Pathogen Symptoms

A whole page for all the funny ways pathogens can change people--and all the ways pathogens themselves can change!

Tier 1: Very Common Symptoms

Name	Microscope Clue	Symptom Rating	Reagent Reactions	Explanation	Spreads pathogen through
Indigestion	The pathogen appears to react to hydrating agents.	Harmful	Saline-Glucose Solution: One of the glands of the pathogen seems to shut down in the presence of the solution.	Afflicted suffers very mild, barely noticeable TOX damage.	None
Gasping	The pathogen appears to create bubbles of vacuum around its affected area.	Harmful	None	Afflicted sometimes *gasps. In later stages, these gasping episodes may cause slight (1) OXY damage and eventually brief loss of breath\\.	None
Shivering	The pathogen appears to be shivering.	Harmless	None	Afflicted infrequently (think 10% of the time) *shivers. Shivers occur more often with each stage of the pathogen, but are otherwise completely harmless.	None
Sweating	The pathogen appears to generate a high amount of fluids.	Harmless	Cryostylane: The cold substance appears to affect the fluid generation of the pathogen.	Afflicted feels worrying but ultimately harmless sensations about feeling hot. Sweating has a high chance to infect those around the afflicted, and it occurs quite frequently, even in the first stage. At the fifth stage, the afflicted will be sweating and spreading pathogens pretty much all the time.	Hands, Body
Shakespeare	The culture appears to be quite dramatic.	Annoying	None	Afflicted's speech is "Shakespearified"; "does" becomes "doth", "you" becomes "thou", "are" becomes "art", etc. Very slight chance, which increases with each stage, to recite from a selection of Shakespeare quotes.	None
Farts	The pathogen appears to produce a large volume of gas.	Harmless	None	Afflicted sometimes involuntarily *farts, releasing pathogens. The later the stage of the pathogen, the more frequent the farting.	Air

Tier 2: Common Symptoms

Name	Microscope Clue	Symptom Rating	Reagent Reactions	Effect	Spreads pathogen through
Coughing	The pathogen appears to generate a high amount of fluids.	Harmful	None	*Cough emotes that can, as you'd expect, spread the pathogens. Coughing becomes more frequent as the pathogen progresses through stages. At tiers 4 and 5 the infected take a 1 and 2 brute damage respectively per cough.	Face, Hands, Air
Muscle Ache	The pathogen appears to react to hydrating agents.	Harmful	Saline-Glucose Solution: One of the glands of the pathogen seems to shut down in the presence of the solution.	Afflicted sometimes suffers mostly harmless aches and pains. In later stages, these aches become severe enough to cause slight amount of brute damage.	None
Sneezing	The pathogen appears to generate a high amount of fluids.	Harmless	Pepper: The pathogen violently discharges fluids when coming in contact with pepper.	Afflicted infrequently sneezes, spreading pathogens. Sneezing occurs much more often with each stage of the pathogen, capping out at stage 4.	Face, Hands, Body, Air
Fever	The pathogen appears to be creating a constant field of radiating heat. The relevant membranes look like they might be affected by painkillers.	Harmful	Salicylic Acid: The heat emission of the pathogen is completely shut down by the painkillers.	Infrequent messages about feeling hot, accompanied by small (6 degrees Celsius at most) rises in body temperature. In the pathogen's fourth stage, the fevers can cause slight BURN and occasionally TOX damage.	None
Common Chills	The pathogen is producing a trail of ice. Perhaps something hot might affect it.	Harmful	Phlogiston/Chlorine Trifluoride: The hot reagent melts the trail of ice completely.	Slight (5%) chance to lower body temperature by 1 degree Celsius. At each stage, the chills become much more frequent and severe; at later stages, they can lower body temperature by 12 degrees Celsius.	None
Detoxication	The pathogen appears to react with a pure intoxicant.	Beneficial	Ethanol: The pathogen appears to have entirely metabolized the ethanol.	When the pathogen reaches its fourth stage, ethanol in the afflicted's body depletes two times faster than normal. When it's in the fifth stage, ethanol depletes three times as fast! Ethanol depletion rate is otherwise unaffected when the pathogen's first to third stages.	None
Snapping	The pathogen seems like it might respond to strong sonic impulses.	Harmful	Hootingium/Sonic powder: The individual microbodies appear to be forming a very simplistic rhythm with their explosive snaps.	Afflicted sometimes *snaps, spreading the pathogen. Somehow. Snapping is more frequent with each stage.	Face, Air, Hands, Body
Oxygen Farts	The pathogen appears to produce a large volume of gas.	Beneficial	Phlogiston/Chlorine Trifluoride: The flame of the hot reagents is oxidized by the gas.	Afflicted gain a chance to involuntarily fart, releasing some oxygen into the air around them.	Air
Wound Mending	The pathogen appears to have the ability to bond with organic tissue.	Beneficial	Synthflesh: Microscopic damage on the synthetic flesh appears to be mended by the pathogen.	Afflicted is sometimes healed of an amount of BRUTE damage equal to the half of the pathogen's stage (.5/1/1.5/2/2.5). As the pathogen progresses through each stage, they are healed more often and in its fifth stage, the afflicted can expect to be healed roughly once per 20-30 seconds.	None
Burn Healing	The pathogen appears to have the ability to bond with organic tissue.	Beneficial	Synthflesh: The pathogen does not appear to mend the synthetic flesh. Perhaps something that might cause other types of injuries might help. Chlorine Trifluoride: The pathogen repels the scalding hot chemical and quickly repairs any damage caused by it to organic tissue.	Afflicted is sometimes healed of an amount of BURN damage equal to the half of the pathogen's stage (.5/1/1.5/2/2.5). As the pathogen progresses through each stage, they are healed more often and in its fifth stage, the afflicted can expect to be healed roughly once per 20-30 seconds.	None
Oxytocin Production	The pathogen's cells appear to be... hugging each other?	Harmful	None	Afflicted is occasionally injected with Pure Love. The higher the stage, the more love you are injected with. It has a chance to spread whenever you hug somebody.	Body, Hands

