Testing 12/14 Bugfix Build: Let's play a warlock :D

[Ferret]

Testing out the AI changes I've made to eliminate luring behavior. With changes like this, it's best to do at least one 'normal' game in addition to games that test the fixes directly, so here we go.

Since I was just talking to wiz about a warlock build, that's what I'm going to be playing. Here's the start.

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Demon Party Dump File
Version 12/3/2015, Scoring Model: 8/22/2015
Dump file created at: 12/13/2015 6:04:37 PM


Summoner Antoria...
was chosen by the Vodun Mask,
selected Dark and Healing as their starting elements,
is currently at Tower:1,
and is still alive!



--==== Main Character ===--

Name : Antoria
Level: 1
MaxHP: 45
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 4
Magic   : 12
Vitality: 19
Agility : 5
Cunning : 15

Resist: Dark
Weak  : Light

Abilities Known:
1) Vigor Siphon (Type: Dark, 30 SP. 70 Power attack, split between HP and MaxHP damage. 66% of the MaxHP damage is drained to the user as bonus MaxHP. Cannot miss.)
2) Hex (Type: Dark, 15 SP. 50% chance to apply Hex, which reduces physical resistances (not immunity) by one level, and reduces physical damage dealt by 50%.)
3) Draw Wounds (Type: Healing, 0 SP. 105 Power heal. Costs HP equal to the amount healed. Healing and HP cost are limited to what will not kill the user and what the target needs to reach maximum. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (1))
4) ------------
5) ------------
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------

Inventory:



--==== Current Party ===--

Name : Will o' wisp
Level: 1
MaxHP: 32
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 9
Magic   : 9
Vitality: 8
Agility : 16
Cunning : 13

Immune: Body
Resist: Slash Impact Pierce
Weak  : Electricity Light Dark

Abilities Known:
1) Ghost Pierce (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Moves you to different, randomly selected, position adjacent to the target.)
2) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 33% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
3) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)
4) ------------
5) ------------



--==== Recently Slain Allies ===--



Not much to say yet. The "warlock" build, as I call it, depends on getting absurdly high MaxHP and using Draw Wounds and debuffs to support allies. Will O Wisp makes a great starting ally for this build: the physical damage reduction from Hex stacks with its physical resistances, and both make using Draw Wounds on it a very good bargain. Souleater will also be useful for the main character to learn. Let's go!

[Ferret]

Tower:1 complete. Picked up a Slime (Reshape will be good for the warlock, at least early on), an Echeneis, and a Goblin. Sadly, no Gandayah, I could really use help on the SP front: it's always a challenge for builds that rely on high SP spells.

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Demon Party Dump File
Version 12/3/2015, Scoring Model: 8/22/2015
Dump file created at: 12/13/2015 6:11:01 PM


Summoner Antoria...
was chosen by the Vodun Mask,
selected Dark and Healing as their starting elements,
is currently at Tower:1,
and is still alive!



--==== Main Character ===--

Name : Antoria
Level: 1
MaxHP: 45
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 4
Magic   : 12
Vitality: 19
Agility : 5
Cunning : 15

Resist: Dark
Weak  : Light

Abilities Known:
1) Vigor Siphon (Type: Dark, 30 SP. 70 Power attack, split between HP and MaxHP damage. 66% of the MaxHP damage is drained to the user as bonus MaxHP. Cannot miss.)
2) Hex (Type: Dark, 15 SP. 50% chance to apply Hex, which reduces physical resistances (not immunity) by one level, and reduces physical damage dealt by 50%.)
3) Draw Wounds (Type: Healing, 0 SP. 105 Power heal. Costs HP equal to the amount healed. Healing and HP cost are limited to what will not kill the user and what the target needs to reach maximum. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (1))
4) ------------
5) ------------
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------

Inventory:
1 Heal stone
1 Pure stone
1 Blizzard rune
1 Tempest rune
2 Heal gem



--==== Current Party ===--

Name : Will o' wisp
Level: 1
MaxHP: 32
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 9
Magic   : 9
Vitality: 8
Agility : 16
Cunning : 13

