Virus Phobia [1264]

Climat/Terrain	Ravenloft
Organisation	N/A
Fréquence	Rare
Diète	Rien
Cycle d'activité	Any
Intelligence	0 - Non intelligent ou non mesurable
Trésor	Nil
Alignement	Neutre Absolu
Nombres	N/A
Classe d'armure	N/A
Mouvement	Au sol : 0 Vol : - Classe de vol : Nage : Enfouissement : Web :
Dés de vie	N/A
Thac0	0
Nbre d'attaques	0
Dommage / attaques	Nil
Attaques spéciales	Cause phobia
Défenses spéciales	See below
Résistance à la magie	Nil
Taille	T - tiny ( 2' tall or less) (microscopic)
Morale	Spe - Special
Valeur en XP	270 xp

Commentaires : The phobia virus is the only magical virus that does not necessarily cause its victim’s death. Once in the body, it attacks the host’s mind, causing the character to develop a severe phobia. Although such a neurosis may weaken a character at a critical moment and lead to death, the virus itself is not fatal. Within 12 hours of infection, the victim of a phobia virus begins to feel generally nervous. The character begins to sweat profusely and runs a fever for several days. He also begins to have vague, recurring nightmares. Although the fever fades, the victim’s fearfulness increases. By the seventh night of infection, the victim is exhausted. The virus-driven nightmares become clear, and the victim’s fear crystallizes into a phobia. The fear is always of something that never troubled the victim before, and may even be something with which he was quite comfortable. Nevertheless, when the infected victim is confronted with the object of his newly formed phobia, he suffers the results of a failed fear check. Remove fear and similar magic temporarily aid the sufferer, but he succumbs to his irrational fear as soon as the magic wears off. The spell true seeing combined with a cure disease spell can permanently rid the victim of his phobia. Psionic powers also can be helpful in the treatment of a phobia virus victim. The most notable of these is psychic surgery, which can repair the damage done by the virus. Unless this treatment is followed with a cure disease spell or the like, however, the still-active virus attacks the brain again and restores the phobia. Victims of a phobia virus are extremely vulnerable to psionic attacks such as id insinuation or magical spells like cloak of fear. Anyone who suffers from a phobia virus and is confronted with a magical or psionic fear-inducing attack must make an immediate Madness Check. (See Chapter III of the Realm of Terror book in the Ravenloft Campaign Setting boxed set for rules on madness.)