0.9.4.6 "Blood Omens" is Live!

*IMPORTANT: This update is **compatible **with old saves. However, to ensure that all changes work correctly, we recommend starting a new game. *

MAIN FEATURES

• New system: Lighting and Darkness

• Added **Torches **and Lanterns.

• Added a new multi-staged quest, **"A Matter of Faith", **designed for level 10-12+ characters, which can be undertaken after reaching Benevolence with the Rotten Willow.

• Added **22 new Proselytes **(32, if counting their variants), including 6 mini-bosses, along with **42 unique abilities **for them.

The abilities, visuals, stats, and danger levels of all other Proselytes were also overhauled to ensure faction cohesion.

• Added 2 new Brigands: Slinger and Heavy Slinger.

• Added a new weapon type: slings - 21 items. 

• Added 12 other pieces of gear, 3 of which are unique.

• Added positive and neutral Situations to the Rotten Willow, including 3 unique ones: "Outlaw Gathering", "Occult Consilium", and "Flea Market".

• Added new room templates to the dungeon generator. 

• AI rework: overhauled use conditions for every ability in the game. Enemies will now account for a much greater range of context and nuance: among the factors taken into consideration are your character’s archetype (warrior, ranger, or mage), learned abilities, current Health, and so on.

A small but important consequence of the rework: Wild Dog packs are now much less likely to start a prolonged barking frenzy. 

• Reworked crowbars and lockpicks. 

• Crowbar: no longer pries open doors, containers, and stone plates instantly. Instead, using a Crowbar now causes the character to continuously attempt the task over multiple turns until they succeed. The chance of success per turn (and the average speed of completing the task) depends on Strength. Each turn spent consumes the item’s Durability, which has been increased to 75 to compensate for this change.

IMPORTANT:* Any Crowbars already acquired on existing saves will keep their old Durability value of 10.*

• Lockpicks: Increased the base success chance, which further scales with Agility and Perception. 

• The difficulty of locks now also depends on the dungeon tier.

• Throwing overhaul:

• Reworked most formulas.

• Throwing Range now scales only with item weight.

• Throws can now be fumbled.

• Significantly reduced Durability loss from throws (-3% > -1).

• Added Armor Penetration to weapon throws, based on the weapon type and its inherent Balance stat.

• Throwing rotten food now reduces human enemies’ Will to Fight and has a chance to cause Confusion.

• Throwing glass items has a chance to cause Bleeding.

• Throw damage for Belt Pouches and Coin Purses is now calculated based on their entire contents rather than just the amount of gold inside.

• Log improvements:

• Added a "Log Delay" setting. Turning it off causes the latest log entries to display instantly.

• Standardized log colors, terminology, and syntax.

• Improved the logging of damage sources: the log now shows the names of projectiles, AoEs, damaging effects, and other relevant things.

• Added logs for many outcomes that were previously omitted, such as taking no damage from AoEs and throws, absorbing all damage from a Backfiring spell or collision with an object, and so on.

• Greatly expanded logs for ranged attacks and throws, including messages for misses, interactions with blocks, and more.

• Added logging for the amount of damage absorbed by blocks.

• Improved the order in which certain actions and outcomes are displayed in the log.

GAMEPLAY

• Reworked the interaction between Block Power and Protection. Previously, both values were **simultaneously **subtracted from the received damage. Now Protection is applied **after **blocking, which will improve its effectiveness against mixed damage.

• A successful full block check no longer preemptively nullifies the attack’s Crit Chance. Critical hits can now always occur against blocks, even if the block fully absorbs the resulting critical damage.

• Refactored the cleave effect of two-handed weapon crits. Previously, any damage dealt to secondary targets was treated as a generic AoE rather than a strike, so it could not be blocked or dodged. Now the cleave counts as individual strikes against all affected targets, not just the primary one.

• Refined the noise propagation algorithm to fix issues with sound travel in specific scenarios, such as through walls and doors.

• Shields can now block all physical and magical projectiles (such as Rockeater spikes, firebolts, bolts of unholy essence, blood bolts, etc.), as well as thrown items.

• Certain items can now be launched with slings.

• Player-made campfires no longer have collision and can be walked over, stomping them out. Walking over a campfire tile deals Fire Damage, though it doesn’t have a chance to instantly ignite targets, as a regular burning tile would.

