• Added an option to ask about a contracts details after accepting it.
• Reduced the rate of egg generation by the Mobile Coop.
• Reduced the duration of the Leg Sweep debuffs.
• Increased the cooldowns and energy cost of Leg Sweep and Mighty Kick.
• Reduced the Poisoning Chance of the Pestilence Situation.
• Added duration caps to Curse of Decay and Curse of Agony.
• Increased the size of the territory revealed on the world map after receiving a hint about the location of the Rotten Willow and Denbrie.
• Fixed the bug causing guards to repeatedly initiate their dialogue.
• Fixed the bug sending the character to Mannshire jail after surrendering in Denbrie.
• Fixed an option to surrender in the Rotten Willow outskirts.
• Fixed the bug with Brynn guards being able to start their dialogue without having a direct line of sight.
• Fixed the bug with one of Leifs perks putting his other perk on cooldown upon activation.
• Fixed the bug allowing to get a full reward after leading deathstingers to the Ciderys guards during the Deathstinger Infestation quest.
• Fixed the bug causing dungeons to spawn only the loot of the current tier, ignoring the wider pool of items.
• Fixed the interaction between the spoilage mechanic and containers.
• Fixed the Fodder counter, which also included the Fodder sold by NPCs.
• Fixed the stock of the Bloom Foragers.
• Fixed a number of trade-related exploits.
• Fixed the incorrect discount offered by two Brynn craftsmen after delivering Ryns letter and saying hello from Darrel.
• Fixed the incorrect Reputation gain from the Web of Contacts Upgrade.
• Fixed the bug with artifact duplicates.

• Simplified the requirements for certain Caravan Upgrades.
• Added a line to some items hover about their possible use in Caravan Upgrades. This line will disappear once all the relevant Upgrades are installed.
• Added an automatic line to the hover of all items that can be transformed into Fodder, which will appear after gaining access to the Caravan.
• When used for crafting Fodder, herbs will now yield slightly more of it, and berries, straw, and fruit - slightly less.
• Smoking Mix no longer requires a Crafting Bench.
• The effects of the Ranger Brew and Leifs training now count as Mental.
• Wigmar will now trade during the evening.
• Possibly fixed the issue with the Finding the Quartermaster quest, which didnt correctly track its stages after leaving the Sentian Companys Camp.
• Fixed the incorrect order of lines in the Brynn Book Printers dialogue and added a few lines for avoiding his politics talk.
• Fixed the bug with Leif remaining in the Camp after using his Supply Run perk.
• Updated the checks for detecting whether Leif and Alda are present in the Caravan when attempting to move it.
• Updated economy hovers to improve the readability of some price modifiers.
• Fixed the crash connected to saving items inside containers.
• Fixed the situational crash caused by transferring arrows into quivers.
• Fixed the crash caused by acquiring Sea Pearls from Sea Shells with no free inventory slots available.
• Fixed the crash caused by triggering a dialogue while moving items inside containers.
• Fixed the crash caused by moving between certain locations.
• Fixed Bern still using Village Elders dialogue lines.
• Fixed the Around Aldor in a Day and The Real Treasure AND The Friends We Made achievements.
• Fixed Yes, Chef! and DIY or Die treating basic recipes and schematics as newly learned.
• Followers-related achievements will be retroactively granted to all players whove recruited them before the fix.
• Numerous text fixes.
• Added special log line for waking up in the area affected by the Nightmares Situation.
• Fixed cloaks not protecting against Wetness as intended.
• Fixed Special Spices slowing food spoilage in the Caravan Storage by 25% instead of the intended 75%.
• Fixed the Lion Banner not granting its Health Restoration bonus.
• Reworked the Brynn Alchemists stock.
• Fixed the situational crash caused by using Flexible Defense.
• Fixed the possibility of using the Messenger Pigeon with Alt+Click in situations where it shouldnt be allowed.

BALANCE

• Reduced weapons and shields Durability loss from blocking by 60%.
• Increased the base Durability of every weapon subtype that grants block-related bonuses and also slightly reduced their price.
• Simplified the recipes for crafting most consumables.
• Rebalanced certain valuables' levels, prices, and tags to spread them more evenly between dungeons.
• Decreased the Reputation gained from completing contracts by 12%.
• Reduced the basic stats of Forceful Slam.
• The Fair food seller is now guaranteed to have dish recipes in stock.
• Added scrolls to the Fair merchants stock.

FIXES

• Fixed the issues with ranged skeletons AI occurring upon their resurrection.
• Fixed the softlock caused by the Burial Caves door.
• Fixed the missing loot in one of the abandoned cart variants in the steppes.
• Fixed the incorrect category of Deadly Premonition.
• Fixed the incorrect duration of Concentration.
• Fixed the Denbrie Captain refusing to buy commodity items.
• Fixed the Archivist spawning with additional retinue, which also included higher tier mobs than intended.
• Fixed Deathstinger Infestation not tracking some stages of the quest when completing it before talking to the quest giver.
• Fixed some stages of the Finding the Craftsman quest using incorrect descriptions.
• Fixed Finding the Craftsman placing an incorrect map marker if Darrel is sitting in the Watchtower Tavern.
• Fixed some traders hovers claiming to sell items above tier 5.
• Fixed the sound effects for moving between locations.
• Fixed the bug causing tier 5 dungeons to reset after loading a save made there.
• Fixed quest markers pointing towards dungeons even after completing their contracts main goal.
• Fixed a number of situational softlocks caused by ranged combat.
• Fixed the bug allowing enemies to act twice after a dual wield counter.
• Fixed the situational crash caused by using Battering Ram.
• Fixed the trade exploit with switching between the Caravan Storage folders.
• Fixed the Mannshire Carpenter not selling ranged weapons.
• Numerous text fixes.

BALANCE

• Changed the Coachmans price formula to a non-linear one: hell now charge significantly less gold for driving between Outskirts and more gold - for bringing you to other settlements.
• Reduced the Caravans basic cooldown. The relevant Caravan Upgrades now decrease it by 33% each (up from 25%).
• Followers can now be recruited with the Caravan further away.
• Increased the Durability and Resistances of runic boulders.
• Reduced the Thirst and Hunger Gain from the Rest Mode by 10%.
• Changed the Claw Traps damage type to Piercing to prevent it from ruining pelts.
• Fine-tuned the goods sold by the Blacksmithing Bailiff and Brynn Fence.
• Increased the amount of valuable loot in Tier 2+ dungeons, especially the Catacombs.
• Slightly nerfed most birds Dodge Chance.
• Slightly improved the variety of food sold in Denbrie.
• Increased the basic amount of gold in possession of certain NPCs.
• Fine-tuned some doublets stats.
• Certain main and secondary items for Caravan Upgrades are now sold by more NPCs.
• Tavernkeepers and the Bakery now sell more bread.
• Some NPCs will now buy junk items if they are interested in its material.
• The Summoning Ritual, Miasmas", Blood Hex Conditions and the Lost Relic contract now scale with the dungeons Danger Level.
• Equipping a cloak now prevents rain from applying more than one stack of Wetness.

FIXES

• Fixed unique items not appearing as loot in high tier dungeons.
• Fixed the issue preventing Reputation-related recipes from being sold by NPCs.
• Fixed the lack of ranged weaponry in the Carpentry Bailiffs stock.
• Changed the Brynn Docks merchants commodity prices.
• Fixed Leif refusing to trade in the evening or at night.
• Fixed the incorrect Reputation bonuses for completing the contracts tied to Plague and Nightmares Situations.
• Fixed another batch of softlocks occurring during the Caravan dialogues.
• Fixed the issue causing an incorrect number of floors in dungeons.
• Fixed the possibility of losing the reward bonus granted for the first contract in Mannshire when discussing more than one contract.
• Fixed the incorrect order of dialogue lines during one of Leifs events.
• Fixed the issue creating non-interactable tiles in some dungeon rooms.
• Re-enabled the option for scrolling the global map with the keyboard.
• Fixed Vigor granting an Experience Gain bonus without leveling the corresponding Survival passive.
• Fixed the softlock caused by killing a target with the first strike of the Forceful Slam.
• Fixed the possibility of contract items becoming non-interactable, which prevented contracts completion.
• Fixed the crash caused by Conductivity.
• Fixed the lack of rain in the Oaken Glade.
• Fleawort can now be properly placed into the Herbalist Satchel.
• Fixed Mannshire having access to the Wide Selection III Reputation Perk.
• Fixed Web of Contacts not increasing the base time limit for contracts.
• Fixed the bug causing Determination to remove collisions.
• Fixed the possibility of disarming the same trap multiple times.
• Fixed the issues with unlocking Follower-related achievements, as well as Travelling Salesman Solution, Yes Chef!, Theory & Praxis, DIY or Die.
• Fixed the rare crash caused by enemies pathfinding algorithm.
• Fixed LOwcrey refusing to buy cursed items.
• Stone Armor explosion no longer damages runic boulders.
• Fixed LOwcrey not accepting some occult items. Adjusted the reward he gives for them.
• Added an autosave after completing certain story quests.
• Fixed the issue with Leeches, Crabs, and Butterflies repeatedly respawning upon re-entering the same tile. Now their respawn rate is tied to that of plants and herbs.
• Fixed graves and Leeches spawning on sea tiles.
• Fixed the bug creating impassable tiles when walking through shallow water.
• Fixed blacksmiths refusing to buy Crates of Charcoal.
• Fixed the issue with the Warcry hover.
• Fixed the values in the Finisher hover not changing dynamically.
• Fixed the inability to use Crab Meat in the recipes requiring fish.
• Added an option to use Rhubarb in a number of recipes as a replacement for certain greens.
• Lowered the level scaling of Leifs prices for Personal Training.
• Increased Expiration Time of most food items.
• Fixed the incorrect Block Chance of tier 5 light shields.
• Underworld Connections II is now unlocked with Amity.
• Added a special trade hover to Fences.
• Added the prices of materials to trade hovers.
• Fixed the incorrect material type of some jewelry.
• Fried Eggs no longer require a pot.
• Fixed blood puddles from Blister Burst appearing on top of walls.
• Fixed Chain Lightning endlessly bouncing around when reflected with Seal of Reflection.
• Fixed the bug causing Crowbars to sometimes lose twice as much Durability.
• Fixed the Manticore applying permanent Mark of the Feast.
• Fixed the possibility of free repairs in some scenarios.
• Fixed Caravan Followers sometimes occupying the same tile.
• Fixed the issue with speech lines for Neutral Reputation being displayed at other Reputation levels.
• Fixed Indomitable not affecting bosses Cooldowns Duration.
• Fixed the possibility of using Messenger Pigeons while indoors.
• Fixed the AI issues when interacting with doorways.
• Fixed the issue with incorrect enemy types and spawn rates on the surface.

ADDITIONS

• Added a new dialogue and an option to receive Blessing to the Pilgrims arriving with the Pilgrimage situation.
• Added unique NPC dialogue and speech lines during the Dangerous Roads situation.

BALANCE

• Greatly increased the basic cooldown between the Well of Souls summonings, which now also depends on the dungeons Danger Level.
• Nerfed some low tier Minibosses.
• Negative Situations now grant +50% Reputation for completing the contracts tied to them.
• Reduced the number of Martyrs in the Catacombs.
• Greatly increased the Expiration Time of Honeycombs.
• Increased the influence of Poison, Unholy, and Caustic damage types on the meat harvested from animals.
• Changed the reward for completing the alternative route of the Fate of the Brewery quest.
• The Brewery chest no longer spawns the same loot as generic chests.
• Enemies killed during the Fate of the Brewery quest will now drop loot.
• Tweaked some dishes stats.
• Salads can now be cooked without a Pot.
• Cooking Fondue now requires a Pot of Milk.
• Reduced the Ancient Trolls basic Health Restoration value.
• Reduced the Intoxication Gain from the Miasmas Dungeon Condition.
• Tavernkeepers will now sell empty bowls and plates.
• Removed the hidden requirement of Ancestors Gaze which prevented it from gaining stacks when killing weaker enemies. Added the information about the stack decay to the hover.

FIXES

• Fixed the Prologue crash.
• Fixed the crash caused by shooting birds with a crossbow.
• Fixed the quiver crash.
• Fixed the crash caused by pathfinding issues.
• Fixed the bug with the behaviour of non-hostile NPCs in settlements.
• Fixed the softlock during the Old Caravan event.
• Fixed the softlock during Verrens Caravan Upgrades dialogue.
• Fixed the exploit with endlessly buying and selling the same item during certain Settlement Situations.
• Fixed the inability to sell Ancient Coins.
• Fixed the bug with incorrect contract time limits during the Competition Situation.
• Fixed the issue with certain single-time dialogues remaining repeatable.
• Fixed the incorrect cursor image when confirming the Caravans journey.
• Fixed some items being mistakenly listed as plates.
• Returned the accidentally removed placeholder image for the Create your Character option.
• Fixed some ability hovers not fully displaying the list of associated Attributes.
• Fixed the bug with indestructible Lockpicks.
• Fixed Old Totts overly wide range of sold items.
• The invasion of the N/A herb is finally over.
• Fixed the number of dungeon floors always remaining the same even after the dungeon grows in tiers.
• Fixed Crit Avoidance not being present in the effects of Defensive Tactic and Leg Injuries.
• Rephrased the Osbrook Millers quest to make finding the correct building easier.
• Fixed the Mannshire Official using Osbrook Officials dialogue.
• Fixed the Brynn Maid selling a hundred apples.
• Fixed the Mannshire Tanner not buying pelts.
• Fixed the item is being delivered tooltip.
• Fixed the dialogue issues during the Gwynnels Answers quest.
• Fixed the Well of Souls not having any sound effects.
• Fixed Adrenaline Rush not scaling with stacks.
• Fixed the bug causing Fire Barrage to always miss entirely after missing its first firebolt.
• Fixed Darrel not using his forge sound effects.
• Fixed the bug causing Confusion when destroying Runic Boulders with your own spells.
• Fixed the issue with the locked door during the Gwynnels Answers quest.
• Fixed the incorrect speech line when interacting with the locked shed near the Osbrook Mill.
• Fixed the bug with Vipers spawn rate.
• Fixed the Cooked Mussel missing it's "Rotten" variant.
• Fixed the possibility of Caravan Followers' permanent death.

Hello everyone! The day has finally come: Rags to Riches is now available for download! This is the largest update in the game's history, adding and overhauling a dozen major systems. We're confident that for most of you, it will transform Stoneshard into a brand new experience. Let's dive right into it - the patch notes are below. Keep in mind that these don't cover the full scope of changes and additions, as many of them have been deliberately omitted or only vaguely described. Rags to Riches alters the game in many ways, and we want to leave enough surprises even for seasoned players.

MAIN FEATURES

• Caravan. A fully functional Caravan System that allows for fast travels over large distances using a special resource - fodder. It also comes with an option to directly purchase items into the Caravan Storage (or sell from it) when the Caravan is parked near settlements.
• Caravan Upgrades. 24 upgrades that will introduce additional utility to your Camp and improve the Caravan's overall efficiency.
• Caravan Followers. Recruit up to three non-combat companions, each with their own unique specialization, perks, events, and dialogues.
• Overhauled Dungeons. The Dungeon Generator was reworked from scratch - small rooms and narrow corridors have been replaced with massive halls, their visuals and structure properly reflecting each dungeon's type and tier.
• Reworked contracts. A wider variety of contract types and objectives. New dialogues for requesting additional information about the job, asking for an advance, and haggle for a better pay. Consequences for failing contracts and their behind-the-scenes completion by rival mercenaries. Contracts can now also be turned in to different NPCs for a higher monetary reward or additional local or Brynn Reputation.
• Dungeon Conditions. Unique effects that introduce new challenges to dungeon exploration and increase the reward for completing the contracts tied to them.
• Enhanced Economy. Dynamic and responsive supply and demand, commodity trading, as well as flexible traders' stocks and preferences.
• Denbrie. The fourth and final settlement of the Grand Magistrate, utterly devastated by the war.
• Situations. 9 unique Settlement Situations, providing additional opportunities or offering new challenges.
• Outskirts. 10 new locations and 60+ new NPC with their own dialogues, roles, and goods for sale.
• Revised Global Map. Adjusted the map generation algorithms and the placement of locations to ensure a smoother progression. Added contracts to the Rotten Willow Tavern.
• Cooking System. 40 unique recipes, each offering various advantages along with the possibility of adding spices to further customize their effects.
• Crafting System. 15 schematics for creating useful consumables in the field.
• Reworked Progression. All equipment, enemies, and dungeons have been rebalanced to challenge even high-level characters.
• Reworked the Loot System.
• Reworked the Spawn System.
• Reworked Reputation Perks.
• Reworked the Noise System.
• Reworked the AI States System.
• Updated and improved many dialogues.
• QoL improvements: faster character movement, trade hovers, the ability to store small valuables in purses and caskets, and much more.
• 5 new bags, each with its own distinct purpose.
• 7 new Undead minibosses.
• New items: 35+ new pieces of equipment, 15 valuables, and 10 new ingredients.
• Balance changes: a complete rework of all the equipment, abilities, and enemy stats. Survival tree overhaul.
• 12 new Steam achievements.
• Updated Prologue.
• Numerous bug fixes.

OTHER CHANGES

• Dungeons are now generated upon entry - if your character dies and re-enters them, it will produce a new layout (unless the save was made after the dungeon was already generated).
• Traders' stocks now use a seed system, rather than being generated when a player accesses them for the first time after a reset.
• Reworked the system for resetting locations. This will also affect any items dropped in settlements, which will now be removed after a certain time.
• The difficulty of open world encounters no longer fully depends on your characters' level. Instead, the type of enemies you will run into will depend on global map zones. Zones may become more dangerous over time but only up to zone-specific limits.
• Changed the system for resetting and repopulating dungeons to a more deterministic one. Regenerated dungeons can no longer degrade to a lower tier.
• All dungeons now use preset names.
• Added a tanner NPC to Mannshire.
• Added a new stat: Crit Avoidance, which reduces the probability of enemy crits.
• Special Elemental and Magical effects no longer rely on RNG. For example, Burning will now be guaranteed to trigger after dealing sufficient Fire Damage to the target, scaling non-linearly with the target's maximum health.
• Enemies can now use Charge skills to preemptively close large distances, not just to initiate combat.
• Animals will no longer skip their threat phase if they were previously fighting another target
• Fixed the issue causing the reduction of Max Health before actually taking damage.
• Enchanted and magical items are now sold at slightly higher prices than regular ones.
• The chance of receiving armor fragments via Self-Repair has been significantly increased, now scaling with the enemy's Armor Durability upon their death
• Changed the requirements for certain Steam achievements.

BALANCE

• Skills can now be unlocked after reaching the minimal character level, reducing reliance on finding random treatises when building non-optimal stats. However, level requirements are still significantly higher than corresponding attribute thresholds.
• Counterattacks now strike twice when using dual weapons.
• Change experience requirements for leveling, along with a rebalance of most experience sources.
• Existing bosses (Archon, Ancient Troll, [spoiler]Manticore[/spoiler]) have received a new passive, Indomitable, which prevents the cooldowns of their abilities from being affected by outside sources.
• Rebalanced every piece of equipment to properly work with the new tier system.
• Rebalanced medical consumables.
• Rebalanced ammunition stats.
• Rebalanced food stats.
• Rebalanced herb stats.
• Rebalanced Injuries' effects and their impact on Pain accumulation.
• Reduced the base coefficient of damage taken by enemy Armor, increasing the importance of Armor Penetration and Armor Damage stats.
• Health regeneration now fully halts during combat instead of pausing for 10 turns after taking damage.
• Critical strikes no longer deal at least 1 damage even through full blocks.
• Increased the impact of active debuffs on the Rest Mode's efficiency.
• Rebalanced the effects of Drunkenness
• Reduced the impact of Fatigue on Max Energy, but increased its gain from multiple sources.
• Removed the hidden Accuracy and Fumble Chance bonus from Attack skills.
• Increased the impact of character actions on enemies' Will to Fight
• Changed the gravedigging mechanic: digging graves will take less time, but will take a toll on your Morale even before you finish digging them up.
• The Surgeon's Toolkit now uses a non-linear formula for pain accumulation, improving its feasibility when treating light and moderate injuries.

WHAT'S NEXT?

• Certain new items
• Additional contract types for Bastions
• Bastion Conditions
• Caves and rare plants
• Some Follower events
• Some description, dialogues, and localizations

Get ready to carve your path from rags to riches - the largest update in Stoneshard's history is to be released on December 16th at 16:00 . Gather your Caravan, recruit trusty Followers, take upon fully reworked Dungeons and their treacherous Conditions, explore Settlement Outskirts, take advantage of Situations, profit from Trade Goods, Cook and Craft your supplies, and experience the game anew with a myriad of other additions, changes, and QoL tweaks!

Hello everyone! This is the final devlog dedicated to the upcoming Rags to Riches update, the largest one in Stoneshards history. So today, as promised, were happy to announce its release date - December 16th!
Plan your winter holidays accordingly - we almost cant wait to show you the results of our work. But for now, this is a perfect moment to review the progress weve made over the past year and go through every addition to the game that will be waiting for you on December 16th. Lets get started!

CARAVAN

CARAVAN UPGRADES

FOLLOWERS

SETTLEMENT SITUATIONS

DUNGEON REWORK

DUNGEON MODIFIERS

CONTRACTS REWORK

NEW SETTLEMENT: DENBRIE

OUTSKIRTS

REWORKED ECONOMY

GLOBAL MAP CHANGES

COOKING

CONSUMABLES CRAFTING

NEW MINIBOSSES

NEW ITEMS

REWORKED REPUTATION SYSTEM

EQUIPMENT, ENEMIES, AND ABILITIES REBALANCE

SURVIVAL UPDATE

OTHER IMPROVEMENTS

Hello everyone! In todays devlog, well cover the remaining three major systems that will be a part of the upcoming Rags to Riches update: reworked Contracts, Economy, and Settlement Situations.

CONTRACTS

ECONOMY

SITUATIONS

Hello everyone! Today well cover one of the most essential features of the upcoming Rags to Riches update - Caravan Followers.
Followers are a fundamental part of the Caravan, allowing you to customize it depending on your needs. During your travels through Aldor, youll be given an option to recruit a small retinue of helpers, each granting access to unique opportunities that will benefit both the Caravan and your Character. Before we begin, it must be noted that Followers wont accompany you everywhere you go or participate in battles the same way they would in a party-based RPG: all of them either lack proficiency in soldierly matters or avoid getting into fights for personal reasons. The support they provide is exclusively out-of-combat, such as granting access to trading, repairs, and a plethora of other things that well talk about in more details below.
We plan to have six unique Followers in total, three of which will be introduced with Rags to Riches. The first one is Darrel, your old acquaintance, whom well take a better look at in this devlog. The rest of the gang will remain a secret - youll have a chance to meet them after the update is out. The only tidbit we can share for now is that all of them (except Darrel) will be newly-made NPCs, none of them present in the current version of the game. The Caravan can accommodate up to three Followers - according to Verren, a crew larger than that wouldnt be sufficiently discrete and mobile to carry out the search for Stoneshards. If needed, itll be possible to swap your Followers mid-journey: they can be dismissed at will and then replaced with someone else. Obviously, this works both ways: an already recruited Follower can later rejoin the Caravan. Still, maintaining a stable team with infrequent rotations will be the most sensible approach - the reason will become clear in a moment. The search for new Followers starts with Verren. After receiving the initial sum necessary for purchasing additional horses and a new wagon, hell direct you towards your specialist of choice - whatever happens next depends on the Follower, since all of them have a small quest connected to their recruitment. Once youre done with that part, the Follower will join the Caravan and head to the Camp, where youll finally be able to make use of their services: Darrel, for instance, can lend a hand with repairs or sell you a variety of tools.
Additionally, each Follower comes with four unique perks. The first two are actives: most of them will be presented in the form of dialogue options that grant access to special actions and effects. The remaining two are passives and will usually be focused on improving different aspects of the Caravan. Freshly recruited Followers will have only two perks unlocked: one active and one passive. The rest will need to be earned by raising a Followers Loyalty, a stat reflecting their commitment to your cause. Loyalty will grow by itself with each passing day as long as said Follower is in the Caravan and can also be improved through Caravan events, dialogues, and the choices you make during them.
Followers will have five tiers of Loyalty:

• Indifference [0%] : unlocks the first two perks
• Sympathy [25%]: unlocks the second passive perk
• Cordiality [50%]: the Follower will occasionally provide additional assistance and offer you gifts
• Appreciation [75%]: unlocks the second active perk
• Devotion [100%]: reduces the price of all goods and services by 20%

• Forced March (Active): once per week (and for a modest price), allows you to move the Caravan while its still on cooldown
  
• Ingenuity (Active): allows you to pay Darrel to permanently improve an items Max Durability by 25%, which also reduces its future repair cost
  
• Familiar Roads (Passive): +20% Caravan Speed
  
• Safe Routes (Passive): -25% Ambush Chance and +3 to the Caravan Trade Radius

Hello everyone! Todays devlog is dedicated to changes to the global map and a new settlement of the Grand Magistrate - Denbrie! Lets tackle it one thing at a time.

Denbrie

St Wald's Bridge

Kenrick's Homestead

Map Changes

Oaken Glade

Charcoal Burners' Camp

Reputation System Changes

Brynn

Distant Dungeons

Hello everyone! In todays devlog, well conclude the topic of Caravan Upgrades by revealing the final upgrade path - Communication. Interesting fact: Caravan Upgrades are not Abilities and therefore DONT require Ability Points. Instead, they are unlocked with items and materials. Its main focus is staying in touch with civilization. Lets take a closer look at what this entails:

COMMUNICATION

Caravan Banner

Messenger Pigeons

Old Favors

Web of Contacts

Local Informants

Trade Preferences

Hello everyone! In todays devlog, well take another look at Caravan Upgrades. This time the focus is on the third category - Traveling. As always, a reminder: Caravan Upgrades are not Abilities and therefore dont require Ability Points. Instead, they are unlocked with items and materials.
But lets give these upgrades some context first. One of the Caravan's primary features is far-distance traveling. It can be accessed by talking to Verren at the Caravan Camp, then choosing a tile on the global map to travel to. Caravan travels will work by the following rules:

• Your destination must fit two main requirements. Firstly, it must not be concealed by the fog of war (tiles are revealed either by scouting them yourself or by using paper maps) - the Caravan cant travel through uncharted territories. Secondly, the tile must not contain dungeons, Points of Interest, roads, or bodies of water - only empty tiles are suitable for setting up the Caravan Camp. Another thing to consider is how close your Caravan Camp is to settlements. If the distance is short enough, youll be able to directly access the Caravan Storage while trading, and your Followers will receive an opportunity to restock their wares.
  
• The Caravan has a limited max travel distance which can be increased with upgrades.
• The Caravan moves with varying speed depending on the terrain it has to traverse. Obviously, most suitable tiles are the ones with roads - theyll be prioritized by the Caravan when possible. On the contrary, off-road tiles will take a significantly greater toll on both your time and resources.
• Before you can move out, youll need a sufficient stockpile of Fodder for your horses - the exact amount depends on the difficulty and duration of the chosen route as well as the number of acquired upgrades and Followers. Fodder can either be crafted from whatever suitable items you have at hand or purchased in bulk from merchants or stablehands in some settlements.
  
• Upon arrival, your Character will take some time to establish a camp. The time required depends on two factors: the tiles biome and the number of Followers. Setting up a camping spot in the middle of an open field will be a much speedier affair than chopping down trees to make a clearing.
  
