Beneficial Pathogen Symptom Idea Dump

[Podrick Equus]

Currently one of the many issues that people have with Pathology as a department is it is often seen as a place that only traitors go to, because the bad symptoms are extremely powerful (Plasma Farts, Leprosy, Gibbing, etc.)  and the good symptoms are really weak (Wound Mending, Burn Healing) or just straight up don't work (Oxygen Production, Oxygen Conversion).

I'm making this thread to consolidate some of the ideas I have had and have seen for "Good" symptoms, in the hopes that we can one day see them in-game. Feel free to add any ideas you have, and if there are any symptoms on this thread that were already suggested elsewhere, I apologize.

---

Reanimation Syndrome (Tier 5)

Hint: The Pathogen appears to have no dead cells in it.

If the infected individual dies, the pathogen will attempt to convert TOX/BURN/BRUTE damage into BRAIN damage or ORGAN damage (to random organs), then after a certain threshold is reached (minimum 20% hp) the pathogen will revive the afflicted (similar to how SR revives people).

---

Decelerated Metabolism (Tier 3)

Hint: The pathogen appears to be taking its time breaking down the materials around it.

Upon reaching the fourth stage, all chemical depletion rates in your system are reduced by 50% (therefore doubling the amount of time it takes to get them out of your system). At the fifth stage, all chemical depletion rates are reduced by 66% (tripling the amount of time it takes for them to deplete)

This is essentially the Slow Metabolism trait.

---

Oxytocin Production (Tier 2) (Contagious: Hands, Body)

Hint: The Pathogen appears to be...  hugging each other?

The pathogen will occasionally inject small amounts of Pure Love into your system, and will cause you to randomly hug nearby individuals. The higher the stage, the more Pure Love that is produced.

---

Flesh Restructuring (Tier 4)

Hint: The pathogen appears to have the ability to bond with organic tissue to an unprecedented degree.

The pathogen will passively apply the TOUCH reaction of 4/7/10/13/15 Synthflesh to the afflicted individual, once every sixty (60) seconds.

[Nnystyxx]

Decelerated Metabolism and Oxytocin Production seem like they have a downside, that being: murderchems stay in your body forever, and Pure Love resets your intent to Help constantly.

IDEAS:
- Pathogen symptoms that equalize your temperature like the Hot/Cold buffs. Maybe one of each or one that does both. "The pathogen appears to stay at a perfectly consistent temperature at all times."

[zjdtmkhzt]

Yeah, Deccelerated Metabolism could be restricted to only affected medical chems (hypospray whitelist, /reagent/medical/...).
Also, Oxytocin could just use pure hugs to not change the intent (although I do like the idea of stopping fistfights with my pathogen ).
EDIT: (Or the pathogen can just make the afflicted hug people directly, without any chems, which would probably be a lot easier to implement with infecting people when hugging them.)

Temperature equalizing sounds like a terrific idea, there are little things more annoying than being slowed down from a breach, and it's still not quite the same as thermal resistance from genetics.

Also, for completions sake, there is already someone working on a symptom that makes people glow with the color of the pathogen and at higher stages be able to flash people on disarm intent.

[Frank_Stein]

A parasite that eats dead matter and produces water and soap. At low levels you're periodically being cleaned of stains, at higher levels you leave a path of cleanliness in your wake.

A brain fungus causes you to grow a mushroom cap that acts as a protective helmets. Different tiers add an additional effect like providing light or environmental protections.

Echolalia - Causes you to repeat random things you heard. Higher symptoms include sounds like gunshots

[Podrick Equus]

I concede that Decelerated Metabolism, similar to Accelerated Metabolism, can be good or bad depending upon what chemical you're putting into someone. I still think it is fine as is, without a white list.

And why would Oxytocin Production setting harm intent back to help be considered a downside? You aren't a bad person, are you? (It's also funny)

[Recusor]

And why would Oxytocin Production setting harm intent back to help be considered a downside? You aren't a bad person, are you? (It's also funny)

I want to see Nukies attempting to fight but being forced to hug

[Lady Birb]

And why would Oxytocin Production setting harm intent back to help be considered a downside? You aren't a bad person, are you? (It's also funny)

all fun and games until a disease-immune antagonist like vampire or changeling starts spreading this around

[Podrick Equus]

all fun and games until a disease-immune antagonist like vampire or changeling starts spreading this around

Okay, so instead of shooting the vampire at point blank range (on harm intent), you'll instead bash them with your gun (on help intent). And you'll still hit them with your fire extinguisher or other melee weapon on help intent.

Really, the only scenario where I can see this coming up is if you're trying to kill the vampire/changeling with your bare hands, which is easily counteracted by picking up almost any object in the game.

[Ion Mage]

<thing> of plenty: At lower stages, lessens the rate at which you get hungrier. At mid stages, negates the need altogether. At the final stage, the subject will randomly vomit perfectly clean food, with none of the normal vomit fluid to show for it. Of course, this disease is contagious through said food.

