Mitigating the plague


Curse of the Crimson Throne


I really dont like the whole idea of the plague in book 2. I dont want to get bogged down with it. The players wont have the resources to cure themselves, and I like the idea of hysteria it will create and trying to get tot he bottom of it, I also dont want the players to just "automatically be immune to it".

Any ideas how to move quickly through this with out constant issues from dying and sick PCs?


I intentionally put in a mini-adventure between books 1 and 2 to get the paladin up to a high enough level to be able to add the Cure Disease mercy to his Lay on Hands. You could do the same with a cleric.

It really added vastly to the adventure, as the wizard's family lived in Korvosa and his mother ended up getting sick every day, so the party would head for their house, the paladin would cure disease on her, they'd go to the temple of Abadar, he'd cure as many people as he could for free (paladin of Iomedae. He doesn't care for money), and then the adventure would continue.

It was a lot of fun, and my players liked it.

But yes, I made sure they could cure it before the book started, so I wouldn't have to track dying PCs.


No cleric in the party:

Barbarian/inquisitor
Ninja/oracle
Ronin
Magus


Ah, that's a lot harder, then.

They do try to provide a bunch of Cure Disease stuff (potions, wands) in the AP, but it's not nearly enough -- I had at least one party member or family member coming down with it every single day playing the AP-as-written. If you can't heal it in-party, I have to agree you're going to stretch credulity getting them constant cures.

If the oracle can't queue up Lesser Restorations to keep the disease in check, I'd say you need to drop the DC on the PCs to something almost always makeable (10?), and have one of the first encounters include an almost-fully charged wand of Cure Disease. I *know* my paladin went through way more than 50 charges, but he was burning all his LOH every morning curing people outside the temple of Abadar (and getting stern lectures from the clerics about offering valuable services for free).


Other things you might consider is look up Spell-Casting services. To pay a wizard to cast a spell, use the forumla Spell Level * Caster Level * 10 gp.

If you want, have the party pay for a Wizard to teleport to another city (Absolam for example) to buy wands of Remove Disease, and teleport back.

Teleport is a 5th level spell requiring a 9th level caster. 5 * 9 * 10 gp or 450 gp for a Teleport Spell. You require two, however, so 900 gp for a Wizard to make a shopping trip.

A Wand of Remove Disease costs 11,250 gp, so it may be that they can't afford it yet.


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It could be Ishani is so grateful for their help investigating, that he'll give them free cures, and you just assume their family members stay safe. Or, swap around the encounters so they hit the Lavender quest first - she has a wand of cure disease. Just two ideas.


OOh ooh wait Im missing something where are these wands?

Several of the characters dont have any family members to worry about:

The half-elf ninja oracle is a bastard, and former lamm's little lamb.

The Half'orc barbarian/inquisitor has close to the same origin.

The Elf Ronin isn't from korvosa.

The Dwarf Magus has a mother and father who he is estranged from as a result of his backround, but they party already forced a reunion trying to force him to buy healing potions from them (they own a magical/antiquities shop) The father refused to acknowledge he existed ignoring anything he had to say, and giving the other PCs higher prices than they were willing to pay. However, the parents do exist.

The father is a cleric of nethys/alchemist/mystic the urge, the mother is a rogue with magical rogue talents. (mom does the "shopping", dad does the management)

His parents came across a blade of curious workmanship that has become his black blade. The magus at the time was an apprentice at the academae and working with his parents, and it drew his interest. All sorts of investigation into the sword took place to include his parents and the academe, and it was determined to be non magical, However the magus insisted it was magical. He was shunned and a laughing stock.

:
The blade in my campaign is actually the dormant serithiel, but it needs to return to scarwall to be fully recharged, the blade must be used to defeat the wraith of it's former wielder to gain it's full power back.

Never the less, his parents are estranged, how he deals with the plague is yet to be seen, however maybe his parents can sure themselves.


It doesnt have to be family members, but anyone the PC(s) are close to. Also, the inquisitor and the oracle both of the heal skill so this can certainly aid in curing disease. I also took a hint from Assassin Creed II and from day 1 through some doctors out on the streets of korvosa to buy healing, anti-plague etc from.

Truthfully, the plague and 7days is the diamond of the 6 gems that make up this wonderful AP and I highly recommend it.


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Chapter 2, Page 25:

"At night, only one of Vendra’s guards keeps watch
outside the shop’s front door. She uses charges from her
wand of remove disease on herself and her guards every
night if they develop symptoms of blood veil—once her
wand is down to a single charge, she plans on leaving the
city with her fortune."

Straight out of the book, the wand only has 7 charges, but if they're really hurting you could cautiously bump that number, or add another encounter with someone hoarding a wand or stash of potions.

Hope this helps!

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