super massive rework concept for Wormwood (2024)

Warning!
This post is giant. Seriously, it's huge. Only the toughest can fully read it.
I even made a tldr.

At the same time, i disagree with a lot of stuff in his design.
I find most of his skills useless, with only one viable build.
Maxwell is my favorite, cuz he has active abilities. Not all characters should have them, but WW definitely could.
And i simply wanted to imagine Wormwood as if he had some plant logic in the design.

This is a major rework which completely changes stuff.
If you don’t like these ideas, don’t worry - they probably won’t be implemented anyway.
I'm perfectly aware that what i'm suggesting is too much of a rework, for a character that doesn't need a rework.

So why i made this? Cuz i wanted to.
And this concept has a lot of interesting ideas to draw inspiration from.

TLDR is at the end.
I've spent quite some time thinking and refining, so i suggest reading the whole thing. But i also understand that it is just too big.

Part I -The current Wormwood, and what i don't like about him

1. I can’t enjoy his skins

Yes, that’s the number 1 problem, i'm not joking.
WW has some of the best skins in the game, but we can’t see them under most headwear.
If not for that, i would buy a bundle with all his skins. I play him a lot, but haven't even crafted any skin from spools, not to mention spending real money.

2. He is a living log factory

Considering how hard it is to obtain living logs in the early game without WW, i'd nerf this down. Poor Woodie tries so hard to spawn a treeguard, then crafts idols, then has to fight the treeguards. And WW just comes, makes 7 logs, goes to sleep and makes another 7, while Woodie cries in the corner.
Also, imagine chopping off your arm. Even if you can grow it back, It shouldn’t be so easy that you can do it 7 times in a row. Also, this regeneration is coming from a guy who has troubles with healing. Kinda illogical.

3. No healing from food makes no sense

I mean, plants are also organic, and regenerate their tissues kinda better than humans. If you want to make someone who is not healed by food, take a look at WX.
But i don’t want to simply allow Wormwood to heal from food. I think that he can be all about regeneration, and no flat healing at all.

Also, plants can’t eat food, because the nutrients in regular food are too complex, and they need to be broken down, in other words - rot. So again, if you want someone to eat spoiled/rotten food, it should be WW, not WX.
Guess, both those issues exist because WX was created long before Wormwood. WX should be the one not healing from food and crafting some repair kits to heal, not WW.

4. He is too strong in lategame

At first, yeah, no healing from food seems like caca.
But let’s look at post-rift stage:
- has honey poultice set up, and they don’t even spoil
- has same Brightshade gear as everyone
Plus:
- regen from compost wraps
- bonus movespeed from blooming
- bramble husk specialist aoe dps
- bramble trap specialist aoe dps
- vines from lunar guardian
- saladmanders from lunar cultivator

Isn’t that too much? All those pluses and zero downsides. WW doesn’t even have to choose between affinities, and can have both. Doesn’t even have to kill Fuelweaver to get all affinities.

5. Sanity gain and loss is broken

Wormwood is not afraid enough of violence towards plants. He can carry torches, he can set trees on fire and stay near them at night or to warm up.
Why only digging grass makes him sad, but not picking it? Picking grass to WW should be like ripping off a person's fingers.
WW can dig up a twig and replant it, gaining a net sanity increase. Dig and plant back the twig N times and you have full sanity. How does this make sense.

The only thing he should be comfortable with is gathering berries/veggies, because plants literally want those to be eaten.

6. Bramble trap

Traps sound great on paper, but in my 700+ hrs of DST i have never ever ever seen anyone build a single trap of any kind.
Traps are great if you are preparing an arena for the fight ahead, just like Winona does. But nobody plays Winona!
Apparently, spending a lot of time grinding resources and building is not interesting.
Traps are also consumable, which is worse than catapults.

As for Winona, i'm wondering if mobile catapults alone would save her. Moving them around will still be tiresome, and the grinding part remains.
There is a reason why engineers in all games can build their turrets on the go.

7.Bramble husk

Bramble husk is great now with the skill, even too great i’d say.
My issue with it is a bit different.
Originally the husk was clearly meant for reflecting damage. Which means you should receive that damage. Which is not good - reduced healing options for WW, plus the DS combat system, where people try to avoid damage entirely, and blooming speed bonus only helps with that.
So they decided to add offense to the husk via skill. This is a good fix to the initial flawed design.

I just wanted to explore the tank Wormwood, who facetanks a lot more than usual.

8. Compost wrap

Too expensive, no compost in the recipe. Had to make ipecaca to use an item from the base kit.

9. Mushrooms

Lunar mushrooms and sleep clouds - nice, no questions here.
But regular mushrooms? Why should i grow them faster or have higher yields?
Ipecaca doesn’t require mega mushroom farm, for food i have farms, for sanity i also have farms and planting/digging.

Growing mushrooms for my Wicker? Also, crafting lureplants to make sanity food for her? Wonderful, but how about the player benefiting the most of his abilities, and only then his teammates. Same goes for farms and no healing from food, by the way.
Also, why Wicker needs sanity food, when she can just craft books and be switched out for Maxwell.
Sorry, started talking about mushrooms, ended up listing “Klei moments”.

10. His farming could use improvements

AoE tending to plants via bloom is ok, but there are already many ways to do that without WW.
His biggest asset is not using the hoe, that’s why he is the number one pick for farmers. Now imagine Klei would add a way to till soil easier. What are we left with then? Planting random seeds outside of farm for some extra crops, slower plant rotting and identifying seeds after planting. Doesn’t sound too great for me.
I mean, Wicker is still better. But she can’t grow giants. So maybe let WW focus more on those giants? Make him the "easy mode" for farming, like Wendy is for fighting mobs.

Having plants planted by WW rot x1,5 slower can be a downside. I like to summon the fruit fly lord early, so that i can forget about tending. Also WW needs quite a lot of rot, and making it from crops could be a legit way.
In my rework i didn’t remove this "downside", but made a workaround.

Also, weeds are called weeds because they are useless, there was no need to add 4 different, 3 of which have actual uses. But if there are uses, why can’t we have easy and reliable weed farms?
If any character could grow fire nettles as an alternative to the thermal stone, it should be Wormwood. But he is immune to them.
Turning weeds into treasure could be WW’s thing.
Speaking of, tillweed salve needs a recipe rework to ever be used. I mean, even if we get tillweed seeds, 4 petals per craft is absurd.

11. Blooming

In WW’s kit blooming is like a “source of power” with a lot of features tied to it, it’s an enhanced state, which happens naturally in spring and can be induced with chemicals.
Klei’s blooming is not convenient to monitor, because hats don’t let us see Wormwood’s head, and the grass/flower effect around his feet can easily be overlooked. People even made mods to show the hidden blooming meter.

If i could see Wormwood's head, i'd be fine with current blooming. But i've added other stuff to manage, so blooming was made super easy.
I've tied it to Wormwood’s happiness (sanity). Like, to the human eye a blooming plant = a happy plant.

12. Speed bonus

Plants are known for standing in one place, yet WW has a speed bonus in his kit.
I mean, speed is always great in DST, but does it really make sense for this character?