• The chance for fumbled and blocked shots to break ammo is no longer fixed and now scales with both the attacker’s Fumble Chance and the target’s Block Chance.

• Jorgrim: "Gore and Glory" - added 4 new Proselyte trophies.

• Leosthenes: "Might and Magic" - Magic Mastery now counts as a Utility tree only, same as with Jonna’s trait.

• Blood Golems will now remain interactable on the turn before they explode, making it possible to target them with attacks and abilities (to knock them back at the last moment, for example).

• Rebalanced the "Set Aflame" skill (originally "Torch Strike") and added it to the Base Skills, making it available to the player.

• Some Brigands will now carry torches when spawning on the surface during nighttime.

• Added an option to raise and lower visors on most heavy helmets, changing their stats.

• Added lootable Stones to many locations - they can be used as sling ammo or thrown by hand.

• Throwing stackable items now throws them one at a time.

• Bison and other non-aggressive animals are no longer attracted by noise.

• Added the "Fear of Fire" passive to most animals.

• Added the "Dark Vision" / "Night Vision" passive to most Undead, predators, and high-tier Proselytes.

• Added two new stats: Spell Armor Penetration and Spell Accuracy.

• Damaging neutral NPCs can now trigger a warning dialogue rather than being instantly treated as a crime.

ECONOMY & CARAVAN

• Merchants now pay more for valuables and are more likely to stock enchanted equipment.

• Darrel: "Safe Routes" grants [+4 > +2] Caravan Trade Range.

• Alda: "Reconnaisance" - reduced the chance of rare loot.

• "Messenger Pigeons" upgrade: now also grants +1 Caravan Trade Range.

• "Old Favors" upgrade: now also grants +2 Caravan Trade Range.

• Most Undead enemies now have a chance to drop rings and amulets.

• Crafting a Hunting Net now also requires Stones.

• Reduced the price and effectiveness of most armor fragments.

• Money given through dialogue options will now usually be transferred to the NPC’s inventory instead of disappearing.

• Replaced Ritual Candles with Wax Candles.

• Added an option to craft Torches (available from the start).

• Added alternative ingredients to the Healing Salve schematic.

• Increased the chance for positive and neutral Settlement Situations to occur by 30%.

• St Wald's Bridge NPCs now have greater interest in all types of commodities. 

BALANCE

• Increased the character’s base Vision range: [10 > 12] tiles.

• Dirwin: "Ranger's Grit" now requires clearing out Dens, Hunting Grounds [and Caves] instead of just discovering them. Hunting Grounds are considered cleared out after killing at least one animal at the location.

Added: [Grants 1 Stat Point for every 4 unique types of Dens, Hunting Grounds, or Caves cleared out for the first time (up to 3 SP)].

• Increased the effectiveness of Block Power and Protection against Magic and Nature Damage: [50% > 66%].

• Perception: reaching a threshold grants [+1 > +5%] Max Vision and [+1 > +5%] Bonus Range.

• Reworked ranged distance penalties: [-3% Accuracy for each tile of distance beyond half the attack range > -2% Accuracy and +2% Fumble Chance for each tile of distance to the target].

• Increased the default chance for arrows and bolts to break: [50% > 66%]. Sling ammo has a 20% chance to break.

• Leeches now restore less Condition to affected body parts.

• Enemy spawn points in Crypts have been redistributed and are now placed farther from room entrances, making chain aggro less common.

• Standardized Undead abilities across different enemy types and tiers.

• Added Stance skills to many high-tier Brigands.

• Archers and other enemies capable of switching weapon loadouts will now gain different skills depending on what they are currently armed with.

• Reduced the number of enemies spawning on the surface by roughly 20-50%, depending on the area’s danger level.

• Improved the stats of heavy armor.

• Rebalanced the stats of several equipment categories: bows, crossbows, two-handed maces, two-handed axes, two-handed swords, staves, axes, swords, mage gear, and shields.

• Reduced the Crit Chance and Crit Efficiency for most enemies.

• Reduced the Healing Efficiency and Life Drain for all Wraiths.

• Increased the maximum duration of "Satiety".

• "Doused in Oil" and "Doused in Alcohol" now cause targets to ignite much faster when taking Fire Damage.

• "Net": reduced the penalties to Fumble Chance and Backfire Chance: [35% > 30%].

