Cure Disease and Cure Poison

[Blue Angel]

There is an examble in FH of cure disease using transform sick person to healthy person. That is simple but ignores the fact that some diseases are more powerful and harder to cure than others.

 

I was wondering if dispel or supress might be a more "realistic" way to go?

 

How do you model these things in your campaign?

[cutsleeve]

supress or transformation are both good ways of doing the same thing. With the supress method you have to stat out all of the poisons so that you know how powerful a poison or disease is and how much it will take to supress it. This is a good method if you have a setting where magical healing is more complicated then in standard fantasy settings.

 

However if you want to create a setting where healing spells are more powerful or where you have the poof insta heal spells like those featured in most of the other fantasy settings for other game systems then the transform works wonderfully. So in truth which is better depends on the setting you have and how you particularly want to handle it.

[Blue Angel]

Yeh, relative power level was my concern here.

 

The transform method makes healing much more powerful. It means diseases and poisons which typically range into the hundreds of active points can be caneled by very fiew active points - especially considering transform is cumulative.

[Alcamtar]

I'm inclined to stick with the Dispel route. Some diseases may simply be too powerful for mortals to deal with effectively!

 

One way to handle the Transform version is to say the transform heals back like BODY. So the spell will cure it temporarily, put it into remission, but eventually it will return. For a permanent cure you'll need more powerful magic.

 

Mike

[badger3k]

For most natural diseases, I'd go with the Transform route (since its easiest). Tougher diseases would get built and thus the dispell (more than suppress) would be the way to go - most diseases constructed would have defenses vs transform as a standard (no cost) - how much I haven't figured out yet. Most diseases are going to be plot devices more than game effects (i.e. if the character contracts a hideous disease, the adventure will probably be built around finding/getting a cure).

 

Poison would be dispell for complete stop, suppress for temporary abatement. Since the poisons are built already, its easy to use the powers for them. Plus most have faster effects than disease, making the cure more immediate in game terms.

[bjbrown]

Technically, a Dispel can't be used to counter the effects of an instant attack after the segment in which the instant attack is completed. (I believe this is in the faq.) So, a poison or disease based upon a Drain or even a Gradual Effect RKA couldn't be Dispelled after the attack has been delivered. That's probably why FH uses Transform to cure disease and poison.

 

In my FH game, though, part of the special effect of magic is that continuing magical effects can be Dispelled, whether or not the effects were caused by an Instant power initially.

[Blue Angel]

Good point about that dispel.

 

Another route is to use healing

 

eg: heal 4d6, any poison effect 2 at a time +1/2

 

That way you can cure the KA portions and the drain portions. Also very powerful poisons would have their affects reduced but not negated fully.

[Vondy]

If the disease or poison is purchased as a drain, or a killing nnd with does body and gradual effect, then you could theoretically use supress to reduce its virulence (by reducing its active points it takes effect more slowly).

 

Another option - if these things are causing body loss - would be regular healing, but purchased with lims that define it as only curing disease or poison.

 

Another option is to make the transform very low power, but cummulative. It takes several treatments over a period of time increments (a lim in of itself) to effectively treat the ailment.

[badger3k]

Originally posted by D-Man

Another option is to make the transform very low power, but cummulative. It takes several treatments over a period of time increments (a lim in of itself) to effectively treat the ailment.

 

Uncontrolled continuous cumulative - more like an aid to the bodies natural recovery system. A little more expensive but more in line with an "aid immune system" effect. Of course, a powerful disease could work the same way.

[Blue Angel]

Originally posted by badger3k

Uncontrolled continuous cumulative - more like an aid to the bodies natural recovery system. A little more expensive but more in line with an "aid immune system" effect. Of course, a powerful disease could work the same way.

 

Particularly virulent diseases might have a supress healing or supress transform built into them.

[badger3k]

Originally posted by Blue Angel

Particularly virulent diseases might have a supress healing or supress transform built into them.

 

Or hardened, power def - maybe I'll have to rethink diseases in the game.

 

Sticky?

 

in the words of the Librarian - Ook!

 

edit - disease damage shields for undead or priests of a disease diety.

[dugfromthearth]

how about life support - immunity to poison Usable by others (or against others if they are unconcious, etc)?

 

only would work for poisons and diseases that have the limitation that they do not work against a character with a given life support.

 

this might sound cheesy, but it is actually totally realistic.

 

the strength of a disease is not the same as how fatal it is. The fatality of a disease is dependent upon what it does to the body.

 

antibiotic injections, antivirus injections, etc are actually fairly "low cost" to make once people know how to make them.

 

I would allow this power, but I would make it only apply vs certain things which are known - such as immunity to rattlesnake poison. You have to have the right anti-venom or right spell. If you came across a poisonous hydra you had never encountered before you couldn't use this against it.

[dugfromthearth]

how about life support - immunity to poison Usable by others (or against others if they are unconcious, etc)?

 

only would work for poisons and diseases that have the limitation that they do not work against a character with a given life support.

 

this might sound cheesy, but it is actually totally realistic.

 

the strength of a disease is not the same as how fatal it is. The fatality of a disease is dependent upon what it does to the body.

 

antibiotic injections, antivirus injections, etc are actually fairly "low cost" to make once people know how to make them.

 

I would allow this power, but I would make it only apply vs certain things which are known - such as immunity to rattlesnake poison. You have to have the right anti-venom or right spell. If you came across a poisonous hydra you had never encountered before you couldn't use this against it.

[Talon]

An alternative to statting out all diseases would be to come up with a table listing Active Points based on disease severity, so the GM would have sample target numbers in a pinch.