• Therell be a limit on how often you can travel: after each journey, both Verren and the horses will need some time to recover. Initially the cooldown is a day and a half, but it can be gradually halved with specialized upgrades.
  
• Ol Tott isnt going anywhere - his services will remain an alternative to the Caravan, although hell become much stingier with his prices. The main difference, however, is that the Coachman will only transport you between settlements and Outskirts - the Caravan is more flexible in this regard.

TRAVELING

Hitching Post

Old Cart

Worn Chests

Sturdy Wheels

Ironbound Wheels

Sturdy Chest

Spacious Chests

Ironbound Chests

Fitting Accouterments

ustom-Made Gear

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well demonstrate the final version of the reworked Dungeon Generator and showcase the main principles that governed its development.
Lets start with a list of reasons that led us to reevaluating our approach to dungeon generation. The player feedback we received about its current state revealed the following issues:

• There isnt much visual variety to speak of - the only difference between dungeons of the same type is what enemies can spawn in them, not their layout or overall design. This quickly makes dungeons feel predictable and uninspired.
• All dungeons use the same generation algorithm, which limits the room for structural distinction and environmental logic.
• The overall room structure and the abundance of single tile passages facilitate the funneling of enemies into doorways, trivializing both combat and positioning.

• Different dungeon types will use different generation rules: the structure of Crypts will have noticeable differences from the structure of Bastions or Catacombs.
• Dungeons will feature varying visuals and room presets depending on their tier: the higher the tier, the more opulent a dungeon will appear, and the greater diversity of rooms it will display. Tier 4 and 5 dungeons in particular will look especially awe-inspiring.
  
• All dungeons will be split into two categories: generic and large, the latter consisting of two floors. We dont have plans to introduce dungeons deeper than that: three floors or more would be way too tiresome and draining in most scenarios. The visuals will change depending on how deep you go: lower Crypt floors, for instance, will appear more damaged and use alternative room layouts.
  
• Rooms with bosses or contract objectives will spawn in dungeons farthest reaches, with secondary rooms branching off from the main path rather than being a part of it, giving you options for additional exploration.
  
• The updated visuals for dungeon descents and ascents will make them easy to spot and separate from one another: descents will always be a part of the floor, and ascents will be built into dungeon walls, just like they are right now.
  
• We decided to almost completely do away with single tile passageways, which should bring additional depth to the combat system and positioning by making group fights more frequent or even inevitable in certain situations (obviously, this comes with tweaks to most enemies stats, especially high tier ones).
• Rather than remaining the same once they spawn (or respawn after being cleared), dungeons will be generated when you enter them for the first time, just like in the earlier versions of the game (the layout wont change if you save your progress after discovering it though). This will make dungeon exploration more engaging and unpredictable, since the ability to familiarize yourself with the location of enemies and traps throughout multiple save-load attempts wont be as easily available by default.
• Secret rooms will be generated once per dungeon instead of once per floor. The roster of available secret rooms and their visuals will also depend on a dungeons tier.
  
• Even though its not directly related to the Dungeon Generator, we decided to rework the Noise and Enemy Awareness Systems, as the old ones didnt work well with new dungeon layouts.

• New Crypts will appear as spacious tombs, with large hallways connecting separate burial chambers that are protected by stone plates. To access such a chamber, your Character will need a crowbar.
  
• Crypts wont have wooden doors or narrow passages. Their vast halls will demand some clever maneuvering if you want to avoid getting surrounded by the Undead.
• Among other things, Crypts visuals will be affected by Dungeon Modifiers. Each dungeon type will have its own set of possible complications: for example, wafts of nauseatingly greenish air will signify the presence of Miasmas.
  
  
  
• The varied and unusual objectives of the reworked Contracts System will affect dungeon layouts as well: for instance, Wells of Souls will serve as spawning points for Wraiths, and the Holy Figurine contract will work quite differently from how it does right now

• We also changed how the Loot System functions in Crypts and added a number of new items that cant be found anywhere else. Here are some of them:

Hello everyone! Todays devlog is dedicated to another new feature of the upcoming Rags to Riches update - the Crafting System. The main principle behind the titular mechanic is that it allows only the creation of consumables and other similar items. The possibility of crafting complex gear and equipment was discarded very early on: doing otherwise would result in constant interactions with a broad range of specialized crafts and tools, which doesnt mesh well with the games main theme - adventuring and exploring the world as a mercenary. On top of that, being able to craft armor and weapons would demand a rather cumbersome system with lots of materials, tools, and so on, shifting the games focus even further from what we aim to achieve. Therefore, a system that revolves solely around the creation of consumables and various utility items makes the most sense in the context of the preexisting basic gameplay loop, adding more depth to the preparation stage. Anyway, lets start with the basics. Crafting is performed through a dedicated menu, which can be accessed in three ways: by using the Crafting basic ability, interacting with a workbench (such as the one you can upgrade your Caravan with), or by using a Crafting Kit:
In order to create an item, youll need to possess both the correct ingredients and the knowledge. In the beginning, your character will know how to craft only the most simple items - the schematics for making anything more sophisticated will need to be found, looted, or purchased from traders.
Schematics are split into two categories: basic and advanced. Basic items can be crafted anywhere, any time, all you need is ingredients. On the contrary, advanced schematics cant be followed through without a workbench or a Crafting Kit - a new consumable that loses charges with each crafted item.
Creating a consumable will award a bit of Experience, the exact amount depending on the finished items complexity. To make the search for new schematics even more enticing, crafting an item for the first time will grant you five times the basic amount of XP. And even though the current list of crafting schematics is relatively short, we plan to greatly expand it in the future with the addition of many new consumables. Its worth mentioning that this new system brought a lot of changes to Bedrolls and Campfires: Bedrolls will no longer require you to learn any skills to craft them, while Campfires will be created by using a special craftable item - a Bundle of Brushwood. Consequently, the Survival ability tree saw some significant tweaks too: it now has a much more flexible structure, and some of its skills were heavily revised. Each character will also start with Butchering, a new Survival skill that will allow you to harvest meat from dead beasts without investing any AP. Skinning and looting rare ingredients, on the other hand, will still require you to learn the dedicated passive.
Additionally, the Crafting System will allow your character to create Fodder, a resource used to fuel your Caravan travels. Although Fodder will be purchasable from stablehands, theres still a risk of finding yourself stranded far from civilization without sufficient supplies - thats where additional options come into play.
Fodder can be crafted from any foodstuff suitable for horses: grain, straw, apples and carrots, even some herbs. Using grain in particular will yield the most Fodder, while the low nutritional value of straw will require you to collect a whole lot of it to make a difference. Thats all for now. In the next devlog well return with more information on the Caravan Upgrades. As a parting gift, heres a glimpse of something else that were currently working on:
Until the next devlog, and have a happy New Year!

Hello everyone! In todays devlog, well continue exploring the Caravan Upgrade System, which brings us to the second part of the upgrade tree - Restoration.
True to its name, the Restoration path is dedicated to maximizing the efficacy of resting at the Caravan. It comes with 6 upgrades that are focused on either improving the quality of your Characters sleep or introducing more utility to the Camp. Wed like to remind you that Caravan Upgrades are completely separate from the Leveling System and dont require Ability Points - all upgrades are unlocked exclusively by purchasing prerequisite items.

Restoration

Straw Bed

Small Tent

Roomy Tent

Shrine

Shrine: Praying Spot

Shrine: Meditation Spot

Shrine: Offering Spot

Training Area

Soothing Incenses

Herbal Remedies

Hello everyone! Today the topic is Cooking, a mechanic that will play a significant role in both your adventures and the Caravan System. Important note: the effects, prices, and availability of most existing foods will be rebalanced in Rags to Riches. The numbers you see on the screenshots are also subject to change. Cooking can be split in two parts: Basic Actions and the cooking of dishes. Basic Actions include Roasting and Meat Salting. Roasting is basically the Cooking of the current version of the game. In Rags to Riches itll be performed through a separate menu with an option to roast multiple ingredients at once rather than going through them one by one.
Salting requires any type of meat and a few handfuls of Salt. Once preserved, meat loses some of its nutritional value but can be stored indefinitely, which is quite convenient during prolonged expeditions or when you want to preserve the spoils of your hunt for later.
The preparation of actual dishes is more complex. First of all, youll need a recipe. Some basic recipes will be available to all characters from the beginning. The rest will have to be found, bought, or earned through high Reputation in settlements. For instance, reaching Respect in Osbrook will make it possible to purchase the secret of preparing Osbrook Bread Bowl Stew, in Mannshire - Mannshire Fair Salad, in Brynn - Harpy Omelette la Brynn. For now, weve created 37 different recipes, but their total number might grow by the time Rags to Riches is out.
So, youve got the recipe, whats next? Firstly, youll need an open fire - any fireplace or campfire will do. Then youll have to place a pot on top of it. Tavern fireplaces and some campsites already have pots pre-installed, but youll need to bring one for any fires you start yourself. Although, not every recipe requires a pot - for instance, Hunter-Style Drumsticks or Meat Skewer can be cooked without it.
In order to prepare soups and some deserts (such as Fruit Soup or Flapjacks), youll need to fill your pot with water or milk. This can be done simply by pouring liquid from other vessels into it.
Once this part is over, you can start adding the ingredients. Most recipes allow a certain level of deviation: sometimes, they can be interpreted quite liberally - if you cook a Vegetable Salad, any Vegetable type ingredient will do. Other recipes might require a specific item, such as Garlic, Onion, or Leek. Keep in mind that the end result will always look the same and have the same effects regardless of the exact ingredients used - this is done for the sake of straightforwardness and more consistent visuals.
The numbers and stats you see are a placeholder and a subject to change. Still, theres a caveat: some recipes have a place for optional Additives that will imbue dishes with extra effects. For example, Salt will double your dishs expiration time, Butter will give it a bonus to Hunger Resistance, and more exotic variants (such as Jibean Spices, Nistrian Condiments, and Skadian Herbs) will provide a sizeable boost to Morale, Sanity, or Immunity.
All in all, dishes will differ not only in the amount of Hunger they sate but also many other aspects: they might reduce Fatigue, improve Morale, Sanity, or Immunity, grant bonus Experience Gain, increase some Resistances, and so on. On top of that, Satiety (the effect granted for overfilling your Hunger meter) will receive an additional stack and some other bonuses if you gain it by consuming an advanced dish.
Once youre done cooking, food can be eaten directly from the pot. But if you want to leave it for later, youll need a suitable vessel. Obviously, soups require a deep bowl, but everything else can be placed on any plate (gold plates will work as well!). Itll also be possible to place some dishes directly into your Inventory, such as loafs of Garlic Cheese Bread.
Thats all for now. Stay tuned for the next devlog, which will be focused on the second branch of the Caravan Upgrades!

Hello everyone! This is the first post in the series of devlogs dedicated to the new features of the upcoming update, Rags to Riches, the release date of which will be revealed in the final entry. Todays topic is the updates most important addition and the last major system to be introduced to the game: the much-anticipated Caravan. Wed like to begin by explaining our reasoning behind the system and what we plan to achieve with it. One of the most frequent player suggestions is to add some sort of permanent dwelling, a purchasable and customizable house in a village or city. However, Stoneshard is a game about a mercenary, a character whos always on the move in search of contracts and glory, so anchoring them to a single location would go against the main theme. At the same time, we arent averse to the concept of home in a broader sense - and thats where the Caravan System comes into play by adding a customizable mobile camp.
The Caravans main purpose is to allow for easier exploration, making it possible to travel large distances across the global map - with a few limitations.

• Firstly, the Caravan can travel only to empty map tiles. You wont be able to set up a camp right next to villages, dungeons, hunting grounds, or Point of Interest. Your destination must also not be shrouded in the fog of war - at the very least, youll need a rough outline of the terrain, obtainable through the use of paper maps.
• Secondly, moving the Caravan will require a special resource, Fodder, the spending rate of which will scale with the distance and difficulty of your chosen route.
• Thirdly, each journey will be followed by a cooldown, as both Verren and the horses will need some time to rest.

Provision

Firepit

Cooking Spot

Special Spices

Workbench

Alchemy Station

Foraging Supplies

Mobile Coop

- Fixed the crash caused by "Tempest". - Fixed the crash caused by "Draining Sigil". - Fixed the crash caused by "Blood Spit". - Fixed the crash caused by using "Forceful Slam" on the same turn as moving to another location. - Fixed the incorrect duration of "Blood Craze". - Fixed "Deadly Tail" still applying its outdated debuff. - Fixed "Sudden Lunge" delivering a second strike while dual wielding. - Fixed the possibility of reading already studied maps. - Fixed "Seal of Shackles" not prolonging the duration of its effect when used again on the same target. - Fixed the Leatherworking Workshop's Bailiff demanding a larger bribe even when presented with the Recommendation Letter. - Fixed Guards not reacting to the first bow or crossbow shot taken at them. - Fixed Runic Boulders not being destroyed when summoned on tiles with traps. - Fixed "Ramming Charge" being listed as a Stance ability. - Fixed the Ethnarch's Funeral Mask triggering only once per playthrough. - Increased the chance of triggering damage types' special effects. Standardized the duration of said effects. - Reduced the spawn chance for some high level enemies (including Brigand Mages, Sanguimages, and Murkstalkers). - Antitoxin will now halve the duration of Hangovers. - Fixed the bug causing equipment hovers to not display negative changes to stats if they were compensated by an enchantment. - Fixed Turncoats dropping weapons that didn't match their sprite. - Fixed Wolfhounds not having a "swimming" sprite. - Fixed the sound effect of "Resonance" disappearing after moving to another location. - Fixed the possibility of triggering multiple death animations at the same time when killing enemies with critical damage. - Fixed the bug causing stolen items to change their settlement tag to a new one when placed in a container owned by another settlement. - Fixed the sprite depth of destroyed Deathstinger Hives. - Fixed collision issues with dry trees in the steppes. - The game now correctly saves the color of blood splatters on the ground. - The game now correctly saves the color of dropped potions.

• Bleeding is now considered a Lingering effect (rather than Physical).
• Increased the base Cooldown Duration of "Draining Sigil".
• Increased the Revenant Commander's Cooldowns Duration coefficient.
• Adjusted the use conditions for "Necrophage": Ghouls will no longer consume corpses while at full Health.
• Fixed the Brander's pyres sometimes remaining lit even after his death.
• Fixed the bug causing some passive abilities to become unlearnt after sleeping.
• Fixed the crash caused by "Net Throw".
• Fixed the crash caused by "Incineration".
• Fixed the bug causing the player character to voice enemies' speech lines when applying them with Stun and Daze.
• Fixed the crash caused by "Spectral Haunting".
• Possibly fixed the crash caused by "Web Spit".
• Fixed Geomancy boulders not applying targets with Daze upon knocking them back into objects.
• Fixed unique items being ignored in the Statistics if found outside of containers.
• The Statistics' time-tracking system should now correctly sum up hours into days.
• Lowered the spawn chance for some of the new enemy types.
• Reduced the impact of some conditions and actions on the low level brigands and ghouls' Will to FIght.
• Nerfed Murkstalkers.
• Adjusted cooldowns and Energy Costs for some enemy abilities.
• "Lesser Ritual of Resurrection" and "Greater Ritual of Resurrection" will now set the reanimated Undead's Armor * Durability to 0% and put their abilities on cooldown.
• "Curse of Decay" should now correctly remove stacks of the effect after using any abilities, not just Attacks.
• Fixed Weber's "trading" dialogue option disappearing after the Ancient Troll's death .
• Fixed the bug with Knud and the Map of the Old Homestead Surroundings.
• Fixed the Atlas of Aldor granting 5% Energy Restoration instead of the listed 10%.
• Changed the Fatigue gain from using skills [1.5% > 2% of the used skill's Energy Cost] and spells [2.5% > 2% of the used spell's Energy Cost].
• Changed the Curse of Bloodlust [-25% > -20% Max Health] and the Curse of Madness [+5% > +7.5% Backfire Chance].
• Fixed technical tags and formulas being displayed in some of the enemy abilities' hovers.

MAIN CHANGES

• The creature is high on Health (gradually restores the creatures Will to Fight depending on its current amount of Health).
• The opponent is low on Health.
• The opponent is Injured, Bleeding, in Pain, or affected by certain other negative effects.
• Theres an ally within Vision (increases Will to Fight depending on the allys level).
• The creature is low on Health.
• Theres a significant level difference between the creature and the opponent.
• The level of the characters equipment is much higher than the creatures level.
• The creature is Injured, Bleeding, in Pain, or affected by certain other negative effects.
• The creature loses Health due to the opponents attacks and abilities.
• Allies receive Injuries within Vision.
• Allies start fleeing within Vision.
• Allies die within Vision (the impact depends on an allys level and whether their death was a result of a critical strike or miracle-casted spell.

GAMEPLAY AND BALANCE

UI AND QOL

FIXES

Hello everyone! The work on Rags to Riches continues as planned, and its already evident that itll be the largest update yet. Right now our hands are full with implementing a whole bunch of different mechanics: Caravan Upgrades, improved Dungeon Generation, reworked Contracts, Cooking, better pathfinding for enemies. Some time is also being spent on conceptualizing new features that will be introduced to the game after RtR. And if all goes well, well soon release a couple more devlogs highlighting the Caravan System and Cooking, which are close to being finished.
But since everything else still requires more time in the oven, we decided to release yet another interim update that will include some of the content originally intended for Rags to Riches. So, what can you expect from the 0.8.2.0 content patch arriving in the next few weeks?

NEW ENEMIES

MAPS

WILL TO FIGHT

STATISTICS

• Fixed the bug causing the Magic Damage bonus granted by "Seal of Power" and "Residual Charge" to be affected by the Weaponry Damage coefficient. Increased the Magic Damage bonus granted by "Seal of Power": [+15% > +25%].
• Fixed the algorithm for distributing attacks between body parts, which was leading to more strikes to the head than intended.
• Tweaked Shield skills' formulas.
• Fixed "Flexible Defense" not penalizing Weaponry Damage or granting bonus Stagger Chance if the character also learned "Shieldbreaker".
• Fixed the incorrect amount of Health replenished by the Blessed Aquamanile.
• Fixed the incorrect duration of bonuses granted by "Flurry of Strikes".
• Fixed the crash caused by applying "Blindness" to Murkstalkers.
• Fixed "Hard Target" granting its bonuses when targeted by non-projectile spells.
• Fixed "Leg Sweep" and "Keeping Distance" not increasing the number of "Elusiveness" stacks.
• Possibly fixed the crash caused by using ranged weapons on Linux.
• Optimized ability hovers for lower resolutions.
• Fixed the text wrapping issue affecting Asian localizations.

• Changed the algorithm for calculating the odds of landing a hit on each individual body part. In previous versions of the game, the chance to hit was spread evenly between each body part. And since the character and most enemies have two of each limb, two thirds of the incoming strikes would land on arms and legs, which created a counterintuitive necessity to prioritize arm and leg protection over body and head armor. The chance to hit a body part will now be dynamically calculated based on their overall amount. For the player character and humanoid enemies the numbers go as follows: Head: 16.7% Body: 36.7% Each leg and arm: 11.7% This means that the chance to receive a strike to the body and the head will be roughly the same as that of taking a hit on a limb.
• Fixed the bug that caused Damage Resistances to be taken into account before Block Power.
• Fixed ranged weapons not losing Durability from attacking.
• Fixed fumbled attacks dealing normal amounts of Magical and Nature Damage.
• Fixed the incorrect interaction of "Flurry of Strikes" with Hands Efficiency.
• Fixed the effect of "Seal of Empowerment" expiring one turn sooner than intended.
• Fixed enemies not losing Energy after using their Vivifying Essence.
• Fixed enemies becoming Hostile upon taking damage from faraway traps in dungeons.
• Fixed "Sudden Volley" not applying Daze when used with a crossbow.
• Fixed "Courage" interfering with the application of Stagger in certain situations.
• Fixed "Lingering Incantations" prolonging most non-magical effects while not working with "Stone Armor".
• Fixed the bug preventing enemies from opening grate doors.
• Fixed the Brynn Fence selling lower level items than he is supposed to.
• Fixed the excessive Durability of some sarcophaguses (which was resulting in huge damage to anyone knocked back into them).
• Fixed the incorrect sprite of Engraved Greaves.
• Fixed the interruptions to background music when moving between locations.
• Fixed the missing condition check during the Mannshire Governor dialogue.
• Fixed the issue with the Mannshire Elder's disappearing dialogue.
• Fixed Dead Martyrs being able to continue using speech lines.
• Fixed Brynn Crossbowmen being able to descent from city walls.
• Fixed the inability to fix shields with Repair Kits.
• Tweaked items' Durability loss, including the Durability loss from blocked attacks.
• Fixed the Knockback Chance formula of "Reign in Blood".
• Fixed the inability to attack furniture and other props without activating the attack mode.
• Fixed fumbled "Breakthrough" being able to apply Stagger to its target.

QOL AND OPTIMIZATION

FIXES

BALANCE

• Added a conclusion to the Ransacked Homestead's story.
• Fixed the occasional inconsistencies between Energy costs displayed on the ability bar and in the Abilities menu.
• The chance to walk to a random tile caused by "Confusion" now affects enemies as well.
• Fixed Experience Gain not affecting the XP granted for reading books and notes.
• When dropped on the ground, Purses will now display the amount of gold stored inside.
• Slightly increased the rate of passive Pain decay, but also increased the amount of Health required for it to happen [75%/90% Health > 80%/95% Health].
• Fixed the pathfinding issue that was sometimes causing enemies to freeze in place or start walking back and forth.
• Fixed Dwarven Garments' incorrect sprites (they were effectively switched).
• Slightly increased the base level of equipment sold by the Brynn Alchemist and Bailiffs.
• Reduced the power of the Fortitude enchantment.
• Tweaked some armor and consumables' stats.
• Fixed counters not prolonging the duration of Stance effects.
• Fixed the crash caused by "Enough for Everyone".
• Fixed the issue preventing most hidden passive effects from being correctly reapplied.
• Fixed Venemist not leaving a corpse on death.
• Fixed the layering issue with the NPC in the Brynn University's cellar.
• Optimized enemies' decision-making algorithms.
• The Candelabrum in the Golden Grain Inn can now be picked up.

• Made it possible to equip Throwing Nets into weapon slots.
• Lockpicks are now given priority over Crowbars when interacting with locks through the context menu.
• Fixed abilities not adjusting their Range when performing actions that don't take a turn.
• Fixed "Double Lunge" not receiving a reduced cooldown if both strikes deal damage.
• Fixed the issue with "Mighty Kick" and Stagger.
• Fixed the issue locking the character's ability to attack after being Knocked back on the same turn as moving to another location.
• Fixed "Regroup" granting its effect for a lower number of turns than mentioned in its hover.
• Fixed the trees rendering issue.
• Fixed the issue allowing to move around during some animations in the Prologue.
• Fixed low level brigands dropping wrong items on death.
• Fixed "Will to Survive" granting its effect for a lower number of turns than mentioned in its hover.
• Fixed some new items not appearing in traders' stock, Distant Dungeons' chests, and secret rooms.
• Fixed the incorrect damage values of Skeleton Kingsguards.
• Fixed Brigands using wrong speech lines when reacting to nearby Dogs' death.
• Fixed the crash caused by "Hold the Line!".
• Fixed the crash caused by "Elusiveness".
• Fixed the crash caused by interacting with some NPCs in settlements.
• Fixed the inability to use "First Aid" without active Injuries.
• Fixed abandoned chicken coops still producing chicken sound effects.
• Fixed the issue causing minibosses to lose their name upon loading a save.
• Fixed the Restless being able to drop more than one weapon.
• Fixed the possibility of discovering the tutorial trap in the Prologue before being prompted to do so.
• Added new sprites for some items.
• Fixed the bug preventing access to one of the starting Brigand dungeons.

- Fixed "Push the Falling" not taking effects' max duration cap into account. - Fixed the bug causing some Brigand enemies to use incorrect damage values. - Updated some of the items' spritework. - Fixed "Offensive Tactic" not decreasing Fumble Chance. - Increased the cooldown of "Mighty Kick".

MAIN CHANGES

BALANCE

MISCELLANEOUS

FIXES

VISUALS

UI

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well take a look at the new ability tree - the long awaited Armored Combat. We also have a surprise announcement to make. Initially, we planned to add Armored Combat with the next major update, Rags to Riches. But since theres still a lot of work to be done, and itll be a while before Rags to Riches is released, we decided to make this one ability tree a part of the previously unannounced Equipment Update III, which will introduce many new pieces of armor for mages and hybrid builds. On top of all that, Equipment III will feature various tweaks to half the existing abilities. There was a lot of negative feedback regarding Ranged Weapons, Warfare (former Combat Mastery), and Shields, so these ability trees in particular were changed the most. Therell also be certain QoL improvements, such as reworked skill hovers and a better system for skills classification. The exact details will be revealed in the patch notes.
We aim to release the Equipment Update III on May 16th. Please take note that this interim update wont feature new bags, reworked Dungeons, the Caravan, and everything else that was explicitly presented as a part of Rags to Riches. The exact date for the latter will be announced a short time before its release. Another thing worth mentioning: the Equipment Update III will be compatible with your current save files. Now lets move onto the new ability tree. Armored Combat consists of 8 skills, spread evenly between actives and passives.
While conceptualizing Armored Combat, one of our goals was to make it useful to all armor types, both heavy and light. As a result, its skills are designed to dynamically change depending on the equipped armor. This mechanic bears some resemblance to the one used by Shields, although the differences between armor types effects are significantly more noticeable.

• Light armor adds bonus Dodge Chance to the skills effects or otherwise improves the effectiveness of evasion. It also allows using Armored Combat skills more frequently.
• The main drawback of heavy armor is its hefty penalties to Max Energy, so its changes to the ability trees skills are focused on counteracting them in one manner or another.
• Medium armor offers a compromise between Energy efficiency and Protection. For the most part, it doesnt require any bonuses to be effective, and wearing it usually wont modify Armored Combat skills in any way.

ACTIVE ABILITIES

PASSIVE ABILITIES

Hello everyone! The last couple of months our team has been working on lots of new content: the long-awaited Caravan, the previously highlighted rework of the Dungeon Generator, and dungeon and settlement modifiers that will be a part of the upcoming Contract System rework - speaking of which, today wed like to elaborate on some of its elements, namely Outskirts locations. Outskirts are a new type of Points of Interest that will be introduced to the game with the next major update, Rags to Riches. Located a few tiles away from settlements, they still act as their continuation of sorts Their main purpose is to add more variety to the basic contract loop and facilitate early game exploration. Most Outskirts will usually offer you the following things:

• A spot to save your progress.
• Access to one or more traders and craftsmen who will sell vital consumables, fix your gear, etc.
• A chance to interact with new NPCs who can offer you contracts or give rewards for their completion.

New Backpacks

- Fixed the bug causing accumulated Pain levels to change too abruptly when the Pain Limit is decreased. - Keep Them Coming can no longer be triggered by casting spells. - Fixed Determination doing nothing when used against enemies on the same tile as a doorway. - Fixed the possibility of attacking Runic Boulders while Stunned. - Added an Accuracy bonus to Throwing Nets, Nistrian Flame Flasks, and Spider Blood Flasks. - Fixed the bug causing some contracts to not register the Necromancers death. - Fixed Brigand Geomancers casting Stone Spikes without a good enough reason. - Fixed Brigand Geomancers using the characters Spell Range instead of their own when casting Boulder Toss. - Dungeon Bats and Giant Rats can no longer open doors. - Updated Crowns sprite. - Fixed Elite Brynn Guards not switching to their alternative sprite when in combat state. - Fixed Horse Pelts using an incorrect sprite when dropped on the floor. - The Brigands' speech lines aimed at nearby allies are no longer triggered by nearby dogs. - Bleeding enemies no longer use the characters speech lines. - Completely fixed the bug that allowed some animals to use speech lines. - The Brynn Hierophant now uses his intended name and role. - Fixed Mannshire Guards being tagged as Osbrook Guards. - The standalone Prologue is now up-to-date.

