Diseases
Some harm comes slowly. A filthy bite, a night in the marshes, or a bad meal can leave you with a disease. You will not know it at first, but after a while you fall ill, and it gets worse day by day until your body fights it off. Some diseases never go by themselves, and one of them can kill.
Every disease shows the same way: as Diseased, after your
hit points in the status bar, and among
your status effects on the character screen. You
learn which disease it is from its symptoms. Once it has run for a day, the character screen names
it (Diseased Filth fever).
| Disease | Caught by | Resisted with (an average score) | Incubation | Progresses | A failed check costs | Shaken off | Can kill | Healing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filth fever | The charnel heap’s slam (15%); the dretch’s claws (10%); the drowned’s fist (5%); the ghast’s claws (10%); the ghoul lord’s claws (15%); the giant rat’s bite (1%); the Gnægan the Rat King’s bite (15%); the nosferatu’s bite (15%) | Toughness, 54.2% | 1d3 days | Every day | 1d3 Dexterity, 1d3 Toughness | Two checks won in a row | no | Half as fast |
| Red ache | — | Toughness, 31.2% | 1d3 days | Every day | 1d6 Strength | Two checks won in a row | no | Half as fast |
| The shakes | — | Toughness, 45.8% | 1 day | Every day | 1d6 Dexterity | Two checks won in a row | no | Half as fast |
| Marsh ague | The bog body’s fist (15%); the drowned king’s slam (25%); the fen ghoul’s claws (10%); crossing marsh or swamp (4% an hour) | Toughness, 45.8% | 1d4 days | Every day | 1d3 Toughness | Two checks won in a row | no | A quarter as fast |
| Grave rot | The charnel titan’s slam (25%); the ghoul king’s claws (20%); the grave hound’s bite (10%); the kobold zombie’s fist (2%); the ogre zombie’s fist (10%); the rotting dragon’s bite (25%); the rotting drake’s bite (20%); the rotting troll’s claws (15%); the zombie’s fist (3%); eating rotten food | Toughness, 38.2% | 1 day | Every day | 1d4 Toughness, 1d4 Presence | Never by itself | yes | Half as fast |
| Mummy rot | The mummy’s fist (20%); the mummy king’s fist (35%); the mummy lord’s fist (25%); the mummy priest’s touch (15%) | Toughness, 31.2% | 1d3 days | Every 3 days | 1d4 Toughness | Never by itself | no | Half as fast |
| Burrowing worms | The wormhost’s fist (25%); the wormlord’s touch (35%) | Toughness, 25% | 1 day | Every day | 1d4 Toughness, 1d3 Intelligence, 2d6 hit points | Two checks won in a row | yes | Half as fast |
| Brain fever | — | Willpower, 54.2% | 1d3 days | Every day | 1d3 Intelligence, 1d3 Willpower | Two checks won in a row | no | Half as fast |
“Resisted with” is the stat you fight the disease with, and how often an average score (10) wins a check against it. A “—” under “Caught by” means nothing gives it yet.
How a disease goes
- Catching it. When a disease comes near you (a bite, the marsh, rotten food), your body tries to fight it off at once. This is a check. Win it and nothing happens. Lose it and you have caught the disease. You are not told either way.
- Incubation. For a few days nothing shows. Then it breaks out, with a message of its own (“You feel feverish.”), and from then on you are Diseased.
- Every day after that, your body fights it again with another check. Winning costs nothing. Losing means the disease takes points off some of your stats (stat damage), and you are told how it worsens (“Fever wracks you.”).
- Shaking it off. Win two checks in a row and the disease is gone (“Your fever breaks.”). A loss starts the count over.
- Some never go. Grave rot does not go by itself, whatever your checks. Only a cure ends it (below).
You can carry several diseases at once. Each runs its own course, and you are Diseased while any of them shows.
Checks
A check is rolled like an attack (see Combat). You roll two twelve-sided dice and add the modifier of your score in the disease’s stat (see Stats). You win if the sum reaches the disease’s difficulty. A roll of 2 always loses, and a roll of 24 always wins.
Most diseases are fought with Toughness; brain fever is fought with Willpower.