Immune: Body
Resist: Slash Impact Pierce
Weak  : Electricity Light Dark

Abilities Known:
1) Ghost Pierce (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Moves you to different, randomly selected, position adjacent to the target.)
2) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 33% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
3) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)
4) ------------
5) ------------


Name : Slime
Level: 1
MaxHP: 44
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 17
Magic   : 6
Vitality: 17
Agility : 4
Cunning : 11

Weak  : Pierce Fire Ice Electricity Body Light

Abilities Known:
1) Heavy Blow (Type: Impact, 5 SP. 70 Power attack.)
2) Block Impact (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to block Impact attacks.)
3) Reshape (Type: Healing, 0 SP. Removes all negative status effects, then applies a 125 Power heal. Cooldown: Endure (5))
4) Malleable (Type: Healing, Passive. Improves natural HP regeneration and healing received (including from the Regen status effect) by 25%. Does not affect healing received based on dealing damage.)
5) ------------
6) ------------


Name : Echeneis
Level: 1
MaxHP: 35
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 8
Magic   : 13
Vitality: 16
Agility : 11
Cunning : 7

Resist: Ice
Weak  : Electricity

Abilities Known:
1) Chilling Touch (Type: Ice, 5 SP. 70 Power attack. Chills the target, reducing their accuracy, evasion, and movement speed by 12%.)
2) Deep Chill (Type: Ice, Passive. Increases the duration of your Chill effects by 3 turns.)
3) Headwind (Type: Ice, Passive. Ice attacks delay the next turn of targets that moved during their previous turn.)
4) ------------
5) ------------


Name : Goblin
Level: 1
MaxHP: 33
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 10
Magic   : 7
Vitality: 10
Agility : 14
Cunning : 14

Resist: Fire
Weak  : Mind

Abilities Known:
1) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
2) Mob Cover (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 20% chance to dodge attacks when adjacent to an enemy other than the attacker.)
3) Evasion (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 10% chance to dodge attacks.)
4) Dash (Type: None, 20 SP. Move to the target position instantly. Cooldown: Charge (8))
5) ------------
6) ------------



--==== Recently Slain Allies ===--



[Ferret]

And here's part of why I like my game so much. Even just on Tower:2, I've already gotten into a rather sticky situation:



Two groups, trapped in a hallway between them. Huo Shu on one side, Malingee and a Will o Wisp on the other. This disaster came about by my desperate (but, at least successful!) efforts to capture a Freybug, whose Tormentor ability is vital to my plans, and whose Hinder spell is at least useful.

Given I had already just come off a tough fight, most of the party was in fairly rough shape, so unfortunately I had to burn 2 Heal Gems to fix everyone up somewhat. Even then though, that still left me facing two groups at once in awhile... even beginning from nearly full health, this is a nasty situation.

Hex on the Malingee adjacent to the main character has greatly reduced the damage it can deal, though I can't ignore it forever. The Will O Wisp ally down there has done good work keeping the rest of that group busy chasing their tails (and has made good progress killing one of them too)

Up north, an Echeneis and Goblin have been holding off the rats. Granted, given the Echeneis is a much easier target, all the rats have been hitting it, but up until this shot was taken, it had been managing to hang on thanks to Draw Wounds and the rats have been worn down enough where the goblin can probably finish off two quickly on its own. (The goblin resists Fire and has good dodge, so it won't be at much risk.) This will also free up another slot to summon something to help out down south.

[Ferret]

Sorry Wispy, gotta do it

Things got a little rougher than expected. The southern wisp made its way up north and start hitting me. The Hex on the malingee wore off just as I put one on the wisp, and ... yeah, HP are a bit low here. Blizzard Rune can certainly kill the malingee and the Wisp will survive... probably... so this is a decent move. It's POSSIBLE the Freybug would kill the malingee for me if I moved south, and I could take one malingee hit still... but I can't count on the Freybug managing that, and if it doesn't, I have no way to escape the malingee on the following turn before it finishes killing me.

