As I re-acquaint myself with the rules of Basic/Advanced D&D, I'm remembering some of the odd bits and pieces of the game that we had to figure out for ourselves back in the day. One of these bits is the effect of "rotting" as a result of a select few monsters found in the game, most notably the mummy and the violet fungus.
5e uses a system of damage types to reconcile many of these incongruities from earlier editions, so for these monsters (and others like them), the game applies a set amount of damage and classifies it as "necrotic." In the case of mummies, the victim continues losing hit points from necrotic damage over time and can't heal until a Remove Curse spell is applied, whereas violet fungi get 1d4 attacks that do straight necrotic damage (up to 4d8 in a single round, which is nasty but not that dangerous to mid-level and higher characters), with no other lingering effect. It's a simple system that makes clear exactly what happens to the victim (one of the things 5e tends to do pretty well), but doesn't carry the same degree of threat as their AD&D counterparts.
For the AD&D versions, both creatures' rotting effects are extremely deadly at any level, but the actual physical results are not entirely clear. I started running a campaign for my tabletop group using a hybrid of the "Advanced" versions of Old School Essentials and Labyrinth Lord rulesets, but I lean heavily on AD&D to help with some of the behind-the-scenes granularity, and to adapt some of the monsters and magic items that aren't in OSE or LL.
"Why not just run AD&D?" you may ask. Ease of entry, mostly. The girls have only ever played 5e and were getting overwhelmed by the increasing complexity of the game as they leveled up, so I wanted to give them an easier set of rules to manage that still provides a fair range of flavor to play with. I also need to re-acclimate myself to the "old ways" of running the game, so it seemed like a good way to go. My plan is to ease them into AD&D as they get more familiar with how the older system works.
In any case, I dropped a single violet fungus into the dungeon I'm running, but as I read the Monster Manual entry, I found it to be fairly vague on what happens when the fungus touches someone. They get 4 attacks as a 3HD monster, and if one of their branches makes contact with a target:
The excretion from these branches rots flesh in but one melee round unless a saving throw versus poison is made or a cure disease is used.
- No damage is listed, so what effect does "...rots flesh..." have?
Does it matter where you are hit? AD&D doesn't have a hit location rule, so do we make one up or does the rot simply kill you outright?
Obviously, if you fail the saving throw vs. Poison (also categorized as a save vs. Death), you have one round to apply a Cure Disease or the rot takes effect, but why is it not Neutralize Poison instead to match the save category (as far as I know, avoiding disease does not involve a saving throw)?
- It's not an issue in OSE/LL, but in AD&D, Cure Disease has a casting time of 1 turn (10 rounds). Does this mean you need to start applying it within one round (minute), but you then need 9 more rounds of uninterrupted casting to avoid the rotting effect? Neutralize Poison has a casting time of 7 segments, which seems more usable under these circumstances, but you would still need to cast it within 3 segments of the victim being touched or, presumably, the rot would kill the victim before the spell was complete (unless, again, you simply need to start casting it within 1 round to prevent the effect).
The online consensus seems to be that if a violet fungus hits you, then you will die in one round if you fail the save and have no Cure Disease spell available. That's pretty rough, especially since the text does not say explicitly that the victim dies. In a Q&A on enWorld, a participant asked Gary Gygax about this and offered their house rule that had the rot effect reduce a victim's CON instead of killing them. Gary weighed in thusly:
[A]s far as I can recall, no PC ever got zapped by a violet fungi (sic) in my campaign either. Anyway, as nearly as I recall the procedure I envisioned in regards its touch:
- Subject victim makes a roll to save vs. poison:
- Success means contact avoided and no damage occurs.
- Failure means contact with the fungi and subject rots away at the end of the round.
- A cure disease or neutralize poison spell cast immediately--within 6 segments of contact, will stop the effect.
Your ruling regarding loss of points of Constitution is an interesting interpretation, but some damage would have to be included with each point of Con loss, or no flesh would be rotting.
