What the actual ♥♥♥♥ is Laudanum used for.

[Dr. Alphys]

13+ hours in this game, still not a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clue as to what this ♥♥♥♥ does. It doesn't decrease my stress or get rid of afflictions, contrary to the items description, nor can it be used on any curios. I have zero clue what this bottle of liquid opiates is used for.

[Kaihlar]

Laudanium is a new thing added to counteract a newer status effect.

Enemies that used to just damage stress outright with aoe moves will now instead cause a debuff called "Horror" which causes stress DoT similar to blight or bleeding. Laudanum is the cure for this.

[Dr. Alphys]

Ah, I have yet to encounter this debuff, so that'd be why I'm confused. Thank you.

[Kiogen]

This is by far one of the most useless consumables in the vanilla game. There are 3 enemies (unless i am forgetting something from DD or one of the CC boss abilities) total in the ENTIRE GAME that cause Horror. Ghoul, Madman and the skeleton musician. Let's go over why you never should even bother buying Laudanum.

>Usage on curios
Non. Really. Entirely. As was stated above as of this post no curios in vanilla game interact with Laudanum

>Ghoul
His Howl was nerfed to deal DoT stress damage vs just stacking like 15-30 stress to the entire party. Since this thing will still scream constantly you'd thing it'd be a good idea to get some stuff to minimize the damage, right? No. He is pretty much guaranteed to hit the entire party anyway you'd need to use 4 bottles. So, you're likely to run out after one fight with the ghoul. You're far better off taking another stack of torches if you worry about stress, or a stress relief hero.

>Madman
They deserve a separate article. Their Accusation was changed to stack Horror instead of plain stress. Vaugely the only enemy against which Laudanum works "as intended". However they are so rare that prepping specifically for one is useless.

>Skeleton
Lovechild of both the above. If you run into one without either a stress relief hero or ability to instantly stunlock or pull and murder this thing you better hope your roll a lot of virtues. Laudanum useless against him for the same reason as above. only spawns in Cove too.

>Cost
Way above what little uses this medival crack gets.

Conclusion:
There are too little enemies that deal Horror damage to justify the sheer existance of this item and flat out non uses for Curios. Adding curios or even simply "using this out of combat would remove Horror from entire party" or "If character has no Horror on him he a -20% stress damage received buff" would put it on usability level with other supply items. For now? You're just wasting money.

[SergeTroy]

Have to agree with Kiogen's analysis from my own gameplay. One other factor which I don't think he mentions is that any new item will occupy an inventory slot, and inventory slots are currently considered a precious commodity in their own right. It's a reason I don't ever even both with most common trinkets as the trinket slots themselves may find a use during expeditions. If there was a Curio Interaction or some non combat use (either a buff that 'reduces stress X% for Y battle(s), or until camp,' or a simple one time stress heal by even so much as 5 or 10) it would be something I'd pick up, but as stands right now it's just another reference point to the periods that are called up by Poe and Lovecraft (and lots of others).

[𝓗𝓮𝓵𝓸]

It is too situational to be ever used. Usually you discard it to store gold before having a chance to use it.

You basically spend 150g to heal 8 stress. Not worth it. Hopefully they add some curios interaction or a stress heal effect to make it a better item.

[Angela™]

Originally posted by Raizemberg:

It is too situational to be ever used. Usually you discard it to store gold before having a chance to use it.

You basically spend 150g to heal 8 stress. Not worth it. Hopefully they add some curios interaction or a stress heal effect to make it a better item.

it removes the horror debuff. horror being an average of 3 per round for 3 rounds stress induced.

Here's the kicker though. Like most effects like bleed and blight, they stack, and increase in value over time. This is why you bring the stuff, for those scenarios, which are generally only bossfights, but if you do find yourself in that sitiation you'll be glad you brought it.

[SergeTroy]

Originally posted by Cyriel ᛭ᚲᛃᚱᛁᛖᛚ᛭:

Originally posted by Raizemberg:

It is too situational to be ever used. Usually you discard it to store gold before having a chance to use it.

You basically spend 150g to heal 8 stress. Not worth it. Hopefully they add some curios interaction or a stress heal effect to make it a better item.

it removes the horror debuff. horror being an average of 3 per round for 3 rounds stress induced.

Here's the kicker though. Like most effects like bleed and blight, they stack, and increase in value over time. This is why you bring the stuff, for those scenarios, which are generally only bossfights, but if you do find yourself in that sitiation you'll be glad you brought it.

I'd disagree that you can ever really be glad you brough Laudunum over any other provision. If horror-stress is becoming such an issue that you need Laudunum to manage it, then it's usually because you have a pretty big problem with any one or more of a few areas:

1. Party composition. Your party is just NOT good, because you brought the Usual Suspects to kick ass in the Weald or Warrens. Even better, they're equipped via quirks and trinkets for fighting the Unholy, rather than Eldritch, Beast and Humans.
   
2. Entering a regional dungeon where you have no stress healing, either in camps or via Jester, Hound Master, Crusader, or even Flagellant. The only real way to manage stress in those kind of circumstances is by having a grade-A combat team that finishes the fights before they get banged up too bad and relying on the dungeon's curios and traps for stress relief.
   
3. Not keeping your Adventurer's cleaned up of the worst quirks and diseases. Bringing a character with Satanophobia and the Worries into the Ruins or the Cove is nothing you deserve sympathy for.
   
4. Not using the Hamlet's stress relief options. The tavern and the abbey are both there to make sure you don't go back into a dungeon with afflicted heroes: Use them.