Tower:2 finished, but I made one blunder at the end. I got so into a Malingee capture attempt I allowed it to kill a Huo Shu I could have easily saved with Draw Wounds. I did at least get the Malingee, but I really wanted the Huo Shu... even more than the Malingee, since I plan to use Warmth later. Alas. Maybe I can pick one up on Tower:3, but first... time for Tower: 1 & 1/2.

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Demon Party Dump File
Version 12/3/2015, Scoring Model: 8/22/2015
Dump file created at: 12/13/2015 6:39:31 PM


Summoner Antoria...
was chosen by the Vodun Mask,
selected Dark and Healing as their starting elements,
is currently at Tower:2,
and is still alive!



--==== Main Character ===--

Name : Antoria
Level: 1
MaxHP: 45
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 4
Magic   : 12
Vitality: 19
Agility : 5
Cunning : 15

Resist: Dark
Weak  : Light

Abilities Known:
1) Vigor Siphon (Type: Dark, 30 SP. 70 Power attack, split between HP and MaxHP damage. 66% of the MaxHP damage is drained to the user as bonus MaxHP. Cannot miss.)
2) Chilling Touch (Type: Ice, 5 SP. 70 Power attack. Chills the target, reducing their accuracy, evasion, and movement speed by 12%.)
3) Ghost Pierce (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Moves you to different, randomly selected, position adjacent to the target.)
4) Hex (Type: Dark, 15 SP. 50% chance to apply Hex, which reduces physical resistances (not immunity) by one level, and reduces physical damage dealt by 50%.)
5) Hinder (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce evasion by 20%.)
6) Draw Wounds (Type: Healing, 0 SP. 105 Power heal. Costs HP equal to the amount healed. Healing and HP cost are limited to what will not kill the user and what the target needs to reach maximum. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (1))
7) ------------
8) ------------

Inventory:
2 Pure stone
1 Tempest rune
1 Trouble chime
1 Pain rune
1 Heart rune
1 Heal stone
1 Pure gem



--==== Current Party ===--

Name : Will o' wisp
Level: 1
MaxHP: 32
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 9
Magic   : 9
Vitality: 8
Agility : 16
Cunning : 13

Immune: Body
Resist: Slash Impact Pierce
Weak  : Electricity Light Dark

Abilities Known:
1) Ghost Pierce (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Moves you to different, randomly selected, position adjacent to the target.)
2) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 33% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
3) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)
4) ------------
5) ------------


Name : Slime
Level: 1
MaxHP: 44
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 17
Magic   : 6
Vitality: 17
Agility : 4
Cunning : 11

Weak  : Pierce Fire Ice Electricity Body Light

Abilities Known:
1) Heavy Blow (Type: Impact, 5 SP. 70 Power attack.)
2) Block Impact (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to block Impact attacks.)
3) Reshape (Type: Healing, 0 SP. Removes all negative status effects, then applies a 125 Power heal. Cooldown: Endure (5))
4) Malleable (Type: Healing, Passive. Improves natural HP regeneration and healing received (including from the Regen status effect) by 25%. Does not affect healing received based on dealing damage.)
5) ------------
6) ------------


Name : Echeneis
Level: 1
MaxHP: 35
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 8
Magic   : 13
Vitality: 16
Agility : 11
Cunning : 7

Resist: Ice
Weak  : Electricity

Abilities Known:
1) Chilling Touch (Type: Ice, 5 SP. 70 Power attack. Chills the target, reducing their accuracy, evasion, and movement speed by 12%.)
2) Deep Chill (Type: Ice, Passive. Increases the duration of your Chill effects by 3 turns.)
3) Headwind (Type: Ice, Passive. Ice attacks delay the next turn of targets that moved during their previous turn.)
4) ------------
5) ------------


Name : Goblin
Level: 1
MaxHP: 33
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 10
Magic   : 7
Vitality: 10
Agility : 14
Cunning : 14

