Influence effects — in particular, the impulses and compulsions — provide character to your specific infection. They speak to a range of behaviors that put a face on the entity affecting you. Players and GMs are encouraged to use this to generate a personality of sorts for the infection itself. Perhaps they hint at specific alien physiologies, motivations, or cultural mannerisms. Though the exovirus should always remain inscrutable to some degree, its likely manifestations can provide indicators for its general outlook and intentions, which you can then use to add flavor to your PC’s own actions.
In this vein, the influence effects provided for each sub-strain should be considered customizable. Perhaps you envision an async that is so traumatized and confused by the haunter sub-strain that one of their influence effects is to fly into an uncontrollable rage, lashing out at whatever is around them, even their allies and loved ones. Or perhaps you ascribe a motivation of focused self-interest to the stranger and so devise an influence effect that compels your async to act in completely selfish and narcissistic ways, no matter the detriment to others. Maybe your idea for the xenomorph is that it stems from a hive-mind perspective, and so the async might fail to understand the concept of the individual or lash out at behavior divergent from perceived collective goals. Use the effects as listed for guidelines, while also considering options such as temporary disorders, enhanced behaviors, restricted behaviors, or even negative traits such as Neural Damage.
Enhanced Behavior: Arrogance. You have it all figured out. You are convinced that you are incontrovertibly right, that your plan is the best plan, and that you know exactly what is going on. You sneer at anyone who thinks otherwise.
3
Restricted Behavior: Relaxation. There is no time to rest, you have too many things to do!
4
Motivation: +Hoard. You instinctively and secretly collect things for purposes that are not entirely clear to you. This might range from electronics components to rare elements to a variety of weapons — or it might apply to stranger things such as skin or internal organs. You not only accumulate these items, but stash them away in hidden caches to protect them from others.
5
Motivation: +Expose Inner Workings. You become hyperfocused on the most interesting person, thing, or mystery in your immediate vicinity. This might be an unusual morph, a high-tech device, an unsolved puzzle, or something you have never experienced before. If nothing stands out, you fixate on the nearest person or thing that is newest to you. You are compelled to learn all about the subject by tinkering with it, testing it, taking it apart, and examining it piece by piece.
6+
Motivation: +Create. You are obsessed with an elusive idea for a new creation. This may be a sculpture, a robot, a neogenetic life form, or something weird. The nature of the design relies on your skills and available resources. It might also require components or resources that are unusual (blood, bones) or hard to find (uranium, antimatter). The idea itself may not be fully formed or realized in your head — you may not understand even after you finish it. If you are unlikely to complete the design before the compulsion ends, you will be inclined to secretly store it and pick up the project again the next time you are compelled.
Other Potential Enhanced Behaviors: Curiosity, Callousness, Ruthlessness.
Other Potential Motivations: +Acquire Advanced Technology, +Discard Emotional Ties, +Discover the Unknown, +Repurpose, +Uncover Secrets.
Enhanced Behavior: Aggression. You are unnecessarily hostile. You respond to any challenge, threat, or provocation with intimidation or violence.
3
Restricted Behavior: Remorse. You are oblivious or ambivalent to the negative repercussions of your actions on others.
4
Motivation: +Domination. You will do what is necessary to gain the upper hand. This can mean defeating your rivals, assuming leadership of your pack, or otherwise proclaiming and defending your superiority.
5
Motivation: +No Quarter. You refuse to flee or surrender, even if the odds are overwhelming. You also refuse to spare your enemies or show mercy.
6+
Frenzy: Within the next 24 hours, you frenzy if blood is spilled near you. For 1d6 minutes, you receive +10 on melee attacks, inflict +1d6 DV melee damage, and ignore the effects of one wound (cumulative with other pain editors, up to a maximum of 3 wound effects). However, you must make a WIL Check to use a ranged weapon against a target in melee range or to restrain yourself from attacking anyone brandishing a weapon or otherwise hostile.
Other Potential Enhanced Behaviors: Arousal, Gluttony, Risk-Taking.
Enhanced Behavior: Avoidance. You acquire an intolerance for a specific type of sensory input: smells, sounds, light, darkness, etc. You will go to great lengths to avoid it.