So, Gary confirms that the rotting effect causes death in one round, but then suggests that a Neutralize Poison spell would also prevent this. He then also, inexplicably, reduces the amount of time you have to (start to?) cast a curative spell from one round (60 seconds) to 6 segments (36 seconds), neither of which permits the casting times of either solution to complete within the allotted round to prevent death. I won't even get into the fact that he has the saving throw completely negate the violet fungus' successful attack roll, which should have some effect, right?
Their unholy hatred of life and their weird un-life state gives them tremendous power, so that a blow from their arm smashes opponents for 1-12 hit points of damage.
It seems fairly clear from the description that the mummy's damage comes from the force of the blow and not from any rotting effect. It follows this sentence with:
The scabrous touch of a mummy inflicts a rotting disease on any hit. The disease will be fatal in 1-6 months, and each month it progresses the diseased creature loses 2 points of charisma, permanently. It can be cured only by a magic spell, cure disease. The disease negates all cure wound spells. Infected creatures heal wounds at 10% of the normal rate.
So, here we have a definitive disease that is not only fatal, but also reduces an ability score, cannot be recovered from naturally, and inhibits regular healing. There is no saving throw to prevent the disease, but a victim has at least 30 days to find a cleric and get rid of the rotting effect. There is also this final detail:
Any creature killed by a mummy rots and cannot be raised from death unless a cure disease and raise dead spell are used within 6 turns.
Thus, if the mummy drops you by damage, you're probably out of luck unless a 9th-level cleric happens to be nearby. This version of the rotting effect is radically different from the violet fungus, save for the fact that Cure Disease is the solution. It's curious that Gygax didn't make the mummy rot a curse, in line with the mythology of this particular monster, though 5e and OSRIC do, requiring Remove Curse instead of Cure Disease (which I like better, thematically).
I dug further and found a few other instances of "rotting effects" in AD&D. Demogorgon in the Monster Manual has a special attack:
[H]is tentacles also are deadly weapons, each causing 1-6 hit points of damage to any opponent, but those opponents which are of lesser stature (particularly those hailing from the material plane such as humans, dwarves, elves, etc.) will be subject to rot – a limb becomes useless in 6 melee rounds and drops off in another six; the body sustains damage which permanently removes 25% of the person's hit points in 6 melee rounds, cumulative per hit. A cure disease made within the 6 melee round limit will save the member so that it will heal in 1 to 4 weeks, and body hits will be restored entirely with the cure if made within the 6 melee rounds after the hit.
The description differentiates between limb and body hits (but no head shot), indicating a requirement for some sort of "hit location" roll. Frustratingly, it only gives 6 rounds to apply a Cure Disease to prevent the rot, which is still less than the 1 turn casting time for the spell. It also suggests that after 6 rounds, a Cure Disease will not prevent a limb from rotting off.
The loss of a limb doesn't affect a character's hit points, and it's unclear if the 25% loss from a body shot represents the character's maximum hit points or current hit points, although common sense dictates it's a quarter of the maximum, meaning four body shots and a victim is done. Also, interestingly, a victim can recover use of a rotting limb naturally if it doesn't progress too far.
[A]ny creature meeting its gaze (indicated by failing a saving throw vs. petrification) becomes inflicted with a rotting disease identical to that of the touch of a mummy.
I have a mild logic issue with a disease-gaze, but okay. Surprisingly, the save is to avoid the boalisk's gaze, which is not how other gaze weapons work (e.g., a medusa), and if surprised, you get no save at all. In either case, the infection is automatic if the save fails. You can avert your eyes to avoid its gaze, however.
...looses a shower of sticky enzyme which causes 2-8 points of damage per round until the victim is completely rotted away. Each flask of water dumped upon a victim in the same round as the damage is done will reduce damage by 1 point; total immersion in water removes the sap entirely.
In this case, the poisonous (?) enzyme rots via straight damage which can be healed normally, apparently, if the victim survives (which is more in line with 5e's necrotic damage type). Unlike all other rotting effects in the game, Cure Disease spells have no effect on this affliction, but does (should) Neutralize Poison? Nope...just regular water.
