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0.31 "The Alchemy of Forms"

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@gammafunk gammafunk released this 19 Jan 04:38
· 2732 commits to master since this release

Stone Soup 0.31 (20240119)

Highlights

  • New skill and background: Shapeshifters, using Talismans to change forms.
  • New skill and background: Alchemists, melding Poison Magic and Transmutation.
  • A variety of exciting new spells for sorcerers and sword-slingers alike.
  • Many dangerous new monsters, from the early Dungeon to the Realm of Zot.
  • Major changes to many species.

Artefacts

  • New unrand: Mule, a +7 flaming hand cannon which sometimes knocks the
    user backwards when fired.
  • The dreamshard necklace now has Acrobat, but only restores the player to 1 HP
    when they'd otherwise die, rather than healing 50-100% of their max HP.
  • Artefact staves and orbs can now enhance other schools of magic, even those
    which don't have corresponding base enhancer staff types.
  • Gyre & Gimble's enchantment is reduced from +12 to +8.
  • The macabre finger necklace is now evil, and the amulet of Vitality
    no longer is.
  • Glaive of the Guard no longer gives +5 AC.

Branches, Environment

  • The Slime Pits now have many new endings, instead of one fixed ending.
  • Fast-moving adventurers can find gems at the bottom of many branches.
    These have no use, but are great for bragging rights.
  • Negative energy clouds have been replaced with clouds of excruciating
    misery, which deal damage based on max HP %.
  • The Ecumenical Temple is now fully mapped on entry.
  • The lairs of the lords of Pandemonium have been reworked.
  • Bazaars now have other (friendly!) patrons.
  • Crypt now has a 1/3 chance of containing a talisman of death.
  • The Hall of Blades in Elf:2 now holds weapon-enhancing scrolls, and sometimes
    has a blade talisman.
  • 'Hard' ice caves are displayed pre-entry as "glacial chasms".

Character

  • New skill: Shapeshifting, used for talismans.
  • New background: Shapeshifter, replacing Transmuter. Shapeshifters enter the
    dungeon with a beast talisman, a potion of lignification, and an animal skin.
  • Merged skills: Poison Magic and Transmutations have been merged into Alchemy.
  • Reworked background: Venom Mage has become Alchemist, which has the reworked
    spells Mercury Vapours and Sticky Flame, along with Sting, Mephitic Cloud,
    and Olgreb's Toxic Radiance.
  • Reworked Hexslinger, which now starts with new spells Jinxbite, Sigil of
    Binding, and Dimensional Bullseye, along with Inner Flame and Cause Fear.
  • Conjurers no longer start with Dazzling Flash.
  • Shields no longer degrade in effectiveness with each hit taken per-turn.
    Instead, they now have a limit on per-turn blocks, based on shield type.
  • New mutation: persistent drain, which makes HP drain take more XP to cure.
  • Hunters and Chaos Knights now start with scrolls of butterflies instead
    of immolation and xom's chesspieces, respectively.

Gods

  • Okawaru now gives exactly one weapon gift and one armour gift as a capstone
    (chosen by the player), rather than giving many random gifts.
  • Ashenzari now gives perfect mapping, but only maps within LOS radius.
  • Trog now disables pain brand instead of becoming angry at it.
  • Nemelex:
    • The Swarm card can now summon higher level bees.
    • The Elements card has had its summon set adjusted.
    • The Cloud card now produces different types of cloud based on power.
    • The Deal Four ability now costs more piety.
  • The Wu Jian Council now allows rampaging.
  • Cheibriados piety gain now only depends on monsters' base speed.
  • The good gods now hate distortion-branded weapons.
  • Gozag no longer detects gold.
  • Kikubaaqudgha's wrath has been overhauled to be much more dangerous.

Interface and Options

  • Monsters with unusual items (e.g. distortion) are now highlit in purple
    by default.
  • Monster descriptions have been compacted and made more informative.
  • Monster resists from equipment is now used for display and targeting.
  • For many list options, commas can now be escaped with backslash.
  • The ctrl-T "toggle travel speed" option has been removed.