- Fixed the freezes reported by some players when playing with the native cursor enabled. Returned the option to enable it in the settings. - Fixed some empty vessels being able to apply their targets with Wetness and Covered in Alcohol when thrown. - Fixed wolf packs getting stuck in the Howl loop. - Fixed the possibility of avoiding death by moving to another location on the same turn as receiving lethal damage. - Adjusted the menu layout for the 1280x800 screen resolution. - The cursor size now adapts to the game window size. - Fixed Rune of Enfeeblement and Rune of Fortifying granting their effect regardless of the distance to a runic boulder. - Fixed the occasional crash caused by killing Girruds. - Fixed the issue with displaced container menus. - Reduced the intensity of the Drunkenness visual effects. - Fixed Necromancers using the same speech lines as the generic Undead. - Fixed the bug causing enemies to use incorrect speech lines under certain circumstances. - Tweaked the effectiveness of alcohol and the Bloodletting Lancet to make Pain and Intoxication more manageable during the early stages of the game.

- After the latest hotfix a small percentage of players started to experience occasional game freezes when playing with the native cursor enabled. We're still investigating, so as a temporary fix we disabled this option until a proper solution is found. - Fixed an issue that sometimes didn't properly register killing dungeon bosses. - Fixed "Short Circuit" incorrectly mentioning being modified by Bonus Range. - Fixed the "Intimidation" hover displaying a technical tag instead of the debuff chance. - Fixed critical kill character lines being triggered when targeting inanimate objects.

MAIN CHANGES

GAMEPLAY & BALANCE

FIXES

Hello everyone! Its been a while since the last devlog, so were here to tell you about the current state of affairs and our plans for the near future. Lets just say the workflow has been less than ideal - the Ukrainian part of our team experiences blackouts and disrupted internet access due to the constant shelling of the countrys infrastructure, and the part of the team that formerly resided in Russia needs time to adjust in a new place. Nevertheless, were still determined to continue working on Stoneshard. The main focus right now is on the next major update, Rags to Riches, which will both introduce and expand upon a number of key gameplay systems, namely the Caravan, the dungeon generator, and the economy. Unfortunately, were in no position to announce even approximate release dates, definitely not within the next few months. But it doesnt mean there wont be any new content until then - we plan to release a few small patches, mostly focusing on fixing bugs, implementing some long-awaited QoL improvements, tweaking the existing ability trees, and fleshing out certain minor mechanics that we kept on the back burner. This approach will keep the game from getting stale while simultaneously giving us an opportunity to clear the accumulated backlog and resolve some technical issues. For instance, in the near future well release a hotfix that will improve the Drunkenness mechanic and add a few hundred new speech lines - both for the main character and the enemies - to cover a much larger number of scenarios.
Now back to Rags to Riches and the progress weve made so far. Many of you may remember that the dungeon generator was already reworked in the Way Forward update. But even though the result was much better than the original iteration, the last couple of years brought us enough experience and feedback to realize that we can do better. After all, dungeon-delving is one of the most prominent mechanics in the game, so any improvements to it will serve the betterment of the experience in general.
The dungeon generation rework is meant to achieve the following:

• Move away from the boring and predictable dungeon structure that consists almost entirely of small rooms separated by doors.
• Get rid of single-tile doors and hallways, as they promote the repetitive tactics of funneling enemies into the same choke points over and over again. New rooms will have a more engaging design, giving you more reasons to reposition and interact with the surroundings.
• Add more distinguishing features to each dungeon type: the Bastion should differ from the Crypts - and the Crypts from the Catacombs - not only in terms of decorations but also their overall layout.
• Make dungeons and room structure more logical and believable: upon entering a room, you should be able to get a basic idea about its function.
• Make dungeons visuals consistent with their difficulty and loot quality: high level dungeons will boast richer decor and additional room types that you wont be able to encounter early in the game.
• Add dungeon modifiers that will shake up the established routine and make you adjust your usual preparations - well share more details in future devlogs.
• Change enemy spawns to make fights more fair and interesting.

- Made sweeping updates to the Bleed system as a follow-up to the recent distribution of Bleed Resistance between specific body parts. - Changed Durability of most weapons to better fit with previous balance tweaks. - Tweaked the level range of the loot in chests. - Added exquisite dishes to the Ralph & Sons Inn. - Added traps to the Brynn Quartermasters stock. - Nerfed Proselyte Matriarchs. - Moved Yagrams back to higher level Catacombs. - Paregoric will now add 4 hours to the max sleep duration. - Made the following changes to Gaping Wound: reduced the Abilities Energy Cost debuff [50% > 33%], added a Cooldowns Duration debuff [+33%], removed the Bleed Resistance debuff, and lowered the skills base Bleed Chance [75% > 50%]. - Fixed certain abilities disproportionately targeting some body parts over the others. - Fixed Painful Stabs granting more Crit Efficiency than listed in its hover. [+15% > +10%] - Fixed Tormenting Swings reducing its targets Max Health for a larger amount than listed its hover. [-7% > -5%] - Fixed Blade Maintenance granting more Crit Efficiency than listed in its hover. [+15% > +10%] - Fixed "Fatal Strike reducing Abilities Energy Cost for a smaller amount than listed in its hover. [-25% > -33%] - Fixed Maim and Kill granting less Bleed Chance than listed in its hover. [+15% > +20%] - Fixed Moment of Weakness not granting Stagger Chance. - Fixed Severe Concussion reducing Accuracy for a larger amount than listed in its hover. [-50% > -25%] - Fixed Offensive Tactic not granting a bonus to Crit Efficiency upon landing a critical shot. - Fixed Revel in Battle granting all its bonuses while just under the effect of Striker Stance. - Seal of Finesse will now properly reduce the accumulated Backfire Damage by 20% rather than only negate the Backfire Damage generated by the ability itself. - Fixed enemies with two-handed maces incorrectly prioritizing the use of Mighty Swing. - Fixed Flame Saturation reducing Spells Energy Cost for a larger amount than listed in its hover. [-20% > -10%] - Fixed Inner Reserves replenishing less Max Energy than listed in its hover. [20% > 25%] - Fixed Now or Never not granting its bonuses for successful and partial dodges. - Fixed Dismember reducing the targets Health by a flat amount rather than scaling the damage with its Max Health. - Fixed Residual Charge granting its effect for a smaller number of turns than listed in its hover. [4 > 6] - Fixed Shield Bash reducing Block Power by a larger amount than listed in its hover. [-30% > -20%] - Fixed Pack Sense granting its bonuses not only to Wolves but also the Character. - Fixed Spot Weakness not applying some of its effects. - Fixed Seal of Power incorrectly reapplying its effects. - Fixed Boulder Toss using two different formulas for its chances to apply Stun or Daze. - Fixed the softlock that could occur when bringing potion ingredients to lOwcrey. - Fixed the crash caused by learning certain rumors. - Fixed the hover of War Cry not listing the skills debuff chance. - Fixed Tongue Push displaying an incorrect hover. - Fixed ranged Brigands not dropping bows on death. - Fixed Bleed Resistance appearing twice in the Characters stat menu. - Fixed the issue preventing the activation of the Boulder Circle under certain circumstances. - Fixed the generation bug with one of the abandoned carts. - Fixed the generation bug with one of the Camps. - Severe Intoxication will no longer cause Vomiting. Also significantly reduced the chance to Vomit while affected by Deadly Intoxication - on top of that, the overall chance drops to zero if the Character experiences significant Hunger.

FIXES

BALANCE

UI & UX

- Fixed the crash caused by finishing the Mannshire Priests task when playing on an old save. - Fixed the Mannshire Priests task not increasing your Reputation when playing on an old save. - Fixed Jolt not being able to apply Resonance on more than one target at a time. - Runic boulders will no longer damage the caster when summoned. - Fixed the Mannshire Priest thanking you prematurely for completing his task. - Fixed the crash caused by the servant in the Golden Grain Inn. - Fixed one of the new Restlesss missing a name and a description. - Fixed the crash caused by learning new rumors. - Fixed the missing backpack in the Hermits Hut. - Removed the passive Cooldown Reduction from Coordinated Advance. - Fixed the issue causing dialogue options to disappear when learning certain rumors. - Seal of Geomancy now properly grants +15% Block Chance, just as listed in its hover. - Fixed Destabilizing Hits not granting extra Stagger Chance. - Fixed the Restless dropping double the intended amount of loot. - Fixed the possibility of lockpicking already opened containers. - Dirwins starting trait now works as described. - Fixed Piercing Shot always failing to hit targets behind the main one. - Fixed one of the Brigands missing a resting sprite.

NEW CONTENT

• Special improvements to some of the Points of Interest added with the Forgotten Lore update: the Boulder Circle and the Orders Prison.
• Added a task to the Mannshire Priest (may require starting a new game to access).
• 6 new types of mid tier Restless.
• 10 new types of high tier Brigands.
• 3 new abilities that come with them.
• 4 new helmets and 2 more Heater Shield variants.
• 5 new boots
• New folio.
• New unique spear.
• New unique bow.
• Added unique abilities to Gulons.
• Added eggs to harpy nests.
• Added rumors for new Points of Interest.

FIXES

• Just as promised in the dialogue, guests of the Golden Grain Inn can now expect to be served breakfast.
• Vow of the Feat no longer grants its bonuses when enemies are not within Vision.
• Fixed the crash caused by triggering the Manticores dialogue if the character dies on the same turn.
• Fixed Skeletons being able to feel pain.
• Fixed the damage cap of Wounding Spearhead.
• Fixed One at a Time! not granting Block Power Recovery.
• Fixed No Retreat continuously granting its bonuses even after moving to other tiles.
• Fixed enemies being able to enter walls with Maneuver.
• Fixed Blade Maintenance granting its bonuses to all weapon types rather than just swords.
• Fixed willows and shrubs occasionally spawning in the middle of some roads.
• Fixed some achievements not working as intended: Drink and Be Merry and Theory and Praxis.
• Fixed the possibility of reflecting Tempest with Seal of Reflection.
• Fixed the possibility of reflecting Seal of Reflection with Seal of Reflection.
• Fixed the possibility of starting campfires on tiles within the reach of tides.
• Fixed the issue causing items in the inventory to overlap when using the auto sort button.
• Fixed some unique shields missing a sprite when dropped on the ground.
• Fixed the bug causing NPCs to be overly inaccurate when using missile abilities such as Fire Barrage.
• The food items that spawn on the surface and inside buildings will now stay fresh rather than rot away
• Fixed Mancatchers and Beastslayers spawning additional Dogs each time a save file is loaded.
• Fixed Catacomb pedestals spawning additional treatises when reentering the location.
• Fixed some Brynn NPCs missing a description.
• The effects of the Heraldic Note is now properly listed in the Reputation log.
• Fixed Yagrams Rage not accumulating as intended.
• Determination will no longer attack enemies who are already adjacent.
• Fixed Respite replenishing 4 times more Energy than its supposed to.
• Fixed the Brynn Cheese Traders incorrect greeting line.
• Fixed some of the Golden Grain NPCs' incorrect greeting lines.
• Fixed some Proselytes displaying an incorrect death animation when killed with critical damage.
• Fixed the endless stacking of Concussion.
• Fixed the Smithing Bailiff being able to sell his stock in broad daylight.
• Fixed two handed swords not applying Stagger with their skills, this time for sure.
• Fixed Bran the Trapper losing his stock in certain scenarios.
• Fixed the incorrect contents of the hidden stash at the Watermill.
• Fixed rings not affecting the characters stats when equipped together with an identical ring.
• Fixed Vipers spawning in pairs.
• Fixed the possibility of going through the Burial Cave door while it plays its closing animation.
• Fixed the chicken coop at the Ransacked Homestead continuously spawning new eggs.
• Fixed capes not granting bonuses to certain stats.
• Fixed the incorrect journal description of the final stage of Gathering the Caravan.
• The state of secret rooms is now properly saved between sessions.

BALANCE

• Increased the base Accuracy of thrown items.
• Added new Pyromancy spells to Brigand sorcerers.
• Cauterize Wounds can now remove the effect of Gaping Wound.
• Added a damage cap to Forceful Slam.
• Changed the mechanic of Not this Time.
• Leg Sweep now has a chance to Stagger the targets it fails to Immobilize.
• Mighty Kick now always has a chance to Stagger.
• Changed the mechanic of Armor Crusher.
• Nerfed Opportune Moment.
• Rather than always hitting all targets in its path, Piercing Shot now has its chance to hit calculated individually for each affected target.
• Changed the mechanic of FInal Push.
• Added defensive bonuses to Fight to the Death.
• Added extra bonuses to Moment of Weakness, allowing maces to better synergize with other weapon types.
• Changed the abilities available to Proselyte Matriarchs.
• Fixed Ol Totts prices.
• Reduced Hunger gain from the Curse of Voracity.

UX

• In order to make exploration easier and more streamlined, Points of Interest will now be marked on the global map upon entering map tiles adjacent to them.
• Added a new camera setting: edge panning.

DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP

- Added an alternative mode for picking up items - while its enabled in the options, items on the floor will be collectable only when they are highlighted with Alt. - Increased Reputation gains for completing contracts to compensate for increased Reputation thresholds. - Fixed Seal of Finesse not losing stacks when moving to other tiles. - Fixed NPCs at the Rotten Willow not reacting to enemies. - Fixed Athletics abilities receiving reduced cooldowns for each AP invested into the ability tree. - Added a death animation for enemies killed with Shock Damage crits. - Removed the shrub growing in the middle of the road near Brynn gates. - Fixed the incorrect Weapon Damage granted by Driven by Pain. - Fixed the Alchemist not being able to open his own door. - Fixed flickering NPCs near entrances to some locations. - Fixed interactions with NPCs when they stand behind a counter. - Fixed burning tiles not dealing damage if they fail to set enemies or the Character on fire. - Fixed Seal of Insight occasionally creating Places of Power in the fog of war. - Fixed attacks against NPCs not counting as a crime if they fail to deal damage. - Fixed the Manticores Deadly Tail not triggering counterattacks. - Fixed Two-Handed Swords abilities not applying Stagger. - Fixed Courage only reducing the cooldown of Heroic Charge. - Fixed issues with Brans dialogue when encountering him by his cabin as Dirwin. - Fixed sleeping NPCs not reacting to smoke bombs. - Fixes to Dispersal: if dodged or blocked, this ability no longer makes Wraiths invisible. - Fixed Wraiths being able to instantly attack upon their reappearance. - Fixed Make a Halt reducing the duration of already existing Vigor to 360 turns when resting by a campfire. - Fixed Raise Shield granting incorrect amount of Block Power. - Fixed the inability to pick up the Bone Cradle if the Manticore is killed too far away from it. - Fixed the crash caused by Murkstalkers dying to traps. - Fixed the bug allowing to use abilities while in jail. - Fixed the possibility of targeting yourself with abilities that dont support such interactions. - Fixed the Vagabond Knights Cuirass not spawning in secret rooms. - Proselyte Hierarchs now have a small chance to drop the Vampiric Staff. - Added a description to the effect of Static Field. - Fixed some traders being able to occasionally sell the Guardsman Broadsword. - Fixed Austerity raising negative Conditions thresholds by 10% instead of 5%. - Fixed collisions in some camps. - Gulons now have an animation for their Territorial state. - Fixed low level flail brigands dropping clubs on death. - Increased the Durability of Runic Boulders and Stone Spikes but reduced their Resistances. This change will increase the damage dealt to enemies that are Knocked back into them while keeping the amount of time required for their destruction more or less the same. - Slightly increased the level range of the equipment sold by Dockside merchants. - Added rings and necklaces to the Jibean Merchants stock. - Tweaks to the Fences prices and stock. Reduced the initial level range of his goods but increased their variety. - Reduced the price of some bombs. - Expanded the stock of Brynn Bailiffs. - Tweaked the effects of Seal of Finesse and Seal of Power. - Reduced high level spells base Armor Penetration. - Reduced the damage bonus to Tempest for each turn of Resonance affecting its targets from 10% to 5%. - Various tweaks to some enemies stats. - The Ancient Troll can no longer trigger attacks of opportunity. - Kromm is no longer interested in buying medicine. - Increased the activation distance of lOwcreys quest dialogues.

FIXES

BALANCE

- Added Knockback Chance to Jolt, increasing its impact during early stages of the game. - Static Field now reduces its targets Shock Resistance, but has lower base damage. - Reversed changes to Seal of Power - just like before, the duration of the effect should increase by 5 turns when casting spells from any Magic Schools. - Girruds and Anmarraks now spawn in higher tier dungeons. - Increased Girruds Cooldowns and reduced their base Knockback, Pull, and Immobilization Chances, making it easier to resist their debuffs by investing into relevant Resistances. - Fixed Anmarraks passive, which wasnt correctly applying it with more Damage Taken after death of its tentacles. - Fixed the Manticore not being able to leap away when cornered. - Fixed the crash caused by Murkstalkers Embrace the Murk. - Added new treatises to lOwcreys stock. - Brigand Warlock can now drop new treatises on death. - Tweaked some of the curses: Hunger gain was decreased, and the reduction on Max Health and Max Energy thresholds is now more pronounced. - Fixed magic equipment not spawning as intended in the Alchemists stock after reaching high Reputation in Brynn. - Fixed the Brynn Quartermasters missing stock. - Fixed the visuals of Ethnarch's Funeral Mask when equipped by Jorgrim. - Fixed the inability to pick up the jug on the second floor of the Golden Grain Inn. - Young Trolls gained access to Earthshaking Strike. - Magic Power is no longer applied twice when calculating spells damage. - Reduced Wraiths Resistances to Nature Damage. - The Osbrook Tailor can now sell Throwing Nets. - Fixed the Range of some Seals. - Bloodthirst and Lash Blessing now count as skills, not spells. - Reduced Brigand Madmans base Bleed Chance. - Increased Death Stingers Vision range. - Reduced Accuracy of all ranged skeletons. - Returned the Exquisite Mantle and Cowl to the Leatherworking Bailiffs stock. - Drinking water from a Silver Cup now has a stronger effect on Intoxication. - Increased the base duration of Stone Armor. - Reduced Fumble Chance of starting two-handed swords and increased the base damage of two-handed swords in general. Reduced the damage of two-handed maces. - Martyrs no longer drop the same loot as broken crates. - Fixed the Backfire Chance penalty to Electromancy spells being applied twice when affected by two stacks of Wetness. - Increased the amount of Catacomb loot. - Wraith Warriors and Wraith Seers will now spawn in higher level dungeons. - Fixed the possibility of triggering a failed quest dialogue when talking to lOwcrey a few days after completing From the Cradle to the Grave. - Fixed enemies replenishing Armor when the player character leaves and then re-enters the location. - Using a bedroll in the rain will no longer result in Body Aches. - Doubly removed the Curse of Goldhoarder from the game. - Added the percent sign to Backfire Chance values displayed in spells hovers.

- Fixed the mistake in the Fatigue formula causing weapon/utility skills to generate several times more Fatigue than intended. - "Seal of Power" now correctly applies its effect when casting spells. - Fixed the inability to turn in "Odar's Thugs" quest. - Fatigue gain from using abilities is reduced to 1.5% / 2.5% of ability's energy cost for skills and spells respectively (2% / 3% before) - Fixed the inability to turn in Witch Hat, Witch Staff and morions to l'Owcrey. - "For Whom The Bell Tolls" now has greatly increased cooldown and reduced Sanity loss. - "Unholy Anthems" generate less noise now. - Fixed the bug causing locations to play wrong music themes. - Reduced the value of "Onslaught" Energy Burn. Additionally: - Fixed Skeleton Kingsguards contracts generating in Mannshire. This fix isn't retroactive - you need to complete or fail already generated contract for this change to take place. - Fixed Skills & Spells Energy Cost and Cooldown Duration being 105% by default instead of 100%. - Undead and Proselytes are now more vulnerable to Sacred Damage. - Fixed secret room passages sometimes becoming unpassable after the reveal.

- Fixed the crash occuring after entering the second floor in some dungeons. - Fixed staff-wielding necromancers spawning in low-level dungeons. - Fixed the inability to cook crab meat. - Gulons now drop Gulon Hides when skinned. - Fixed the softlock occuring after changing the locations during the "Odar's Thugs" quests. - Risen Axonians no longer drop bones on death. - Increased the odds of successful lockpicking. - Fixed Tollers using Tormentors' stats. - Fixed AI not properly reacting to Gulons. - Fixed the incorrect materials of some of the new amulets. - Fixed the incorrect pricing when trading with Vagrant Tott. - Vagrant Tott now charges 20% less for fast travelling. - Increased Shock Resistance debuff caused by both "Impulse" and "Resonance". - Balance tweaks for several tier II and tier III Brigands (mainly regarding the high block chance and block power of enemies armed with two-handed weapons). - Fixed the possibility to strike yourself with a lightning when casting "Tempest". - Doubled the sleep limit from accumulated Fatigue (+1 hour per 5% Fatigue instead of per 10% Fatigue).

- Fixed the inability to back out from the dialogue about renting the Bank vault. - Fixed some of the new amulets' incorrect prices. - Fixed all new Proselytes granting the same amount of experience on death. - Reduced the conversion rate of a Backfired spells Energy Cost into Sanity loss. - Innkeepers now have more money (to make it easier to sell Barrels of Beer to them). - Moved Fiends to a higher tier. - Slightly nerfed Marauders. - Reduced some of the low level Proselytes' Accuracy. - Risen Axonians no longer have access to Nail Down. - Fixed the player character being able to acquire the effect of Crimson Gift. - Fixed the crash caused by explosions. - Fixed the exploits allowing to steal items from containers without it being registered as a crime. - Enemies should now correctly recover Health when the player character leaves the location. - Increased doors durability. - Taking a cart ride no longer counts as sleeping and doesnt decrease the maximum sleep duration. - Increased the duration of Elven Muds effect. - It should no longer be possible to click through the animation of Impulse. - Pyromania now grants Miracle Chance instead of Crit Chance. - Triumph now grants Miracle Chance in addition to Crit Chance. - Fixed Body and Spirit decreasing Sanity loss from Backfired spells by 80% instead of 20%. - Nerfed Flagellants Driven by Pain passive. - Fixed incorrect Attribute requirements of Endurance Training. - Reduced Fumble Chance and Backfire Chance from dual wielding. - Fixed the inability to rent a room from the hostess in the Close Harbor Tavern. - Fixed the missing greeting line of the Universitys Physician. - Fixed the ability to accept a contract after completing it. - Increased Fatigue reduction from consuming exquisite foods. - Increased the strength of Gulons. - Various fixes to most spells Energy Cost, Cooldowns Duration, and Backfire Chance. - Reduced the restock speed of Herbalists wares. - Added sound effects to some of the new Proselyte abilities. - Added more sound effects to Gwynnels Answers cutscenes.

- Added sounds to Electromancy and Magic Mastery spells. - Ghouls level is now taken into account when spawning them in Crypts. - Increased the damage of Jolt by 10%. - Slightly nerfed low level Wraiths. - Removed the possibility of finding usual Shackles on tool racks instead of Rusted ones. - Fixed the bug with Brewery NPCs cloning themselves. - Fixed the bug that generated Shrines instead of Abandoned Carts. - Fixed glass bottles not shattering when thrown. - Fixed overly powerful minibosses spawning in Mannshire Bastions and Crypts (this change will come into effect after completing or failing already generated contracts). - Fixed loot in the Watermill. - Fixed the Cart Drivers description. - Fixed the Fences name. - Fixed elven traders descriptions. - Fixed harbor merchants descriptions. - Fixed the missing price of Bronze Isles and Barcia folios. - Fixed Beets adding to Fatigue when eaten. - Fixed Bandages and Lockpicks missing the "Merge" option. - Fixed the bug with the cell doors context menu that occurred during contracts with kidnapped NPCs. - Fixed the incorrect cooldown of Step Aside! when this skill was used by enemies. - Fixed the bug allowing to fill non-vessel items with water. - Fixed shop signs attracting thrown items when aiming at tiles close to them.

- Changed the effects of Impulse and Resonance. - Fixed excessive Thirst gain from abilities, which was caused by an incorrect comma placement in the formula. - Young Trolls now have shadows. - Slightly nerfed enemies in the Prologue. - Junk dealer Tott will no longer sell his wares for 1 coin each. - Gulons no longer attack each other. - Fixed the crash caused by attempting to learn a paid rumor. - Fixed the softlock caused by dual wielding. - Fixed incorrect Attribute requirements for Short Circuit. - Fixed Fatigue Resistance being displayed twice in the character menu. - Potential Difference now has its Immobilization Chance displayed correctly. - Fixed the effect of Impulse being applied twice when using it on Resonating targets. - Fixed the potential crash caused by interacting with tool racks in the Catacombs.

IMPORTANT: this is a major update that includes changes to the global map generation, so it requires you to start a new game. If you want to continue your old playthrough, it can be done by rolling back to the previous version in the games Steam options

MAIN ADDITIONS

- New boss

- New magic school: Electromancy.

- New ability tree: Magic Mastery.

- New enemies

- Brynn content

- Next stage of the main quest: Gwynnels Answers.

- Stationary Caravan Camp

- New system: Fatigue

- Changes to the Sleep System

- Changes to the Magic System

- New loot type: Folios

- New items

- New Points of Interest.

- New biom: Seashore.

- 4 new achievements.

GAMEPLAY AND CONTENT

BALANCE

ECONOMY AND PROGRESSION

FIXES

Hello everyone! In todays devlog, well tell you more about the second ability tree, Magic Mastery, which will be a part of the next major update - Forgotten Lore, to be released on August 5th. Magic Mastery is designed to be a highly impactful support tree, useful to any mage build. As a result, its abilities are mostly focused on two things: increasing the effectiveness and safety of your own spells and countering enemy magic. To better understand our design choices, we highly recommend you to check out the previous devlog - it contains important details about the upcoming changes to the Magic System.

OVERALL STRUCTURE

Active Abilities

Passive Abilities

Hello everyone! Wed like to begin todays devlog by making an important announcement. The upcoming major update, titled as Forgotten Lore, will be released this year on August 5th.
It will include the following:

• The long-awaited surprise that we promised some time ago - a new boss! Similarly to the Ancient Troll hunt, this quest can be acquired in a location of questionable repute after you reach a high enough level.
• A new quest, Gwynnels Answers, which will conclude the opening sequence of the main story and send you off to explore the open world. A quick reminder - for the time being, this quest will be the end of the main questline. We plan to focus on the overarching plot only after we finish implementing the necessary systems and mechanics.
• New magic school, Electromancy, which will allow you to master dangerous and unpredictable lightning spells.
• New utility tree - Magic Mastery. Well tell you more about it in the next devlog.
• Several new points of interest.
• A large portion of the remaining Brynn buildings: the printing house, the House of the Azure Thread, the Bank of Brynn, the Golden Grain Inn, the Cathedral, the University, the Close Harbor Tavern, the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, and a dockside store.
• New enemies: 13 new types of Proselytes (including two minibosses), as well as Gulons and Young Trolls.
• New mechanic: Fatigue. More details below.
• New magic mechanic, Backfire, and a few additional magic stats. More details below.
• New loot type: Folios. These texts provide information on various aspects of the games lore. Reading them also grants some Experience.
• Caravan Stop that can be used for resting and storing your items. Caravan travels will be added in subsequent major updates.
• New biome, seashore.
• New items.

