D&D (2024) So how do you remove disease in 5E 2024?

[mellored]

How would a party without a cleric or paladin remove disease before?

 

[SkidAce]

How would a party without a cleric or paladin remove disease before?

Visit a temple to the God(dess) of Healing?

There might be a potion in the magic items, not sure.

Don't remember of Keoghtam's (sp) Ointment works or not.

 

[abirdcall]

Completely disagree.

Paladins in our campaigns were excited to have that ability.

They cured a town of disease (cured the near death with lay on hands) hunted down the source (a vile river serpent like a komodo dragon) and then went back to town and cured anyone else who had symptoms.

Classic adventure. Lay on Hands curing disease was no more or less "a weird pantomine" than any other characters ability.

IMHO of course.

And if there were no paladins?

Then we are into an entirely different genre where the party must watch in horror as the townspeople die around them.

And if the solution to the problem resulted in the same amount of deaths then did the lay on hands make a difference?

I think that's the problem.

 

[SkidAce]

And if there were no paladins?

Then we are into an entirely different genre where the party must watch in horror as the townspeople die around them.

And if the solution to the problem resulted in the same amount of deaths then did the lay on hands make a difference?

I think that's the problem.

It would have to be no cleric or paladins, but in that case it would be a different genre than standard dnd, agreed.

 

[Zaukrie]

Fascinating. I have an entire PDF of normal and magical diseases I've been working on for sale.....I might have to rethink this.

It's a staple, imo, of fantasy to cure the sick, so I'm not sure how I feel about this change

 

[kigmatzomat]

Paladins in our campaigns were excited to have that ability.

They cured a town of disease (cured the near death with lay on hands) hunted down the source (a vile river serpent like a komodo dragon) and then went back to town and cured anyone else who had symptoms.

Classic adventure. Lay on Hands curing disease was no more or less "a weird pantomine" than any other characters ability.

I do like this plot.

I had kobolds be immune to common dysentery. They'd kidnap some people, infect them then set them in a camp upstream of towns that relied on rivers for water. Wait a week or two and attack.

An entire region can be impacted as the disease heads downstream.

A paladin can make a big difference even at low levels, keeping a couple key people (herbalists/alchemists/grave diggers) functional and doing some real dirty work because they are immune to the danger.

You can't do that with poison. You could do it with some kind of curse but that means a powerful caster. I like that a sack of dead rats tossed in a well is a real and persistent threat.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

In 5e, the poisoned condition means "you are sick"

 

[Charlaquin]

Fascinating. I have an entire PDF of normal and magical diseases I've been working on for sale.....I might have to rethink this.

It's a staple, imo, of fantasy to cure the sick, so I'm not sure how I feel about this change

It’s not like people can’t get sick any more, or like you can’t have diseases with bespoke mechanical effects. You just either have the diseases inflict the Poisoned condition in addition to their other effects and have all of their effects end when the poisoned condition ends, or you write out in the effects of the disease that it can be ended with a use of Lay on Hands or casting of Lesser Restoration or whatever. Or if it works better for your wordcount or layout, add a note that all diseases in your PDF can be cured in those ways.

Like, not much has actually changed here, since every disease already had bespoke mechanical effects. It’s just not specifically defined as a Category Of Thing anymore.

 

[Charlaquin]

I do like this plot.

I had kobolds be immune to common dysentery. They'd kidnap some people, infect them then set them in a camp upstream of towns that relied on rivers for water. Wait a week or two and attack.

An entire region can be impacted as the disease heads downstream.

A paladin can make a big difference even at low levels, keeping a couple key people (herbalists/alchemists/grave diggers) functional and doing some real dirty work because they are immune to the danger.

You can't do that with poison. You could do it with some kind of curse but that means a powerful caster. I like that a sack of dead rats tossed in a well is a real and persistent threat.

Why exactly can’t you do that with the poisoned condition?

 

[Charlaquin]

In 5e, the poisoned condition means "you are sick"

It really should be named Sickened instead of Poisoned, yeah. That would also help alleviate the nomanative overlap between the condition and poison damage.