New item type: Satchels!
It's not a purse, sheesh!
Shout out to player Zanerus for the suggestion.
Satchels will appear in the silver rare chests in biomes 1-4 and the gold/red equipment chests in biomes 5-6. They are also available for purchase once you unlock either of the last two Accessories upgrades.
Any character can equip a satchel. The idea behind this equipment type is to give more versatility to all classes at the cost of a shield slot or an offhand weapon slot (you can purchase either the shield slot or the offhand weapon slot versions, or when you earn one in a chest you get the option of either version).
Each Satchel grants three entirely brand new skills (brand new to the game and to the character when they equip it). Each satchel has a 10RP, a 40RP, and a 90RP skill which slots in between the weapon skill RP costs.
Battle Satchel
10RP Barbed Wire - Single target Low attack that cannot miss. Not too much power, but it inflicts Tied Down status. This lets anyone remove a target's evasion or magic reflection (looking at you Banshees).
40RP Acid Vial - Single target attack that deals no damage but makes all attack types (High, Ranged, etc.) deal 50% more damage for 3 rounds. This stacks with already existing weaknesses, so it can be used to add a little weakness to whichever attack type you need or make an existing weakness even greater!
90RP Pepper Spray - Single target attack with no damage that has a 100% chance of inflicting Stun! The only skill in the game with a 100% chance of Stun. Remember some enemies have resistances to various status effects. 100% chance can still fail especially on mini bosses and bosses.
Support Satchel
10RP Adrenaline - Goes first in the round. Target has their agility multiplied by 2 for 3 rounds. A skill recommended by players in the discussions. The idea is to be able to make sure a character goes first in the round for a few turns as long as they don't have terrible Agility.
40RP Mana Leaf - Restores 50% of target's max MP and cures Head Injury.
90RP Dark Matter - Same effect as the Time Flux spell (All characters get an extra turn for the next round). Now you don't HAVE to have a Wizard in your party to TIme Flex (see what I did there) on your enemies.
Medic Satchel
10RP Vaccine - Same effect as the Inoculate spell (target resists almost all status effects for 5 rounds)
40RP Spirit Surge - Heal all allies equal to 5 times the user's magic resist.
90RP Mending Gas - Remove all Injury status effects from all allies. Also, allies gain 20% of their max HP per round for 10 rounds. This gives characters another way to get rid of pesky injuries and also sets up the Regenerate status effect.
Other Changes
Hard Mode
A previous nerf to attack and magic in hard mode went too far. Attack and Magic stat change was 33% less and now it is 30% less. It was hard to pierce enemies armor and magic resist and dragged battles out too long.
Ferocious Monsters
Ferocious monsters are still a bit too strong. Their offense was decreased in a pervious update. It is getting decreased again. The boost to ferocious monsters' attack and magic is now only 10% more.
Fewest Runs Win Achievements
The six achievements related to beating the game in as few runs as possible have been made a little easier. The change was made to both the 3 regular difficulty achievements and the 3 hard difficulty achievements.
Least Decades Win - Bronze - Win in 12 decades or less (it was 10)
Least Decades Win - Silver - Win in 7 decades or less (it was 6)
Least Decades Win - Gold - Win in 5 decades or less (it was 4)
Assassinate Skill on Bosses
A player pointed out the Assassinate skill will sometimes work on bosses. This wasn't the original plan/design for the skill, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Assassins have the issue of being less useful against bosses since they can't get a lucky insta-kill like they can with normal battles. Now the Assassinate skill has a chance of doing just that! The chances are lower than on regular enemies, but it is possible.
Willpower Buff
The Wizard skill Willpower now gives the user 25% of their max MP instead of 20%.
That's it! I am always striving to make the game as fun and balanced as possible. If you have any suggestions, hop in the discussions. If you have a moment, please review the game. It helps tremendously.
-Andrew Ryan Henke