FATIGUE

• Create an additional layer of planning and character management.
• Increase the importance of sleeping (right now its only used for saving the game).
• Boost the value of certain consumables such as stimulants and exquisite foods.

• Traversing tiles
• Attacking
• Blocking and dodging
• Using skills (Fatigue Gain is 2%* of their Energy Cost) and casting spells (Fatigue Gain is 4%* of their Energy Cost) * - these are rough numbers that are subject to change

• The effect of Vigor, which is acquired after a good nights sleep or by using some consumables (such as Elven Mud). It reduces Fatigue Gain and gradually lowers already existing Fatigue.
• Many exquisite foods, which can be bought in Brynn taverns and grocery shops, can either alleviate Fatigue or reduce Fatigue Gain.
• Some stimulant drugs might help you stay awake longer than usual: Nikkaf has a noticeable effect on Fatigue Gain, and Alqud slowly reduces Fatigue every turn.
• Rest Mode can provide a moment of respite after a fight.
• And finally, the most obvious method - sleeping. Each hour of sleep significantly lowers Fatigue, which makes Bedrolls and distant camps all the more important when embarking on a long journey. Resting in more expensive taverns also has a greater restorative effect.

CHANGES TO MAGIC

• Theres a dissonance between the depiction of mages in the lore and their actual gameplay. In our setting, magic was haphazardly put together from scraps of ancient knowledge, which fell into obscurity during the local version of the Dark Ages. Magic is mostly limited to battlefield use, and no one understands its true nature or how it actually works. As a result, mages cant do much else apart from mechanically memorizing the few surviving spells from their preferred magic schools and then simply reciting them without any alterations. From time to time, extraordinary minds find ways to modify or improve upon the existing spells, but any kind of deviation from the established tradition is extremely dangerous and often leads to injuries, madness, or agonizing death. On top of all that, mages have to use their own body and mind as a conduit for energies - this kind of stress is extremely unhealthy for any practitioner of magic. Take Jonna, for instance - despite her haggard looks, she isnt even in her thirties
• In the current version of the game, magic gameplay lacks the tactical depth of melee builds and requires significantly less resources. Mages hardly interact with the Health system, dont spend gold on consumables and repairs, and barely ever have to think about their positioning. Magic builds only have to worry about Energy and Magic Power, which greatly reduces their variety.

• Backfire Damage
• Backfire Chance
• Miracle Chance
• Miracle Potency

Hello everyone! Lets start with some context. Unlike other archetypes, mages have been neglected in terms of new content for quite a while. There are multiple reasons for this: before new magic could be added, we had to introduce a number of additional mechanics first, which wasnt possible while the focus was on building more important and global systems. It also didnt help that developing new magic requires much more resources than weaponry and utility trees. But now the time has come, and we finally can give magic the attention it deserves. Therefore, meet Electromancy! We envisioned Electromancy as something in between Pyromancy and Geomancy: its capable of dealing high damage to multiple targets while providing ample opportunities for weakening your foes and manipulating their positioning. The key mechanic of Electromancy is the so-called Resonance, which can be applied by the ability trees first two spells. This effect in particular distinguishes Electromancys AoE spells from those of pyromancy - they target specific targets rather than set areas, allowing you to affect enemies standing on opposite sides of the battlefield. Lets have a better look at each spells function and the overall structure of the ability tree:
Just like every other magic school, Electromancy includes 14 abilities: 7 actives and 7 passives.

Active Abilities

Jolt

Impulse

Short Circuit

Static Field

Ball Lightning

Chain Lightning

Tempest

Passive Abilities

Residual Charge

Potential Difference

Unlimited Power

Conductivity

Resonance Cascade

Chain Reaction

Recharge

Hello everyone! This post is the first one in the series of devlogs where we tell you about new content that will be a part of the upcoming major update. Today, well share the details about high tier Proselytes - new dangerous enemy types which youll be able to encounter in Catacomb dungeons. Proselytes are a disturbing, mysterious vampire cult that only recently became prominent in Aldor - they are definitely on the fantasy side of things when compared to the rest of the setting. While working on them, we decided not to focus too much on realism and the restrictions of the world we created, instead fully embracing the opportunity to make new enemies memorable and unique.
Here they are, left to right ======================= Lets start with the Proselytes whom you might run into while exploring both low and high level Catacombs.

Martyr

Bell-Ringer

Fiend

Impaler

Murkstalker

Girrud

Yagram

Saggul

Wormbearer

Anmarrak

Hello everyone! Its been a while since our last devlog, so wed like to share some details about what weve been working on. In the previous entry we mentioned a plan to release an interim patch with the Mint Squares missing interiors and NPCs. Theres been some adjustments since then: first of all, we decided to add new content not only to the Mint Square but also to the Docks. Secondly, there were some tweaks to the timeline, so these additions will be a part of the next major update, which we havent yet chosen a name for. This update will also include some of the features that were originally planned for Rags to Riches and Wizards Fate. Heres a list of things were working on right now: - Next stage of the main quest - it will wrap up the introduction sequence and will prepare players for the sandbox part of the game. After that, the main story will be put on hold until we finish implementing all the remaining mechanics and content. - New magic school, Electromancy, that has potential to deal high damage while offering some decent crowd control. - New utility tree, Magic Mastery - a worthwhile addition to any magic-focused build.

- Fatigue System and supplementary magic mechanics that will require mages to be more thoughtful about positioning and the way they spend their resources (including financial ones). - Second tier of Proselytes: ten new dangerous enemies that come with roughly 20 new active and passive abilities.

- Several carefully designed Points of Interest, each of them boasting its own backstory.


- Caravan stop, which will provide you with a place to save your progress and store your items. As for global map traveling, we plan to add this functionality in one of the subsequent major updates.
- Folios, a new type of valuable loot that will give you an opportunity to learn more about the games world as well as gain some experience points.
- New content for the Mint Square (the Cathedral, the University, a bank, a printing house, the Golden Grain Inn, Azure Thread Tradehouse) and the Docks (the Alchemical Emporium of Curious Goods, a dockside store, the Close Harbor Tavern, and a bathhouse) that we already mentioned.

- Something cool and unexpected that will be revealed alongside the announcement of the updates release date. The ongoing war still causes certain financial and organizational issues, so we cant guarantee that everything mentioned in this devlog will be a part of the next major update, but well do our best to make it happen nonetheless. Well tell you more details about the new additions in future devlogs, so stay tuned and follow the news! The updates release date will be revealed in a separate announcement once we complete the bulk of the work on new content. And after the update is out, well also revise our Development Roadmap and publish an up-to-date version. Thats all for now. Until next time!

Hello everyone! Today wed like to tell you about the circumstances affecting our studio and the future development of Stoneshard. Its been almost a month since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and it had a rather negative impact on the lives of our team. Lets start with the most important part. A significant portion of our team (our game designer, one of the coders, the promo artist) are Ukrainian citizens. The war caught everyone off guard: while some managed to quickly leave the war zone, others got stuck or simply didnt want to abandon their homes. Right now these team members are in relative safety, but there are still issues with accessing the Internet and setting up a proper work space. There also wasnt enough time to backup everything, so we lost some assets, although it shouldnt set the development back too much. Other than that, there are financial problems: as many of you already know, Steam no longer makes transactions with Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarus banks. Naturally, it affected our team as well, preventing us from receiving income from Steam. At the moment, we still have enough resources, but if we don't find a solution to this issue, we wont have enough money to continue outsourcing the specialists whove been helping us with the game - this might noticeably slow down the rate of updates, even if temporarily. As for the Russian members of our team, most of them are currently busy with moving to other countries, which will require some time. However, the overall situation is more or less stable, and we most definitely wont stop working on the game. For now everyone contributes as much as the circumstances allow, but once the most pressing issues are resolved, well continue developing Stoneshards at the usual pace. Now lets talk about more distant plans. Before the war, we already began working on an interim content update that was supposed to add interiors to key buildings on the Mint Square in Brynn. After that, we wanted to implement some of the long-planned city quests, and then - to start working on the next major update, Rags to riches, which was meant to introduce random encounters, a functioning Caravan, tweaks to contracts and the economy, and more. The Mint Square interim update is already partially complete, so it will be released relatively soon. The rest of the original plan will have to be readjusted - well make sure to share the details and post an updated roadmap once everything is said and done. All we can say for now is that some features will likely be added in a different order and that major updates might end up divided into smaller ones. And finally, some teasers:



In conclusion, wed like to say that your support and sympathy are extremely important to us right now. We love and appreciate our community, and we hope that this sentiment is mutual. Stay safe!

Hello everyone! Were sorry to announce that due to Russias attack on Ukraine we wont be able to stick to the intended release schedule. Some of the key members of our team are Ukrainian citizens and are either already caught in the war zone or might soon find themselves there. Hopefully, the war will not last long, and well be able to proceed with developing the game as planned. Thank you for understanding.

CHANGELOG

- Fixed Pack Sense not working as intended. - Fixed floor traps not interrupting charges. - Introduced more visual variety among low level bandits. - Increased the passive chance of discovering secret rooms (in accordance with the Attributes rework). - The Pawnbroker was given a larger amount of money. He now also offers worse prices for valuables than before. - Fixed the dialogue softlock caused by attempting to speak with an NPC who previously caught your character stealing. - Added lots of portraits to Brynn NPCs. - Fixed the incorrect damage of Dual weapons. - Fixed items text boxes losing their intended color when items are thrown on the ground. - The following achievements are now available: Right Back at You, I.C.B.M., The Fittest, Outlaw Anthems, Fetch This!, Trapmaker's Art, Tomb Raider, That Belongs In A Museum.

- Added the Survival tree - it comes with 10 new abilities. - Added a new consumable item: a Bedroll. Bedrolls allow creating single-use sleeping spots outside of dungeons, offering an additional opportunity to save your progress. - Added new gear: Pot Helmet, Visored Pot Helmet, War Hat, Baron Sabatons, Levy Bow, Curved Bow, Brotherhood of Ouroboros' Shield (unique), Shield of the Truth's Eternal Sun (unique). - Added new abilities to some animals: Howl, Pack Sense, Dying Rage, Ramming Charge. - Reworked loot generation rules for containers. Loot generation now occurs when the world or locations are first generated instead of each time you open containers, removing the possibility of rerolling their contents. - Tweaked sleep effects in different locations:

• Tavern: 100% Restoration effectiveness, replenishes Psyche, grants Vigor.
• Bedroll: 50% Restoration effectiveness (100% with Make a Halt skill), doesnt replenish Psyche, doesnt grant Vigor.
• Camp: 50% Restoration effectiveness (100% with Make a Halt skill), doesnt replenish Psyche, doesnt grant Vigor.
• Leprosarium: 100% Restoration effectiveness, damages Psyche, doesnt grant Vigor.
• The Watchtower Tavern (Brynn): 125% Psyche replenishment.

Hello everyone! Over the last couple months, weve received a lot of feedback and justified criticism about drastically increased travel times and long distances between Points of Interest. Wed like to assure you that the current version of the global map is far from final. In addition to obvious tweaks to distances between locations, which will happen in the next major update along with the saves wipe, we also plan to implement a number of systems and mechanics focused on making the open world exploration less time-consuming and tedious. One of these additions is the Survival tree that will soon be introduced to the game. The main purpose of this ability tree is to help your character weather the hardships of mercenary life, giving them a better chance of surviving the wilderness without a sizable stash of supplies. Its worth mentioning that over the course of development Survival and Medicine ability trees were merged together, allowing us to remove unnecessary fluff and fully focus on the synergy between some of their skills. Lets start with the ability trees overall structure. It consists of 6 active and 5 passive skills:
Survival skills are acquired in the usual manner - first, you need to unlock them by finding a corresponding treatise or improving relevant Attributes, then you purchase whatever you need with Ability Points. There is a caveat though: the first tier of Survival is unlocked for every character by default. On top of that, Survival skills have much lower Attribute requirements than other ability trees: in order to unlock the second tier, youll only need to invest 3 Stat Points into relevant Attributes, and the third tier becomes available right after you spend 5 SP.

Active Abilities

• Skinning was moved to the Survival tree where it belongs, and youll need to spend an Ability Point before you can use it. At the same time, we greatly increased the price of most pelts, making hunting so much more profitable. With the exception of these tweaks, the skill remains the same - the chance to harvest a pelt still relies on the damage type you kill a creature with.
  
• Campfire allows you to start a fire at any suitable location. To do so, youll need four sticks - a new item that is aplenty in the woods. This campfire has the same functionality as the ones you find when exploring the world: it can be used for cooking, drying your clothes, and to empower some of the ability trees skills. The campfires you make only exist for a limited amount of time: they go out after 6 in-game hours. Its the only skill in the ability tree that doesnt need to be purchased with Ability Points - all characters start with Campfire already learned.
  
• Make a Halt allows you to combine a pelt, a length of rope, and some straw to craft a new single-use consumable - a sleeping bag. Sleeping bags give you an option to sleep and save your progress in suitable locations far enough from dungeons, settlements, and points of interest. Sleeping this way is rather uncomfortable and doesnt provide the benefits of resting in an actual bed: youll suffer a penalty to Health Restoration, wont replenish Morale and Sanity, and wont receive the Vigor effect. Additionally, theres always a distinct possibility of being ambushed by brigands or wild animals that can stumble onto you while you're asleep Investing into this skill is completely optional, and it is possible to purchase sleeping bags from some traders. Still, being able to craft them yourself will save you money and inventory space - its fairly easy to find the required items while exploring, and the materials themselves dont take as much space as an actual sleeping bag.
  
• Cauterize Wounds is great for emergencies: this skill allows you to instantly stop all Bleedings, suffering some Pain and slightly damaging affected body parts in the process. Using this skill will also temporarily increase your Bleed Resistance. This bonus becomes stronger and has a longer duration if theres a lit campfire nearby.
  
• First Aid'' teaches your character the procedures necessary to set a dislocated limb or clean a wound without outside help. This skill stabilizes all your Injuries, but raises Pain and reduces Morale. If theres a lit campfire nearby, this skill slightly improves the condition of Injured body parts.
  
• Will to Survive replenishes a small amount of Health and removes all physical and mental debuffs. This skill also affects persistent Conditions (effects caused by Hunger, Thirst, Pain, Injuries, etc), removing them for 10 turns. If theres a lit campfire nearby, using this skill additionally replenishes some Health for every removed negative effect.

Passive Abilities

• Pathfinder improves the Examine Surroundings basic skill, granting it new functionality. Firstly, when used on the surface, it allows you to spot tracks left by beasts and other enemy types, making it much easier to locate them on the map tile. Secondly, Examine Surrounding lets your character to closely listen to whats happening around them, displaying hidden creatures as question marks in a large radius. This skill works in dungeons as well, allowing you to better prepare for dangers that lurk behind closed doors. And finally, Pathfinder greatly increases your characters passive chance to hear nearby creatures. Passive bonus: +1 Vision
• Huntmaster significantly improves the chance to successfully harvest a pelt. In addition to this bonus, it allows your character to extract rare ingredients that can later be sold at a high price (in the future they will have alchemical uses). Right now there are three rare ingredients: Bear Fat, Crawler Eyes, and Harpy Stomachs. Huntmaster also grants your attacks +15% Weapon Damage and 10% Crit Chance when fighting beasts. As a side note, the Ancient Troll counts as a beast. Passive bonus: +3% Accuracy
• Adaptability is a skill for those who want to shrug off anything that life throws at them. It passively improves the rate at which you recover from Pain and Intoxication, decreases the duration of Poisonings, Bad Trips, and Drug Aftermaths, while also removing Restoration penalties when using a sleeping bag. Other than that, Adaptability improves your Morale when resting near lit campfires. Passive bonus: +10% Fortitude and 10% Intoxication Resistance
• Austerity makes your character less reliant on food and water, raising the thresholds for negative Conditions caused by Hunger, Thirst, and Pain by 10% (these Conditions will activate only upon reaching 35% / 60% / 85% thresholds rather than 25% / 50% / 75% ). This skill also decreases Hunger and Thirst gain by 20% and makes resting near campfires more beneficial, granting Healing Efficiency and restoring Sanity. Passive bonus: +15% Pain Resistance
• Ever Vigilant is perhaps the most combat-oriented skill of the Survival tree. Once learned, it lowers the Accuracy of enemy attacks by 5% and halves their Crit Chance (this is particularly useful when hunting bears). It also halves the chance of ambush when using a sleeping bag, doubles the chance of evading a trap instead of activating it, and reduces the Vision penalty while in the Rest Mode. Passive bonus: +5% Dodge Chance

- Additional adjustments to damage coefficients of different weapon types. - Added a closing dialogue with Osbrook carpenter after finishing Fate of the Brewery quest. - Osbrook smith now sells caltrops and clawtraps. - Increased the base price of several pelts. - Decreased enemy spawns in dungeons. - Birds now always fly away after receiving damage. - Additionally receiving already existing effect now works correctly. - Fixed the crash caused by looting some secret room containers. - Fixed some bird species spawning in the wrong biomes. - Fixed block power replenishment working incorrectly in Raise Shield ability. - Fixed "Stay Back!" passive ability still having its old pre-CoG mechanic alongside with the new one. - Improved optimisation.

- Curbed the inflation to reduce the amount of gold purses required for purchasing and maintaining high level gear. - Rebalanced weapons Durability - most weapons will now require less frequent repairs. - Reduced the amount of food dropped in Bandit dungeons. - The money reward for killing the Troll is now the same as declared in the dialogue. - The Royal Ranger Gambeson is now a unique item - its stats were adjusted accordingly. - Starting enemies stats were tweaked to better work with balance changes to weapons damage. - The map marker for the Head to Brynn quest is now placed on the correct map tile. - Increased Reputation gain from bringing occult items to lOwcrey. - Increased the influence of Reputation on NPCs selling prices (-5%/-10%/15% > -10%/-15%/-20%). - The power difference between low and high level Necromancers is now more apparent. - Returned lockpicks to the Osbrook blacksmiths stock. - The Brynn merchant now sells gold purses. - Fixed the bug causing higher level minibosses to spawn in low level Undead and Proselyte dungeons. - Fixed Crimson Gift being applied to all enemy types in distant dungeons rather than just Proselytes. - When performing a task for the Osbrook blacksmith, you can now also bring him Home-Made Swords. - Fixed destroyed crates not dropping loot. - Fixed the buying and selling prices for Barrels of Beer - trading in them is now profitable. - Fixed the bug allowing Barrels of Beer to be bought for cheap and then sold at a higher price to the same character. - Fixed the bug granting additional Crushing Damage to shield-wielding enemies attacks. - Fixed the bug allowing to indefinitely stack Magic Power with Baptism by Fire. - Fixed the bug causing minions in Necromancer rooms to spawn multiple times. - Fixed some Brynn craftsmen not being able to repair equipment. - Fixed the Mannshire milk traders missing stock. - Fixed Forest Vipers' overly high spawn rates. - Fixed the crash caused by Harpies passive. - Fixed the crash caused by certain Brynn NPCs. - Fixed Precision not working as intended. - Fixed the bug causing you to lose all money when bribing the carpenter in Osbrook.

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE

MAIN CHANGES

BALANCE

FIXES

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE

MAIN CHANGES

BALANCE

FIXES

Hello! We're glad to announce that the latest version of Stoneshard is now available on Linux! However, after the latest Steam client update, many games made with the GMS engine (including Stoneshard) cant be launched by pressing the Play button. Unfortunately, its up to Valve to fix this issue, and we dont have any information about when it might happen. For now the game can be launched directly via the StoneShard file. In order to access the games folder, right click the games name in your Steam library, then choose Manage > Browse local files. Have a good time!

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE COMPATIBLE

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE COMPATIBLE!

MAIN CHANGES

OTHER

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE COMPATIBLE

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE

MAIN

OTHER

THIS UPDATE IS SAVE-COMPATIBLE - Added lake locations. - Fixed Regenerative Carapace increasing the player characters Resistances. - After the Troll is dead, the Signal Tower will be repopulated by a new garrison. - Fixed the condition check for dual wielding, the issue with which occasionally prevented Dual Wielding skills from working. - Fixed the Block Chance formula for enemies. - Fixed incorrect Attribute requirements for Two-Handed Sword skills. - Added location name pop-ups to Brynn quarters. - Added location name pop-ups to Osbrook and Mannshire. - Fixed memory leaks. - Fixed the Ancient Troll not dropping tusks upon being skinned. - Fixed the crash in the Abandoned Siege Camp. - Fixed glitches in the Mannshire tavern hostess behavior. - Fixed the inability to enter the newly-added Brynn tavern on some old saves. - Final fix to the locked door bug caused by saving the game in the Ruined Manor. - Re-added the Ruined Manor ambush.

MAIN CHANGES

TWEAKS AND ADDITIONS

FIXES

FIXES TO ABILITIES

- Fixed the inability to interact with the nightstand on the second floor of the brewery. - Fixed the layering issue of fences and wheat near the mill. - Fixed the lack of footstep sounds when walking over bridges. - Fixed the bug with enemies not spawning on river map tiles. - Fixed the Abandoned Homestead crash. - Fixed the Homestead crash. - Fixed dungeons retaining their structure upon respawning. - Fixed the incorrect sounds on map tiles with river bends. - The first two tiers of Hunger and Thirst effects have a lower influence on morale (0.05 and 0.1 > 0.01 and 0.05). - Fixed the missing price of Nikos of Arpheon's Astrolabe (doesnt affect already acquired artefacts). - Fixed the incorrect duration of Hazzun Celestial Spheres daytime buffs. - Disabled the option to learn rumors from secondary NPCs in Brynn. - Added an option to catch leeches in deep water. - Containers in the witchs hut now have an owner and are marked red. - Increased shields Durability (doesnt affect already saved items). - Fixed the bug with brewery NPCs having merchants inventories. - Fixed the bug with Drunkenness affecting main Attributes. - Fixed the bug causing Fumble Chance and Armor Penetration to not be affected by leveling Agility and Perception respectively. - Fixed the cutscene at the brewery. - Added an option to rent a room in the Rotten Willow Tavern and Ralph & Sons Inn. - Fixed the crash caused by Boulder Toss. - Fixed the inability to harvest Harpies and Crawlers. - Kromm now gives a correct reward upon completing the quest. - The duration of Wetness now has an upper threshold. - Changed reputation perks (Better Gear I and II now increase the maximum level of sold items by 4 and 6 respectively). - Fixed the crash caused by opening certain containers. - Fixed crimes not being registered in some of the Brynn quarters. - Fixed the missing sound of the Trolls Deafening Roar. - Increased the base Accuracy bonus of Taking Aim by 10%.

- Brynn elves no longer tell rumors. - Reduced the number of enemies in Necromancers rooms. - Low tier Necromancers are now accompanied by the Restless instead of Skeletons. - Fixed reputation changes from contracts not being displayed in the Reputation menu. - Fixed the issue with the missing ships in Brynn. - Fixed the missing location name hover of the Lone Farmstead. - Fixed sound issues near rivers. - Added the missing journal entries for Gathering the Caravan and Fate of the Brewery quests. - Slightly reduced the amount of herbs encountered on the map. - Fixed Blood Craze granting incorrect bonus to damage. - Fixed strange NPC behavior in settlements. - Fixed incorrect ranged combat log entries. - Fixed the bug preventing the use of Double Lunge. - Fixed the crash caused by Forceful Slam. - Fixed wolves never dropping pelts when skinned. - Fixed the crash caused by the dialogue about key Mannshire NPCs. - Fixed Jonnas unique trait reapplying its bonus once more upon loading a save. - Fixed rescue contracts not functioning properly. - The state of the jail room now resets after you serve your time. - Fixed the issue with overly powerful enemies spawning on map tiles and during ambushes. - Reduced the size of wolf packs.

- Fixed the issue with bridges collision. - Fog of war should now be properly displayed on river tiles. - Tweaked Brynn merchants stock. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: we are aware about the bug that prevents merchants and other NPC from appearing on Brynn streets after the first couple of days - it will be fixed soon. - Reduced the amount of crowns in village containers. - The Korean localization should now function properly. - Fixed the bug causing one of the achievements to be triggered by non-hostile animals. - Tweaked dungeons drop rates. - Fixed the crash occurring in jail. - The elder no longer tells rumors about himself. - Reduced the amount of gold in non-merchant NPCs inventories. - Fixed the bug causing guards to disappear in the Guild Quarter. - Fixed the quest-giving Brynn quartermasters name. - Fixed the issue with certain damage types affecting pelts Durability too much. - Fixed the treatise crash in the Prologue. - Fixed the crash occurring during the Mannshire scribe dialogue. - Fixed the crash caused by Anticipation. - Fixed the issue with Fire Barrage Accuracy. - Fixed the issue preventing a waterskin to be filled from a river - Slightly reduced Durability loss from basic attacks.

0.7.0.4

MAIN ADDITIONS

- Global Map and Rumor System

- Brynn

- Saving on Exit

- Rumor System

- Crime System

- Bodies of Water

- Changes to Combat

- Improved Leveling and Trainers

- Artefacts

- New Enemies

- New Throwables

- Playable Lute

- 41 Steam Achievement

AND ALSO

MECHANICS

ENEMIES

ECONOMY

ITEMS

OTHER CHANGES

Hello everyone! The City of Gold update is soon to be released: the approximate time is 21:00 MSK, November 18th. Right now is a good moment to give a summary of the progress weve made, talk about the updates new features and what will be added to the game until the end of the year, and also discuss our plans for the future development of Stoneshard.

Global Map and Rumor System

Brynn

Saving on Exit

New Fauna

New Items

New Loot Type: Artefacts

Changes to Combat

Improved Leveling and Trainers

New Achievements

Whats next?

Hello everyone! The City of Gold is almost here! Before its release on November 18th, we plan to publish one more devlog with a summary of the updates most important changes and additions. Today, however, wed like to tell you about two previously unannounced systems.

Rumor System

Artifacts

Casket with St Wald Relics

Codex of the Triple Hand Order

Nikos of Arpheon's Astrolabe

Blessed Aquamanile

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about changes to the leveling system that will be introduced with the City of Gold update.

ATTRIBUTES

• Players rarely spread points between multiple Attributes - both stat points gained upon leveling up are usually invested into a single Attribute to receive a more noticeable increase in power.
• Primary Attributes affect too many secondary stats: its difficult to keep track of them for most players, and leveling usually comes down to focusing on 1 or 2 build-defining stats.
• Some primary Attributes are way too important for certain archetypes while being pretty much ignored by others.

• All Attributes are now capped at 30 points.
• Each Attribute governs only two secondary stats.
• You only gain one stat point upon leveling up, but its impact is now much more noticeable.
• Each primary Attribute now also has thresholds - upon reaching them your character will receive a powerful bonus to 3 additional stats. Each Attribute has 4 thresholds that you can reach - 15, 20, 25, and 30 points. We noticed that many players enjoy investing into Perception for much-desired Bonus Range breakpoints - its one of the reasons why were introducing a similar twist to other Attributes, making leveling more engaging and providing players with goals to pursue.
• The bonuses to characters starting Attributes were reduced.

