Generally speaking, any illnesses or spiritual afflictions in the game are called Maladies. Healing looks slightly different depending on the severity of Maladies below. The Storyteller uses different tiers of Maladies to categorize what Rafa can heal, and to what extent.
Maladies cause symptoms, negative health outcomes that drain your patient’s health. Symptoms are determined by rolling a four-sided die (1d4) and consulting the Storyteller about what this symptom represents and how much life energy they lose. While not strictly the same as a symptom, Side Effects caused by caring poorly for patients with Rafa Healing skills (from rolling a 1) are functionally similar in that you roll 1d4 to determine negative health outcomes. Luckily, it’s always possible to alleviate negative symptoms and make patients more comfortable, even if the Malady isn’t cured.
Major Maladies #
A major Malady is a serious illness or injury with symptoms that can emerge throughout the Scenario. You can treat individual symptoms to increase your patient’s life energy and improve their quality of life, but you must solve the underlying dilemma surrounding the major Malady in order to cure the patient or secure longterm treatment options for them.
The Storyteller sporadically rolls a d4 to add a symptom, and the patient loses life energy with each new symptom. Major maladies have the potential to lead to deaths, should the patient’s life energy counter reduces to zero and Rafa fail to revive the patient.
Minor Maladies #
A minor Malady is a less serious illness or injury that disappears when the symptom is cured. An example would be a small cut or a stubbed toe, which the Rafa can eliminate by energy bending with Heal Wound. Minor Maladies are more incidental to the Scenario being played but require attention if players care for those in their community.
Chronic Maladies #
Some people live with chronic Maladies that Rafa cannot cure. Rafa help alleviate symptoms and support your patients in longterm care for living with their illnesses.