Chance of disease from drinking water

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Child of Maragaram
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Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Child of Maragaram » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:47 pm

This has been a feature of Arelith for a very long time. But why? What's the point of it? Why does drinking from any water source, even one situated indoors, carrying the chance of contracting some kind of disease? Shouldn't it only be "dirty" water sources that carry this risk, like those found in caves, or outdoor public fountains?

I understand that one could make the argument that this is to replicate a Middle Ages-esque setting (or whatever real-life time period we're pretending Faerun is remotely like), but that all goes out the window because of the existence of perfectly clean bottled water. If all the water in Arelith is diseased, where does the clean water found in bottles come from?

Gods_Kill_People
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Gods_Kill_People » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:29 pm

Bottled water has had purification cast on it in batches by priests before being processed into bottles. *nod nod*

See here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/purifyFoodAndDrink.htm

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WanderingPoet
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by WanderingPoet » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:32 pm

There are plenty of 'clean' water sources in game - Myon for example and most of the richer houses (if not all) have a clean water source.

Curiously and weirdly though the ships have only filthy stale water - the Troubadour's water supply has a 100% chance of making you roll. I don't see why a ship can't buy clean water back at port before sailing around!

Would be nice to have the barrels of water changed to a percentage chance to poison you.
Path_of_Play wrote:Fear, intimidation, anger - All these, the tyrant's tools.
Laughter, encouragement, play - not simply just for fools.
These tools reveal,
More is learned,
From another in an hour of play,
Than in a year of contention.

Nitro
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Nitro » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:41 pm

Prior to modern purification techniques, even drinking water from a supposedly "clean" mountain river or farmside well runs the risk of the water containing all sorts of nasty things to make your guts a miserable place. Boiling or diluting with alcohol were fairly commonplace practices which made hydrating a great deal safer, which presumably is what our bottled water in Arelith is.

(It'd be cool if a cast of remove disease made wells and other water sources safe to drink from for a tick or two though)

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Aero Silver
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Aero Silver » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:55 pm

WanderingPoet wrote:Curiously and weirdly though the ships have only filthy stale water - the Troubadour's water supply has a 100% chance of making you roll. I don't see why a ship can't buy clean water back at port before sailing around!
In real life until the late 18th century, sailors drank from beer barrels on long trips, not as a form of luxury, but because water in barrels turned stale and foul after a couple weeks. Mosquitoes lay their eggs, flies and maggots die and float on the surface, sailors' saliva mixing with the water when they drank. Dysentery was common during these times. It wasn't until the value of proper hygiene and its direct correlation with diseases was discovered that this practice went away.
All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous. Meaning: all that glitters ain't gold.

Sab1
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Sab1 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:45 am

So I say instead of removing or reducing the disease chance, the dev's make it so even bottled water has a chance to disease. :D

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WanderingPoet
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by WanderingPoet » Tue Oct 17, 2017 12:54 am

Aero Silver wrote:
WanderingPoet wrote:Curiously and weirdly though the ships have only filthy stale water - the Troubadour's water supply has a 100% chance of making you roll. I don't see why a ship can't buy clean water back at port before sailing around!
In real life until the late 18th century, sailors drank from beer barrels on long trips, not as a form of luxury, but because water in barrels turned stale and foul after a couple weeks. Mosquitoes lay their eggs, flies and maggots die and float on the surface, sailors' saliva mixing with the water when they drank. Dysentery was common during these times. It wasn't until the value of proper hygiene and its direct correlation with diseases was discovered that this practice went away.
I'm well aware of the history of hygiene and how ships took long voyages - but the ships on the isle don't take 'long trips'!

I'm sure a ship taking a day long trip can pack some 'fresh' water for the trip - especially with all the clean bottles that you can buy en-mass~
Path_of_Play wrote:Fear, intimidation, anger - All these, the tyrant's tools.
Laughter, encouragement, play - not simply just for fools.
These tools reveal,
More is learned,
From another in an hour of play,
Than in a year of contention.

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Aero Silver
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Aero Silver » Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:50 pm

Unless the water is sealed or chlorinated, it will get putrid. All it takes it one day in the proper environment.

Why would ship captains pay to buy water bottles en-masses when they can have the dock workers fill up the water barrels with free water from the nearest drinking wells?

In Arelith, disease doesn't have to be typhoid or cholera or dysentery. You could RP a simple diarrhea or vomiting afterwards. so it is easy to roll with it. Your character gets sick, they get excused from the group for half a minute and return refreshed and better.
All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous. Meaning: all that glitters ain't gold.

Nitro
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by Nitro » Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:40 pm

Since it's easily fixed by anyone with a healer's kit, it might just be some mild stomach ache fixed by munching down some medicinal herbs even.

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WanderingPoet
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Re: Chance of disease from drinking water

Post by WanderingPoet » Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:14 am

Aero Silver wrote:Unless the water is sealed or chlorinated, it will get putrid. All it takes it one day in the proper environment.

Why would ship captains pay to buy water bottles en-masses when they can have the dock workers fill up the water barrels with free water from the nearest drinking wells?

In Arelith, disease doesn't have to be typhoid or cholera or dysentery. You could RP a simple diarrhea or vomiting afterwards. so it is easy to roll with it. Your character gets sick, they get excused from the group for half a minute and return refreshed and better.
Because as the Ship's Captain I like fresh water~ With such a high maintenance already I'm sure my character could afford to buy clean water and not filthy water~

Especially as an elf that is used to drinking pure water, and as a priest (who usually have the powers to purify water).

RPwise its easy to 'deal with', sure, but its still silly. Though that /does/ give me the idea to just buy water and keep it in the ships hold (good use for chest space!) so people don't have to drink the dirty water~
Path_of_Play wrote:Fear, intimidation, anger - All these, the tyrant's tools.
Laughter, encouragement, play - not simply just for fools.
These tools reveal,
More is learned,
From another in an hour of play,
Than in a year of contention.

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