Tier 3: Uncommon Symptoms

Name	Microscope Clue	Symptom Rating	Reagent Reactions	Effect	Spreads pathogen through
Deathgasping	The pathogen appears to be.. sort of dead?	Harmless	None.	Infrequent, scary but ultimately harmless *deathgasp emotes ("[Name] seizes up and falls limp, his/her eyes dead and lifeless...")	None
Cleansing	The pathogen seems to be much cleaner than normal.	Beneficial	Any Reagent: The pathogen appears to have entirely metabolized... all chemical agents in the dish.	Afflicted is sometimes healed of an amount of TOX damage equal to the half of the pathogen's stage (.5/1/1.5/2/2.5). As the pathogen progresses through each stage, they are healed more often and in its fifth stage, the afflicted can expect to be healed roughly once per 20-30 seconds.	None
Disorientation	A glimpse at the pathogen's exterior indicates it could affect the central nervous system.	Hell	Mannitol: The pathogen appears to have trouble cultivating in the areas affected by the mannitol.	Afflicted gets messages about feeling disorientated and has a mild (10%) chance to actually misstep and go off in a different direction than intended. Missteps occur more often with each pathogen stage.	None
Paranoia	The pathogen appears to be wilder than usual, perhaps sedatives or psychoactive substances might affect its behaviour.	Harmful	Morphine/Ketamine: The pathogens near the sedative appear to be in stasis. LSD: The pathogen appears to be barely affected by the LSD.	Afflicted will hallucinate everyone they see threatening them. At later stages, the hallucinations occur more often and begin to involve suspicious items lying on the floor and being shoved into backpacks.	None
Fluent Speech	The pathogen appears to generate a high amount of fluids.	Harmless	Salt: The pathogen stops generating fluids when coming in contact with salt.	Whatever the afflicted speaks, their spit may (somehow) land on others nearby (as in, three tiles from the afflicted) within their sight and infect them with the pathogen.	Face
Sunglass Glands	The pathogen appears to be sensitive to sudden flashes of light.	YEEEEAAAAAAAAHH	Flash Powder: The pathogen appears to have developed a resistance to the flash powder. On zoom: The individual microbodies appear to be wearing sunglasses.	A pair of sunglasses may spontaneously appear over the afflicted's eyes. No really. If they were already wearing something over their eyes, the sunglasses will still appear, and the item will drop on the floor.	None
Hepatomegaly	The pathogen appears to be capable of processing certain beverages.	Harmful	Ethanol/Alcoholic Beverages: The pathogen appears to react violently to the [reagent].	If the afflicted takes in ethanol, they may suffer mild toxin damage. The amount of toxin damage increases every stage, and they may be outright stunned or fall to the floor at later stages of the pathogen.	None
Plasma Farts	The pathogen appears to produce a large volume of gas.	Round Destroying	Phlogiston/Chlorine Trifluoride: The gas lights up in a puff of flame.	Afflicted may spontaneously fart, and every time they fart, whether by choice, by pathogen, or by some other cause, they replace the air around them with plasma gas. With each stage of the pathogen, the plasma farts occur more often and produce more plasma, and can cause TOX and OXY damage in later stages.	Air
Projectile Bee Egg Sneezing	The pathogen appears to generate a high amount of fluids. Honey, to be more specific.	Bee 🐝	Pepper: The pathogen violently discharges honey when coming in contact with pepper.	Afflicted sometimes sneezes out a space bee egg, spreading the pathogen and hatching the egg. The later the stage of the pathogen, the more often this occurs.	Face, Hands, Air, Body
Neuron Restoration	The pathogen appears to have a gland that may affect neural functions.	Beneficial	Neurotoxin: The pathogen releases a chemical in an attempt to counteract the effects of the neurotoxin.	Afflicted sometimes heals a little bit of brain damage. Specifically, per stage, there is -/5/10/15/20% chance every few seconds to heal -/1/1/2/2 brain damage.	None.