[Nnystyxx]

<thing> of plenty: At lower stages, lessens the rate at which you get hungrier. At mid stages, negates the need altogether. At the final stage, the subject will randomly vomit perfectly clean food, with none of the normal vomit fluid to show for it. Of course, this disease is contagious through said food.

I think this would be fucking hilarious to watch spread.

[Podrick Equus]

Oxygen Efficiency (Tier 2)

Hint: The pathogen has a gland that suggests it affects the lungs.

Halves the amount of oxygen needed in a room in order to breathe.

[Erev]

I had a bunch of stuff back in this thread years ago: https://forum.ss13.co/showthread.php?tid=7289
Cutting and pasting the beneficial symptoms segment from it and dropping it in direct.

Quicker clotting - T2 symptom that causes wounds to close more quickly.
Instant clotting - T4 symptom that causes wounds to close immediately.
Blood regeneration - T3 symptom that helps to replace lost blood up to a healthy level.
Limb regeneration - T4 symptom that regrows limbs over time.
Overdrive - T2 symptom that increases your walk/run speed as if you had the chewed-up running shoes on. May require food in your system to sustain the speed.
Resurrection - T5 symptom that will bring you back to life once. Upon this happening the disease is burnt from your system and you become immune. Requires the body to remain mostly intact.
Better Healing - T4 and/or T5 versions of the various damage healing symptoms. Improves both amount healed and speed of healing. (It might be worth having a whole range of healing symptoms similar to how fever and chills works.)
Rad Healing - T4 symptom that takes radiation and causes it slowly heal you instead of harm you as it decays. (The more that you heal in this manner the more your avatar looks like he's rotting.
Electric Healing - T4 symptom that heals you when you get shocked. The more shock there is the more you heal.

[zjdtmkhzt]

Hello, was just reading through old discord posts and saw a jokey suggestion that I think might actually be fun.
(So, disclaimer, the person that originally thought of this was @SwaggerLEL.)

A symptom that converts ethanol into omnizine (Or a similar healing reagent.)
I think it would actually be a really neat way to make a pathogen heal people without it just healing them slowly, and the ethanol requirement makes it so people actively notice it (because they need to drink alcohol for it to work) and also gives a really neat potential synergy with the symptom that converts chemicals in your bloodstream into omnizine.
(If overdoses become a problem, the conversion could potentially stop when the threshold is reached. I feel like a lot of "beneficial" symptoms have some tiny drawbacks that make me wary of using them in a non traitor round, like:

• Beneficial Mutations killing people with cyberhearts when they get SMES human
  
• Oxygen conversion giving people brute damage (although I can't get this OR oxygen production to work, so who even knows....)
  
• Sunglass glands pushing off your actual glasses
  
• never knowing if a t4 is cleansing or tox healing, and some people might not like their chems depleting faster
  
• oxygen farts pushing people around every 5 seconds or so from the resulting winds
  
• unlimited capacitor burninating people when charging them
  

All in all, lots of things that might be neat for the crew to have have some (more or less) tiny drawbacks that makes it so some people might not want it.
I would like to have more symptoms that I can give everyone without having to worry that two or three people will get mad.
Thanks for listening ^_^

[GORE]

How about some Symptons that could come in handy when fighting special antags?
Symptons that could help against wizards...or lings - let me elaborate.

-Magical Miasma (T3-T5) : A wizard infected by this sympton will sometimes fail to cast a spell. From (T3 = 33%) - (T4 = 50%) - (T5 = 75%) of the time. In addition to losing their magical affinity - space-muggles (normal spasssmeeen) will utter their disbelief of magic quite vividly (forced fun-text - spoken out by the infected) .

-Alien-Brain-Membranes (T4) : Neurotoxin (as by the sting of the ling or otherwise) - will no longer harm the person infected by this pathogenic sympton. In fact - Neurotoxin will now act as a counter to BRAIN DMG - per depletion there is a 33% chance to -1 or -2 BRAIN DMG. The common "drool" text will also change to a more funny variant --> "X is drooling with a twisted smile on their face."
Though this sympton will inadverditly safe any infected person from a ling stun - getting "healed" by a bible will now cause Minor BRAIN DMG - displaying the following flavour-text : "X skin is blistering and a ringing headache seems to build up inside their head."

-Adapting-Nervous-System (T4) : This pathogenic sympton causes the infected to revive upon death as a skeleton - thus losing their ability to be scanned in the cloner. Still - they lose all previous damage inflicted on their body - as their skeleton leaves the rotten (or perhaps then gibbed) corpse behind.
(An easy way to mass-revive every crew-member as a skeleton and amp up the bone-rattling. Being infected by this sympton before you shed your fleshy-skin by death still allows you to be scanned - but on death the sympton will take priority over the cloner. A second death as the skeleton will then allow the cloner to do it's work [if you were scanned before] and be revived once again in your fleshy-meatbag-spasssmeeen-existence.)

[Superlagg]

- Ectoplasmic Refabricator (T5+) : Grants instantaneous reformation on death, basically shield of souls in disease form.