Resist: Fire
Weak  : Mind

Abilities Known:
1) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
2) Mob Cover (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 20% chance to dodge attacks when adjacent to an enemy other than the attacker.)
3) Evasion (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 10% chance to dodge attacks.)
4) Dash (Type: None, 20 SP. Move to the target position instantly. Cooldown: Charge (8))
5) ------------
6) ------------


Name : Freybug
Level: 1
MaxHP: 32
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 9
Magic   : 6
Vitality: 9
Agility : 13
Cunning : 18

Resist: Ice
Weak  : Fire

Abilities Known:
1) Hinder (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce evasion by 20%.)
2) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
3) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
4) Tormentor (Type: None, Passive. Restores 5 SP when you deal damage to one or more characters that have negative status effects.)
5) ------------
6) ------------


Name : Malingee
Level: 1
MaxHP: 32
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 21
Magic   : 4
Vitality: 9
Agility : 13
Cunning : 8

Resist: Fire
Weak  : Ice

Abilities Known:
1) Fierce Stab (Type: Pierce, 5 SP. 70 Power attack.)
2) Block Slash (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to block Slash attacks.)
3) Block Pierce (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to block Pierce attacks.)
4) ------------
5) ------------



--==== Recently Slain Allies ===--

Name : Huo shu
Level: 1
MaxHP: 34
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 10
Magic   : 12
Vitality: 13
Agility : 9
Cunning : 11

Resist: Fire
Weak  : Ice

Abilities Known:
1) Fiery Claw (Type: Slash, 10 SP. 85 Power attack split between Slash and Fire. Has a 33% chance to Ignite the target, causing damage over a short duration.)
2) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
3) Firestarter (Type: Fire, Passive. Increases your chance to apply Ignite by 50% of the original chance.)
4) ------------
5) ------------




[Ferret]

Headless and West showed up as the first encounter on Tower:1 & 1/2. Dangerous, because it greatly increases the odds of something else wandering up. On the plus side, Draw Wounds, Hex, and Hinder *should* make this easy...



...unless West's other zombies spawn with OFF Down and DEF down attacks. Ugh. Well, let's see how it goes.



Victory! Though, I really should be more careful about going crazy on the Draw Wounds. This was in the service of a good cause, but still... one ranged attacker from off screen and I'd be dead.

The key to turning it around was a Heart Rune on West: it got him to lay off Headless for a bit, giving the OFF and DEF buffed Headless a bit more breathing room to pull out a win. Whew.

[Ferret]

After a short delay to fix a bug, I present: the end of Tower 1 & 1/2.



At first I groaned... but then I realized this is actually perfect. Kill one of the Ghouls, begin a recruit attempt on the second, then on to Tower:3, which will be loaded with things to hunt. I also have a Trouble Chime I can use on Tower:2 for a slightly easier encounter to start it off with, which should help.

As it turned out, Tower:2 had an encounter left hiding in a corner, so the Trouble Chime + that were actually enough to get the Ghoul down to just 2 more targets.

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Demon Party Dump File
Version 12/3/2015, Scoring Model: 8/22/2015
Dump file created at: 12/13/2015 7:57:18 PM


Summoner Antoria...
was chosen by the Vodun Mask,
selected Dark and Healing as their starting elements,
is currently at Tower:2,
and is still alive!



--==== Main Character ===--

Name : Antoria
Level: 3
MaxHP: 51
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 4
Magic   : 19
Vitality: 19
Agility : 5
Cunning : 18

Resist: Dark
Weak  : Light

Abilities Known:
1) Vigor Siphon (Type: Dark, 30 SP. 70 Power attack, split between HP and MaxHP damage. 66% of the MaxHP damage is drained to the user as bonus MaxHP. Cannot miss.)
2) Chilling Touch (Type: Ice, 5 SP. 70 Power attack. Chills the target, reducing their accuracy, evasion, and movement speed by 12%.)
3) Hex (Type: Dark, 15 SP. 50% chance to apply Hex, which reduces physical resistances (not immunity) by one level, and reduces physical damage dealt by 50%.)
4) Hinder (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce evasion by 20%.)
5) Draw Wounds (Type: Healing, 0 SP. 105 Power heal. Costs HP equal to the amount healed. Healing and HP cost are limited to what will not kill the user and what the target needs to reach maximum. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (1))
6) Reshape (Type: Healing, 0 SP. Removes all negative status effects, then applies a 125 Power heal. Cooldown: Endure (5))
7) Malleable (Type: Healing, Passive. Improves natural HP regeneration and healing received (including from the Regen status effect) by 25%. Does not affect healing received based on dealing damage.)
8) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)