[Kiogen]

Originally posted by Cyriel ᛭ᚲᛃᚱᛁᛖᛚ᛭:

Here's the kicker though. Like most effects like bleed and blight, they stack, and increase in value over time. This is why you bring the stuff, for those scenarios, which are generally only bossfights, but if you do find yourself in that sitiation you'll be glad you brought it.

>They stack
If they do - you are doing it wrong. Ghoul takes up 2 slots and often spawns with only one other enemy. You can easily focus him down or stunlock him. Even if not - chances that he'll manage use Howl several times in a row are slim, assuming you're not doing it wrong. And even if he does you'll have a stack of roughly 20-28 stress over time on your whole party. And spending pretty much twice the amount of your normal embark money on a safeguard against something that has less than 5% chance of happening is...not a good idea.

Madmen only use the attack that stacks horror on a single character. If they manage to cast it enough times for it to become unmanageable - you are doing it wrong because come on, they should be dead/stunned within two turns.

Skeletons - Both of the above, as before. They are way more dangerous due to high AoE stress than that. They are also rather rare.

[Dr. Alphys]

I love that RIGHT AFTER I post this and find the answer, that I get into a fight with a ghoul and two Electric Jellyfish during an ambush versus my Heavy Metal party. The jellyfish were in the front, the ghoul in the back. The jellies stunlock my arbalist and my Man-at-Arms, so I can't attack the damn ghoul that's behind the jellies, and he hits me with his Howl four times in a row. My whole party died and I was unhappy to say the least. I lost my Ethereal Cross too.

[SergeTroy]

Originally posted by Traumatic Reverse Childbirth:

I love that RIGHT AFTER I post this and find the answer, that I get into a fight with a ghoul and two Electric Jellyfish during an ambush versus my Heavy Metal party. The jellyfish were in the front, the ghoul in the back. The jellies stunlock my arbalist and my Man-at-Arms, so I can't attack the damn ghoul that's behind the jellies, and he hits me with his Howl four times in a row. My whole party died and I was unhappy to say the least. I lost my Ethereal Cross too.

If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't really say the ethereal cross is one of my favorite trinkets. Increase eldritch damage and bleed resist for a 20% cut of your health? As with the many of the damage vs type trinkets, what you get vs what you give up just does not seem worth it. Still, a certain town event will trigger given enough time, that may give you the chance to get it back. Though by the time it does, you may already have it again via another expedition or purchase.

[No One]

Originally posted by Kiogen:

There are 3 enemies (unless i am forgetting something from DD or one of the CC boss abilities)

The dudes who drop CC invitations will toss an AOE horror if they live long enough to run away.

>Ghoul
His Howl was nerfed to deal DoT stress damage vs just stacking like 15-30 stress to the entire party.

Howl's base stress was 10. Each stack of the DoT totals 9, so less damage with more time to react.

Conclusion:
There are too little enemies that deal Horror damage to justify the sheer existance of this item and flat out non uses for Curios.

Even bandages and antivenoms are rarely useful. I do bandages for the cove crabs. If you're hunting champion Shamblers it's a good idea to bring a stack of each. Otherwise they're not worth the slot, let alone the cost. In other words laudanum fits right in. Plus the very term 'laudanum' is educational. It's not crack, it's heroin btw. Laudanum is unrefined opium.

[Kiogen]

How does it fit right in if it doesn't worth pretty much even existing, while other supplies have at least limited uses? Unless I'm misunderstanding your post of course.

And I was referencing ghouls doing stresscrits that would subsequently trigger "Oh, no, I got a scratch" reaction from the whole party several times over, as well as lowering the torch, which was extra hilarious if you rolled a ghoul with a witch or forest granny, who both also lower torch.

Edit: Also, it was never added to the dungeon droptables, so you can't even get it at random, unlike litearlly every other supply item aside from logs (and even that you can gain in CC)

[Regi]

Laudanum should be redone.
- A flat out powerful stress heal ( 30 points ) that also removes the horror status effect
Now you may think thats op but wait , theres more.
Laudanum was mainly used as an alternate drug to the expensive alcohol in lovecraft due to the opium it contained. What are opium's side effects ?I

Difficulty having a bowel movement (stool) ( move the hero 2 spaces to the left / right )
nausea ( - 10 accuracy , -10 dodge )
vomiting ( pass a turn )
Upon one time use this could be used as occasional debuffs
Overdosing however can result in
Anxiety
blurred vision
blue lips and fingernails
chest pain or discomfort
chills
cold sweats
coma
confusion
constricted, pinpoint, or small pupils (black part of eye)
cool, clammy skin
coughing that sometimes produces a pink frothy sputum
depression
difficult, fast, or noisy breathing, sometimes with wheezing
difficult or troubled breathing
difficulty sleeping
disorientation
dizziness, faintness, or lightheadedness when getting up from a lying or sitting position suddenly
drowsiness to profound coma
fast heartbeat
hallucination
headache
increased hunger
increased sweating
irregular, fast or slow, or shallow breathing
lethargy
lightheadedness
mood or other mental changes
nervousness
nightmares
no blood pressure or pulse
no muscle tone or movement
not breathing
pale or blue lips, fingernails, or skin
seizures
shakiness
shortness of breath
slow or irregular heartbeat
slurred speech
stopping of heart
swelling in legs and ankles
unconsciousness
unusual tiredness or weakness
And im too lazy to actually think of all the debuff's those listed above could cause but you get the idea.

[Kiogen]

Yes. But that would mean actually thought out and detailed mechanics. So. Another gamedev would be required, or expantion of the dev team. So. Nah. Not in this lifetime.

[𝓗𝓮𝓵𝓸]

I much rather spend a turn or two stress healing then hoping to have a horror stack to make use of it.