Editing Crawler (section)

===Adaptation===
Crawler's adaptation is the primary focus of his power, and is the reason he holds his monstrous form. Mechanically speaking, whenever he takes damage and survives, any part that grows back is altered, if possible, to be more resistant to the damage that hurt him. For every X points of resistance, he gains a mutation from a list.<ref name="SV mechanics">'''Xexlif:''' On simple terms its easy.<br>Restore health, and give resistance to whatever hit you.<br><br>Not to make it real like crawler has, with changing more than just piling on some resistances, that would take work.<br><br>'''Wildbow:''' For every X points of resistance, gain a mutation from a list. - Conversation with Wildbow on Sufficient Velocity, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/33897007 archived on Spacebattles]</ref> These mechanics explain why [[Coil]] notes that parts that grow back are stronger and typically have extra features, growths, and/or other capabilities.<ref name="11f e3">“He’s a regenerator,” Coil answered, sounding irritated at having to explain, “And he regenerates exceedingly quickly.  More to the point, he has the added advantage that any part that grows back is stronger than it was before, typically with extra features, growths and increased durability to render him more resistant to whatever hurt him or give him other capabilities.  These adjustments are not only permanent, but he’s been working on it for some time.” - [[Interlude 11f]]</ref> Note that Crawler does not decide which mutation he gains;<ref name="SB1" /> all adaptations must be natural and organic.<ref name="Cast1" /><ref name="26.x cNano" />

If he gains enough resistance and/or suitable mutations, Crawler eventually takes no damage from whatever was hurting him.<ref name="11f e4" /> His power does not just provide purely defensive adaptations, but also ones that allow him to defend himself better.<ref>'''greatwyrmgold:''' Crawler–How does his regeneration “work” if, say, he is cut in half? Which half regenerates? Does he have a “core” like Echidna’s, or does one of his organs function as such? If so, what happens when his Core/brain/heart/spleen is cut in half or destroyed?<br><br>'''wildbow:''' Crawler – Q1A1.<br>His form is monstrous because the adaptations aren’t purely defensive. His power provides the ability to defend himself better. Multiple legs to give him more stability so he can’t be knocked over, etc. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/extinction-27-4/#comment-39203 Comment by] [[Wildbow]] on [[Extinction 27.4]]</ref> Over the course of years, this has allowed him to develop a variety of powerful defensive and offensive adaptations.<ref name=":1" />