Tier 4: Rare Symptoms

Name	Microscope Clue	Symptom Rating	Reagent Reactions	Effect	Spreads pathogen through
Serious Paranoia	The pathogen appears to be wilder than usual, perhaps sedatives or psychoactive substances might affect its behaviour.	Harmful	Morphine/Ketamine: The pathogens near the sedative appear to be in stasis. LSD: The pathogen appears to be strangely unaffected by the LSD.	Afflicted hallucinates nearby mobs making death threats at them, much more often than with standard paranoia. Eventually, the hallucinations involve Syndicate Items appearing on the floor and being inserting into backpacks, Changelings spitting acid, Vampires biting people, and bright flashes following the sounds of explosions.	None
Teleportation	A glimpse at an irregular nerve center of the pathogen indicates that it might react to psychoactive substances.	Harmful	LSD: Upon closer examination, the pathogens appear to be shifting through space, instantly disappearing and reappearing.	Worrying messages about space warping around them. In the pathogen's third stage, the afflicted may rarely actually teleport to somewhere outside of their viewing range. The later the stage, the farther they teleport.	None
Acute Fever	The pathogen appears to be creating a constant field of radiating heat. The relevant membranes look like they might be affected by painkillers.	Harmful	Salicylic Acid: The heat emission of the pathogen is barely affected by the painkillers.	Much like standard fever, except in the pathogen's fourth and fifth stages, the afflicted has a rare (1-3%) chance of spontaneously bursting into flames.	None
Acute Chills	The pathogen is producing a trail of ice. Perhaps something hot might affect it.	Harmful	Phlogiston/Chlorine Trifluoride: The hot reagent barely melts the trail of ice.	Much like regular chills, but the afflicted has a rare (1%) chance of spontaneously freezing into ice in the pathogen's third stage. In addition, in the fourth and fifth stages, their body temperature can lower significantly; the chills become strong enough to outright stun the afflicted and create ice beneath them.	None
Smoke Farts	The pathogen appears to produce a large volume of gas.	Harmful	Any Reagent: The [reagent] violently explodes into a puff of smoke when coming into contact with the pathogen.	Afflicted's farts, voluntary or not, create a 4x4 chemical smoke cloud around them, using whatever reagents happened to be in their blood at the time. They also get a low (15% in the pathogen's fifth stage) chance to involuntarily fart.	Air
CO2 Farts	The pathogen appears to produce a large volume of gas.	Harmful	Phlogiston/Chlorine Trifluoride: The flame of the hot reagents is snuffed by the gas.	Afflicted sometimes farts...and every fart, spontaneous or not, replaces the air around them with carbon dioxide gas. These farts produce more CO2 and occur more often with each stage. At later stages, these farts can cause the afflicted TOX and OXY damage.	Air
Senility	The pathogen appears to have a gland that may affect neural functions.	Harmful	None	Afflicted occasionally takes a very small amount of brain damage and may drool, pick their nose, and, during the pathogen's fifth stage, drop whatever they were holding.	None
Accelerated Metabolisis	The pathogen appears to be rapidly breaking down certain materials around it.	Beneficial	Any Reagent: The pathogen appears to have entirely metabolized... all chemical agents in the dish.	Initially has no effect, but when the pathogen reaches its fourth stage, all chemicals in the afflicted's body deplete two times faster than normal. When it's in the fifth stage, chemicals deplete three times as fast!	None
Auto-Brewery	The pathogen appears to react with anything but a pure intoxicant.	Harmful	Any Reagent Besides Ethanol: The pathogen appears to have entirely metabolized all chemical agents in the dish into... ethanol.	Afflicted slowly converts chemical reagents inside them into ethanol. The further the stage, the faster this occurs. Alcoholic drinks are not affected.	None
Radioactivity	A curiously shaped gland on the pathogen is emitting an unearthly blue glow.	Harmful	Silver: The silver appears to be moderating the reaction within the pathogen's gland.	Pathogens occasionally blast the afflicted with doses of radiation, inflicting TOX and BURN damage over time. Dose increases with stage.	None
Jazz Snapping	The pathogen seems like it might respond to strong sonic impulses.	Harmful	Hootingium/Sonic powder: The individual microbodies appear to be playing smooth jazz.	Much like standard Snapping, but the afflicted snaps much, much more frequently. In addition, when the pathogen reaches its fourth and fifth stages, a jazzy turtleneck and flat cap and/or saxophone may spontaneously materialize on the afflicted.	Face, Air, Hands, Body
Flesh Restructuring	The pathogen appears to be rapidly repairing the other cells around it.	Beneficial	Synthflesh: The pathogen appears to mimic the behavior of the synthetic flesh. Sulfuric Acid: The pathogen becomes agitated and works to repair the damaged caused by the sulfuric acid.	Afflicted is sometimes healed of an amount of both BRUTE and BURN damage equal to the pathogen's stage (1/2/3/4/5 each). As the pathogen progresses through each stage, they are healed more often and in its fifth stage, the afflicted can expect to be healed roughly once per 20-30 seconds.	None