LEARNING ABILITIES

• Weve reworked the structure of every Ability tree in the game. They now look cleaner and should provide better indication about which tier each Ability belongs to.
• Most Ability trees now have significantly more starting paths. This should make early combat more fun and reduce the frequency of situations when players are forced to stockpile points because they run out of Abilities to invest them into.
  
• Some Ability trees have a new type of link - a node. Nodes indicate that in order to unlock Abilities below them, youll first have to unlock every Ability linked to them. This change will reduce highly prominent power spikes that are detrimental to the overall balance - you will no longer be able to quickly cherry-pick active abilities while ignoring everything else. Before the rework, the deadly combo of Incineration and Melting Ray could be unlocked just after putting 2 points into Pyromancy, but now youll have to learn all 8 prerequisite Abilities before you gain access to it. To sum it up, expect mages to become less overpowered.
• At the same time, the opening tiers are much more flexible - the new system will provide you with more opportunities to grab a few starting Abilities to round up your build, but if you plan to gain access to high-level Abilities, youll need to actually invest.
  
• With the exception of the first tier, Abilities now have Attribute requirements as an alternative to learning them from treatises. Still, we dont want the system to be too restrictive, so the requirements are fairly adaptable: as a general rule, youll have to invest a certain amount of points into a combined sum of relevant Attributes in any combination you want. For instance, if an Ability requires 6 points invested into Strength or Agility, you can unlock it by putting all 6 points into either Strength or Agility, by putting 2 points into Strength and 4 into Agility, and so on. To put it simply, you have a choice between unlocking Abilities on your own by fulfilling their Attribute requirements and searching for a treatise if you want to unlock them earlier or plan to forego Attribute requirements entirely (in case they arent supported by your build)
• In addition to treatises, starting Abilities can also be unlocked by trainers - for a price, of course. Most trainers are Osbrook and Mannshire NPCs whom youre already familiar with, which means that youll be able to unlock all Ability trees (except for magic and Dual Wielding, the trainers for which are located in Brynn) right from the beginning without specifically looking for a relevant treatise.
• These changes will elevate treatises back to their intended place as rare and valuable loot. In addition to that, treatises are no longer sold by village merchants - youll have to search for them in dungeons, points of interest, or buy them from designated traders in Brynn. The Mannshire scribes stock was also reduced: instead of selling every single book in Aldor, hell only have a small selection of tomes that survived the siege.
• Many passives (as well as some active Abilities) were massively reworked to increase their usefulness and versatility, making them a better fit for the reworked Ability trees, so dont be too swift to judge the presented changes.

Hello everyone! Lets start with the release date: as many of you might already know, the City of Gold update was moved to November due to a number of reasons. And today were ready to announce its exact release date - November 18. This date is final, so make sure to set up a reminder! Now to the latest news. Were currently working on bringing the city to life, setting up NPCs and implementing side quests, many of which will have multiple paths and long-term consequences. Even though we would be happy to give you details, its not possible without getting into spoilers, so well let you discover the secrets of Brynn streets by yourself. Heres a teaser just to get you started. And in return well tell you about many other things that will be added with the City of Gold:
We haven't yet finished setting up NPCs, so you can expect the end result to be much more lively.

NEW ENEMIES

Deathstingers

Crawlers

Harpies

NEW THROWABLES

Nistrian Flame Flask

Deathstinger Jar

Spider Blood Flask

BODIES OF WATER

Hello everyone! The City of Gold update is going to be the largest one yet not only in terms of content, but also the overall mechanics. The introduction of the global map will greatly affect the progression and will be the first step in making it work as originally intended - and thats where tweaks to the mechanics come into play. Today well address some of them in this devlog and tell you about every important change to the combat system.

Splitting Protection

Changes to Block

• Light shields have the lowest Block Chance and Power, boasting a large bonus to Block Power Recovery instead: they block limited amounts of damage, but they do so with reliable effectiveness. Certain Shield skills also grant them additional bonuses.
• Medium shields are a jack of all trades: they have decent Block Chance and Power, but lack the bonus to Recovery, making them a balanced choice for defensive playstyles.
• Heavy shields have a huge bonus to Block Chance and Power and can withstand some of the most devastating attacks. But woe to you if you run out of Block Power in the middle of a fight - heavy shields Recover incredibly slowly, so unless you invest into the specialized skill tree, you risk handicapping yourself with an unwieldy, heavy piece of equipment.

Accuracy Calculation

Changes to Dodge

Other Changes

• Most conditions and injuries were rebalanced to make them more distinct and to increase the influence they have on gameplay.
• Being knocked back into an occupied tile now applies Daze instead of Stun. This was done to prevent stunlocks and counteract the strategy of abusing doorways and corners, which is way too effective in the current version of the game. Stun now grants a significant bonus to Control Resistance, which should also make stunlocks much less frequent.
• Some effects received a rework: Wetness, for instance, now has stacks that depend on the overall duration of the debuff. The longer you stay under the rain, the stronger the effect. Rain now also causes metal items to slowly degrade :)
• Skill trees received short descriptions with keywords, meant to help new players to quickly understand their theme and possible synergies..
• There were also some changes to main Attributes, but more about them later...

Hello everyone! Its been a while since the last announcement! During this time, weve been working on lots of stuff: new enemies, locations, mechanics, quests, changes to combat, and other features - well tell you about it all in a series of devlogs prior to the City of Gold release, planned for this October. The first devlog will showcase the largest of the new systems: the global map.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

NAVIGATION

SYSTEMS

Hello everyone! Today well share some of the lore coming with the City of Gold update, planned for the end of this summer. This time its about the most influential people of Brynn, whom you will have a chance to encounter. To better understand the context, we recommend checking out the previous lore entry.

Denvar Brie, the Guildmaster

Jeon Ballar, the Comprador

Arno di Berro, the General

Hello everyone! Were happy to announce that Stoneshard is now also available in Korean! This highly requested localization is the twelfth and the final one on our list, though we might add some additional language options further down the road. Stay tuned for more updates!

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about the crime and punishment system, which will be added with the City of Gold update, planned for the end of this summer. Initially, we didnt plan to add this feature so soon, however the random encounters system that were currently working on requires killable NPCs and, subsequently, a punishment for killing them. Other crimes are just a logical continuation of this option. Lets start with reviewing the general mechanics.

Crime Mechanics

• Disturbing the peace. Opening containers that dont belong to you, setting traps in public locations, throwing items at NPCs, using certain abilities (such as spells) in public, trespassing, and so on.
• Breaking a lock. Attempting to pick or force open locked chests and doors.
• Theft. Taking items that dont belong to you.
• Livestock slaughter. Killing animals that are considered more valuable (such as cows and horses) will result in a more severe punishment than killing cats and dogs.
• Assaulting an NPC. Delivering a first strike counts as an assault.
• Killing or knocking NPCs out. In case you decide to follow through with your assault.
• If you commit anything from this list (other than an assault or a murder) and dont get caught in the process, this wont count as a crime.

Punishment

• Reputation loss. The amount lost depends on the severity of a crime. For instance, a murder can negate the Reputation gain from completing a few dozen contracts and will make the locals hate you. Its worth mentioning that the Reputation loss also affects your standing with the entire Faction, even if to a lesser extent. Therefore, if you frequently get caught stealing in Osbrook, the rumors will reach Mannshire and Brynn, damaging your Reputation there as well.
• Becoming wanted. For the duration of being wanted, guards will try to fine or arrest you, and the local population will refuse to have any dealings with you, be it trading, giving contracts and tasks, or even talking. Its also impossible to sleep and save your game in the settlements where you are a wanted person. Youll also become wanted in other settlements of the Faction, not just the one where you commit a crime, so it might be a good idea to wait it out in a neutral location or, in the future, with another Faction.
• Receiving a fine and serving jail time. You can atone for your crimes by doing one of the following: pay a fine or go to jail. The amount you have to pay or the time you must serve depends on the severity of your crimes.

Jail

Thievery

Murdering NPCs

Hello everyone! This post is the first one in the series dedicated to the lore of the upcoming major update, City of Gold. Today well tell you about the glorious city of Brynn, its history, and its internal situation.

SHORT DESCRIPTION

HISTORY

POLITICS

• The Silver League used to be a mid-tier merchant guild. However, over the centuries it amassed great amounts of wealth and political power. The independence of Brynn, the creation of the Magistrate and the civil war which followed - these events were engineered and set in motion mainly by the highest circles of the League. The Leagues cumbersome bureaucracy, although still effective, has lately begun to struggle with its responsibilities. To many of the Leagues members it came as a surprise that not every war can be won with money alone, but this realization was long overdue. Ever since the previous burgomasters unsolved murder, the League has been led by Jeon Ballar - a descendant of the richest Brynn family, which made its fortune by trading in elven silk. His enemies often accuse him of currying favors with the Jacinth Kingdoms, and perhaps rightfully so, but no one can rival Jeon in achieving compromises and forming unlikely alliances. The existing status quo between the city factions can be attributed entirely to his efforts.
• The Vanguard is a large army consisting of the local nobilitys troops, mercenary bands, and the citys militia. Created by the League in an effort to reorganize the army, the Vanguard quickly became a government within a government, deeply discontent about the overwhelming influence that the mechant estate has over the Magistrate. The competent and decisive actions of the Vanguard protected Brynn from being captured by the royalists, so now its military leaders firmly believe that their sacrifice and valor earned them the right to rule the country. The only thing preventing them from openly confronting the League is the money it supports the army with. The leader of the Vanguard is Duke Arno di Berro, a scion of an old family from the Bronze Isles, who happened to settle down in Aldor. Arno di Berro is an aristocrat in a true sense of this word, and, as expected of an aristocrat, he shows open disdain for republican ideals. Despite all that, hes still ready to fight for the Magistrate with all the ferocity and courage he can muster...
• The New Guild are the artisans of Brynn, its sweat and blood. Initially the city had numerous guilds for various crafts. Their influence was so great that over the years at least a dozen craftsmen assumed the post of Brynn burgomaster. This fact had been greatly annoying the merchant estate, so not long after the war began, they attempted to deal with the guilds once and for all. Using wartime needs as an excuse, the League merged all guilds into one, placing it under its direct control. This violation of the free craftsmens ancient traditions provoked an unrest bordering on revolt. The League was forced to concede, granting the Guild a certain freedom of action, which resulted in the artisan estate gaining more power than it had originally. The Guild is led by Grandmaster Denvar Brie - one of the best weaponsmiths in the city, a stern and overbearing person. He regards the League in its current state as a crowd of freeloaders living off the working people. All it takes is a snap of his fingers to put all city business on halt, something which he most likely plans to leverage for his own gain.

Hello everyone! The work on the City of Gold update, planned for Summer 2021, is well underway. Itll be the largest update of Stoneshards Early Access so far, adding a huge amount of new content and drastically changing the way the game functions. Today well talk about a number of important features, which we currently develop.

SAVING ON EXIT

KILLABLE NPCs

NEW LOCATIONS

RIVERS

STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS

THE LUTE

Hello everyone! Were happy to announce that Stoneshard has been fully translated to French. The todays update added French to the list of available localizations, making it eleven in total! In the near future we also plan to make the game available in European Spanish and Korean languages. Stay tuned for the upcoming announcements! Until the next time!

0.6.1.9 - Changelog

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Hello everyone! Today Stoneshard celebrates its first anniversary: its been exactly a year since the game was released into Early Access! By an amazing coincidence, the Black Boar taverns anniversary shares the same date - to honor this remarkable event, Brukk the Innkeeper decided to decorate his establishment. During this month his guests will also be gifted a free pie, baked by a special recipe. Make sure to launch the game to participate in the festivities! Now back to our plans. Over the last year the game saw noticeable improvements: there were four major updates and a content patch, as well as an innumerable amount of hotfixes and smaller updates. We still have a long road ahead of us, something we will talk about today. Right now were working on the City of Gold update, the largest one yet. Its meant to significantly expand the global map, add basic caravan mechanics, the first major city, new biomes, new points of interest, random encounters, and also a number of currently unannounced, but very important features. As you can see, this is a lot of content, so City of Gold will be released approximately in Q2 2021. Most new systems are still being prototyped, so it will be a while before the devlogs on them are published. While were working on the technical side of the global map, have a look at this concept art and teasers for the upcoming content:




As we implement the city of Brynn, we also plan to expand the games lore. Therell likely be a few devlogs dedicated to it as well. Thats all for now. Until the next devlog!

0.6.1.8 CHANGELOG

• Increased the gold reward up to 10 000 crowns.
• Most item rewards were changed: Weber will now give more expensive and higher level items.
• Added an option to ask for a crossbow, a spear, a two-handed axe, or a two-handed mace.

• Bleed Chance, Damage Reflection: +5% > +7.5%
• Fire, Unholy, Move, Control, and Bleed Resistances: +5% > +10%
• Armor Damage: +25% > +33%
• Crit Efficiency: +20% > +25%
• Spells and Skills Energy Costs, Cooldowns Duration: -10% > -7.5%

• Fixed enemies opening quest doors.
• Fixed an issue in the algorithm for alarm accumulation from noise (enemies no longer react to it as fast as they used to).
• Multiple changes to some enemy abilities usage algorithms.
• Fixed Daze Chance from Earthquake not taking Control Resistance into account.
• Fixed Elusiveness not working against enemy skills.
• Fixed the Experience exploit with disarming claw traps.
• Fixed AoE zones applying their effects to the Troll multiple times per turn.
• Fixed the incorrect information on associated Attributes in new stances descriptions.
• Fixed Injuries persisting after sleeping even if body parts are not damaged.
• Fixed the Troll being able to attack while being affected by both Burning and Regeneration.
• Fixed Right on Target not working with new skill trees abilities.
• Fixed Danse Macabre not reducing enemies stats.
• Fixed Coup de Grace dealing incorrect damage.
• Tormenting Swings now only triggers on critical hits, as stated in its description.
• Fixed the incorrect base value of Armor Penetration (was -5% instead of 0%).
• Fixed certain stats being calculated incorrectly while dual wielding.
• Fixed the inability of switching to another Tactic while low on Energy.
• Fixed the log message for enemies disarming traps.
• Fixed the log message for gathering berries.
• The effects of Stagger are now twice as weak. Its maximum duration is now 1 turn.
• Shouting now generates less noise.
• Reduced some of the Trolls resistances and Knockback Chance, increased its Health.
• Increased the chance of disarming claw traps.
• The Restless and Ghasts now have 100% Bleed Resistance.
• Reduced damage from weapon throwing by 25%.
• Enemy archers now drop their melee weapons on death.
• Added Ranged Weapons treatises to Unar the Scribes stock.
• Throwing now generates less noise.
• Landing an arrow near enemies now raises their alarm level.
• Resurrected enemies can no longer be seen through the fog of war.
• Enemies can now also miss when using Fire Barrage.
• Enemies can no longer retreat while Immobilized.
• Wraiths now become aggressive on the same turn as they appear from their sarcophagus.
• Enemies will no longer cast Sacrificial Blood on themselves.
• Using medical consumables now stops the characters movement.
• Fixed the Beastslayers corpse sprite being displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed grip visuals for some axes.
• Numerous visual fixes.
• Numerous text fixes.

-The character no longer gets wet in the rain if staying under a tree. -Fixed the duration of Defensive Tactic. -Fixed Mighty Kick not applying Stagger when failing to knock its target back. -Fixed crashes caused by throwing certain items. -Fixed Taking Aim not working with crossbows. -Reputation bonuses which increase traders stock no longer apply to the trapper and the scribe. -Removed an excess folder in the trappers trade menu. -Fixed the crash caused by dying to an unsuccessfully disarmed trap. -Blow After Blow no longer triggers from destroying props. -Fixed enemies spawning outside of the Abbeys walls. -Changed the on-hit algorithm: Fumble Chance is now given a priority over Crit Chance. -Grave Chill now puts abilities on a 1-4 turns Cooldown instead of a 5 turns one. -Fixed the incorrect duration of the effect of Alqud. -Changed priorities for enemies consumable usage. -Fixed the automatic turn skip upon entering a new location. -Added Skinning to the ability bar. -Map tiles with points of interest now follow the same weather rules as the rest of the world. -Coughing now correctly reduces Energy by 10 points, not 10%. -Fixed trajectories for chopped heads. -Birds no longer scare each other when taking off. -Determination no longer hits the Troll multiple times. -Fixed Arc Cleave replenishing an incorrect amount of Energy. -Fixed Onslaught burning an incorrect amount of Energy. -Runic boulders now generate less noise upon being raised. -Fixed Taste of Victory not replenishing Energy. -Defensive Tactic no longer grants an extra stack to stances when using a spell. -Feast of Steel now grants Crit Chance instead of Stagger Chance, as stated in its description. -Fixed some enemies getting multiple Pain debuffs simultaneously. -Fixed saigas not dropping any meat when skinned. -The undead and wraith enemies can no longer be put in Coma. -Mushrooms can now spoil. -Fixed the crash caused by Hunters Mark. -Fixed the character moving into a tile with a trap right after setting it up. -Log messages about enemies getting the Pain debuff no longer appear while they are hidden in the fog of war. -Fixed the missing sprite for the damaged Visored Bascinet. -Multiple fixes to enemy search algorithms. -Numerous text fixes.

• Archers no longer shoot from the FOG.
• Traps are no longer repaired when picked up.
• Added unique effects to different berry types.
• Increased caltrops damage.
• - Fixed Mighty Kick not applying Stagger upon failing to Knock its target back. Removed the Cooldown reset upon failing to Knock back.
• Replaced the Wraith Warriors Seize the Initiative with Cleaving Strike.
• Increased the damage penalty to Impaling Lunge'' against Immobilized enemies to 33%. Impaling Lunge can no longer apply Immobilization to already Immobilized enemies.
• Reduced Vomiting chance and Daze/Stun Chances for Hornet Honey and Alqud aftermathes.
• Fixed enemies not using Mighty Swing properly.
• Fixed Bad Trip triggering incorrectly when combining drugs or using multiple alcohol items.
• Numerous balance changes to new weapons and the two-handed axes skill tree.
• Fixed the incorrect chances for disarming traps.
• The Wraith Warrior and Wraith Seer can no longer activate traps.
• Fixed Dual Wielding treatises unlocking wrong skills.
• Dual Wielding treatises are now correctly numbered.
• Removed the increase to Fumble Chance when staying in smoke or poison clouds.
• Fixed certain new items not being sold by merchants.
• Various visual fixes.
• Centering camera on the character upon opening a menu is now an option in the settings.
• Restored the old button order for Prologue and Adventure.
• Fixed the Wetness effect not working correctly.
• Removed the possibility of throwing equipped cursed items.
• Fixed the bug causing the loss of control over the character after moving to another location.
• Removed the Load Save button when dying in Permadeath mode.
• Corpses unsuitable for harvesting are no longer highlighted when using Skinning.
• Added a tooltip to Skinning about it requiring a suitable weapon.
• Fixed the crash occurring when throwing away certain types of rotten berries.
• Numerous text fixes

• Fixed the bug preventing new two-handed weapons from being sold by merchants
• Fixed the crash caused by applying a debuff to a dying target.
• Fixed the "trade" option in the context menu, which hadn't been displaying for new characters.
• Fixed lighting issues.
• Fixed traps not triggering properly.
• Added the missing percent sign to Stagger Chance.
• Fixed incorrect two-handed hammers' prices.
• Multiple fixes to the text.

NEW ADDITIONS

• New weapon type: Two-handed axes - 29 pieces.
• New ability tree: Two-handed axes- 10 new skills.
• New weapon type: Two-handed maces - 23 pieces.
• New ability tree: Two-handed maces - 10 new skills.
• New mechanic: Throwing. Throw weapons and other items to deal damage, distract enemies, and trigger traps.
• New mechanic: Skinning. The chance to harvest a pelt now depends on the damage type used to kill an animal. Added new hunting trophies: dog pelts, snake skin, and bear fat.
• New mechanic: Hearing. Increase your Perception to hear nearby enemies before seeing them.
• Two new NPC: Bran the Trapper and Unar the Scribe. The trapper travels between Osbrook and Mannshire, selling various hunting gear and some other items. The second NPC can be found in the Mannshire castle upon completing 3 Osbrook contracts - he trades in treatises.
• 20 new enemy types, including 7 new minibosses.
• 25 new armor pieces: 7 helmets, 9 chest pieces, 5 belts, 2 sets of gloves, 1 pair of boots, and 1 shield.
• New traps: Pressure Plate (Flame & Poison Cloud), Sound
• Combat consumables: added a claw trap, a net, caltrops, and a smoke bomb.
• 5 new drug types, completed with reworked drug mechanics.
• New Mannshire crypt contract.
• Additional flora: added 6 berry shrubs, 1, new mushroom type, and 1 new herb type.

GAMEPLAY

• Enemies can now also feel pain.
• Throwing potions applies enemies with their effect for 25% of the original duration.
• Fabric, leather, paper, and organic items will burn if dropped on a burning tile.
• Added a system for enemy interactions with traps. By default enemies are aware about the traps of their faction and the traps which were installed within their Vision. Other traps will remain hidden - the chance for them to be discovered depends on enemy Perception. Some enemies also learned how to disarm discovered traps.
• Activated claw traps can be picked up, repaired at a blacksmith, and then placed again.
• Manually disarming traps will grant experience.
• New stat: Stagger Chance
• New effect: Stagger. Reduces Crit, Counter, Dodge, and Block Chances to 0, and increases Fumble Chance to 100%.

BALANCE

• Changes to the characters Affinities: Arna starts with Two-handed maces. Jorgrim starts with Two-handed axes. Dirwin starts with Two-handed axes. Velmir starts with Two-handed axes and Two-handed maces, but no longer has Maces affinity. Jonna starts with Dual Wielding.
• Rebalanced primary Attributes: Strength: +[1 > 0.5]% Melee Damage +[1 > 0.5] Block Power +[2 > 1.5]% Crit Efficiency +[1 > 1.5]% Armor Damage Agility: +[0.5 > 0.75]% Counter Chance -[0.25 > 0.5]% Fumble Chance Added +0.5% Armor Penetration [Removed +0.5% Stealth Perception: +[0.5 > 0.75]% Accuracy +[0.5 > 0.75]% Crit Chance +[1 > 0.5]% Ranged Damage Vitality: +[1 > 2] Health +[5 > 4] Energy Removed bonuses to Immunity Added +1% Intoxication Resistance Willpower: +[0.75 > 1]% Pain Resistance +[0.5 >0.75]% Magic Resistance +[1 > 0.5%] Magic Power
• Rebalanced pain gain from all damage types.
• Made balance changes to most enemies.
• Increased the base chance to evade a trap.
• Reduced the base chance to disarm a trap.
• Traps balance changes:
• [Claw Trap] 20 Slashing Damage > 35 Rending Damage. Immobilization duration: 3 > 4-10 Base disarm chance: 60% > 75%
• [Spike Trap] 25 > 40 Piercing Damage Bleeding duration: 10-16 > 10-20 Change the formula for damage from Bleeding and Burning - now they dont scale from Max Health as much.
• Base unarmed damage was increased by 2 points.
• Block Chance now only works if you have a weapon or a shield equipped.
• Crit Efficiency: the base damage multiplayer for crits has been increased from 110% to 120%.
• Rebalanced loot from the brigands.
• [Brigand Madman]: removed Adrenaline and Painful Stabs.
• [Ancient Troll]: Decreased its Accuracy from 100% to 90%. Trolls Armor was decreased to 50. Experience granted on death was increased by 20%.
• [Stun]: its maximum duration was decreased from 5 to 2 turns
• [Daze]: added maximum duration 5 turns Removed: +5% Fumble Chance
• [Unholy Blessing]: +20% > +15% Life and Energy Drain, Damage Reflection.
• [Blessing]: The duration of shrine blessings was increased to 1440 turns. Removed passive Sanity and Morale change. Added an immediate Sanity and Morale boost upon using a shrine Added +10% Healing Efficiency.
• [Satiety]: added +10% Healing Efficiency.
• [Deafening Roar]: To avoid situations with the simultaneous Stun and Disarm, theres now a sequence of checks, launched one after another in case the previous one fails: firstly, its 25% to Disarm. Then, its 75% to Stun, and finally - 100% chance to Daze.
• [Henbane]: reduced the duration of Battle Rage to 12 turns. The effect is no longer guaranteed to activate, instead theres a 25% chance high Intoxication can raise this chance up to 100%.
• [Velmir]: The Condition of his starting helmet was reduced from 60% to 40%
• [Waterskin]: reduced the number of uses from 10 to 6.
• [Stardust]: changed its effect.
• An items level now has lower influence on the damage from enchantments.
• Dual Wielding now consists of 3 tiers, just like all other ability trees with 10 skills.
• Increased the maximum level for items sold by merchants.

CHANGES TO ABILITIES

SWORDS

• [Endurance Training] 25% chance to replenish 5% Max Energy on hit > +25% Energy Restoration for 3 turns after using a sword ability.
• [Honed Edge] +5% Bleed Chance for 5 > 3 turns.

MACES

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about the remaining new features of the Equipment Update II and also announce its release date - December 25th!

Hearing System

Berry Bushes

New NPCs

New Consumables

• Alqud will give you a stamina boost, increasing Max Energy and Energy Restoration, while decreasing Abilities Energy Cost.
• Abasa will put you into the state of narcotic rage, granting bonus Weapon Damage, Crit Efficiency, Armor Penetration, and Pain Resistance.
• Hornet Honey will sharpen your reflexes, improving Accuracy as well as Counter, Dodge, and Crit Chances.
• Nikkaf will improve your concentration, increasing Vision, Experience Gain, Hunger Resistance, and decreasing Fumble Chance.
• Paregoric is a potent painkiller which will decrease Pain and Pain Limit while improving Morale, Pain Resistance, and Healing Efficiency.
• Stardust has already been available for quite a while, but its effect is now different: it will grant Magic Power, Magic Resistance, Bonus Range, and decrease Cooldowns Duration.

New Enemies

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about the second new ability tree of the Equipment Update II: two-handed axes!
As always, lets start with a general overview. This ability tree consists of 5 Actives and 5 Passives, focused around the same thing as 1h axes - damage, Bleeding, and Injuries.

Active Abilities

Passive Abilities

• Finish Em - attacks against targets with more than 50% Health gain bonus Bodypart Damage. Attacks against targets with less than 50% Health gain bonus Weapon Damage.
• Shieldbreaker - 2h axe attacks decrease their targets Block Chance and Block Power for 5 turns. This effect stacks.
• Maim and Kill - applying Injuries and Bleeding grants bonus Weapon Damage and Crit Chance for 4 turns.
• Fatal Strike - while under the effect of Rampage, Critical Hits grant an additional stack of it and apply their target with extra Damage Taken.
• Tool of Execution - activating Rampage grants bonus Crit Chance for each enemy within two tiles.

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about the first of the two new ability trees, which will be added to the game with the Equipment Update II two-handed maces!
Lets start with the general structure of the ability tree:
Just like ability trees of other two-handed weapons, 2h maces have 10 abilities: 5 Actives and 5 Passives. Their overall theme is controlling the battlefield with Stuns, Dazes, Knockbacks, Debuffs while dealing large amounts of damage with powerful, but slow strikes. Lets have a closer look.

