Carries a Deadly Pathogen

Description

How does it feel, to be something’s home, something’s nest… something’s host? A dreadfully swift infection has taken your body for its own and now only seeks to propagate into new host bodies. Whether you fight to battle the pathogen, and save others from your fate, or gleefully bestow it upon others is up to your consciousness. In any case, the disease is slowly mutating within the folds of your flesh and brings with it ever new changes to your own body. As the infection takes full root within you, it also adapts how it spreads. Who knows what grisly fate the pathogen has in store for your future?

All classes could benefit from the abilities conferred by this focus, but a Glaive, or Jack, who might survive combat better, might make more effective use of it. A character with this focus might try to hide the symptoms of his disease under a thick cloak, or maybe displays it proudly, presenting his cancerous face to the world. Or maybe, just maybe the character is completely unaware of the changes being wrought upon his flesh.

Details

Connection:

Pick one other PC. This PC seems completely immune to your plague. Whether through an exceptionally strong immune system, a genetic adaptation to resist disease, or other weirder reasons, they cannot be infected what-so-ever.

Additional Equipment:

You are in possession of a special breathing apparatus that limits the chances of those around you (chronically) from becoming infected. This device takes on the form of a metal face mask that stops all particles from leaving your mouth. Removing this mask would likely endanger everyone around you to fresh bouts of infection.

Minor Effect Suggestions:

Your plague takes root more quickly than usual in this host. It does not take a turn for the symptoms of your disease to begin.

Major Effect Suggestions:

The plague is incurable! The infected target cannot rid themselves of the disease and suffers its effects to their inevitable conclusion.

Tier 1:

Infectious: Your bodily fluids are contaminated with a horrible disease. Anyone, or anything, biological in nature (even if only partially so) is susceptible to infection. Any creature of this kind can be infected simply by coming into contact with a liquid in your body – such as blood, mucus, stomach acid, saliva, etc. Enabler.

Infection (2 Might points): Knowing how debilitating the first moments of contraction can be, you intentionally infect someone within immediate range with the disease. The round after the target has been infected a bout of coughing and other dramatic manifestations of the disease cause all actions to become one level harder. Every round after this original manifestation, roll to see if you beat the target number of the creature. Effort cannot be applied to this roll. Until this roll is failed, the creature will continue to be sickened. Once recovered, a creature is immune to your infection for 28 hours; until the disease creates a new strain of itself again within your body. Action.

Tier 2:

Projectile Vomit (3 Might points): The disease has formed new layers of muscle around your throat and stomach so that you now have the ability to spew its contents up to short range. Upon a successful attack, the target will take 4 points of acid (ambient) damage and becomes infected with the disease. Action.

Tier 3:

Extraskeletal Calcifications: The pathogen inside of you begins to “learn” that you are its home, but it doesn’t want a home. It want’s a fortress. Your skin begins to calcify and harden slightly, making you tougher if slightly uglier. Gain +1 to your Armor. Enabler.

Ariel Dispersal (4 Might points): Using any of your orifices (including your remaining pores) you extrude a vaporous cloud of contagion. All those within immediate range automatically become infected (no roll required). Action.

Tier 4:

Swift Decay (5 Might points): Your body starts to produce a pheromone that instructs other hosts of the disease to begin self cannibalizing their own cells. This process is extremely painful, but fast as well. All infected creatures within short range take 6 points of internal (ambient) damage and lose their next turn as the pain blocks out all else. Action.

Cloud of Corruption: A swarm of flies has recently sprouted from the pustules beginning to cover your body. Usually covering your skin, or crawling out of your orifices, they can be mistaken for small black lumps of flesh. When the host (you) is threatened however they buzz into life, biting, stinging, and gnawing on all those who threaten you within immediate range. This causes enemies enveloped by the cloud to treat all tasks as one level to their detriment. Enabler.

Tier 5:

Lethal Pathogen: Your disease has developed a new strain of itself and anything that does not benefit from your body’s accustomed immune system finds it nearly impossible to resist the swift onset of death. Those who are infected with your disease take two points of ambient damage a round until they overcome its symptoms. This is in addition to its normal effect as described on Tier 1. Enabler.

Tier 6:

The Perfect Host (7+ Might points): Your body has provided the perfect breeding ground for the disease. Peel back the skin and beneath is nothing but filth and corruption. With a flex of newly grown muscle tissues you are able to pull away the protective layers of your skin and belch forth goblets of pure gore. These small globules of fat, organ and pus begin to twitch and shudder as something emerges from their folds. Giant flies the size of your fist burst forth and begin to attack all those nearby – spreading the pathogen like a plague. You spawn four level 2 creatures that attempt to infect any living creature within long range. Unless special effort is made, even wounding the flies, or fighting them, will cause the disease to take root. Each fly can travel a long distance and follows the commands of the original host; they expire after ten minutes, however. For every point of Might spent at the activation of this ability over the original cost, another fly can be spawned. Action.