MAIN CHANGES

This update IS COMPATIBLE with old saves, but we still recommend you to start a new game, as some changes wont take effect until then. - Added Armored Combat, a new utility tree with 8 abilities. It will serve well to any character that fights in melee regardless of their preferred armor type. - Added 57 new items: Headgear: Academy Circlet, Battlemage Circlet, Gilded Circlet, Topaz Circlet, Ruby Circlet, Court Mage Diadem, Hermit Wreath, Dwarven Circlet Chestpieces: Vehement Gambeson, Battlemage Gambeson, Mail Mantle, Mercenary Cuirass, Vehement Brigandine, Red Silk Mantle, Maen Mantle, Court Mage Mantle Gloves: Riveted Gloves, Court Mage Gloves, Battlemage Gloves, Novice Hand Wraps, Mage Bracers, Mystic Gloves Boots: Fancy Boots, Court Mage Boots, Magehunter Boots, Engraved Greaves, Sardar Boots Belts: Fur Belt, Ornate Girdle, Fancy Belt, Court Mage Belt, Rope Belt, Plated Belt, Duelist Belt, Nomad Girdle, Mercenary Waistband Rings: Silver Insert Gold Ring, Ancient Copper Ring, Brass Ring, Brass Signet, Steel Signet, Brass Agate Ring, Berserk Ring, Mastercrafted Silver Ring, Silver Jade Ring, Hermit Ring, Morion Ring, Gold Diamond Ring Necklaces: Runic Amulet, Coin Talisman, Carved Topaz Amulet, Crescent Necklace, Mastercrafted Emerald Pendant, Mastercrafted Aquamarine Necklace, Trophy Necklace, Hexer Talisman - Updated and improved ability hovers, making them more concise and informative. Most of them were standardized to leave little to no ambiguity when it comes to describing mechanics. All active abilities were split into 5 categories: Attacks, Charges, Maneuvers, Stances, and Spells. Some of the reworked passives and effects have special interactions with specific ability types. Spell hovers now display their previously hidden Armor Penetration stat as well as their current Backfire Chance and Backfire Damage. - Reworked curses - both buffs and debuffs are now static, which should noticeably streamline the system. Other than that, added 2 new curse types. (If youre playing on an old save, any cursed items that youve already acquired will retain their existing bonuses without the downside of constantly increasing penalties. Enjoy!) - Added a new achievement, Enemies Closer, awarded for unlocking and learning every Armored Combat ability.

BALANCE

- Reworked and tweaked most of the existing abilities. The changes primarily affect Ranged Combat, Shields, and Warfare (former Combat Mastery). The full list is humongous (12 pages!), so we decided to post it separately: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s-ZhqHMuw_CpO2gVAVPzQYh8KJH3XcfjLQdh08pd0QM - Rebalanced all armor and shields. Changed the system for categorizing armor types: in previous versions of the game, gear type usually correlated with its level (most light armors were early game), but now armor types are represented more evenly across all levels. This change strongly affects light armor, allowing it to stay relevant even during the later stages of the game. - Nerfed most enemies to compensate for the changes to armor and shields. - Removed Passive Bonuses from most abilities (excluding Spells). - Rebalanced weapons critical effects: Swords: [+50% > +25%] Bleed Chance Axes: [+50% > +30%] Bodypart Damage Maces: [+50% > +25%] Daze Chance Daggers: +50% Crit Efficiency now correctly applies to common crit strikes as well. Increased the Energy Burn threshold [20 > 25]. Two-handed swords: [+75% > +50%] Bleed Chance Two-handed axes: [+75% > +60%] Bodypart Damage Two-handed maces: [+75% > +50%] Daze Chance Spears: [+75% > +50%] Immobilization Chance Staves: [replenish 10% Max Energy > +50% Energy Drain] Bows: +50% [Immobilization Chance > Knockback Chance] Crossbows: [+125% Knockback Chance > +100% Immobilization Chance] - Strength: each point grants [+3% Bodypart Damage > +1.5% Weapon Damage]. Each threshold grants [+15% > +10%] Crit Efficiency and [+5% Weapon Damage > +7.5% Bodypart Damage]. - Willpower: each point grants [-1% > -1.5%] Cooldown Duration and Abilities Energy Cost. Each threshold grants [+5% > +7.5%] Magic Power. - Changed the counterattack mechanic: each individual enemy can now trigger only one counter per turn. The same applies to the player character as well: enemies cant counter them more than once per turn regardless of the number of received strikes. - Fumbling a shot will now halve its damage (similarly to melee strikes) and not just break an arrow or bolt. - Spike traps will trigger only once, just like all other trap types. - Added additional effects to Confusion (-20% Block Chance and -20% Counter Chance) - Fortitude now affects the damage received from DoT effects (Bleeding, Poisoning, Burning, Acid Bath), and each 1% Fortitude reduces received debuffs duration by [0.5% > 1%]. Lowered Fortitude cap: [100% > 50%]. - Reduced Durability loss rate for both the player characters equipment and enemies Armor. - Reduced Pain gain from receiving damage by 15%. - Increased the base effectiveness of Immunity on the passive Intoxication decay: [1:0.75 > 1:1] - Changed starting Affinities of the following preset characters: Arna: swapped Maces for Armored Combat. Jorgrim: swapped Shields for Maces. - Tweaked Velmirs trait: [-3% > -5%] Damage Taken and [+3% > +5%] Accuracy for each received strike. - Tweaked Arnas trait: [-2.5% > -3%] Damage Taken and [-5% > -3%] Cooldowns Duration for each enemy within Vision. - Tweaked Jorgrims trait: [+15% > +20%] Crit Efficiency upon killing an enemy. - Tweaked Dirwins trait: hitting an enemy with a strike or shot for the first time applies them with [-20% > -10%] Dodge Chance and [+20% > +5%] Damage Taken for [10 > 8] turns. - Reduced the power of most enchantments. - Raised Magic Power cap: [250% > 350%]. - Raised Energy Drain cap: [100% > 150%]. - Reduced base Block Power by 5. Reduced base Block Power Recovery by 5%. - Increased the school-specific Magic Power bonus granted for learning relevant spells [2% > 2.5%]. - Reduced Intoxication gain from Poisoning [+4 > +2 per turn]. - Loud Barking now generates less noise. - Increased the ruby stat bonus granted for solving the Standing Boulders mystery [4% > 5%]. - Increased food drop rates in the Prologue. - Verren will have 33% Fatigue Resistance and 33% Hunger Resistance when playing as him in the Prologue.

