A terrible and usually fatal disease brought on by the bite from a ghoul
Score: 487 | 7/18/21 |
Ghoul Fever can be spread through the bite (but apparently not the scratch) of a ghoul, and has also been reported to be contracted by eating the flesh of ghouls or by drinking water infected with ghoul blood.
[Text in brackets are crunchy bits and may not be known by characters]
Symptoms
[When exposed to ghoul fever, a character must make a Luck (Con) save to avoid contracting the illness. Succeed or Fail the victim gains one level of Exhaustion after 2d4 hours.]
Once contracted, Ghoul Fever begins to reveal itself within up to 8 hours.
the victim soon suffers fever and chills (level 2 exhaustion). The chills go away eventually but the fever remains and slowly increases for the duration of the infection. After the chills go away, the weakness begins (level 3 exhaustion), followed by a ravening hunger. This hunger is intense but otherwise normal in the beginning, but eventually, thoughts of food turn to cannibalistic daydreams and a desire for human flesh (level 4 exhaustion). In the last stages of the disease (level 5 exhaustion), the sufferer is too weak to even move anymore, and their stomach rejects all food but the flesh of their own kind.
Treatment
[Once per 1d4 days, the sufferer of ghoul fever must make a Luck (Con) save (+2 penalty, +1 per level of exhaustion to the chance) or take one additional level of exhaustion. Success means they do not suffer more exhaustion that time. Great Success allows them to recover one level of exhaustion, but on a Great Faiure they suffer two levels. The victim cannot recover exhaustion from long rests while the disease lasts, but they may still take short and long rests to recover Reroll Dice and Luck points only (not hit points, lost attributes, or expended abilities). Once they have taken their 6th level of exhaustion, they die.]
A poultice prepared from an apothecary kit can relieve the symptoms and aid in recovery, as can a Purge the Accursed potion. Neither of these methods can remove the disease.
[On receiving aid in the form of an apothecary kit or a potion, the sufferer gains advantage on their next Luck (Con) save to avoid additional exhaustion.]
A Purge the Accursed spell has a chance of removing the disease.
[When casting Purge the Accursed, the caster must make an Arcane Lore or Divine Lore check. If they succeed, the disease is cured and the fever breaks - they begin recovering as normal. Failure, however, merely aids the sufferer on their next save as described above.]
Prognosis
With magical treatment, the sufferer will most likely recover but not always. Without such treatment, the chance of recovery for any but the most hearty specimens is slim.
A person that dies while infected with ghoul fever full rises as a ghoul the next midnight, but often shows signs of having been turned into the undead, their limbs and muscles twitching well before rising at midnight.
Additionally, rumors and legends tell of cases that after recovery, a sufferer might pass on the taint through their bloodline, potentially producing a half-dead (or half-living) creature, called a Dhampir in certain cultures, as a descendant.
Prevention
[If the potential victim has eaten in the last hour before becoming infected, they have advantage on saves against initially contracting ghoul fever.]
Cultural Reception
Sufferers of ghoul fever are treated with a mixture of wariness and terror, especially in the later stages.