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README
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MOST DARKEREST DUNGEON V0.1

Table of Contents
1. Overview
2. Disclaimer
3. Feature List
4. Installation
5. Class Descriptions
6. Version History


1. OVERVIEW

Most Darkerest Dungeon is a mod by Gabriel Pope designed as a comprehensive rebalance of the game Darkest Dungeon. The goal is not simply to fix perceived imbalances but to overhaul the core design philosophy in the interest of creating a more interesting and fun game design.


2. DISCLAIMER

Most Darkerest Dungeon is not an official Red Hook Studios product or product modification, and Red Hook Studios Inc. is not responsible in any way for changes or damages that may result from using the mod. Furthermore, �Darkest Dungeon� and the Darkest Dungeon logo are trademarks of Red Hook Studios Inc. All content in the game is Copyright Red Hook Studios Inc. All rights reserved.


3. INSTALLATION

Copy the contents of the .zip file to your Darkest Dungeon directory. For Steam users, this will typically be C:\Program FIles (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Darkest Dungeon

It is strongly encouraged that you start a new campaign for Most Darkerest games. You should consider saving a back up both of the Most Darkerest mod files and of the original Darkest Dungeon directory so that you can swap between them as needed.


4. FEATURE LIST

-Combat has received a general redesign with an eye towards creating a slower, more methodical pace. Both heroes and monsters have slightly lower damage output and much higher HP.
-Added a small amount of PROT to armor upgrades, in exchange for tweaking down available PROT buffs.
-All classes have received a comprehensive redesign, with the goal of creating balanced classes with clearly defined roles and a variety of viable abilities and builds.
-Unlocking abilities at the Guild is several times more expensive in order to make random recruits more distinctive. Now that there are fewer marginal skills, playing with a random skill loadout is not as crippling as it formerly was.
-Enemy AI and abilities have been tweaked. Enemies do not necessarily play "optimally" but some attempts have been made to give them more distinct personalities and tactics with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses.
-Campaign progression has been accelerated. Bosses unlock faster, characters level up more quickly, mission rewards have been increased, and inventory stack limits have been raised.
-Missions are somewhat longer at all lengths now, so while the game takes fewer missions overall individual missions should be longer and more involved. Collect/activate missions have not been changed, so they're now noticeably shorter than other missions to compensate for the inventory constraints they impose. Short/medium/long missions now provide 1/2/3 firewood and have higher provisioning limits to allow more flexibility.
-Random encounter tables have been tweaked to reduce variance (eliminating the very easiest and very hardest enemy formations.)
-Quirks have received a general balance pass. New quirks have been added, weak quirks (positive and negative) have been buffed, and some marginal quirks have been combined.
-Town activities have been tweaked. Stress relief is much cheaper and drinking/gambling have better rewards attached to compensate for the risk of item loss.

Incomplete features:
-Most Darkerest Dungeon is still very much a work-in-progress. Expect ongoing balance work and bug fixes.
-Bosses (including miniboss encounters) are almost wholly untouched.
-A few trinkets have received preliminary tweaking but still need a lot of work.
-There is absolutely no translation available for Most Darkerest content, which may lead to some things being mislabeled. Playing in English is highly recommended to avoid confusion.
-Art assets need touching up to bring them up to the standard of the base game. Some skill icons need to be updated to reflect new skill roles. Some animations for attacks that have changed need to be fixed.

5. CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

ABOMINATION: The Abomination's abilities now emphasize his role as an off-tank. He doesn't have the defensive capabilities of a more dedicated tank, but he can still attract and shrug off a lot of damage.

Transform: Transforms to beast mode, marks, and provides a damage self buff while stressing out teammates. Transforming back provides a self heal, unmarks, and minor stress relief to teammates.
Rage: Deals extra damage to blighted targets.
Rake: Provides a self damage buff (applies to all damage, not just Rake.)
Manacles: A relatively high damage stun, at the cost of a weaker stun effect.
Beast Bile: Deals a minor amount of direct damage, applies a moderate blight, and debuffs enemy accuracy.
Absolution: Heals HP and stress (has been toned down slightly at higher ranks.)
Slam: Moves the Abomination forward, pushes the target, and provides a slight Prot self-buff.

ARBALEST: The Arbalest's role as ranged damage has been slightly de-emphasized in favor of her support roles.