• Smoke Bomb: reduced the penalties to Accuracy and Fumble Chance: [25% > 20%].

• Significantly reduced how quickly enemies can recover Will to Fight after replenishing Health. As a result, enemies will now be less likely to rejoin combat after only a few turns of fleeing.

• Wraith Commanders can no longer be summoned with the "Wraith Summoning" spell.

• "Aftermaths" and "Hangover" now count as Lingering effects.

• Butchering Jays now yields twice as many Meat Morsels.

• Reduced the Thirst gain from eating herbs.

• Effects from all dishes can no longer stack. Previously, salads could stack up to 2 times.

• Butter now grants a Diet Morale bonus to dishes.

• Kennels in low-tier Bastions will now spawn far fewer Dogs.

• Reduced the quality and quantity of loot in Crawler Burrows.

• The chance to disarm a trap now depends not only on its type, but also on its size.

• Disarming traps now grants varying amounts of Experience depending on their size and danger.

ABILITIES

SWORDS:

• "Onrush": Added:
  . Reduced the scaling of the Bleed Resistance debuff on the target.

AXES:

• "Mutilating Lunge": Added:
  .

• "Cut Through": Added:
  .

• "Massacre": Grants [+10% > +12%] Bodypart Damage and [+5% > +7%] Bleed Chance.

• "Ferocity":  Causing an Injury reduces Axes cooldowns by [-1 > -2] turns.

• "No Mercy": Grants [+10% > +12%] Weapon Damage to strikes against targets with either <50% Health or [100% > 90%+] Health.

MACES:

• "Onslaught": Added:
  .

• "Armor Break": Added:
  .

• "Concussion": Reworked:
  .

DAGGERS:

• "Gaping Wound": Added: [While affected by "Gaping Wound", moving to other tiles, using abilities, or attacking causes all Bleedings to trigger twice per turn].

• "From the Shadows": Added:
  .

TWO-HANDED SWORDS:

• "Hewing Strike": Added:
  .

• "Parry": Grants [+20% > +10%] Block Power Recovery.

TWO-HANDED MACES:

• "Forceful Slam": Added:
  .

• "Skull Crusher": Added: [While affected by "Mighty Swing", the skill has +1 Range].

TWO-HANDED AXES:

• "Dismember": Added: [If the target isn’t Injured, the strike prioritizes the most damaged bodypart].

• "Rampage": Reworked the bonus damage mechanic: the damage is now added directly to the attack, similarly to Spears’ "Wounding Spearhead", instead of being applied separately as pure damage.

SPEARS:

• "Stay Back!": Applies the target with -10% [Piercing > Physical] Resistance (for better synergy with halberds).

RANGED WEAPONS:

• "Taking Aim": Grants [+1 > +10%] Bonus Range.

• "Distracting Shot": [Charges to the targeted tile, then takes a shot > Takes a shot, then performs the charge]. Added:
  . Added: [If equipped with a sling, grants +1 Range to the charge. Successfully landing a shot decreases the skill’s cooldown by 2 turns].

• "Startling Volley": Bow-related mechanics are applied to slings as well.

• "Suppression": Added: [If equipped with a sling, using Ranged Weapons abilities grants 2 stacks of the effect].

• "Long Shot": Added: [If equipped with a sling, the shot receives a bonus to Accuracy for each tile of distance to the target].

• "Hunter's Mark": "Thrill of the Hunt" grants [+10% > +7%] Bodypart Damage and [+10% > +5%] Crit Efficiency per stack. "Hunter’s Mark" applies targets with [-10% > -7%] Bleed, Move, and Control Resistance per stack.

• "Constant Practice": Added: [Reduces the distance penalty to Accuracy and Fumble Chance to -1% and +1% per tile respectively. Grants sling shots +30% Accuracy, reducing the bonus by 5% for each tile of distance to the target].

• "Spot Weakness": Added: [If equipped with a sling, "Taking Aim" applies all targets within Vision with -5% Move and Control Resistance for 4 turns. The effect stacks up to 2 times].

• "Anticipation": Both effects trigger twice if equipped with a [crossbow > crossbow or sling].

• "Precision": The effect triggers twice if equipped with a [crossbow > crossbow or sling].

• "Shoot to Kill": Now also grants Crit Chance if the target is Dazed or Stunned.