I thought about keeping movespeed bonus through chemicals, but ended up removing it

13. Wetness

Not enough interaction with water and wetness, for a plant.

14. DST plants

Not enough interaction with plants of the DST world, especially compared to Hamlet.
Not attacked by lureplants? Nice, but without being able to open them like a chest to easily retrieve the things they have eaten, doesn’t change much. If you use it as base defense, other players might not appreciate it.
Not attacked by sea weeds? Great, but who uses them anyway. They still attack your friends, their loot is not worth it, hard to move them where you want them. One wrong move, and you are dead, and your boat destroyed.

Those plants could be useful, if WW somehow made them non-aggro towards all players, not just him. Or have another way to increase their usability.
Also, imagine having areas that are fully covered with lureplants / sea weeds. Being not attacked by them suddenly is a great plus, isn't it? This is exactly how it was in Hamlet, but in DST it’s next to useless.

15. Gardeneer hat

WW still needs the Gardeneer hat to research plants and access the plant registry.
You could say that registry is scientific stuff, but i mean Wormwood could "use feeling", and not break his farm immersion.

Part II -Skill bush, and why i don’t like it

I won’t go into detail about every skill, cuz this text is big enough already.

For me, only few skills are useful, the rest would never be picked if i wasn’t forced to. Specifically husk/trap specialist, shroom cloud, ipecaca, bee kind and affinities are worth taking - rest i can throw out of the window with no regrets.
I tried to make use of other skills, but for me WW has only one build, which sux.

Not enough farming bonuses in skills - most of them are in the base kit, and skills don’t try to specialize in that.
Spoiler alert - i didn’t add a whole farming branch like i wanted, and some of my farming buffs are also made through the base kit. In my defense, i had too much stuff to squeeze into the skill tree, while Klei could infuse the useless bloom branch with some farming stuff.

WW can pick both of the affinity branches, but other characters can’t.

He doesn’t have to face the Fuelweaver at all to unlock all affinities, why? Cuz he is lunar? Well, i've made a workaround for this, so that WW would be like everyone else.
Sorry, but i’ll never miss an opportunity to point out yet another flaw in the skill tree system.

Skill issues worth mentioning

Seed sleuth
I'd never spend a skill point on that if i wasn't forced to. The only time i’d like to know what the seed will grow into is BEFORE i plant it.
Also, to utilize it, we have either to hold Alt all the time, or constantly equip and unequip shovel - would be more logical to swap the functions of LMB and RMB for Wormwood.

I’ve been trying to figure out why Seed Sleuth exists in the first place, like why would we need this at all, and mandatory, unskippable.
And i understood - Seed Sleuth is an anagram.
By rearranging the letters we uncover the truth:

seed sleuth -> eeds usleth

Well, this explains everything. The riddle solved, you can remove this nonsense now, and let us identify the seeds before we plant them.

Plant crafting
Even if it didn’t have those absurd costs, plant crafting has no use for me, especially when there are skills like husk specialist and sleep cloud.
I saw some people praising plant crafting, but it is beyond my understanding.

Why lunar saplings? Like, if we want a “lunar base” for aesthetic purposes, we are missing lunar variants of other stuff, such as grass, berry bushes and so on.
Well, i kept this in skill tree, but the question remains.

How would plant crafting be useful for me:
a) ability to change the type of plants, like changing berry bush into juicy berry bush, and this only costs health (but you need the bush in your inventory to change it).

b) create a plant using resources from the same plant. So, to make a juicy berry farm, i won’t need a regular bush farm. Cuz if i have a regular bush farm, why do i need juicy.
Such multiplication could be balanced with absurd costs, like Klei did, but why? How is it so gamebreaking that it needs balancing. Wicker can have infinite harvests, Maxwell can chop and dig forests when others have to “recruit” bosses to do that. If people want a map covered with bushes, just let them have it.

The remaining issue with such skills is their expiration date. Like Woodie’s cane and helmet, or goose.
Sooner or later, those skills will be of no further use to the player, creating a “switch character” inside a character.
I think only that has to be balanced, to keep those skills relevant, and not plant crafting itself.

Shade plant
Shade plants have adapted to low-light, not the opposite. Want a summer-resistant skill - call it Tropical or Desert plant.

Photosynthesis
Still too weak after buff, not worth going for. By the way, photosynthesis has no relation to blooming.

Lunar cultivator II (aka light bugs)
While helpful, those bugs tend to die / get stuck too much to be reliable.

Part III -The rework itself -Base kit

Green thumb
- can plant seeds directly into the ground
- crops planted by WW take longer to rot
- WW has increased harvesting speed when harvesting edible plant produce (farms, bushes, lureplants, etc)
- has some new seeds to plant (more on that later)

Child of the Moon
- full moon causes the crystal in WW’s chest to glow, producing a small enlightenment aura and repelling shadow creatures
- Iridescent gem and Pure Brilliance can enhance WW’s abilities (more on that later)

Commentary: Perhaps, full moon should cause Enlightenment for all characters, despawn shadow creatures and prevent them from spawning. Idk, maybe there is a reason why it isn’t. I mean, technical reason, not just forgetting to adjust old mechanics to the new moon vs shadow lore.
Anyway, WW is closer related to the Moon than anyone else - he has a moon crystal in his chest, so i think at least he should have those effects.
Since WW deals a lot with enlightenment in my rework, i’d like him to have less screen effects without going into game options.

Plant metabolism
- Wormwood can’t eat regular food, only raw mushrooms and items from the fertilizer category: manure, bucket-o-poop, guano, rot, rotten egg, compost, growth formula bottle, spoiled fish/morsel, glommer goop, tree jam and compost wraps.

Commentary: Since all of the above is now food for WW, he will use eating animation instead of rubbing it in his chest. And since it has the “eat” option, it will be picked up by carrats.
In case someone doesn’t like to eat poop as WW - well, idk how eating poop is worse than rubbing it in your face and calling it “fertilize”. But if people would get disturbed seeing the “eat” option over poop, all of WW’s food can be labeled “fertilize”, and carrats could be trained to bring all items with that label.

- mushrooms don’t affect WW’s sanity and health

- non-fertilizer healing items have no effect on WW, including booster shots

- WW takes much less damage from bees

- no longer immune to the effect of Fire Nettles, but resistant to it

- resistant to grogginess effects

Big commentary: Let’s talk some biology. We, humans, absorb nutrients like this - the walls of the small intestine are lined with tiny finger-like projections called villi, which increase the surface area for absorption. We also can break down complex nutrients, which happens all the way from the mouth and down to guts.

Plants “eat” by absorbing nutrients with water through the roots, and they can’t break down complex nutrients, they need to “wait until food rots”. Btw, mushrooms help with that, among others.
WW has no roots, and has a mouth. But what organs does he have? To me it seems like his stomach is just a bag with root-like villi, similar to what we have - so he still needs to eat rot rather than human food.
I thought about skills that allow eating spoiled or stale food, but ditched that idea for an ipecaca buff (more about that in skills).

Klei’s Wormwood rubs poop/wrap into his chest and face, but i don’t think he can really absorb nutrients through his skin (or whatever he has). But i like the cute rubbing animation, and it’s a shame it gets cut in the Klei’s skill tree. I made the eating animation to be the default, cuz it’s shorter (and goes with my rework logic), but in skill tree you can pick the extended animation with that face rubbing to get more healing out of your items.

