A Second Chance | Patreon Poll #20 (Patreon)

Hey Patrons!

For this poll, number 20, I’m going back through some previous poll choices that didn’t quite make it and giving them a second chance!

The winner of this poll will be implemented into the game, likely in v0.9.5!

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Please vote for all the options that you like, not just for your one favourite! I allow multiple votes as it means that a higher proportion of people will end up voting for the winning choice.

All patrons are encouraged to share their opinion by commenting and voting, but currently only the votes from Golden+ Supporters are counted when determining a poll winner. Votes from Shattered Supporters are worth double!

Phantom Piranhas and Tormented Spirits

From Poll #2, these were two choices for new rare enemies that lost out to crystal mimics and armored statues.

Phantom piranhas are like regular piranhas, but also have the ability to teleport to different bodies of water! They'll never appear such that they immediately hit you, but if you're already busy it might be quite awkward indeed. When defeated, these piranha will drop phantom meat, which fully restores hunger and grants all of the bonuses from frozen carpaccio at once! These are also a reference to the phantom fish quest from vanilla Pixel Dungeon.

Tormented Spirits behave exactly as wraiths do but will call out for help instead of attacking silently. They are not yet totally lost, and they can be freed by using a scroll of remove curse on them. If they are freed, they will drop a random piece of equipment that is guaranteed to be uncursed. Tormented spirits can be treated just like regular wraiths, or they can be used to trade a scroll of remove curse for their equipment reward.

Master Thieves’ Armband Rework

From Polls #4and #6, they lost out in item rework selection to the talisman of foresight, and then the ring of wealth / wand of magic missile.

The armband has a strange balance issue, when the player is at a shop it is incredibly powerful, and its a waste of an equip slot otherwise. I’d like to improve the armband by giving it some new abilities which give it more general power versus enemies or the dungeon environment. One promising idea is to have these abilities be fueled by the player’s gold supply. This way the artifact would simultaneously help you retain the gold you find, and then also give it new uses outside of shops.

Footwear of Nature Rework

Also from Polls #4and #6.

The footwear of nature suffer from a good passive and a poor active. Generating more seeds and dew is quite useful, but the current active is just earthroot. I’d like to improve the footwear of nature by giving them an active ability that’s more than just an afterthought. I’m currently considering options that tie into feeding seeds to the footwear; perhaps the footwear will have an ability that’s based on the most recently fed seed. semi-random seed effects are also a possibility.

Halls Enemy Improvements

From Poll #15, where it lost out to a new challenge for v0.9.3 side content. Equipment improvements also lost that poll, but are presented here anyway with the two artifact reworks.

The additions in v0.8.0 were a great start, but the demon halls are still a bit lacking in enemy variety compared to other regions. Adding a new enemy would likely mean finding a niche that could be occupied. A large powerful enemy is definitely an option, but I’d like to spend some time thinking on it. There’s no reason why halls enemies need to follow the same archetypes as other regions (rippers and spawners already are unique), so it’s possible a new enemy could do something different.

I also might like to take a look into what role succubi play in the current demon halls. Their charm magic works well, but their teleport ability ends up being pretty similar to a ripper demon’s leap.