Does the DC for an affliction that's based on someone's spellcasting DC change with any changes to the spellcasting DC if the affliction is already onset and into stages?
That was a very wordy way of asking, but I'm specifically thinking of something like Goblin Pox. Here's the scenario I have in my head:
The Druid casts Goblin Pox on an enemy Bandit. Bandit fails their save, goes into Stage 1 of the affliction. Then the Druid gets Frightened 1 from somewhere, lowering their Primal spellcasting DC by 1 (let's assume that the Frightened 1 will last through the Bandit's first stage of Goblin Pox). Then the Bandit goes through Stage 1 and makes their Fortitude save to progress/regress the Pox. Is that save against the now-lowered DC of the Frightened Druid or is it against the original DC that got the Bandit sick in the first place?
I'm pretty sure the answer is "the now-lowered DC" from a RAW perspective, but that seems weird from a narrative standpoint. The Druid isn't continually concentrating on the Pox - the Bandit was infected and is now dealing with the disease. Mechanically, the Druid doesn't have to Sustain the spell in any way for the Pox to progress on the Bandit. So why would the Druid's current state of being affect an affliction that's already underway? If I get food poisoning from eating half of an undercooked steak then I won't suddenly have an easier time if I cook the other half. Maybe I'm off-base here but to my mind the affliction, once onset, works independently of the source of the infection, magical or otherwise. I couldn't find anything on this admittedly edge case in the rules on afflictions, but maybe I missed something. Also, the same question would apply to something based on Class DC (but I don't know any examples of that offhand).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I don't think there is an explicit RAW on this.
Probably just use your best judgement and run with what the people at the table can agree on. The difference is generally only going to be one or maybe two points.
