Diseases in Aventuria

Below is the list of the most common diseases in Aventuria. Two things should be noted about this. First: If the illness is not a central element of the adventure or an important, drastic and played out experience for one or more heroes, you should assess the sometimes quite complex dice procedures for the individual illnesses in "masterly arbitrariness" and not let them degenerate into a dice orgy . Secondly, you are - in Peraine's name! - Not obliged to make diseases part of your game. Many players are particularly put off by this variety of realism and take little pleasure in playing off diseases. On the other hand, a medicus in the group should also get work from time to time.


Childhood diseases and harmless illnesses

There are a number of ailments that, while significant in the day-to-day life of the average adventurer, are little more than a nuisance to a hero.

By the onset of adulthood, most adventurers will typically have any childhood illnesses (usually highly contagious), such as scarlet fever (level 3/1), goose bumps (level 2/1), fall pox (level 5/2), or red cheek (level 2/2) have already survived and are therefore generally immune to recurrence. If, contrary to expectations, an illness occurs in adulthood, then a few days of bed rest is usually enough. A noticeable harmful effect is not to be expected with children's diseases anyway, the treatment of the associated fever is commonly known. Incidentally, most human childhood illnesses are much more severe, often even fatal, in orcs and goblins.

Simple illnesses, for example the runny nose (level 3/1), nimble Difar (level 2/1) or the grasse (level 4/3), usually only lead to endurance and a low ST, but not to anything worth mentioning loss of life points (level d6 endurance points per day, level d3 LP per day), so that although long marches, fights and late nights are out of the question, it does not take long for the disease to be overcome if you lead a calm lifestyle (duration: d3+2 days). These diseases are also treated in the rarest of cases and then mostly with home remedies.

Bloody Snot (Blutiger Rotz)

Progress: The mucous membranes of the mouth and throat swell and secrete reddish-brown mucus, fits of coughing, slight fever.
Duration: 3 days / d6+6 days
Damage: d3+1 damage each day, ST, AG, AT and PA reduce by -2; risk of developing Blue Cough (20%).
Causes: prolonged stay in the Rainforest (20%), proximity to a sick person (30%), leaves and wood from the Rainforest are sometimes carriers of snot (5%, then 10% when touched)
Treatment: bed rest (duration -d6 days, risk of complications reduced to 10%)
Antidote: only known to Moha shamans, who keep it secret
Level: 8 (for Moha people: 2)/3

Numbskull (Dumpfschädel)

Progress: Tiredness, exhaustion, weakness, headache, mild to moderate fever, very rarely severe fever (5%), cough, hoarseness and runny nose, sometimes varying degrees of dizziness (50%, in case 20 on d20 fainting).
Duration: 2 days / d3+4 days
Damage: d6-1 damage each day. IN, CH reduced by -1, AG, AT, PA by –2, ST by -5. Risk of evolving into Blue Cough (5% per day)
Causes: telling horrible lies (20%), proximity to a sick person (20%), no weatherproof clothing in spring or autumn (10%)
Peculiarities: dwarfs suffering from numb skull become completely unbearable and are prone to outbursts of anger (VT is doubled).
Treatment: general rest (duration -2 days, risk of complications reduced to 40%), bed rest (duration -2 more days, risk of complications averted)
Antidote: numerous household remedies, trashy beard (1 damage point less per day, with strict bed rest duration -1 additional day)
Level: 4/4

Sleeping Sickness (Schlafkrankheit)

Progress: Deep sleep of indefinite duration, heartbeat and breathing are very weak, so that the patient's condition can hardly be distinguished from that of a dead person (perception test +20).
Duration: 1 hour / indefinitely. There is a 10% chance per day that the sick person will awaken, followed by a rapid full recovery, during which ST regenerates at 1 point per hour (while still having occasional chills).
Damage: d6-2 damage per day, ST reduces each day by -1
Causes: visiting a tomb at night, disrupting druid or witch coven rituals, bat bites, touching undead, vermin infestation (10% each)
Peculiarities: sick elves often (20% per day) fall into the state of "wakewalking" — for d6 hours; it then appears as if the sick person has awakened normally before falling back into deep sleep with no apparent sign
Treatment: not possible, but it is advisable to put the sick person in a warm and quiet bed so that he does not catch further illnesses
Antidote: Yagan nut oil applied to the sick person's eyelids doubles the likelihood of waking up
Level: 10/4

