Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Infected

Infected are beings parasitized by the spores of an infectious mind.
They have no consciousness of their own but their mental faculties contribute to the collective consciousness of their network, sharing all knowledge telepathically.

Physically, they appear as individuals with the top surface of their body covered with brown mushrooms. This fungal infection causes the destruction of their eyes which is partially compensated by their other senses and the sharing of information through their network, nonetheless, they are more sluggish than before the infection. Due to the toxins produced, the strength of an infected increases and he or she becomes numb to pain which allows the infected to sustain more damage before being incapacitated. The collective mind is unaffected by charm, hold and illusions and being blind, infected are not affected by darkness, invisibility nor blindness.

Becoming infected does not result in death, and infected continue to behave in way that ensure their individual survival as well as the collective survival.

A Cure Disease spell can be used to destroy the parasites, but it will leave the infected in a catatonic state until a Cure Wound spell is used. A Regenerate spell is also needed to restore vision.

Infected, Giant Ant

Armor Class: 17
Hit Dice: 5
No. of Attacks: 1 bite
Damage: 2d6+1
Movement: 50' (10')
No. Appearing: 1d6
Save As: Fighter: 4
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: None
XP: 360

Giant Ants are often the first victims of a blooming infectious mind.
However, they do not contribute much to the collective mind and will often wander aimlessly until smarter creatures join the network. Due to morphological differences, infected giant ants are not blind.
Other giant ants shun them.

Infected, Owl Bear

Armor Class: 15
Hit Dice: 6
No. of Attacks: 2 claws/1bite + 1 hug.
Damage: 1d8+1/d8+1/1d8+1 +2d8+1
Movement: 30'
No. Appearing: 1d4
Save As: Fighter: 5
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: None
XP: 500

Owl Bears are naturally attracted by the bloom of the infectious mind.
Their initial role is to drive more intelligent beings towards the plant.
When the network acquires enough intellect, they act as bodyguards.

I think aborigine is an offensive word in some context.
At any rate, I want to go with something more generic instead

Infected, Humanoid

Armor Class: 11 or better
Hit Dice: 2 or higher
No. of Attacks: 1 weapon
Damage: By weapon + 1
Movement: 30'
No. Appearing: 1d8
Save As: Fighter: 1 or higher
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: None
XP: 75

Intelligent humanoids (including goblinoids and the like) form the building blocks of the collective mind of the infected. As more get infected, the collective gets smarter and its personality develops. That is to say, a group of philosophers would produce a different network mind that a crew of pirates or a band of orcs.
Because of their ability to use tools, infected humanoids are often assigned to work activities unsuited for the other infected. However, infected humanoids are also used to recruit other humanoids, regardless of the chosen mean and every individual is replaceable.

This is interesting, but given that "infected" can apply to basically any living creature, I'd recommend keeping it down to a general explanation and a limited number of examples. A humanoid, a normal or giant animal, and something fantastical like an owlbear would be a good set in my opinion.

Totally agree. I'm just documenting the ones that already have pictures.
Most of the descriptions is with the "Infected" topic and the flower which I'll soon copy from a piece of paper. We can edit from that when I'm done. In a day or two.

How about making just one monster like a template, that can be added to any other creature, and combine every infected picture in one collage?
If some kind of categorization is needed maybe dividing by "dron/worker", "fighter", "scout" with some differentiating details and a couple examples of what creature is normally infected to fill that role

Hmmm, I like that. Wouldn't be too hard to combine the images into a larger half- or 3-quarter page image either.

I actually agree with the idea of template sort of idea. But, the general concept of such templates can be a slippery slope. There can be templates for all kinds of things like certain game editions had which is probably not desirable for our old-school mentality around here.

I would therefore make such a template very flexible instead of a very rigid set of changes. Perhaps randomizing certain changes to a degree in the mindset of "it affects various creatures or even individuals in different ways".

Stats changes are basically +1 HD, damage +1 (although upping the dice type might actually be better if not using weapons) and reduction in movement.

Infected, Zombie

Armor Class: 12
Hit Dice: 3
No. of Attacks: 1 weapon
Damage: By weapon+1
Movement: 20'
No. Appearing: 2d4
Save As: Fighter: 2
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: None
XP: 145

Infected Zombies are created by animating the corpse of an infected. The undead remains attached to the collective, if it still exists. Infected Zombies are as slow as regular ones and still benefit from wearing armors. They cannot be turned.