Infected Critter
There is something worse than a mutated animal that wants to kill you. It is a mutated animal that used to be something recognizable, something you could have identified by its gait or its call, before the fungus took hold and turned it into something else entirely. Infected critters are creatures overtaken by a mind-altering variant of Infection-heavy fungus, often the glow shroom. The original animal is still in there, faintly, like a shape beneath murky water. But what drives it now is the fungus, and the fungus has its own agenda.
The blue glow is the signature. Faintly luminous mushrooms sprout from the creature's back, along its jaw, across its skull. They grow denser over time, until a heavily infected specimen looks less like an animal and more like a mobile colony. The eyes, if you can still see them beneath the growths, carry a wildness that goes beyond predatory instinct. These creatures are not just hungry or territorial. They are maddened, driven to violence and nest-building by a contamination that has rewritten their behavior from the inside out.
Infected critters are territorial in the extreme. They construct fungi-infested nests in sheltered locations and defend them with unpredictable aggression. The nests themselves are dangerous: thick with spores, glowing faintly with the same blue luminescence as the creatures that built them. Clearing an infected nest means confronting both the critter and the environmental hazard of its territory. At Menace tier and above, the situation worsens considerably. Infected critters gain Friend of Zombie, meaning the undead simply ignore them. Zombies may even converge around their nests, drawn by whatever signal the fungus puts out. An encounter with an infected critter at high tier is rarely just an encounter with one creature.
From Nuisance through Apocalyptic, these creatures carry Natural Armor and Mental Armor at every tier, making them resilient from the start. Choking Blow silences screams. Paralysis locks targets in place. Aberrant Suffering delivers psychic anguish. At Apocalyptic tier, Area of Effect Paralysis can lock down an entire group while the creature and its zombie allies close in. The original animal might still be faintly visible beneath the fungal overgrowth, but whatever mercy that recognition inspires is a luxury survivors cannot afford.
The blue glow is the signature. Faintly luminous mushrooms sprout from the creature's back, along its jaw, across its skull. They grow denser over time, until a heavily infected specimen looks less like an animal and more like a mobile colony. The eyes, if you can still see them beneath the growths, carry a wildness that goes beyond predatory instinct. These creatures are not just hungry or territorial. They are maddened, driven to violence and nest-building by a contamination that has rewritten their behavior from the inside out.
Infected critters are territorial in the extreme. They construct fungi-infested nests in sheltered locations and defend them with unpredictable aggression. The nests themselves are dangerous: thick with spores, glowing faintly with the same blue luminescence as the creatures that built them. Clearing an infected nest means confronting both the critter and the environmental hazard of its territory. At Menace tier and above, the situation worsens considerably. Infected critters gain Friend of Zombie, meaning the undead simply ignore them. Zombies may even converge around their nests, drawn by whatever signal the fungus puts out. An encounter with an infected critter at high tier is rarely just an encounter with one creature.
From Nuisance through Apocalyptic, these creatures carry Natural Armor and Mental Armor at every tier, making them resilient from the start. Choking Blow silences screams. Paralysis locks targets in place. Aberrant Suffering delivers psychic anguish. At Apocalyptic tier, Area of Effect Paralysis can lock down an entire group while the creature and its zombie allies close in. The original animal might still be faintly visible beneath the fungal overgrowth, but whatever mercy that recognition inspires is a luxury survivors cannot afford.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The body beneath the fungus is still identifiable, barely. The original species might have been anything: a canine, a large rodent, a feral boar. The skeletal structure and musculature are still there, but corrupted, twisted by the Infection-heavy fungus that has colonized the creature from the inside out. Limbs bend at slightly wrong angles. The gait carries an erratic quality, as though the creature's motor control has been partially overridden by something that does not quite understand how the body is supposed to move.
The fungal growths are the dominant visual feature. Faintly glowing blue mushrooms sprout from the creature's back, along the spine, and across facial features where the tissue is thinnest. In advanced cases, the growths are dense enough to obscure the animal's original shape, forming a ridged, organic canopy that shifts with the creature's movement. The glow is persistent and visible in low light, which means infected critters are easy to spot at night. Whether this is a disadvantage for the creature or a lure for curious prey is a matter of ongoing debate among wasteland naturalists.
