ZEITGEIST Distant Madness in Zeitgeist 5e

[iserguy]

I am in the middle of the 3rd adventure with my party and they just got to the Apet Ziggurat and the scenario reads
"When the adventurers see the ziggurat they may contract Distant
Madness. Saving throws for this should be made in secret if at all
possible."
But the sidebar section for Planar Madness only mentions what happens when Distant Madness is contracted not what sort of check is made to see if they do. I'm guessing it would be a Wisdom saving throw, but how difficult? Should this be something fairly easily made, or is it expected for some to fail here.

 

[RangerWickett]

I was not involved in the conversion, but I think it is fun if your players have a bit of insanity, so I would make it a fairly high DC, so that at least half the party is likely to fail. They can recover from it without too much inconvenience, but it's fun and flavorful.

 

[iserguy]

Great, thank you for the response. I remember running this before in 4e it worked really well with the established Disease mechanics, so I can see the challenge of making it work without that.

 

[iserguy]

@RangerWickett Do you happen to have an idea of what causes Distant Madness to end? Is a Long Rest sufficient, or should it be something more lasting than that?

 

[RangerWickett]

If your distant madness lasts more than four hours, please contact your doctor or psychochirurgeon.

Seriously though, I'd say that a long rest gives you a chance to recover, perhaps with some bonus if you do some mental and physical exercises involving precisely measured distances. If you want it to remain an issue for the adventure's duration, perhaps say that you can only recover during a long rest if you haven't moved more than a short distance in the past day. You've got to get your bearings. So someone who's zipping around on trains and boats might have to deal with it for the whole adventure, but then be able to recover before Always on Time.

 

[hirou]

DMG p 257 has rules for diseases. (Insert "noone actually reads DMG cause 5e is horribly edited" here) Apart from lesser restoration, each disease is unique in how it can be cured with no general mechanic. Two out of three examples allow Con save at the end of each long rest, with each success decreasing the negative effect of the disease.

 

[iserguy]

Thank you both! I remembered 4e having good mechanics for handling diseases, but didn't even remember ever seeing that section in the 5e DMG.

 

[Andrew Moreton]

I would say that Distance Madness wears off either when
a) Everyone forgets about it
b) Its not Fun anymore

 

[RangerWickett]

I would say that Distance Madness wears off either when
a) Everyone forgets about it
b) Its not Fun anymore

Just like Coronavirus!

Right?

Please?

 

[Andrew Moreton]

You have no idea how much I envy worlds with Cure Disease spells. If only reality worked like that, It would have saved me two surgeries and months as an invalid , never mind getting rid of coronavirus. Obviosuly the GM for this world enjoys inflicting diseases on people , we should get a new one