Also, natural toxins that are designed to work on animals, usually don’t work on plants. Like bee venom, or red mushrooms. And same goes for the healing items designed for humans.

Bloom
- tend radius increased a bit
- no longer increases movespeed and hunger drain
- no grass/flower effect under WW’s feet at stage 3
- no pollen effect at stage 3
- now depends on Sanity, instead of the hidden blooming meter
0-50 sanity = stage 0 (no blooming)
50-100 sanity = stage 1
100-150 sanity = stage 2
150-200 sanity = stage 3
- being under enlightenment rapidly decreases blooming stage to 0, regardless of stat value

Huge commentary: Blooming for real plants is like… making love, but neither my nor Klei’s system fully uses that.
With Klei’s system, transition between blooming stages is smoother, that’s a plus for me from the visual side of things. I mean, with my system there can be a situation where you dig and plant stuff, and quickly go between blooming stages back and forth. But it’s a minor thing.
Klei don’t show you the blooming meter, and hide WW’s head behind headgear, making blooming harder to track.

WW gets a speed boost, as if he is agitated (aroused?), and increased hunger drain, as a real plant would - cuz real plants need nutrients to grow flowers and then fruits or whatever.
Real plants also can’t “bloom in reverse”, like Klei did with WW.
Proper blooming would look like this: stage 0 - 3, then drop some petals and revert back to stage 0. Klei had some ideas with petals, but dropped them, probably cuz of skins, idk.

I've kept that blooming-in-reverse too, but explained it.
WW is not growing any fruits after flowers, and he switches back and forth between the blooming stages, which makes me think of blooming more like the Wormwood’s mood - that’s why i tied it to sanity.
With my system, bloomness is indeed the mood, so maintaining it will be much easier. This is a plus, because with my other concepts you’ll have more things to manage.
Also, by looking at WW you will know: if he’s blooming - he’s happy (has high sanity).

Losing a speed bonus is caca, but i don’t think Wormwood should have it in the first place, at least not by default. He is a plant, since when plants move fast? Should Wormwood be a character for exploration? I don’t think so. And in combat there is an alternative to speed - slowing your enemy, which is more fitting.
If speed buffs would stay, we could explore the whole “being high on chemicals” vibe which Klei’s bloomness gives. So that chemicals like nitre make WW agitated and skyrocket his mood (which leads to blooming, as a side effect) - but chemicals are also not healthy.

Chemicals
- Wormwood can eat raw nitre to restore a good chunk of sanity, but takes some damage
- a new recipe is added to WW’s crafting tab - Nitre Powder
- acid rain restores sanity

Comment: I’ve removed movespeed bonus from WW’s kit cuz i think WW has more than enough going on for him. But if that speed would remain, i’d rather move it from blooming to consuming chemicals, and from base kit to skill tree. I had in mind a skill called Nitre Boost (like nitro boost from racing), but ditched it.

Regrowth

One stack of Regrowth gives Wormwood a regeneration rate of 1 hp per second.
Those stacks are hidden, much like the current WW bloom meter.

How to get those stacks (each listed condition gives one stack):
1) you always have one natural stack, no matter what
2) being at 50% hunger and above
3) being at 50% wetness and above
4) being exposed to sunlight (except winter) or dwarf star
5) being at 150 sanity and above
6) being under the effect of enlightenment
7) eating fertilizers (they can give more that one stack)

Fertilizers are not conditions, but a temporary increase (see Nutrients).

Regrowth can regenerate max hp too (see Max hp increase).

Commentary: It may seem that 1 hp per second per stack is a lot. Even without fertilizers you can have 5 hp per second regen, and even more with them. At first i thought like 1 hp per 10 seconds. But:
1) Keep in mind that preparing some honey poultice gives you 30 hp regen per second, roughly speaking. But they don’t work on WW anymore, and there is no way he can now achieve such high healing rate as 30 hp per second.
2) WW now uses hp as a resource in combat (more on that later).
3) Summoned creatures decrease the amount of regen that WW has (see Lunar Cord).

Anyway, the exact numbers are found in playtesting, and this is just a concept.

Nutrients

Current nutrient system:
1. Compost nutrient heals over time (rot, rotten egg, compost)

2. Growth formula nutrient causes blooming (spoiled fish and growth formula)

3. Manure nutrient heals flat (manure, bucket-o-poop, guano)

4. Glommer’s goop, tree jam and compost wrap are combinations of all of the above

Commentary: this system is actually well done. I did some research on plant nutrients, and compost gives more nutrients but slowly (over time healing), manure gives nutrients faster (flat healing), and there indeed is such a thing as growth formula that can enhance blooming.
All fits, except that manure is often a part of compost, but manure can’t go into the in-game compost bin.
But this system doesn’t treat plant nutrients as food for WW, and i had some other mechanics reworked or added, so i had to change stuff here too.

Reworked nutrient system:
All nutrients restore Wormwood’s hunger.
Simple items like poop and rot are more like carrots - you won’t get much from them, they need to be combined into compost and other items, just like crock pot dishes.
Guano and bucket-o-poop are kinda like those corns and roasted potatoes.

Different items give different number of Regrowth stacks.
Those stacks are also given for different durations. Unlike the stacks mentioned in the Regrowth section, which have no timer but a condition.

1. Compost nutrient
Gives medium hunger.
Medium amount of Regrowth stacks, but they last long.

2. Growth formula nutrient
Gives the least hunger.
Adds bonus max hp (see Max hp increase).
Growth formula items also restore some sanity, because they have chemicals similar to nitre.

3. Manure nutrient
Gives the most hunger.
Adds most Regrowth stacks, but for a very short duration.

4. Multinutrient items are same, combinations of the above.

I don’t want to get into specific numbers, at the moment i find it unnecessary work.

How stacking works
The regen values don’t stack, only the highest one is taken.
Timers don’t stack too, they work separately.

Without specific numbers it’s kinda hard to explain. So let’s assume that rot gives you 2 stacks for 10 seconds, and poop gives 5 stacks for 3 seconds. Those numbers are purely random.
Example:
1) Let’s say you ate a poop and immediately followed up with rot.
For 3 seconds you will have 5 Regrowth stacks, and for the next 7 seconds you will have 2 stacks.
2) You ate rot, then 5 seconds later ate a poop.
For 5 seconds you will have 2 stacks, then for 3 seconds 5 stacks, then for the remaining 2 seconds 2 stacks again.

Max hp increase and regeneration

Regrowth can regenerate max hp, as mentioned above.
If current max hp is reached, but it is below 150, Regrowth starts to regenerate max hp as well. In this case the regen per second value is cut in half - half goes to restore max hp, half to fill it with regular hp. So, if you took damage, heal as you please. But if your max hp took damage, it’s not that easy.

Each item from the growth formula category adds some max hp, the amount depends on the item, and it stacks. Maximum bonus is +20, so you can have 170 total hp.
This bonus hp does not disappear, but it doesn’t “set” your max hp to a higher amount - your regeneration from Regrowth will only regenerate your hp up to the initial 150, and not above. If you’ve lost any bonus max hp that were above 150, you’ll have to get them back by eating another growth formula item.

