Wisdom from the Wastelands Issue 38: Radiation Sickness Bonus Conent
Going back over many of my older issues of Wisdom from the Wasteland I realized that there were several items, nanotechnology, and drugs that needed to be ‘updated’ in order to work with the rules I presented in this issue. The bonus content covers the rules covering using these various items on victims who are suffering from radiation poisoning.
I have also included three new types of drugs that are useful when combating certain symptoms that appear with the accumulation of radiation.
Going back over many of my older issues of Wisdom from the Wasteland I realized that there were several items, nanotechnology, and drugs that needed to be ‘updated’ in order to work with the rules I presented in this issue. The bonus content covers the rules covering using these various items on victims who are suffering from radiation poisoning.
I have also included three new types of drugs that are useful when combating certain symptoms that appear with the accumulation of radiation.
Issue 13: Medical devices contained several devices that could help alleviate the various conditions suffered from exposure to radiation. Below are the devices and what effects they will have on the various effects of radiation poisoning.
Genetic Damage Restorer will automatically reverse any damage that could result in either cancer or mutation, no matter the level of radiation suffered. This will remove the roll and the chance of acquiring either.
RadBeGone will heal the damage the victim has sustained and like GDR it will prevent the victim from developing cancer or mutations. What it will not do however is remove the accumulated levels of radiation. Instead it will triple the user’s natural healing rate, allowing for the reduction of accumulated levels even faster. For example, a character with a natural healing rate of 1d3 will remove only 1d3 levels of radiation per day. Using this device the user will automatically remove 3d3 levels of radiation per day, until all the accumulated radiation levels have been purged from the body. This will continue to work until all levels of radiation have been removed, even if the user has been exposed to more radiation. It should be noted that after the device has been used and the nanites have been restored to it, any further damage sustained from future exposures of radiation will not be removed. Once all levels of radiation have been removed from the body, the increase in healing rate will drop back to its normal level. This increase will only work against radiation, nothing else.
Second Skin suit will automatically restore any charisma lost due to scarring, as it will heal the scars suffered by the victim.
In the nanotechnology issues I introduce to the game (30 and 31) there are several types of nanotechnology that can be used to alleviate or lessen the effects of radiation poisoning.
Better-U Nanites (issue 30): When applied to scarring caused by radiation, the nanites will automatically repair the damaged tissue, restoring the flesh to its original state. This process takes 1d4 hours to complete and will restore the Charisma lost due to the scarring.
Heal Augs (issue 30): It has been discovered that this type of nanotechnology is also beneficial when dealing with radiation sickness. Any of the symptoms described in the radiation poisoning issue will have a bonus of +2 to the saving throws (if there is one), as long as the victim has these nanites in their system. This will not work in the same manner as the RadBeGone however, and the victim will not be able to benefit from the increase in the natural healing rate to remove levels of radiation poisoning per day. But the victim will still be benefit from the increased healing rate when dealing with the actual damage sustained from exposure to radiation.
Hyper Antibodies (issue 30): If the victim has this particular type of nanite in their body, they will gain full benefit of the +4 versus disease. This is particularly useful as it will prevent the victim from suffering the effects of Aplastic Anemia completely.
Rad Scourers (issue 30): This is the best defense that one can have when it comes to radiation sickness. Unless someone suffers from a lethal dosage of radiation, someone with this type of nanotechnology in their body will never have to deal with any of the symptoms of exposure to radiation. For all intent and purpose, the victim is immune to the effects of radiation poisoning. Also these scourers will remove the users healing rate of contamination every hour, so that even if exposed to critical levels of radiation, the user will fully recover in a matter of a few days at the most.
Issue 33: Drugs introduced several new types of drugs to add more flavor to the game. Several of the drugs can be used to help a victim of radiation poisoning.
Burn Gel: only one application can be used, and it will automatically heal the victim of 1d6 points of damage sustained from the thermal aspect of radiation burns. This gel will also help prevent the formation of lesions / pustules, giving the user a bonus of +2 to the saving throw to avoid this from happening. This is cumulative with the saving throw modifier that is listed in the table.
Numb: This drug will alleviate the pain the radiation victim suffers, removing the penalties incurred as long as the drug remains in effect in the victim’s body. Once the drug wears off, the victim will suffer from the listed penalties, depending on the severity of the pain.
Rad Resist: If the user is lucky enough to take no damage, they will not accumulate any levels of radiation. All of the other bonuses listed in the drug apply if the consumer has managed to sustain accumulation of radiation levels.
Stim: Like Rad Resist, the user will not feel the effects of fatigue while under the influence of this particular drug. Once the drug wears off, the effects will return immediately.
New Drugs
Anti-Nausea Drug: This type of medication has been around for centuries. Many people used it for traveling to prevent motion sickness. With greater advances in technology these drugs now last longer and provide greater benefits. This drug will remove all the penalties of nausea for 6+2d3 hours. Taking multiple doses at once will not increase the length of time that the user will not feel the effects of nausea. It will only benefit once the previous dose has worn off.
Cool Head: Even during the years leading up to the final wars, there were people who suffered from migraines. Despite everything, the doctors often could not find the root cause of these horrible headaches. But they were able to come up with more powerful drugs to help lessen the effects of the migraines, allowing the sufferer to be able to function. This drug will last for 12+2d6 hours and will automatically reduce the level of the migraine by one step, so that Slight will not affect the victim at all, moderate will become slight and extreme will become moderate. Multiple doses will not work together and if they are taken at the same time, the drug will cancel out any benefits the user may have enjoyed. Another dose cannot be taken until the first dose has run its course.
Gen 24 Rogaine: Male Pattern Baldness was something that had finally been resolved in the middle of the 21st century. Generally those who could afford the treatments had their genetic code modified to ensure that they would not go bald. As the years progressed and technology kept in stride, the treatments became less expensive until eventually the drug could be purchased over the counter. When applied to the area suffering from hair-loss, this drug automatically stimulates the hair follicles to begin production once again, even regenerating the tissue to a point that hair will once again grow. After the application of this drug, the lost hair will begin to grow once again and within one month the lost Charisma will be reversed, and any hair-based mutation will be useable once again.
Chris Van Deelen is the author of the Skirmisher Publishing LLC sourcebook Creatures of the Tropical Wastes sourcebook, co-author of its Wisdom from the Wastelands game supplement and contributor to the 'Sword of Kos: Hekaton' Anthology.
