The Remade Character Stats (Patreon)

(+Yonder of Disease sneak peek)

Hello there :). Today I'd like to break down the new stat system I made for the game and how it connects to combat and other gameplay mechanics.

The original stats were basically just the standard RPG Maker stats all such games usually come with, like Attack / Magic Attack / Defense / Magic Defense / etc. These work absolutely fine for most RPGs but are also very standard and vanilla ice cream looking. I always wanted something more unique for Domina.

Domina's entire theme is corruption. You are an average guy, picked at random and kept vague on purpose (so you can self-insert), forced down a path of darkness and impossible odds. The only reason you get a chance at success in the first place is because you steal and drink a potion brewed with the soul energy of the ones who came before you, by an evil demoness who craves power and destruction. The dark power that would go into her to amplify her abilities goes into you instead, and more so, you are then forced down a quest of breaking every demoness' magic seal and absorbing their evil and corruptive energies inside you. And the only other ally you have in this quest? The Goddess of Light, representing all that is good and pure, gets imprisoned and tormented by such a demoness mid-quest, slowly getting broken down and defiled until her mind starts to collapse. She then is forced to absorb the dark soul energy of her defeated sisters just to survive a broken time event, which really starts to push her personality down a darker path. Of course there are other examples of this in the game, such as the numerous past Champions you find, once brave and willing but now hopeless and surrendered, or the Lost who are corrupted and drained beyond repair. All this to say, Domina's theme is corruption and the descend into darkness, the road to hell that is paved with good intentions.

To nail this point further, I wanted the new character stats to be mental-based instead of physical. Your character doesn't get stronger in muscle in the span of a few hours or days, his capacity for Cruelty increases. His skin doesn't toughen because the plot said so, his Apathy amplifies to the point he doesn't care about the pain anymore. Becoming stronger means embracing corruption more and more, creating a monster out of yourself so you can finish the job and save your world. But at what cost?

New Stats Breakdown:

Max Health: Self-explained.

Max Stamina: Self-explained.

Cruelty: Replaces the old "Attack". Calculates physical damage output, physical critical hit chance and buffs most physical-based skills and weapon types.

Blasphemy: Replaces the old "M. Attack". Calculates magical damage output, magical critical hit chance and buffs most magic-based skills and weapon types.

Apathy: Replaces (and combines) both "Defense" and "M. Defense". Calculates damage mitigation, physical and magical.

Defiance: New stat. Calculates grapple resistance and break-out chance, decreases debuff duration and buffs "Counter" skills (aka damage reflection).

Feral Instinct: Replaces "Agility". Calculates turn order, actions per turn and buffs some speed-based skills and weapon types.

Doomsense: New stat. Calculates critical hit chance and Finisher moves (new battle mechanic, will explain in a combat breakdown post).

"Luck" is removed.

The old "Magicka" is replaced by Stamina. Stamina regenerates passively both in and out of combat, and you can buff the regeneration with skills, equipment, perks and potions. Both physical and magical skills cost Stamina. Magical skills additionally cost small amounts of Sanity. The lower your Sanity, the stronger your magical skills get, but they also get an increasing chance for unpredictable effects with every cast. When you are at 0 Sanity, magical skills cost no Sanity to cast and are 50% stronger, but have a significant chance to cause unpredictable effects, including ones that harm you. 0 Sanity can also affect physical skills to a lesser extent, sometimes causing your MC to disobey your commands and refuse to harm the Domina.

Speaking of Sanity, it replaces the old "Stress" meter. Reaching 0 Sanity no longer auto-enslaves you to the respective Domina, but opens up a dialogue option for you to devote yourself willingly. Low Sanity also changes your dialogue options to be more submissive and timid, which can actually have an effect on the plot and the fate of some characters. If you want to save your world, be righteous and protect the innocent, best keep your Sanity high!

Lastly, "Adrenaline" is replaced with Agony (not visible in the screenshots, it's now purple). This mechanic has received the least amount of changes, it's still a resource you generate during combat to spend on powerful moves. However, the longer the combat goes the faster this resource generates (both for you and the Domina), naturally leading to a slow combat start but a more and more wild combat end. Agony is also mainly generated from receiving damage instead of using skills.

I think that's all for now even though I am paranoid I am forgetting stuff. In the next post I'm going to talk about the new Injury system, which I am very excited about 😁.

Thank you for the read and cheers!