Paladins, Green Slime, and Rot Grubs

[Scott]

Paladins are immune to, and can cure, disease. Green slime and rot grubs are both destroyed by a cure disease spell. Is a paladin immune to green slime and rot grubs, and is his cure disease ability an effective solution?
Scott

[foster1941]

Without having checked anything in the rulebooks (as usual), off the top of my head I'd say that a paladin is not immune to green slime or rot grub attacks, but can use his cure diesase ability to kill them. However, since paladins can only cure a limited number of diseases (1/week/5 levels?), if they're attacked by a green slime or rot grub after they've used up all their cures for the week, then they're outta luck. (My rationale is that neither a rot grub no a green slime's attack is actually a disease (unlike, say, a giant rat or a mummy) of the sort that the paladin would be immune to, but they are described as being killed by cure disease spell, and the paladin ability is considered equivalent to that spell, so...)

[GT]

I would agree with Foster on that one... In a similar vein, back in the 80's Gary was asked if a Paladin was immune to lycanthropy, and the answer was "no" as that was as much a curse as a disease.

[geneweigel]

I hope this line of questioning didn't stem from a third edition alumni's proposal for a new prestige class for paladins:

Insert picture of massive shinned, pony-tailed, glowing-chainmail camisoled, buffed-out, lipglossed and evening gloved female paladin surrounded in a vortexed wave of green slime and rot grubs.

THE IMMUNE

[Axe Mental]

I agree with Foster as well, green slime seems to attack as a single organism then eat and transform while typical diseases (viral, parasitic, bacterial) live within the host attacking in a somewhat indirect way as individual organisms rather then in mass form. The disease from a mummy is also supposed to be microscopic bacteria or something that gets on the skin right? Really independent of the mummys intentional attack.
Considering the somewhat indepth coverage of disease in the DMG, it seems that thats what G was getting at.
interestingly, my Paladin almost got wiped out in White Plume last weekend by stepping in green slime hidden below the water line, the MUs toasted it and me with fireballs.

[foster1941]

Axe said:

Interestingly, my Paladin almost got wiped out in White Plume last weekend by stepping in green slime hidden below the water line, the MUs toasted it and me with fireballs.

So, had you forgotten that cure disease kills green slime, or that paladins can cure disease, or had you already used up all your cures for the week (perhaps by curing people of that nasty "super-tetanus" you can catch elsewhere in that dungeon)?

[Axe Mental]

In all honesty, I forgot my paladin could cure disease, (it never came up in combat, and I hadn't played my paladin in a good 8 months), and I also had no idea that a green slime could be effected by cure disease, (and neither did the DM I imagine). Which brings up another interesting point, would a paladin have been tought that green slime is a type of creature that can be killed by Cure Disease, or is that just something they would have to try. If so, I would never think of it.

Also, with clerics, would they know what types of evil creatures they can turn at particular levels, or is this info. supposed to be unknown to the player (granted they can even determine what they're fighting (a white vs. ghoul vs. a zombie etc.). Should the DM say, hey Joe paladin, thats a green slime, you were tought in paladin school that green slimes can be effected by your cure disease...or should they be left out to hang and rely on reading (and memorizing) the Monster Manual when the DMs not looking?

Actually, the DM I first sat for wouldn't let the players even see the pictures of the monsters, and forced us ot rely 100% on our imaginations. Forget ever getting to look at the MM. That didn't come for years. Man, I was such a geek...yet I miss those days when the game still had the level of mystique and magical brilliance. Now I settle for the dim glow of adult playing, still its better then total darkness offered by our hum drum non magical world

[Lord Cias]

I agree that paladins can use their cure disease ability to kill green slime, rot grubs, etc.; but they are not themselves immune to such attacks (as they themselves are not true "diseases").

While it is possible for a paladin (or any other character) to have knowledge of green slime (or any other monster) passed down from a mentor, I doubt it is common place. Players should NOT be allowed to go through the MM during play (or shortly before or after) and they should be encouraged to not go through it between sessions. The PCs of more experienced players and DMs might have more general knowledge of various monsters, and the "my mentor told me about this monster" explanation can be used to justify such knowledge. However, these players should probably limit themselves to using only general knowledge about a monster, and not let their characters act upon very detailed or obscure information from the MM. For example, a PC may know what green slime is, he may know what substances it eats through, that it can be burned by fire, and that it will turn its victim into green slime, but a PC would most likely NOT know that a cure disease spell will kill it until such was discovered by other means other than simple "player knowledge".

I have no problems letting the players see a picture from the monster manual during play. However, in some cases I might intentionally mislead the players. For example, if the PCs encounter a wight, I might show them the picture of a zombie (or vice versa), as showing them the picture of the wight would give away the nature of the monster that they realistically wouldn't get from sight alone. The same applies for any other monster that is supposed to look the same as something else. But usually I just describe the appearance in detail and let the players draw their own conclusions.