black death

[Draig]

So for my campaign I was thinking of throwing a bubonic plague of sorts into the mix. Its easy to plan how it will affect the world and npcs and such my only concern is should I make it something that could affect my pc's (as a motivation to help stop it or as a hazard in the world) and if so what should the exact build of it be? As in symptoms, affects, and how it can be spread/prevented.

[Honest Tiefling]

Give us some details on the world, and what bit of it your PCs are in. If the vector is rats but you are in a desert or arctic region that might not work as well as other options.

I would just make it a really low fort save to avoid it. If someone gets it, have a subplot ready to shell out a lot of resources (demand and supply) to get a cure. If they don't, proceed with main plot.

[Draig]

The world possess all climates, the area they are in right now is moderately warm with forests, plains, meadows, and all that. There are only a few metropolis like cities. And the plague itself was going to be something created by the BBEG to terrorize the land. I was thinking of making a randomization chart to see which part of the plague is trying to affect them in regards to how close they are to a contamination area. Such as 1 rat bite (or minimal risk area) would have a low fort dc and small problem if failed and a swarm of rats (or maximum risk area) being something as severe as contracting a necrotic cyst (such as the swollen lymph nodes from the bubonic plague itself)

[Tokiko Mima]

So for my campaign I was thinking of throwing a bubonic plague of sorts into the mix. Its easy to plan how it will affect the world and npcs and such my only concern is should I make it something that could affect my pc's (as a motivation to help stop it or as a hazard in the world) and if so what should the exact build of it be? As in symptoms, affects, and how it can be spread/prevented.

Well, keep in mind that the Black Death had an enormous impact on the political, psychological and economic landscape. When 33 to 25% of people all die to a single cause, people take notice. The Black Death wiped out entire towns, and caused people to flee vast distances to avoid the spreading malady.

Politically, while most nobles will be healthy, well fed and/or clean enough to survive, though some few will not, and there will be a struggle for their succession. More important, the peasants that paid taxes or fees to live on the nobles land will be much fewer, and more able to bargain since the supply of labor is now more limited. In some cases this leads to reforms, in other cases, brutal suppression.

Psychologically, you're going to have to imagine every single person has watched friends and/or relatives likely very recently die horrible deaths, twisting in agony. Death is all around and ever-present, and so are superstitions and rushes to judgement about anything considered "unnatural." You can ride this wave of mental shock and terror, or be swallowed up by it.

Economically.. this is surprising, but this is actually a great time. With fewer people to feed and smaller families, most people do quite well. In Europe, there was a huge issue with overpopulation and famines that vanished with the Black Death. With more land and fewer people to farm it, farmers will have space to experiment and use farming methods with greater yields, and different crops.

[Bhaakon]

Another thing, any major disease outbreak is likely to fall most heavily on the very old and very young. If you let a plague loose in the world, you're going to end up with a whole bunch of people aged 15-40 and relatively few who fall outside that range.

[Tokiko Mima]

So for my campaign I was thinking of throwing a bubonic plague of sorts into the mix. Its easy to plan how it will affect the world and npcs and such my only concern is should I make it something that could affect my pc's (as a motivation to help stop it or as a hazard in the world) and if so what should the exact build of it be? As in symptoms, affects, and how it can be spread/prevented.

If I had to do it, I would use Taint rules from Heroes of Horror to make it a creepily resistant to normal forms of disease cures. Entering infected areas and handling plagued objects would increase their infection rating and result in symptoms of Corruption. Vermin/carriers would add addition Taint/plague points with every attack.

[Luckmann]

Well, keep in mind that the Black Death had an enormous impact on the political, psychological and economic landscape. When 33 to 25% of people all die to a single cause, people take notice. The Black Death wiped out entire towns, and caused people to flee vast distances to avoid the spreading malady.

Politically, while most nobles will be healthy, well fed and/or clean enough to survive, though some few will not, and there will be a struggle for their succession. More important, the peasants that paid taxes or fees to live on the nobles land will be much fewer, and more able to bargain since the supply of labor is now more limited. In some cases this leads to reforms, in other cases, brutal suppression.

Psychologically, you're going to have to imagine every single person has watched friends and/or relatives likely very recently die horrible deaths, twisting in agony. Death is all around and ever-present, and so are superstitions and rushes to judgement about anything considered "unnatural." You can ride this wave of mental shock and terror, or be swallowed up by it.

Economically.. this is surprising, but this is actually a great time. With fewer people to feed and smaller families, most people do quite well. In Europe, there was a huge issue with overpopulation and famines that vanished with the Black Death. With more land and fewer people to farm it, farmers will have space to experiment and use farming methods with greater yields, and different crops.Don't forget that layer of overt paranoia that plagues the lands in a situation like this.

[CTrees]

Have it give the victims spell resistance which can't be waived versus spells with the healing descriptor. The Healing skill, which is slow and difficult, will still *help*, but the big problem with plague in d&d (remove disease) is moderated. Taint rules also work well - maybe pick one physical and one mental per stage of the disease?

As for infection vector, I'm typing on a phone right now, so I'll just say that magic opens up some interesting options.

[supermonkeyjoe]

I really don't think a mass plague needs any kind of resistance unless your campaign world is filled with clerics druids and wizards of level 5 and up who want to spend all their time dishing out Remove Disease spells.

Assuming that there is one spellcaster capable of casting remove disease for every 100 people, even if they put all their available spell slots into remove disease there are still plenty of people left to be infected, and even if someone is cured one day they can still catch the disease again almost immediately.

[Draig]

I had thought about that. One of my pc's from before once expressed a "mass remove disease" spell he wanted to adapt. but the first task that the party would face would be identifying how the disease was unleashed. Then it will become a subplot of finding how to permanently stop it, finding the major infection zones and cleansing them. The whole time trying to deal with paranoid villages, liege lord/ serf squabbles, and other odds and ends. Its mainly a new plot device to give depth to the campaign

[Honest Tiefling]

I agree with supermonkeyjoe. Adepts can only do so much, and dish out so many remove diseases. And if people aren't careful, they'll just get it all over again.

I would also determine how many adventurers died. It would affect how readily the PCs get plots. If all other adventurers died, they might be able to get high prices. If not, adventurers might be forcibly recruited into armies...