Disease Rules Question

[Mesh Hong]

I have just read the DMG entry on the disease rules and realised I have been doing it wrong.

It states that if you are exposed to a disease from a creature then you make a save at the end of the encounter and if you fail then you are affected by the disease, if you pass then you are not affected.

I had always assumed that when it says for instance;(Dire Rat attack); "and the target contracts filith fever" in the monster manual then the PC has contracted the disease. Not that they might have contracted the disease.

I am curious how other people have been implementing the disease rules?

 

[jorrit]

It states that if you are exposed to a disease from a creature then you make a save at the end of the encounter and if you fail then you are affected by the disease, if you pass then you are not affected.

I haven't encountered diseases at the moment but I'm wondering about the sentence 'you make a save at the end of the encounter'. What exactly is meant by encounter here? Do they mean the actual end of the combat encounter or do they mean 'encounter' in the more english sense of the word: i.e. directly after being exposed (i.e. bitten by a rat, touched by a disease spreading plant, ...)

Greetings,

 

[Jhaelen]

Do they mean the actual end of the combat encounter or do they mean 'encounter' in the more english sense of the word: i.e. directly after being exposed (i.e. bitten by a rat, touched by a disease spreading plant, ...)

Since 'encounter' is a defined term in 4E, it'll be the former, not the latter.