Diseases are contracted from contact with diseased people, diseased animals, or other creatures which are filthy; such as skeevers or mudcrabs. Sometimes diseases can be caught as the result of traps, poisons, or environmental effects, such as Corprus.
Considerations When Using Diseases
Some groups love diseases, as they add opportunity for adventure and adversity for their characters, as well as provide a level of realism to their games. They are also useful to make characters with skill in Profession [Medicine] and resistance or immunity to disease really shine. Other groups might find diseases to be too much to track and only useful to add dramatic effect. Others still might decide to ignore them altogether.
It’s up to your group and the GM to discuss and decide how much of this ruleset to implement for your game. However, keep in mind that some diseases can be particularly nasty and might ruin the fun for a player if they completely cripple their character with no satisfying resolution. For this reason, GMs should take care in how they implement this ruleset and make sure to provide some realistic or interesting path to a cure when needed.
Contracting a Disease
Diseases are contracted after an encounter with a creature with the - X) trait or a magical/environmental effect.
In an encounter with creatures, a disease has a chance of being contracted when an attack from a Diseased creature causes a wound. The target of the attack must then successfully test Endurance +/- X or contract the creature’s disease. In an encounter with an effect (magical, environmental, etc), the effect will determine when Endurance is tested to contract the disease and at what difficulty.
Common Diseases
Transclude of common-diseases
Magical Diseases
Transclude of magical-diseases