Unchained Disease

[Tendentious]

I liked the alternatives offered in Pathfinder Unchained as relating to disease and poison. However the progress of disease in the system has no theoretical limit to the number of saving throws that might be required. You could in theory be bouncing around between Healthy and Death literally forever.

You could just include a maximum duration at which point the affliction ends, which is how poisons work. This is more or less what I've done, although I've added a few bells and whistles. The system uses the Unchained system physical and mental disease tracks but resolves the progress of the disease differently.

DISEASE

When a character is exposed to a disease and fails the initial saving throw, they enter the first phase of the disease. The three phases are: Incubation, Acute and Convalescence. The character begins at Latent/Carrier on the disease track.

Cure describes the ways in which the disease might be cured. If a disease is cured magically then the character immediately enter the Convalescence phase, and the saving throw normally made at the end of the Acute phase is considered to have been successful (see below).

The Incubation section describes the Duration of the phase, and the Effect of the phase, including the number of steps down the disease track the character progresses. Steps down the disease track should be divided evenly across the duration of the phase. Any other effects occur at the start of the phase. It also includes the effect of a successful Heal check (at the DC of the disease). The healer must spend a total of two hours tending to the patient over the course of the incubation phase to make the check. If the healer spends at least one hour but less than two, they can make the check at a -4 penalty.

At the end of the incubation phase the character makes a saving throw. On a failed save the character enters the Acute phase. On a successful save the character throws off the worst of the disease and enters the Convalescence phase. They must immediately make another saving throw to determine the progress of the convalescence phase. If the saving throw is a natural 1, then the character will relapse without the aid of a healer.

The Acute section describes the Duration of the phase, and the Effect of the phase, including the number of steps down the disease track the character progresses. Steps down the disease track should be divided evenly across the duration of the phase. Any other effects occur at the start of the phase. It also includes the effect of a successful Heal check (at the DC of the disease). The healer must spend a total of four hours tending to the patient over the course of the acute phase to make the check. If the healer spends at least two hours but less than four, they can make the check at a -4 penalty.

At the end of the acute phase the character makes a saving throw. The success or failure of the save determines the progress of the convalescence phase. If the saving throw is a natural 1, then the character will relapse without the aid of a healer.

The Convalescence section describes the Duration of the phase for a successful and a failed saving throw (if the disease is cured magically then the saving throw is automatically successful), which includes the rate at which the character’s condition climbs the disease track, and the Effect of the phase for a successful and a failed saving throw. It also includes the effect of a successful Heal check (at the DC of the disease). The healer must spend a total of one hour tending to the patient over the course of the convalescence phase to make the check. If the healer spends at least thirty minutes but less than one hour, they can make the check at a -4 penalty.

The Relapse section gives the stage on the disease track at which the relapse occurs. The character enters the acute phase. At the end of this acute phase the character makes a saving throw to determine the progress of the convalescence phase. A character will only relapse once (unless the DM decides otherwise) even if they roll a second natural 1.

BLINDING SICKNESS
Type disease, ingested; Save Fort DC 16; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps and permanently blinded; Heal blinded while in acute phase and permanently blinded in only one eye
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Weakened

BUBONIC PLAGUE
Type disease, injury or inhaled; Save Fort DC 17; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 6 days; Effect 3 steps; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success arrests disease at Comatose stage
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Impaired

CACKLE FEVER
Type disease, inhaled; Save Fort DC 16; Track mental; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 4 days; Effect 4 steps; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success arrests disease at Comatose stage
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Weakened

DEMENTIA DUST
Type disease, inhaled; Save Fort DC 14; Track mental; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 2 weeks; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 3 weeks; Effect 3 steps and after reaching Deranged step victim permanently deranged until receive greater restoration or heal; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success not permanently deranged
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Weakened

