Caused by a book-loving fungus, Scholar’s Dropsy is a source of nightmares among the great libraries, collegia, and other learned places near and far.

This exceptionally rare fungus makes its home among neglected and rotting books, its mushrooms sprouting briefly from embedded mycelia before shedding their spores on the edges of long-abandoned pages, where they remain dormant for years to decades, waiting to be disturbed. An unlucky reader who turns those pages is likely to find the spores “taking root” along their nailbeds, invisibly so save for a green tint under the nail. Only when those same spores find their way from the nails to the hosts eyes or mouth does the Dropsy begin, with the fungus sprouting within, causing severe fever and ultimately poisoning the brain such that it swells and overheats to the point of, almost literally, cooking itself.

While happily among the most treatable of maladies of its class, the effects are catastrophic if left untended, with more than one historically brilliant mind left dumb and drooling after neglecting themselves. Exposure occurs through contact with the mushroom’s spores, typically in rotten books and documents. A humanoid so exposed must succeed in a DC 10 Constitution save or be infected. Elves are immune to infection.

A humanoid so infected must make a DC 10 Constitution save each day or lost 1 Intelligence (whether permanent or until cured is a matter of Game Master discretion). Treating the disease requires cleansing of the nailbed through removal, fire, acid, or potent antiseptic, followed by consumption of copious amounts of vinegar for 1d6 days.