By the time the Slaughterhouse Nine attacked Brockton Bay the second time, Crawler's armor is able to withstand the blast of a small nuke,<ref name=":1">He can be killed if annihilated, but by the time he shows up in story, he's been at it for a few years, hanging with a pretty nasty group calling themselves the Slaughterhouse Nine. You basically need to dig into the unconventional weapons (ie. stuff made by tinkers; stuff-makers like Iron Man) or very specific powers that can work around armor that can take a small nuke. - [https://redd.it/25gwut Reddit comment] by Wildbow</ref> and he can walk unscathed through burning buildings lit by burning white phosphorous.<ref>“And Crawler?” Legend asked.<br /><br />Piggot spoke, “Legend, Ursa Aurora, Prism, Weld, Assault and Battery will occupy him until we can contain him. He’s still vulnerable to physics. I’m hoping the white phosphorous explosive will keep him in the area long enough for us to put measures in place<br />[...]<br />The plane wasn’t as fast as I’d thought it would be. It appeared from the clouds and crossed the skyline a distance away, at an altitude not much higher than me. It left a muted roar in its wake, and the payload of bombs. Black specks, smaller than I would have guessed, but more numerous. Fifty? A hundred? I couldn’t tell from my vantage point, and I doubted I could have made an accurate estimate.<br /><br />The bombs were targeted at the parking lot where Jack and Bonesaw had been. They detonated across the surrounding neighborhood, a carpet of explosions and flame that ripped through everything. In a heartbeat, an area that had been drowning in stagnant water was lit up by fires that rose higher than the smallest buildings.<br />[...]<br />“Crawler’s probably taken worse. I can picture him crawling into an incinerator and sitting in there for long enough that he can take this.”<br />[...]<br />Crawler- I could see him prowling the streets, soaking up the flame without a care. He was headed in the general direction of the parking lot where the heroes were, taking his time, his movements languid. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/prey-14-5/ Excerpt] from [[Prey 14.5]]</ref> According to [[Tattletale]], [[Sundancer]]'s orb can still damage him; however, he already has enough durability to survive and thus adapt to it.<ref>We reached the scene of the ongoing fight with Crawler. Sundancer was off the dog and on the ground the second we could see him, creating her orb and increasing its size. She was fireproof, but she didn’t have the ability to grant that benefit to others. Once she was standing, the orb was free to grow.<br>[...]<br>“Don’t use your orb on him,” Tattletale cautioned. “Won’t do us any favors, and it’ll only make him stronger for the future.” - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/prey-14-5/ Excerpt] from [[Prey 14.5]]</ref> His internal organs have been rearranged and reinforced with numerous redundancies.<ref name="I12 e3" /><ref>Wildbow: Crawler's testicles?<br />Wildbow: They'd be positioned like ovaries are.<br />Wildbow: The dangly bits dangle because our body needs to contract/drop them to adjust their temperature.<br />Wildbow: (This is also why they shrink in the cold) - Crawler's too advanced for that. - [http://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/19466282 Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles]</ref> He has hundreds of eyes set into his armor, and an enhanced sense of smell that can be used for tracking.<ref name="14.4e2" /><ref name="RPG1">'''Question by braincraft:''' What classification is used for enhanced or expanded senses? There are a lot of characters in Worm that have something along those lines, and outside of Worm there's stuff like Superman's telescopic vision, x-ray vision, and enhanced hearing, or Wolverine's ability to track by scent.<br /><br />'''Answer by Wildbow:''' Thinker.  In some rare cases they'd fall under a Brute classification. - [https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?690769-Worm-thread-Gimel-Tinker-Taylor-Weaver-Worm&p=16905506#post16905506 RPG.net comment] by Wildbow.</ref> His many modular limbs ensure that his dexterity hasn't suffered for his growth, and can even be rearranged to enhance his agility on different forms of terrain.<ref>Crawler had reached Grue and was scaling the side of the building with surprising speed. I’d taken him for a quadruped, but apparently his joints were modular. His proportions were more simian, now, and he was climbing up the side of the building twice as fast as I could have run it if it were laid out horizontally. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/08/14 Excerpt] from [[Snare 13.6]]</ref> This, along with enhanced reflexes, makes Crawler a surprisingly agile foe.<ref name="14.4e1">I could sense Regent’s group, running to cover.  Ballistic was bombarding Crawler, relying on the impacts to drive the brute back.  Crawler was fast -and he was agile, with preternatural reflexes- but Ballistic was unloading on him with projectiles that moved faster than sound.  Crawler dodged only two in three, and Ballistic followed up on any successful hits with a series of shots to pound Crawler into the nearest available surface and pin him there.  Genesis had formed a body that was winged.  It resembled a pterodactyl with arms, a griffon or something in that vein.  She was making an effort to drop large chunks of rubble onto Crawler.  He was strong enough that it barely slowed him down, but time he spent hauling a section of wall off of himself was time for Ballistic to get his hands on material for another shot.  Shatterbird offered support with a constant hail of glass to harry Crawler and keep him from finding traction on the pavement. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/15 Excerpt] from [[Prey 14.4]]</ref>