Inventory:
3 Pure stone
1 Pain rune
1 Pure gem
2 Chakra stone
1 Chakra gem
1 Frost rune
1 Mind matrix



--==== Current Party ===--

Name : Will o' wisp
Level: 3
MaxHP: 38
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 10
Magic   : 10
Vitality: 10
Agility : 19
Cunning : 16

Immune: Body
Resist: Slash Impact Pierce
Weak  : Electricity Light Dark

Abilities Known:
1) Ghost Pierce (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Moves you to different, randomly selected, position adjacent to the target.)
2) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 33% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
3) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)
4) Evasion (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 10% chance to dodge attacks.)
5) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
6) Flesheater (Type: Body, Reactive. Responds to an adjacent character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 15% of their maximum HP.)
7) ------------


Name : Slime
Level: 3
MaxHP: 53
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 20
Magic   : 7
Vitality: 20
Agility : 5
Cunning : 13

Weak  : Pierce Fire Ice Electricity Body Light

Abilities Known:
1) Heavy Blow (Type: Impact, 5 SP. 70 Power attack.)
2) Block Impact (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to block Impact attacks.)
3) Reshape (Type: Healing, 0 SP. Removes all negative status effects, then applies a 125 Power heal. Cooldown: Endure (5))
4) Malleable (Type: Healing, Passive. Improves natural HP regeneration and healing received (including from the Regen status effect) by 25%. Does not affect healing received based on dealing damage.)
5) Block Pierce (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to block Pierce attacks.)
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Goblin
Level: 3
MaxHP: 38
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 12
Magic   : 9
Vitality: 12
Agility : 16
Cunning : 16

Resist: Fire
Weak  : Mind

Abilities Known:
1) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
2) Mob Cover (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 20% chance to dodge attacks when adjacent to an enemy other than the attacker.)
3) Evasion (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 10% chance to dodge attacks.)
4) Dash (Type: None, 20 SP. Move to the target position instantly. Cooldown: Charge (8))
5) Chilling Touch (Type: Ice, 5 SP. 70 Power attack. Chills the target, reducing their accuracy, evasion, and movement speed by 12%.)
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Freybug
Level: 2
MaxHP: 35
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 9
Magic   : 7
Vitality: 9
Agility : 15
Cunning : 20

Resist: Ice
Weak  : Fire

Abilities Known:
1) Hinder (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce evasion by 20%.)
2) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
3) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
4) Tormentor (Type: None, Passive. Restores 5 SP when you deal damage to one or more characters that have negative status effects.)
5) ------------
6) ------------
7) ------------


Name : Headless
Level: 3
MaxHP: 52
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 15
Magic   : 5
Vitality: 27
Agility : 9
Cunning : 9

Immune: Body
Resist: Ice Dark
Weak  : Electricity Light

Abilities Known:
1) Infectious Bite (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Has a 50% chance to apply to Infection, which hinders HP and SP recovery.)
2) Inspiring Cut (Type: Slash, 20 SP. 70 Power attack. Briefly increases your or a nearby ally's accuracy by 25%.)
3) Daring Cut (Type: Slash, 20 SP. 70 Power attack. Briefly increases your or a nearby ally's offense by 25%.)
4) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
5) Flesheater (Type: Body, Reactive. Responds to an adjacent character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 15% of their maximum HP.)
6) Diehard (Type: Defense, Passive. Prevents death, except by Ignite or Poison damage. May trigger an Endure cooldown when activated (more damage dealt = higher chance). Cooldown: Endure (5))
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Blessed Zombie
Level: 1
MaxHP: 47
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 16
Magic   : 4
Vitality: 23
Agility : 7
Cunning : 5