Lutanas

Progress: severe anxiety, shortness of breath, anxiety; the patient feels paralyzed with fear
Duration: 2 Tage, nachts / 2W6 Tage
Damage: d6 damage per day, CR, ST, AT and PA reduced by half, CL is doubled. Possible permanent damage (10%) is a traumatically increased spatial fear (permanent +d6), which is often accompanied by anxiety and suffocation attacks (then 50%). After the disease ends, the property values regenerate by one point per day.
Causes: rat or bat bites (damage suffered from bites in %), bite from a sick person (30%)
Treatment: psychological care (then permanent damage only with 5%), professional mental care (healing soul CL +5; CL normalized, no danger of permanent trauma)
Antidote: pollen of Lulanie given as a drink (damage halved, duration -2 days)
Level: 5/5

Tetanus (Wundfieber)

Progress: Initially increasing speech confusion to the point of completely incomprehensible words and sentences, shortly afterwards collapse into a feverish, restless half-sleep. The patient feels weak and soon can only be transported on a stretcher. In the course of the following 2 weeks, frequent but weakening bouts of fever, progressive exhaustion, sometimes fainting and deep sleep (if ST drops to zero). After the fever episodes have subsided, normal regeneration begins again; the sick regenerates 1 point of ST per day.
Duration: 1 day / 2d6 days
Damage: 2d6, 2d6-1, 2d6—2 and so on damage for 1, 2, 3 and so on days. Each day ST is reduced by 1 point.
Causes: contaminated wounds (see table below)
Treatment: bed rest and general fever care (1 damage point less each day)
Antidote: not known; prevention through proper wound treatment with herbal compresses
Level: 2/6

Tetanus Chance Table

If a hero has suffered 5 damage points from open wounds (from fighting, animal bites, thorny hedges, etc.), a d20 roll is used in the evening of the day to check whether the hero is suffering from wound fever, taking the following modifiers into account. If the total is higher than 19, the hero has contracted the fever and the previous day counts as the first day of sickness.

+1 if 25% LE lost
+2 if 50% LE lost
+3 if wounds are from claws, teeth or dirty weapons
+4 if wounds caused by undead
-2 if hero is a dwarf
-4 if hero is an elf

Brabak Sweat or Swamp Fever (Brabaker Schweiß, Sumpffieber)

Progress: First delusions and panic anxiety, then after a few hours a long-lasting half-sleep with varying degrees of fever attacks, which reach their zenith on the third day and then subside again. The patient is unconscious most of the time, but has lucid phases at times.
Duration: 1 day / 5 days
Damage: d6 first day, 2d6 second day, 3d6 third day and so on... SN, AC, CL and NE values multiply by 3, while CR value falls to zero. Possible lasting damage (10%, rolls separately for each trait) is persistent fears (permanently increases SN, AC, CL and NE by d6). After waking up, the affected person is completely exhausted and apathetic, but recovers in the course of a day (including the loss of properties). Most of them will not forget the dream experiences during the fever sleep for the rest of their lives.
Causes: swamp bug bites (5%), mosquito bites (10%), nursing a sick (5%)
Peculiarities: You can only get sick with swamp fever once in a lifetime. Moha people are never affected by the Brabak sweat.
Treatment: bed rest and general fever care, e.g. by giving trash beard (1 damage point less per day), gulmond tea, professional mental aftercare, healing made more difficult by the highest negative attribute (no danger of permanent trauma)
Antidote: chewing fresh or dried and re-soaked donf stalks (duration -2 days, faster recovery, increasing negative attributes chance only 5%)
Level: 4/7

Paralysis or Basilisk Gaze (Paralyse, Basiliskenblick)

