Across the realms exist many wicked illnesses and curses of foul purpose, of which only a rare few have been collected here. The line between curse and disease is difficult to discern, yet through the noble sacrifice of countless valuable subjects, we believe the following to be suitable categorizations.— Learnèd Doctor J. Fernell, AD&D
For a list of noteworthy cases, see
List of Notable Epidemics.
Diseases
Brittlebone
A common illness caused by an imbalance of both yellow and black bile humours, often following insect bites in Bharazadian jungles or swamps. The victim's bones become prone to breakage at the slightest incident.
Cure undocumented.
Famine's Feast
An irresistible cannibalistic desire that eventually warps both mind and body into a savage, bloodthirsty ghoul.
Cure undocumented.
Sight Rot
A wicked illness that travels commonly through waterways contaminated with toxic miasma. Within at most two days, the negative miasma has traveled through the body and begun to sap strength of vision, causing blurriness of sight, blindness and eventual eye rot.
Sight rot naturally flourishes in stagnant underground lakes, and thus the disease is relatively common amongst dwarves. Dwarven medicine calls for a tincture of wormwood vinegar and eyebright applied once daily until cured. The tincture is applied directly to the eyes of a victim to reverse the early effects of sight rot; the application is unpleasant--restraints are recommended.
White Rictus
A fascinatingly lethal disease, white rictus turns the victim's body and mind to chalky white stone over a quarter-day period. The petrified corpse is brittle and, if jostled, can crumble to a contagious, fine powder. The name originates rather grimly from the final resting position of many victims.
Early applications of hensbane and milkwort can slow the transformation (but do nothing for pain). The most effective remedy for White Rictus is immediate evacuation and quarantine of the new graveyard which has surely formed. White rictus corpses remain contagious for four to six months.
Witchblood
A self-inflicted illness of arcane spellcasters caused by regular or repetitive spellcasting for weeks or months at a time. Arcane essences seep into the victim's body and renders their blood-humour highly unstable. Symptoms are rarely subtle, and include the new appearance of unpredictable magic effects, fevers, and changes in skin tone (usually to shades of blue or violet). As the illness progresses the victim's flesh may split during spellcraft and in cases of extreme negligence, victims have been known to suffer spontaneous magical amputation upon casting strong magics.
Common amongst adventurers who routinely shroud themselves in preparatory battle-magic, and also frequent during creation of a new, permanent
Circle of Teleportation. Magical cures are inadvisable and may trigger violent combustion. A tincture of lavender or rest in an anti-magic field is sufficient to remedy the illness.
Witherweave
The bite of an infected mana wyrm can cause a spellcaster to lose some or all of their spellcaster potency. Witherweave symptoms include a grey withering of flesh around the bite and a sluggishness of thought. Occasionally, the victim will lose dexterity of one or both hands, further complicating spellcraft.
Cures and remedies for witherweave are an area of active research. For now, the only known cures are restoration by Djinn or
Paragon magic.
Sewer Plague
Causes worsening lethargy, weakness of constitution. Fatal only uncommonly. Manifests up to four days following the bite of offal-riddled beasts (e.g. rats, otyughs and similar).
Cure undocumented.
Cackle Fever
Affects all humanoids save gnomes. Causes fits of mad laughter, hallucinations and paranoia. The laughter appears to spread the illness by means unknown. Non-fatal, but victims commonly suffer permanent madness following recovery.
Curses
The Curse of Silver
A long-standing curse afflicted upon fiendish and undead creatures. The touch of silver to their flesh burns the flesh and is capable of destroying these otherwise immortal creatures without magic. Afflicted by a Silver Great Wyrm.
The Curse of Gold.
Suffered by the House Davenmour and afflicted by the Gold Great Wyrm Thaynastraza. The touch of gold causes a supernatural fear, sometimes physical illness, in descendents of Lord Davenmour, who attempted to bring war to Thaynastraza and steal her hoard for himself.
Curse of Greed
An ancient curse scarcely used save by followers of the Demon Lord of Hunger, Aalackosh. This curse causes the afflicted a deep hunger that can be satiated only by ingesting pure or near-pure gold. Other sustenance, be it magic or mundane, turns to tasteless ash in the victim's mouth, and the hunger saps the victim's strength quickly without regular meals of gold.
Curse of the Wilting Soul
A curse of withering that causes the target to become progressively feeble, day by day, until they collapse and die. This curse can usually only be cleansed by druids or those otherwise faithful to Artoš.
Curse of Ire
A favored curse of the demon lord of Hatred, Gorgoroth. The accursed feels a potent sting when touched or harmed by a specific creature or type of creature.
Curse of Righteous Dawn
This curse usually afflicts the black-hearted after an ill-fated run-in with faithful clerics of Azrael or Juno. The accursed can scarcely stand to be in sunlight, and is forced to live in darkness until it has repented.
Lycanthropy
Details to be added.
Mummy Rot
Details to be added.
Albino Fever
A deadly disease often carried by insects. Causes chills, blindness, auditory hallucinations (screams of pain usually) and eventually death.
