The Plague Doctor (Class)

In a conversation recently with an anonymous old school enthusiast, the subject was broached of a Plague Doctor class and how that enthusiast should construct one for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess game they were running. That conversation got me inspired, so I did some reading about what Plague Doctors were, how Medieval medicine operated, and put this together. Hopefully I didn't do a disservice to our conversation, fellow enthusiast!

But what were the Plague Doctors? Plague Doctors were amateur healers - largely untrained and recruited under duress - given the most basic of instructions to help alleviate the suffering of an outbreak of widespread contagion, then left to proceed by experience. As such, the Plague Doctor starts out weak, frequently hindering their allies rather than helping them despite their efforts, but advances rapidly, becoming an asset in down-time

This class serves as a pseudo replacement of the Cleric and is thematically faithful to a Lamentations campaign setting - however, I, not having played Lamentations to any great degree (but I've watched it in actual plays, guise! believe me!) admittedly statted this class appropriately to B/X or OSE. At a high level, though, by removing the THAC0, it should fit nicely into your home Lamentations game.

Let me know how (if?) it works!

					Saves
Level	Title	XP	Hit Dice	THAC0*	Death or Poison	Wands	Paralysis	Dragon's Breath	Spells
1	Mountebank	0	1d8	20	14	14	16	18	16
2	Laech	1,400	2d8	-	11	12	13	16	14
3	Apothecary	2,800	3d8	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	Physicker	5,600	4d8	19	-	-	-	-	-
5	Clinician	11,200	5d8	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	Aidman	22,400	6d8	-	8	10	10	14	12
7	Chymist	44,800	7d8	17	-	-	-	-	-
8	Practitioner	89,600	8d8	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	Alienist	178,200	9d8	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	Physician	350,000	9d8+1*	14	5	8	7	11	8
11	Hospitaler	500,000	9d8+2*	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	Chirugeon	650,000	9d8+3*	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	Doctor	800,000	9d8+4*	12	-	-	-	-	-
14	Plague Doctor	950,000	9d8+5*	-	2	6	4	8	6
* Constitution adjustments no longer apply.

Weapons and Armor Plague Doctors may use edged weapons or puncturing weapons and may wear leather armor, but may not use shields.

Blood Letting Starting at 1st level, a Plague Doctor may engage in blood-letting - or the release of blood via razors in effort to balance the humors of the patient. The patient of the blood-letting takes 1d8 damage, but may thereafter roll a Save vs Death: succeeding which, the Plague Doctor may remove a disease from them, as the effect of a Remove Disease spell.

At level 3, the damage is reduced to 1d6. In addition, upon a successful patient Save, the Plague Doctor may remove a poison from them - as the effects of Neutralize Poison. A patient having died from poison may survive if treated in this manner within a number of rounds of either originally being affected (or having the effect come into play) equal to the Plague Doctor's level.

At level 7, the damage is reduced further to 1d4 and the patient gains a +1 bonus to the resultant Save.

At level 11, the damage is reduced further to 1d3 and the patient gains a +2 bonus to the resultant Save.

Blood Letting may be repeated - however the patient must recover from the damage inflicted entirely (so, an attempt dealing 4 points of damage that failed may not be repeated until the patient heals for 4: recovering those lost points).

Lance the Sores! A party under the care of a Plague Doctor may, when resting to retain hit points, roll their own hit die instead of 1d3 to regain hit points on a full day's rest. Where a character would be eligible to heal only 1 hit point, they are allowed to roll 1d3. A Plague Doctor can treat a number of patients equal to 4 plus their Intelligence modifier.

At 6th level, the patient may roll twice, recovering the greater of the two results, and the number of patients that can be treated increases by 2.

At 12th level, the patient recovers the maximum value of the appropriate roll each day and the number of patients that can be treated increases by a further 2.

Pocket Full of Posies Plague Doctors carry with them an assortment of flowers and herbs: for, as we know, the sweet smells can purify diseased air, drowning out ill vapors. By burning this incense, or by mixing these herbs, the Plague Doctor can - based on their level - imitate the effect of various spells as follows:

Level	Effect
2	Detect Poison
	Detect Disease
	Cure Light Wounds
5	Protection from Evil
	Purify Food and Drink
	Bless
9	Striking
	Cure Serious Wounds
	Protection from Evil, 10 ft. Radius

Note, one incense or herb may pollute the other - mixing into a toxic air, in and of itself - a Plague Doctor may only carry enough material to account for a limited number of uses per adventure: this number being likewise based on the Plague Doctor's level.

Level	Doses
1	2
5	4
9	6
13	8

The Plague Doctor may mix any combination of effects so long as the number of doses (read, uses) per adventure does not exceed the maximum.

Revivify Frequently, a death mask is frequently that - simply the appearance of death prior to the spirit moving on. At 8th level, a Plague Doctor may attempt to Revivify the recently deceased - using surgery, herbs, and other implements. The attempt takes 4 hours, after which the target may Save vs Death at a -2 penalty, coming back at 1 hit point on success; however, if the target fails this save by either rolling a natural 1 or missing their target number by 10 or greater, so also the Plague Doctor must Save vs Death or themselves be affected by the malaise of the grave. A Plague Doctor so affected will suffer for 1d6 days, unable to use class abilities or adventure, at the end of which - unless treated - they will, themselves die.

A target for revivification may not have been deceased longer than a number of days equal to half the Plague Doctor's level. A revivify attempt may only be used once - if it fails on that first attempt, the spirit has moved on.

Trepanation Starting at 3th level, a Plague Doctor may engage in Trepanation - or the boring of a hole in the skull to release pressure or evil spirits from the brain. The patient of the Trepanation takes 1d8 damage, but thereafter rolls a Save vs Spells. The Plague Doctor can use this ability to inflict a positive or negative effect, with the positive effect requiring the save to succeed, the negative one requiring the save to fail. 

At level 8, the damage is reduced to 1d6 and the patient gains a +1 bonus to the resultant Save.  

At level 12, the damage is reduced further to 1d4 and the patient gains a +2 bonus to the resultant Save.

These effects imitate the effects of spells and are defined as follows, depending on the level of the Plague Doctor, and require the Plague Doctor - obviously - to be able to perform the operation in order to take effect:

Requisite Level	Positive	Negative
3	Remove Fear	Inspire Fear
4	Know Alignment	Dispel Evil (Single Monster)
8	Dispel Evil (Curse)
12	Remove Quest	Quest

As with Blood Letting - Trepanation can be repeated - but the patient must have healed entirely from the damage prior to a second attempt.

 

Public domain art retrieved from the Public Domain Review, OldBookIllustrations.com, and the National Gallery of Art and adapted for use. Attribution in alt text.