Cure Disease will KILL YOU TO DEATH!

[HeavenShallBurn]

Also, it boggles my mind that people would complain about this. Now every town that has a 5th level cleric is not immune to my plague plotline. Win for the DM!

Because every town with a fifth level cleric WASN'T immune to plague. There was a limited amount of healing magic to dispense even with wands, scrolls, and other aids. The difference is that plague wouldn't be the equalizer it was in our history. Lots of people would still die to plague, just not the ones important to that 5th level cleric (and potentially his strongroom depending on the cleric). And that's very much in line with fantasy. Important and powerful people don't die from the plague, everybody else they'd better hope someone comes along and saves them.

 

[Cadfan]

The cure disease ritual doesn't require levels of cleric, it requires a Heal check.

 

[hong]

Because it doesn't make sense to me.

Clearly you need more flexible sensibilities.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Not only do I love, love, love the notion that Cure Disease can prove dangerous, I'm thinking of adding similar rules to some rituals that don't have it already.

It's a great way of adding a little bit of dangerous unpredictability back into magic--one thing that D&D has never done well--without nerfing the casters' combat abilities.

 

[Humanophile]

If a low-level NPC uses the ritual, she'll only really be prepared for low-level diseases. If the PC's have to rely on her, hopefully they'll be a bunch of low-levelers themselves, and if you throw high-level diseases at them without a backup plan that's a problem with the DM.

Look at this the other way around. You'd be within your rights to forbid casting Cure Disease any time the disease's level was higher than the caster's heal modifier. That would have essentially the same effect. A risk of death for overreaching one's abilities just feels more fantasy-ish than having a sudden stopoff point. (Simply having the ritual fail would be the worst of both worlds. I do not want my characters throwing the same spell over and over at the same obstacle until they roll a 20 breaks both the narrative and my suspension of disbelief.)

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

I hope so, anyway. Because otherwise, it wouldn't make much sense having a Healing Temple in town.

Wouldn't make sense? If a bumbling WIS 12 level 2 tow healer can cure mummy rot 80% of the time and lesser mundane disease 100% of the time, it makes complete sense.

PS : As an aside, default lycanthrope is now hereditary. Werewolf bite does provokes a disease, but it's called moon frenzy and causes you to lose your mind and go berserk, not turn in a werewolf.

Sure enough, we'll see good old fashioned lycanthropy show up as a disease in other settings or in houserules, though. But the default ones are more geared to be a clannish, secretive culture. Makes some sense. Traditional werewolves would be rare when you think about it ; typically, when it bites you, it kills you! Not the best way to reproduce your species...

 

[small pumpkin man]

I can't believe no one mentioned the disease themselve by this point.

So we have a 16 wis ritual caster of level 6, trained in heal and with no special bonus (Can't say I'm min/maxing, here). He has +11 to heal. Minimum result 12.

Mummy Rot is Level 11. My example can't kill you while trying to heal mummy rot! Any disease that could kill you if this guy was your doctor would have to be worse. Something like Mindfire (level 16) or Hellfever (level 21).

Bottom line, cure disease might kill you only if you are afflicted by some really high fantasy version of the ebola!

Of course when the 10th level Wizard with no Heal skill and 8 wis tries it because the party Warlord doesn't have ritual casting it's far more dangerous .

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Of course when the 10th level Wizard with no Heal skill and 8 wis tries it because the party Warlord doesn't have ritual casting it's far more dangerous .

lol. Yep.

In my group, the dwarven fighter has a great heal score and is somewhat interested in learning ritual caster, thought it would require an additional feat to learn religion or arcana. He has good WIS so maybe if he takes the cleric MC feat and gains a healing word/day in the process it would make it worth it.

 

[hong]

Because every town with a fifth level cleric WASN'T immune to plague. There was a limited amount of healing magic to dispense even with wands, scrolls, and other aids.

... or you could just not have 5th level NPC clerics.

 

[Raduin711]

I am extremely happy about this. In 3e, you didn't want to throw diseases at characters until they had access to healing it. Once they did, it was just annoying. "Ok, how long until we can rest/go to town so I can get this cured from me?" or "Great, DM likes diseases. I'll have to prepare remove disease for a while, until we get up in levels and disease becomes irrelevant again."