[Killer Concept] - The Plague Doctor

[Daniel]

Hello all,

Today I want to show my idea for a new Killer, The Plague Doctor. We have a nurse, so why not a doctor?

tl:dr at bottom

Most people know about the plagues that once decimated Europe. These were terrible times to live in. Millions of people succumbed to the Bubonic Plague. Originating from fleas, the disease was primarily carried by rats which brought the fleas into contact with humans. The amount of people who fell to this affliction was astonishing, and undoubtedly, our friend, the ancient and Evil Entity would have taken immense interest in this.

The Entity feeds off of human emotions. The raw feelings of dread, anguish and pain felt during the Plague times would have been a feast for this creature, so I think it plausible the Entity would have collected a Killer during this time of human history as well.

Meet The Plague Doctor. Once a religious and communal leader in Dark Age Europe, the duty of caregiver, spiritual guide and physician all came crashing down on his shoulders once the plague ravaged the countryside. Roderick Bartholomew had studied the art of medicine and religion. He was an intelligent man, and his skills helped to keep his community from completely collapsing during the outbreak of the Black Plague. He would tend to the afflicted, as well as preach to the villagers about the hope that lasted in their salvation. He attributed the Plague to divine wrath. Soon, despite remaining healthy, he was smote down. Roderick's two daughters and wife became ill. In their agony, he watched the last vestiges of hope die in their beautiful brown eyes. In grief, Roderick became infuriated. His faith had abandoned him, all his life he had been virtuous, yet he was repaid with blood. His beliefs and hope shattered, Roderick's sadness morphed into madness. He donned his Plague mask, the well known bird-like mask, as well as his pitch black robes, and moved from house to house within his village.

No account remains of what happened to those villagers, but Roderick remembers. He remembers beating them to death - one by one, man, woman and child alike. Thus we come to his primary weapon: the two-handed flagellation whip. Set upon a long wooden handle, adorned by flexible metal claws, the flagellation whip is a harsh weapon. The flagellation whips were used by religious zealots who believed they could stop the onslaught of the Black Death if they purged the evil from their bodies by whipping their own backs. The Plague Doctor swings slowly, but has more range and also greater cooldown between attacks. The Plague Doctor also moves slower than other killers, only 8% faster than survivors, rather than the usual 10% or 6% of that of The Nurse (forgive me if these are incorrect numbers).

The Plague Doctor has control over the Black Death. His power is Scourge. Passively, nests of rats spawn around the map. These nests serve two functions: first, survivors can trigger these nests and become Afflicted, which is a new state similar to injury (talk about later). Second, The Plague Doctor can absorb the power of the nests he finds and collect the plague-bearing fleas from them. The Plague Doctor can use M2 to project these fleas toward survivors and cause them to become Afflicted. ( I imagine a linear projectile, but am open to suggestions)

Now, add-ons change the nature of what it means to be Afflicted. Without add-ons, becoming Afflicted will cause the survivor's icon to turn green from the regular white silhouette. When a survivor is Afflicted they get a 2% movespeed penalty. Survivors can be cured of the Afflicted state only by other survivors, no self heal.

Some add-ons and their effects toward the Afflicted:

Carnivorous Fleas: causes survivors to become injured in addition to being Afflicted.
Neural Parasites: causes survivors to feel the heartbeat constantly while they are injured.
Lesions: causes survivors to work 5% slower on all actions.
Jumping Fleas: causes the survivors to become contagious, possibly causes survivors who heal them to become Afflicted (50%?)
Black Feather: removes the rats nests. Crows now carry the Affliction and possibly (33%) infect survivors who trigger them.

Of course many more add-ons could work! These are just some of my ideas.

For Perks I have three teachable ideas.

1. Black Death
Every dead survivor permanently increases your movespeed by 1/2/3% for I, 2/3/4% for II, 3/4/5% for III.

2. Surgical Precision
Skill in surgical operations has taught you where best to harm survivors. Have a 4/8/12% chance to immediately put a survivor into a dying state upon a successful primary attack.

3. Unanswered Prayers
Survivors who are injured, dying or hooked and are NOT healed by their allies have their auras removed after 2 minutes/ 1.5 minutes/ 1 minute.

The Plague Doctor's gameplay focuses on the snowball aspect of the game. As a slow Killer, it's difficult for him to capture survivors. But if someone makes a mistake, becomes Afflicted by stepping into a Scourge Nest for example, then he has a chance to get the ball rolling by securing his first kill.

As always, I would love to hear feedback! Just please remember to keep it kind and civil! I am not a professional.

tl:dr

Plague Doctor Killer
two-handed flagellation whip as primary weapon. Slow, long ranged, bigger cooldown.
moves slower than other killers.

Scourge is power. Afflicts survivors with different debuffs, and can project fleas collected from a nests of rats which spawn around map.

Perks: moves quicker for each dead survivor, chance of one hit, removal of injury/dying/hooked survivor auras for allies.

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,
Daniel
~Dwight Flavored Entity Snack

[Zormbot]

This sounds really freaking cool! Would there be a way to remove the Afflicted state from a survivor, though? Such as a vaccine or cure that you can only get from chests when the killer is the Plague Doctor? Also would the rat nests replace the crows that are scattered throughout the map?

Also, I don't know if it's just me but it seems like Surgical Precision is a little OP. Then again, you have around a 1/8 chance to get instadowned. Theoretically, you have at most 7 hits before the perk (when at level 3) takes effect.

[Daniel]

@ZembetTV Thanks for reminding me! I forgot several key elements in the original post! One of those was that I was thinking other survivors would be able to cure you, but self heal does not remove the Afflicted state. About the crows, I think they would stay in addition to the rats nests, one add-on I had thought of was removing the rats and causing the CROWS to have the plague and would be able to transfer the Affliction if you trigger them!

About Surgical Precision: yeah I was concerned about the theory of a one hit perk being too strong, but then again the Hillbilly has a constant one hit for his power. Part of the reason I like Surgical Precision is actually because of the speed capability of The Plague Doctor. While he only begins at 8% quicker than survivors, he has the potential to become up to 19% quicker with rank three Black Death, No One Escapes Death and the survivor being Afflicted! But having Surgical Precision might incline players to NOT run both it and NOED, thus alleviating some of the speed concern.

Thanks for reading through it! :)