"Bring out your defeated! Bring out your defeateeeeed....!": The DISEASE Powerset is upon you!

[AspieAnarchy]

I've made some refinements since then, but I swear I first made this long before 2020....

 

DISEASE (Buff)

Available to: Defenders, Corrupters, Masterminds

Set Color: White-on-Medium Dark Hazel

 

Diseases can be devastating (or in a few cases, helpful), and are usually contagious, but with the exception of Computer Virus (and Rabies in the case of certain Masterminds), robots and machines are immune to their effects, and most spectral or ghostly beings are likewise unaffected. It has few, if any, rivals for its breadth of debuffs, and thanks to contagion, they often continue to do their work even without the vector’s (that’s you!) continued effort; depending on the movements of infected enemies, other enemies in turn might wind up suffering their effects before you’ve even encountered them!

 

1) Creeping Cold – infects the target with a relatively mild, but highly contagious, strain of the common cold. The target’s speed, accuracy, recovery, and perception are all decreased for a little while, and nearby enemies are very likely to contract it in turn.

Recharge: Moderate

 

2) Antibodies – incites a single ally's immune system to purge whatever ails it, temporarily increasing the target’s regeneration rate.

Recharge: Slow

 

3) Influenza – reduces the target's damage, defense, attack rate, and endurance recovery. The flu is extremely contagious.

Recharge: Moderate

 

4) Blight – infects a target with a vicious parasitic fungus. Most organic foes will suffer a moderate decrease to their regeneration and slight decrease to their accuracy and resistance, but plant-based foes, as well as certain magical or unnatural entities, face much more severe versions of these effects, as well as some reduction to maximum hit points and a much greater rate of contagion.

Recharge: Fast

 

5) Computer Virus – infects an electronic or robotic target with a vicious (but only weakly contagious) computer virus that may have any number of deleterious effects, potentially including 1-4 of the following: Slowing, to-hit debuff, defense debuff, reduced recovery, disorientation, immobilization, sleep, blindness, placation, and/or confusion; some organic enemies, particularly cyborgs, have been known to suffer weaker versions of its effects.

Recharge: Moderate

 

6) Polio – Causes complete paralysis in a target. Nearby enemies may contract a milder version and become immobilized.

Recharge: Slow

 

7) Invoke Symbiosis – stimulates a defeated ally's mitochondria, reanimating it and protecting it from debt for 90 seconds. The target will benefit from increased endurance recovery for a while after reanimation. In addition, whatever germs and parasites happened to have been residing in the character's body are prompted to seek out new hosts, generating a cloud of pestilence that lowers the accuracy and resistance of nearby enemies. When these effects wear off, the subject will suffer from decreased endurance recovery and attack speed for a while thereafter.

Recharge: Very Long

 

😎 Ebola (Defenders, Corrupters) – infects the target with a horrible flesh-eating virus that very gradually deals massive damage. Nearby enemies may contract a much weaker version. Not usually too helpful against your typical gaggle of Minions, but can be very effective if unleashed at the start of a tough fight.

Damage: Extreme Toxic (DoT) Recharge: Very Long

OR
Rabies (Masterminds) – you infect one of your own henchmen with a rapidly-advancing form of rabies (or a software analog, if your henchmen are robots). The target's movement, attack rate, and damage are all drastically increased, but the subject immediately collapses once the disease has run its course.

Recharge: Very Long

 

9) Plague – Unleashes a terrible plague epidemic on your enemies, starting with an initial target and spreading more rapidly and at longer range than other contagions. Victims are subjected to slowing, severe endurance loss and retarded recovery, reduced damage and damage resistance, and possibly a substantial reduction of their maximum hit points.

Recharge: Very Long

 

Example Character Concept: The Remorseless Guns Germs & Steel! (Villainous Robotics/Disease Technology Mastermind)

Edited October 10, 2023 by AspieAnarchy
swapped 6th- and 7th-tier powers; trimmed a couple of possibilities from Computer Virus; refined descriptive paragraph; color-coded attack damage-types