MISCELLANEOUS

- Ghoul corpses can now be skinned to harvest their fur and hearts (once Huntmaster is learned). - Added fish, crabs, and nets to the Dock Traders stock. - Removed treatises from the Brynn Pawnbrokers stock - Standardized the levels of treatises sold by the Mannshire Scribe and Brynn Bookmaker. - Changed prices of some consumables. - Throwing potions at enemies now applies them with Covered in Alcohol effect. - Added Durability to Shovels, which is reduced by digging. - All equipable consumables (Crowbar, Lancet, Shovel) now lose Durability when used as a weapon. - Renamed Rogue Pyromancer into Hired Sorcerer and swapped his Ring of Fire and Incineration with Jolt and Seal of Power. - Renamed some items.

FIXES

- Fixed the incorrect order of attack outcomes. - Fixed the issue preventing Gotta Catch Em All and I.C.B.M achievements from being unlocked. - Fixed enemies becoming invulnerable to AoE abilities for one turn upon entering a location, being moved to another tile with a swap ability, or being summoned, resurrected, or transformed. - Fixed certain abilities skipping a turn after being used. - Fixed action-limiting effects not working as intended in some scenarios. - Snakes should no longer spawn in pairs, and some traps - trigger twice. - When moving to another location, the fade to black will now happen after enemies take their turn, not during it. - Fixed the bug linked to dying on the same turn as moving to another location. - Fixed one of the abandoned cart POIs always spawning high level brigands. - Removed the possibility of reapplying Dirwin traits effect to the same target. - All missile Spells (Fire Barrage, Jolt, Bolt of Darkness) now use a standardized system for their chance to hit. - Fixed Fire Barrage always missing all of its remaining firebolts if the first or second one in the series failed to hit the target. - Fixed the Restless Abominable Vitality passive not working as intended. - Fixed Petrification not taking its targets Magic Resistance into account. - Fixed Overflowing Power replenishing Energy when damaging inanimate props. - Fixed the incorrect interaction between Rune of Cycle and Overflowing Power. - Fixed the issue with the Ignition Chance of Incineration. - Miracle casting any Seal now grants its effect additional duration. - Fixed Damage Resistance enchantments not working when applied to shields. - Fixed the interaction between drugs and alcohol/Hangover that allowed to avoid Bad Trip after mixing these two together. - Fixed the issue that prevented Rotten Crabs from appearing in the game. - Fixed Ol Totts travel prices. - Fixed the axe variant of Skeleton Kingsguard dropping two-handed maces on death. - Fixed the Smithing Workshop Bailiff refusing to accept a bribe if theres more than three bottles of Elven Wine in the inventory. - Fixed ranged enemies being able to counter before they actually swap to their melee loadout. - Fixed the occasional crash caused by Harpies Peck. - Fixed the bug that allowed enemies to use ranged weapons and combat abilities while in deep water. - Fixed the bug causing ranged enemies to take a shot at the player character after loading a save. - Fixed the penalty for dual wielding shields not working as intended. - Fixed disarmed traps being displayed with an incorrect sprite after loading a save. - Fixed Bran not marking his cabin on the map after mentioning it in the dialogue. - Fixed the Osbrook Inkeepers wife not selling food and drinks.

VISUALS

- Added animations for receiving all types of Magic and Nature damage. - New sprites for some abilities. - New sprites for some items.

UI

- Armor and shield hovers now list their type (light, medium, or heavy). - Effect hovers now list stats in a more orderly fashion. - Standardized the listing and rounding of stats displayed in the character menu. This change also affects the hovers of abilities and modifiers. - Bonuses from enchantments no longer affect the basic stats of items. - Fixed Girrud abilities displaying incorrect stats in their hover. Shoutout to @DacianDraco, @Psojed, @RedOrder, @Gura, @Mindwitness, @MassBlin, @Monmon, @Rocket!, @iamyoyoman, @Amadeo, @Mallagar, @Malacar, @Joe Mad, @BlazingBreacher, @Guard, @Manual the Nah and @CommAmethyst for participating in the closed test and making this patch a better experience for everyone else