Items

  • New item type: talismans.
    • When used, talismans transform the player into a corresponding form.
      This transformation lasts until the player chooses to end it.
      It takes five turns to use a talisman.
    • Shapeshifting skill increases the power of talismans' forms. Insufficient
      Shapeshifting skill reduces the player's maximum HP while in a form.
      Different forms have different min and max Shapeshifting skills.
    • Beast talisman: starting talisman for Shapeshifters. Gives +Slay
      but melds aux armour.
    • Flux talisman: starting talisman for Shapeshifters. Over multiple hits,
      contaminates enemies with magical radiation until they explode.
    • Serpent talisman: transforms the player into a big, constricting python.
    • Maw talisman: melds the body slot, transforming it into a devouring maw.
      Launches auxiliary chomp attacks and heals the player by devouring foes.
    • Blade talisman: gives the player blade hands and also a blade body,
      reducing AC from body armour at lower Shapeshifting skill.
    • Statue talisman: turns the player into a slow-moving, durable statue.
    • Dragon-blood talisman: turns the player into a fire-breathing dragon.
    • Storm talisman: turns the player into living lightning.
    • Talisman of death: turns the player into an undead abomination, blighting
      foes on hit and tormenting them to heal.
  • New item: sack of spiders, an XP-charged evoker which webs foes and
    summons creepy-crawlies. Alternates with boxes of beasts.
  • Potions of flight replaced with enlightenment, which also give Will+.
  • Scrolls of magic mapping replaced with revelation, which also give X-ray
    vision and sInv for one turn.
  • New weapon: orcbow, between a shortbow and an arbalest in strength.
  • Hand crossbows are now hand cannons, alchemically belching smoke and death.
  • Ranged weapons' damage, delay and accuracy have been adjusted.
  • Quick blades now hit twice for every swing, with a higher attack delay.
  • Boomerangs of dispersal have been replaced with darts.
  • Condenser vanes are now more effective at low power.
  • Spectral weapons now share 70% of damage taken (from 50%).
  • Staves of earth now check only 1x AC, but deal 1/3rd damage to fliers.
  • The 'chaos' brand has a new set of possible effects.
  • Wands of light no longer affect undead, plant and nonliving monsters.
  • Wands of quicksilver can no longer be self-targeted.
  • Troll leather armour now has slightly less base AC.
  • Removed books: Sky, Rime and Transfigurations.
  • Removed: silver boomerangs and xom's chesspieces.

Monsters

  • Uniques:
    • New: Jeremiah, a peaceful barachi trapped between sleep and waking.
      Their dreams leak into reality in a stream of beautiful butterflies.
    • Returned and revamped: Norris, a death cultist who surfs into battle with a
      gang of skysharks.
    • Maurice is now a vine stalker, with high regen and antimagic bites.
    • Erica is now an octopode, with constriction and a more focused spell set.
    • Frederick holds an orb, has a new spell set, and is much stronger.
    • Boris now sprays clouds of misery instead of casting Invisibility.
    • Xtahua and Mnoleg are considerably stronger.
  • Other new and returned monsters:
    • Arcanists, fairly dangerous vitrifying wizards.
    • Bombardier beetles, an early monster that shoots sticky flame.
    • Brain worms, which eat magic and minds alike.
    • Burial acolytes, masters of the Ossuary.
    • Crocodiles, which drag victims backward.
    • Formless jellyfish, which constrict and sting for single-turn paralysis.
    • Glass eyes, which vitrify victims to make them fragile as glass.
    • Kobold blastminers, who blast enemies with alchemical cannons and get sent
      flying backwards by the recoil.
    • Laughing skulls, whose painful laughter grows stronger in numbers.
    • Protean progenitors, which split into shapeshifting fragments when slain.
    • Weeping skulls, which spray clouds of misery.
  • Other changes to individual monsters:
    • Alligators and reapers are a bit weaker, but drag victims backward.
    • Ufetubi, tengu warriors, and draconian monks now slip behind their foes
      before meleeing.
    • Tengu reavers now have rMsl.
    • 'Wizard' has been renamed to 'occultist' and has a new spell set.
    • Worms have turned into ribbon worms, doing less damage but ensnaring.
    • Great orbs of eyes have a new spell set, and are slightly stronger.
    • Cacodemons now Vitrify instead of casting Slow/Confuse.
    • Killer Klowns now Vitrify instead of Polymorphing.
    • Monsters which cast Energy Bolt now instead cast Bolt of Devastation,
      which applies Will/2 temporarily.
    • Concentrate Venom (from naga mages and Amaemon) is more effective.
    • Naga ritualists are much more powerful.
    • Nagas' spit is now more powerful.
    • Deep Elf Elementalists now cast LRD instead of Awaken Earth.
    • Deep Elf Death Mages are tougher and summon many more lost souls.
    • Red very ugly things now do direct fire damage instead of sticky flame.
    • Sun moths have a different spellset and melee attack effects.
    • Wargs are now notably stronger and faster.
    • Abominations' speed is no longer randomized.
  • Attacks of opportunity have been reworked.
    • Monsters now have a chance to attack when moving into melee with a player
      who just moved away. Previously, this triggered immediately when the
      player moved away, didn't use any of the monster's time, and couldn't
      trigger for monsters slower than the player.
    • Monsters have a slight chance to fall behind or catch up while following
      the player.
  • Other behavioral changes:
    • Giant monsters can now be ensnared by webs and nets.
    • Jellies can no longer be netted or constricted.
    • Allied undead no longer become angry when damaged.
    • Allies match your speed when no foes are nearby.
    • Polymorphing monsters no longer heals them.
    • Monsters no longer use up charges when zapping wands.
    • Monsters can no longer use scrolls or potions.
  • Some monsters now have special dialogue after killing the player.
  • Flying skulls have been removed.

