Illness

Illness is an acute condition — it comes on suddenly and puts a strain on your body. Whether you're combating the flu, shock, motion sickness, or a hangover, illness can make even the simplest of tasks difficult thanks to symptoms like pain, fever, nausea, and fatigue. In this game, illness quantifies the burden imposed by afflictions, regardless of their causes, impacts, or cures. For instance, influenza is infectious, radiation sickness is environmental, and scurvy is dietary — wildly different pathologies, but they all take a toll on fragile mortal creatures.

The debilitating effects of an illness are represented by its severity, a number from 1–5. When a creature is subjected to an illness, it must make a Vitality check (see Chapter 6: Skills). If it fails the check, the creature moves one stage down the Knockout Track for each level of severity. These Knockout Track penalties remain in place for as long as the symptoms of the illness persist. In addition, an illness can impose other effects on the unhealthy creature, like conditions, Continual Damage, or penalties to specific skills.

Any illness in this game will list the initial DL to resist, and could list one or more of the following properties:

• Progressive – Increases in severity over time if left untreated. A progressive illness in this game will list the frequency of increase (e.g. progressive every week).
• Fightable – Creatures can eventually overpower the illness after successive Vitality checks (see Resisting Illness in the Vitality entry of Chapter 6: Skills). A fightable illness in this game will list the frequency a character can make an attempt to fend it off (e.g. fightable every 6 hours).
• Limited – A creature may be able to ride out the illness and fully recover without any assistance. A limited illness in this game will list the duration (e.g. limited to 10 days).
• Curable – An environmental, dietary, or medicinal cure exists that can eradicate the illness. A character can ascertain the cure with a successful Lore check and craft medicine from raw ingredients (see the Concoctions section of Chapter 11: Equipment).
• Treatable – There is an environmental, dietary, or medicinal remedy that treats the symptoms of the illness and relieves some or all of the Knockout Track penalties. As with cures, a Lore check formulates the remedy and a Craft check assembles the Concoction.
• Operable – A specific medical procedure, like surgery, can correct the illness. A character can operate with a successful Healing check (see Chapter 6: Skills).

Illness makes lethal Stamina Drain (e.g. starvation, dehydration) much more difficult to survive. For example, if you contract a severity 3 illness (which puts you at stage 3 on the Knockout Track), you only need to fail two Stamina checks to fall comatose. A third failure means death. If you contract a severity 5 illness (which renders you comatose on its own), a single failed Stamina check means death.