Tier 5: Very Rare Symptoms

Name	Microscope Clue	Reagent Reactions	Effect	Spreads pathogen through
Gibbing	The culture appears to process proteins at an irregular speed.	Synthflesh: There are stray synthflesh pieces all over the dish.	Very scary (but actually quite harmless) feelings of the body being too "tight". Afflicted can only burst into gibs when the pathogen is in its fifth stage, at a rare (2%) chance, which will likely spread the infection further.	Face, Air, Hands, Body
Capacitor	The culture appears to have an irregular lack of liquids, but a very high amount of hydrogen and oxygen.	Voltagen: Bits of pathogen violently explode when coming into contact with the voltagen. Water: The water inside the petri dish appears to be breaking down into hydrogen and oxygen.	Afflicted can somehow absorb and release electricity. They are immune to electric shocks; if the shock has a high enough wattage, they can even absorb some of the electricity into themselves. They may spontaneously absorb electricity from nearby wires and eventually APCs and SMES Units, but not without burning themselves. They can safety electrocute others, without burning themselves, by punching them on Harm intent or punching a downed opponent on Disarm intent. Both of these will use half of the electricity contained within them and has a 50% chance to also electrocute the afflicted. They may discharge all their electricity at random intervals or when punched, electrocuting everyone within a certain radius while stunning and inflicting BURN damage on themselves. The area of effect, duration of stun, and BURN damage inflicted by the electrocution and received by the afflicted increases the more electricity stored in them. If they absorb more electricity than they can hold, they may cause a number of small explosions that, somehow, spread the pathogen.	Afflicted overloading and exploding.
Unlimited Capacitor	The culture appears to have an irregular lack of liquids, but a very high amount of hydrogen and oxygen.	Voltagen: The pathogen appears to have the ability to infinitely absorb the voltagen.	Functions identically to the regular Capacitor symptom, except there is no chance for the afflicted to overload and explode.	None
Dragon Fever	The pathogen appears to be creating a constant field of radiating heat. The relevant membranes look like they might be affected by painkillers.	Salicylic Acid: The heat emission of the pathogen is completely unaffected by the painkillers and continues to radiate heat at an intense rate.	Much like standard fever, except when the pathogen is in the fourth and fifth stages, the afflicted has a good (25-35%) chance of spontaneously bursting into flames and, in the fifth stage, a rare (2%) chance to completely burn up and burst into a pile of ashes.	None
Arctic Chills	The pathogen is producing a trail of ice. Perhaps something hot might affect it.	Phlogiston/Chlorine Trifluoride: The hot reagent doesn't affect the trail of ice at all!	Exactly like acute chills, but with a rare (1%) chance for the afflicted to become an ice statue when the pathogen is in its fifth stage.	None
Leprosy	The pathogen appears to be rapidly breaking down certain materials around it	None	Worrying feelings about body parts feeling "loose". When the pathogen is in the fourth and fifth stages, the afflicted has a low (8-10%) chance of one of their arms or legs outright falling onto the floor.	None