SHIELDS:

• "Breakthrough": Added:
  .

ARMORED COMBAT:

• "Brace for Impact!": If equipped with a heavy chestpiece, decreases the skill’s cooldown by [25% > 33%]. Added: [+12% Control and Move Resistance].

• "Unyielding Defense": Added: [Lowers the visor of the equipped helmet].

• "Flexible Defense": Added:
  .

• "Battering Ram": Added: [Armor Penetration and Fumble Chance]. Added: [Applies the target with -100% Counter Chance until the next turn]. Added: [If equipped with a heavy chestpiece, the Stun Chance now works alongside the Stagger Chance rather than replacing it]. External stat modifiers no longer have effect on the skill.

• "Custom Adjustments": Heavy armor: grants [+3 > +4] Max Energy and [+1% > +2%] Energy Restoration, and reduces armor Durability loss by [2% > 3%]. Medium armor: grants [+5% > +8%] Bleed Resistance and [+1.5% > +3%] Dodge Chance. Light armor: grants [+15% > +25%] Protection (no less [1 > 2]) and [-2% Damage Taken]. Removed: [Doubles the bonuses if every equipped piece of armor belongs to the same type].

WARFARE:

• "Seize the Initiative": Added:
  .

• "War Cry": Removed the hidden 0.5x coefficient for targets’ Control Resistance when calculating the skill’s chance to Confuse or Daze.

ATHLETICS:

• "Mighty Kick": Added: [Applies the target with a debuff to Counter Chance until the next turn]. Added: [Armor Penetration, Fumble Chance, and Crit Chance]. Added: Delivers a strike [to the legs or the body]. External stat modifiers no longer have effect on the skill.

• "Leg Sweep": Added: [Applies the target with a debuff to Counter Chance until the next turn]. Added: [Armor Penetration, Fumble Chance, and Crit Chance]. Added: Delivers a strike to
  . External stat modifiers no longer have effect on the skill.

• "Sudden Lunge": [If the strike deals damage > A successful, damaging strike].

DUAL WIELDING:

• "Flurry of Strikes":
  [-25% > -30%] Hands Efficiency. Added:
  . Added: [-5% Accuracy and +5% Fumble Chance].

• "Deflect": The bonus to Block Power is now a percentage rather than a flat amount. Reduced the Block Power scaling.

• "Enough for Everyone": Reduced the scaling of the bonuses to Dodge Chance, Counter Chance, and Damage Taken.

• "Dual Wielding Training": Added:
  .

• "Berserker Tradition":
  [-0.3% > -0.25%] Damage Taken for each missing percent of Health. [+4% > +3%] Crit Chance for 10 turns for each miss or fumble (the effect stacks up to 5 times). [+1% > +0.5%] Weapon Damage for each percent of Pain. [+3% > +2%] Counter Chance for 10 turns for each received strike (the effect stacks up to 5 times. [+10% > +8%] Crit Efficiency for each adjacent enemy.

• "Unstoppable": Reduced the scaling of Health and Energy replenishment.

• "More Blood!": Killing enemies reduces Dual Wielding cooldowns by [4 > 2] turns. Added:
  .

SURVIVAL:

• "Austerity": Reduces the rate of Hunger and Thirst gain by [20% > 10%]. Added: [Reduces the rate of passive Diet Morale loss by 20%].

• "Pathfinder": Grants [+1 > +5%] Bonus Vision. Allows "Examine Surroundings" to hear all creatures within [120% > 100%] of the Max Vision range.

MAGIC MASTERY:

• “Seal of Power”: Grants [+1 > +10%] Bonus Range.

ARCANISTICS:

• Increased the base damage of most spells.

PYROMANCY:

• Increased the base damage of most spells.

ELECTROMANCY:

• Increased the base damage of most spells.

GEOMANCY:

• Increased the base damage of most spells.

ENEMIES - PROSELYTES:

• "Baleful Scream": Added: [75% Armor Penetration. Always hits the head].

• "Herald of Ruination": Reworked: [Now functions as an AoE attack rather than a generic AoE, which means it can be dodged and blocked].

• "Fiery Embers": Applies with [-9% > -6%] Fire Resistance.

• "Burnt Offering": Grants [+3 > +2] Fire Damage and [+6% > +3%] Crit Chance.