Having the bramble husk, WW should be kinda tanky and not afraid to take some damage. Not only that, but in my concept WW also uses hp and max hp as a resource.

Lunar Cord

This is like Regrowth, but negative, giving Wormwood -1 hp regen per second per stack.
Those stacks are applied when WW creates lifeforms using the lunar energy. Such lifeforms are connected to Wormwood by invisible “umbilical cords” of lunar energy.
If WW has 30% hp or less, he can’t create or summon those creatures. Any existing ones die or get unsummoned.

Feeling thirsty
- wetness meter is always visible, acting as “thirst”. If at 0, Wormwood takes sanity/hp damage. At first, damage is very low, and you can still have positive sanity/hp regen, if other conditions are fulfilled. But the longer you stay without water, the worse it gets.
- WW dries off a bit faster than other characters. But in winter it’s vice versa.
- hand-held items become slippery at 70+ wetness, as opposed to 35+ for other characters
- WW can be watered by using the watering can on him, restoring 25 wetness. This can be done by Wormwood himself (with a special animation), or by other players. If watered and below 70 wetness, WW makes a cute happy face, if above 70 - indicates that he had enough. Also makes a sad face when wetness is low or 0.

Wormwood is already one of the cutest characters, and all that farming to give you food and breaking his arms to give you living logs only makes people love him more. I often saw people call him Wormy, Wormie and so on, other characters don’t get such treatment. Now imagine that you can also water your Wormie after he broke his hands for you. Cuteness over 9000.

Seasonal changes

As a plant, Wormwood imo should be affected by the DST seasons more than anyone.
Autumn
hunger/wetness drain - default
sanity - default
natural Regrowth stack (hp regen) -default

Winter
hunger/wetness drain - less
sanity - drain
natural Regrowth stack - removed

Spring
hunger/wetness drain - more
sanity - rapid gain
natural Regrowth stack - +1

Summer
hunger/wetness drain - most
sanity - slower drain
natural Regrowth stack -default

Happy tree friend
- is not attacked by Lureplans, Sea Weeds, Spiny Bindweed
- enjoys taking care of plants, does not like violence towards them (see sanity effects)
- can “ask” trees for wood

Asking for wood
Hovering the mouse over a tree shows an “Ask for wood” option for right-click.
Doing so, Wormwood will perform a short animation, and gain some wood and other produce, depending on the tree and its growth stage. This makes the tree go to its previous growth stage. Doesn’t work on trees in first and last growth stage, and has a cooldown for each tree.
Quite inefficient compared to chopping, but 100% Greenpeace approved.

Fire bad!
- Wormwood takes increased fire damage, burns longer
- is afraid of any regular hot fire, including torches and fireballs, but not dwarf stars (see sanity effects)

Sanity effects

Sanity damage - flat:
- uprooting any plant or stump
- chopping trees
- picking flowers / grass / twigs. Picking twigs/grass is like ripping off someone’s fingers.
- setting a plant on fire
- using plant-related stuff as fuel
- seeing any of the above being done
- taking fire damage

Sanity damage - drain:
- being near an open fire, including torch. Sanity drain depends on the size of fire, number of fires, and proximity. Dwarf star does not count, but Fireball counts.
Drain rate should be big enough to not be ignored. I mean, would you hold a burning torn-off human hand to light your way? Or warm yourself by the cozy pile of smoldering corpses.
- having plant-related materials in inventory, the more materials the stronger the drain.
- having any axe equipped.

Sanity gain - flat:
- planting any plant - sanity gain matches the sanity loss from digging, no net positive by digging and replanting.
- tending any plant. Tending via bloom gives very little, manual tending gives a bit more.
- directly recovering a plant from withering (like with a watering can)
- watering/fertilizing a farm tile. Sanity gain depends on how much wetness/nutrients you’ve added, so if it’s full you get nothing.
- fertilizing a replanted plant
- eating raw nitre, nitre powder, items containing growth formula nutrient

Sanity gain - regeneration:
- being exposed to sunlight (except winter) or dwarf star
- having more than 25 wetness
- being under the effect of Enlightenment

Mushroom symbiosis - Light

As you’ve probably noticed, Wormwood doesn’t like torches. Nothing stops you from getting a lantern, but there is another way.
WW can eat a raw R/G/B-mushroom to release a spore emitting light of the same color. The spore will follow Wormwood for a limited time. It has around same speed as the player without buffs, light is a bit dimmer than a torch, but you can have 3 spores following you at the same time. They don’t circle around you perfectly like light bugs, but have more unpredictable movement. They also can’t be killed, but can be caught with a bug net and become a regular spore.

What about light bugs from affinity? Idk, i don’t like them that much. They give broader and brighter light, but they die and get stuck too much. And with the current skill tree, if you take salamanders and both brightshade affinities (which you probably do), you won’t have a spare skill point to pick light bugs anyway. I guess they could exist as an option, just as they do now. Also, they won’t require a supply of mushrooms, like the mechanic above.

Side note: there is an emphasis on the word symbiosis. Wormwood is a plant, plants and mushrooms are not the same, though it’s a common thing for them to be in symbiotic relationships. WW has mushroom skins, same as Webber has Batilisk skin - doesn’t mean Webber can now befriend batilisks. That’s why i didn’t think of major “mushroomy” skills.

The head

Wormwood has his head equipment slot locked and permanently occupied by… his head.
Yes, this is his main downside now - not being able to equip head slot items. You can imagine what you are missing out on - armor, special effects, insulation, sanity regeneration.
But it’s not that bad, my rework has some ways to compensate. Also, when was the last time you used body slots for insulation? I know i don’t use it most of the time. Well, time to remember how that feels.

So, what does this head do?
1) allows to see all Wormwood skins in all their glory.

2) has some built-in armor, like 30%. Not much, and it won’t share the damage with your body armor, like helmets do. But there will be no more cases where you are completely without armor.

3) allows to identify seeds

4) has some inventory slots to store seeds, including new special seeds (more on that later)

5) right-clicking on it opens a radial command menu, which is the latest fashion nowadays.

Identifying seeds

As i’ve mentioned, seed sleuth = eeds usleth, because the only time we really want to know what the seed will grow into is before we plant it.
You can take regular seeds and “feed” them to your head in the headgear slot. This will consume the seed, roll the farming dice, and spit out the specific crop or weed seed. Just like feeding stuff to the bird.

Weed seeds
They have to be a thing!
And there could be more ways to acquire them, like a chance to get a seed upon digging out the weed. Picking up manure could have a chance to also give you weed seeds.
Planted outside of the farm tile, in some time they will just turn into rot, because they need the farm tile nutrients to parasite on.
Same goes for the Sea Sprout Starter. It should be planted just like any other seed. The thing is, if it is planted into the ground, and not on a sea stack - it will also turn into rot in some time.

The head commands

1) open the Plant Registry
First click on a farm plant with LMB adds it to the registry, if not yet added.

2) cast Bramble Trap
Yes, it’s now not an object, but a spell.

