Disease: Ghoul Plague (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Disease: Ghoul Plague (PEACH) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
JulesCARV
02-10-06, 08:44 PM Note: Ghoul Plague is the name of this disease, but it really doesn't have anything to do with ghouls. Or at least, not the ghouls as in the MM.

Ghoul Plague can be transmitted by water and bodily fluids.

First, the plague requires a DC 15 fortitude every day. If failed, the victim loses 2 constitution.

If constitution reaches zero, the victim dies, but her body remains animated by the disease. She does not gain the "ordinary" undead type, her hit dice do not change to d12, and she is not vulnerable to turning. Neither "cure" nor "inflict" spells effect her. However, constitution does become a non-ability for her. She also no longer needs to drink, breath, or sleep.

She retains her former personality, memories, feelings, abilities. Depending on her god, she may lose her divine spellcasting abilities, even if she doesn't change alignment (see below). Furthermore, she now gains a horrible craving for humanoid flesh. To satisfy the cravings, she must eat 1/50th of her weight of humanoid flesh every day. Some victims of the ghoul plague give into these cravings, and become depraved killers, alignment changing accordingly. Some manage to hold off until their true deaths.

If an oppurtunity presents itself to acquire humanoid flesh, she must make a will save, DC 5 + days since she has last eaten flesh (counts as 0 on the day she rises from death) + circumstances modifier.

Circumstances modifier for will saving throw to avoid cannibalizing someone:
+0: Requires murder or mutilation to acquire the dead humanoid flesh, but probably a murder that the ghoul plague-afflicted person could get away with (e.g., her victim is wanderer in the middle of a countryside road, in the middle of the night, and the parts of the body she doesn't eat could be hidden). More difficult circumstances than this do not count as "oppurtunities" that require a will save, although the ghoul plague victim may choose to acquire flesh in more difficult circumstances.
+10: Humanoid is already dead, or limb is severed. No murder is required (e.g., the party just fought Orcs, and now there are orc corpses around). However, there is still the risk of discovery by others.
+20: Humanoid is already dead, the risk of discovery is very small, or at least isn't impacted by eating or not. (e.g., the victim is in her home, and already has a body that she's been eating over the past few days in cold storage. If they find and discover her, whether she takes a few cuts out of it tonight won't have any impact on her fate).

After their deaths, victims of the ghoul plague begin to decay. If they cannot find any humanoid flesh to eat, they decay at the normal rate, as per a typical corpse. If they eat 1/50th of their weight in humanoid flesh every day, they only decay at 1/30th the normal rate, so that one month of being a ghoul-plagued body and eating flesh only counts as one day in terms of decay. Each week of effective decay (i.e. 7 days without flesh, 7 months with flesh, or somewhere between these extremes), they lose -1 to all ability scores. Once one of their ability scores (besides constitution, which is a nonability for them) reaches 0, they truly die. In addition, the DM may impose the effects of noticable decay on the ghoul plague victim according to his discretion (e.g., a ghoul plague victimmay be able to get away with normal social interaction for three days of effective decay, so long as she wears perfumes to mask her smell, and doesn't let people touch her skin and notice that it's cold, but she may be able to survive two weeks of effective decay without drawing attention to herself if she moves around on dark nights where no one can see her clearly, without getting to close to anyone, and the like).

Gentle repose, quintessence, and unguent of timelessness all preserve the ghoul plague victim.

Raise dead/resurrection spells are not effective against ghoul plague victims while they are still moving corpses. However, once they become truly, indisputably dead, whether due to violence or decay, it works on them. If Raise Dead is used, their bodies become alive again, but the ghoul plague is still in them, and they must either have the disease removed, or fight it off (successfully, this time, hopefully) with fortitude saves. If resurrection, true resurrection, wish, or miracle is used, they are restored to life and health normally.
JulesCARV
02-16-06, 11:14 PM Hmmm... it occurs to me that this might be the origin of wretched ghouls (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=581409), although they have things (like natural armor and natural attacks) that the victims of this "plague" wouldn't.
savant_warlord13
02-17-06, 01:19 PM Is "transmitted by bodily fluids" a nice way of saying STD in this case?
JulesCARV
02-17-06, 04:02 PM Personally, I suspect blood would be more common. Saliva, semen, mucus, and other fluids are possible, though.

It could also just be transmitted in a water supply.
JulesCARV
02-22-06, 11:53 AM I was thinking that it could either be used as a naturally occuring phenomenon, or it could be used as a demoralizing bioweapon like smallpox blankets. A country might have agents introduce this into the wells of a country with which they're at war.

Or, it could just happen naturally, like smallpox, as well.

I think that people who died of the ghoul plague would be interesting enemies. On one hand, they're weaker than the base humanoid. They don't get any special powers, besides constitution as a non-ability, and as they decay, they get progressively more feeble, in both mind and body.

However, it might be kinda freaky when the cleric finds that they can't be turned, and when you smash them to bits, you're killing the still-sentient victim of a horrible disease, not some mindless zombie or a hideously evil person like a lich.