Progress: A week after infection, a slow, petrification-like process of paralysis sets in, which also affects the eyes, so that the patient soon gets a fixed, penetrating "basilisk gaze". After the complete external petrification, the relatively rapid petrification of the organs follows, usually after three to five days with the person concerned being fully conscious, and eventually leading to death. If the victim survives the disease, the petrification falls off the patient within an hour.
Duration: 7 days / d6+3 days
Damage: each day AG and ST decrease by d6 points; if both values have fallen to 0, the affected person loses 2d6 LP per hour
Causes: touching undead (10%), staying in a basilisk wasteland (20% per day)
Peculiarities: Anyone who looks the patient in the eyes can be petrified for a short time — if the number rolled with a d20 is greater than the sum of the patient's current AG and ST, petrification occurs for 3d6 game rounds.
Treatment: meaningless
Antidote: chewing fresh or pickled donf stalks (stops the paralysis process within d6 hours)
Level: 8 (first days) / 8

Battlefield Fever (Schlachtfeldfieber)

Progress: Steadily increasing fever accompanied by severe abdominal pain and sudden abdominal spasms. After seven days, either rapid decrease in fever or yellowing of the lips, which heralds imminent death. If the patient survives the disease, the lost property values are regenerated within two days. The disease is also known as Yellow Fever or Seven-Day Fever.
Duration: 3 days / 7 days
Damage: d6 first day, d6+1 second day, d6+2 third day and so on. ST, AT and PA sink by 5 points. On the seventh day possible yellow death (20%) with d6, 2d6, 3d6 etc. damage points in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. hour. The fever sometimes evolves to the Yearly fever (5%).
Causes: bites from scavengers or contact with their droppings (10%), damage from ghouls (15%), nursing a sick (5%)
Peculiarities: the disease is particularly severe for elves (+d6 damage per Tag, yellow death with 30% chance)
Treatment: bed rest and general fever care (1 damage point less per day), drinking plenty of tepid fluid (risk of yellow death reduced by 10%)
Antidote: alcoholic brew from Joruga and Gulmond (prevents yellow death), rubbing the patient daily with trash beard ointment (prevents year fever)
Level: 6/8

Yearly Fevew (Jahresfieber)

Progress: bouts of fever comparable to Yellow Fever (10% per year quarter) with moderate abdominal pain, less often (20%) convulsive, recurring until the end of life without recognizable signs
Duration: d6 days
Damage: d6 permanent damage per fever attack. ST, AT and PA are reduced by 3 points. Virtually instantaneous attribute regeneration after fever flare subsides.
Causes: consequential disease of the Yellow Fever (10%)
Treatment: bed rest and general fever care (1 damage points less each day)
Antidote: incurable except by the miracle of Peraine, but a concoction of sansaro, quinja and donf works for 6 months to prevent flare-ups of fever
Level: 4/12

Rapid Madness (Rascher Wahn)

Progress: At first hasty and hectic movements, then fits of unprovoked anger that become more violent, with a tendency to violence, including towards friends. Finally, on the second day, complete frenzy followed by a coma, which is only interrupted by short fits of rage.
Duration: 3 days / 7 days
Damage: d6 damage 1st day, 2d6 the following days. WD halves daily (rounded up), VT increases by as many points as WD decreases. Bouts of rage with tripled ST in a coma after d6 hours each. Rarely (10%) permanent loss of one point ST. After awakening, the convalescent suffers from temporary obsessions with consciousness for about a week. 1 point WD is recovered per day.
Causes: gods' sacrilege (5%), especially against Hesinde (20%), contact with a sick person (10%), rejected request (consecrated 20%)
Treatment: intercession by devotees, especially Hesinde
Antidote: Pollen of a Lulanie, in dissolved form. In the beginning of the disease reduces damage by 2 per day. Otherwise, it halves the current day's damage and shortens the disease by 2d6 days.
Level: 6/9

Blue Cough (Blaue Keuche)