3) cast Growth Surge

4) despawn all summoned creatures

Bramble trap

Cost - 30 hp
You take that damage, and perform casting animation. In the target area a zone appears, full of tangled vines covered in pointy spikes. The vines are quite low to the ground, not visually blocking even a spider.
All non-friendlies in the area are slowed and take some damage each second.
The area doesn’t last long.
If bramble trap is used again, the previously created zone disappears.
The cast animation can be interrupted, and hp cost would be wasted. But if vines are sent off to the target area, they will reach it and create the zone no matter what.

Comment: Why such a change, compared to the current trap?
Spending hours to grind resources, making a pile of explosive barrels under a boss, and then killing him in seconds with those barrels is a fun thing to do, once. But adding such mechanics to a character’s kit and prompting to do it every time - i think it’s a bad decision. Also, hi, Winona. I wonder if the ability to move your 99 catapults around will solve this issue for you completely. Or we will see another re-rework, where Winona would be making turrets on-the-go, like in most games.
So, the bramble trap spell can’t compare to a field of regular bramble traps with a Specialist skill, but it’s something that you will use all the time and won’t get tired, that’s for sure.

Growth Surge

Cost - 30 hp
Same thing with animation and cast that can be interrupted.
It creates a small AoE, but this time it is used only to ease the targeting - only one plant in the zone is affected.
Can be used on any plant.
After a short delay, the affected plant advances to the next growth stage. Not to max stage, like Wicker does, but to the next stage, meaning that fully grown farm plants will rot if surge is used on them.

By the way, the next stage after rotten for a non-giant crop is growing back, but this new plant can’t become giant. For giants, rotten is the final stage, no reverting back.
Farm plants affected by growth surge follow their farm plot rules as usual. Since you advance them only one stage, this way you can make sure that they grow into giants.

Transplanted plants (grass, twigs, bushes, etc) will ripen, but have their harvest count reduced, which means they will require re-fertilization sooner. Using growth surge on a natural plant will make it count as transplanted. Plants that don’t have transplanted form (like reeds), will never wither.

Using on a Lureplant will make it grow leafy meat and some (all?) Eyeplants.
Using on a Sea Weed will make it grow Barnacles.
Should it work on Knobbly trees? probably not.
If growth to the next stage requires some special condition (like applying tree jam), nothing happens.
Different plants have different priority for becoming the target of the effect, if multiple plants are in the AoE.

Special seeds

Certain planted seeds are affected in a special way by the growth surge.

Spiny Bindweed
If WW uses Growth Surge on planted bindweed seed, it grows into the Spiny Tangleweed.
This badass bindweed is bigger, has a face and a very serious expression on it, like it means business. It cares about any plant being hurt in its vicinity. If you harvest any item from any plant (pick grass/twigs/flowers/bushes/crops/etc), if you burn or dig a plant - you get the bindweed effect.
Wormwood is not only immune to this, he is a plant himself - so hurting WW near the tangleweed would also trigger it onto the attacker.
The tangleweed should have limitations though. For example, it could have hp, which is damaged by triggering those binding roots. So, taking a few hits, or triggering a few times, and goodbye weed.
Ironically, tangleweed does not defend itself. But two tangleweeds will defend each other.

Sea weed
If Wormwood uses Growth Surge on the sea sprout starter planted into the ground, it grows into a Baby Sea Weed.
This baby seaweed acts as a turret, firing small seedshells in a straight line. But it’s just a baby, so it won’t attack on its own. It will only mimic its “daddy” (the WW who used growth surge), and shoot the target that WW has hit. It will try to shoot after every WW attack, but it has slower attack speed than Wormwood..
Baby seaweed will soon die and turn to rot because it is not adapted to life on land. Should it have hp and be killable? I don’t think so.

Baby sea weed is real, datamined in Klei’s files (see picture). It was posted here by @-Variant
Idk its true purpose or name, but it fits right into my concept.

Crafting tab

It’s time for Wormwood to pay the real price for his crafts. I mean, it shouldn’t be as easy as chopping off your hand 7 times in a row, going to sleep and being fine. You should feel that you are ripping out a part of yourself.
So, all WW crafts will cost max hp instead of regular hp, and most costs will increase.
Well, it’s not that scary, since WW can now regenerate max hp, but keep in mind that regenerating max hp is twice slower.

Living log
100 max hp to make.
Yes, you heard right. Stop chopping off your arms like it’s nothing!
Also, stop abusing WW for your dark swords and whatnot. Respect his sacrifice.
And finally, let Woodie use those tree idols not only for cheesing bosses.

Compost wrap
I recently fought for changing compost’s wrap recipe to include compost instead of nitre. Because it’s called compost, and because i don’t like nitre, which can’t be moved closer to base. Also, according to Klei nutrients, compost heals over time (like compost wrap does), but compost wrap requires more manure than compost nutrient. In other words, it’s complicated.

There could be a Gourmet Compost Wrap:
1 compost, 1 spoiled fish and 2 guano
Same effects as regular wrap, but better.
It could be the new WW’s favorite food, since he can’t eat bananas anymore.

Since wraps are now food, WW eats them, instead of rubbing into his chest or face.

Nitre powder
The new addition for good mood addiction.
It could be simply made from nitre, or require stone too, to “crush the nitre”.

Bramble trap
Is now a spell.

Bramble husk
- no more AoE shooting spikes
- the attacker receives % of his damage back
- increased durability (hp of the armor)

Comment: I like those shooting spikes, even though they are kinda too good, especially with Husk Specialist. I just wanted to rework husk into its initial logic - plant spikes hurt you as you touch them, they are not fired at you.
Damage reflection will make husk more potent against bosses, but less potent against hordes. Though the new bramble trap makes up for that.

Fire nettle suit
- has freshness instead of durability
- deals some fire damage to the attacker
- wearing it greatly increases your temperature
- gives resistance to fire and burning
- has small heat aura
- is hot enough to heat thermal stones and make Saladmanders ripen
- perishables in inventory spoil faster

Comment: Since WW is resistant to Fire Nettles and won’t get overheating, the suit is the best winter item for him. Even more so, cuz it could potentially replace thermal stone completely, freeing up a slot. Not recommended for others though, except Willow maybe.

Part IV -Skill tree

Overview

With the current system, where you gradually progress through the tree only once per character, i don’t think skills should be designed like “do smth a little bit better” and “do smth much better”. You will feel that steady increase only once, after that you will always have everything unlocked.

It’s fine when those “something I”, II, III, XVIII have the same name, but different functionalities. But when functionality is also the same, it feels like Klei have more skill slots than they have ideas, so they just stretch things across multiple slots - whether indeed due to lack of ideas, or intentional design.
For me, paying for +10% increase is meh. I think each skill should be more meaningfull, adding new functions as much as possible. So that every point feels like a worthy investment.

Working with WW skill tree was a pain, i had to try to squeeze my million ideas into the given number of skill slots, and also i felt obliged to keep as much of Klei’s skills as possible. Btw ended up with moving summons out of lunar affinity.

Affinities

This was the most pain to deal with, i will list all the problems again:

1. WW doesn’t have to kill FW and has no use for shadow rifts. Why others have to kill both bosses? I even thought about an evil shadow stump that WW could become, bathing in acid rain and stuff, but i decided not to go that way.

