D&D 5E Magic healing of inborn conditions

[Bae'zel]

It is an interesting question, especially if we wonder what the origin of ailments are in worlds where gods are REAL and are lords over things like childbirth, disease and bad luck.

For example, if you have a Deity of Disease, or a Deity of misfortune, who, for whatever reason, chose to give birth defects for a population for Reasons, can simple magic counter that?

Say a child is born with severe problems; ignoring medical science for an instant, and go with the mythological side that is assumed in such settings, what if the parents passed this curse down to their baby because they were cursed at one time? Either a deity was pissed at them, or a powerful spellcaster antagonized them (or cursed them out of vengeance) would magically-induced severe asthma be dismissed easily by a folk healer?

Could thousands of people impacted by a powerful spells of a rival nation be healed via "mundane" means?

Some good questions for world building.

edit: to me, this explains how a person could end up with permanent physical disabilities in a High-Magic setting: the cause was not trivial or "mundane", but from the inherit side effects of magic and the supernatural. "My child cannot walk on her own because our village was hit by Talona's fury because last season we lacked enough spare food to give her suitable offering". Not to dismiss real world reasons for afflictions, disabilities or impairments, just to rationalize why they would still be an issue in a world with Greater Restoration and Wish spells in every mid-to high-level adventuring party or local temple.

 

[Stormonu]

My mind goes to Grimlocks (humans mutated to the underdark and now born blind) - what would you need to use on them to get their sight back?

Obviously, cure wounds isn't going to restore their sight. My initial thought was something on the power level of 3rd level's remove curse, but that doesn't quite feel powerful enough to work. More likely, I'd pin it as some sort of heal spell of 4th level or so - seems like it would be a lesser ability to 5th level's raise dead, after all.

So all-in-all, we're looking at a 7th level cleric or so to heal one such individual - not exactly something I would expect you would find to be all that common. In fact, if you go by the ol' 2E demographics in DM's Option - High Level Campaigns, a 7th level character is ~1 in 1,000; figure in the "four" basic classes they could be from, that's ~1 in 4,000 individuals; figuring in possible alignment that would put it about ~1 in 12,000 who'd be willing to do it.

Seems to me something that'd be available in larger cities, possibly something an individual may hope for as an after-service weekend miracle if you're in a lucky crowd - or if you have the coin and make a hefty donation to the church, could get for yourself or a relative.

 

[Lanefan]

Obviously the D&D spell list is angled towards spell that adventurers would use, but it makes a lot of sense to me from a setting point of view that there'd be spells for this sort of thing. I mean, I'm SURE there's been some wizard or other, even in a relatively low-magic world like Krynn, who got sensitive about his bald spot or greying hair or pot bely or receding chin etc and decided to spend a couple of months researching a solution. And once one wizard knows it, it's probably the sort of thing he could do very well out of trading to his fellows, or even setting up shop in a major city and charging nobles enormous amounts of money to cast it for them. Similarly, in a world where there's gods of beauty, or motherhood, or healing, then presumably their clerics would be able to access spells to address birth defects?

So yeah, I've got no qualms inventing something if there's no existing spell short of 9th level which would do the job. I'd be interested to hear what sort of level people think it should be though.

(I've long since thought that 'Ease Childbirth' is another spell that almost certainly exists in the world but isn't in an adventurer's spellbook, as well. And 'Enhance Fertility'. And 'Contraception')

The only major issue I have with most of this is that IMO all of it should be Clerical (i.e. divine) rather than Wizard-based (i.e. arcane). And Clerics don't research their spells, they get them as a daily download from their deities; which means that while a Wizard might want to research a spell that'll fix his bald spot the best he can ever hope for is a temporary solution, while he can't do anything at all about his receding chin.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I would handle it kind of like how Brandon Sanderson does. Essentially, in his Cosmere novels, magical healing works by restoring the body to its "spiritual" ideal. So it would essentially depend on how the recipient of the healing views themselves. If they view the "defect" as an injury that isn't part of them, sufficiently powerful healing magic would work on the "defect". On the other hand, if they view it as part of their identity (even if it's a part they wish they could change) the healing wouldn't work.

 

[Mind of tempest]

My mind goes to Grimlocks (humans mutated to the underdark and now born blind) - what would you need to use on them to get their sight back?

Obviously, cure wounds isn't going to restore their sight. My initial thought was something on the power level of 3rd level's remove curse, but that doesn't quite feel powerful enough to work. More likely, I'd pin it as some sort of heal spell of 4th level or so - seems like it would be a lesser ability to 5th level's raise dead, after all.

So all-in-all, we're looking at a 7th level cleric or so to heal one such individual - not exactly something I would expect you would find to be all that common. In fact, if you go by the ol' 2E demographics in DM's Option - High Level Campaigns, a 7th level character is ~1 in 1,000; figure in the "four" basic classes they could be from, that's ~1 in 4,000 individuals; figuring in possible alignment that would put it about ~1 in 12,000 who'd be willing to do it.

Seems to me something that'd be available in larger cities, possibly something an individual may hope for as an after-service weekend miracle if you're in a lucky crowd - or if you have the coin and make a hefty donation to the church, could get for yourself or a relative.

I think it depends on how derived the illness is, in me for example it would likely be relatively simple it is a few busted systems deviating from the normal, grimlocks need to re-grow a whole system like an olm would which is likely to be a lot harder to do.
would it change the genetic code as well?

 

[humble minion]

while a Wizard might want to research a spell that'll fix his bald spot the best he can ever hope for is a temporary solution, while he can't do anything at all about his receding chin.

I dunno. With True Polymorph a wizard can permanently transform a rusty horseshoe into a tyrannosaurus, but they can't permanently turn someone's eyes blue? It seems like minor cosmetic changes should be a fairly natural fit for, for instance, a transmutation specialist wizard. It runs right on theme with Alter Self, Polymorph, etc.

 

[Li Shenron]

This is tricky... I would make the decision of saying that healing/restoration spells only cures afflictions that occurred at some point, but cannot fix you when there's nothing to fix. So if someone is born blind and never had eyesight, those spells wouldn't change it, in the same way that they wouldn't grow a tail on someone who never had it. Other spells that can instead change someone's form might of course be able to.

 

[Tonguez]

Only Wish affects inborn traits through its reality warping effect

Restoration and Heal RESTORE HP and UNDO debilitating effects. So it could be argued that if one is born with a defect caused by disease the disease could be removed and the effect restored BUT if the disability is not due to disease then Restoration wont work and only Heal can change reality permanently

Unsure about the Permanency clause in True Polymorph or even if a blind Elf transformed into a Dwarf gains sight or remains blind

 

[aco175]

My mind goes to Grimlocks (humans mutated to the underdark and now born blind) - what would you need to use on them to get their sight back?

I would not go this far. Grimlocks are a whole race that evolved/devolved to be blind in the underdark and not just one of them. The normal for them is to be blind where the normal for humans is to have sight. I would not want players trying to turn the BBEG into a monkey due to billions of years of evolution.

Then it would be arguments on this world evolution vs that world and gods get involved creating each race whole and no evolution.

Good thing I reread this, it originally said: Grimlocks are a whole race that evolved/devolved to be bling in the underdark

 

[Stormonu]

While it might only be temporary, could you use alter self to remove something like innate blindness?