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So, a dialog has begun on the Pathfinder Society Facebook page that has become, essentially, a question about how to deal with diseases (particularly diseases that run the risk of death, like ghoul fever) between sessions.
My recollection was that the way it worked was as Josh Frost indicated here some time ago. I've been searching through the forums, but couldn't find anything updating or contradicting this, however, I wasn't able to find anything in the FAQ, either.
So, am I correct to presume that Josh's initial ruling is still the benchmark for how this works? Are there any plans to assimilate this more detailed explanation into a future version of the Guide?
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The way it is described in the Guide is the effect can persist beyond the end of the scenario. That means if you are afflicted with a disease, you must continue to make saves or provide healing through magic, a potion, anti-toxin, healing skill, or other form to neutralize it.
If you are in/near a city, this is a very small inconvenience since you can buy the necessary items or spell-casting service to neutralize the ongoing effect. Then, since time is not tracked between scenarios, it is assumed that you will naturally recover from any hit point loss or ability damage prior to the start of the next scenario.
If, however, you have no method of neutralizing the effect and have a great distance to travel back to a civilized area, it could lead to the death of the character.
Actually, this did happen to one of my players once. She contracted a CON damaging disease. None of the PC's had the skill to cure it, nor did anyone in the remote area where the scenario occurred. So, she attempted a series of saving throws (2 consecutive req'd to cure) during the return trip. Unfortunately, she failed and the character died. Luckily, she had enough prestige to be raised.
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Thanks, Bob. I think we're on the same page.
However, there's a bit of disparity between the wording of the Guide and Josh's ruling, largely due to the ambiguous "in between" scenario time. As far as I'm concerned, Josh's ruling that diseases (especially those that do ability damage) need to be resolved by the time the player leaves the table is the way that it works. I just want to make sure that there haven't been changes to that sentiment. Also I hope it can get clarified for the future - if not in the Guide, then at least in the FAQ.
The discussion that lead to this involved a player's GM interpreting the ruling as the character that contracted ghoul fever kept the disease from session to session until they recovered naturally or paid to get it healed, and did not heal any ability or hit point damage between sessions (though, the same GM may have been under the impression the hp and ability damage didn't heal between sessions even without disease).
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Keep in mind that since the time between scenario is undefined, unless you cure the disease at the end of the scenario in which it was contracted, you would die before the start of the next one.
I suppose that if you had the ability to restore ability damage, such as Lesser Restoration, you could effectively neutralize the effects of the disease while still being under the effects of it. That would allow you time to get it cured.
Diseases are waaay too easy to overcome and rarely, if ever, of impact to a PFS character. As a result, the CR of creatures carrying disease as a special attack should be dropped since it will not be effective in society play. I hope authors take that into account when designing encounters.
This is also the reason why, IMO, you should not be able to restore lost HP/ability damage while the disease/poison/etc is still active.