50TD Expanded rules: Corruptions

Poisons, toxins, and diseases:

CORRUPTIONS

A PC can become afflicted by a corruption: disease, poison, or venom. Corruptions attack one or more of the six abilities in a series of stages with increasingly severe consequences.

Corrupted PCs make checks to resist each stage based on the attacked ability. Each time you fail the resistance check, you suffer consequences (usually 1d6 damage to the attacked ability).

Healing potions and magic that target hit points alone don’t cure or mitigate corruptions. Instead, spells or potions that specifically purify or cure conditions are needed. Mundane antidotes can be crafted with the right ingredients and a check. Sacrificing a large amount of SUP (5-10) can produce an antitoxin that stops a corruption, but healing may still take time.

Once a corruption is stopped, the damage or consequences it dealt aren’t immediately restored. Usually ability score damage can be restored with two adventure turns spent treating or resting, and all ability score damage from corruptions is assumed to be restored if spending time at a haven.

(Attacks > Resists)

STR > CON

DEX > STR

CON > WIS

INT > DEX

WIS > CHA

CHA > INT

Design note: this mix of ability scores is mostly an excuse for symmetry, but they make sense except for maybe INT > DEX. The way we think about that one is that in order to keep your mind sharp, you need to be physically flexible and limber, and perhaps physically dodge out of the way of brain eating parasites and the like.

Example corruptions

Assassin’s poison: attacks STR, CON check to resist (DC 11). Triggers once every adventure turn (4 hours). Each failure deals 1d4 STR damage. A single success halts the poison.

Snake’s venom: attacks DEX, STR check to resist (DC 8). Triggers once every hour for 24 hours. Each failure deals 1 DEX damage. Success does not halt the venom, it runs its course (for 24 hours) or is stopped by an antivenin.

Wizard’s bane: attacks INT, DEX check to resist (DC 14). Triggers once every day. Each failure deals 1d6 INT damage, although the victim is unaware of the impact. Success mitigates that day’s damage, with three successes in a row halting the corruption. Can otherwise be cured with a complex potion (DC 15 with rare ingredients).