Sniper's Shot: Mark punishment has been toned down. Debuffs enemy PROT.
Spotter's Mark: Can target 1st rank. Debuff has been removed and replaced by a party-wide ACC + Crit% buff.
Blindfire: Provides a party-wide speed buff and moves the Arbalest backwards.
Bola: Increased push chance against both targets. Debuffs enemy SPD.
Suppressing Fire: Deals slightly more damage. Debuffs enemy SPD in addition to ACC and CRIT.
Battle Bandage: Slightly increased healing amount and cures DOT.
Rallying Flare: Acts as a single-target enemy stun that simultaneously unstuns + unmarks team and provides light.

BOUNTY HUNTER: The Bounty Hunter retains (most of) his single target spike damage and stun abilities, but his push/pull abilities have been substantially improved.

Collect Bounty: Mark punishment slightly scaled back.
Finish Him: Pushes enemies back 1.
Mark for Death: Nudges the target cloesr and self-buffs SPD and DMG (no debuff effect.)
Uppercut: Slightly more damage.
Flashbang: Unchanged.
Hook and Slice: Damage increased, plus bonus damage against marked targets. Simultaneously bleeds and pulls.
Lasso (previously Come Hither): Targets back 2 positions, pulls forward and debuffs.

CRUSADER: Defensive and healing abilities have been expanded considerably.

Smite: Vanilla.
Staggering Blow: Vanilla.
Zealous Accusation: Add minor self-heal.
Holy Lance: Usable from rank 2. Self-marks.
Bulwark of Faith: Only usable from rank 1; acts as a single-target guard instead of marking and also provides very slight healing to team.
Battle Heal: Targets ranks 2-4. Healing amount increased slightly, provides a buff to PROT and bleed/blight resist.
Inspiring Cry: Unmarks the target and self-marks in addition to vanilla effects.

GRAVE ROBBER: Utility abilities have been considerably expanded, with several new options for disrupting enemies and a considerable self-buff to Toxin Trickery. (Unfortunately, due to engine limitations the added blight effect of Toxin Trickery creates a lot of unsightly UI clutter; as obnoxious as it is, I consider it fun and interesting enough to be worth including. Future versions may revisit this mechanic.)

Pick to the Face: Added a shuffle against target.
Lunge: Added push back 1.
Flashing Daggers: Vanilla.
Thrown Dagger: Higher base accuracy (but no accuracy buff.) Applies weak bleed.
Toxic Darts: Stuns enemies in addition to applying blight.
Shadow Fade: Moves back 2, self-buffs ranged damage in addition to existing effects.
Toxin Trickery: Adds a blight effect to Flashing Daggers and Thrown Dagger, but blights self severely on repeated use.

HELLION: Removed exhaustion debuffs, most exhaustion effects replaced with self marks. Defensive abilities slightly expanded.

Wicked Hack: Added minor mark punishment.
If It Bleeds: Deals full damage + bleed, but can only be used from front rank.
Bleed Out: Can be used from middle ranks, moves forward and self marks (debuffs removed.)
Breakthrough: Debuffs removed, self marks.
Iron Swan: Can hit 3rd rank, small dodge self-buff.
Barbaric YAWP!: Reworked completely. Now hits all enemies for minor damage + attack debuffs.
Adrenaline Rush: Self-marks and adds a riposte effect that repeats a smaller version of Adrenaline Rush for additional damage buff + healing on hit.

HIGHWAYMAN: Buffed most attacks across the board.

Wicked Slice: Deals extra damage against bleeding targets.
Open Vein: Deals full base damage in addition to bleed.
Duelist's Lunge: Deals full damage, self-buffs dodge and melee damage.
Pistol Shot: Deals full base damage.
Grapeshot Blast: Adds very minor bleed damage.
Take Aim: Increased damage, marks target.
Point Blank Shot: Damage slightly decreased, adds a self-buff to melee attacks.

HOUNDMASTER: Reworked substantially to emphasize enemy disruption abilities.

Hound Rush: Adds push 2.
Fetch (replaces Targeting Whistle): A damaging ranged attack that pulls the target forward and debuffs PROT.
Hound's Harry: Adds a shuffle against the entire enemy team.
Cry Havoc: Is now a chip damage AOE that debuffs enemy ACC and SPD; has a smaller, less reliable party stress heal.
Blackjack: Base damage increased, but no longer has bonus stun chance.
Guard Dog: Dodge buff removed, but works as a free action and lets the Houndmaster continue attacking.
Lick Wounds: Heals both health and stress, small dodge self-buff.

