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I have a character in my story who is immortal and heals very quickly (think Wolverine). Ignoring physical side effects (but keeping in mind psychological ones) what sorts of drugs could he take to achieve a more superhuman level of performance?

He can heal injuries very quickly meaning anything that destroys the body is not really an issue.

He has the endurance and strength of an NFL/Rugby player.

It can be something that increases any physical characteristics like reaction time, strength, endurance or intelligence.

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    $\begingroup$ You can't have your cake and eat it. For exampoe, testosterone makes your balls smaller because the body is trying to balance the levels of testosterone. You heal from the shrunken balls by removing the drug from your system so it feels the need to produce testosterone again. Your hero will develop a resistance to the drugs because their side effects are too strongly tied to their main effects. $\endgroup$ – Renan Mar 2 at 19:41
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    $\begingroup$ "what sorts of drugs could he take to achieve a more superhuman level of performance?" If such a drug existed in reality, would have been either used by armies or by sport doctors. $\endgroup$ – L.Dutch - Reinstate Monica♦ Mar 2 at 19:56
  • $\begingroup$ @L.Dutch a) Performance enhancing drugs are used my most soldiers and B) I specifically said that dangerous ones are ok due to immortality whereas most people are not immortal from my experience $\endgroup$ – P.Lord Mar 2 at 21:39
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    $\begingroup$ @L.Dutch e.g. I can tell you an easy way to cure brain cancer that only works if you have these powers, destroy your brain. $\endgroup$ – P.Lord Mar 2 at 21:44
  • $\begingroup$ Start with the performance-enhancing drug used by a significant fraction of the world's population: caffeine. Except that as a side effect of whatever causes his immortality, the effects are considerably greater on him than on normal humans. (Kind of like Popeye's spinach :-)) $\endgroup$ – jamesqf Mar 3 at 1:16
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If you want to model your character on Wolverine, there is definitely a way drugs could help Wolverine.

Wolverine is depressed.

wolverine source

This is not my own insight. His own internal torture is an integral part of the character. https://themighty.com/2017/05/logan-mental-illness/

So too your character. He is violent by nature and is plagued by rage and impulses to more violence. He is lonely and isolated, both by his own bad choices and his immortality and the fact that violence surrounds him and takes the people he cares about.

Your character rides in an awesome performance sports car - his own body. But he is not always the best driver. He could get a lot more done, and done more effectively and less painfully if he were not so depressed.

His performance enhancing drug is the fictional anti depression drug of your choice. Because of it, his sleep is more restful. His rage is easier for him to harness and control. His interactions with others feel better to him. Sometimes he can even laugh. He is more at peace, and more focused - and because of that, more dangerous to those who really are his enemies.

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    $\begingroup$ Sort of sarcastic answer but good nonetheless. Made me think if there is a drug that allows you to operate normally whilst full of adrenaline that could help, no pain, better bloodflow and that. The only reason ive avoided adrenaline is the psychological effects $\endgroup$ – P.Lord Mar 2 at 21:41
  • $\begingroup$ @P.Lord - This was not meant to be sarcastic at all. Just a different way of thinking about performance and how to enhance it with drugs. $\endgroup$ – Willk Mar 2 at 21:54
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry I misinterpreted your message then. But yeah I was looking for a more physical or strategic bonus not so much a cure/fix for anything. $\endgroup$ – P.Lord Mar 2 at 22:52
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Fortunately for my health, as a non inmortal human, that time when I was young passed, but from what I have tested:

  • For intelligence: Cocaine or Amphetamines make you have more complex thougths.
  • For artistic things or abstract thougth: Marihuana, Mushroms or LSD.
  • For gravity and ligth distorsion: Salvia Divinorum.

The winner for a character to me is the last one because, in my case, I fell to the other size of the window where the ligth came, as a gravity distorsion by ligth. Of course I cannot prove it, but, for a history, I would say this plant gives you a superperception of quantic physics on environment.

If you use it in your character you must know effects are not so long than for other drugs. Tweenty minutes and the effects are totaly extincted.

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    $\begingroup$ "Cocaine or Amphetamines make you have more complex thoughts" not really, just faster, it's a bit strange holding two, three, four, more, conversations in your head simultaneously while sat with a group of friends, who have grouped off into different conversations, & you're following all of them, moving ahead, splitting into potential conversation lines based on their potential responses, collapsing dead threads when they get around to saying their piece ~ and all the time you've only got one mouth to join in with ~ which is a bit annoying really. $\endgroup$ – Pelinore Mar 3 at 2:36
  • $\begingroup$ ^ I was young too once. $\endgroup$ – Pelinore Mar 3 at 2:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Pelinore I agree it is more a faster way on thougths, but remember eg Freud is suposed to have done his studies with cocaine, and my experience also tells me you think better -but Freud should anotate everything you forget all next morning lol :)- $\endgroup$ – user61971 Mar 3 at 9:00
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    $\begingroup$ @Universal_learner Yeah, however Freud was also bat shit insane and whether that was from his cocaine addiction or not it seems likely that it has an effect on rational thinking. $\endgroup$ – P.Lord Mar 4 at 16:32
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A "well-rounded" regimen of drugs for such a character might include: HGH, EPO, and a cocktail of steroids to improve strength and endurance; various amphetamines and analgesics for short-term applications; and adrenaline for critical "boosts". I also like the idea of including a broad palette of psychedelics in the character's inventory, as a means of expanding problem-solving abilities.

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