Should the Sick Child barrier have the Disease trait?

[Apophenia]

Our team has Fumbus who has been running the Antiplague item. One of the strange situations we have run into is why the antiplague can't be used to help the Sick Child barrier. The child is literally sick with the Blood Veil (since you summon it when fail to defeat the Sick Child) so shouldn't it also have the disease trait? Then Antiplague would give 1d8 against it.

[Maelwys0]

Because you're not trying to fight the plague, you're trying to help somebody else fight the plague.

Antiplague is basically a vaccine (that's why it displays in front of you once you've drunk it). That means that it only protects you, you can't share it with anybody else. So it doesn't do any good helping the poor kid. But if you fail to help him, then at least it will help stop you from getting the same thing that he has (when you summon Blood Veil).

I could see an argument for giving it the healing trait (so you could recharge it for a d4 against the sick kid), but that would still require you to be holding it in hand, rather than having already drunk (displayed) it.

[Apophenia]

I mean, if we are arguing thematic justifications, one of the checks to defeat the Sick Child is Constitution/Fortitude. Just being resistant is enough to defeat the barrier and having drunk an antiplague seems like it would help against that.

Just one of the things I've found is that lots of the Disease keyword stuff is not very useful since basically nothing has that trait. Not even Plagued itself have the Disease trait. An Antiplague does not give you a bonus against the check to acquire Plagued from one of your allies.

[Yewstance]

I agree, and I'd probably houserule the Sick Child to have the Disease trait.

I also agree that the Disease trait is somewhat confusingly applied, in my opinion. It's very, very rare as a trait (even on Curse banes alone), and I also find it bizarre that Undead and Constructs aren't immune to the Disease trait (like they are the Poison trait), since you can add the Disease trait to your combat check with Plaguebringer's Mask.

Apparently you can inflict disease on ghosts; who knew?

[wkover - Quinn]

Plaguebringer's Mask is one of the few loots in Rotting Ruins that can boost Quinn's combat. If the undead become immune to disease I will surely weep.