Can Clerics Cure Cancer?

[werk]

My opinion is that the designers took care to not address any real world diseases in the game...and I do the same. You don't catch rabies, you get filth fever.

 

[Crothian]

D&D treats all diseases the same and even some things that are not properly diseases get thrown in there. So, I'd allow cancer to be cured with a cure disease spell.

 

[Klaus]

Judging by how DnD handles insanity (from the Unearthed Arcana rules), I'd say Resotration and Lesser Restoration cause a cancerous growth to reduce in size, stalling the spread of the illness. Heal wipes it out completely.

Even if Cure Disease doesn't cure cancer, it can work on certain side effects of it.

 

[Piratecat]

Now that is a funny concept, a Paladin that drinks and smokes a lot, knowing full well they won't ever get cancer or liver disease from it. So they take advantage of it.

My PC in Sagiro's game operates under this philosophy.

While it wouldn't remove a genetic predilection for cancer, I'd say that remove disease or heal would certainly cure cancer. I don't see why not; cancer is a huge medical boogyman in our own world, but there's no reason it would have to be in a D&D world.

From a game perspective, though, I want some insanity that isn't curable by heal. I want bibbling, ranting bad guys who can't necessarily be instantly brought back to sanity. I also want some who can be. Right now I just handle this on an ad hoc, 'just cause' basis. It hasn't been a problem, although it feels a little inconsistent.

 

[frankthedm]

I just don't think remove disease is the right way to go. Plus, as Dracandross pointed out, if remove disease works on cancer then paladins are immune from it, and that strikes me as definitely not the intention.

Thats is not correct, a Paladin does not recieve immunity to all things remove disease cures. Notably remove disease also kills parasites, including green slime and others. The paladin has to use of his cure disease spells on those.

I say treat cancer as a mutation. Though I suspect d20 Modern would actually allow for Remove disease to affect cancer.

I think a happy medium of the Remove disease removes the lumps but cannot stop the body if it wants to make more lumps. But I am real cruel and say even Heal does not cure the body's own disposition to developing cancer if it has one.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Flavorwise I would think that longterm wasting diseases such as most cancers, insanity, and certain permenant crippling injuries would be perceived as the kind of things easily cured by a "real living saint" -- therefore they would fall under Heal.

I would be inclined to restrict Cure Disease to those things that are communicable diseases.

BTW, it came up in gameplay whether alcoholism could be cured. Our DM ruled that Cure Disease would relieve the deleterious physical symptoms, but the habit of mind remained so the person would easily fall into the habit again if the opportunity arose.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Anyone have Liber Mortis? Im pretty sure there was a bunch of spells creating unnatural cysts or sentient cancers in that book. Heal destroyes the cyst but im not sure about RD.

From what I remember Cancer is a slow (in d&d terms) killer its the treatment that causes most of the damgage we are used to associating with cancer. So RD would stop the growth, but the damage it did before it was noticed would continue. A lesser restoration a day can hold nearly any D&D disease at bay.

 

[frankthedm]

A lesser restoration a day can hold nearly any D&D disease at bay.

6 out of 10 of the ones in the DMG.

Mummy rot negates the Lesser Restortion unless the caster can make a DC 20 caster level check. And Mummy rot tranfers by contact so caution is advised with touch based spells.

Devil chills and Slimy Doom both often do permanent drain. Slimy doom is contact transferable as well.

Blinding sickness needs another 2nd level spell as well sometimes.

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

I love this forum. Only here does this debate go on...except for around my gaming table, of course.

 

[Jdvn1]

Cancer isn't in my PHB.

Neither is physiology or biology.

Science is a house rule.