Each bite delivers 1-10 hit points of damage and the victim of a bite must save against poison or die as a result of a slow, rotting disease in 4-24 days. Cure disease will be an effective remedy.
So, similar to a mummy attack (physical damage plus infected with a disease), but with a violet fungus' save vs. Poison to resist the rotting effect. Again, the bodily effects of rotting aren't described or given any details other than death after a specific amount of time. Also, 4–24 days isn't "slow" in comparison to the mummy's 1–6 month mortality period.
Deities and Demigods has two gods with rotting effects. Lu Yueh, the God of Epidemics in the Chinese mythos, can:
...cast a rotting sickness as a spell that will kill his enemies who fail to make their saving throw versus poison in 2 melee rounds.
Kiputytto, the Goddess of Sickness in the Finnish mythos, can:
...cast a sickness (saving throw applicable) that will take away 5 hit points from its victim per turn until dead or cured. Anything that touches her will rot away, including swords, armor, claw, or fang.
What about Basic D&D, which is sort of what I'm running now? Holmes' Basic has the mummy's touch cause healing rates to take 10 times longer, but it carries no lingering effects to Charisma, nor is the disease fatal in and of itself. Cook's and Mentzer's Expert rules' version of the mummy rot prevents magical healing and increases natural healing time tenfold. Cure Disease removes the affliction in all Basic versions.
The Rules Cyclopedia contains a jade dragon that has a disease-causing breath weapon:
A victim who fails his saving throw takes full damage [from the breath weapon], and he and all items carried become infected with a rotting disease. This disease causes all nonmetal items to rot away in 1d6 turns unless a cure disease spell is cast on them during that time. A victim cannot be affected by any healing spells, nor healing item, save a cure disease effect. The disease also inflicts 1 point of damage per turn (but not cumulative in the case of multiple failed saving throws). If the saving throw [vs. Breath] is successful, the victim takes only half damage and avoids the disease.
I have another logic problem with a disease rotting away non-living items, but okay. And does one need to cast Cure Disease on their items to prevent them from rotting as well, or will one spell cover the person and all their gear? This form of rotting disease has no other effect except death and the infliction of 1 point of "necrotic" damage every 10 minutes. Its terminal duration is 10–60 minutes, though, so I don't get the point of the persistent damage, which will only amount to 1–6 points. Goofy.
Since the common thread of most Basic and AD&D rotting effects is that they are diseases—which makes biological sense—I consulted the Dungeon Master's Guide section on Disease. Rather than try to catalogue all known diseases, Gygax wisely chose to focus instead on the effects of disease on bodily systems, which makes it easy to extrapolate and even create unique diseases for one's own campaign world.
There are three disease categories that somewhat fit the bill for the rotting effects we see in AD&D monsters—connective tissue, muscle, and skin diseases. For each disease category, you're supposed to roll d8s to determine its Occurrence (either Acute or Chronic, which doesn't really apply here as they are all Chronic), and Severity (Mild, Severe, or Terminal, with the last one being the only viable outcome for all creature effects):
Connective tissue diseases (such as leprosy) permanently remove 1 point each of strength, dexterity, constitution, and charisma for each month of affliction - thus only an acute, mild attack will not cause such loss. Terminal cases will last until constitution is at 0, i.e. treat them as chronic, severe cases. (d8: 1 = Mild; 2-3 = Severe; 5-8 = Terminal)
Muscle disorders of chronic nature cause the loss of 1 point each of strength and dexterity, severe attacks having a 25% chance of causing such loss permanently. Terminal cases take 1-12 months. (d8: 1-5 = Mild; 6-7 = Severe; 8 = Terminal)
Skin afflictions of severe nature are 10% likely to cause permanent loss of 1 point of charisma. Chronic, mild attacks are also 10% likely to cause such loss, while chronic, severe attacks will be 25% likely to cause such loss. Terminal cases will take 1-12 weeks for fatality. (d8: 1-5 = Mild; 6-7 = Severe; 8 = Terminal)
Obviously, connective tissue diseases are the best match, given the permanent loss of bodily function and high rate of mortality.