DEMON FEVER
Type disease, injury; Save Fort DC 18; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps and victim is permanently weakened until receive heal or restoration; Heal victim may make two extra saving throws, first success arrests disease at Comatose stage, second success weakness not permanent
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal halves duration (cumulative with bed rest)
Relapse no relapse

DEVIL CHILLS
Type disease, injury; Save Fort DC 14; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps and -4 penalty on saving throw ending the incubation phase; Heal victim may make saving throw ending the incubation phase without penalty
Acute Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success arrests disease at Comatose stage
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect Success - total bed rest halves duration, or Fail - total bed rest halves duration and relapse will occur; Heal victim may make extra saving throw to prevent relapse
Relapse Impaired

FILTH FEVER
Type disease, injury; Save Fort DC 12; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 6 days; Effect 3 steps; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success arrests disease at Disabled stage
Convalescence Duration Success - 1 day/step to Healthy, or Fail - 2 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal halves duration (cumulative with bed rest)
Relapse no relapse

LEPROSY
Type disease, contact, inhaled or injury; Save Fort DC 12; Track physical (special); Cure magical only
Incubation Duration 1 week; Effect 1 step (Sluggish – as per Dexterity poison) and automatically fail saving throw ending the incubation phase; Heal n/a
Acute Duration 1 week; Effect 1 step (Stiffened – as per Dexterity poison) and cannot enter convalescence; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success arrests disease at Sluggish stage
Convalescence Duration n/a; Effect Even if the disease is removed with remove disease, condition does not improve without greater restoration or heal; Heal n/a
Relapse no relapse

MIND FIRE
Type disease, inhaled; Save Fort DC 12; Track mental; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps and victim is permanently impaired until receive heal or restoration; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success prevents permanent impairment
Convalescence Duration Success - 1 day/step to Healthy, or Fail - 2 day/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Weakened
 
MUMMY ROT
Type disease, injury; Save Fort DC 16; Track physical and mental (special); Cure remove curse and remove disease cast within 1 minute of each other
Incubation Duration 1 day; Effect 0 steps and successful saving throw ending the incubation phase takes disease back to start of the incubation phase; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 1 day; Effect 1 step and saving throw ending the acute phase takes disease back to start of the incubation phase if successful or back to start of the acute phase if failed, victim suffers all penalties from both Physical and Mental disease tracks; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the acute phase
Convalescence Duration 2 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal halves duration (cumulative with bed rest)
Relapse no relapse

RABIES
Type disease, injury; Save Fort DC 18; Track mental; Cure magical only
Incubation Duration 1 month; Effect 0 steps and automatically fail saving throw ending the incubation phase; Heal doubles duration of incubation phase
Acute Duration 6 weeks; Effect 6 steps; Heal doubles duration of acute phase
Convalescence Duration n/a; Effect Even if the disease is removed with remove disease, condition does not improve without greater restoration or heal; Heal n/a
Relapse no relapse

RED ACHE
Type disease, injury; Save Fort DC 15; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 6 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 4 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success arrests disease at Disabled stage
Convalescence Duration Success - 1 day/step to Healthy, or Fail - 2 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Weakened

SHAKES
Type disease, contact; Save Fort DC 13; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 2 days; Effect 2 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 2 weeks; Effect 2 steps and become permanently sluggish (as Dexterity poison track) until receive restoration; Heal victim may make an extra saving throw, success prevents permanent sluggishness
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Weakened

SLIMY DOOM
Type disease, contact; Save Fort DC 14; Track physical; Cure magical, natural
Incubation Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps; Heal +4 competence bonus on saving throw ending the incubation phase
Acute Duration 3 days; Effect 3 steps and become permanently weakened until receive heal or restoration; Heal victim may make two extra saving throws, the first success arrests disease at comatose, the second success prevents permanent weakness
Convalescence Duration Success - 2 days/step to Healthy, or Fail - 4 days/step to Healthy; Effect total bed rest halves duration; Heal prevents relapse
Relapse Impaired