Some things add to every check, both when you catch a disease and when you fight it off:
- Ratfolk add 4 (see Races).
- Talents such as Strong constitution add theirs (see Talents).
- Magic that guards your health adds its bonus (see Magic items).
The game never shows the dice, the bonus, or the difficulty: you only see what comes of it. Here are the exact odds by your score in the stat, before any race’s bonus:
| Disease | Stat | Difficulty | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filth fever | Toughness | 13 | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% | 68.8% | 75% | 80.6% |
| Red ache | Toughness | 16 | 14.6% | 19.4% | 25% | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% |
| The shakes | Toughness | 14 | 25% | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% | 68.8% | 75% |
| Marsh ague | Toughness | 14 | 25% | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% | 68.8% | 75% |
| Grave rot | Toughness | 15 | 19.4% | 25% | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% | 68.8% |
| Mummy rot | Toughness | 16 | 14.6% | 19.4% | 25% | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% |
| Burrowing worms | Toughness | 17 | 10.4% | 14.6% | 19.4% | 25% | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% |
| Brain fever | Willpower | 13 | 31.2% | 38.2% | 45.8% | 54.2% | 61.8% | 68.8% | 75% | 80.6% |
Stat damage
The points a disease takes off your stats count everywhere your stats do. A weaker Strength hits softer and carries less; a clumsier Dexterity dodges worse. The character screen shows your stats with the damage taken off, in red.
- Toughness damage lowers your maximum hit points, since Toughness gives them. If you have more hit points than your new maximum, you drop to the maximum.
- It never kills you by itself. No stat goes below 1, and a disease’s damage never takes your last hit point, unless it is a disease that kills.
- It mends slowly. Once no disease shows, one point of each damaged stat comes back every day. While you are still Diseased, nothing mends.
Healing while Diseased
While you are Diseased, your hit points come back at half the pace, and marsh ague slows them even more (see Healing). Resting still doubles the pace.
Where diseases come from
- Bites. Some creatures carry a disease in their bite. Not every bite passes it on, and you may still fight it off. The table above says whose bite, and how often a hit passes it on.
- Marshes and swamps. Crossing the marshes of a swamp, or a swamp on the overworld, may give you marsh ague. The longer you stay, the likelier it gets: the table above gives the chance for each hour spent there.
- Rotten food. Eating rotten food of any kind may give you grave rot.
Grave rot
Grave rot never goes by itself, and it can kill. When its damage takes your Toughness to nothing, you die, and the death screen says “Died of disease”. Once you have caught it, you are racing the days to reach a shop for a cure.
Mummy rot
The touch of a mummy may give you mummy rot. Like grave rot, it never goes by itself, but it is slower: every few days it dries a little more Toughness out of you. It does not kill, but the Toughness it takes stays gone until a cure ends it.
Burrowing worms
The fist of a wormhost may leave its green worms in you. They are quick: a day later they are burrowing, and every day they take Toughness, wits, and blood. Win two checks in a row and you are rid of them. But they can kill, as grave rot can, so a cure is the safer way.
Curing a disease
An angelica root (%) cures every disease you have the moment you eat it (e). That includes
grave rot, and even a disease that has not broken out yet: “The rot is gone
from your flesh.” It feeds you a little, too. Shops that sell food sell it (a general
store or a provisioner, found in the dungeons), and Ælfric’s General Store in
Cēaptūn has one.
A potion of cure disease ends every disease at once, and so does the spell Remove disease.
A priest’s prayer against disease (from level 12) ends every disease, the brewing ones too.
Horn’s grace, the gift of those born in the year of the Unicorn, shakes off one disease that shows.
Now and then a forgotten altar answers a prayer by cleansing you of every disease.
A temple’s cure does the same for gold, for every disease. A temple’s mending gives back the stat damage at once, and the points the undead drained (see Services and Drained stats).
The Heal skill eases a disease that shows. You may try as often as you like, but it never cures (see Treating yourself).
In the message line
A disease breaking out or worsening stops a rest, like any news. A disease leaving you (“Your fever breaks.”) shows in the message line but lets you rest on.
See also Status effects and Stats.