Infected

Condition Severity: Weak

   An illness has made its way into your system, causing discomfort, weakness, and distress.

Effects

• Infected is usually the result of a weaker disease affecting a creature's system. Diseases with an intensity of infected have the following differences from stronger diseases:

• A saving throw is permitted at the point of the disease's introduction, prior to the second interval's effects, and prior to the third interval's effects.
• They have either no fruition, or if they do, it never has a duration of less than 1 week (usually just 1 day).
• They are not contagious.

• Here is an example of an infected intensity disease:

Filth Fever (Injury vector; Infected intensity)

Fort DC 17; frequency: 1/day for 3 days

Effect: 1d2 DEX and 1d2 CON damage per interval; fruition: incapacitated for 1 day.

Afflictions

Afflictions, such as diseases and poisons, are all defined by the following characteristics, which detail how they affect a creature which fails a saving throw against them: Name, Vector, Intensity, Save, Frequency, Effect, and Fruition.

Name: This is the name of the disease or poison.

Vector: This is the means by which the disease or poison must be introduced to a subject: contact, ingested, inhaled, injury.

• Contact: delivered the moment a creature touches them with their bare skin.

• Ingested: delivered when a creature eats or drinks them.

• Inhaled: delivered the moment a creature enters an area containing them. A creature can hold its breath while inside the area, by voluntarily gaining the Gagging condition, to avoid inhaling the toxin. If a creature is voluntarily asphyxiating and fails its save, rather than dying, it begins to breathe normally again (and is affected by the inhaled affliction if it is still present).

• Injury: These poisons are primarily delivered through the attacks of certain creatures and through weapons coated in the toxin. Injury poisons do not usually have an onset time and have a frequency of 1 round.

Note that vectors are not interchangeable — a disease or poison with an injury vector won't harm a target that ingests it, unless it also has an ingest vector listed.

Intensity: The intensity of a disease or poison states which status condition it inflicts. Disease intensities are: Infected, Diseased, or Plagued. Poison intensities are Tainted, Poisoned, and Blighted. The intensity of the disease or poison determines how easily the effects can be cured.

Save: This is the saving throw type (Fort, Refl, Will) and DC for the disease or poison. A creature subjected to a disease or poison makes a saving throw immediately upon its introduction to their system, and one saving throw for the second and third intervals of the disease or poison's frequency. The save DC is always the same for all of these saves. A creature which fails a saving throw against the disease or poison will always take one interval worth of effects from it as a result. If the saving throw is successful, the disease or poison is shrugged off, and deals no further effects to the target.

Frequency: Many poisons act immediately upon their introduction to a target, but some poisons are designed to be slower to act. By contrast, most diseases take a day to cause effects on the target. The frequency determines how often the disease or poison will attempt to inflict its effects on the victim, and when its first effects are felt. There are three frequencies: "1/round for 3 rounds", "1/hour for 3 hours", and "1/day for 3 days". Diseases and poisons never have more than 3 intervals of their frequency. The first interval's effects are triggered by the failure of the initial saving throw, but may not occur until the first interval has passed, as detailed below:

• "1/round for 3 rounds": Diseases and poisons with a frequency of "rounds" inflict their first interval of effects as soon as it is introduced into the system of its victim. (E.g. a drow blademaster stabs the fighter, inflicting melee damage, and forcing the fighter to save against the drow's languishroot poison. If the save is failed, the fighter immediately takes the first interval of effects of the poison.) The target of a disease or poison with a frequency of "rounds" takes the second interval of effects at the start of their next turn, if they fail a second save. The round after that, at the start of the target's second turn after being diseased or poisoned, they make their third (and final) save. If this save is also failed, the third interval of effects are inflicted, as is the disease's or poison's fruition (if it has one). The strongest diseases and poisons only allow a saving throw when it is first inflicted, and no saving throws for the second or third intervals. In this case, the effects of the second and third intervals just occur as though their respective saving throws were failed.

• "1/hour for 3 hours": Slower diseases or poisons, such as ingested poisons or fast-acting diseases, may act with a frequency of "1/hour for 3 hours". In this case, the target creature makes their first saving throw as soon as the disease or poison is introduced, but they take no effect until the first interval (1 hour later) occurs. The victim doesn't get a second saving throw until the second interval (2 hours after the disease or poison's introduction). If they fail the second save, they take a second interval of effects. At the start of the 3rd hour, the third (and final) save is made. If this save is also failed, the third interval of effects are inflicted, and the disease or poison's fruition is inflicted (if it has one). The strongest diseases and poisons only allow a saving throw when it is first inflicted, and no saving throws for the second or third intervals. In this case, the effects of the second and third intervals just occur as though their respective saving throws were failed.

