Herman is an officer, and thus has the officer kit. He has a flintlock pistol and a sabre. This cannot be changed, however the utility can be changed. There is a rare chance for the utility to be replaced by his grandfather’s blunderbuss upon spawning as him.
Herman interacts with his weapons differently than normal soldiers. He reloads his flintlock pistol far faster than normal, taking 5.05 seconds rather than 6.65. When buffed with a fife, it takes only 4.04 seconds. The animations are also different, showing Herman reloading without looking. Its clear hes done this too many times.
He has slightly buffed sabre handling as well, doing 38.5 damage instead of 30. Here are the stats:
Side: 0.5s
Jab: 0.39s
Up: 0.55s
SideStartup: 0.32s
JabStartup: 0.19s
UpStartup: 0.36s
Damage: 38.5/hit
Penetration: 4
Headshot Multiplier: 2.4x
As for his special blunderbuss, it has the same stats as the Old Blunderbuss, just a different look. (9s reload time)
Herman possesses a small passive resistance to all types of damage from the infected EXCEPT for sappers and cuirassiers. This resistance also stops him from being inflicted with Clawed. However, he can still be afflicted with Rabid Clawed. It is called “Scarred Veteran”.
He has another passive, called "Reflex". He has a 1/3.65 chance of stunning a grab from either a shambler or a runner. If successful, it stuns the shambler back. However, if its a runner, the runner is curbstomped into the ground and killed on the spot.
Herman has FAR more health than normal soldiers, possessing 325 health. Can depend, or be changed. He walks VERY slightly faster than other soldiers, having 16.75 walkspeed.
If Herman is afflicted with Burning (not Afterburn), and is not put out by teammates, he will rip the B.L.J canteen off his uniform and pour it out on himself, extinguishing himself enough to put the rest of the fire out himself. He must get to 7% hp for this to trigger. This cannot be used again. Instead of screaming in pain, Herman cries out “BLOODY HELL! PUT ME OUT! PUT ME OUT!” “PUT ME OUT!! FOR THE LOVE OF- PUT ME OUT!!!” “LADS?! LADS! WHERE ARE YOU?!” while burning instead of screaming incoherently. After putting himself out, he violently scolds his team for not helping him. (if theyre still alive)
Herman reacts differently to grabs. If its a shambler grab, he has the ability to break out with 4≥ shamblers on him. If Herman is tackled by a runner however, he will stun it off him in the time it takes for a normal soldier to die. If there are two, he will grip their necks and smash their heads into eachother to stun them.
This also applies to Cuirassier charges ^. If Herman is charged by a cuirassier successfully, instead of being impaled, Herman will stomp his boot on the heavy cavalry sabre being aimed at him, digging it into the ground. It rips up the earth as the cuirassier comes to a halt, and Herman shoves it back. This whole animation and process takes a minute, and leaves him and the cuirassier quite vulnerable.
If Herman’s infection reaches max, instead of succumbing, Herman will clutch his scarred eye, gritting his teeth. The eye glows, and the sound of something like fire being extinguished can be heard from the eye as his infection goes down to 0, draining a minor amount of health in the process. If Herman hits 0.001 health while it is draining, he will fall to the ground and die. He will not turn upon death.
Valor is a meter that replaces charge. While having the sabre equipped, using the reload key switches his focus to either Charge or Old Blood.
« Charge
Simply a buffed charge, and is the default option. Soldiers have vastly increased damage, swing speed, movement speed, and firearm equip speed. Bayonet, Lance, Heavy Sabre, and Spontoon all get Instakill damage while charging. Soldiers cannot be grabbed by shamblers nor runners while in this state. This requires the whole meter to be filled, and it uses all of it.
« Old Blood
Herman takes a second, and opens his scarred eye, granting him 25% more resistance (overwrites Scarred Veteran's resistance, however resists ALL incoming dmg), near instakill damage to all infected, moderately increased swing speed, VERY fast reload. He can be grabbed by shamblers, however he has a 100% chance to hit them back after some time, even with 4< on him. This lasts twice as long as a normal charge, and only affects him. Reflex chance is increased, but guaranteed for runners. If grabbed by a shambler, and dogpiled, Herman is capable of stunning the infected around him back while crying out in rage. After this ends, valor gain is locked for twice as long as charge locks charge gain.