Oxygen Conversion	The pathogen appears to radiate a bubble of oxygen.	Synthflesh: The pathogen consumes the synthflesh and converts it into oxygen.	If the afflicted ever stops breathing/suffers LOSEBREATH, the pathogen will counteract it by converting the afflicted's flesh into oxygen, inflicting BRUTE damage to them in the progress. If they ever lose oxygen or otherwise suffer OXY damage (which is different from simply not breathing), the pathogen will slowly attempt to heal it. The amount of OXY damage healed increases with each stage.	None
Oxygen Production	The pathogen appears to radiate a bubble of oxygen.	None	Afflicted will never stop breathing, no strings attached. If they ever lose oxygen or otherwise suffer OXY damage, the pathogen will slowly attempt to heal it, at twice the rate Oxygen Conversion does. Similarly, the later the stage, the more OXY damage healed each time.	None
Wild Snapping	The pathogen seems like it might respond to strong sonic impulses.	Hootingium/Sonic powder: The individual microbodies appear to be playing some form of freeform jazz. They are clearly off-key.	Similar to standard Snapping, but the afflicted snaps much more often. In the pathogen's fourth and fifth stages, they may also, very rarely, violently tear off one of their arms in the process.	Face, Air, Hands, Body
Random Mutations	The pathogen appears to be shifting and distorting its genetic structure rapidly.	Mutadone: Approximately 82.7% of the individual microbodies appear to have returned to genetic normalcy.	Afflicted occasionally gains a mutation. The later the stage, the more often they mutate. These mutations can be good or bad, often come with a chromosome attached, and can decrease genetic stability. Not every mutation has an equal chance of occurring.	None
Random Reinforced Mutations	The pathogen appears to be shifting and distorting its genetic structure rapidly.	Mutadone: Approximately 0.00% of the individual microbodies appear to have returned to genetic normalcy.	Similar to standard Random Mutations, but the mutations cannot be removed with mutadone (so only a GeneTek console can remove them) and occur somewhat less often.	None
Random Good and Stable Mutations	The pathogen appears to be shifting and distorting its genetic structure rapidly.	Mutadone: Approximately 99.82% of the individual microbodies appear to have returned to genetic normalcy. Approximately 100.00% of the individual microbodies appear disappointed about that.	Similar to standard Random Mutations, but the mutations are always "beneficial" and do not decrease genetic stability, though they occur somewhat less often.	None
Necrotic Detonation	Some of the pathogen's dead cells seem to remain active.	Synthflesh: There are stray synthflesh pieces all over the dish.	Afflicted explodes upon death. Power and radius of explosion increase with each stage; general effect is roughly on par with a microbomb or two.	None
Necrotic Resurrection	Some of the pathogen's dead cells seem to remain active.	Synthflesh: Dead parts of the synthflesh seem to still be transferring blood.	When the afflicted dies, so long as the pathogen was in Stage 5, they are brought back to life. All blood is restored, and their OXY and TOX will be healed, but they'll be briefly paralyzed and suffer some misstepping in the first few minutes afterwards and start off with some significant BRUTE, BURN, and brain damage. They'll also sooon contract tissue necrosis, which causes the body to gradually rot away if not preserved with formaldehyde. This cannot revive people who have set themselves to DNR, and the pathogen cures itself and gives the afflicted immunity to the pathogen, so this only works once!	None

