

I remember reading the AD&D rules in the DMG about diseases with morbid fascination. But how often did I use them? I think probably never...

For my part at least, they had to be things that were inflicted by monsters or traps- I never thought "the PCs are wading through the swamp, they should get a disease, that'll be interesting!" But when someone found out they had mummy rot, or something else that wasn't immediately curable via spell/lay on hands... you know I wonder if that's part of it? If something is instantly curable by a spell, aka another little attrition point, then it really isn't very interesting. Plus if only individual players get diseases then people might feel crappy as their characters take stat damage... it's probably better if it's some weird magical disease that EVERYONE gets, like Morrowind's Corpus, where you need to work towards some weird cure or everyone is screwed. That's a countdown clock if I ever heard one.

/streamofconsciousnessover

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed. It stuck around for as long as it has for Legacy, I think, more than because it was ever all that useful. Who wants to play a character that's slowly dying, or sick all the time? And if you're just going to cast a "Restoration" spell, why bother? And again, where it's narratively useful (bites from vermin or falling in sewer water, or for exposure to extreme climates or that sort of thing) then I think using Exhaustion and Poisoned probably do the trick.

Not me. I'd almost always want a dedicated subsystem for stuff like that. It's not like you have to use if you don't need it, but if want a good model for something if it comes up in your game, I want rules for it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

D&D has never really had a great use of disease.

The mechanical role of disease is as a way to inflict a condition that robs characters of the option of rest (rests don't restore you, they make you worse), and drain your resources over long periods of time (so, when between adventures, or while travelling over land for many days).

But, a lot of D&D diseases get forgotten about because they don't directly impact the fight or the dungeon crawl the party is currently having. Diseases can last between sessions (because they impact between adventures), and so get lost. And it's relatively easy to remove them for a well-prepared party (a paladin or a cleric does fine).

There's space, though. My group had a run-in with mummy rot that's still ongoing. Kind of the exception that proves the rule, though.

Makes me want to make a DMs Guild supplement for diseases that can actually be used in play and impact the party.

Level up has good rules for disease and similar long-term ailments (like corruption).

 

[Micah Sweet]

For my part at least, they had to be things that were inflicted by monsters or traps- I never thought "the PCs are wading through the swamp, they should get a disease, that'll be interesting!" But when someone found out they had mummy rot, or something else that wasn't immediately curable via spell/lay on hands... you know I wonder if that's part of it? If something is instantly curable by a spell, aka another little attrition point, then it really isn't very interesting. Plus if only individual players get diseases then people might feel crappy as their characters take stat damage... it's probably better if it's some weird magical disease that EVERYONE gets, like Morrowind's Corpus, where you need to work towards some weird cure or everyone is screwed. That's a countdown clock if I ever heard one.

/streamofconsciousnessover

Or maybe you tamp down on magic that just fixes stuff like that so easily. Up the level, include hard to acquire ingredients, something.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Or maybe you tamp down on magic that just fixes stuff like that so easily. Up the level, include hard to acquire ingredients, something.

It's OK to kill a goblin with a single sweep of the greatsword.

It's OK to fix a common disease with a single spell slot.

Diseases need CR and potency and (potential) complexity. But they also need to be able to enter the flow of play seamlessly and be actively remembered (even between sessions).

There's a lot of....enhancements...I can see to D&D's disease system (such as it is).

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's OK to kill a goblin with a single sweep of the greatsword.

It's OK to fix a common disease with a single spell slot.

Diseases need CR and potency and (potential) complexity. But they also need to be able to enter the flow of play seamlessly and be actively remembered (even between sessions).

There's a lot of....enhancements...I can see to D&D's disease system (such as it is).

Disease serves a different purpose than injury (or should I say hit point loss, since it's nearly impossible to be injured in 5e). Hit point loss happens quickly, and is easily fixable via a variety of methods. Disease takes time to have it's effects. It is insidious and debilitating. Fixing it as easily as restoring hit points removes the entire point of having it in the game at all.

 

[SkidAce]

Or maybe you tamp down on magic that just fixes stuff like that so easily. Up the level, include hard to acquire ingredients, something.

We make diseases AND curses work like counterspell, proper spell level to counter or roll versus the disease.

 

[Queer Venger]

It still feels so weird to not have a DMG or MM released along with the PHB. So many discussions ultimately fall to "well it's not in the PHB so maybe it'll/it has to be in the DMG- the DMG/MM will have all the answers."

... So weird.

yeah, I get this, it feels like we are missing important pieces of the rules puzzle. I think wotc could have coordinated the publication release a bit tighter, maybe at most having them release within weeks or a month of each other. They just seem all over the place with this launch.