#sometimes you gotta take a strong character and bring 'em to near death

[callsignbaphomet]

Finally got him addicted to Calmex.

Despite the wiki saying you have a 35% chance of addiction it took a lot of usage to finally get him hooked on it. Maybe Maim 3 or Modern Drugs reworked the percentage somehow.

I have a very good reason for why Calmex. A sort of mix between canon and headcanon. Calmex gives you:

+2x sneak attack multiplier

+3 perception

+3 agility

The sneak multiplier kinda goes hand in hand with the fact that he's a sniper, all the weapons on him are silenced and I put a shit ton of points into sneak. Makes sense. That's from a gameplay pov. As for him it helps with moving around without making much noise or bringing too much attention to himself. He's paranoid and scared out of his fucking mind whether he wants to admit it or not. The near crippling depression ain't helping either.

The 3 points of added perception make so much sense 'cause his anxiety, depression and PTSD cause him to become hypervigilant.

The extra agility points is just an extra thing though it could help. Nowhere in any setting is this man agile...maybe in Mon Hun 'cause of the weapon choice but not even then.

Here's where the hc part comes in. I like to think Calmex calms the user and this would be a drug he gravitates to given the constant nightmares and night terrors, the vivid flashback/memory, intrusive thoughts, anxiety and hypervigilance. Had a nightmare/night terror? A shot of Calmex. Stuck in a vivid flashback/memory for a few minutes? Another shot of Calmex. Anxiety is kicking up so bad he can hardly think and is physically shaking? Yet another shot of Calmex. Intrusive thoughts getting louder and louder to the point of them drowning out every other sound? Calmex.

And unfortunately the more he abuses it the more he gets addicted to it and the less effective in the long run it is. He's basically using that to shut off the other symptoms just so he can have a moment's peace which unfortunately last less and less the more he depends on Calmex.

I'm not gonna get him addicted to alcohol 'cause he moved from alcohol to Calmex once he felt the drug was a "better" option than getting passed out drunk to sleep to avoid nightmares and night terrors. Plus, in doing research I read that alcohol exacerbates the nightmares so my need for "realism" demanded I switch.