Hey everyone thanks for your feedback. I don't plan on changing the functionality of this mod but I would like to touch Winona's balance in the future. Here are a couple of changes I am considering; some changes I am not and the reasoning for them. (Keep in mind this would be for a seperate mod entirely and the functionality of this mod would not change.)


+50hp, hunger

The original intent of this was to give Winona unique stats; something I still would like to do. However an increase to both is a major buff and one that I feel warrants a nerf alongside it. I like the idea of extra hunger as it allows Winona to get a bit more value from meaty stews but I am reconsidering the health bonus. The hp bonus might not be as large or may be removed entirely but I have not yet decided. I like the idea of high stats as she is described as having an "indomitable spirit" but high stats would require downsides in other areas.

Hunger drains 10% faster.

Wigfrid and Wolfgang have a couple of unique traits in common; a high health pool and higher damage output; both of these characters also have a downside related to hunger. (50% faster drain and meat only diet.) While Webber also has additional health and hunger (+25hp to most characters.) he doesn't have a direct damage increase bonus and has downsides in other areas of his character. Giving Winona higher hp with no downside broke this trend as higher health for characters carries a notable downside as well. (Except for maybe WX78 with damage in the rain, preventable with clothing items..)

Faster hunger drain also interacts with an increased max hunger in interesting ways. Most characters lose their full 150 hunger in two days; Winona loses 165 hunger. With a max of 200 hunger Winona has 35 hunger remaining which allows her to survive slightly longer without food. In situations where Winona has ready access to food her increased max hunger is irrelevant and her hunger drain becomes a clear downside.

Winona gets less nutrition from Stale and Spoiled food.

This is similar to Wickerbottom's penalty. Multiple characters directly share bonuses (Wilson and Webbers beard, Wigfrid and Wolfgangs damage output and high health, Wes and Wendy's damage decrease.) so I don't feel it would be an innapropriate change. In addition to Winona's hunger draining faster she gets far less value from poor food; requiring players to carefully manage their food supply. This will punish players who do not and hunger management will become a major issue for Winona players should they not prepare. (10% faster overall drain along with less nutrition from Stale/Spoiled food will quickly kill unprepared players.) The stats are not final but here are some I am testing.

• Stale food gives 40% hunger. (From 67%.)
  
• Stale food gives 20% health. (From 33%.)
  
  
• Spoiled food gives 20% hunger. (From 50%.)
  
• Spoiled food gives 0% health. (From 0%.)

For a bit more perspective Wilson can eat a stale meaty stew giving him 107 hunger, Winona eats the same stew gaining 60 hunger. (Which drains 10% faster effectively giving her 54 hunger; nearly half of what other characters would gain.)

I feel these two hunger penalties are interesting and give a notable downside to playing Winona. Plenty of players feel her stats are too similar to Wilsons and she has no downside; these changes would change said perspective.

All Sanity auras are 15% less effective.

Despite getting a free hit from Charlie darkness drains sanity quickly limiting its application as players must deal with low sanity. This change would synergize well with her previous perk delaying sanity's effects and allowing players to better exploit said perk.

However this also has a drawback: all positive sanity sources are 15% less effective. (This includes clothing items.) While Winona will take longer to become insane it will also take longer for her to regain sanity. I feel this is interesting as Winona will take longer to become insane (She is a pretty level headed gal.) but she has a much harder time regaining sanity. Players may choose to ignore sanity as it takes longer for her to become insane but will be punished as it will be harder to become sane.

Winona can craft Shellmet and Snurtle Shell armor.

This is part of a seperate mod I am working on and the goal is to give uses to "useless" items (Such as stingers) to prevent them from being discarded on the ground. Items on the ground eventually cause performance issues and can make worlds lasting thousands of days entirely unplayable. I wanted to make these items craftable to aid servers but I feel it was unbalanced.