3
Enhanced Behavior: Mistrust. You are convinced that nothing is as it seems. The signs of conspiracy, of falsehood, of wrongness are everywhere. Your allies may be compromised without their knowledge. Everything is suspect.
4
Motivation: +Cut Ties. Relationships are pointless at best, a detriment at worst. Better to rid yourself of excess baggage.
5
Motivation: +Isolation. You are disgusted by the presence of others and called by the desire to embrace the void. You will seek to isolate yourself from others and meditate with the silent voices in the dark. You may even go so far as to barricade yourself in, hide where you cannot be found, or take a spacewalk to commune with the dark universe.
6+
Hallucination: Within the next 24 hours, you experience a full-sensory hallucination. The GM describes a scene to you as if were real, and you respond accordingly. The hallucination may be as subtle as seeing something crawling under an NPC’s skin to as immersive as suddenly finding yourself in an alien environment, but it lasts no more than a few minutes. If you have cause to disbelieve the illusion, you may make an INT Check to spot the falsehood; even if successful, however, the hallucination will still play out. Some hallucinations may just provide unnerving or horrifying experiences, a sign that the universe is unraveling around you. Others may provide obfuscated insights, reveal hidden connections, or hint at things to come.
Other Potential Enhanced Behaviors: Denial, Nihilism, Unsettling Mannerisms.
Other Potential Restricted Behaviors: Empathy.
Other Potential Motivations: +Crush Hope, +Expose Hidden Truths, +Release Others From Misery, +Shake Collective Confidence.
Enhanced Behavior: Deceit. Truth becomes uninteresting, you lie just to get the thrill of manipulating others, no matter the consequences. You avoid blatant mis-truths, but take pleasure in misleading others, even with trivial details. The rush when seeding doubt and uncertainty, even if it casts aspersions on others, is intoxicating.
3
Enhanced Behavior: Self-Sabotage. You are your own worst enemy. You choose the worst options for yourself and always take the wrong path.
4
Motivation: +Foil Plans. You delight in spoiling the designs of others. You go out of your way to ensure that people fail their obligations, agendas self-destruct, and things do not go as planned.
5
Motivation: +Manipulation. You get a thrill at steering people into actions and behaviors that fit your plans.
6+
Motivation: +Test Limits. You like to see how far you can get things to go. You might bypass an opportunity to quickly resolve a conflict, ignore fast solutions in order to drag an emergency out, or intentionally spread misinformation that you know will aggravate tensions between already near-hostile parties. You will press buttons, fan the flames, exploit vulnerabilities, reveal horrible truths, push boundaries, and stir things up, even if it puts you and your comrades at risk.
Other Potential Enhanced Behaviors: Cruelty, Spite.
Other Potential Restricted Behaviors: Empathy, Remorse, Take Responsibility.
Other Potential Motivations: +Betrayal, +Convert Opponent, +Execute Grand Scheme, +Mislead Others, +Twist Truth.
Enhanced Behavior: Non-verbal Communication. Words become less important. You prefer conveying intent by posture, expressions, threat displays, and similar physical emotive cues.
3
Enhanced Behavior: Cliquishness. You are rude, mistrustful, and hostile to outsiders, but supportive to your pack.
4
Motivation: +Transform Environment. You’d prefer an environment conducive to the alien presence within you. So you create one or establish a nest. This may require complete darkness, burrowing underground, warmth (> 100 °F/38 °C), cold (< 0 °F/−17 °C), or submerging an area in water or a similar liquid. This favored environment may always remain the same or it may change randomly or according to conditions.
5
Motivation: +Control Territory. You must free an area you control from outside threats. You may be inclined to stock provisions, set traps, and otherwise protect your space from intruders.
6+
Motivation: +Express True Form. You are no longer satisfied to dwell in inferior physical forms. You will go to great lengths to modify yourself, whether sophisticated or crude.
Other Potential Enhanced Behaviors: Arousal, Gluttony, Grooming, Socialize.
Other Potential Motivations: +Eat the Weak, +Establish Colony, +Hibernate, +Molt, +Play with Prey, +Protect Tribe.