Afflictions

[Neil Spalter]

I'm really liking the direction afflictions are going. For another interesting idea, there is a D20 Modern supplement which offers a custom poison pricing guide. If something like that could be incorporated into Pathfinder, I would love it! Traps already have custom prices, which is amazing. Scalability is easy to develop, and everything works out nicely. Poisons, unfortunately, have always been rather haphazard. For the Modern enhancement, some changes would need to be made, since instead of a purchase DC, it would be a gp cost. I don't know if a direct correlation between gp and craft DC would be effective, but if it is, great!

Unfortunately, the D20 Modern enhancement that I saw is not OGL, so I won't link it. In general, the system listed different things that poisons can do. For each die of ability damage, for instance, it increased the craft DC by some amount. If it was Con damage, it was double that amount. That guide had different DC adjustments for initial and secondary damage (with secondary damage costing half the DC adjustment as initial damage). Things like blindness and 1d3 hours of unconsciousness are also available factors. The base DC is based on the type of poison (Injury, Concact, Ingested, and Inhaled, in that order). Then, you add the modifiers, and price is based on the final craft DC.

Would this be a plausible system for Pathfinder? Perhaps add in the factors for frequency and duration?

[Neil Spalter]

And you know, now that I think about it, allowing DMs to design their own diseases by picking from lists to create their own custom disease effects could be fun. Honestly, the more customizable these things are, the more interesting they can become. And what about Profession: Apothecary? Any way there can be generic descriptions on the costs for various bonuses to heal checks? I mean, if a society comes up with chewing on a particular bark that happens to have a mineral similar to acetaminophen in it, that should give a nice bonus to heal checks to relieve pain or whatever. But, rather than come up with a list of specific items that can be found, make it generic. For each DC 10 Craft: Apothecary item worth x gp, you get a +1 on Heal checks. The item crafted is for a specific heal check, not for a generic one. It would be used to find a cure for a specific ailment.

The idea would be, an important NPC gets sick. The party tries everything, even complete bed rest, aiding another, and the best apothecary supplies. The best they have accomplished is keeping them alive. So, one of the PCs decides to craft some Apothecary item to help out. They research the disease with Knowledge: Nature, and based on that check, it sets the maximum DC apothecary item they can make to try to aid their heal check. So, the DM decides they need a gizzard from a beast (not in the rules, just something to make the rules work) and x gp to create their apothecary item. They go hunting, get the gizzard and the gold, create their potion, and it works!

[Dwarven Pirate]

Scalable poisons and diseases would be great. I dont know if anyone else ever has the same problem i do but i find that for the most part poison is worthless after a certain point or it is just cost inhibited for the game. For example in every book i have ever read that involves Drow poison it is described as one of the most effective and potentially deadly poisons out there but in game terms any 5th level fighter would be laughed at for failing his save against it.