The fungal growths are the dominant visual feature. Faintly glowing blue mushrooms sprout from the creature's back, along the spine, and across facial features where the tissue is thinnest. In advanced cases, the growths are dense enough to obscure the animal's original shape, forming a ridged, organic canopy that shifts with the creature's movement. The glow is persistent and visible in low light, which means infected critters are easy to spot at night. Whether this is a disadvantage for the creature or a lure for curious prey is a matter of ongoing debate among wasteland naturalists.
Biological Traits
Infected critters are defensively robust from the very first tier. Natural Armor and Mental Armor appear at Tier 1 and persist through Apocalyptic, giving them baseline resilience that most other scope types do not achieve until mid-tier. Push Through prevents crowd control from slowing their advance, and at Tier 4, Ranged Damage Reduction forces engagement at close range where the creature is most dangerous.
Offensively, Choking Blow silences targets (preventing calls for help), Paralysis locks them in place, and Aberrant Suffering inflicts psychic damage. Cannibalism and Consume Flesh allow the creature to feed on downed targets for health recovery. The scaling is steep: at Apocalyptic tier, Area of Effect Paralysis (self-immune) can lock down an entire group, while Area of Effect Aberrant Suffering punishes anyone within range. Combined with fifteen Spike Damage 10 brawling strikes, the creature can systematically disable and destroy a party.
Friend of Zombie at Menace tier and above is the defining strategic complication. Zombies ignore infected critters entirely, and the overlap of zombie and infected territories means encounters are compound threats. The creature itself lacks Sturdy Critter, but its defensive suite of Natural Armor, Mental Armor, Ranged Damage Reduction, and Push Through makes it substantially harder to kill than its Body value suggests.
Offensively, Choking Blow silences targets (preventing calls for help), Paralysis locks them in place, and Aberrant Suffering inflicts psychic damage. Cannibalism and Consume Flesh allow the creature to feed on downed targets for health recovery. The scaling is steep: at Apocalyptic tier, Area of Effect Paralysis (self-immune) can lock down an entire group, while Area of Effect Aberrant Suffering punishes anyone within range. Combined with fifteen Spike Damage 10 brawling strikes, the creature can systematically disable and destroy a party.
Friend of Zombie at Menace tier and above is the defining strategic complication. Zombies ignore infected critters entirely, and the overlap of zombie and infected territories means encounters are compound threats. The creature itself lacks Sturdy Critter, but its defensive suite of Natural Armor, Mental Armor, Ranged Damage Reduction, and Push Through makes it substantially harder to kill than its Body value suggests.
Behaviour
Madness and territory define infected critter behavior. The fungal contamination has overwritten the animal's natural instincts with something more aggressive, more unpredictable, and far more dangerous. These creatures do not behave like normal predators. They lash out at perceived intrusions into their territory with sudden, frenzied violence, and their attack patterns carry an erratic quality that makes them difficult to anticipate.
Nest-building is the most distinctive behavior. Infected critters select sheltered locations and construct fungi-infested lairs, coating surfaces with spores and organic material that extends their fungal colony. The nests serve as both home and weapon: the spore concentration makes the air itself hazardous, and the creature fights with increased ferocity when defending its territory.
The relationship with the undead is the most unsettling aspect. At Menace tier and above, zombies simply do not attack infected critters. They coexist in the same space, the fungal creatures nesting among the walking dead as though they share some deep compatibility. Whether the fungus produces a signal that registers as "dead" to zombie senses, or whether the relationship is symbiotic in some other way, is not understood. What is understood is that an infected critter's nest at high tier is likely surrounded by undead, and clearing it requires planning for both threats simultaneously.
Nest-building is the most distinctive behavior. Infected critters select sheltered locations and construct fungi-infested lairs, coating surfaces with spores and organic material that extends their fungal colony. The nests serve as both home and weapon: the spore concentration makes the air itself hazardous, and the creature fights with increased ferocity when defending its territory.
The relationship with the undead is the most unsettling aspect. At Menace tier and above, zombies simply do not attack infected critters. They coexist in the same space, the fungal creatures nesting among the walking dead as though they share some deep compatibility. Whether the fungus produces a signal that registers as "dead" to zombie senses, or whether the relationship is symbiotic in some other way, is not understood. What is understood is that an infected critter's nest at high tier is likely surrounded by undead, and clearing it requires planning for both threats simultaneously.
Fungus-colonized fauna driven to territorial madness by Infection.
Scope Type
Infected
Threat Range
Nuisance through Apocalyptic
Body Range
10-250 (base) + scope modifiers
Key Trait
Friend of Zombie, Paralysis, Choking Blow, Aberrant Suffering
