Dick Move, Mercer! (Infection Move)

[Alex Mercer]

So I was talking with a few people about a theoretical (probably never going to happen) move for Mercer that would bring back some of his previous Canon... at least the part where he is literally a walking, talking Virus...

So this is about an Infect move (generally speaking) but the principle behind it can be expanded on to account for any - what I'm coining - as Dick Moves.

Premise: Charge time is a plausible downside. Longer charge, bigger bang.
Thesis: REALLY long Charge, REALLY big bang.
Theory:
Imagine a move with a Debuff that has a charge up time not meant to deal damage in the current fight. In fact, this move is a means to have the last laugh, hours from its use - days even... Since there's no explicitly stated limit on how long a charge-up timer can be, or how much damage one can yield with a single attack (outside of a Supermove, since they are pretty static) this suggests that the last laugh might be the literally the last laugh...

Using Mercer as an example, imagine the following move: Infect [300] Requirements are Debuff and the Physical and Remote Control Proficiencies. Mercer scratches a target, intentionally doing very little damage and instead leaving them infected with the DX-1118C virus. This does nothing except continue to infect every aspect of the host's physiology, slowly, over time - but otherwise remaining dormant. In one week, the virus hits a critical point. The retrovirus begins drastically restructuring the host's physiology on a micro scale, resulting in a massive amount of damage.

This isn't gamey either, this is basically the Chicken Box. Infection, minor irritation at first then it becomes dormant. Around the age of 60's, the same virus can cause Shingles, which can result in permanent nerve damage, or even blindness if it manifests near the eyes. 

Of course, sixty years in Omniverse is too long, but when ten seconds affords one the power of the Kamehameha, then what would one week do? Even with a Debuff's damage doing significantly less than a straight up attack, its one week of charging.

So now I open this up to discussion... This is a real-world phenomena, and I'm assuming Omniverse has disease, so... what about a Prime Virus?

Please discuss!

[Dane Regan]

Anything that lasts after battle is just going to be healed with Omnilium.

You might get some Secondaries dead, but that's it.

[Takanomiya Hijiri]

Okay, so I have two points I'd like to make.

First;

the Chicken Box

It's called 'Chickenpox', not 'Chicken Box'. It's only one letter,  but it makes a pretty massive difference. =P

And second;

its one week of charging.

This isn't charging. What you're talking about is scratching someone and leaving them alone. If the move Fatigued your character, they had to remain Focused on maintaining it throughout the week and couldn't inflict or take any other damage at all without being interrupted (cancelling the charge and negating its effect)... then that would be a proper charge-up.

Having a move that doesn't require much energy to charge, or much concentration, or might be more difficult than normal to interrupt is entirely possible... but with no maintained Focus at all (presumably your character wants to sleep at some point)? Nah.

This is not a charge-up, it's a delayed effect. Which could still be considered a drawback... just not nearly as effective of one.

Also, Dane's correct; there are way fewer restrictions on what people can do when they're outside of fights than during them, so taking several minutes to chill while you cure yourself with OM is totally feasible... hell, you don't even need to write it like that... you could just go visit a doctor and get cured the normal way if you'd prefer.

[Strazio Rockwell]

This probably isn't workable or practical due to mechanics of the OV, but we can try and take a crack at it.

Something like this seems like a super move considering how debilitating it is. That would also help mitigate a bit of the downsides required. I personally woulf say it would be a tier 2 debuff, but you could make tier 1 work.

Infect - tier 1 super move

Mercer grabs his target and infects them with the D virus. Initially there is no major effect or damage beyond the original scratch. After one week the virus hits a boiling point and propogates rapidly within the host. The host proceeds to suffer an extreme amount of damage (add more specific flavor such as boils, dehydration, other such symptoms). Two caveats, as long as the virus is active Mercer is unable to recover the missing SP through any means, and should he be killed or banished the virus dies and the host is cured.

Idk, would still probably need Omni or Alex's touch and even then would be a toughie to get approved.

[Handsome Jack]

My suggestion would be to just make a fodder thing where willing PCs can become "infected" if they want, allowing them to purchase Alex's Moves.

[Omni]

Secondaries? Sure. Primes? As an optional fodder thing, if the player wanted... sure.