What to do with someone who's died of the Ghoul Plague, and is trying to wrap things up with her family affairs and such, and who has resisted eating flesh so far, but the PCs aren't sure how much longer longer her will saves will hold out? Let her live and say her final goodbyes? Kill her so that she doesn't spread it further or kill someone else when the cannibalistic urge overcomes her?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JulesCARV 02-10-06, 08:44 PM	Note: Ghoul Plague is the name of this disease, but it really doesn't have anything to do with ghouls. Or at least, not the ghouls as in the MM. Ghoul Plague can be transmitted by water and bodily fluids. First, the plague requires a DC 15 fortitude every day. If failed, the victim loses 2 constitution. If constitution reaches zero, the victim dies, but her body remains animated by the disease. She does not gain the "ordinary" undead type, her hit dice do not change to d12, and she is not vulnerable to turning. Neither "cure" nor "inflict" spells effect her. However, constitution does become a non-ability for her. She also no longer needs to drink, breath, or sleep. She retains her former personality, memories, feelings, abilities. Depending on her god, she may lose her divine spellcasting abilities, even if she doesn't change alignment (see below). Furthermore, she now gains a horrible craving for humanoid flesh. To satisfy the cravings, she must eat 1/50th of her weight of humanoid flesh every day. Some victims of the ghoul plague give into these cravings, and become depraved killers, alignment changing accordingly. Some manage to hold off until their true deaths. If an oppurtunity presents itself to acquire humanoid flesh, she must make a will save, DC 5 + days since she has last eaten flesh (counts as 0 on the day she rises from death) + circumstances modifier. Circumstances modifier for will saving throw to avoid cannibalizing someone: +0: Requires murder or mutilation to acquire the dead humanoid flesh, but probably a murder that the ghoul plague-afflicted person could get away with (e.g., her victim is wanderer in the middle of a countryside road, in the middle of the night, and the parts of the body she doesn't eat could be hidden). More difficult circumstances than this do not count as "oppurtunities" that require a will save, although the ghoul plague victim may choose to acquire flesh in more difficult circumstances. +10: Humanoid is already dead, or limb is severed. No murder is required (e.g., the party just fought Orcs, and now there are orc corpses around). However, there is still the risk of discovery by others. +20: Humanoid is already dead, the risk of discovery is very small, or at least isn't impacted by eating or not. (e.g., the victim is in her home, and already has a body that she's been eating over the past few days in cold storage. If they find and discover her, whether she takes a few cuts out of it tonight won't have any impact on her fate). After their deaths, victims of the ghoul plague begin to decay. If they cannot find any humanoid flesh to eat, they decay at the normal rate, as per a typical corpse. If they eat 1/50th of their weight in humanoid flesh every day, they only decay at 1/30th the normal rate, so that one month of being a ghoul-plagued body and eating flesh only counts as one day in terms of decay. Each week of effective decay (i.e. 7 days without flesh, 7 months with flesh, or somewhere between these extremes), they lose -1 to all ability scores. Once one of their ability scores (besides constitution, which is a nonability for them) reaches 0, they truly die. In addition, the DM may impose the effects of noticable decay on the ghoul plague victim according to his discretion (e.g., a ghoul plague victimmay be able to get away with normal social interaction for three days of effective decay, so long as she wears perfumes to mask her smell, and doesn't let people touch her skin and notice that it's cold, but she may be able to survive two weeks of effective decay without drawing attention to herself if she moves around on dark nights where no one can see her clearly, without getting to close to anyone, and the like). Gentle repose, quintessence, and unguent of timelessness all preserve the ghoul plague victim. Raise dead/resurrection spells are not effective against ghoul plague victims while they are still moving corpses. However, once they become truly, indisputably dead, whether due to violence or decay, it works on them. If Raise Dead is used, their bodies become alive again, but the ghoul plague is still in them, and they must either have the disease removed, or fight it off (successfully, this time, hopefully) with fortitude saves. If resurrection, true resurrection, wish, or miracle is used, they are restored to life and health normally.
JulesCARV 02-16-06, 11:14 PM	Hmmm... it occurs to me that this might be the origin of wretched ghouls (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=581409), although they have things (like natural armor and natural attacks) that the victims of this "plague" wouldn't.
savant_warlord13 02-17-06, 01:19 PM	Is "transmitted by bodily fluids" a nice way of saying STD in this case?
JulesCARV 02-17-06, 04:02 PM	Personally, I suspect blood would be more common. Saliva, semen, mucus, and other fluids are possible, though. It could also just be transmitted in a water supply.
JulesCARV 02-22-06, 11:53 AM	I was thinking that it could either be used as a naturally occuring phenomenon, or it could be used as a demoralizing bioweapon like smallpox blankets. A country might have agents introduce this into the wells of a country with which they're at war. Or, it could just happen naturally, like smallpox, as well. I think that people who died of the ghoul plague would be interesting enemies. On one hand, they're weaker than the base humanoid. They don't get any special powers, besides constitution as a non-ability, and as they decay, they get progressively more feeble, in both mind and body. However, it might be kinda freaky when the cleric finds that they can't be turned, and when you smash them to bits, you're killing the still-sentient victim of a horrible disease, not some mindless zombie or a hideously evil person like a lich. What to do with someone who's died of the Ghoul Plague, and is trying to wrap things up with her family affairs and such, and who has resisted eating flesh so far, but the PCs aren't sure how much longer longer her will saves will hold out? Let her live and say her final goodbyes? Kill her so that she doesn't spread it further or kill someone else when the cannibalistic urge overcomes her?