Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Biohazard Warning: the Plague Conduit Berzerker

I joked about not having disease rules, so Max of the Oblidisideryptch and I collaborated to throw together not only disease rules and a table of devastating plagues, but also this Berzerker conduit! Meet the Plaguezerker, malaria-ridden and oh-so-willing to give you a taste of their power. Let them in, and become host to something far greater than yourself.


Plague Conduit Berzerker
ceSar art
Death comes for all, floating on the wind or crawling up the river, in a million beady eyes and biting jaws. The greatest civilizations of the world all bow to the plague when it knocks on their door. Once you were infected, the plague decided you're more use to it alive than dead, so long as you fulfill your duty as its holy emissary. Your conduit is every drip of disease running through your veins, sloughing your skin and bleeding you dry. You revel in buboes, call yourself friend-to-rats, give mucus-alms to the hungry and wretched. The gift you bring is one of freedom; how dare any resist your plague.

(Quick reminder for the Berzerker rules: You have a conduit, and gain its Passive benefit. You have Rage Dice, which are d4s. When you want to enter a rage, roll any number of your Rage Dice. THe rage lasts for (sum) minutes. Rage Dice burn out on 3s or 4s, and only return on a daily or long rest. When you roll doubles or triples on your Rage Dice, you get the related effect from your Conduit.

While raging, you get an extra attack each round, (sum) bonus temporary Hit Points, and can use the Active benefit at the cost of cutting (dice) minutes off your rage. You can't take any actions that don't contribute to you brutally murdering things while you're raging, and it automatically expires when all enemies are dead, subdued, or driven off, regardless of how much time is left. You can try to end your rage early on a 1-in-4.)

Passive: A fatal disease has claimed you as its own. You cannot contract other diseases, and you cannot die from the disease so long as you spread it to (Berzerker level)^2 new carriers per week. You still suffer its negative effects.

Active: Force a creature you've damaged to CON save vs. contracting your disease; or if they're already afflicted force them to CON save vs. the disease worsening.

Doubles
1. Ichor floods from your mouth, eyes, and pores, creating sticky pools around you. Anyone who walks into one must STR save to unstick themself; also works as a potent adhesive. Also sticks everything you touch during your rage to you.
2. Your attacks leave poxy buboes where they land, even on surfaces. Anyone who's hit by one popping (through even the most minor of pressures) must CON save or contract the first stage of your disease. If you're hit by one, though, your disease worsens one stage (no save).
3. Your exhalations spread plague. You enter a coughing fit, gaining a breath weapon that deals 1d6 acid damage in a 30' cone and forces a save vs. a symptom of your disease. Symptoms given this way expire when your rage ends. This also deals damage to you, and you can't move on a turn where you do this.
4. The plague sees, and feels, and hates. You can sense the presence of the uninfected for 100' around any carriers you can see (including yourself). While raging, you must relentlessly attack the closest uninfected to you until they are infected, then move on to your next target.

Triples
1. Your active ability forces infected creatures that you damage to instantly save vs. the last stage of the disease, instead of just the disease progressing. This takes an equivalent toll on you; you must also save vs. your disease worsening whenever you force a save this way.
2. Your disease tears itself from your body as a ichory double that follows your orders (so long as those orders will spread the plague). It has all your abilities and is raging; all of its attacks inflict a symptom until your rage ends. You lose all bonuses from your disease while the duplicate exists, but retain the penalties. At the end of your rage, it schlorps back into your body. If it cannot rejoin you, save vs. death to your disease every daily rest.
3. When you kill someone with your disease, they rise as a plague zombie. Creatures killed by the plague zombies also rise as more plague zombies, even after your rage has ended. These zombies only differentiate infected/uninfected, so they'll attack whoever's least infected nearby. This will almost certainly include your allies, and may include you.
4. Roll twice on Doubles, both effects occur.

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