D&D 5E Plague Doctor Campaign Ideas

[Belos-Hunter]

I had an idea to do a plague doctor campaign and wanted to figure a way to do it. Like how would I introduce combat?

 

[pogre]

I had an idea to do a plague doctor campaign and wanted to figure a way to do it. Like how would I introduce combat?

Welcome to ENWorld.

I am not sure what you mean by a plague doctor campaign. Would the players be doctors treating plague victims?

 

[Belos-Hunter]

Welcome to ENWorld.

I am not sure what you mean by a plague doctor campaign. Would the players be doctors treating plague victims?

It would most likely be a horror campaign. I was thinking along the lines they are trying to treat a magical disease, but at first they would think they are treating a normal disease.

 

[pogre]

It would most likely be a horror campaign. I was thinking along the lines they are trying to treat a magical disease, but at first they would think they are treating a normal disease.

I see. I guess to get a combat opponent I would have a nefarious force behind the disease. Like Nurgle or Skaven in Warhammer or perhaps a demonologist or other ne'er-do-well. Just having the disease be the opponent would be less engaging for the average D&D player.

A campaign like this probably would benefit from special rules for treating diseases. The problem with D&D in this type of campaign is you could just send in a bunch of paladins and save the village or a few lesser restoration spells. You will probably have to customize your campaign background to take this into account. Nerfing stuff at session zero is lot better than nerfing abilities after characters have been created.

 

[Belos-Hunter]

I see. I guess to get a combat opponent I would have a nefarious force behind the disease. Like Nurgle or Skaven in Warhammer or perhaps a demonologist or other ne'er-do-well. Just having the disease be the opponent would be less engaging for the average D&D player.

A campaign like this probably would benefit from special rules for treating diseases. The problem with D&D in this type of campaign is you could just send in a bunch of paladins and save the village or a few lesser restoration spells. You will probably have to customize your campaign background to take this into account. Nerfing stuff at session zero is lot better than nerfing abilities after characters have been created.

Yes, I agree, just fighting the disease would be lame, and maybe one of the reasons the disease is so deadly is that magic doesn't work on it? What would you recommend said special rules would be?

 

[pogre]

Yes, I agree, just fighting the disease would be lame, and maybe one of the reasons the disease is so deadly is that magic doesn't work on it? What would you recommend said special rules would be?

I think I would lean into something along the lines of skill challenges in 4e. You can do a search on how those worked. I am not just being lazy, but I only playtested 4th edition and I am not confident I can lay the system out for you correctly.

Here's an article about how to do it in 5th edition:
How to Build and Run Skill Challenges in 5th edition

Again, since I don't run skill challenges, I cannot vouch for the quality of the article, but it is a starting point for you.

 

[Belos-Hunter]

That seems like it could work quite well. Maybe the disease could be something like lycanthropy?

 

[J-H]

Zombification disease?
Really anything works, as long as it spreads faster than the number of spell slots available for Cure Disease allows for curing.
I have a partly finished Poison/Disease cleric domain for Talona done, can post if desired. Talona's clergy spends as much time curing disease as they might spreading it... or rather, the good ones heal, the bad ones spread, and some do some of both depending on who needs to die.

Neverwinter Nights had a disease as a major plot point.

1. Establishing the disease as a threat.
Side effects that create things for PCs to do include: Quarantines disrupting trade and making people unsafe. Banditry. Bodies piling up -> undead. Corruption, smuggling.

2. Researching the disease.
This could be the PCs, or it could be NPCs they help.
Quests/things to do: Gather special tools, get samples from different areas, solve a burglary at the research area, retrieve and escort a subject matter expert from bandits/kidnapping/evil Duke.

3. Curing the disease.
Retrieve special ingredients (in NWN, they were an Umber Hulk, a Nymph, a Rust Monster, and an Intellect Devourer), protect a magical ritual site, bribe/steal/etc. and transport 3,000 lbs of Nerrhavian Snow Salt, etc., prevent sabotage by the enemy.

4. The creature behind the curtain.
This was all a diversion to weaken XYZ in favor of a plot. Kingdom takeover, return of ancient lizard people, cultists of Extraplanar Evil, Aboleth, dragons playing a long game, one deity trying to weaken the faith in another deity, or whatever you want to fight.

 

[Unwise]

I'd lean towards running it in historical Call of Cthulhu or something similar. Something that lends itself to finding hidden lore and secrets and avoiding combat. "Scientific discovery leads to horrible realisation and otherworldly incursion" is a staple theme of that game. It helps that everybody is a civilian of some sort. A medical researcher, journalist, hospital orderly, or local mayor are all normal 'classes' in that game. Everybody is mundane. Games about mundane things and/or horror lose their effect when you can throw around fireballs or are an expert swordsman.

 

[Tonguez]

Warhammer has a Plague Doctor cult doesnt it? Iirc they are fanatics who fight to stop the plagues of Nurgle by burning down infected villages, diagnosing the infected and then burning the victims and boiling their ashes.

A PC in town afflicted by plague has to decide if the Plague Doctors are mord of a threat than the Nurgles agents.
Or the PCs could be Plague doctors burning down villages for the good of the Empire and then hunting down patient zero.

For DnD make them Paladins