• "Blood Scent": When an enemy within [9 > 15] tiles starts Bleeding, the Proselyte is attracted to that location. NB: Previously, this passive was instantly turning enemies hostile, revealing the character’s location. Now it puts Proselytes in a search state, causing them to move toward the tile where you last started Bleeding.

• "For Whom the Bell Tolls": Added: [Spotting an enemy puts this skill on a 9 turn cooldown. Applies enemies with -3% Situational Sanity]. Attracts all enemies within [9 > 18] tiles.

• "Worm Food": Grants [+9% > +6%] Bleed Resistance and Crit Chance to all previously summoned Worms.

• **"Bloodthirst": ** Added: [Bleed Chance and Life Drain now scale with user’s attributes. The effect activates only if the target takes damage from the strike]. Replenishes [6% > 3%] Max Health and Energy per turn.

• "Chain Strike": Added: [If the strike fails to Daze, Stun, or knock the target back, applies it with -9% Control and Move Resistance for 6 turns].

• "Lash Blessing": Added: [Granting the effect to an ally also activates it on the caster. The effect’s duration is doubled when granting it only to the caster].

• "Mark of the Feast": Grants [+13% > +9%] Life Drain to received attacks.

• "Summon Blood Golem": Added: [Can only summon 3 golems simultaneously].

• "Wild Swipe": Added: [Knockback Chance now scales with user’s attributes].

• "Lacerate": Added: [Weapon Damage and Bleed Chance scaling. If the strike causes a Bleeding, reduces all cooldowns by 2 turns].

• "Flesh Explosion": Added:
  .

ENEMIES - UNDEAD:

• "Last Stand": The effect’s range is [15 > 30] tiles.

• "Strangling Grasp": Added scaling bonuses to Accuracy and Fumble Chance.

• "Bone Throw": Bleed and Daze can be applied only if the target takes damage from the skill.

• "Binding Sigil": Can no longer be used on Wraiths.

ENEMIES - BRIGANDS:

• **"Instigate": ** Prolongs the duration of Stances and Maneuvers on the ally by [1 > 3] turns.

• **"Drums of War": ** Raised the lowest possible amount of Will to Fight replenishment.

• **"Banners High!": ** Added:
  .

• **"Loud Barking": ** Spotting an enemy puts the skill on a [5 > 7] turn cooldown.

• "Apply Splint", "Use Vivifying Essence": These hidden skills now copy the exact effects of the consumables they are meant to represent.

ENEMIES - BEASTS:

• "Tunnel Through": Can no longer be used while Immobilized or affected by "Net".

• "Undermine": Added: [+300% Move Resistance].

• "Peck": Now applies "Blindness" only after a successful hit to the head which deals at least [4% > 5%] of the target’s Max Health as damage.

• "Corrosive Blood": Now only damages adjacent attackers. Upon death, leaves a pool of acid only on its own tile.

• "Rend Flesh": Added: [Bodypart Damage and Bleed Chance now scale with user’s attributes].

• "Howl": Causes a huge amount of noise > alerts all Wolves within 20 tiles.

FIXES

• Fixed Crit Efficiency not increasing the damage of enemy attacks.

• Fixed Bonus Range not having an effect on enemy spells.

• Fixed the "Electric Boogaloo" achievement.

• Fixed blood sigils created by the "Summoning Ritual" modifier not having a limit on the number of summoned Blood Golems.

• Fixed enemy post-death barks appearing only in the log instead of as pop-up text.

• Fixed the issue with smaller enemies being visually obscured by the sprites of larger enemies.

• Fixed damage from floor-based AoE effects and sound-based abilities targeting random body parts: they now correctly damage the legs and head respectively.

• Picking up arrows from the ground through the context menu or while holding ALT now properly adds them to existing ammo stacks.

• Fixed the possibility of dismantling owned armor inside containers without it being treated as a crime.

• Fixed invisible collisions caused by NPCs swapping places with one another in certain situations.

• Fixed some NPCs’ pathfinding algorithm ignoring water tiles.

• Fixed incorrect damage calculations that could sometimes occur with negative Resistances.

• Fixed ranged weapons losing less Durability from their attacks than intended.

• Fixed regular Ducks yielding only one Drumstick when butchered.

• Fixed a softlock that could occur in some dialogues with Alda.