Mutations

Mutation	Maliciousness Range Required	Favors Lower or Higher Maliciousness?	Other Conditions to Occur	Effect
Attribute Scramble	N/A	Unaffected	20% chance to occur each time a pathogen can mutate, at any Mutativeness level.	Each of the pathogen's Primary Attributes (Advance Speed, Mutation Speed, Maliciousness, Suppression Threshold, and Mutativeness) may increase or decrease by 0-8. Can occur up to 5 times per pathogen.
Lose All Attributes	N/A	Unaffected	8% chance to occur each time a pathogen can mutate, regardless of Mutativeness.	Each of the pathogen's Primary Attributes reset to 0. It will still show symptoms, so this doesn't necessarily make the pathogen completely harmless.
Increase Generation	N/A	Unaffected	None. Can occur at any Mutativeness value.	The pathogen's Generation increases by one, i.e. the pathogen becomes a different strain of the base pathogen. Again, higher generation pathogens will always overtake lower generation ones, and a person cannot have multiple strains/Generations of a pathogen at one time.
Become Asymptomatic	N/A	Unaffected	Pathogen is symptomatic (obviously). Flat 35% chance to occur every time a pathogen can mutate.	The pathogen shows no symptoms, and most symptoms are effectively disabled, but infection can still occur through direct contact. Strangely, the sweating symptom can still infect others with pathogen; the associated messages will simply be suppressed.
Become Symptomatic	N/A	Unaffected	Pathogen is asymptomatic (obviously). Independent of Mutativeness.	Pathogen begins showing symptoms again.
Maliciousness Boost	-25‒5	Lower	None	Pathogen's Maliciousness increases by 1-3.
Benevolence Boost	-25‒5	Higher	None	Pathogen's Maliciousness decreases by 1-3.
Advance Speed Boost	20 or lower	Lower	None	Pathogen's Advance Speed increases by 1-3.
Advance Speed Penalty	20 or lower	Higher	None	Pathogen's Advance Speed decreases by 1-3.
Mutation Speed Boost	-15 or higher	Lower	None	Pathogen's Mutation Speed increases by 1-3.
Mutation Speed Penalty	-15 or higher	Lower	None	Pathogen's Mutation Speed decreases by 1-3. If it was less than 0, it resets back to 0.
More Stages	-25 or lower	Unaffected	Pathogen has less than 5 stages. Straight 75% to occur it's within the Maliciousness range.	Pathogen gains an extra Stage. It doesn't necessarily progress into the next Stage.
Less Stages	-25 or lower	Unaffected	Pathogen has more than 3 stages. Flat 75% to occur once it's within the Maliciousness range.	Pathogen loses a Stage. If it's in the fourth or fifth stage when this happens, it'll go back to the third or fourth stage, respectively.
Gain Symptom	15‒30	Higher	None	Pathogen gains an additional symptom, with heavy leaning towards Very Common and Common symptoms. There is a 6% chance to gain Rare or Very Rare tier symptoms.
Gain More Symptoms	25‒70	Higher	None	Just like Gain Symptom, but pathogen has a random chance to gain an additional symptom or two.
Gain Strong Symptom	65‒150 (good luck with that)	Higher	None	Pathogen gains an additional symptom. There is still some heavy leaning towards Very Common and Common symptoms, but not as much as with Gain Symptom, and there is a 15% chance of gaining a Rare or Very Rare Symptom.
Gain More Strong Symptoms	125 or higher	Higher	None	Just like Gain Strong Symptom, but the pathogen has a random chance to also another symptom or two on top of the one already gained.
Lose Symptom	50 or higher	Higher	None	Pathogen loses a random symptom. It can potentially gain it back, whether from another mutation or symptom splicing.

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