Crawler has an incredibly strong caustic spit that he can launch at targets.<ref>I had a single grenade, and I knew that wouldn’t even make Crawler flinch.<br /><br />Crawler spat a caustic spray onto Cache and Clockblocker. I could see the mucus fizz and pop from my vantage point high above.<br />[...]<br />Maybe he’d anticipated that, but he couldn’t have anticipated the acid spittle.  Holes began to appear in the fabric of his fireproof costume.<br /><br />He managed to maintain his composure- I had no idea how.  I couldn’t imagine how it must have felt to be down there, feeling the heat and smoke coming in through the widening holes in the fabric.  He began using his power, calling up the shadowy geometry that would deposit the heroes onto the battlefield.<br />[...]<br />I was so busy tracking Mannequin, looking for an opportunity to shoot him again, that I nearly missed what happened next.<br /><br />Crawler got close enough for Glory Girl to swing a punch. She took the bait and swung, then twisted in mid-air to deliver a kick. He pulled just out of reach of both hits, then opened his mouth to retch spittle and bile all over her.<br /><br />It had the same effect on her costume that it did on Cache, only far, far faster. In moments, she was down to the skin-tight costume she wore beneath her white and gold dress, her forcefield protecting her.<br /><br />I pulled a grenade free. Maybe it could distract him long enough for her to-<br /><br />Crawler surged forward, slamming his head into her. Like a spiked volleyball, she slammed hard into the ground.<br /><br />I could see her skin turning red, then black, where the spittle had covered it. Flesh melted away to reveal muscle, then the acidic vomit began to eat away at that. She screamed, frantic, thrashing, oblivious to the flaming patches of ground that she was rolling into. - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/18 Excerpt] from [[Prey 14.5]]</ref> [[Panacea]], struggling to make a counter, described it as consisting of self-replicating digestive enzymes, all floating in a kind of acid.<ref name="14.6 e753">“I can’t- can’t figure out what this venom is. I can’t touch it to see if it’s organic, um, I can only see what it’s doing. At least part of it is enzymes. It’s denaturing proteins in her cells and using the byproducts to build more enzymes, and it’s breaking down lipids as a side effect, shit. Oh god, and there’s more to it. The fluid the enzymes are swimming in is some kind of acid.”<br /><br />“Can you fix her?” Tattletale asked.<br /><br />“So much to do,” Amy mumbled, “Have to counter the acid with some kind of physiological byproduct, have to stop the enzymes from liquefying her entire body, and repair the damage. Trying to make some kind of firebreak to stop the spread of the venom, withdraw the proteins the venom is using to propagate itself. There isn’t enough tissue in her body for everything I need to do to fix her.” - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/09/22 Excerpt] from [[Prey 14.6]]</ref>

A [[nano-thorn]] barricade deployed by an [[Azazel]] killed a Crawler clone when he fully contacted it.<ref>A second Azazel opened fire with a cutting laser, separating the bus into two sections.  The first Crawler was rising from his seat when the laser passed in front of him, cutting his face, chest and stomach.  Blind, already regenerating, he tipped forward into the gap between the two sections of the bus.  The Azazel was already laying down two rails that the nano thorns could spring from.  The Crawler landed right on top of them, and was summarily reduced to a red mist. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26.x]]</ref> However, when an Azazel flung another Crawler clone into the barricade such that only half of him disintegrated, his regrown arm, shoulder, and leg began producing organic nano-thorns.<ref>He was struck by the Azazel that still approached, caught by a long tail and flung down at the ground.  He rolled, and in doing so, he rolled into the same nano-thorn rails that had taken down his brother.  Half of his body was disintegrated in an instant.<br><br>It regenerated swiftly as he scrambled away on his three remaining  limbs.  This time, as the flesh swelled out and took form, there was a blur around his right arm, red, more at his shoulder, along his leg. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26.x]]</ref><ref name="26.x cNano">Organic nanotech is also a part of what lets geckos crawl on walls. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25/interlude-26-donation-bonus-1/#comment-34381 Comment] by [[Wildbow]] on [[Interlude 26.x|26.x (Donation Interlude; Saint)]]</ref> These nano-thorns are just as deadly and could press against other nano-thorns so that neither severed the other.<ref>The Azazel struck out with a tail, and he blocked the blow with the newly grown arm.  The tail sheared off as it made contact with his newly grown defenses.  The chunk of metal rolled into one of the cars further down the road.  Still, Crawler stumbled from the force of the attack.  To avoid being disintegrated, he drew his freshly altered arm back towards the barrier behind him.  Where his blur met the blur that extended from the rail, the two nano-growths merely pressed against one another, almost springy, neither severing the other. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26.x]]</ref> The clone even intentionally disintegrated his other unaffected arms so that they would gain the same mutations.<ref name="26.x e1">He reached back with his unaffected arms and intentionally disintegrated them. They regrew, with alterations matching the ones he’d grown on the other side of the body. Better equipped, he stalked towards the Azazel that had laid down the rails, his back to the one that had struck him from the roof of the bus. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26.x]]</ref> However, these nano-thorns shared the same weaknesses as [[Armsmaster]]'s technology: an Azazel instantly burnt away his nano-thorns with a laser. At the same time, another Azazel flung the clone into the barricade such that he fully contacted it, killing him as he lacked enough resistance.<ref>Then, before he could do anything further, the two Azazels launched a combination attack.  A laser from the Azazel atop the bus made the Crawler’s own nano-thorn evolution burn away in an instant.  In that same moment, the Azazel in front of him took off, firing every thruster.  The force of the blast sent him flying back into the barrier.<br><br>Red mist. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/07/25 Excerpt] from [[Interlude 26.x]]</ref> 

