“ Animals have parasites and diseases, so do plants, there are even bacteria that cann dissolve oil spills or plastic or what have you - why couldn't there be a disease living off magic - a magic item could be infected, losing power and speading the plague to other equipment it contacts, while a magic user would slowly lose his powers and contaminate all he works with or casts a spell at...”
“ You find a patch of edible funghi. They taste well and all, no ill effects. UNLESS you consume some beverage, even 3 (three) days after eating it. Then you become really sick with pains, vomiting, all the fancy stuff. As a gift or good meal, it could be a cruel joke or to make sure the heroes spend their time focused on the mission. And the fine soup you had in the inn yesterday could have some in.
(Inspired through a real-world fungus. Was really used to cure alcoholism.)”
“ The Californian Sea Otter, as a species, eats about 30 different types of food found throughout its range. Each individual otter, however, will only eat 3 or 4 of these foods - those it was fed by its mother as a child. It will not eat the others even if failure to do so means it would starve. Maybe other, possibly larger and more dangerous creatures and monsters, have similar habits.”