Immune: Body Mind
Resist: Ice Dark
Weak  : Fire Electricity Light

Abilities Known:
1) Infectious Bite (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Has a 50% chance to apply to Infection, which hinders HP and SP recovery.)
2) Flesheater (Type: Body, Reactive. Responds to an adjacent character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 15% of their maximum HP.)
3) Gluttony (Type: Body, Passive. Provides a 50% increase in healing and MaxHP bonuses from drains and abilities that heal based on damage dealt.)
4) Fervor (Type: Buff, 10 SP. Briefly improves offense by 25%. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (5))
5) Fade (Type: Buff, 10 SP. Briefly improves evasion by 25%. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (5))
6) ------------
7) ------------


Name : Jiang shi
Level: 2
MaxHP: 38
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 15
Magic   : 6
Vitality: 14
Agility : 16
Cunning : 9

Immune: Body
Resist: Ice Dark
Weak  : Fire Electricity Light

Abilities Known:
1) Leech Bite (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Heals the user for 50% of the damage dealt (affected by Body resistance).)
2) Pounce (Type: Slash, 15 SP. Must target a character. Leap to the target with a 70 Power attack. Inflicts Stun, causing the target to miss their next turn. Cooldown: Charge (6))
3) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)
4) Bloodthirst (Type: Body, Passive. Heals you for 25% of the damage you deal with Slash, Impact, or Pierce abilities (affected by Body resistance).)
5) Flesheater (Type: Body, Reactive. Responds to an adjacent character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 15% of their maximum HP.)
6) ------------


Name : Preta
Level: 2
MaxHP: 39
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 10
Magic   : 8
Vitality: 8
Agility : 15
Cunning : 19

Immune: Body
Weak  : Fire Ice Light Dark

Abilities Known:
1) Ghost Bite (Type: Pierce, 15 SP. 70 Power attack.)
2) Fade (Type: Buff, 10 SP. Briefly improves evasion by 25%. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (5))
3) Infectious (Type: Body, Passive. Provides a 35% chance for your Slash, Impact, and Pierce attacks to apply Infection, which hinders HP and SP recovery.)
4) ------------
5) ------------



--==== Recently Slain Allies ===--

Name : Huo shu
Level: 1
MaxHP: 34
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 10
Magic   : 12
Vitality: 13
Agility : 9
Cunning : 11

Resist: Fire
Weak  : Ice

Abilities Known:
1) Fiery Claw (Type: Slash, 10 SP. 85 Power attack split between Slash and Fire. Has a 33% chance to Ignite the target, causing damage over a short duration.)
2) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
3) Firestarter (Type: Fire, Passive. Increases your chance to apply Ignite by 50% of the original chance.)
4) ------------
5) ------------


Tower: 1 & 1/2 was a very productive floor. Let's review the changes:

The main character is starting to develop a decent ability set. Still some iffy ones in the mix (Chilling Touch, maybe Malleable), but overall, not bad. He can provide good support, has a strong self-heal/cure for emergencies, and also has good nuking.

Will o' Wisp is being groomed for long term use. Evasion increases its already high evasion, Swiftness is basically +20% Speed thanks to Ghost Pierce, and Flesheater will help it sustain in longer fights.

Nothing special going on with Slime. I taught it Block Pierce from a departing Malingee, but mostly out of habit, I don't plan to use this much and am just keeping it around for Reshape and, maybe, Malleable.

Goblin is a similar story: gave it Chilling Touch because I had the TP to use when discarding Echeneis.

Freybug is serving his purpose as is, and for the moment, there are no abilities trainable that would make him better at it.

Headless.. he's not a bad demon, but I never appreciate him because of the lower than average Speed. Swiftness mitigates it, but only for movement, which isn't quite enough for my preferences. Still, he has interesting abilities and an interesting modifier if I find a Matrix, so for now, he stays.

