D&D General Diabetes in dnd

[abe ray]

How would diabetes be used in dnd? I’m asking because I’ve got diabetes myself and I’m EXTREMELY curious about how it would work in dnd. Along these lines: how would potions & other enchanted edibles work for diabetics?

 

[Deset Gled]

For starters, D&D chemistry doesn't differentiate between acids and bases for damage type, so I'm going to assume it also plays pretty fast and loose with Type 1 vs Type 2. Here's some ideas.

3 times a day (change frequency as needed based on severity), the character must make a Con save. If they fail, the character adds a level of exhaustion. This may be removed by a successful Medicine check performed with a Healer's Kit, or any Cure spell. Add extra checks when required based on diet (e.g. after a sugary meal, Goodberries, or a sweetened potion). At the DM's discretion, players may avoid needing to make this save by properly controlling the character's diet.

Disadvantage on Survival rolls to forrage for food (-4 penalty in older editions).

Disadvantage on saves vs Poison as deemed appropriate.

The condition may be permanently cured by casting Regenerate on the character's pancreas.

 

[ichabod]

Well, in 5th edition, it wouldn't work very long. 1st level paladins can cure any disease, and so can 5th level rangers and other any 3rd level caster except sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Essentially, D&D’s curative magic should change mundane diseases- even chronic ones- into survivable ones that don’t require long term care.

…if the afflicted can find someone to cast the relevant spell.

It’s an open question, however, if such magic would touch or even mitigate genetic disorders that we colloquially call “diseases”.

 

[Horwath]

Essentially, D&D’s curative magic should change mundane diseases- even chronic ones- into survivable ones that don’t require long term care.

…if the afflicted can find someone to cast the relevant spell.

It’s an open question, however, if such magic would touch or even mitigate genetic disorders that we colloquially call “diseases”.

I would say that if its caused by pathogen: virus, bacteria, fungi or higher parasite, I would say Remove disease

If it's genetic cause, I would say Heal or Regenerate.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I would say that if its caused by pathogen: virus, bacteria, fungi or higher parasite, I would say Remove disease

If it's genetic cause, I would say Heal or Regenerate.

I agree with the first, but there’s problems with the third. Maybe the second, too.

Those spells don’t correct everything wrong, they return a body to its normal functioning state. At least, as normally adjudicated.

I’ve never seen either one rectify:

Baldness
Obesity
Albinism
Alcoholism/addiction
Sickle cell anemia (or analogous afflictions, if any exist in the campaign setting)

Etc.

That’s usually the purging more powerful magic, like Alter Reality or Wish.

 

[Horwath]

I’ve never seen either one rectify:

Baldness
Obesity
Albinism
Alcoholism/addiction
Sickle cell anemia (or analogous afflictions, if any exist in the campaign setting)

Etc.

That’s usually the purging more powerful magic, like Alter Reality or Wish.

Don't know how to reply to this without stepping into that "beautiful" field of eugenics... ugh...

Baldness;
does magic recognize bald "gene" as "defective" or "normal"?

Obesity:
would magic remove the unneeded mass of fat, or would it change genes to make your metabolism faster and slow down "storing" of excess energy into fat tissue in the future?
Getting fat is evolutionary trait to survive lean winter months with very few food around. So maybe it would make you even more prone to getting fat as insurance so you do not starve in the winter.

Albinism:
what is "correct" pigmentation? I hope no one continues this part....

Alcoholism/addiction:
does character trait op personality trait falls under disease or defect or is it just variation?
I'm really lazy, i try to fix that, but most of the time I fail and I would take a pill to "cure" that if it were available.
Is being lazy a character trait/quirk or mental deficiency? ahahha!

Sickle cell anemia:
this would be simplest. Genetic defect, there is no upside to having it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Don't know how to reply to this without stepping into that "beautiful" field of eugenics... ugh...

Baldness;
does magic recognize bald "gene" as "defective" or "normal"?

My vote would be normal. The only "unhealthy" aspect of having a bald head is that it increases your exposure to solar radiation and thus increases your risk of skin cancer...but that's not really enough to matter in context. (Especially if cure disease can treat cancer.)

Obesity:
would magic remove the unneeded mass of fat, or would it change genes to make your metabolism faster and slow down "storing" of excess energy into fat tissue in the future?
Getting fat is evolutionary trait to survive lean winter months with very few food around. So maybe it would make you even more prone to getting fat as insurance so you do not starve in the winter.

