Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
DMG, PHB and MM. See if you can find a single disease that isn't contagious and/or doesn't have a DC.
D&D 5E Can a Paladin Cure Addiction?
PsyzhranV2
Hero
Looking through the DMG, the three sample diseases there-- cackle fever, sewer plague, and sight rot -- are all contagious in some way.
Cackle fever: Any Humanoid creature that starts its turn within 10 feet of an infected creature in the throes of mad laughter must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or also become infected with the disease. Once a creature succeeds on this save, it is immune to the mad laughter of that particular infected creature for 24 hours.
Sewer plague: When a Humanoid creature is bitten by a creature that carries the disease, or when it comes into contact with filth or offal contaminated by the disease, the creature must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become infected.
Sight rot: A beast or Humanoid that drinks water tainted by sight rot must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become infected.
As an aside, questionable uses like this can make for interesting choices and drive the story forward. If in doubt about whether a divine spell will work like that, consider using it as a tool to show the tenets of the deity in question. I have actually had this question come up twice in my games.
Once the paladin was of the god of perseverance and taking on the suffering of others (forget the name). He was very judgemental about the "junkie" he was curing. He cast the spell and instantly took on the addiction of the target on to himself. He had to make con saves vs physical withdrawal and charisma saves to have the strength of will to not try and buy more drugs. He eventually succeeded, but got an appreciation of the issues and stuck to his gods tenets of taking on the suffering of others.
The second time we have a cleric of a very hardcore, distant and merciless smith god. Think Crom from Conan. He cast the restoration on the patient and all of the months of withdrawal and addiction all hit him at once. He had to make death saves and insanity saves, but luckily survived and was free of it, if traumatised from the experience. It was in keeping with the harsh survival of the fittest and tempering flames theology of the deity in question. The unworthy and weak die during such physical and spiritual 'reforging'.
Once the paladin was of the god of perseverance and taking on the suffering of others (forget the name). He was very judgemental about the "junkie" he was curing. He cast the spell and instantly took on the addiction of the target on to himself. He had to make con saves vs physical withdrawal and charisma saves to have the strength of will to not try and buy more drugs. He eventually succeeded, but got an appreciation of the issues and stuck to his gods tenets of taking on the suffering of others.
The second time we have a cleric of a very hardcore, distant and merciless smith god. Think Crom from Conan. He cast the restoration on the patient and all of the months of withdrawal and addiction all hit him at once. He had to make death saves and insanity saves, but luckily survived and was free of it, if traumatised from the experience. It was in keeping with the harsh survival of the fittest and tempering flames theology of the deity in question. The unworthy and weak die during such physical and spiritual 'reforging'.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
The PHB spell(s) with disease also involve a DC.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
So, nothing about what defines a disease.
PsyzhranV2
Hero
So, nothing about what defines a disease.
Something something precedent something something obvious something something pedantry...
Ok, a disease is any effect that's called out as a disease. Shaped like itself, I know. Curiously, everything I found from searching on DNDBeyond that inflicts a disease whether as a result of environmental infection, a spell, or a monster's ability requires a Constitution saving throw to stave off. Kind of the point of those. Usually mental effects require Wisdom or more rarely Intelligence saving throws to resist, and typically fall under the Charm or Fear conditions or as a form of madness.
Something something precedent...
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Apparently you missed this part.So, nothing about what defines a disease.
You can ignore the overwhelming evidence that diseases have DC and/or are contagious. Nothing is stopping you.
Azzy
ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ
You can ignore the overwhelming evidence that diseases have DC and/or are contagious. Nothing is stopping you.
And we can say the same about the real world—many, if not most, diseases are contagous. However, that doesn't preclude those (that we know to exist) that are not. :/
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
The real world is irrelevant here. We are talking about 5e.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
You don’t get to decide what’s relevant.
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