Hideous freak

So, you chose to take on the mantle of a Hideous Freak. Good for you! Hideous Freaks present a different way of playing HellMOO. You will not have the same accessibility to advanced weapons and equipment and the penalties will make you approach the entire game in a different way. As such, this guide had been created to detail the mutation and the problems it can pose to unwary players.

Basics

Statwise, Hideous Freak gives the following bonuses.

  * +4 to Senses
  * +1 to Endurance
  * +3 to Sneak (skill)
  * +4 to Focus (skill)

However, HF also affects some stats negatively:

  * -3 to Cool
  * -2 to Persuade (skill)

Hideous Freak also provides some other bonuses not covered by pure stat changes.

  * The biggest of these is probably the fact that you do not get stressed from killing or grabbing people. In fact, it destresses you. (However, sex and drugs stress you out instead.) Basically, anything that stressed you out before probably does the opposite and vice versa.
  * You become resistant to eating raw flesh eg: you will not get worms or etc.
  * Necropolis Junkers and Spectres will not attack you without provocation. Zombies, however, still will. Necropolis basically becomes a safe haven where you can grind and do contracts (if you have them) in safety.
  * You can enter into Necropolis without fighting the Deadbots.
  * You gain acid blood. If you bleed you will do damage to someone. This means vampires cannot feed from you. This also means you cannot become a vampire through feeding. However, eating vampire meat may still transfer the disease to you.
  * You also gain the scare command which will be covered in more detail.

Hideous Freak also makes you unable to trade with most people in the world of Hell. You're simply too disgusting to look at, too inhuman, or whatever. People do not want to deal with you. In a similar situation, entering into Freedom City, Corpclave or etc. will immediately set their security onto you. Unless you are extremely powerful you will be hunted down and put to death like the disgusting irradiated thing you are. Good riddance.

Clothing cannot disguise what you are. Whatever it is that makes up a Freak, it can just be... sensed by people.

Hideous Freak also imposes a $1 charge on ChatNet and to page other players.

Freak does not provide any inherent advantages in regards to radiation. You can still suffer from radiation poisoning. Neither does it improve your natural weapons (fists or claws) or provide any enhanced damage soaks. You do not gain any other inherent abilities other then Scare. You will also be attacked by the creatures located in Necropolis' Heart and they will make short work of you. You can still die, and you will probably die often.

On the plus side, a Freak can still lockpick, hack and etc. There are no penalties associated with brains or the skills that depend on it.

Another small bonus comes with the Focus skill. The +4 can really assist with other mutations, such as Writhing Smoke or Screech.

Hideous Freak is also incompatible with the vampire mutation.

Scare

Scare is a neat Freak ability. While not terribly powerful, it can be very useful in certain situations and is invaluable in Necropolis. In most situations, it gives those who hear it a dose of fear, impairing their stats. And for every person who gets 'fear' you gain a dose of 'frenzy' adding +1 to brawn and senses per person scared up to a max of +4.

In Necropolis however, Scare really shines. Scare summons Spectres, Zombies and any awakened Junkers to your location. This, in essence, gives Freaks a massive homeground advantage. It also allows for an easy way to make money from, say, zombie contracts. Bringing down a good dozen of so NPCs onto someone in Necropolis can really ruin someone's day, especially if they have no way to deal with Spectres.

Dealing with Weaknesses

Reduction in Cool

Cool can be grinded back up, although it will probably be a long and slow process. This weakness is worse then it looks at first glance - you will have trouble utilizing blades, pistols and rifles to the best of their capability. You will hopefully become adept at spears, clubs or your bare hands.

Hunted by Law Enforcement

The easiest way to deal with this is by not going anywhere near a place such as Freedom City. C3-50 Law Enforcement Robots will undoubtedly have a good time pounding your skull in with their shock batons. They will even pursue you into any apartments you have. Stay far away. If you're quick enough you could make a quick run into Freedom City for whatever reason but you cannot stay there for a prolonged stretch of time.

Note: The FCPD does not pursue into the sewers.

Buying/Selling

Use other players to buy things for you, or just take them from other players who cannot defend themselves. If you're in a corporation then this can be easily rectified by getting corp mates to buy/sell for you. There are certain NPCs, such as Furst in Lurleen and those in Camp Benjamin near Necropolis that will still deal with you. However, unless you utilize caution you will find yourself running out of weapons and armor. Focusing on Dodge and Fists (with the Ripper mutation) can offset this weakness.

Vampire and Freak

Vampire and Hideous Freak are exclusive mutations. If you take one, you cannot take the other. As someone who has used both Freak and Vampire, I feel I'm able to give a good outline of the two and how they differ.

To be blunt, Vampire is more powerful then Freak from a gameplay perspective. Vampire's multiple +4 stat bonus isn't really countered by anything a Freak has. This means that, unless there is a huge XP divide, a Vampire will probably be able to outfight a Freak. Vampires also can heal rather quickly from blood whereas Freaks must rely on food (but not medic, as Ripper is almost mandatory). Vampires can also still move amongst society without much problem and therefore make use of equipment.

So, it really seems like there's no question between which one a person would take.

However, Freak has some advantages over Vampire.

  * Freaks can remain active throughout the day.
  * Freaks also do not have any sort of hunters or specific weaknesses such as stakes. 
  * Freaks also do not suffer the -4 brains penalty giving them a little bit more breadth of skills to use such as hack or lockpick. 
  * The bonus to Focus can enhance other mutations, especially ones like Phase. A vampire, with their brain's penalty, can have trouble utilizing phase.
  * Vampires still suffer stress from killing, Freaks do not. At older ages this can be a huge advantage over a vampire.
  * A secure location, of sorts, for grinding and etc. with the Necropolis Gate area.

And in Necropolis a Freak would still have the advantage, through scare, over a Vampire.

-- Main.CainE - 16 Aug 2008

--SweetiePie's Addendum; 23 Apr 2009

About Nets

It should be noted that tradenet charges $50 per transmission. Corpnet, mail, and the mysterious blurrnet are free, and the always exciting zotnet charges a buck.

About NPCs

In Slagtown alone, Freaks can buy freely from Sargo at his discount warehouse of random crap. Freaks wishing to sip on some sweet delicious bugshit can stop by Round Corner and hit up my main man Rayray. Those who prefer more pedestrian cocktails can get them from Heath at the Wide Stance. Point is, don't just assume you're going to be stuck with Furst for your shopping needs. Go for the gold and see what happens.

About Johnny Law

It should be noted that, although the cops will always be happy to kill you on sight, you will not spend a second in jail as a Freak. This goes for Panopticon and the dreaded Cube as well.

About Cloning

When you clone, you're likely to wind up with some kind of mental problem. The effects of these are many, varied, and occasionally annoying.

Every now and again your cloning location, no matter where you set it, will reset to the makeshift clone tank in the Necropolis.

About Your Acidic Blood

When you bleed on yourself, you will take damage, and this can in fact kill you. Keep some washwater handy any time you might bleed.