• Fixed Tender Meat granting an incorrect amount of Diet Morale to dishes.

• Fixed the possibility of receiving Rickerd’s special quest twice after rescuing him.

• When the sprites of highlighted items overlap, interacting with them will now pick up only one item, rather than all of them at the same time.

• Fixed Bird Agrafes and Bird Buckles being incorrectly flagged as stackable, which caused them to disappear during stacking attempts.

• "Fate of the Brewery": the "Odar’s Thugs" step of the quest will now be automatically tracked as active when received.

• Fixed the incorrect amount of Experience gained from reading Pyromancy treatises.

• Brigand Warlock: fixed "Aether Shield" lasting only 1 turn.

• Fixed Guards ignoring the contents of backpacks and some bags during searches.

• Fixed shields never appearing in some traders’ stock.

• Fixed the bug causing Caravan Followers to sometimes occupy the same tile during their animations.

• Fixed the "Competition" modifier causing issues with dungeon generation, which could result in "Trapped Entrance" dungeons not spawning a lever room, leading to a softlock.

• Fixed the crash caused by inspecting a target at the moment of its death.

• Fixed the possibility of triggering Darrel’s events and bypassing his refusal to work while the Caravan is next to the Abbey.

• Fixed issues with Butchers’ stock.

• Fixed the possibility of turning in Morions to l’Owcrey more than once.

• "Heroic Charge": Fixed some effects preventing the application of distance-related bonuses.

• "Mana Crystal": Improved target selection: the Crystal now prioritizes hostile targets first (ignoring critters and birds).

• "Tempest": Improved target selection to prevent the spell from hitting neutral NPCs and allies. 

• "Resonance Cascade": No longer applies "Resonance" to neutral NPCs or allies.

• "Last Stand": Fixed the skill resurrecting all nearby Undead instead of just the Restless.

• "War Cry": Fixed the effects triggering more than once against enemies occupying several tiles.

• Fixed the issue causing Censers to disappear from the Mannshire Priest’s stock.

• Fixed the possibility of receiving the "Captive Emissary" contract more than once.

• Enemy ability hovers will now display which stats and attributes they are modified by.

PERFORMANCE

• Optimized the Fog of War.

• Optimized NPCs’ pathfinding algorithm. This should improve performance in Brynn and other locations with large numbers of NPCs, especially on lower-end systems.

QOL

• Made it possible to access Caravan Storage while cooking, crafting, or trading with Followers at the Caravan Camp.

• Made it possible to directly use most consumables (such as Crowbars, Healing Salves, etc.) if they are placed into the dedicated slots of specialized backpacks.

• Added 5 pop-up hints covering ranged combat, Caravan trading, NPCs blocking your path, the Lighting System, and helmet visors.

• Reliquaries and levers are now highlighted when holding ALT.

• Ammo switching now toggles between ammo types rather than quiver slots. For example, if the first two quiver slots contain Broadhead Arrows and the third contains Bodkin Arrows, switching will jump straight to the Bodkin Arrows.

• Enemies entering the alarmed or hostile state will now be marked by an icon in the Fog of War.

• Improved the distribution of looted coins and valuables between Coin Purses.

• Refined the walking animation to make movement faster and smoother.

• Improved the positioning of items on the cursor while dragging and dropping.

• Optimized category filters in the Trade Menu: the available filters now adapt to the NPC’s stock.

VFX

• Redrawn the icons of most Proselyte passives to better match the established passive icon format.

• Improved the visual effects for projectile hits.

• If multiple identical enemies spawn in a group, the game now attempts to assign them different sprite variations, if possible.

• Redrawn the sprites of some armor and weapons.

• Player character movement is now smoother when moving diagonally.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Reworked the mini-boss name generator. There are now dedicated nickname/title pools for lowborn and highborn Brigands, Warlocks, Undead, low-tier Proselytes (including a separate pool for Matriarchs), and high-tier Proselytes.

• Reworked all Proselyte barks. Low-tier Proselytes now speak normal language.

• Added new rumors.

• Comprehensive edits to all Russian text: fixed spelling, punctuation, and stylistic errors; added missing gender inflections in certain dialogues; rewrote several poor item descriptions.

• Added dialogue support for custom articles in dungeon names for certain localizations.

• Added Steam Rich Presence support.