2. Are affinities late game or early game? Why all skills you can have on day 1, yet some of them you can only use post-rifts? It would be much easier to have a uniformed system, and not treat every character as an exception.
WW clearly has one affinity for early game, and one for late. I think that all affinities should be both early and late. Even better - cut post-rift planar stuff entirely from skill trees and tie it to post-rift crafts. And those affinity branches turn into regular branches, thus offering more skills and builds for all characters.
Well, i didn’t cut planar stuff, but i’d love to.

3. WW can have (almost) all affinity skills at once. Well, all the meaningful skills at once he can have. Doesn’t even choose between salamanders and brightshade vines. Yet other characters can’t do that.
So i came up with a choice and actual difference between affinities, though they are both lunar. Had to make some lore extensions though.

Branches

I drew this in MS Paint. Idk how to draw with a mouse, and my last drawing with pen was like 10 years ago.

In case you didn't recognize - it's the flower from Wormwood's head.

Symbiosis
This branch is about being friends with non-plants.

1. Symbiotic growth
- allows to use Growth Surge on mushroom planters
- planting a mushroom yields 6 mushrooms at final stage
- planting a spore yields 8 mushrooms at final stage

2. Belly aid
- learn to craft syrup of ipecaca
- WW can drink it to spoil every perishable in inventory by some amount

Comment: Ipecaca was created with pooping in mind, hence the name, and i kinda like it - sounds silly and funny. But is this Wilson who made it or Wormwood? Why is it in a glass vial, and harms other creatures?
My idea is that since fungi turn food into rot, making it edible for plants, WW makes a syrup with exactly such effect. And causing explosive diarrhea in non-plants is just a side-effect.
So, innocent “belly aid” gains a darker sense for poor beefalos and pigs.

3. Moon shroom cloud
- unchanged

Comment: I’d argue that lunar mushrooms should be planted by anyone.
Also i’d rather make some exploding spores stuff for WW, especially since in my rework he can’t wear mushroom hats. And those spores are more signature than sleep. But i guess it’s fine enough as it is.

4. Potent spores
- spores produced by WW after eating mushrooms turn into Potent Spores
- potent spores live longer and have greater light radius
- WW can plant potent spores like seeds. Planting on the surface makes a regular mushroom, planting in caves produces a mush tree.

5. Spore pollen
- when in full bloom, release special pollen enhanced by mushroom spores. Gain the pollen visual effect which WW currently has in full bloom
- with the pollen active, bees and butterflies are friendly unless provoked, they fly to WW and often sit near him
- with the pollen active, friendly fruit fly forgets about plants, and instead sings to WW, restoring sanity. If WW has max sanity, fly restores it for the nearby player with lowest sanity. With no sanity to restore, fly switches back to plants.

Alteration
Use the power of Alter to transform things.

Comment: Doesn’t require affinity, because it’s not that strong - Wormwood’s lunar origin gives enough power for that. Also, it has nothing to do with Wagstaff. Also, i believe that affinity is mostly for planar staff, and here is nothing planar.

- all of the below are crafting recipes, requiring the base object and some hp cost
- all summons apply stacks of Lunar Cord (-1 hp regen per second per stack), amount depending on the summoned creature (see Lunar Cord).
- all summons regenerate hp (they draw energy from you). Saladmanders sleep if they have nothing to do, increasing that regen (no extra lunar cord stacks).

6. Alteration, lesser
- learn to turn carrot into Carrat
- light bulb into Bulbous Lightbug

7. Alteration, intermediate
- learn to turn grass tuft + cut grass into Grass Gekko
- dragon fruits into Saladmanders
Those saladmanders are regular-sized and can ripen. Wearing a Fire Nettle Suit is advised to help them ripen and also to protect from their fire attack.
Only one saladmander at a time will be your follower - the winner of the “hissing fight”. Others will just be neutral, won’t help you or each other in a fight (but still apply lunar cord stacks to you).
Saladmanders are very territorial and don’t tolerate each other. Right, Klei? Stop breaking your own rules already.
Should they be smaller and weaker than natural ones? Idk, only playtesting can tell that.

8. Alteration, greater
- turn grass + twig + leafy meat into Grass Gator
- naturally spawning gators don’t run away from WW, created ones follow
- WW can ride the grass gators he created

Grass Gator riding and behavior
Pluses - gators can swim, no saddle, no taming, no obedience and no bucking off timer.
Minuses - gators behave like Woby when it comes to fighting, they move slower on land, and being away from water will soon kill them.
They don’t try to follow you on land. Instead, they are “parked” on the shore - when you go away they will jump into water, but when you approach they will jump back to shore so you can ride them again. If you get too far or don’t come back for a long time, they die.
They don’t require food, but feeding them Figs will temporarily increase their swimming speed.

9. Alteration, lunar
- learn to turn sapling into lunar sapling
- R/G/B mushroom into lunar mushroom
- butterfly into lunar moth. Lunar moth does not count as summon and doesn’t follow WW.

10. Animalteration master
- all your animal-based summons have more hp and apply less Lunar Cord stacks, but not less than 1

Comment: I didn’t make exact numbers for lunar cord stacks, but it should be impossible to have 4 carrats, 6 lightbugs and 2 salamanders all at once and for a long time. But now you can have a certain number of summons forever, as long as your regen matches their upkeep cost.

I thought about adding some progression, like one skill giving you small saladmanders that can’t ripen, and next giving you proper ones. But why? You’ll feel that progression only once, and if you already have all affinity points - never.

In such cases, when skills have the same name, but different functions, i don’t mind them being Alteration I, II, and so on. Just gave some d&d vibe for lulz.

Should WW be able to assume control over wild plantanimals? I don’t think so, they should be created by him to give a damn about his will.

Adaptation
Learn to adapt to harsh conditions, and teach it to your delicate farm friends.

11. Resilience
- seasonal penalties on WW are lower
- built-in head armor rating is higher
- gain small summer and winter insulation

12. Desert plant
- gain more summer insulation
- negate all summer seasonal penalties
- dry slower

13. Seasoned farmer
- all crops treat all seasons as their favorite (no growth speed penalties and no stress for wrong season). Taking this skill makes special marks in the plant registry to indicate that.
- substantially increase tending radius. Any other tending effects benefit from this.

14. Compost care
- applying compost items now has extended animation with rubbing them into chest and face (without this skill it’s just the quick eating animation)
- compost items give more Regrowth stacks, and those stacks last longer

15. Healthy growth
- gain +20 max hp, which overrides the default value for Regrowth
- maximum bonus max hp given by growth formula items is now +30

Making friends
aka Plant Crafting. Allows to make friends. Literally.

Current plant crafting problems:
1) Totally useless for me and most players. I’ve never seen a single WW on public server taking this. There is no way i would take it over bramble husk specialist and sleep cloud.

2) Ridiculous costs. I mean, Willow is spared the walk to ruins, isn’t she? Why can’t WW be spared making one bush farm to get another bush farm, or numerous trips to swamp/quay/ruins. If people want those bushes, just let them have it, It’s not that gamebreaking.

3) A “switch skill”. Once you have the desired amount of bushes, skill branch loses all value.