Progress: Severe pain in the chest, moderate fever, restless sleep, shallow and short breathing, interrupted by fits of coughing and wheezing with blue-violet sputum from the second day. Pale, slightly bluish complexion with simultaneous intense blue discoloration of the tongue, and in the course of the following days also the lips. Progressive exhaustion over the course of several weeks up to complete exhaustion, then fatal outcome within a few hours after initially decreasing fever and feeling well, but later sudden sweating, vomiting, extreme anxiety and tachycardia. Sometimes, however, there is a sudden improvement in the course of the disease, even without care.
Duration: 1 day / usually 7-21 days, sometimes even longer
Damage: ST, DX, AG, AT and PA quickly drop to half their value on the first day, from the fourth day onwards by a further point every three days, in addition on the fourth day a permanent ST point is lost. If ST drops to zero, death occurs within d6-1 hours. d6+2 damage per day, plus loss of a permanent LP every 3 days. From the third day daily chance of recovery (5%). With decreasing fever and restful sleep, the complexion gradually normalizes within three days (damage by 2/4/6 on the 1st/2nd/3rd following day). The convalescent then regains 1 point of AG, DX, and combat stats every hour and 1 point of ST every day.
Causes: progressing Numbskull or Bloody Snot, nursing sick with Blue Cough, Bloody Snot or Numbskull (5%)
Treatment: march and battle rest (1 damage point less per day, recovery probability from the third day 10%), absolute bed rest (2 damage points less per day, recovery probability from the third day 25% daily)
Antidote: not known; Sansaro and Olginroot fortifiers delay exhaustion (RK drain every 4 days)
Level: 5/9

Zorgan Pox (Zorgan-Pocken)

Progress: Initially pale, pea-sized smallpox on the face and body, after two days, with increasing fever, nausea and severe exhaustion, the smallpox turns red. Subsequent swelling of the smallpox (not itchy) with initially watery, then purulent fluid. On the 13th day, the smallpox breaks out, accompanied by an extremely violent flare-up of fever, which usually leads to death. Once the fever is over, however, recovery occurs soon, with simultaneous scarring from the smallpox that has broken open.
Duration: 13 days
Damage: From the 3rd to the 12th day d6+3 damage per day, on the 3rd day all physical characteristics decrease to a third (rounded down) of the original value. On the 13th day a fever shoe to d20+10 damage. Recovery of the lost characteristic points within one day, scarring over the course of 3 days. The remaining scars disfigure the survivor in such a way that the Charisma permanently decreases by d3 points, at the same time the CR value permanently increases by 1 point.
Causes: challenge by the Nameless God (up to 10%), contact with a sick person (25%), care for a sick person (50%)
Peculiarities: you can only get Zorgan pox once in a lifetime
Treatment: a field in which unsuccessful medici and quacks like to dabble; bed rest and general fever care (2 damage points less per day); gulmond tea
Antidote: smear the pox with a Xordai decoction (1 damage point less per day, with 90% healing of the pox without cold sores and scarring)
Level: 5/10

Rabies (Tollwut)

Progress: Initially, swallowing difficulties, the following day spasmodic attacks of suffocation, from the third day mild to moderate fever, delusions and sensory disturbances, frequent fits of rage, which subsequently become weaker and rarer as the patient becomes increasingly exhausted. Usually fatal after a miserable illness from the sixth day.
Duration: d20 times 10 days / d6+6 days
Damage: Bouts of Frenzy (5% on hourly roll); d6 damage points on 1st, d6+2 on 2nd, 2d6+4 on 3rd day, then 3d+6 points per day for additional d6+3 days. Every day danger sense decreases by 3 points, ST decreases by 1, 2, 3 etc. points on the 4th, 5th, 6th etc. days As soon as the ST has reached the value zero, the blind rage seizures stop, and sudden cardiac arrest can now occur at any time (25% per day). For each day of bed rest after the illness has ended, the convalescent regains 2 points of ST and 3 points of danger sense. Permanent loss of 1 point ST and d6 points of acuity on survivors.
Causes: Biß eines tollwütigen Tieres (80%). Besonderheiten: An der Tollwut kann man nur einmal im Leben erkranken und ist danach auch gegen die Schwarze Wut gefeit (gleiches gilt umgekehrt) Elfen erkranken hingegen nie an Tollwut oder Schwarzer Wut.
Treatment: relief from gulmond tea
Antidote: not known. Taking an oily potion made from Joruga has a preventive effect for d3+3 months, taking the triple dose immediately after the bite sometimes also prevents the disease from breaking out: in the 1st week 100%, in the 2nd week 95% and so on up to a 10% probability. If the patient survives the period of infection without the outbreak of the disease, he is also considered to be resistant to rabies in the future.
Level: 18 (during the contagion period), 6 (after eruption) / 10

