Wisdom from the Wastelands Issue: 8 Diseases and Medical options

This bonus content for Wisdom from the Wastelands Issue: 8 Diseases and Medical Options contains several new diseases that have not appeared anywhere else. I always felt that there should have been a few more diseases included in the original publication, but as is the case both page and word count nixed that idea.

Also, one thing that I found missing in the core book was a saving throw chart for disease. I know that those making saves would instead use the poison table, but it was something that just bugged me.

So, as I am apt to do, I created my own.

Some may think that the saves are rather hard, but in my humble opinion, next to radiation, disease would be a very common hazard in the wastelands and as such would be quite deadly.

Here is a chart that ended up being cut from the issue and I hope that people might like to use.

Disease saving throw Table

Level	Disease
0	18
1-3	16
4-6	14
7-9	12
10-12	9
13-15	7
16-18	5
19+	3

Delicate Bone Syndrome

Save modifier: +2
Infection Duration: 1 week
Affected Stats: STR -1, DEX -1
Damage per day: 1d4

Description: This bacteria feeds off the calcium in the victim’s bones and as a result the bones become brittle and are far more susceptible to breaking. During the period the victim is fighting off the disease they will suffer double damage from any impact damage they sustain. It should be noted that this only affects creatures that have a bone structure that uses calcium for its basic building material. Once the disease has been eliminated, the victim will continue to suffer from double damage for 1d6+1 days as the body slowly rebuilds the bones.

Symptoms: Fatigue, pain

Quivering Muscles

Save modifier: -1
Infection Duration: 1 day
Affected Stats: DEX -2
Damage per day: 1d6

Description: This virus attacks the nervous system in the limbs. As a result, the victim’s arms and legs (or whatever limbs it is using) visibly shake and shudder at all times. On top of that the limbs tend to become grotesquely inflamed and puffy.  This results in a reduction in the victims movement rate by 50%, and on top of the reduction in Dexterity, they also lose any AC bonus derived from a high Dexterity stat.

Symptoms: Fatigue, Headaches, Inflammation of limbs, Pain.

Lockjoint

Save modifier: -2
Infection Duration: 3 days
Affected Stats: DEX -1, STR -3
Damage per day: 1d4

Description: A virus that targets the muscles and ligaments in the limbs and joints. It slowly deteriorates the affected areas causing a loss in both Strength and a tightening of the ligaments, causing the limb to bend very slowly and painfully, almost as if it was locked in place. Numerous pustules erupt over the victim’s body as well. This causes a loss of Dexterity. On top of the penalties derived from the symptoms, the victim will suffer a loss of all bonuses to damage from a high Strength statistic. To make matters even worse, any damage inflicted will be at a -1 per dice (which could result in no damage if a 0 is rolled).  Also due to the stiffness of the ligaments, the victim loses all AC bonus due to a high Dexterity and gains a further +1 to AC.

Symptoms: Fatigue, lesions and pustules, pain, weakness

Cranium Fire

Save modifier: -3
Infection Duration: 1 week
Affected Stats: INT -2, WIL -2
Damage per day: 1d8

Description: No one knows if this is a weapon created during the final wars or simply a mutated virus, but it directly affects any creature that has any sort of mental mutation. The victim is subjected to powerful headaches during the onslaught of this virus and as a result suffers from a -15% to any attempts to figure out or repair artifacts. Also anytime the victim attempts to use a mental mutation they must make a saving throw versus stun or be incapable of using that mutation for 1d6 rounds. Lastly all ranges and area of effect are reduced by 50% and any damage done by the mutation is reduced by 25%. It should be noted however that victims can still defend without any penalties.

Symptoms: Audible ringing, blurred vision, headaches.

Quivering Digits

Save modifier: +0
Infection Duration: 1 day
Affected Stats: DEX -1
Damage per day: 1d3

Description: Distantly related to the Quivering Muscles virus, this virus for some reason attacks only the hands and feet of the victim. The appendages will not stop shaking and the victim suffers a -25% penalty to their movement rate, and lose any bonuses to ranged attacks derived from a high Dexterity statistic. Also any time they attempt to hold a weapon, they must make a saving throw versus energy every time they use the weapon. If the saving throw fails, they drop the weapon due to the shaking and quivering of the hand.

Symptoms: Pain.