Leeches are commonly found in slow-moving rivers or stagnant ponds, though they can also live in deep or fast-moving water. Stagnant water has a 50% chance of containing leeches, slow moving water a 25% chance, and swifter rivers a 10% chance. Ordinary leeches are disgusting but mostly harmless. They may attach themselves to characters moving through the water, but most leeches prefer to feed on carrion, plant matter, and other leeches. Still, it’s disturbing for even the most seasoned adventurer to emerge from a river and find sticky blobs of leech plastered to her skin, and though leeches themselves are not poisonous, they are capable of spreading blood-borne diseases from one victim to the next as they vomit the contents of their stomachs into the wound. Thus, you may wish to assign a percentile chance of contracting one of the following injury diseases Editor’s Note: a roughly even percentage chance has been included for each disease below- feel free to disregard or determine your own chance if you prefer):
| d% | Roll |
|---|---|
| 01-13 | Bonecrusher (Dengue) Fever |
| 14-25 | Brainworms |
| 26-37 | Dysentery |
| 38-49 | Firegut |
| 50-62 | Greenscale |
| 63-75 | Malaria (Jungle Fever) |
| 76-88 | Pulsing Puffs |
| 89-00 | Sleeping Sickness |
Pathfinder Chronicles: Heart of the Jungle. Copyright 2010, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Tim Hitchcock, Jason Nelson, Amber Scott, Chris Self, and Todd Stewart.