I feel this would be a good perk for Winona and would be a notable buff to her. Part of a mechanic I want to explore is armor repairing via sewing tape and I consider this part of its concept. "Repairing" the shell into functional armor is consistent with its potential use of mending armor. I view this as a start to armor repairing and would like to explore this concept further. Here are some numbers but they are not final and subject to change.

Shellmet

• 10 shell fragments
  
• 5 sewing tapes

Snurtle Shell Armor

• 18 shell fragments
  
• 10 sewing tapes

Winona deals 5% more damage.
This was reworked/scrapped and you can find more information in the next section.

Winona's attacks deal +10 damage but only hit for 90% of its total damage.

I wanted to give Winona a damage increase but make it unique from Wigfrid and Wolfgangs. One idea I had was giving her a flat +damage increase while overall hitting for 90% of its total damage. (A spear would do 34+ 10 damage x .9 equaling 39.6) I played with this concept in multiple ways (Such as 34 - 10 x 1.1). It was an interesting concept but did not work out well in game. I wanted to ensure that Wigfrid did more consistent damage that Winona and this mechanic was hard to balance. (A high + damage but X.9 would mean higher damage for weaker weapons and -10 but x1.1 would mean lower damage for weak weapons and higher for strong weapons.) The final concept was the title but it made walking canes a strong weapon while doing little for her overall damage output.

One strength of the games combat system is using "damage threshold" being carefully balanced around this. This system increased her damage but largely untouched damage thresholds. (A spear at 34 damage kills a 100 hp mob in 3 hits, Winona dealt 39.6 which kills a 100 hp mob in....3 hits.) In actual gameplay this perk felt like it didn't even exist. While Wigfrid and Wolfgang deal additional damage it is a flat percentage which does not ignore said damage threshold. (As lower tier weapons are +/- 25% damage of a spear. Cat o 9 tales deals 27.2 damage which kills a 100 hp mob in 4 hits, with Wigfrid it deals 34, the same as a spear, killing a 100 hp monster in 3 hits.) It was underwhelming and also caused some items with 0 damage to deal damage (Ice Staff, Sleep Dart.) which caused issues with these items design.

Finally I was unsure how to accurately describe this as it is a complicated mechanic compared to other damage multipliers in game. Ultimately I feel it best to scrap this as it was overly confusing, caused issues with other mechanics, and made negligible differences in Winona fighting monsters, something a damage related bonus (or nerf) should do.

Winona resists 5% of damage.

This was a perk added in this mod the purpose of being "for fun." (As it allowed Winona to survive a blast from gunpowder at full health.) Making valid balance decisions around "fun" is generally a poor design decision as many other more important reasons exist. (Such as using numbers/math, making clear design goals and executing them through decisions, etc.) This perk had no clear goal other than being a "fun" perk and ultimately would be a fairly useless and detrimental change to Winona. Mechanic scrapped.

Winona moves 5% faster.

The intent of this was to indirectly aid Winona in working. I couldn't easily implement a 15% increase to mining/logging and felt this would be a good alternative to aid her. Only one character in the game has a movement speed buff (wx) and all other characters do not; a 5% speed buff would disrupt players kiting and require players to get used to a different kiting pattern. Additionally making Winona compete with other characters in working would require major buffs as she would need to compete with wx78 for speed (+5% vs +50%) and Maxwell/Wooodie for logging. (Shadow minions and lucy/beaver.) I don't feel Winona can compete directly with these characters and a modest bonus would leave a muddled, watered down impression of her to other players. I want Winona to provide a distinct, unique experience and feel this would not accomplish that.


I don't plan on creating a serious balance mod for Winona as I feel it is still too early but I believe characters in DST should ultimately provide a unique experience and they do this through interactions of different mechanics in game. A lot of players have rightfully complained Winona is too similar to Wilson. I don't think this is a bad thing as she does technically provide a unique experience, even if said experience is extremely similar to Wilsons. Any future projects related to Winona may be more of a character overhaul depending on the communities perception of her.