Active Abilities

Passive Abilities

• Blow after Blow - killing enemies with 2h mace attacks and abilities grants the effect of Mighty Swing for the next turn and a bonus to Energy Restoration for the next few turns.
• Unbalance - Knocking enemies back with 2h mace attacks and abilities applies them with extra Fumble Chance and reduces their Control Resistance and Dodge Chance for the next few turns.
• Bonebreaker - attacks against enemies without Armor or with their Armor Durability lower than 50% gain bonus Bodypart Damage. Attacks against enemies with their Armor Durability higher than 50% gain bonus Armor Damage.
• Severe Concussion - Stunning, Dazing, or Immobilizing enemies with 2h mace attacks applies them with a debuff to Move Resistance and increases their Fumble Chance for a few turns.
• Revel in Battle - killing enemies while under the effect of Slaughter replenishes 20% Max Energy. Killing enemies while under the effect of both Slaughter and Mighty Swing additionally reduces the ability trees active Cooldowns by a few turns.

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about some new features of the Equipment Update II, planned for this December (and which ended up containing more than just new equipment).

Harvesting meat and pelts

Traps

Hello, mercenaries! This Decembers Equipment Update II is almost around the corner: expect a few more devlogs about its new features and content in the following weeks. As the work on the update continues at full speed, wed like to ask you to nominate our game for the Best Game You Suck At award - it probably wont be too far from the truth. After all, the game that rewards persistence, and is not for the faint of heart is a perfect description for Stoneshard, and well greatly appreciate your support! Thats all for now. Make sure to stay tuned: there'll be a new devlog tomorrow!

Hello everyone! In this devlog well tell you about a new, previously unannounced mechanic, which will be added with the Content Update II, planned for this December. This mechanic is... Throwing items! Initially, we didnt plan to add this feature during this stage in development, however it ended up necessary for the implementation of certain new consumables, so we had to adjust on the fly. So how does it work and what can you do with it?
For the most part, throwing is used for dealing extra damage to enemies. Its worth mentioning that any item in the game can be thrown. The resulting distance, the amount and type of damage depend on a thrown items weight and material. For instance, if you lob heavy stuff such as moose antlers at someones head, youll deal heavy damage as long as they are not too far away. A pine cone, on the other hand, is only good for attracting attention. Additionally, certain items have unique properties:

• By throwing a potion at your enemy, you can apply its effect for a quarter of its base duration.
• Clay and glass items shatter into pieces, dealing piercing damage.
  
• Breaking a bottle of alcohol or oil on an enemy greatly increases their flammability. On top of that, foul liquids getting into their eyes will make it hard to concentrate on combat...
• Highly flammable items (made from cloth or paper) will burn in fire. Pyromancers, watch your flames!
  
• A heavy enough item can trigger a claw trap or a pressure plate.
• The amount of noise generated by a thrown item depends on its weight and material. The sound of breaking glass will attract much more attention than a tumbling acorn.
• Its no easy task to restore a thrown tomato to its original form. Only throw tomatoes you dont need!
• The same holds true for ale mugs - its hard to throw them without spilling their contents.
• And so on...

Weapons

Added Japanese localization. Fixed the error in the hit detection algorithm, which hadnt been correctly factoring in Dodge Chance when calculating hit chance for arrows. Fixed archers being resurrected with a ranged weapon after dying with a melee weapon. Fixed Blaze granting double reduction for active Cooldowns. Fixed dogs being able to open doors. Fixed the bug causing Reputation gain each time you take a free beer from Brukk. Praying at shrines now immediately restores some Morale and Sanity. Deafening Roar is now put on cooldown when the fight begins. Snakes can no longer poison when missing their attacks. Fixed the issue with changes to cursed items' stats not being correctly displayed. Fixed the issue with two or more Ghasts casting Binding Sigil simultaneously. Increased prices of most consumables. Decreased prices of all treatises. Anticipation: Applies the target with [-10 > -5]% Dodge Chance [10 > 4] after landing a shot and grants [5 > 7.5]% Accuracy for [10 > 4] turns when missing. Flame Saturation: [Replenishes 5% Max Energy > Grants -20% Spells Energy Cost for 2 turns] each time an enemy within Vision is ignited.

Hello everyone! The work on follow-up patches for the Way Forward update is complete, so in todays devlog wed like to give you more details about our future plans. The current state of the game is such that we can no longer add new content to the existing map: theres simply not enough space for it anymore. The small scale of the game world creates a number of temporary restrictions, which overall render the experience less enjoyable, such as randomized treatises, instantly respawning dungeons, skewed gear and character progression, sudden difficulty spikes, caused by the lack of area for more starting dungeons, and so on. Therefore, our top priority is to expand the map and add the first major town, which will finally allow us to resolve most of these issues. This task will take a lot of time and effort, but it will most definitely pay off - our game will finally work as it was initially intended, paving the way for many long-awaited features, from the trait system and character generation to the improved economy and a new enchantment system. Other than that, the global map will also require implementing a large number of accompanying, closely linked systems: a foundation for the caravan system, new points of interests, new enemy factions, significant changes to the progression, and more. All of this will be a part of the next major update, City of Gold, which will be approximately released in Q2 2021. In the meantime we also plan to release a large content update before the end of 2020, which will help you pass the time while waiting for the upcoming major changes. This update will include two new weapon types: two-handed axes and hammers, their skill trees, new gear, new traps, new combat consumables (including nets and placeable claw traps), and a few other things. Therell be more details about these additions in the following devlogs. For now, wed like to share some of the results of our recent work:



Until next time!

• Fixed the bosses not being spawned during NPC rescue contracts.
• Fixed the Soulstealer Curse not working properly.
• Fixed the crash during the dialogue with Verren.
• Heraldic Note now improves your reputation with Mannshire.
• Fixed the low durability of sarcophaguses.
• Fixed the bug causing ranged enemies to continue using their ranged Accuracy value after switching to melee.
• Fixed the crashes caused by issues with modifiers.
• Fixed the crash on loading if the player saves their game after being attacked by the Wraiths Dissipation.
• FIxed the crash caused by two Ghasts casting Binding Sigil on each other.
• Fixed incorrect stat colors for quivers and arrows.
• Fixed the bug with enemies using consumables while stunned.
• Fixed the bug with the sound effect of dropped gold being heard across the entire zone.
• Fixed Baptism by Fire reducing modifiers duration by an incorrect amount.
• Fixed Concussion applying resistance reduction for an incorrect duration.
• Removed another possibility of luring the Troll from his zone.
• Fixed the Brigand Ambusher using an incorrect sprite after switching to melee.
• Added sound effects for wooden amulets.
• Retrieving the Boar Head now slightly improves your reputation with Osbrook.

NEW ADDITIONS

BALANCE

• Curse of Everfear: +N Unholy Damage > -5% Damage Taken. Low Morale improves the bonus.
• Curse of Gnawmaw: +10% > +13% Life Drain. Hunger and Thirst improve the bonus.
• Curse of Goldhoarder: +25% Lock-picking & Disarming > +13% Experience Gain. High amounts of gold in the inventory improve the bonus.
• Curse of Gorelust: +10% > +13% Weapon Damage. Low Health improves the bonus.
• Curse of Soulstealer: +10% > +13% Energy Drain. Low Energy improves the bonus.
• Curse of Sufferjoy: +7% > +10% Crit Chance. High Pain improves the bonus.
• Curse of Loudmouth: +N Psionic Damage > +10% Control Resistance.

FIXES

VISUALS

SOUND

TEXT

- Fixed the multiplier for noise generated by certain actions. - Fixed some issues with retreating enemies. - Added additional statuses to the inspection menu. - Fixed the bug with dogs spawning inside dungeon walls. - Fixed the bug causing walls to become traversable after destroying certain objects next to them. - Fixed the bug causing Cooldowns to drop to zero. - Fixed the issue with the number of grimoire rooms during one of the crypt contracts. - Fixed the incorrect zones for ranged attacks. - Disarming no longer forces you to skip a turn. - Enemies now properly react to being lured by Shout. - Fixed the AI issue which had been causing mobs to stop reacting to attacks outside of their Vision range. - Fixed the possibility of picking a lock after throwing away a required consumable. - Removed guaranteed critical hits against retreating targets. - Storing food in containers no longer prevents it from spoiling. - Fixed excessive loot in Proselyte dungeons. - Removed the possibility of breaking through cell doors with a crowbar during NPC rescue contracts. - Fixed the issue with crowbars disappearing after their durability reaches zero.

- Minor fixes to secret rooms. - Added the missing phrases to the German localization. - Fixed the issue occurring with the Restless sprite upon being resurrected by a necromancer. - Fixed the crash caused by shooting. - Fixed the trolls AI priorities. - Added soil decals to crypts. - Fixed numerous issues with collision and impassable tiles in dungeons. - Fixed the incorrect functioning of No Retreat. - Fixed the issue with a spear passive working without an equipped spear. - Fixed the bug preventing bandits from attacking boars. - Fixed the timing of the Blood Golems explosion, so that it doesnt occur prematurely. - Fixed the issue with the external part of the brigand Bastion. - Fixed the dungeon generation bug which had been causing an incorrect amount of treatise rooms to appear in crypts. - Fixed the bug with traps not spawning correctly.

These patch notes include changes made by interim hotfixes.

BALANCE

• Increased the Damage and Health for boars, moose, bison, deer, and saigas.
• Increased the experience gained for killing most animals and the restless dead.
• Reduced Health and Dodge Chance for wraiths.
• Most undead enemies and brigands had their Health reduced by 10-15%
• The intimidation state is now 1.5-2 times longer for most aggressive animals.
• Rebalanced spawn points for most enemies. The dungeons should be less overcrowded now.
• Proselyte Adepts behavior pattern was changed from Mage to Close Combat.
• Increased the cooldown of Loud Barking
• Reduced the duration of the Netted debuff to 6 turns.
• Most herbs now raise thirst upon usage to reflect their bitter, astringent taste.
• Reduced brigands Vision range by 10%.

FIXES

• Numerous minor fixes to the AI.
• Fixed the rendering algorithm for the fog of war in dungeons.
• Fixed the issue with enemies not using dashing abilities.
• Fixed the issue with secret rooms generation.
• Fixed the issue with Morale multipliers, which had been causing each enemy type, including bosses, to have an equal chance to retreat.
• Numerous fixes to rooms and accompanying collision issues.
• Fixed the bug with archers replenishing their Energy upon switching weapons.
• Fixed the bug with archers shooting through walls.
• Animals can now properly escape instead of darting around frantically.
• Fixed the crash caused by Necrophage.
• Fixed the crash caused by Soul Sacrifice.
• Fixed the crash caused by Leg Sweep.
• Fixed the crash caused by Blaze.
• Fixed the bug with foxes being stuck in their intimidation state.
• Fixed the issue with enemies disappearing after following the player to another location.
• Fixed the bug with ghouls spawning in the fog of war.
• Fixed the issue with the ghouls Morale multiplier, which had been causing them to be much less prone to retreating than intended.
• Proselyte Flagellants no longer use Lash Blessing on the player.
• Fixed the issue with Grave Chill range.
• Fixed the issue with Anticipation having an effect even before its actually learned.
• Fixed the description of Abominable Vitality. The chance to trigger the effect is 75%, not 50%.
• Fixed the issue with Rune of Enfeeblement reducing resistances to -100%.
• Fixed the problem with containers reset in brigand camps.
• Fixed the crash caused by gold inside containers.
• Made it more preferable for enemies to avoid tiles with traps.
• Fixed the issue with beds collision.
• Fixed the issue with Burnet using the effect of Nettle.
• Fixed the bug preventing acorns from being roasted.
• Fixed the inability to interact with wardrobes in one of the boss rooms in crypts.
• Fixed the issue with Ghasts granting too little experience on death.
• Fixed the issue with High Priests not granting any experience on death.
• Added the missing descriptions to some enemies.
• N/A in fan translations are temporarily replaced with English text (the translations are already on their way!)
• Optimization improvements.
• Changes to layouts of some hovers.

MAJOR ADDITIONS

VISUALS & SOUND

BALANCE

FIXES & UX

RAISING THE PRICE

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well share more details on the dungeon rework and the Bastion (brigand dungeon) in particular. Well also touch upon some aspects of the reworked AI.
Of all the dungeon types, the Bastion received the largest amount of changes, allowing it to better match its name. The Bastions layout is dominated by spacious halls, complex structures, and wide corridors cluttered with junk.
Therere also some changes to hostage rescue contracts. Hostages can no longer be found in the same room as bosses, instead being held in a dedicated cell which needs to be located first. To open the cell youll need a special key, for which youll have to fight a dungeons boss.
Other than that, the Bastion now has more interactive elements: occasionally youll find water barrels, which can be used to refill your waterskin or quench thirst directly. Youll also be able to raid a dungeons pantry and then cook looted meat and vegetables in its kitchen.
=======
Regarding the AI, lets start with archers - their behaviour was drastically reworked. Theyll try to stay as far from their target as possible during combat. Hiding behind a bush to lure them to a nearby tile is now a much less effective tactic, as they will attempt to keep their distance even while searching for targets outside of their Vision. Archers will also try to maintain their distance when dealing with approaching enemies, performing a timely retreat when possible. If an enemy is right on top of them, or they run out of ammunition, theyll draw a melee weapon and defend themselves with it.
Speaking about retreating - most enemies will try to run away if things turn sour. There are many conditions influencing their decision-making, but the most important one is low Health. Once enemies take enough punishment, theyll begin accessing their situation on a per-turn basis. The amount of injuries and debuffs, their Energy, allies getting murdered and decapitated - all of it will decide whether your enemy will turn tail and run or fight till the bitter end. Its also worth mentioning that strong and well-equipped foes are less likely to flee. Thats all for now. A quick reminder - the update will be released in just 4 days, on September 24th. The remaining details on new content will be listed prior to the patch release. Until next time!

Hello everyone! Its been a while since our last devlog, but we are finally ready to tell you about many new additions which weve been working on. Over the next few devlogs well detail most of the new content introduced by the Way Forward update, which will be released on September 24th. For now lets begin with new enemies and reworked dungeon generation.

Overall System

New Rooms

Secret Rooms

Boss Rooms

Skeleton Variety

Ghasts

The Restless Dead

Hello everyone! The work on changes to the AI and dungeon generation is well underway, and we'll soon publish a devlog with some details on our progress. In the meantime, heres a small interim patch to keep you from getting bored - it expands the roster of available equipment and brings a number of fixes and improvements.

New Items:

• 2 new daggers: Commoners Dagger and Elven Stiletto
• 5 new axes: Exquisite Tabar, Heavy Aldorian Axe, Aldwynnian Axe, Gilded Axe, and Lordly Axe
• 1 new mace: Elven Flail
• 4 new chest pieces: Dwarven Armor, Light Brigandine, Elven Brigandine, and Skadian Yushman
• 8 new helmets: Barbute (4 variants) and Cervelliere (4 variants)
• 3 new pieces of footwear: Town Shoes, Duelist Boots, and Splint Boots
• 3 new mage sets (mantle + cowl): Cryomancer, Electromancer, and Chronomancer
• 4 new amulets: Gold Medallion, Jibean Pendant, Amber Amulet, Lazurite Amulet
• 1 new cape: Jousting Cloak

Miscellaneous:

• Traders can now sell many items which were previously excluded from their stock.
• Added log messages for critical shots.
• Added a warning about the progress not being saved on exit when leaving the game.
• Reduced the effectiveness of roasted mushrooms.
• Numerous fixes across all localizations.
• Fixed the item dupe exploit with some of the containers in Osbrook.
• Fixed the incorrect block power calculation.
• Fixed the incorrect durability loss when blocking attacks.
• Fixed the collision between a cell and a door in Mannshire prison.
• Fixed visual effects displaying above enemies while they are in the fog of war.
• Mobs no longer display speech messages while they are petrified, stunned, or asleep.
• Added new equipment sounds.
• Fixed the incorrect Blood Oath log message.
• Fixed pathfinding when clicking on a NPC to start a dialogue.
• Fixed the fleawort usage with an open backpack.
• Fixed the possibility of dropping items on the ground when dragging them outside of the trade menu.
• The fog of war is now being properly calculated when using Onslaught.
• Fixed the possibility of decapitating targets by using Mighty Kick and other non-weapon skills.
• Fixed the possibility of reloading while stunned.
• Fixed the absence of psionic damage on items.

Hello everyone! In this devlog wed like to share our progress on the Way Forward update. It will be released in the end of summer or in the beginning of autumn and will be the largest and the most complex update weve delivered so far - it will include a massive rework of the AI and dungeon generation. The large amount of time required to develop this update is linked to a significant number of systems, closely connected to the rework. Even if these systems will only be fully implemented at a later date, they already require a proper foundation which we have to lay down. Additionally, AI rework itself requires lots of testing and tweaking, so its hard to predict the exact amount of time needed to achieve acceptable results. However, this rework is essential to finally start adding not just quantity to the game, but also quality. It will allow us to experiment with the behaviour of different enemy factions, add new enemy types, and introduce unique abilities to the existing enemies. With any luck, some of the new enemy types will be added with the Way Forward update. At the moment the basic structure of our new AI is still being conceptualized and prototyped, but we can already share the list of targets we plan to reach:

• Create a more complex ecosystem. This will include the manual tweaking of the relations between different animal types instead of crudely splitting them depending on their ration. We plan to add some specific behaviour patterns as well. For instance, deer will flee from loud noises (instead of running towards them), carnivores will be territorial (which will allow avoiding their aggression if you make a timely retreat from their territory). There will also be a herd/pack simulation added among other things.
  A concept scheme for the reworked relations between different animal types
• Improve pathfinding and positioning. In the current version of the game mobs simply follow the shortest route to their enemy. Wed like to give them an ability to walk around traps and dangerous AoE zones when its possible, avoid tiles with solid objects behind them if the player makes an active use of Knockback, and keep their distance when using magic or ranged weaponry.
• Add a more context-dependent system for using abilities instead of the existing system, which is based on chance and just one or two conditions per action.
• Grant enemies some additional options: retreat or swap positions in certain situations, call allies for help, properly react to arrow fire and spells, correctly prioritize targets.
• Introduce a more transparent awareness system, which will become a basis for the upcoming stealth system.
• Rework the NPC system, which will allow adding random NPC encounters to the game, making the exploration much more varied.

- Pikeman's Stance cancels in the Rest Mode. - Enemies no longer move between locations if they are Immobilized. - Fixed weapon critical effects not applying to offhand critical strikes. - When delivering items to complete a task, items in your inventory have higher priority than equipped ones. - Ancient Troll no longer attacks while Petrified. - Decreased hunger and thirst gain from the Gnawmaw curse. - Parry and Piercing Shot now work correctly. - Feint Swing now correctly decreases Fumble Chance instead of increasing it. - Weapon Damage stat no longer affects unarmed strikes. - Bonus Range now applies correctly in the Attack Mode. - Fixed crossbow unloading crashing the game on some occasions. - Anticipation and Precision now work correctly with crossbows. - Fixed War Cry duration. - Fixed Sudden Lunge cooldown reset. - Fixed immediate decrease of charge skills cooldowns upon usage. - Fixed Shoot to Kill Crit Chance calculation and Anticipation duration. - Fixed Hunters Mark working incorrectly. - Fixed Adrenaline Rush bonus duration calculation. - Fixed Flurry of Blows not working correctly when used by enemies. - Fixed some Osbrooks containers not being properly saved. - Osbrook Mill location was redesigned.

Hi! Were delighted to take part in the Steam Game Festival (June 16 - June 22), which is already live now! Throughout the event we've brought demos for each of the 8 games we are currently working on.
All of them are in different genres, settings and styles. You will surely find something that piques your interest! All the content available for Steam Summer Festival is free, some demos are long, some allow infinite play. Here is a little sneak peek of every title available.

Voidtrain

Tunche

Linked Mask

Jack Move

Black Book

There Is No Light

Tower Princess

SuchArt!

- Added an option to unload crossbows. - Reduced quivers capacity. - Reduced the penalty to Hands Efficiency after using Whirlwind. It also doesnt last for 2 turns now. - Fixed long-distance counterattacks.. - Fixed Petrification not granting Geomancy Power. - Added visual stack indicator to applicable buff icons. - Fixed grave collision after digging them up. - Fixed Enough for Everyone causing crashes. - Shooting distance in attack mode is now correctly calculated after switching between ammo types with different range. - Fixed the bug with the character becoming invisible in the location with the troll. - Parry now properly counters all received attacks. - Fixed dead zones of Impaling Lunge. - Fixed enemies not becoming hostile upon receiving Immobilization. - Fixed bolt tooltips showing wrong values. - Hail of Blows can no longer knock enemies back with its first 2 strikes. - New visuals for magma puddles. - Fixed to the audio. - Various text fixes.

-Numerous text typos and mistakes fixed. -Removed skill energy penalties for shields as they already have flat Energy/Energy Restoration penalties. -Increased carpenters stocks. -Decreased NPC restock time by 30%. -Morsel can be cooked now. -Parry should counterattack every enemy attack except melee skills (melee skills not triggering counterattacks is a known issue, were investigating) -Fixed outdated energy cost for some abilities (mostly stances) -Returned broadhead arrows test damage to its intended value. -Tailor now sells low-level shirts, gloves and boots. -Added a spear and a crossbow to Osbrook barracks weaponstands. -Fixed open doors using closed doors' collisions. -Fixed inventory-related crashes.

Hello everyone! The 0.5.9.0 Bolt Thrower content update has been released! The complete list of changes can be seen below:

MAIN ADDITIONS

BALANCE

• Swords: 100% chance to apply Bleed for 5-8 turns
• Axes: +50% Bodypart Damage
• Maces: 100% chance to Daze for 2-4 turns
• Daggers: +220% Critical Damage against unaware targets. Burn 10% of the targets Max Energy
• Greatswords: cleave through 3 tiles. 125% chance to apply Bleeding for 6-10 turns.
• Staffs: cleave through 3 tiles. Replenish 10% Max energy.
• Spears: +100% Immobilization Chance
• Bows: +100% Immobilization Chance
• Crossbows: +100% Knockback Chance

• Reduced the max number of stacks from 6 to 4.
• You gain 1 stack each time you use other skills from the stances ability tree.
• Basic attacks with an appropriate weapon decrease the number of stacks by 1, but prolong the effects duration by 1 turn.

FIXES

VISUALS

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well give you a quick overview of some major additions of the Bolt Thrower content update, which will be released in just a couple more days - on June 2. In the previous devlog weve already introduced crossbows. Now its time for the second new weapon type:

SPEARS

Active Abilities

• Nail Down a strike to the legs. If the enemy is adjacent, deals bonus damage with a chance to Knock them back. If they are a tile away, deals bonus Bodypart Damage with a chance to Immobilize.
• Impaling Lunge hits two tiles in a line with extra Bodypart Damage, Armor Penetration, and Bleed Chance. If the affected target is Immobilized, these bonuses are doubled.
• Maneuver moves you to an adjacent tile, decreasing Active Cooldowns for spear Skills by 1 for each enemy within an area. After that grants an effect which decreases Damage Taken and increases Block and Crit Chances. This effect gets extra stacks to its strength for each Cooldown it reduces.
• Pikemans Stance is a stance-based Skill which gradually raises Knockback, Immobilization, and Bleed chances, while also granting bonus Damage. Its worth mentioning that stance mechanics were changed more details in the patch notes on June 2.
• Determination delivers a free hit with extra Bleed Chance to each enemy who steps on an adjacent tile during next turn.

Passive Abilities

• Stay Back! when enemies step on adjacent tiles, they receive a penalty to Piercing Resistance for 1 turn. This passive also gives you a chance to trigger Impaling Lunge on basic attacks.
• Precise Hits grants bonus Immobilization Chance to your strikes. Attacks against Immobilized targets have bonus Accuracy, Bodypart Damage, and Bleed Chance.
• One at a Time! grants bonus Damage and Block Power for each adjacent enemy.
• No Retreat staying put on the same tile grants a stacking bonus to Block and Crit Chances, as well as reduces Cooldowns Duration. Moving to a different tile resets the bonus.
• Wounding Spearhead spear crits deal extra Damage based on the targets current Health. The higher it is, the higher the Damage.

DUAL WIELDING

Active Abilities

• Flurry of Blows delivers two dual attacks with decreased Hands Efficiency.
• Enough for Everyone performs a strike which marks the enemy with a special effect - each time you attack a different target, youll deliver a strike to the marked enemy as well. Each instance of this effect increases Hands Efficiency.
• Deflect is a powerful defensive Skill. For 1 turn it raises your Block Chance to 100% and grants extra Block Power, but reduces Hands Efficiency for the next 2 turns as a trade-off.
• Concentration is a stance-based Skill which gradually raises Hands Efficiency, Accuracy, while lowering Fumble Chance.
• Whirlwind delivers a strike to an enemy, switches places with them, and then does the same maneuver with another adjacent target until there are no nearby enemies who didnt take a hit. Each Whirlwind strike slightly decreases Hands Efficiency, so its best used when this stat is high enough.

Passive abilities

• Berserk Tradition grants bonus Hands Efficiency, Dodge and Crit Chances, as well as Crit Efficiency for each armor slot which doesnt grant you Protection (with the exception of belts, jewelry, and cloaks).
• Dying Fervor greatly boosts Hands Efficiency when your Health drops below 50%.
• More Blood! this passive instantly replenishes Flurry of Blows Cooldown if it manages to kill its target, while also increasing Hands Efficiency for a few turns.
• Unstoppable if an enemy affected with Enough for Everyone dies, this effect is transferred to a random nearby target.
• Dual Wielding Training Skill usage grants bonus Hands Efficiency for the next turn. Doubles the bonus if both equipped weapons are of the same type. Additionally, using weapon Skills also performs an off-hand attack.

NEW CHARACTER

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well tell you about multiple new features meant to make ranged combat more varied. Lets start with the main addition - crossbows. As you may have already noticed, some existing enemies are armed with crossbows, however those arent available to player characters and function essentially just like bows. This situation will change with the release of the Bolt Thrower update, which will become available on June 2-3.
Crossbows are now a separate type of weaponry. Just like in reality, they are much easier to learn than bows, so they have less significant penalty to their accuracy. They also have higher damage and armor penetration, which is achieved at the expense of their rate of fire - crossbows require a turn to reload between each shot. Just like bows, crossbows make use of the Ranged Weapons skill tree, it wont be altered in this regard.
Weve also introduced certain changes to bow and crossbow mechanics. Both these weapon types now occupy both hands with an option of placing arrows or quivers in the offhand, but not other weapons. Quivers are meant to make ammo management easier, as they can fit 2-4 stacks of arrows. Additionally, they allow to quickly swap between different arrow and bolt types through the context menu. As a side note, crossbow bolts use their own quivers, since they occupy one less slot than arrows.
And finally - arrow types. There are now three arrow and bolt types in the game: leaf-shaped, broadhead, and bodkin.

• Leaf-shaped arrows are the default ammo type. They dont have any special modifiers, offering standard damage and range values.
• Broadhead arrows were historically used mostly for hunting. They are heavier and wider, making them more damaging to both enemy health and their body parts. As a trade-off, they struggle with piercing armor. Their accuracy and range are also lower.
• Bodkin arrows are fairly light, so they have higher range. They are also good at penetrating armor and provide better accuracy, but are less effective against unarmored flesh than other arrow types.

Hello everyone! Wed like to inform you that Stoneshard is currently participating in Digital Dragons Indie Celebration, an event which allows indie game studios from around the world to showcase their games to a wide audience. Stoneshard has managed to receive Digital Dragons Choice with a chance to win the Community Vote. Well be really grateful if you support us with your vote! The voting will last until the evening of May 15. Thank you!

