Question about injuries with the Dehydrate Spell

[Dexion]

Hi,

I ignore if the subject was treated somewhere else, but I shall like advice on the effects of the Dehydrate spell (M. p188)

One of my players was repetition hit with the Dehydrate spell and fell to -4xHP, he made a success of all his rolls to survive and now he's also dry as a mummy.

But even if his companions are going to cure him with potions of care I do not like the idea that damage so important leaves no track and no side effects.
A big burnt person for example loses of the appearance, the resistance in the diseases and in the infections, sometimes some dexterity etc.

Thus for effects of dehydration, or even acid, ice or electricity somebody would have ideas of effects as we can find for wounds in Martial Arts p. 138 Lasting and Permanent Injuries

Thank for help :)

[Nereidalbel]

Not all forms of injury actually cause long-term damage. Granted, being dropped to -4x hp and making your rolls for dehydration sucks in the short term, but all this guy is going to need to do is drink like a fish and rest for a week or two.

Acid, on the other hand, will cause severe scarring, electricity can cause burns and loss of feeling, and ice brings the danger of frostbite!

[Varyon]

I've not exactly studied the phenomenon, but I've never really heard of any lasting effects of a single bout of really bad dehydration. In general, I think so long as you survive long enough for treatment (and are treated properly) you'll make a full recovery, otherwise you die - there's not much middle ground. Considering you're allowing the use of magic to fix the character, I don't see anything wrong with just saying he had a close brush with death but it hasn't left any scars (physically, anyway).

That said, if you want some sort of lasting effects, you've got some options:
Scarring: Normal dehydration dries out the skin enough to cause some cracking and bleeding, rapid dehydration might be bad enough to actually result in some minor scarring. This is unlikely to result in a decrease in appearance, but might qualify as a Distinguishing Feature.
Tanning: Turning hide into leather involves dehydration, and I suppose it could be possible for magical dehydration to kill an outer layer of skin and effectively tan it, giving it the appearance and consistency of leather. This would decrease appearance, causing the character to look as though he were wearing a leather mask, but would eventually be shed off (comparable to a snake's old skin). If snake people exist and are distrusted, this shedding could have negative social repercussions for the character.
Toxins: Unlikely to come into play if the damage is fixed quickly, but water is necessary for the breaking down (it's called hydrolysis for a reason) of many toxins, including those the body itself produces. Some of the damage from dehydration may well be due to the accumulation of such toxins, which might be able to cause long-term damage (resulting in reduced HT). Of course, if the body has the means, it will probably sequester these toxins into fat - meaning next time the character has to deal with starvation (at which point the body starts breaking down stored fat) he might have to make additional HT rolls to resist some toxic damage.
Come to think of it, breaking down fat is a decent source of water (just ask a camel), so the body might start breaking it down during extreme dehydration. This could result in a toxic cascade - produced toxins have nowhere to go, and previously-sequestered toxins (from food, metabolic processes, and that one sneaky bastard's poisoned dagger) start being introduced back into the bloodstream as fat is broken down, but there's no water to break down the toxins!
Thick blood: Dehydration is going to mean less water in the blood, making blockages more likely and forcing the heart to work harder to pump it through the body. These effects are really covered simply by the HT rolls to survive extreme dehydration (which the character has already made it through), but I suppose reduced HT might be possible, and if you're sadistic you can make the character roll against (potentially penalized) HT during treatment to avoid a Heart Attack.

[starslayer]

Of course if magical dehydration exists, and magical healing exists, it might not be important to track the temporary ruining of your appearance, once you've downed enough healing juice you'll be right as rain.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Dexion

Hi,

I ignore if the subject was treated somewhere else, but I shall like advice on the effects of the Dehydrate spell (M. p188)

One of my players was repetition hit with the Dehydrate spell and fell to -4xHP, he made a success of all his rolls to survive and now he's also dry as a mummy.

But even if his companions are going to cure him with potions of care I do not like the idea that damage so important leaves no track and no side effects.
A big burnt person for example loses of the appearance, the resistance in the diseases and in the infections, sometimes some dexterity etc.

Honestly, severe dehydration would not do much damage, provided that the victim managed to get enough fluid into his system before his kidneys and liver shut down.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Honestly, severe dehydration would not do much damage, provided that the victim managed to get enough fluid into his system before his kidneys and liver shut down.

Hit points lost means that by definition it caused damage. The issue is what lasting effects such a severe injury as to require two or more death checks should cause.
At the very least such mass tissue death should be similar to frost bite / burns. I assume being magical we can ignore the organ stress and likely future failure that realistic dehydration of this magnitude would cause.