Species

  • Ogres have been renamed to Oni.
    • They heal twice as much from potions, and launch a 'drunken brawling'
      melee attack against all adjacent foes when drinking healing potions.
    • Some apts have been improved or tweaked.
    • They now have Horns 1.
  • Armataurs:
    • At XL7 and higher, armataurs now regenerate HP and MP when rampaging.
    • Their 'double potion' effect has been removed.
    • Their max HP is reduced.
  • Felids now get an extra life at XL 1, and don't lose XLs on dying.
    They also have higher base health, but no longer have fast movement.
  • Tengu now have inherent Acrobat (+15 EV after moving/waiting) at XL 1.
    They now gain +4 EV at XL7 instead of a 20% EV bonus and fast movement.
  • Humans now heal while exploring, but their XP apt is now average.
  • Mummies now get their first necromancy enhancer at XL 1, not 3.
  • Vine Stalkers now get regeneration at XL 1, not 4.
  • Djinn now use all magic skills, instead of only Spellcasting. Djinn can
    only choose to train all magic skills or none.
  • Ghouls start with an additional +4 Int and +1 MP.
  • Formicids can no longer be involuntarily shafted.
  • Meteorans have been removed.

Spells

  • Poison Magic and Transmutations have merged into a new Alchemy school.
    • Poisonous Vapours has been replaced by Mercury Vapours, which can now
      inflict Weak on the target and other creatures nearby, but has short range.
    • Sticky Flame is now L4 Fire/Alch (was L4 Fire/Conj), does much more
      damage, but can be shaken off by non-forced movement.
    • Ignite Poison is now L4 Fire/Alch (was L3 Fire/Poison/Tmut).
    • Leda's Liquefaction is now L4 Earth / Alch (was L4 Earth / Hexes)
    • Sting is now Conj/Alch (was Pois/Tmut), and has more range and damage.
    • Fulminant Prism is now Conj/Alch (was Conj/Hex).
  • New spells:
    • Jinxbite (L2 Hex): deals additional Will-checking damage to foes attacked
      while its duration lasts, but also halves the caster's will.
    • Sigil of Binding (L3 Hex): creates two magical traps nearby, which
      temporarily bind hapless victims in place.
    • Brom's Barrelling Boulder (L4 Earth/Conj): creates a boulder, which crushes
      and knocks back foes and explodes when hitting walls.
    • Martyr's Knell: L4 Summ/Necro. Summons a shade that absorbs damage taken
      by other allies. Becomes a flayed ghost on death.
  • Replaced spells:
    • Fugue of the Fallen (replacing Wereblood): Now L3 Necro (was L2 Tmut),
      triggers on ally kills as well as the player's, inflicts pain on nearby
      foes at max power, caps at +7 (was +9), and no longer gives minor healing.
    • Blazeheart Golem (replacing Guardian Golem): Now L4 Summ/Fire (was L3
      Summ/Hex). Now has slow, powerful, self-damaging melee, and blows up one
      turn after dying. Only functions when the player is adjacent.
    • Dimensional Bullseye (replacing Portal Projectile): targets a foe and
      teleports all shots fired at other foes to also hit the chosen unfortunate.
    • Curse of Agony (replacing Agony). Hexed foes have their health halved after
      each of the next two melee attacks the caster lands against them.
    • Bombard (replacing Iron Shot). Sometimes knocks back the caster.
    • Sculpt Simulacrum (replacing Simulacrum). L6 Ice/Alch (was L6 Ice/Necro).
      Creates simulacra of an adjacent foe after a few turns.
  • Call Canine Familiar now summons inugami, dog spirits which scale with power.
    Recasting the spell heals the dogs and gives them a free cleaving attack, but
    if the inugami is defeated, it can't be resummoned for some time.
  • Passwall is now L3 Earth (was L2 Earth/Tmut). It now has fixed range and gives
    temporary AC.
  • Petrify can now chain its effect on up to two other adjacent foes, but has
    its range reduced to 6.
  • Summon Ice Beast is now L3 (was L4).
  • Plasma Beam no longer has limited range, but does 10% less damage.
  • Arcjolt now initially arcs to foes within two tiles of the caster.
  • Static Discharge now does more damage, but checks half AC instead of none.
  • Hailstorm does more damage at low power and less at high power.
  • Swiftness now works in water.
  • Cigotuvi's Dreadful Rot now drains the user much less.
  • Borgnjor's Vile Clutch (and Fastroot) now work on invisible enemies.
  • Borgnjor's Vile Clutch does less damage.
  • Blastmotes now explode when waited in.
  • Spellforged Servitor requires conjurations to be <=20% fail (was 50%).
  • Many summons now have a shorter duration.
  • Removed: Beastly Appendage, Spider Form, Ice Form, Blade Hands, Statue
    Form, Dragon Form, Storm Form, Necromutation.

Tiles and Other Art

  • New art for existing game elements:
    • Monsters:
      • Ancient liches.
      • Blink frogs.
      • Deep elf death mages.
      • Dragons.
      • Rakshasas.
      • Shrike simulacrula.
      • Barachi and Oni (decorative).
    • Unrands: Eos, Sniper, Starlight, Dragonskin, Ratskin and the Thief.
    • Short sword and eveningstar artefacts.
    • All bardings.
    • Volatile Blastmotes (spell icon and clouds).
    • Dragon form.
    • Many mutation icons.
    • Stone walls and floors in the Depths.
    • Dithmenos's altar.
    • The Orb of Zot.
  • New Eustachio splash screen.
  • Player body variants are randomized at the start of each game.