He can only adapt when regenerating from damage that is resistible; if he takes no damage or an attack is irresistible, he cannot gain new mutations.<ref name="SV mechanics" /><ref name="25.x e3" /><ref name="list" /><ref name="11f e4">Trickster added, “I read up on these guys after you mentioned them the other night.  Crawler eventually becomes immune to whatever was hurting him, and he’s that much less human, afterward.  He ''wants'' to get hurt, wants to further his transformation, like a crazed masochist or someone with a death wish.  Throws himself into suicidal situations and then comes out stronger.  Which may be why he’s here.  The soldiers?”<br><br>Coil shook his head, “He’s immune to conventional ammunition and explosives, and most likely to most ''unconventional'' forms of ammunition and explosives as well.  The laser attachments might have some small effect, but not enough to draw him here.” - [[Interlude 11f]]</ref> Crawler regenerated, but did not adapt, against [[Scrub]]'s attacks<ref name="I12 e3" /> or [[Flechette]]'s charged shots<ref name=":0" /> because they were [[All-or-Nothing]]. Indeed, All-or-Nothing attacks would always kill him if they hit his core.<ref name="Discord eFlechette" /> Crawler cannot adapt to [[Trickster]] teleporting him,<ref>Part four of the plan?  Avoid direct confrontation.<br><br>“Trickster,” Grue said, the one word buzzing over the walkie-talkies.<br><br>Crawler disappeared, and an empty pickup truck toppled from the edge of the roof to the ground.  Crawler was back in the vicinity of the other Nine, not far from Sundancer’s burning orb.  Blocks away from Grue and Ballistic.  - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/08/14 Excerpt] from [[Snare 13.6]]</ref><ref>Crawler reached the base of the building only to be switched with yet another car, resetting his position a second time.  He roared in frustration, then turned toward the miniature sun, breaking into an all out run as he charged for it.  - [http://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/snare-13-6/ Excerpt] from [[Snare 13.6]]</ref> nor can he adapt to [[precognitive|precognition]] against him.<ref name="SB1" /><ref name="11f e1">“No,” he said, with more ferocity than she had expected.  “Pitter isn’t here to administer it, and won’t be until this situation is over.  Listen.  Chance that we survive Crawler’s attack if my soldiers use the laser attachments I’ve provided?  The purple beams?”<br>[...]<br>“Thirty Nine point one-”<br><br>“If I deploy the Travelers that are on site at the moment?”<br><br>“Thirty point-” - [[Interlude 11f]]</ref><ref>Coil raised his hand to silence Trickster.  “Pet, the chance that Crawler would seek out Noelle first, given the opportunity?”<br><br>She felt the images filter out until she was looking at a pattern of scenarios.  The vague shape of the hulking figure, the open vault door.  The images snapped into two groups, one vastly larger than the other.<br><br>“Ninety three point four percent.” - [[Interlude 11f]]</ref> [[Imp]]'s power affects Crawler, implying that he cannot adapt to psychological effects.<ref name="I13.5 e1" />

Earlier in his development, one could theoretically have controlled the damage and resulting evolution to force Crawler to adapt into an immobile shape, allowing one to bury and thus defeat him.<ref name="SB1" />