JESTER: Both support and attack abilities considerably reworked, expanded, and improved.

Dirk Stab: Adds a damage bonus against both marked and bleeding targets.
Cutting Joke (previously Slice Off): As Slice Off, but also marks target.
Harvest: Vanilla.
Finale: Damage slightly decreased, remove dodge debuff but increased damage and crit debuff, adds a party-wide damage buff against marked targets.
Battle Ballad: Completely reworked; now a minor single-target stress heal that buffs DODGE and PROT, moves the target forward, and marks them.
Power Solo: Debuff removed, replaced with a party-wide buff to DODGE, ACC, SPD, and CRIT%.
Inspiring Tune: Stress recovery slightly reduced, but adds self stress recovery and a minor heal to target.

LEPER: Defensive abilities reworked and expanded.

Chop: Has a chance to cure bleed/blight effects on use.
Hew: Slightly increased base damage.
Purge: Reworked considerably; now acts as a very high damage, low accuracy attack with the same targeting restrictions and knockback effect (does not clear corpses.)
Intimidate: Only usable from first rank. Base damage slightly increased, inflicts a smaller debuff to the entire enemy team.
Solemnity: Self buff removed, heals both health and stress.
Withstand: Stress heal removed. Buffs PROT and resists, cures DOT effects, marks self, and moves forward 1.
Revenge: Adds riposte effect.

MAN-AT-ARMS: Team buffs reworked and de-emphasized in favor of greater battlefield control.

Crush: Added knockback.
Rampart: Vanilla.
Riposte: Vanilla.
Bellow: Reworked; now acts as a single-target ranged stun that lowers the enemy party's SPD and ACC.
Challenge (formerly Command): Completely reworked; now a damageless attack that pulls an enemy to the front of the group, marks the Man-at-Arms, and self-buffs PROT and DODGE.
Defender: Prot buff toned down.
Bolster: Reworked; unmarks teammates, marks the Man-at-Arms, boosts the party's DODGE and resists.

OCCULTIST: Improved and expanded both healing and damage dealing at the expense of stun/debuff powers.

Sacrificial Stab: Adds bleed.
Eldritch Pull: Base damage increased, also marks target.
Abyssal Artillery: Vanilla.
Hands from the Abyss: Reworked; removed stun, now acts as an AOE against the front two rows with bonus damage against marked targets.
Vulnerability Curse: Adds PROT debuff.
Wyrd Reconstruction: Minimum heal increased, bleed chance increased. Now acts as a free action, allowing the Occultist to use another ability in the same turn.
Exsanguinate (replaces Weakening Curse): Completely redone. Is now a ranged attack that does extra damage against bleeding targets and heals the entire party slightly.

PLAGUE DOCTOR: Marginal attacks considerably improved, boosted healing abilities.

Incision: Adds a SPD debuff and mark effect.
Corrosive Blast (formerly Noxious Blast): Adds PROT debuff.
Plague Grenade: Increased DOT scaling.
Blinding Gas: Vanilla.
Disorienting Blast: Moves the Plague Doctor backwards.
Battlefield Medicine: Adds small self-heal.
Emboldening Vapors: Adds a heal effect, moves target forwards.

VESTAL: Expanded healing and buffing abilities, greatly improved melee skills, added off-tanking abilities.

Holy Mace (formerly Mace Bash): Adds a self-heal and self-buffs the power of healing skills.
Hand of God: Completely reworked; now a melee attack that self-buffs DMG and PROT.
Divine Radiance (formerly Illumination): Debuffs the target's ACC, marks the Vestal and self-buffs PROT.
Judgment: Heal changed to a very small party-wide heal.
Divine Comfort: Vanilla.
Divine Awe (formerly Divine Grace): Adds DMG and ACC buff.
Holy Word (replaces Dazzling Light): Completely redone; is now a very minor free action heal that can be used in addition to another skill.


6. VERSION HISTORY

v0.11: -Corrected missing string for swine wretch retreat
-Cleaned up extraneous Toxin Trickery effect
-Started tweaking encounter tables to be tougher
-Fixed "Impatient" trait to have correct penalties

v0.1: -First public test release