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Brainwraith Genotype - Play as a psychic ghost!

Compatible with all other mods.

Adds a completely original, balanced, and lore-friendly genotype, in the form of brainwraiths - a disembodied brain and nervous system nestled within a psychically maintained body. Featuring 15 unique subtypes, its own tile, a custom starting area, a brand new ruin to explore, and also a new Barathrumite NPC.

Designed to expand on vanilla gameplay without disrupting balance or immersion; the brainwraith genotype is especially perfect for advanced players and those who enjoy mental mutations. Because that esper play style is so popular, I wanted to accomodate and expand on it while also introducing new drawbacks. There are no crazy cs files to riskily alter your game, everything is simple xml, so it is fine to use with any other mods.

Brainwraiths have very low starting physical attributes in exchange for better mental attributes. Due to their incorporeal nature, they suffer from slightly reduced HP growth, but gain new mutations twice as fast. This means they tend to be very weak, but quickly grow to be very capable. They are tricky to play, much more so than regular mutants. Players should be able to create cool psychic builds without using crazy tanking techniques to make themselves also nearly invulnerable. For example if you build your character right and play the Pygmy subtype, you can potentially begin with an Ego of 30(+7)!! At the expense of all your skills, attributes, and starting items, of course. Newcomers to ♥♥♥ may find themselves having a hard time surpassing the early game, and even then are likely to be hunted down by espers before they are prepared. Even just managing your inventory can be a struggle if you have low strength.

You will begin your game buried underneath a mysterious temple near Joppa. It has merchants, some loot to find, and a dungeon area populated with some easy monsters.


THE SUBTYPES
Because their bodies are purely psychic, it takes extreme dedication and profound experience for someone to learn how to become a brainwraith. There are many disciplines, divided into three sets of five subtypes.


Orthodox Techniques
Tried and true paths, usually pretty direct in their approach.

Disciple of Yillana, wanderer

• +2 Agility
  
• Pistol Proficiency
  
• Steady Hands (Pistols), Akimbo
  
• Wilderness Lore: Plains
  
• Wilderness Lore: Canyons

Disciple of Ukkuret, radiant

• +10 Heat Resist
  
• +2 Willpower
  
• Long Blade Proficiency
  
• Lunge, Dueling Stance
  
• Wilderness Lore: Ruins

Disciple of Sulagia, tempestuous

• +2 Strength
  
• Axe Proficiency
  
• Cleave, Charging Strike
  
• Block, Shield Slam
  
• Spry

Disciple of Mlaani, sunward

• +2 Toughness
  
• Cudgel Proficiency, Slam
  
• Shake It Off
  
• Conatus
  
• +200 reputation with birds

Disciple of the Orthoplex, eternal

• +2 Intelligence
  
• Short Blade Proficiency
  
• Tinker I, Disassemble, Reverse Engineer
  
• +100 reputation with Baetyls

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Forbidden Undertakings
More unusual disciplines which have been forgotten or rejected by the majority.

Anafatalist, who circumvents fate

• +1 Strength
  
• +1 Willpower
  
• Short Blade Proficiency
  
• Pointed Circle
  
• Juke
  
• Flurry

Sinew Harvester, the hungry ghost

• +1 Strength
  
• +1 Toughness
  
• Axe Proficiency
  
• Dismember, Decapitate
  
• Butchery
  
• Weathered

Arkecian Harmonist, equitable judge

• +1 Agility
  
• +1 Toughness
  
• Long Blade Proficiency
  
• Tactful
  
• Wilderness Lore: Jungle
  
• Wilderness Lore: Salt Marshes
  
• +200 reputation with tortoises

Arphonic Pupil, student of phantoms

• +1 Intelligence
  
• +1 Willpower
  
• Cudgel Proficiency
  
• Bludgeon
  
• Swift Reflexes, Jump
  
• Wilderness Lore: Salt Pans
  
• +100 reputation with highly entropic beings

Strange-Walker, who lurks

• +1 Agility
  
• +1 Intelligence
  
• Bow and Rifle Proficiency
  
• Steady Hands (Bow and Rifle), Suppressive Fire
  
• Wilderness Lore: Mountains
  
• +300 reputation with mollusks

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Primordial Paths
Degenerate ways of life, undisciplined and unrefined.

Stargazer

• -2 Agility
  
• +3 Ego
  
• Mind's Compass
  
• Trash Divining
  
• Berate
  
• +500 reputation with Barathrumites

Pacifist

• -2 Toughness
  
• +3 Ego
  
• Tactful
  
• Proselytize, Inspiring Presence
  
• +500 reputation with the villagers of Joppa

Wilder

• -2 Intelligence
  
• +3 Ego
  
• Axe Proficiency
  
• Poison Tolerance
  
• Longstrider
  
• Harvestry
  
• +500 reputation with apes

Ascetic

• +1 Ego
  
• Meditate, Fasting Way, Mind Over Body
  
• +500 reputation with hermits

Pygmy

• +4 Ego
  
• -1 All other Attributes

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MY TO-DO LIST
Mayyybe:

• Improved tile work
  
• Different tiles for each subtype
  
• Original weapons and/or items per subtype
  
• Dialogue, books, or other kinds of flavor text and items
  
• Create an alternate starting area nearby Joppa
  
• Brainwraith settlement with NPCs
  
• A small quest line?

MY WISH LIST
There were a few things I wanted to do with this mod, but couldn't; mostly due to limitations of the game, but also partly because I didn't want to touch any cs files and take the risks associated with that type of modding. This is what I would do if I could, and hopefully future updates allow for some of this stuff:

• Use the awesome hologram effect without it being locked to the caste_24 tile
  
• Add a new name generator
  
• Tie starting mutations to subclass rather than giving the player barely any points
  
• Restrict the brainwraith to mental mutations only
  
• Create a faction, so brainwraith NPCs may be friendly to you but hostile to others
  
• Ability to toggle your wraith form

I'm very interested in anything you guys might have to say about balance and gameplay, so please leave a note in the Discussions section if you have any thoughts.