So came upon a situation last week where my group and I were split on how remove disease would work.
The party encountered a vargouille in the middle of the night, and the vargouille successfully got it's kiss special attack off on the dwarven bard. Being a while out of town, and the party too low to cast remove disease themselves, the bard went through the first two phases of transformation (lost hair, leathery wings for ears, tentacles, sharpened teeth) before finally getting into the city and getting to one of the temples to get remove disease cast.
The question is to what extent does remove disease heal the character. Everyone agreed the transformation was stopped and the character was saved. But the party was split on whether or not the transformation was reversed. All agreed the hair would grow back naturally, but was split on whether remove disease would reverse the tentacle, wing, and tooth growth. Some assumed remove disease would remove all effects of the disease as well, others assumed it just halted the transformation but wouldn't reverse the damage done.
Thoughts?
In the end it didn't matter, the dwarf was so shamed that he lost his beard, he retired from adventuring and refused to leave his inn room. But was curious what the community thought for possible future events.
I'd suggest a slow recovery, extra ear bits slowly falling off, etc., with maybe a single, private, permanent change.
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I'd say the additional stuff (like tentacles, wings) could be cut off, like a wart or cyst, but that'd leave scarring or something similar. Regardless, I think actually erasing that stuff is beyond the scope of remove disease, but it does prevent those extra bits of flesh from becoming anything more than that.
A more powerful spell (heal, maybe, or restoration would remove whatever is left behind by the disease.
If you have a normal disease that causes ability damage... or a poison... then removing the disease or poison only stops additional effects. It does not prevent further damage from happening. Typically a restoration spell(s) are needed. You can also heal naturally at one point per day.
Since this disease causes extra effects, those can either be cured over time on their own... or maybe the need a Heal or Regenerate spell. If the source for the monster does not specify then it is up to the DM.
Yep, DM judgment call time.
Me, I would say the fleshy stuff will fix itself over time. Flesh heals all on its own, as long as the body inside it is hale. So tentacles, ears, hair, that should all heal itself slowly IMO. For the hair, that's easy enough, it starts growing again, stubble at first, followed by normal growth. The ears take a bit longer as the normal ears "regrow" inside those wings, cutting off blood supply to the wing-ears, causing them to wither, die, and fall off on their own after a few days, leaving pink new-skin ears in their place that heal in a few more days until they look normal. The same with the tentacles as the normal skin heals underneath, shutting off that blood supply.
The teeth are a different story. Unless the PC is racially related to sharks, those are his only teeth, and they don't heal themselves at all. IMO, those teeth are permanent. I would have them give him +2 on Intimidate and -2 on Diplomacy. He could probably fix them with a Regenerate, or maybe just a Heal if you're feeling generous.
Sounds like fun. I would get into more detail but this post is long enough - but in game, I would describe this gradual withering-death-slough process in vivid gory detail (watch the Jeff Goldbloom movie, The Fly for some good examples).
SNIP It does not prevent further damage from happening. SNIP
Opps. Poor typing skills tonight. Make that It DOES prevent further damage from happening but does not remove previous damage.