How exactly do the rules for afflictions and multiple exposures work?

[Colette Brunel]

How exactly do the rules for afflictions and multiple exposures work? This is very important for Affair at Sombrefell Hall.

Quote:

On a successful or a critically successful saving throw, you are unaffected by that exposure to the affliction. You do not need to attempt further saving throws against it unless you are exposed to the affliction again.

Quote:

Multiple exposures to the same affliction have no effect if it’s a curse or disease. However, for a poison, failing the initial saving throw against a new dose increases the stage by 1 (or by 2 if you critically fail) without affecting the maximum duration. This is true even if you’re within the poison’s onset period, though it doesn’t change the length of the onset period.

Suppose a character succeeds on their saving throw against a disease. They are later exposed to the same disease. Do they have to make a saving throw? If not, then are they immune to the disease forevermore?

If a character at disease stage 1 is exposed to the same disease, do they have to make another saving throw, just to see if they critically fail?

[thenobledrake]

It's a bit confusingly worded, but what the text is saying is that with disease or a curse you save against each time you are exposed to it at the normal DC - full stop, assuming no specific note like "a creature that successful saves against this becomes bolstered to it."

Poison, on the other hand, cranks up the save DC if you fail your save against a new dose while already under the effects of the poison.

To directly answer your questions, in order, Yes they make a saving throw, no they aren't immunized, no you don't make a saving throw to check for critical failure (you don't make a saving throw of any kind against the disease until the onset or stage interval directs you to do so).

[Franz Lunzer]

Fully agree with thenobledrake.

Colette Brunel wrote:

Suppose a character succeeds on their saving throw against a disease. They are later exposed to the same disease. Do they have to make a saving throw?

Saving Throw p.325 wrote:

On a successful or a critically successful saving throw, you are unaffected by that exposure to the affliction. You do not need to attempt further saving throws against it unless you are exposed to the affliction again.

Colette Brunel wrote:

If a character at disease stage 1 is exposed to the same disease, do they have to make another saving throw, just to see if they critically fail?

Multiple Exposures p.325 wrote:

Multiple exposures to the same affliction have no effect if it’s a curse or disease.

I think I see were your confusion comes from though: You read that multiple exposures text and take it to mean that once you were exposed to a certain disease, they have no effect anymore.

That text ommits a bit of the thoughprocess: If you are exposed to a disease and make the save, there is no immunization.
If you are exposed and don't make the save, a further exposure of the disease doesn't make you any more sick (in contrast to a poison, that can make the condition worse).

If you are cured from the disease or the maximum duration runs out (if it has one) or you make enough saves to reduce the stage to 0, it is as if you never were exposed to the disease, so any new exposure starts the whole process again with a save.

[Fuzzypaws]

It's definitely badly worded. Here's what I feel the rules as intended probably were:

RAI? wrote:

Once you become afflicted by (ie, fail your saving throw against) an affliction like a curse or disease, further exposures have no effect while that affliction is still in place. However, further exposures to a poison while you are already affected by that poison can worsen the affliction. If you fail your save against the new dose, the poison's stage increases by 1, or by 2 on a critical failure. This does not change the poison's duration or onset time.

For example, you are poisoned, then fail another save against a new dose of the same poison while still in the onset time. Because you are still in the onset time, there is no immediate effect on your character. However, once the onset time is over you immediately suffer the effects of the highest stage to which your multiple failed saves raised the affliction.

That's how I read what they tried to say.

Now, while I agree that a new dose certainly shouldn't reset the onset time, I tend to think it should halve the onset time, or cause the effect to occur immediately if the onset time was already down to 1 round. And I do think it should reset the duration of the poison. But those are just preferences / feedback, not what the text actually says.

[Franz Lunzer]

That is a houserule I thought about for when the playtest is over, yeah:
Don't affect onset time (at most reduce by one round), but reset duration.