ALL of Herman’s animations change in this state, and his scarred eye glows fiery red. You can hear faint voices coming from the eye. Barely noticeable, but easily noticed if used in a environment with music off, and no chaotic other sounds happening.
The animations show Herman’s body convulsing and shaking with rage. Visibly held back hatred from all of his dead friends.
« Resolve
Holding the charge key makes Herman thrust his sword upwards, almost in a victory pose, for some startup. After this is finished, he heals 25% of his health. If he is interrupted, he only heals 15% of his health. This uses a third of the meter, and only requires a third. Progressively takes more and more meter the more you rely on this, however the rampup does decay if you dont overrely on this.
Now you may be thinking; “Zodiac! This is overpowered as fuck!”, and to that, I would agree. However, this is meant for a map concept I had, possibly in Birmingham, possibly not. The map would have a random player chosen as Herman, and Herman would assist the survivors in escaping the map. The map would be incredibly difficult, impossible if Herman were not there, as the numbers of zombies and concentration of special infected would be FAR larger than normal objective maps. Herman would serve as effectively a raid boss, but on the survivor’s side, leading them through the map and to victory. If he dies, youre fucked, the finale would be impossible without him. Technically possible, but you would need to either have godlike teamplay (which if you did herman wouldnt die) or exploits (scripting OR vip server cmds) in order to win. Herman would NOT be playable outside of this map concept, except for VIP servers, where you’d be able to spawn yourself as him in ANY map with a command.
I feel like he’d be pretty fun to play, and you would probably feel like a fucking BEAST playing as him. But hey, thats just my opinion, I aint the boss here.
Herman has a special interaction with chaplains attempting to bless him.
BlessingAskCallout
“I… will try, God willing.”
“Come now… just… what are you?”
“I can hear them… I-I must perform a blessing.”
“Come now, I hear echoes. That is not normal.”
BlessingFail
“T-That scar is not empty…”
“Pray with me. Please.”
“I will not condemn you…”
BlessingSuccess
“Its… quieted.”
“God hears you, even if I don’t.”
“I-It worked… somehow.”
BlessingRareSuccess
“They’re… T-They’re soldiers, fallen…”
This is because chaplains canonically hear the same voices Herman does, at least when looking at his scar. They would be uneasy and put-off near him.
He also has a special interaction with the Duke of Wellington, or Arthur Wellesley. This is only possible via VIP server commands, and spawning yourself as Herman. These voicelines will ONLY play if you are ALONE as Herman. If you have people helping you, the normal ones will play.
Wellesley is A, and Herman is H.
A: “S- Wait… You’re alone? You’re that specialist that was sent for Birmingham, aren’t you?”
H: “Aye, thats me. Sir… aren’t you Wellington?”
A: “Arthur Wellesley. I don’t suppose you are taking the nightwatch?”
H: “This area past the river of thames is doomed, I am heading for the Westminster bridge.”
A: “If you’re heading across the Thames, know they’ll blow the bridge at midnight.”
While he talks, he pulls out a pocketwatch. He almost puts it on the desk for Herman to take, but he sees Herman take out his own pocketwatch, this time being silver, with a bird engraving on the back.
A: “I see… Luckily for you, theres a few men of the Royal Waggon Train downstairs. With luck, you’ll make it.”
Wellington gets the King’s Colours.
A: “The King’s Colours. Save them, will you?”
Herman takes them.
H: “Aren’t you going as well?”
A: “…They couldn’t forgive me for Belgium. They won’t forgive me for London! Go on, save yourself.”
H: “My condolences…”
If you use the Canteen of Courage as Herman, a special animation will play, where Herman inspects it and says “Pff… Now what do I need THIS for?” before tossing it away. The buff is still given.