Immunities and Present Effects

[Cyraneth]

I don't know whether this has been up before or not, but I'll just ask anyway.

What happens if a diseased character takes a level in the paladin class, thus gaining the Divine Health ability? Is he simply cured of the disease or does it simply not have any effect on him anymore. Or possibly, does the disease remain?

The same goes for a poisoned druid taking his 9th level of druid while the poison is still in the system...

- Cyraneth

 

[warhookdm]

It depends on whether you require training to gain levels and/or new classes. If you don't, the PC would become immune, based on a strict interpretation of the written rules.

In my campaign, training is required in certain situations (new class, new skill being learned {unless it can be done unskilled}.
In situations where training isn't required, I have the PC's roll a d4 for any new supernatural or feat-like class skills, and new spell levels. The result of the roll is how many days it takes for the new power or powers to manifest themselves.

For example, the wizard just reached 5th level, gaining him the ability to cast 3rd Level spells. He isn't adding new skills to his list, and he has a few 3rd level spells on scrolls he can scribe, so he doesn't need to go to the guild for training. He rolls a d4 and gets a 2. He gains the BAB, saves, HD, and available Level 1 and 2 spell slots immediately (provided he rests; without rest he does not yet gain the spell slots) and 2 days hence, he figures out the last little bit he needs to successfully cast 3rd level spells.

So for the paladin or druid, make them doll a d4 for each special ability, etc. Thats how many days it will take for the power to manifest in some way. This is a house rule, but you may find it helpful, and it adds flavor and a smidgen of reality.

Now, if they are adding a new class, unless they have already recieved the training, they can't add any of the special abilities, spell slots, BAB's, saves, etc. until they get said training. I MIGHT grant them the hit die, if they were in a particularly dire circumstance, but the rest would be in abeyance until trained. Also, I try to get the players to tell me BEFORE they reach the level-up what class they are going to increase or add...that much future planning is to be expected (and why we have a Pal7/Sor4/Spellsword4 character in this particular group) from a character.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Since the whole level-business is an abstraction, I would not let them roll dice on how long they wait until they get the power, since the moment they level up is the moment those powers manifest. And to see behind the curtain, they don't get from level 9 to level 10 on one day, just like we don't age a year on our birthday. They have been level 9.94 or something before and just get the little more to advance them over 10. They don't actually gain a whole BAB or something, but in game-terms, they do, just as we don't become suddenly adult enough to drive cars or watch certain movies and play certain games in one day but weren't the day before, but the laws abstract our age to full years, so the day we "turn 18" (or whatever) we're allowed to drive cars.

 

[jlhorner1974]

Getting back to the original question, about whether the character would be "cured" of the disease or poison if they level up ---

1. There are definitely no official rules on this.

2. I think you could possibly make a logical argument either way.

As warhookdm states, immune is immune. So I would have to say that yes, the character is cured of the disease or poison and stops taking secondary damage.

However, I would also say this does not retroactively negate any ability or HP damage done by the poison or disease before it was cured, however. The character has still been damaged by the disease/poison, but they got "saved by the bell".

Actually, this situation probably does not happen too often, and I think it would make for great roleplaying material. Party members, NPCs, cohorts, and townspeople should recognize this as a sign that this PC is capable of extraordinary things and is destined for greatness.

 

[AuraSeer]

This kind of thing would happen more commonly with magic items. If the party has one Periapt of Health, can they pass it around and use it as an unlimited Remove Disease item?

 

[Stalker0]

I go with immunity prevents you from obtaining diseases, it doesn't cure disease you already have. Similar to a vaccine, it will stop a disease from infecting you, but if you have the disease when you get teh vaccine, tough cookies.

This prevents that whole periapt of health trick, and prevents shifters from shifting forms to get the benefits of their immunites to current problems.

 

[jlhorner1974]

AuraSeer makes a very good point. There are indeed a number of ways to adjudicate this since the phrase "immune to disease" is not precisely defined.

How about this for a house rule? When you are immune to disease (by wearing a periapt of health or from some other ability), the following occurs:

(1) While wearing the periapt, you cannot contract a disease (what Stalker0 said).

(2) If you are already diseased when you acquire disease immunity or put on a periapt of health, any ill effects from the disease are negated while wearing it, but the disease is not permanently cured. The periapt will negate the disease effect for that day only if it is worn for the entire day (if the ring is taken off or its magic is supressed for longer than 10 minutes, the wearer gains no benefit that day). To cure the disease permanently, you either need a Remove Disease spell or you need to make consecutive Fortitude saves, as normal.

Since the incubation period for all diseases is at least one day, if a character find himself diseased, the party can quickly hand him the periapt so he can wear it to suppress the effects of the disease (until the party healer can memorize a Remove Disease spell the next day or the character fights it off naturally).

The condition in #2 will basically keep one diseased character from dying without curing the disease, and should help prevent abuse, since only one character can benefit from the periapt at a time.

Alternatively, you could also give the periapt an "attunement" period of 24 hours before it functions (like a ring of sustenance) to prevent abuse.

 

[Elric]

If a character takes a level of Paladin while he has a disease, he had better be sure in his faith. As a DM, it would be a cool plot device to cause the character's disease to reappear if he went against his Paladin's code or lost faith in his God. Of course, he could probably just have remove disease cast at the time, but it would certainly teach him a lesson!

 

[jlhorner1974]

Oooooooooh, I like that.