Are the Effects of 'Contagion' Contagious?

[Sepulchrave II]

Is the victim of a contagion spell capable of transmitting the disease? I can't seem to find anything anywhere suggesting that victims who contract a disease through a spell have any special status in this regard.

 

[dcollins]

The victim has the disease just like normal. For possible contagious effects you need to turn to the DMG/SRD:

When a character is injured by a contaminated attack, touches an item smeared with diseased matter, or consumes disease-tainted food or drink, he must make an immediate Fortitude saving throw.

It seems like the only way a PC could infect someone is with a natural attack (biting or clawing or somesuch). That's sufficiently rare that most DMs would just ignore it.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I agree with dcollins approach. Does the DMG give methods of infection for diseases as they do for poisons? If that is the case I'd use the standard methods - contact, injury, or ingestion.

Mind you "filth fever" springs to mind as a disease that the DM can (legitimately) arbitrarily declare exists. I did that to the PC's back in the days of resting in 10' by 10' rooms for a week.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Diseases are transmitted just like poisons - ingested, inhaled, injury, or contact. The inhaled and contact diseases seem particularly nasty: if you've got slimy doom, just touch someone and they're liable to contract it. With 1d4 Con damage, a DC 14 save, and two successive saves required to recover, this is going to wipe out entire communities without access to magical healing: I assume re-exposure entails the risk of contraction.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

That is way cool - got to incorporate that scenario.

 

[dcollins]

Diseases are transmitted just like poisons - ingested, inhaled, injury, or contact...

Do you have a quote, or is that a House Rule? I don't see that in the DMG or SRD. The quote I posted above is the only thing from the SRD on how to transmit a disease.

 

[argo]

Don't forget disease vectors either. I would rule that an "injury" disease could be transmited by a flea/mosquito/etc bitting an infected person and then bitting a victim. Bodies/bodily fluids of disease victims that are improperly disposed of may taint water supplies for an ingestion disease. And anyone using the heal skill to tend to a patient with an inhaled or contact disease will have to make periodic saves against the disease unless they take percautions (mask or sterile gloves).

Also don't forget that many disease are likely to spread durring the incubation period when the patient may be contagious but is not aware he is sick. A cook with an ingested disease in the incubation period may taint his dishes and someone with an inhaled disease in the incubation period could infect half the town in the course of their daily shopping.

Hope that helps.

 

[Viashimo]

Do you have a quote, or is that a House Rule? I don't see that in the DMG or SRD. The quote I posted above is the only thing from the SRD on how to transmit a disease.

The mode of infection is listed with the diseases in the DMG on table 8-2: Diseases on page 292. That's the 3.5e DMG.

 

[dcollins]

Hmmm, well there you go. That's not in the SRD (and new to 3.5).

 

[Sejs]

Is the victim of a contagion spell capable of transmitting the disease? I can't seem to find anything anywhere suggesting that victims who contract a disease through a spell have any special status in this regard.

The duration of Contagion is Instantaneous - the spell just gives you the disease. Once you have it, it would spread just like any normally occuring instance of the same sickness.