Editing Disease

'''Disease''' is (per Galen and Aristotle) the failure of a bodily function to function for any reason other than external injury. As organs fail, the victim gets progressively sicker until finally something important gives way, like the heart and - finally - brain. Modern usage frequently separates out purely internal malfunctions of biology as "medical syndromes", and reserves "disease" for failures that are in some way externally caused<ref>Although there is significant overlap</ref>.

Traditionally [[Dungeons & Dragons]] has likened this to [[poison]] sharing the same saving-throw mechanic. Poison works, exactly, to cause organ-failure. More commonly in RPGs disease is associated with transmissible parasites: virus, bacteria, [[Rot Grub]]s, you in your mom's belly... anyway the classic low-level example is the sepsis a [[rogue]] might get from a rusted lock, or the plague any party-member might get from a rat.

Disease is often used by [[DM]]s as a story-device. As the symptoms progress, getting more and more dire, the party knows they have a time-limit, to save their friend. It certainly beats that stupid "ERRK POISON... uhhh :^x" instadeath when the rogue fails to disable a trap.

There exists intersection between the progressive [[curse]] and the magical disease. These tend not to be curable by ''remove curse'' or ''cure disease'' alone. Some monster-descriptions offer recipes on how to fix what they've caused, offering additional adventure-ideas on how to figure out what the DM knows.

One classic D&D example is the [[Mummy]] Rot. If you contracted this, your wounds wouldn't heal and you'd decompose. Stronger strains would mean you can't be resurrected by [[Raise Dead]] on account, hey, that mummy's gods (usually Egyptian or Inca) have intervened to punish you desecrating their servant's rest.

3e and [[Pathfinder]] introduced [[Ghoul]] Fever. This follows the ''Night of the Living Dead'' plan where you steadily get more and more like a ghoul until you became a ghoul yourself. Meanwhile you could transmit this one to other people.

==List of Dungeons & Dragons Diseases==
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==List of Pathfinder Diseases==
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==List of Warhammer Fantasy Diseases==
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==List of Warhammer 40,000 Diseases==
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==Other Various Diseases from /tg/ related or approved media==
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