Black Fury (Schwarze Wut)

Progress: similar to Rabies, but with a weaker fever with a clearer tendency to rage with enormous mobilization of reserves of strength during the first three days. In addition, formation of blackish scales all over the body, which sometimes leave behind black spots, also called moles.
Duration: d20 times 10 days / 2d6+6 days
Damage: Bouts of frenzy at 10% on hourly roll, ST doubles during a bout. Otherwise like rabies, but only 2d6+4 damage from the third day. Recovery is like from rabies, but scales will only clear up slowly over the next 4 weeks, that's how long CH-2 is in place. CH permanently reduces by -1 if rage-marks remain (25%).
Causes: nursing a rabies patient (10%)
Peculiarities, Treatment, Antidote: same as for Rabies
Level: 18 (contagion period), 2 / 10

Efferd or Dungeon Disease (Kerkersieche)

Progress: Insidious infirmity accompanied by dullness of the senses. The affected person feels weak and suffers from a slight fever, which is followed by blurred vision and finally hallucinations.
Duration: usually getting ashore or release from dungeon
Damage: ST is halved throughout the disease. The patient receives d6 damage per day, and in 25% of those affected, perception drops by d6, AG and DX by 1 point. Sometimes spontaneous recovery occurs.
Causes: long sea voyages or prison stays (at least 6 weeks, then with 5% per week), serious crime against Efferd or Praios (20%)
Treatment: general fever care, prayers and contemplative conversations
Antidote: fresh Sansaro alleviates the effects of the dungeon disease (no effect on perception, AG or DX), if consumed daily for 2 weeks, the disease is completely defeated. For each fresh leaf of Necker Plant, the probability of illness decreases by 20% in both cases.
Level: 6/10

Various Addictions

Addiction to low-dose poisons and intoxicants of any kind, but also to medicinal herbs, is not uncommon among alchemists and in some areas of Aventuria it is also widespread among the general population. Addiction diseases (unless otherwise stated, the addiction level corresponds to the poison level, in the case of medicinal herbs it is the master's decision) are very complicated disease states that require intensive treatment, but usually no antidote.

The addict needs absolute quiet and seclusion for an extended period of time. Once per week, the healer can test each of the treat poison and treat disease talents, all of which are made harder by the level of the disease. If you pass the talent tests, physical appearances are postponed for a week. If the tests succeed, the mental dependency is subdued for a week. The patient is only free from his addiction if all the tests are successful, but he may not take the substance in question for the rest of his life in order not to relapse.

Other Diseases

There are health conditions that can only be called diseases in a broader sense. In addition to the various mental disorders and the mysterious Duglum plague, which is transmitted through contact with demons, lycanthropy should be mentioned in particular. This disease cannot be cured solely by using the Heal talent, as it is more of a curse than a disease.


Healing Herbs

Availability and occurrence of the medicinal plants mentioned in the text.

HerbCheck/AreaUseful PartsHerbarium Page
Trashbeard+6/Stone Oak Wood, Finsterkamm, Koschwhole lichen60
Yagan-Nut+6/Maraskan, Araniasqueezed oil67
Lulanie+18/central Aventuriapollen37
Necker Plant+4/West coastleaf43
Donf+8/south from Gerasimstalk19
Joruga+10/Nostria, Alberniaroot28
Gulmond+8/northern Nostria-Vallusaleaf tea22
Sansaro+18/Pearl Sea between Selem & Charypsofresh, whole plant52
Quinja+10/south of Harodrolberries48
Olgin Root*+25/Raschtulswallroot45
Xordai+21/Maraskanbark66

*Special: A decoction of olgin root, taken one day before the effect begins, protects against diseases that are neither demonic, magical, nor nameless for a week.