Blessed Zombie. Regrettably, I wasn't able to recruit one of West's OFF/DEF down attack zombies, but this guy isn't a bad one either. Fervor is rare, but a great ability on almost any attacker, especially if you don't have good access to +OFF buffing yet (which, this early, you don't... Headless can do it, but it's not by the most ideal means.) Fervor will probably be spread around quite a bit as he gains TP. Also hoping to pick up Gluttony for the main character, of course... though Fervor might help there too, both would improve the amount of MaxHP drained from Vigor Siphon.

Jiang Shi. Also being prepared for long term use. Flesheater is a great boost to its sustain. Plenty of other good options in the party for abilities to give it: Gluttony, Fervor, Goblin evasion abilities, Dash. This will be an easy demon to load up good abilities on.

Preta: Recruited mostly out of habit: I tend to like having a Ghost Biter around, and Infectious and (more rarely) Fade usually come in handy at some point.

Other comments: I consider it cruelty to Ferrets that both Gandayah and Faerie have been absent so far. A young Warlock really benefits from their support, but this particular version of the Tower is lacking in them so far. :'(

Not sure when/if I'll post further, this was only a testing build and I may not get back to it for awhile. But hopefully someone will find these interesting/useful. Cheers!

[Sandman25]

Vigor Siphon is very fun so I tried a build with it at some point. Yet I didn't enjoy it because decreasing max HP while resting meant that it was really close to speedrun in DCSS in the sense that it was often optimal to explore while not at max HP.
I don't get the synergy of Draw Wounds here, doesn't it defeat the whole point of extra maxHP? I would probably start with Faerie as Healing Charm is not much worse (80 power vs 105 as far as I remember) and I learned in my last game that it's possible to enter Tower 1 & 1/2 without Faerie.
In that early fight I would use a single Goblin as blocker vs Huo Shu and would use Echeneis vs Malingeee who happens to be weak to Ice. I often do similar things, for example, blocking several Echeneis with a single Zombie, taking only 25% damage means you can keep the situation forever with some source of healing.

[Ferret]

The resting problem experienced early on starts to go away as more pieces of the puzzle come online: Gluttony boosting the MaxHP you get back per drain, higher Magic (Vodun Mask characters often start with relatively iffy Magic... this build only started with 12, which is fairly average), and sources of SP recovery so you can drain more per battle. It can also help to have healing spells or demons active who have healing spells: these automatically get used during resting and will cut down rest times enough where the lost MaxHP from downtime will be largely eliminated.

Draw Wounds works with a ranged MaxHP drain build in the sense you get to drain the MaxHP and spend your new HP on Draw Wounds without going to dangerous HP levels so easily. Since DW is a free action, this allows your character to both be a strong healer and whatever else you'd like with your actual turn: nuking, debuffing, etc.

Melee MaxHP draining is a slightly different thing. In that case Draw Wounds isn't so good: what you want in a melee MaxHP build is survivability. You might still take DW anyway, but you wouldn't be using it for primary healing like this character does since you're at much greater personal risk.

Yeah, letting the Goblin solo the rats while Echeneis was switched to the south front probably would have been a better play. Huo Shu are weak to Ice too though, and Hex isn't as effective on them since their attack is 1/2 Fire damage, so I wanted them out first. In retrospect though, I do agree your idea would have been better: the malingee next to my main character was a real problem and not dealing with it promptly is what forced me to burn a blizzard rune.

[Sandman25]

As usual I missed something important, this time it was Free Action of Draw Wounds . I underestimated the ability, though I did see its usefulness when Ilomba saved my life. Probably it even used both Draw Wounds and Healing Charm for that, I am too impatient to read all messages

[wizzzargh]

I'm amazed you survived that tower:2 situation... Is the 12/14 build just a bugfix? I just downloaded the 12/3 build and am trying to stop being such a slowpoke about playing the latest and greatest build.

Faerie is my favorite starter, just because it's so annoying not to find them. Floor:1 is usually forgiving enough that I don't NEED a combat demon to recruit stuff, though I've run into trouble when all the early recruitables I meet are of the 'defeat in 4 turns' variety...