• "1/day for 3 days": This frequency is extremely rare for poisons, but extremely common for diseases. Much like a disease or poison with a frequency of "hours", the target creature makes their first saving throw as soon as it is introduced, but they take no effect from it until the first interval occurs, at the beginning of the next day. The victim doesn't get a second saving throw until the second interval (2 days after the disease or poison's introduction). If they fail the second save, they take a second interval of effects. At the start of the 3rd day, the third (and final) save is made. If this save is also failed, the third interval of effects are inflicted, and the disease or poison's fruition is inflicted (if it has one). The strongest diseases and poisons only allow a saving throw when it is first inflicted, and no saving throws for the second or third intervals. In this case, the effects of the second and third intervals just occur as though their respective saving throws were failed.

Effect: This is what the disease or poison does to the target creature at each interval of its frequency, if the saving throw was unsuccessful. Poisons typically inflict a combination of ability damage (or ability drain) and poison (physical, uncommon) damage, although poison effects can vary wildly. Diseases usually inflict just ability damage to one or more ability scores, though status conditions are also possible. Note that damage inflicted by the effect (or fruition) of a disease or a poison cannot be mitigated with DR or ER, unless the DR explicitly states it can be used to mitigate damage caused by diseases or poisons.

Fruition: This is the effect inflicted if the disease or poison's third tick of its frequency is allowed to occur before a successful saving throw is made. Fruitions always list a duration after which the effect(s) expire on their own. This can be some number of hours, days, or even permanent. Note that a fruition can only occur after 3 failed saving throws, but it usually occurs in the same round as the third tick of the Effect (in addition to the Effect), immediately after that third failed save.

Multiple Doses: If a creature is subjected to multiple doses of the same disease or poison they are already afflicted with, and that disease or poison has a frequency measured in "rounds", the most recent disease or poison overwrites the older one. Any effects already inflicted by the older disease or poison linger and must be cured as described below. Of course, if a creature is subjected to different kinds of diseases or poisons, their effects stack.

Ended By

If the ability, trap, or effect description includes specific directions for how the condition is ended, then that is the primary means of ending this condition. In many cases, it is the only way to end the condition. If nothing is specifically listed for ending the condition, then the following methods can be used to end it, instead:

• Curing the Poison: You get a saving throw versus the poison's listed DC immediately upon being subjected to the poison (to resist the first interval's effects), and a second saving throw just before the second and third intervals. If any of these saving throws are successful, the poison is shrugged off, and causes no further effects (though the existing damage and effects linger, as described below).

• If a Neutralize Poison (Spell) or some similar effect is cast on the victim of a tainted condition, the condition immediately ends, as though the victim had successfully made a saving throw against the poison or drug in question.
• Unlike most conditions, restoration spells and similar effects which broadly cure weak status conditions do not work on Tainted creatures, unless they explicitly state they can be used to treat poison. If the spell, ability, or effect can be used to treat poisons, the tainted condition is immediately ended by such a spell, ability, or effect, when applied to the tainted creature.
• If not otherwise cured, the poison or drug runs its course when after all three intervals of its frequency occur. If the poison has a "fruition" effect, it occurs at the same time as the third interval's effects.

• Curing Damage: Any hit point damage (including non-lethal damage) caused by the effects or fruition of a poison or drug with an intensity of tainted can be cured normally, even before the poison itself has been cured.
• Curing Effects: All effects (excluding hit point damage or non-lethal damage) that are inflicted by the effects of a poison or drug with a tainted intensity linger until the creature takes a full-night's rest, regardless of any successful saving throws made by the tainted creature. Any status conditions caused by the effect of the poison or drug are also cured after a full-night's rest, even if these conditions cannot normally be cured with a full-night's rest.

• This full-night's rest may only be taken after the poison has been cured or has run its course.
• The poison or drug effects may also be cured separately, if the creature isn't willing to wait for a full-night's rest.

• Curing the Fruition: Poisons with an intensity of tainted do not usually inflict a fruition effect. However, if they do, the fruition is always cured by a full-night's rest, if it doesn't end sooner than that. Fruitions can always be cured with a Wish (Spell) or Miracle (Spell), but are not otherwise curable by any other magic, including Restoration, Greater (Spell), unless the spell, ability, or effect specifically states it can cure the fruition of a poison or a disease. Note that permanent fruitions, such as death, can only be removed by a Wish (Spell) or Miracle (Spell).

Array

Infected → Diseased → Plagued