Demon 1/1/2016 Update Notes

Updates, 1/1/2016

New Dungeon Branch: The Anomaly
  - Reports have begun to filter down of a strange portal appearing on the
    fifth or sixth floor of the Tower. The very nature of the portal itself
    has become the subject of extensive controversy and theorizing among
    summoners and others who watch the Tower... to say nothing of what has
    been seen on the other side.
  - Putting aside for the moment the remarkable appearance of the area it
    leads to, reports suggest the region, called the Anomaly for reasons that
    make themselves apparent to all that enter, is home to demons that seem
    strangely incomplete or unfinished.
  - The demons of the Anomaly, unfinished or not, possess interesting new
    abilities. Thus, the Anomaly has attracted the attention of various
    summoners and other worthies of previously established reputations.
    Ludoc in particular has altered his strategy a bit based on new abilities
    and demons he has found within.
  - In addition, there are rumors a summoner never before encountered has
    undertaken a deep investigation of the Anomaly, believing its strange
    inhabitants to in fact be a shortcut to great power.
  - Finally, the Anomaly seems remarkably fickle. Once encountered, it must
    be entered before leaving that floor of the Tower, or that summoner will
    never see it again. Once entered, any attempt to backtrack through it to
    previous depths will result in being flung back to the Tower, with the
    original portal into the Anomaly closed behind. Those who wish to explore
    the Anomaly's depths will need to confront the dangers therein boldly, as
    any retreat through a portal will be final.


Capture Mechanics
  - Demon demands for HP and MaxHP are now based off %s of their HP and MaxHP,
    rather than the player's. The main impact of this will be that these
    requests will be easier when dealing with demons of lower level and
    harder when dealing with demons of higher level.
  - Modified demons are now a bit snobby, requiring an additional success
    to recruit during negotiation.
  - Demons higher level than the player look down their nose (or equivalent
    organ) at them, and require one, or in extreme cases, two additional
    successes to recruit during negotiation.
  - Demons with movement abilities may use them during "chase me" capture
    quests.
  - Reduced the duration of many "kill X demons in Y turns" capture quests
    now that I see the fixes to make them more fair are definitely working.
    Further adjustment is possible.
  - Kasha and Ghoul now have penalties for failed capture attempts.


Balance
  - Demon modifiers are distributed a bit differently: they are applied more
    often to a single demon, but less often to a group of demons. However,
    the overall effect has been to moderately increase the total number of
    modifiers distributed by about 50%.
  - Demons can now be modified even on Tower:2, at slightly lower odds.
  - Dodge abilities have had the Dodge chance they give reduced slightly in
    most cases.
  - Most Heal abilities now have a range of 8, the maximum up from 7.
  - (Note: Buffs are the only other abilities with a range of 8, most others
     are 7 or less.)
  - Light and Dark cooldowns now inflict an equal cooldown of the opposite type
    instead of a double cooldown of the opposite type.
  - Duality now removes this penalty entirely instead of halving it.
  - Demon modifiers (Fiery, Holy, etc.) can now provide a much broader array
    of passive abilities to demons that receive them. However, most such
    modifiers will force an active ability on the recipent first if they do
    not already have one of the related element. This increases the availability
    of various passive abilities while also trying to prevent situations where
    a modifier gives 2 of those passives to a demon with no way to utilize them
    (i.e.: High Voltage and Bolt Chain on a demon with no Electricity abilities.)
  - Unconquerable and Juggernaut no longer trigger off of reactive ability damage.
  - Buff abilities, and Slash abilities that confer Buffs, have had their SP
    costs reduced.
  - Impact abilities that confer Debuffs have had their SP costs reduced.
  - Quiet Prayer now has a small chance of a random, extra effect.
  - Refresh is now a free action, with a 1 turn Cantrip cooldown.
  - Reshape is now a free action.
  - Combust is now a free action, with a 3 turn Cantrip cooldown.
  - Mass Punish no longer affects allies of the user.
  - Mass Agony no longer affects allies of the user.
  - Inquisition no longer affects allies of the user.
  - Reaper Omen no longer affects allies of the user.


AI
  - The AI is now significantly more reluctant to use healing abilities. This will
    probably need further adjustment, as I'm moving slowly on this to make sure I
    don't make allies too reluctant to heal the player. :P
  - Summoners now take cooldown usage into account when training their demons. It
    will be rare to see a demon receive a new ability that uses a cooldown it already
    uses.
  - The AI now shows greater preference for using free actions when available,
    especially if they cost 0 SP and have no cooldown, or just a Cantrip cooldown.


Character Creation
  - Vodun Mask has a new Fire primary option centered around Fire's unique
    methods of "smiting" enemies.


UI
  - Changed how invalid target areas for abilities appear when aiming them. I like
    the new method, but we'll see if anyone disagrees strongly.
  - The warnings you get for going through on a one-way trip through a portal
    are more serious if you are going to be losing access to a branch.


Bug Fixes
  - Abilities can no longer be aimed at solid walls.
  - Fixed some lingering circumstances that allowed double encounters to still
    occur a bit too often.
  - Fixed a bug that sometimes gave tooltips when mousing over portals the player
    had not actually found yet.
  - Fixed yet ANOTHER bug with Duality. Adria is probably the most bug ridden
    thing ever added to this game. On the flip side, she lives on Tower:16, so
    all these times I've ranted about her in the notes, most people reading likely
    have no idea what I'm talking about and never saw her anyway. :P
  - Fixed a few ability descriptions.