My solutions:
1&2) Reworked the recipes to allow easier multiplication of plants - i doubt that it is so gamebreaking. It’s just an easy mode for resource transplanting, just as Wendy or Wigfrid are easy mode for fighting.
Wouldn’t WW rather hurt himself to create new plants than digging them up?
Also, since in my rework WW can’t heal with honey poultice, the monkeytails value is greatly reduced.

3) When created by WW, plants that require fertilization have their harvest count reduced, which means they will require re-fertilization sooner. And the last skill in branch deals with that.

I didn’t completely solve all issues, but now plant crafting is at least worth taking for me.

All the following crafts has similar recipe, which is kinda duplication rather than creation:

1 plant_root + X plant_produce + Y max_hp = 2 plant_root
both x and y imo should be rather small

16. Dry friends
Allows to create
- grass tuft
- sapling
- twiggy tree cone
- pine cone

17. Juicy friends
Create
- berry bush
- leafy berry bush
- juicy berry bush
- birchnut
- lureplant

18. Cheer up, friends!
- while in full bloom (sanity 150+), WW tends to nearby withered plants, re-fertilizing them

19. Wet friends
Create
- kelp stalk
- seaweed sprout starter

Affinities

Moon caller
“With big shadow gone, night ball shines brighter” - that’s what Wormwood could say.

Comment: Despite the name, there is no synergy with the staff. I thought about it, but decided that WW should use the iridescent gem without attaching it to a dead ripped-off hand of a friend.
This branch came up when i was thinking about WW having to kill FW like the rest of the crew. And what is the most lunar thing underground? Iridescent gem.

Unlock requirements:
- find and defeat theAncient Fuelweaver
- have no points in Brightshade Vineguard affinity
- learn N skills... but why? Don't see point of having other requirement than killing the boss

21. Power of the moon
- learn to craft Iridescent Core
- Growth Surge affects one extra target
- Growth Surge gains various effects depending on the target
- Iridescent core: Growth Surge has a new effect when cast on self

Iridescent core - a gem made out of iridescent gem and pure brilliance.
Ideally it should replace the crystal that Wormwood has in his chest. There could be a slot for crystal, for example visible on the character sheet only, not in inventory. If not, then the core could be just put into the Head storage slot. In any case, the core can’t be unequipped unless you get rid of the skill.
Having the skill active, and core inserted, you have the following:
- gain some natural Regrowth stacks
- Growth Surge affects an extra target (stacks with the Power of the moon skill)
- gain some winter insulation, but lose some summer insulation
- gain immunity to freezing
- perishables in inventory spoil longer
- extra skill functionality, marked with the Core

Growth Surge effects for different targets (and a priority list, if multiple conditions apply).
Hp cost depends on the effect, and you pay for every effect if more than one happened.

1) on a thing with lunar form - transform into lunar variant. Works on pigs. Multiple items on the ground can be transformed into one creature (like with Gekkos or Gators). From an item stack the ability only uses the amount necessary to create one creature/item.

2) on natural plantanimal - transform into the base object(s).

3) on plant - unchanged.

With iridescent core:

0) on self (highest priority, once acquired) - you become blessed by the cold touch of the moon for some time:
Your follower saladmander becomes Iceberg Saladmander. It is bigger, blue-colored, and has more stats. Instead of a heat source it now seeks a cold source, and ripens into an even bigger saladmander with icy scales. It is resistant to cold and immune to freezing, gains some planar defense, and has a cold flame planar attack which applies freezing.
Wearing the Fire Nettle Suit turns it into the Frost Nettle Suit. So, as soon as you unequip it, it turns back into the fire version. Frost suit spoils longer, reduces temperature, increases perishables spoil time, has chill aura, some planar defense, hits attackers with planar cold with a chance of freezing. It is viewed by Iceberg Saladmanders as an excellent cold source.

22. Lunar trapper
- Bramble Trap now does not disappear, instead applying Lunar Cord stacks. You can still have only one trap active at a time
- Iridescent Core: some of the trap’s damage becomes planar, and applies freezing (meaning that several instances of damage will make the target frozen)

23. Call the moon
- gain a new ability for the Head command menu - Moon Beam
- Iridescent Core: Moon beam is stronger

Moon Beam
Cost - 10 hp per second
Begin a channeling animation, paying hp cost for several seconds.
Can’t take actions for the first second, taking any action after that cancels the cast.
Can be interrupted by knockback/stun/etc, but not by damage.
After a second since starting the channel a narrow, focused lunar beam falls down on Wormwood from the sky, getting brighter with each second. As channel finishes, the beam explodes in a flash and creates a big spreading shockwave. Mobs hit by the shockwave temporarily turn into Suspicious Moonrock statues of themselves.
If you are quick, you can mine one or two for some moon rocks.
Doesn’t work on strong enemies and shadow-aligned creatures - instead they take damage and become briefly slowed.
Works during the day, and in caves - but the strongest effect is on the surface during full moon.
Iridescent Core: transformation lasts longer, immune creatures take planar damage, are slowed for longer, regular shadow creatures have a chance to get a heart attack and instantly die.

Brightshade vineguard

Preface: I was thinking, how two lunar affinities could be different, so much so that they become a dichotomous choice, just like choosing between moon and shadow.
I lined up the thoughts:

1) Wormwood was born from a moon crystal - so he is a “child of the Moon”. He should feel some connection to the lunar stuff. But according to his quotes from Klei, he has no clue, and notices zero connection between himself and lunar beings. I decided to correct that.

2) Nothing lunar-themed suggests that plants are a natural thing for the moon. They tend to be crystals, glass, rocks and pure energy. At the same time, gestalts can invade plants and turn them into Brighshades. Which leads to the assumption that plants are a good tool for lunar energy. Perhaps, the best “conductor” out of the organics.

3) Despite the lunar origin, WW is attacked by gestalts, brightshades and Celestial Champion.

4) I don’t like the idea of WW working for Wagstaff to gain any lunar power. His power should come from the Moon, not from the guy who tries to steal that power.

5. Enlightenment flips sanity effects. If WW is afraid of fire and hates hurting nature, then under the enlightenment he… likes it?

So that’s what lore i made to bring all this together:

Wormwood feels connection with lunar stuff. Celestial Champion is sentient and sees that connection too. CC can communicate telepathically, but only WW can more or less understand it.
CC views Wormwood as the crystal in WW’s chest, and plant matter as some side-effect. All communication happens through that crystal.
Brightshade is like the closest organic can get to the crystalline shell of lunar beings. It is a good tool, but a tool nonetheless. Imperfect.
Brightshades could be a knight-order-like special force unit serving Alter, and brightshade plants are like their armor on earth, second best thing after crystals.

CC challenges WW to test his power, and during the fight telepathically explains all that, and teaches the lunar ways.
So, after the victory, Wormwood is kinda like the new celestial champion. From the silly kid he becomes a young Brightshade Vanguard (i mean Vineguard), serving Alter and learning the ways of brightshade weapons and armor. CC uploaded some knowledge into the crystal in Wormwood’s chest, and transferred some of his power after being defeated.
WW killing other brightshades and lunar creatures could be like showing who is in charge now.