- Removed War Cry ability from Proselyte Chosen - Vineyard roadcart loot no longer respawns after loading the game. - Fixed buff animation sometimes causing crashes. - Fixed incorrect capitalization of item names. - Fixed numerous typos. - Fixed incorrect usage of Adrenaline Rush by enemies - Fixed fleaworts not properly spawning in the world. - Added a special icon for permadeath mode saves. - Fixed barrels rotating after being struck by greatsword crits - Added collisions for closed ruined bastions. - It now continues to rain in special PoI locations. - Abbey should no longer reset after leaving it. - Fixed birds SFX. - Fixed Life Drain and Energy Drain incorrectly working in some situations. - Fixed some problems with turning in contract items.

Hello everyone! We have some important news for you today. First of all, the 0.5.8.6 patch has been released, bringing new content and some major fixes. The full changelog can be found at the bottom of this post. Now that the entirety of the Trollslayer content has been added to the game, wed like to share our updated development plan as well as some info about our future goals. As many of you could have noticed, the current content is limited by the first 7-10 levels - characters outgrow most dungeons and enemies upon reaching this threshold. We are well aware of this problem, however adding high level content is meaningless until we resolve two important issues. Ideally wed like different enemy factions to have distinct behaviour patterns. Right now the enemies only differ in their stats and skills, as they share a single template for their actions. To fix this we plan to dedicate a few months to fully rework our AI system and some of the associated systems. The same can be said about dungeons - right now they are generated based on shared parameters. The only two things which set them apart at the moment are graphical assets and enemy rosters. We, however, would like to make the dungeon crawling process in our game much more memorable than clearing out similar room after room. Thats why we plan to work on a new dungeon generation algorithm along with the AI rework. Both of these tasks are fairly difficult and time-consuming, and both of them require extensive testing. Thats why we cant give you the exact date this time - well have to work on these elements until we are completely satisfied with the results. For now the approximate date for the updated AI and updated dungeon generation (and any associated content as well as some additional features) is summer 2020. To keep you from getting bored during these few months, we plan to release a series of minor updates over the course of this summer to introduce some additional content such as new weapon types and new skill trees. The first update is planned for the beginning of May - it will add crossbows, polearms, and, perhaps, something extra to the game. Follow our devlogs and announcements for additional information!
Thanks for staying in touch!

0.5.8.6 - CHANGELOG

CONTENT

• 17 items - new maces and axes, as well as a unique necklace and a new headpiece.
• 7 one-time requests which will allow you to earn a quick coin, improve your standing with the denizens of Osbrook and Mannshire, and receive a small bonus from certain characters.
• 2 new Proselyte minibosses: Matriarch and Abomination.
• Added 7 new dialogues for Osbrook and Mannshire villagers.
• Verrens unique ring is now available for all players, not just to those who subscribed to our newsletter. Talk to Verren at the start of the game to receive it.

BALANCE

• Reduced the base Vision range (13 > 11).
• [Daggers]: Coup de Grace: added a base 0.5% bonus to Armor Penetration for each missing percentage of the targets health.
• [Ranged Weapons]: Long-Distance Shot now grants +[50 > 30]% bonus Range.
• [Ancient Troll]: The troll now uses Troll Regeneration not only upon reaching a certain Health threshold, but also upon receiving a certain number (or some particularly prolonged) of debuffs.
• [Ancient Troll] Increased the trolls resistance to Nature Damage (50% > 75%) as well as Stun Resistance (80 > 100%).
• Completing Troll Hunt now grants a significant boost to reputation with Mannshire.
• Changed the following rewards for Troll Hunt: staff, axe, helmet, mace, greatsword. Gryphon sallet in the signal tower has been replaced with a common sallet.
• New items can now be found in graves (including 4 uniques).
• Skeleton resistances have been changed: Slashing Damage: [20% > 15%], Piercing Damage [33% > 25%], Crushing Damage: [-15% > -10%].
• Changed loot for certain points of interest.
• Minor changes to some weapon and armor stats.
• Temporally removed Vision range from enchantment effects. Itll be brought back once the enchantment system is reworked.

CHANGES AND STABILITY

• [Axes]: Ferocity no longer grants its bonuses until you learn it.
• [Combat Mastery] Offensive tactic: fixed the missing bonus to counter chance.
• [Combat mastery] Right on Target: removed the bonus to Armor Penetration which was added to it by mistake..
• [Combat Mastery]: Right on Target]: the bonus for free offhand is no longer granted when using staffs and bows.
• [Combat Mastery]: Right on Target: the bonus for free offhand is no longer granted twice upon loading a save.
• [Athletics]: the Energy cost for Dash now correctly takes adjacent enemies into account.
• [Ancient Troll]: Added new visual effects for the trolls AoE Abilities.
• Fixed the bug which prevented Proselyte Hierarch and Proselyte Chosen from spawning in the Catacombs.
• Fixed the possibility of dazing and stunning an enemy at the same time.
• Fixed Fire Barrage and its bizarre affinity for hitting dungeon doors.
• Fixed the exploit with selling items via Shift shortcut for twice their actual price.
• Mindwort now properly removes the effect of being drunk, as stated in its description. The same thing applies to ginger root.
• Fixed the issue with Deadly Trick which prevented the fog of war from being removed after switching places with an enemy.
• Fixed the debuff for dual wielding which could occasionally disappear upon reloading a save.
• Removed the possibility of equipping a shovel together with cursed items.
• When stunning a dazed target, the applied stun now has bonus duration based on the initial daze.
• Fixed the bug which caused contracts to grant doubled reward when they were generated for a second time.
• Fixed the backpack-related crash.
• Fixed the stun from runic boulder destruction, which could occur when it wasnt supposed to.
• The troll now destroys runic boulders by moving over them.
• Changed the condition for passive pain reduction. Physical debuffs such as being Wet no longer prevent pain from decreasing.
• Fixed the issue with Catacomb rooms, which caused chests to occasionally block passage to shelves.
• Fixed the bug which allowed learning potions effects without identifying said potions first.
• Fixed numerous typos and mistakes across all localizations.
• Updated log messages for picking and dropping items.
• The visual effects of daze and stun are now correctly displayed above the trolls head.

- Added Brazilian Portuguese localization - Increased reputation gain from completing contracts, and decreased requirements for all reputation milestones (by ~25-30%) - Fixed the possibility to be cornered by the priest in the Mannshire Chapel - Fixed bison AI bug now they dont remain passive if you aggroed anyone from their herd - Fixed rare crash after loading the container - Fixed enemies standing still while the player is stunned - Fixed Flame Ring damaging Ancient Troll multiple times - Fixed possibility to stun against the location transition tiles - Added special visual icon for Ancient Troll location on the map - Added missing stats to enchantments pool: Stun Chance, Daze Chance, Knockback Chance, Armor Damage, Bodypart Damage, Cooldown Duration, Stun Resistance, Knockback Resistance, Bleeding Resistance, Physical Damage Resistance, Nature Damage Resistance, Magic Resistance, Pain Resistance, Hunger Resistance, Toxicity Resistance - Added sound effect for Bad Trip modifier - Entrances to some dungeons are now correctly displayed as closed if the dungeon is inactive

- Added Turkish fan localization (thanks @ Mustafa Sinan ler, dil enel, Ceren Cokun, Alper Tornac, Efe Akarca) - Fixed Catacombs loot not taking dungeon level into consideration - Fixed inability to enter bandits tower by pressing LMB - Blood Vow animation now properly ends after the buff wears out - Enemies no longer can teleport behind your back after using Crippling Lunge - Fixed crash upon dying simultaneously with Ascended Archon - Fixed food spawning with zero freshness - Fixed Seized Initiative gaining stacks after attacking targets without Initiative Loss - Fixed issues with inn room renting - Fixed traps being generated under the furniture - Fixed crash caused by using spells on bisons - Fixed a bug with Block Power, resulting in character having max possible Block Power value instead of a current value - Increased Block Power of brigands and skeletons - [Ancient Troll] Fixed unintentionally low Knockback Resistance - [Ancient Troll] Stun Resistance increased from 50% to 100% - [Ancient Troll] Fortitude increased from 50% to 70% - [Ancient Troll] Troll Regeneration now gives +30% Fortitude instead of 50% - [Ancient Troll] Base Defense value reduced from 35 to 30 - [Greatswords] Fixed Courage passive ability not increasing Heroic Charge range by 1 - Added 50% Knockback Resistance for mooses and bisons - Miller sells food 15% cheaper - Nerfed Brigand Crooks and Cutthroats. Now theyre less likely to dodge, crit and counterattack. - Increased damage of most staffs - Merchants sell 4 treatises instead of 3

- Fixed Ginger Root-related crash. If you have a save with a Ginger Root present in your inventory or chest, please get rid of it and re-save the game. - Fixed an issue with merchants not restocking treatises. - Fixed an issue with free Ranged Weapons treatises - Fixed an issue with items disappearing after being stored in the backpack - Fixed weaponstands being labeled as wardrobes - Increased base prices for most hides, especially bison ones [100g > 200g] - [Ancient Troll] Troll Regeneration: Cooldown reduced from 20 to 16 - [Ancient Troll] Deafening Roar: Cooldown reduced from 14 to 12 - [Ancient Troll] Nature Damage Resistance increased from 35% to 50% - Decreased base Knockback Chance of Mighty Kick by 5% - Increased base Knockback Chance of Hail of Blows by 5% - Pennybun: Gives +[5 > 3]% Health Restoration - Decreased Brigand Rioters base damage [18 > 17] - Adjustments to treatise drop rates from dungeon bookcases.

[previewyoutube=7c_MCzpBaQA;full][/previewyoutube] Hello everyone! We are happy to inform you that the first major update Trollslayer can now be downloaded and played! This expansion adds a new boss, two skill trees, many new items, and lots of fixes, improvements, and additions the full changelog can be seen below. Keep in mind that because of the new locations being added to the world map, your old saves will be incompatible with this update. To experience new content, youll have to start a new game. If you wish to continue playing on the old version, check out the instructions on how to rollback to it. Happy hunting!

MAIN ADDITIONS

• New boss: Ancient Troll and its dedicated quest line. Try your luck at defeating this dangerous monster, but first make sure that your character is properly leveled!
• Two new skill trees: Athletics and Combat Mastery. 27 new abilities to include into your builds!
• Save slots: No more shuffling game files around keep as many characters as you want.
• Altars: discover them alongside the roads and gain the Hosts blessing for bonus experience.
• Grave robbing: rob graves using a shovel or your bare hands to discover valuable (or not) loot. Perhaps youll even stumble upon a grave of some legendary warrior?
• New fauna: saigas and bisons. Venture into the steppes to hunt them: their pelts and horns are rather valuable. Be careful bisons are capable of standing up for themselves...
• New flora: treat your wounds with fleawort, use henbane to enter battle rage, snack on roasted penny buns.
• New meat system: every animal drops a dedicated meat type on death. Even rats and bats are not an exception.
• Gathering the Caravan: the quest has been expanded to have a better conclusion instead of ending the storyline abruptly upon fulfilling three contracts.
• Fast travel system between the villages, which becomes available upon completing the first part of Gathering the Caravan
• Two hidden quests: To discover them youll have to pay attention to the dialogues and maybe help a certain person in their time of need... Miniquests/requests will be added with the follow-up patches.
• Three new points of interest. Explore the world in search of new landmarks, each with their own loot and lore. You can save your progress in some of these locations.
• New dungeon type: the Catacombs. The proselytes now inhabit them instead of the Crypts.
• Lots of new dialogues. Get to know some of the denizens of Osbrook and Mannshire Some additional dialogues will be added with the follow-up patches.
• More low level valuables: silver nuggets, clasps, bolts of cloth, bottles of oil and much more.
• New items: new mage mantles, more greatswords and bows. Also GINGER ROOT.
• 24 new treatises. Every skill tree (except the magic ones) now has two more treatises associated with them in order to make the vertical progression more difficult and slow down the characters power gain. Now you wont be able to learn every active ability of a skill tree within the first 3-4 levels, gaining immediate access to all its skill rotations. Instead, youll have to diversify your build by levelling starting abilities from, say, Athletics or Combat Mastery. For now all new treatises can be bought from traders or found in dungeons. In the future high-level treatises will only be available in dedicated locations or bought from specific traders.
• Wares and reputation: merchants and craftsmen will hold onto rare items until you prove your worth to the village by fulfilling contracts. The higher your reputation, the more powerful items youll be able to purchase.
• New localizations: the game is now available in Latin American Spanish and Italian languages. Official Brazilian Portuguese localization and Turkin & Czech fan localizations will be added with the follow-up patches.

BALANCE AND GAMEPLAY

EQUIPMENT

• Most weapons and some armors were rebalanced to further accentuate the differences between the items of the same type and reduce stat clutter.
• Shields and their protection values were buffed. Now they are the main source of Block Chance and Block Power.
• Increased the maximum durability for most items and decreased the speed with which they degrade (boots in particular).
• Crowbar and lancet deal increased damage instead of using bare hands damage.

ECONOMY

• Rebalanced prices for most equipment pieces, consumables, and valuables.
• Merchants now sell more treatises.
• Rewards for contracts now scale with dungeon difficulty slightly more.
• Tweaks to traders inventories for instance, the Osbrooks herbalist no longer sells enchantment scrolls.
• The Mannshires merchant gives better prices for treatises.
• The base buy price for traders is [10 > 15]% of the standard item value.
• Due to the addition of fast travel between the settlements, the Mannshires apprentice no longer sells equipment, but he can still fix cloth and leather items.
• Containers in more dangerous dungeons now generally have better loot in them.
• Increased reward and reputation gain for completing contracts.

ABILITIES

• Rebalanced energy costs for most abilities.
• Reduced the damage for most spells, reduced energy costs for certain spells.
• Improving associated Attributes has a smaller effect on abilities effectiveness. Initial values of certain active abilities were also reduced.
• Some enemies received new abilities from Athletics and Combat Mastery skill trees. Watch out for them!
• Rebalanced minimum and maximum values for most enchantments. We are aware of the abuse with rerolling enchantments and the associated randomness, but until the item quality system is reworked, there isnt much we can do about it.
• The effect of Confusion now prevents you (or your enemies) from attacking and using abilities instead of moving to a random tile with a certain chance. Random movement chance was transferred to Clumsiness. Most abilities, consumables, and effects which used to cause Confusion, now cause Clumsiness
• [Pyromancy] Melting Ray was moved further down the skill tree.
• [Pyromancy] Ring of Fire. Added: for each affected enemy grants +20% Pyromantic Power for 4 turns.
• [Pyromancy] Blaze. Added: for each point of damage dealt, the spell burns double the amount of energy.
• [Daggers] Deadly Trick was moved further down the skill tree.
• [Daggers] Deadly Trick. Instead of granting +100% Dodge Chance for 2 turns, grants +25% Crit Chance for the next turn. Also instead of Immobilization it applies Confusion. The chance to swap with the target is affected by their Knockback Resistance.
• [Proselyte Flagellant] Driven by Pain: decreased damage gain when on low health. Crit Chance was swapped away for Life Drain to avoid one-shotting possibility.
• Arnas Trait Vow of the Feat: grants -[5 > 7.5]% Abilities Costs and Cooldown Durations for each enemy within Vision. Added: -7.5% Spell Costs and -4% Damage Taken for each enemy within Vision.
• [Staffs] Battle Trance replenishes [20 > 10]% Max Energy.
• [Staffs] Triumph: grants +20% Crit Chance for 7 turns upon killing an enemy instead of +10% Damage and Magic Power for 9 turns.
• [Axes] Execution: replenishes 35% Max Energy upon killing an enemy instead of reducing Active Cooldowns for axe skills by 50%.
• [Greatswords] "Parry": +[10 > 7.5]% Block Chance and +[12.5% > 10%] Block Power for each stack of the stance.
• [Ranged Weapons] "Hunters Mark": using this ability not only applies the effect but also performs a shot.
• [Ranged Weapons] "Anticipation": applies the target with -[8 > 10]% Dodge Chance for [3 > 10] turns each time you land a shot. Added: each missed shot against the target grants +5% Accuracy for 10 turns.

MECHANICS

• Mushrooms and potatoes can now be roasted at campfires
• Walking barefoot has a chance to damage your feet.
• Significantly increased Thirst and Hunger gain during sleep.
• Bleed damage not only depends on the targets Max Health but also on its Bleed Resistance.
• Burn Damage no longer deals fixed damage, instead scaling with Max Health, though to a lesser extent than before.
• Rebalanced Knockback Damage. Both colliding targets now receive Crushing Damage for [15 > 10]% Max Health of the target which was knocked back. If the target was knocked into a wall or an occupied tile, it receives Damage for [15 > 10]% of its Max Health.
• Knocking the target back into an occupied tile no longer has a 100% Stun Chance. Now it takes the targets Stun Resistance into account.
• Each enemy now has a correct set of Body Parts no more injured snake paws. Also different enemies have different Body Part durability: its easier to injure skeletons and critters.
• Bleed Chance upon receiving damage to injured body parts is now affected by Bleed Resistance.
• Decrease the chance of modifiers to be triggered by their respective damage types its now very unlikely to witness a self-sustaining loop of poisoning or burning. Decreased the base duration for those modifiers.
• Stun Chance from Shock damage and Bleed Chance from Rending damage are now affected by the respective resistances.

ENEMIES

• High tier brigands received a buff.
• Increased the amount of brigands in camps.
• Increased Accuracy for most 5-9 and 10+ level enemies.
• Increased experience gain from killing enemies by 20-25%.
• Rebalanced ambushes they scale from your level at a significantly lower rate.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Jonna and Dirwin start with affinity for Athletics, Jorgrim and Arna for Combat Mastery.
• Jonna starts with first tier of Geomancy and Pyromancy unlocked instead of second.
• Characters have 6 bonus starting Attributes instead of 8.
• Each point of Vitality grants [3 > 5] Max Energy.
• Each point of Agility grants [0.75 > 0.5]% Dodge Chance
• Dodge Chance can reach a negative value, increasing the Accuracy of your enemies attacks.
• Reworked Block Power progression. Its initial bonus was removed, it now depends entirely on Strength. Block Power values also have a cap which is limited by Strength as well.
• Pinecaps can only be encountered in pine forests. Leaf forests now have penny buns.
• Increased the chance of finding treatises on bookshelves.
• Destroying the Well of Souls spawns wraiths.
• The witch now offers a potion instead of a pot of espresso.
• Consuming spoiled food reduces morale.

UX

• Enemies can no longer spawn in dungeon rooms adjusted to entrances/exits in order to avoid situations when the player is swarmed right after transitioning between the floors. For the same reason enemies no longer spawn next to zone borders.
• Picking an item up while your inventory is full no longer automatically drops the item, but keeps it suspended instead.
• Added the Chapel autosave to the standalone Prologue.
• All stages of main quests now have journal entries.
• Dropping treatises and scrolls is now displayed in the log.
• Improved the scrollbar in the trading menu.
• Added an outline for runic boulders.

UI

• Added a new resolution: 25601080.
• Improved quests journal interface.

VISUALS

• Animals now have their own icons for Injuries.
• Improved forest generation.
• Numerous visual fixes and tweaks.
• Added new visual effects for Bad Trip.
• Added new visual effects for Drunkenness.
• New sprite work for some items.
• New sprite work for Ghouls.
• Added a new entrance variant for the Bastion (brigand dungeon).

FIXES AND STABILITY

• Fixed room renting: the game now correctly saves and detects the remaining rent time.
• Fixed the bug with a sudden HP and Energy drop when transitioning between zones.
• Fix quest items duping.
• Carts and other map encounters retain their state upon restarting the game its now impossible to endlessly loot them.
• Animals can escape to other zones when they reach the border.
• Stepping on a burning tile not only sets you on fire, but also deals immediate damage. The chance to catch fire is no longer 100%, now its affected by Fire Resistance.
• Fixed the bug which prevented certain effects from triggering when reaching Benevolent reputation with a settlement.
• Fixed an exploit which allowed using abilities and moving on the same turn.
• Fixed bizarre trajectories for enemys charge-based abilities.
• Fixed the bug with immortal enemies
• Fixed numerous memory leaks.
• Improved optimization.
• Fixed lots of crashes and other minor bugs.

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well share more details about some of the new additions which will be included in the Trollslayer update.

Grave Robbery

Roadside Altars

Save Slots

Changes to Dungeon Generation

Update Release Date

Hello everyone! In todays devlog well share some details about our new skill tree, Athletics, which will be added to the game with the Trollslayer update in the end of March.
Athletics is an utility skill tree composed of 13 abilities: 6 actives and 7 passives. Its primary goal is to provide more options to control the battlefield and improve mobility. Because of that, Athletics can easily be picked up by almost any build, since warriors, archers, and mages can all find a use for a timely repositioning. Lets now have a look at these new abilities:

Active Abilities

Passive Abilities

• No Time to Linger using Sudden Lunge against stunned, dazed, bleeding, or immobilized targets will trigger a free attack against them without damage penalty.
• Sprint Training increases the distance by one tile for all charge-based skills such as Mutilating Lunge (Axes), Onrush (Swords), Heroic Charge (Greatsword), Step Aside! (Staffs), Distracting Shot (Bows), and, naturally, Dash from this very skill tree.
• Disengage decreases the chance to trigger Attacks of Opportunity by 30%.
• Peak Performance grants bonus damage, dodge chance, and reduces abilities cooldowns if your energy level is more than 75%.
• Never Again significantly boosts Fortitude (resistance to negative effects) after receiving a negative effect.
• Inner Reserves replenishes 15% of your max energy when it drops below 15%. This passive can only trigger once per 90 turns.
• Invigorating Violence replenishes 5% Health for each enemy you kill while under the effect of Adrenaline Rush, allowing you to better capitalize on the limited duration of that effect.

Hello everyone! In this devlog wed like to present you a new skill tree which will be added with the Trollslayer update - Combat Mastery.
Combat Mastery is an utility skill tree, designed to be particularly useful to warriors and other characters relying on weapons. Overall it contains 14 abilities: 7 actives and 7 passives.

Active abilities:

• Seize the Initiative start combat by delivering a strike which will steal some of the stats from your target and grant them to you as a buff. Each following strike will increase the amount of debuff stacks on your target and the amount of buff stacks on you
• Defensive Tactics a buff with unlimited duration. The effect depends on the number of enemies around your character. The higher the number, the stronger this dynamically calculated effect. Additionally, as long as Defensive Tactics is active, blocking and dodging will restore your Energy.
• Offensive Tactics follows a similar logic, though it provides offensive stats instead. Additionally, critical strikes and counterattacks decrease the remaining cooldowns for weapon skills while its active. Keep in mind that you only can have a single tactic active at a time, so you will have to choose the most appropriate one for any given situation.
• War Cry deals a small amount of psionic damage, Weakening all enemies in a large AoE. In turn, you receive Battle Rage effect for several turns - the more enemies there are, the longer it lasts.
• Finisher perhaps some of you may remember this skill from one of the oldest devlogs about the currently retired class system. This skill allows you to deliver a strike which immediately refreshes all active cooldowns as long as it kills its target.
• Thirst for Battle is meant to improve survivability for warriors, especially when they are near death, injured, and are pretty much ready to give up on life. The power of the effect increases when low on health, so it has the potential to break the tide of battle with a significant bonus to damage and life drain.
• Against the Odds the legendary skill of Verren from the old Prologue returns. Now this skill is a crowning jewel of Combat Mastery. Its duration was decreased to 2 turns, however if you manage to kill an enemy within this time frame, youll recover a significant amount of HP and energy. Against the Odds is best used in combination with Thirst for Battle and Finisher for maximum impact.

Passive abilities:

• Setup grants you bonus accuracy and damage after you skip a turn, which makes waiting more tactically advantageous.
• Armor Crusher makes the task of disposing of armored targets easier. As long as their armor condition is more than half, your attacks have a bonus to armor piercing and armor damage. On top of this, when the targets armor durability reaches zero, this passive increases the amount of damage the target takes for a few turns.
• Intimidation grants War Cry a chance to daze or confuse all affected enemies for a few turns.
• Right on Target grants bonus stats to all weapon skills. Additionally, it grants a significant bonus to your weapon damage, increasing accuracy and crit chance, while decreasing skills cost and fumble chance as long as your second hand is empty.
• Opportune Moment grants your physical attacks a chance to decrease all active cooldowns for your skills by 1 turn.
• Stance Training adds an additional effect to your Defensive and Offensive Tactics. As long as your Defensive Tactics is active, all your stance-based skills will lose 1 stack on triggering instead of 2. When using Offensive Tactics, all your stance-based skills will activate with 6 stacks, which means that youll most likely lose them quickly.
• Final Push ensures that Against the Odds is a much more reliable tool for escaping death by increasing damage and accuracy for your attacks while you are under its effects.

Hello everyone! This devlog is dedicated to revealing some of the progress weve made with the first major content update Trollslayer, which will be released around the end of March. As weve already mentioned, there are plans to include some previously unannounced things into this update. As for now, lets go through some of the features we are currently working on:

Additional flora and fauna

New dungeon type Catacombs

New skill trees Athletics and Combat Mastery

Expanded dialogues

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Greetings! We're happy to inform Linux users that we've successfuly solved all Linux-related issues and Stoneshard is now available on your OC as well. Recommended distributive is Ubuntu 18.04. Other distributives may work as well, but they weren't tested. It is important to note that depending on your version of Ubuntu additional dependencies may need to be installed to play the game. These dependencies are: libcurl4 libopenal1

0.5.7.18 Hotfix Changelog

• Removed durability loss from Jewelry items
• Fixed another backpack-related trade exploit
• Fixed scrolls and treatises being sold for 1 coin

BUGFIXES & STABILITY

• Fixed durability system. Weapons now also lose durability as was intended.
• Fixed Parry gaining negative stacks.
• Fixed Parry not granting counterattacks on block.
• Fixed 0 gold drops.
• Fixed Dance of Death passive skill not working while Painful Hits stance is active.
• Fixed cursed items dropping after receiving severe hand injury.
• Fixed Inferno not applying its effect during the casting turn.
• Fixed indicators position on consumables.
• Fixed bug causing all Crowbars in inventory lose durability after lock-picking or disarming.
• Various text corrections.

BALANCE

• Many Prologue difficulty tweaks to match the main game better.
• Weapon stances now lose 2 tiers instead of 3 on corresponding stats procs.
• Added War Scythe to Osbrooks weapon stands.
• Added 10% Fumble Chance to Confusion modifier.
• Reduced negative Crushing Damage Resistance of Frozen modifier (-50% > -20%)
• Reduced Proselytes jewelry droprates
• Range of Heroic Charge was reduced to 3 (4 with corresponding passive unlocked). Heroic Charge stat bonuses per tile travelled were increased: (+7.5% > +10%) Weapon Damage, (+5% > +7.5%) Crit Chance.
• Advance range was increased to 4.
• Reduced base Daze duration from Daze Chance procs (4 > 3).
• Reduced NPCs buying prices, but increased its dependency from reputation level.
• Economic tweaks: food & wine traders now buy tableware, priest and healer pay more for medicine, increased gold amount of several craftsmen.