My assumption would be that it would distinguish between amounts of fat-storage that are benign but not necessarily socially accepted, and those which actually contribute to noticeable unhealthy symptoms (like sleep apnea, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, liver malfunction, etc.) Different options present themselves depending on how the curative magic works, but I think I would prefer something like a temporary metabolic rate increase to "burn off" excess calories. The patient might even experience this as a fever if they don't go out and use that energy for something.

Albinism:
what is "correct" pigmentation? I hope no one continues this part....

Perhaps treatment of albinism would require a donor of some kind, such as an unaffected blood relative.

Alcoholism/addiction:
does character trait op personality trait falls under disease or defect or is it just variation?

Well, one of the treatments for alcoholism is basically a pill that blocks the feel-good chemicals that come from drinking alcohol. (There are different compounds which perform this function, with varying effects; often it is best as a second or third line when other therapeutic methods have failed.) So perhaps a spell could just turn off your ability to feel good as a result of consuming alcohol or whatever drug is in question. Intoxication without positive feelings would generally suck and that could, in theory, quickly curtail the addictive behavior.

I'm really lazy, i try to fix that, but most of the time I fail and I would take a pill to "cure" that if it were available.
Is being lazy a character trait/quirk or mental deficiency? ahahha!

No, but there are actual mental health conditions which people can easily confuse for laziness, such as executive dysfunction (basically, an inability to actually...do things, even when you KNOW you need to do them, even when you WANT to do them) or time management disorders (e.g. ADD, ADHD, and autism-spectrum disorders all frequently feature disruption of the subject's ability to manage, estimate, and coordinate time and tasks). "Laziness" is, more or less, choosing not to do something when you easily could, whereas the above issues are a mental or physical block which inhibits the ability to make good on one's choice to do something. Like the difference between cowardice and PTSD; the former is an elective pattern of undesirable behavior but not in itself a mark of ill health, while the latter is a mark of ill health that can disrupt one's life and lead to undesirable behavior.

Sickle cell anemia:
this would be simplest. Genetic defect, there is no upside to having it.

I mean, there's no upside to having albinism either, and it too is a genetic defect, the inheritance of two genes that both fail to produce any melanin at all.

 

[Deset Gled]

I would say that if its caused by pathogen: virus, bacteria, fungi or higher parasite, I would say Remove disease

If it's genetic cause, I would say Heal or Regenerate.

I would normally break it down as:

Physical/chemical damage: Cure family of spells

Bacteria, virus, fungus: Disease family of spells

Congenital defects, scarring, or long term damage: Regenerate family

Genetic: Wish or similar (or a creative curse).

Lots of forms of diabetes are (as a gross oversimplification) the pancreas getting old or worn out before other parts of the body, hence Regenerate would cure a lot of it. If it's genetic, though, that wouldn't work.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Baldness;
does magic recognize bald "gene" as "defective" or "normal"?

My take is that baldness is on the spectrum of normal aging consequences for aging, depending on your genetics. So are things like arthritis, myopia, and others. But the same afflictions can ALSO be caused by trauma or disease.

So… whether a particular spell could rectify it depends on the cause.

Obesity:
would magic remove the unneeded mass of fat, or would it change genes to make your metabolism faster and slow down "storing" of excess energy into fat tissue in the future?
Getting fat is evolutionary trait to survive lean winter months with very few food around. So maybe it would make you even more prone to getting fat as insurance so you do not starve in the winter.

Same answer as above. Is the patient obese because they overindulge and don’t exercise, or is there a genetic or traumatic cause at the root?

Albinism:
what is "correct" pigmentation? I hope no one continues this part....

Albinism results from a genetic mutation…but so do other traits like red hair, blue eyes and others. How does the spell “know” what to change and what not to?

Alcoholism/addiction:
does character trait op personality trait falls under disease or defect or is it just variation?

We know that alcoholism/addiction have genetic components, but AFAIK, it’s a predisposition not destiny.

Sickle cell anemia:
this would be simplest. Genetic defect, there is no upside to having it.

Not so fast!

Sickle cell anemia results from having inherited a specific pair of mutated genes, one from each parent with sickle cell trait. That gene evolved because people with a single copy of that gene were more resistant to malaria. That is a significant upside in places where malaria is endemic.

So would healing magic reduce the anemia to a trait or zero it out completely? Or would it leave the genetics alone and merely alleviate the symptoms?

How it works- IF it works- has significant implications for the general health of the population.