Along with the knowledge and power, there is a thought taking root in Wormwood’s childish brain - plant matter is just a tool, it is untrue and imperfect. This awakens some dark parts in the pure soul, and now WW is sure that shedding off the green flesh is a way to purity and acceptance. He is no longer afraid of violence towards plants, no longer afraid of fire - he welcomes all that.
But all that brainwashing happens only under direct Alter influence - enlightenment. Without it, Wormwood mostly remains a silly plant boy.

Would be kinda cool if all that was real, and if some of WW’s quotes changed after killing CC / picking those skills / being under enlightenment. But, that’s probably not going to happen, same as my entire rework =)

Anyway, back to skills.

Unlock requirements:
- find and defeat theCelestial Champion
- have no points in Moon Caller affinity
- learn N skills... or don't, who cares

“Big crystal brother said green body is only tool” - what Wormwood could say. This one phrase / flavor text gives a hint to all my lore extensions above.

24. Brightshade knowledge
- learn to craft Brightshade Core
- learn to craft Brambleweed Husk
- Brightshade Core: learn to craft Brambleshade Husk

Brightshade core - a gem made out of infused moon shards and pure brilliance.
Ideally it should replace the crystal that Wormwood has in his chest. There could be a slot for crystal, for example visible on the character sheet only, not in inventory. If not, then the core could be just put into the Head storage slot. In any case, the core can’t be unequipped unless you get rid of the skill.
Having the skill active, and core inserted, you have the following:
- gain +30 max hp, which overrides the default value for Regrowth (stacks with Healthy Growth)
- naturally spawning Gestalts and Brightshades are not hostile
- extra skill functionality, marked with the Core

Brambleweed husk
Crafted from Bramble Husk and Spiny Bindweed seeds.
- has more hp than bramble husk
- applies bindweed effect to the attacker, in addition to the damage reflection from bramble husk

Brambleshade husk
Crafted from Brambleweed Husk, pure brilliance and brightshade husks.
- has even more hp
- has higher defense rating
- has some planar defense
- attacker receives some planar damage
- bindweed effect deals planar damage, and visually changes into the current Lunar Guardian I effect
- sanity replaced with enlightenment. A reminder - blooming is set to stage 0 under enlightenment, regardless of the stat value
- equipping the armor triggers animation of branches/vines growing out of it and wrapping around Wormwood’s head to form a helmet (see Klei’s concept art for reference). But this “helmet” should look more like Brightshade Helm, like knight’s helmet
- present shadow creatures have a chance to become scared
- can’t be repaired with Brightshade Repair Kit, breaks at zero durability

25. Overgrowth (damn, it seems i love naming skills “growth”)
- WW can plant seeds into any terrain
- Wormwood’s Regrowth applies to all armor with living logs in it (bramble husk, brambleweed husk, brightshade husk). Armor needs to be worn.
Regrowth treats armor durability like WW’s max hp - slower regen, which starts only when WW has the default max hp value (initially 150) and above.
- Brightshade Core: any regular seed that you plant sprouts a Brightshade Vine. The vine does not disappear with time, but applies Lunar Cord stacks. It attacks everything around it, like tentacle, dealing small planar damage. Their cords are short and unstable - stepping away from the Vine kills it and destroys the seed.
Should it have hp and be killable? Good question.

26. Brightshade surge
- using Growth Surge on a Baby Seaweed will turn it into a regular-sized Sea Weed. It attacks independently from WW and deals AoE damage. After a few moments it dies just as the baby seaweed would.
- Brightshade Core: Wormwood, sea weeds, baby sea weeds, and brightshade vines gain Brightshade Buildup.

Brightshade buildup - first two attacks build up brightshade energy, adding a little glow effect. Third attack creates a discharge, causing flash effect on the weapon/projectile and making it deal more planar damage. This effect is stronger for Wormwood when he wields brightshade ranged weapons, and even stronger for melee weapons.

Comment: All this sounds like a lot of damage. But here’s how i see it. WW doesn’t have brightshade helmet to increase damage from brightshade weapons. Vines require planting seeds to spawn, they reduce hp regen per second - being greedy will make your hp regen negative. I think vines should deal little damage, and be good only with Buildup. Sea weeds are indeed a damage boost, but temporary, and requiring set-up and health costs.
In general, i’d like WW total power level to be toned down a bit, and some extra dps requiring hp/plant/skill management.
In the brightshade build, i see WW as more of a tank character, who facetanks mobs a lot more than usual. Hence his husk armors, short-ranged vines, and increased max hp. Tank who can’t munch a stack of honey poultice, which is even more interesting for me.

Ideas not included

- moon caller staff interactions, new abilities

- shadow affinity called “moon-rejecting evil shadow stump bathing in acid”

- separate skill tree branch for different armor called “Barksmith”

- “Forget-me-suit” which would make mobs drop aggro

- separate skill tree branch for plants with more upgrades for spiny bindweed, more uses for lureplant (such as opening its inventory like a chest), bramble walls like in Hamlet, stationary carnivore plant turret like in Hamlet which upgrades itself by eating meat, and so on

- making fish farms with Sea Weeds who won’t attack players (or at least WW)

- more interactions with chemicals, return of move speed buff called “Nitre Boost”

- ability to eat stale and spoiled food

- rework lightbugs creation, so that they can be unbound from you and fly around

- more upgrades for Growth Surge and Bramble Trap

- new spells like binding roots, which could stretch and bend trying to grab the target

- an actual vine-like weapon which WW could grow out of his arm, instead of that kelp stalk with unknown purpose. Fighting using the stalk itself would be wrong, cuz it’s a friend who is suffering because he was pulled out of water

- more skills tied to blooming

- some more stuff that i can’t even remember at this point

TLDR

Part I - what issues i have with current WW base kit
Part II - issues with current skill tree
Part III - reworked base kit
Highlights:
- can't eat regular food, eats only raw mushrooms and fertilizers
- can't be healed by non-fertilizer items, including booster shots
- has invisible regeneration stacks, given for various conditions
- bloom is tied to sanity
- has wetness as thirst
- doesn't like torches and chopping trees, has alternative ways
- summons apply negative hp regen stacks
- can't wear headgear
- has spells, and bramble trap is now a spell
- can grow a plant to next stage
- bramble husk doesn't shoot spikes, but reflects damage
- can identify seeds before planing
- added weed seeds
- added "baby seaweed turrets"
- added Fire Nettle Suit, which can also ripen saladmanders and protect from their fire
Part III - reworked skill tree
Highlights:
- now looks like a flower, not like a bush
- you can drink ipecaca to spoil stuff in your inventory
- better plant crafting
- easier giant crops
- lunar cultivator is not affinity
- saladmanders can ripen and breathe fire again
- affinities are a choice, though they are both lunar
- affinities give early game skills, which can be upgraded into planar stuff with planar materials
- moon caller affinity taps into the freezing powers of iridescent gem, upgrades saladmanders into Iceberg Saladmanders who breathe cold planar flame
- brightshade vineguard affinity makes WW a knight with regenerative armor
- brightshade vines are now grown from seeds planted into the ground

Thanks for reading!
If you've read the whole thing - you deserve a statue in your honor.

Edited June 7 by Mortalbane