Finally, we can compare the effects of several magic items in the DMG. A Periapt of Foul Rotting confers an effect that closely resembles the description of a connective tissue disease:
[The bearer] will contract a terrible rotting disease, a form of leprosy which can be removed only by application of a remove curse spell followed by a cure disease and then a heal or limited wish or wish spell. [T]he afflicted loses 1 point each of dexterity and constitution and charisma per week beginning 1 week after claiming the item, and when any score reaches 0, the character is dead. Each point lost due to the disease will be permanent regardless of subsequent removal of the affliction.
The Remove Curse spell ostensibly removes the cursed items' connection to the bearer, while the Cure Disease+Heal/Wish combo restores the bearer's bodily integrity. Limited Wish is a curious solution because the spell states that its effect has a "limited duration;" perhaps it merely pauses the disease's progress for a time.
The Staff of Withering can be used to strike an enemy and cause:
...one of the opponent creature’s limbs...to shrivel and become useless unless it saves versus magic (check by random number generation for which member is struck).
While this isn't exactly a "rotting" effect (rather, it is an aging effect), it explicitly brings hit location generation into play as part of the effect.
Lastly, AD&D magic artifacts have a potential Major Malevolent Effect with a rotting effect:
Body rot is 10% cumulative likely whenever a primary power is used, and part of the body is lost permanently.
Body rot affects extremities - toes, fingers, ears, nose, lips, eyelids, hands, feet, arms, legs, head in that order - 1 member per operation. Nothing can prevent the loss or restore the member.
Presumably, this effect would also require determination of a random location, with a high degree of detail to cover extremities (hands/feet), digits (fingers/toes), facial structures, and genitals.
I'm not a big fan of "save-or-die" effects, so I want to tweak the violet fungus' rotting touch, but I still want it to carry the same level of threat for players as poison and energy drain. If we take all these various details into account, the ideal rotting effect should incorporate most or all of the following:
- A saving throw vs. poison (more precisely, death; i.e., necrosis).
- The progressive onset of a chronic, terminal connective tissue disease.
- A specific body location for the necrotic effect.
- Loss of one or more of the victim's ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and/or Charisma (which can be tied to bodily location).
- Loss of hit points as physical integrity deteriorates (per Gary's guidance).
- Diminished healing rates (magical and natural).
- Cure Disease as a counter to the rotting effect's onset/progress, plus Heal or Wish (or Regenerate) to restore lost ability score points.
This is what I ultimately worked up to redesign/define the violet fungus' rotting effect:
If a branch hits, it's excretion does 1d4 damage and infects the victim with a rotting disease unless a saving throw vs. Poison is made. If successful, the victim takes half the damage and avoids the rotting disease. If failed, determine where the branch touched the victim's body by rolling 2d6: (2–3) head, (4–7) arm*, (8–10) leg*, (11–12) torso. *Roll 1d6 to determine (1–3) right or (4–6) left.
The victim immediately loses one point of Constitution and an additional point of another ability score, based on the location touched by the branch: Strength (arm), Dexterity (leg), Constitution (torso), or Charisma (head). On each subsequent round, the victim takes an additional 1d4 damage and loses another point in the location ability score. If a victim loses 50% of their original ability score in any location, then their limb rots off (arm or leg), they fall comatose (torso), or they go blind (head). A victim whose Constitution or Charisma score is reduced to 0 dies. These effects are cumulative per area struck.
The casting of a Cure Disease or Neutralize Poison spell during the course of the infection prevents the further onset of the disease. If applied during the first round of infection, these spells prevent the loss of any ability scores, but not the initial damage. A Cure Disease spell also restores any lost ability scores that have not fallen below 50%. Only a Heal, Regeneration, or Wish spell can restore lost ability score points that have fallen below 50%, revive a comatose victim, or restore sight to a blinded victim, and only a Regeneration or Wish spell can restore a limb that has rotted off. A victim who dies as a result of rotting must first be Raised, and then receive a Heal or Regeneration spell to recover lost ability score points.
