My fellow warriors, adventurers, zealots, mages, BATTLEMAGES, and sword-and-board melee toons, it’s time for another Trunk Update. We’ll hopefully be at feature freeze in the next few weeks to prepare for the upcoming release and tournament. More info on those last two will be posted when things are finalized. Until then, here’s what’s changed in the two months (!) since our last update:

New experimental Gnoll species:

species: They have a short attention span mutation. This means they have +4 in all aptitudes, but starting at skill level 7, their aptitude drops by 2 for each full skill level trained, until reaching skill level 12 where the aptitude remains at -6 from then on. You’re probably gonna wanna train a few different skills, pupper!



They have a strong nose mutation that allows them to sense nearby items up to 7 tiles away.



Fangs 1 mutation.



Only get +2 MR/level compared to the usual +3.



Gain one point of Str/Int/Dex randomly per 5 levels (in addition to the usual stat choice every 3 levels)



Normal XP/HP/MP values.



The design of this species is not yet finalized, and it could get major changes or be disabled for the 0.20 release while we work out the details.

Changes to Wu Jian :

: Whirlwind no longer has a chance to slow the monsters it affects. It’s no longer favorable to use this over your normal melee on nearly every monster.



Wall Jump can only be used when it would hit a monster adjacent to the landing site. Sorry, no more weird endless tunnel jumping; this isn’t (yet) a Megaman game!



Heaven On Earth has been renamed to Heavenly Storm to give a bit more clarity to what the ability does.



The god itself is going through some design overhaul, and may be disabled for the 0.20 release or otherwise get some big subsequent changes. Rest assured that we’re interested in getting some of Wu’s core concepts to work!

Tomb now uses one-way staircases, like escape hatches, but with pre-determined destinations. You’ll land at the familiar destinations in the various levels of Tomb, but with no immediate return staircase. Should you need to escape, you’ll have to find another one-way stair somewhere nearby. See this commit for some further details. The age of ><><>< in the Tomb of Ancients has come to an end, mortal!

now uses one-way staircases, like escape hatches, but with pre-determined destinations. You’ll land at the familiar destinations in the various levels of Tomb, but with no immediate return staircase. Should you need to escape, you’ll have to find another one-way stair somewhere nearby. See this commit for some further details. The age of ><><>< in the Tomb of Ancients has come to an end, mortal! Ijyb and Maurice now always have wands, instead of just having a higher chance of getting one. Ijyb now starts placement from D:3 instead of D:2. Watch out for those wands of acid, they hurt!

and now always have wands, instead of just having a higher chance of getting one. Ijyb now starts placement from D:3 instead of D:2. Watch out for those wands of acid, they hurt! Giant Spiked Club base delay lowered from 1.9 to 1.8, allowing them to reach min delay at skill 22 instead of skill 24.

base delay lowered from 1.9 to 1.8, allowing them to reach min delay at skill 22 instead of skill 24. Transporters are a new dungeon feature that act like stairs sending you somewhere else on the current level, taking adjacent followers and foes along with you. Currently a few new vaults and some existing ones like the Golubria WizLab use this feature, but look out for more transporter shenanigans to come!

are a new dungeon feature that act like stairs sending you somewhere else on the current level, taking adjacent followers and foes along with you. Currently a few new vaults and some existing ones like the Golubria WizLab use this feature, but look out for more transporter shenanigans to come! New Vaults:

An epic expansion of the_grid, a series of vaults that arrange a randomly chosen group of subvaults (taken from a varied and dangerous set) into a giant geometric arrangement, including one that can encompass an entire Depths level!



Also new is an elven bladeworks, a witch-hunting guild (watch out for anti-magic!), an orcish arena of gladiators, and an overgrown Lair chateau, among others.



For the new transporter feature, a set of loot vaults that show you the awaiting prizes should you transport in and survive the monster onslaught on the other side. Also a Zot-themed Abyssal rune vault that has you transport into a mini hall of Zot:5, but where you run through the vault in reverse to get to the Abyssal rune and reach the exit.

Captain’s Cutlass no longer chops off hydra heads.

no longer chops off hydra heads. Manuals are now always pre-identified. No sense delaying that wonderful feeling when your Dg finds a manual in a loot pile only to discover that it’s for Invocations.

are now always pre-identified. No sense delaying that wonderful feeling when your Dg finds a manual in a loot pile only to discover that it’s for Invocations. Alligators move even faster when using their Sprint ability. Australians, please don’t try to wrestle these! Also applies to Maurice and Gastronok.

move even faster when using their Sprint ability. Australians, please don’t try to wrestle these! Also applies to Maurice and Gastronok. Secret moon lore updated.

Stash Searches now by default hide distant items that are duplicate matches of weapons, armor, and ammo.

now by default hide distant items that are duplicate matches of weapons, armor, and ammo. An Equip Bar can enabled (currently for console only) via the equip_bar RC option, which displays a row of the console glyphs of your currently equipped items in place of the new noise bar. If you’ve already got a good sense of what makes loud noise AND you like to show off your artifact bling, this may be the option for you!

can enabled (currently for console only) via the equip_bar RC option, which displays a row of the console glyphs of your currently equipped items in place of the new noise bar. If you’ve already got a good sense of what makes loud noise AND you like to show off your artifact bling, this may be the option for you! Unrand renames: The Ring of Shaolin is now the Ring of Phasing, and the bow of Krishna “Shargna” is now the longbow “Zephyr”. No changes to the unrands’ properties, just to the names. The old names were direct references to a real-world place and to a religious figure, respectively, something we’d like to avoid. And no, Blork the Orc and Killer Klowns don’t count!

Thanks for reading, and as Dithmenos likes to say, “Spread the eternal night!”