Hello everyone! Its barely been a dozen of days since Stoneshard was released into Early Access, a rather stressful dozen of days for our team. Weve received a huge amount of feedback, and we are happy that our game gained so much unexpected attention. The first week was spent on fixing the most pressing issues, however its time for us again to focus on developing new content and mechanics. Our first major content update Trollslayer is planned for March. You can see more details about it in our roadmap: it will introduce a new boss to the game, add a new dungeon type, two new skill trees, and expanded dialogues. Wed also like to add some of the initially unannounced content, but for now we cant promise anything outside of what was originally planned. During the development well publish a few more devlogs on our progress, so make sure to follow the game on Steam if you dont want to miss them. During this month well continue to fix reported bugs and crashes, though at a slightly lower pace, so there still may be a couple more patches till the end of February. We also plan to finally solve the issues with the Linux build and release it in the near future. Until then, we recommend you to join us on Discord - our most favored way of communicating with the community where youll be able to chat with other players, ask us questions directly, or check out teasers for the future update. For now, heres some of them:

CHANGELIST 0.5.7.16

UX

• Added different colored backdrops to items in the inventory based on their quality.
• Added an option to highlight containers by pressing ALT.
• Due to the popular demand, fog of war is now more transparent and should be easier on the eyes when moving through the forest.
• Restored the autopathing when clicking on unexplored tiles.
• Cauldrons in taverns can now be used for cooking.

VISUALS

• Added some of the missing animations and timetables for the denizens of Mannshire.
• Numerous visual fixes.

FIXES AND STABILITY

• Fog of war now applies to the location with the Abbey in Adventure mode.
• Fixed the trajectory for arrows and other projectiles (such as fire bolts and melting rays) when shooting at objects of the scenery.
• Fixed the bug with rings becoming unequipped when loading the game.
• Fixed Retaliation triggering on ranged attacks.
• Fixed the behaviour of fog of war when using Distracting Shot.
• Fixed the game freezing in certain situations when using Onslaught.
• Fixed the crash and the following issues with dungeons names when switching the games language after the start of the game.
• Fixed the simultaneous generation of two copies of the same contract.
• Mannshires Innkeeper now buys tableware and pays more for alcohol as well

BALANCE

• Reworked stances - their maximum number of stacks was increased to 6, and the bonuses were reduced to facilitate more gradual scaling. When the corresponding chances proc, the duration of stances increases, but the number of stacks gets reduced. The starting duration for stances is increased to 6.
• Stone spikes duration has been reduced to 8 turns.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Added lots of new sounds.
• Added voice-over for starting dialogue.

CHANGELOG

• Several visual fixes
• Fixed hanging modifiers icons caused by killing a mob while examining him
• Several text corrections
• Updated some skill hovers to display actual information
• Fixed a bug with extremely high Greatswords abilities energy cost

BUGFIXES & STABILITY

• Fixed being able to activate multiple instances of Unwavering Stance.
• Fixed Prologue debuff applying to Proselytes in the Adventure. Now theyre pretty savage.
• Destroying Boulder via context menu now takes one turn.
• Fixed death-related crash.
• Fixed potion-related crash.
• Fixed another AoE-related crash.
• Fixed backpack trade exploit.
• Runic Boulder sustaining energy cost now scales for Spells Energy Cost stat. Your actual sustaining energy cost is now dynamically displayed on the modifier and skill hovers.
• Fixed possibility to take two actions per turn with fast enough clicking.
• Fixed bug preventing anyone from spawning in the field.
• Rains are less frequent now.
• Weather effects optimization. If you have performance problems during rains and mists, try to lower visual effects setting in the games options.
• Proselyte Dungeon and corresponding contract danger level was increased when shown on the map or in the journal

BALANCE

• Weapons Rebalance. Instead of linear progression, where every sword was slightly better than previous one, now all weapons are divided into conditional tiers. Items of the same tier deal the same damage (or roughly the same damage), but have varying bonuses to different secondary stats. Secondary stat bonuses are less dispersed now: instead of giving +1-4% to 4-5 different stats, they now give significant bonuses to 1-3 stats.
• Armor Rebalance. Mages Mantles now give less %Magic School% Spell Power than before.
• Enemy Rebalance. Used new progression here starting enemies became just a bit stronger, while higher tier enemies were significantly boosted, since they didnt present much danger to a well-developed character even when having numerical superiority.
• Increased basic Block Power and its gain from levelling Strength. Decreased Block Power bonuses from most weapons except greatswords.
• Brigand Bosses now may drop enchanted, magical and cursed items.
• Vivifying Essence: [-5% Morale > -35% Energy]. Since its usage didnt have any tactical consequences aside from skipping turn.
• Wolves had their damage increased. Their attack now also have Bleed Chance. Their Vision Range was reduced to make avoiding them early game easier.
• Enemy spawnrates in dungeons were increased. Now enemies are little more common that one mob per 2-3 rooms.
• Light armor now gives bonus Bleeding Resistance.
• Leeches: Pain Gain [+0.5% > +0.2%]
• Skeletons Damage Resistances: [-20% > -15%] Crushing Resistance. [+15% > +20%] Slashing Resistance.
• Unholy Altar: Completing Ritual now decreases Sanity & Morale more, while buffing for less turns. Destroying the Altar now longer dazes all enemis on a floor, but debuffs them with a random effect.
• Jorgrim: starting Norse Blade was replaced by Traveller Blade, since it was too good for a starting item.
• Jorgrim: now has 8 starting bonus attributes instead of 10 like all other characters.
• Fixed extremely high Moose spawning rates in some biomes. They wont move in herds anymore.
• Shouts create 25% more noise.
• Breaking stone and wooden object now creates 15% more noise.

ABILITIES

• Energy cost of weapon stances was increased.
• Energy cost of Pyromantic spells was increased.
• Energy cost of Greatswords skills was increased.

Rebalanced weapon stances:

• (Swords) Fencers Stance: [+15% > +7.5%] Counter Chance per tier. Added +3.5% Dodge Chance per tier.
• (Maces) Hammer & Anvil: [+15% > +12.5%] Daze Chance per tier. [+40% > +50%] Armor Damage per tier. Added -4% Fumble Chance per tier.
• (Axes) Massacre: [+25% > +30%] Bodypart Damage per tier. Added +3% Crit Chance per tier.
• (Daggers) Painful Stabs: [+5% > +3.5%] Crit Chance per tier.
• (Ranged Combat) Suppression: Added +3.5% Hit Chance per tier.
• (Staves) Unwavering Stance: [+15% > +12.5%] Block Chance per tier. [+20% > +15%] Block Power per tier.
• (Greatswords) Parry: [+15% > +12.5%] Block Chance per tier. [+15% > +10%] Block Power per tier. Base duration: [4 > 8] turns.
• (Greatswords) Recklessness: [+3% > +5%] Crit Chance & Counter Chance per each enemy on a neighboring tile.
• (Greatswords) Feast of Steel: Crit Chance is now applied directly to physical skills and attacks, instead of being given as a buff to a character.
• (Ranged Comabt) Precision and Anticipation have switched their order in the branch, since Precision was a way too powerful ability for its position.
• (Shields) Surprise Onrush: [25% > 20%] base chance
• (Geomancy) Runic Empowerment: [-15% > -10%] Abilities Energy Cost.
• (Pyromancy) Fire Barrage: base damage [8 > 6]. Bonus damage to Burning targets: [+30% > +50%].
• (Pyromancy) Incineration: base damage [13 > 10]
• (Pyromancy) Ring of Fire: base damage [10 > 15]
• (Pyromancy) Ring of Fire: Fire Res. debuff [-15% > -20%]
• (Pyromancy) Excess Heat: replenishes [4% > 5%] Max Energy for each Burning enemy.

ECONOMY

• Decreased reward difficulty scaling by 15-20%. Base rewards were slightly decreased as well.
• Slightly increased Wolf Pelt prices since theyre quite savage again.
• Decreased Disenchantment Scroll price.
• Crates and barrels drop less coing, but more often to make breaking them a little more fun.
• Roadcarts now have less generous loot.

BUGFIXES & STABILITY

• Fixed missing texts for Map and Journal hotkeys in Controls menu.
• Fixed container-related crash.
• Fixed Incineration-related crash.
• Fixed "Taste of Victory" not replenishing Energy on kill.
• Heraldic Note now increases reputation with Osbrook and Mannshire.

UX

• ESC now prioritizes cancelling skill usage and closing context menu.

OTHER

• Removed Golden Candelabrum from Mannshire Castle.

UX

• Opening map with a hotkey now stops your character
• Added support for native mouse cursor

ART & VISUALS

• Added 3 new variations of brigand camps

BUGFIXES & STABILITY

• Fixed cursor collision
• Fixed full inn chests crashing the game
• Fixed Elder-related crash
• Fixed AoE-zone related crash
• Fixed SFX of Take Aim skill
• Fixed not working item type price modifiers
• Fixed Bodypart Damage not increasing from levelling Strength
• Fixed selling certain items for negative prices
• Jonnas starting Willpower is increased by 1 point (so now she has 8 starting attributes like any other character)

ECONOMY

• Innkeeper now pays more for alcohol

Hello everyone! Since the release of the latest patch weve received many reports about various issues and game crashes when trying to play from old saves. As a result it was decided to disable old saves: we strongly recommend starting a new game. If you want to continue playing as your old character, you can rollback the game to the version without the feature of saving in camps. You can do it in steam game options by choosing the 0.5.7.8 version in the Betas folder.

CHANGELIST

• Fixed the mistake with displaying old prices when renting a room.
• You can now buy waterskins from innkeepers.
• Changed Fly Agaric stats: -15% Pain +60% Pain Resistance x 90 turns
• Lots of fixes across the games localizations
• Bows basic accuracy has been reduced.

Hello everyone! To begin with, wed like to thank everyone who believed in us and decided to support the development by purchasing the game over these last two days. The amount of players was completely beyond our wildest expectations, and we consider it a great success for our team we will continue to diligently work on the game to repay your trust. We fully understand that the game still has a long way to go. We plan to gradually fix the shortcomings which were pointed out as well as add new content. Thank you all once more -- we are set on doing everything in our power to implement everything weve planned. After receiving the feedback it became clear to us that the biggest flaw of the game is the lack of the save system. Wed like to assure you, it was not a conceptual decision, designed to make players suffer by losing time and progress. Saving on exit is a fairly obvious QoL feature, which we would implement if we had the opportunity. Unfortunately, due to a combination of multiple factors procedural world generation, huge number of objects in every location, as well as parameters which require saving, this task is impossible to perform from the technical standpoint. The reason is not GMS2, as it could be misunderstood from the message about engine limitations, the reason is our procedural generation engine. The saves currently used by the game technically differ from saving in any part of the game world they save the seed of visited locations, regenerating the world on each loading, they dont save the state of the world, as it was left by the player. Otherwise, the saves would end up weighting a few gigabytes and take minutes to load. Thats why the saving is done in designated locations which dont contain objects requiring their state to be saved tavern rooms, the archive in the Prologue, the location with Archon etc. With the addition of a mobile caravan which would serve as a save spot, this problem would disappear on its own, since the player would have a place to save their progress at just a short walk away. However it will take a long time to implement it, and theres already a need for a solution thats why weve decided to add extra save spots to the existing world by reworking the current camp system.
Now the brigand camps, initially marked with a question mark on the map, can be cleared out and then used as a save spot by clicking on bed. Weve changed the algorithm for their generation to spread them more evenly across the map, placing them closer to roads and dungeons. We hope that this measure will make your game experience more pleasant. In the future, as it was already mentioned, therell be even more save spots. Other than the caravan, some random locations, roadside inns, etc. will also be used as save spots. Thank you!

CHANGELOG

THIS UPDATE MAY WORK WITH AN OLD SAVE BUT IT'S ADVISED TO START A NEW RUN

QOL

• Its now possible to save in brigand camps
• Map can now be opened by clicking on corresponding Journal tab or with M hotkey. Initially this was planned for the upcoming global map, but many people were left confused and thinking that map navigation isnt yet available.
• Journal and Map hotkeys now can be redefined.
• Maps were added to Elders stock. You can now purchase the map if you somehow lose your starting one.
• Many text fixes in all localizations
• Weve temporarily added small stock of leather/cloth items to Smiths Apprentice in Mannshire. Initially we wanted settlements to have different distinctive features and craftsmen, but since therere only two settlements and no caravan yet, the lack of tailor in Mannshire ended up being a nuisance.
• Added a hint regarding moving the camera around with MMB to the tutorial sequence.

ART & VISUALS

• Added new brigand camps variation for temperate biomes
• Added new brigand camps variation for Steppes
• Many visual fixes of brigand camps
• Visual fixes of Witchs Hut
• Many visual fixes of equipment
• Fixed missing on-character sprite for Magistrate Gambeson
• Fixed playable characters having wrong corpse spites

BUGFIXES & STABILITY

• Fixed rare crash upon starting the game
• Fixed Vampiric Rune-related crash
• Fixed unique items droplist resetting on load, allowing them to drop more than once
• Fixed crash on enemy examination
• Fixed Proselyte Apostate attacking from 2 tiles away instead of 1
• Fixed carts generation on locations edges

BALANCE

• Brigand Camps spawns now depend on player level
• Reduced damage of Jorgrims starting weapons
• Reduced damage taken by body parts by 8%
• Proselytes, mid-tier and high-tier brigands were buffed by ~5-10%, as they didnt present much danger to 4+ lvl characters.
• At launch wolves were especially deadly because of their bugged Rend Flesh ability causing two attacks instead of one. Now this issue is fixed, so their health and damage values were reverted to pre-Hotfix values.
• Because of Pain Limit formula changes, passive pain reduction was increased. (-0.1 > -0.13) on >75% Health and additional (-0.15>-0.2) on >90% Health.
• Dungeons dont generate 4th floor anymore. Deep 4-5-floored dungeons will return once we revamp dungeon generation to make their exploration less monotonous.
• Reduced durability of equipment found in Luxurious Tombs.
• Reduced Jewelry drop rates from Crypt urns.
• Increased Golden Teeth drop rates from wooden coffins.
• Antitoxin is now more effective (-20% Toxicity > -25%)
• Reduced Toxicity of Stardust (+30% > +25%). Now its time to reduce toxicity of our Steam discussions.
• Antivenom now provides +75% Poison Resistance x30t.
• Food spoilage rates were increased by 50-100% depending on type.
• Rebalanced secondary attributes of most daggers to make their stats less clogged and more varied.

ECONOMY

• Many changes to default price modifier when selling items to NPCs:
• Increased base price modifier for Alcohol (+30% > +50%) it's assumed alcohol should be a valuable trade good to find and sell
• Increased base price modifier for Medicine (0% > +20%) during war times people are more willing to pay for medical supplies
• Increased base price modifier for Beverages (0% > +10%)
• Increased base price modifier for Drugs (0% > +10%) they say drugs are a hot commodity for some people.
• Decreased base price modifier for Scrolls (0% > -10%)
• Decreased base price modifier for Treatises (0% > -10%) no one reads them anyway

CHANGELOG

BUGFIXES & STABILITY

• Fixed Crow Heater Shield crashing the game
• Fixed Archers not using Take Aim when in melee range
• Fixed enemy spellcasters using spells outside of their casting range
• Fixed Lacerate skill (used by Wolves) triggering two attacks instead of one.
• Fixed dual wielded weapons overlapping in a single slot after loading
• Fixed Osbrook merchants name not displaying in the corresponding contracts text.
• Fixed dialogue-related crash
• Fixed wrong description of Geomancy Treatise III

BALANCE

• Salves limb healing increased (12% > 15%)
• Damage values of melee weapons were reverted back to closed beta values (+5-12% increase on the average)
• Decreased armor durability loss to make playing as melee character less penalizing.
• Drastically reduced Fumble chance for weapon active skills to make playing as melee character more consistent and less RNG-dependent.
• Slightly increased gold stock of some merchants and craftsmen
• Fixed overtuned Wolf spawnrate in the Pineforest, wildlife in other biomes became slighlty less abundant as well. Mooses became more rare.
• Contract rewards were slightly increased (~10-15%) to compensate cases of poor loot runs.
• Leg injuries have smaller chance to immobilize now.
• Rebalanced Pain Limit formula. Decreased base Pain Limit from 0 to -25, but the Pain Limit loss from missing health was reduced by 25%.
• Laceration skill (used by Wolves) now deals less bonus Bodypart damage (100% > 75%)
• Damage over Time effects (except Bleeding) now deal set amount of damage each turn instead of scaled to Max Health. Meaning they are much less effective against high health enemies now.
• Decreased bonus Bodypart damage done by traps (200% > 150%).
• Beartrap Immobilization chance increased (85% > 100%).
• Bleeding now gives -30% Healing Efficiency instead of -4% Health Restoration, due to Health Restoration being disabled when taking damage anyways.

Hello! This is our second hotfix, dealing with the most frequent crash reported so far (80% of total reports).

BUGFIXES

• Fixed the most occurent crash related to renting

VISUALS

• Some visual fixes for morning mist

BALANCE

• Reduced renting price by 60%

BUGS & STABILITY

• Fixed Snake-related crash
• Fixed crash happening during trading

BALANCE

• Low-tier enemies had their Damage and Health reduced by 5-10% to have more gradual difficulty curve
• Rebalanced Pain Limit formula and Pain Gain from injuries.

Greetings! We'd like to thank all those who've been supporting us all this time. Our game is about to enter into the next stage, and we hope we can see it through together. You can purchase the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/625960/Stoneshard/ You can learn about the development plan and see answers to the most frequently asked questions in the previous news post. Cheers!

Hello everyone! As a reminder, its just 3 days until the Early Access release! Thats why wed like to answer some of the most frequently asked questions as well as tell you about the current status of the game, what will happen during the EA, and our plans for the future. Early Access is just the beginning of the long way, which we are yet to walk with your support. There are still lots of mechanics and content to be added. Well need approximately 2 years to implement everything weve planned. Lets start with the most important part - the current content. Right now the basic gameplay cycle is pretty much in place. Combat, dungeon crawling, health system, character development, and economy are all functional. To fully explore all the content with one character, youll need around 7-10 hours, which is roughly translated into gaining 8-10 experience levels. Currently in-game content includes:

• Two settlements - Osbrook and Mannshire
• Two types of dungeons
• Three enemy factions: brigands, the undead, proselytes
• 16 types of contracts
• 200+ items and 100+ abilities
• Hunting
• Health system
• Economy

Frequently Asked Questions

• Supporter pack. It will be available on release for $10 and will include OST along with two unique starting items (they dont offer major gameplay advantage). In the future the pack will be expanded with, among other things, a digital manual and an artbook. These items are granted automatically to every purchaser of the Supporter pack, there will be no need to buy them separately.
• The Prologue. It will be included in the main game, so you wont have to download and play the Prologue as a separate game. It also doesnt matter how you complete it or what items, experience, character build, etc. you acquire there -- these things are part of the story of a separate character. If youve already finished the Prologue, youll be able to start playing in an open world right away.
• Permadeath. Even though the game is balanced around permadeath mechanic, enabling it is purely optional, and youll be able to turn it off when starting a new game. If you play without permadeath, you can resume your game from the latest save.
• Save system. Its only possible to save the game in taverns. To save your progress, you need to find a tavern, rent a room, and sleep for any amount of time. Unfortunately the games engine doesnt allow saving anywhere and anytime when the game is this expansive.
• Progress wipes. Large updates which add new mechanics will likely lead to save file incompatibility. However, if you want to continue playing as a character from a previous version, you can rollback to the previous version of the game via Steam game options.
• Languages. English, Russian, Chinese, German and semi-official fanmade Polish will be available on release. We also plan to add the following languages soon: Spanish, French, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. The work on them will begin soon after the EA release. In the future we also plan to add Korean and Japanese localizations.
• Multiplayer and co-op. They are not planned, the game is an exclusively single-player experience.
• Achievements and trading cards. They are planned, but not for the nearest future.
• The main story is not yet available. For now there is only a sandbox mode, where you can travel between the settlements, fulfill contracts, and explore dungeons. We want to finish the game mechanics and content first before we add the main story as a single large expansion, which will arrive right before the game leaves the Early Access.
• Full keyboard and gamepad support. At the moment the controls are designed for the mouse, but we plan to improve keyboard controls in the future and add gamepad support.
• Mac and Linux. The game will be available for Linux on release. Mac OS support will be added later, the date is TBA.
• GOG release. Its planned, but not for the first few months.

Hello everyone! Were here to remind you only 7 days left until Stoneshard launches in Early Access on the 6th of February! For those of you still wondering, the price tag will be $15 for the US / 15 for the EU. To celebrate this, weve just released our launch trailer. Check it out! [previewyoutube=QSkQ9jwvLe4;full][/previewyoutube] In the coming week prepare for more news and updates, including our Early Access FAQ, development roadmap and other interesting things. Cheers!

Hello everyone! This devlog is dedicated to a variety of small tweaks and improvements, which have accumulated over the last few weeks.

Cooking

Expanded Map and More Dungeons

New Items

Purses & Bags

Geomancy Tweaks

• Our Steam Creator page
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Hello everyone! In todays devlog, wed like to share some details about the character selection system. As some of you may not know, Verren isnt the main character of our game. He only comes under your control in the Prologue. In the main game, however, he is an employer and a mentor figure to your character.
We plan to introduce an option to create your own mercenary, but at the moment the game lacks systems necessary for implementing a fully working character generator. Instead, we added an option to choose from four preset characters. Each of them has their own appearance, portrait, starting inventory, starting attributes, some special dialogue options and also a unique perk, unavailable to other characters. An important thing about preset characters is that they have affinities, governing which skills are initially unlocked. For instance, Jorgrim is good with melee weapons and can start leveling swords, axes and maces from the get go. But to learn starting skills of the pyromancy and geomancy trees, hell have to find a corresponding treatise first. We intend to expand this system at the same time as working on the character generator. According to our plans, some heroes will have access to unique content, which cant be discovered when playing as other characters. For now this type of content is represented with unique starting equipment. For example, Arna starts the game with a family cuirass and sword, which cant be obtained in any other way. We also plan to expand the character selection as we add more skill trees. Some may ask: but what about classes? How do they fit into this system? Yes, at first we did consider adding classes, but as the development went on, it became quite clear that it would be completely redundant. Class abilities came in conflict with our vision for character development, and they werent really working with all possible archetypes, forcing you to play in a very specific manner. We wanted to avoid that. Class abilities also turned out to be fairly generic and boring when compared to common skill trees. As a result it was decided to transfer the best ideas into the existing skill trees and get rid of the rest. Now let us present you with the backstories and affinities for each character:

Jorgrim, the Reaver

Arna, the Maiden Knight

Dirwin, the Woodward

Jonna, the Runaway Sorceress

• Our Steam Creator page
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Hello everyone! Ink Stains Games here! Wed like to wish all of you Happy Holidays and to present you the long awaited update for the Prologue as a Christmas gift. The original Prologue was published in May 2018. At the time it was more of a proof of concept, designed to demonstrate Kickstarter backers our vision of the future game. A lot of time has passed since then, most systems of the game have changed beyond recognition. And at some point the Prologue grew so outdated that updating it became a priority. Now the Prologue is mechanically equal to the main game and we hope it will make it easier to wait for the February release :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/869760/Stoneshard_Prologue/ The list of changes is too expansive to be presented in detail after all, this update includes a year and a half of hard work. The Prologues structure remains the same, but if we are to list the most important changes, here is what you should expect from this update:

• An improved tutorial with detailed advice on main game mechanics.
• Vampires were swapped with Proselytes a new group of enemies with their own set of abilities.
• A reworked boss fight, which now consists of two consecutive phases instead of two parallel outcomes.
• A reworked health, injury and needs system. The old Prologue had it functioning based on RNG. Now its a transparent, deterministic process which you can assess at any time.
• More weapons, equipment and all kinds of items.
• Abilities from the closed beta are now available in the Prologue.
• Destructible environment. Press CTRL to attack environmental objects!
• Reworked Dual Wielding system.
• Lots of QoL improvements: better controls, more hotkeys, item comparison, inventory auto-sorting, pop-up hints and more. Though keep in mind that the game is designed primarily for mouse controls.
• Most of the game art was reworked.
• Dialogues and lore notes were rewritten to better clarify the opening events of the story. New voice-overs for the characters.
• Lots of changed and added mechanics (reworked Attributes, for instance).
• A reworked UI.
• Fullscreen support for 1366768, 1440900, 1600900, 16801050, 19201080 and 19201200 resolutions.
• Added an event log.
• Last Hope and At What Cost? achievements were replaced by The Bitter Beginning and Eternal Hunger achievements. The rest of the achievements were updated to fit with the content changes.
• Enemies learned how to open doors.

Frequently asked questions

Where did the stealth and some other skill trees from the old Prologue go?

Can I launch the game on Mac or Linux?

What happens if Ive already got the achievements in the old Prologue?

Hello everyone! In this devlog well tell you what to expect from the updated Prologue which we plan to release this year. Since the release of the Prologue in May 2018 almost every aspect of the game has changed so much, that the current Prologue will rather confuse newcomers than introduce them to the game. Therefore we decided to put an effort into updating its systems and mechanics so that theyll better reflect the state of the main game. Its worth mentioning that the Prologue will remain free and will also be included in the main game, where it will serve as a tutorial and an introduction to the story. It means that you can complete it both as a standalone version as well as a part of the main game. Your actions in the Prologue will not have any effect on your main game so dont worry about transferring progress. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you finish the Prologue beforehand, youll be able to skip it in the main game and go straight to creating your character.
The Prologues structure will remain almost exactly the same. Youll still find yourself in a dungeon, escape, complete a tutorial floor and then fight your way through two procedurally generated floors to challenge the final boss. Weve also introduced quite a number of changes to the tutorial. For instance - more visible and descriptive popups, explaining games mechanics. We hope that it will provide a better introduction to the game. As for game systems and mechanics, everything is now up to date with the current build of the main game. Reworked UI, relevant stats and abilities, new health and injury system, more transparent display of hunger and thirst, better dungeon generation, destructible objects and enemies opening doors it will all be included in the updated Prologue.
Content wise there are many noticeable changes, especially for those who didnt take part in the closed beta test. Since the release of the original Prologue weve added a huge number of new equipment and also changed most of the old stuff, so youll see lots of new items. Weve also changed starting enemies. Now instead of vampires youll fight against a cult of Proselytes, boasting fresh new enemy types and abilities. Other than that, all dialogues were rewritten to better accommodate story and setting changes.
And finally, the boss fight. Its safe to say that it has been improved the most. First of all, the Cursed Chapel was completely remade in accordance with our increased quality standards. Second, weve added a few tweaks to the fight with the statues. For instance half the spells is tied to one statue, while the other is to the second one. Respectively, by destroying one of the statues, youll prevent the Archon from casting blood bolts and puddles or stop him from summoning and healing zombies.
Third, the battle with the reborn Archon which used to be an optional secret, is now a mandatory second phase of the fight. The Archon himself was naturally changed as well, now possessing quite a few new abilities. You should be able to beat him by strategically exploiting his weaknesses. What are those? Youll have to find out yourself. Thats it for now. Well announce a date for the Prologue very soon, so stay tuned. Until next time! ====== Also you can follow us on:

• Our Steam Creator page
• Discord
• Twitter
• Facebook

Hello everyone! After an extensive closed beta-test, quality-assurance as well as the reevaluation of the development roadmap, we want to announce important news - Early Access launch of Stoneshard is being moved to February 6, 2020. This decision was not easy to make. We wanted you to go explore the lands of Aldor as soon as possible. The current quality of the game at this milestone is up to our standards, however we couldnt implement some of the important mechanics that we think are crucial to the first public build yet. Even though the game in its current state is fun to play, we saw areas where we could make improvements in regards to replayability of ingame content, it ends too fast - we wanted to make the core loop more thorough and thats what we are working on currently. Right now in the beta there are three categories of enemies (not types), ten skill trees and fully developed first settlement called Osbrook, including its environment, contract system, two types of dungeons and lots of unique equipment. With more time to improve our systems, February will introduce several new and updated features: [olist]