New Permadeath option: Reincarnation

[KK_Me]

One thing I love about RPGs is a ‘NewGame+’ mode. Being able to revisit old challenges while retaining some power of the previous run and steamroll everything feels satisfying to me. So I want to introduce my idea to you: Reincarnation!

This Addon introduces a new Pemadeath option. Once you start the game you are basically playing on a ‘Roguelike’ permadeath setting, with the difference of the unlockable generic talent tree ‘Eidolon / Reincarnation’. Once you die ingame you are taken to the Eidolon Plane and face the option to retire your character or to be reborn (if unlocked). Rebirth is actually a ‘Restart the same character’ option, where depending on how many points you put into the ‘Reincarnation’ tree you get to different perks like keeping Stats, Talents and Talent Categories, even removing caps.

Before I go into detail on the ‘Reincarnation’ skills I want to stress again that I realize this will break the game's balance and remove late-game challenge. If repeatedly playing through the game or peerless domination does not sound like your cup of tea, this Addon might not be for you.

Reincarnation (category) 1.0

Skill 1: Eidolon’s Blessing (Passive)
Lvl 1: Be reincarnated instead of dying
Lvl 4: If you hit the hard Character Level cap, reincarnating will raise the cap by 10
Lvl 5: Grants you the active skill ’Visit Eidolon’, as finding things that kill you may be tedious.
Lvl 8: After reincarnating you start with lvl 50 (you don’t get any points, it’s just to make the enemies harder.)
Lvl 12: Keep your items and gold
Lvl 15: Grants you the skill ‘Eidolon Ending’ that allows you to retire the character, replacing the Eidolon being’s sprite with your character’s
Lvl 16: Grants you the skill ‘Defender of Eidolon’ that allows you to retire the character, replacing the current Eidolon being’s sprite with the original Eidolon being’s sprite

Skill 2 Stats (Passive)
Lvl 1: Receive an additional 6 Stat points to distribute after reincarnating.
Lvl 4: If you hit the hard cap reincarnating will increase the hard cap by 15.
Lvl 6: Retain every 3rd Stat point spent in a stat and remove soft caps after reincarnation.
Lvl 8: Retain every 2nd Stat point spent in a stat when reincarnating.
Lvl 9: Remove all Stat caps after reincarnating
Lvl 10: Retain all Stats when reincarnating

Skill 3 Talents (Passive)
Lvl 1: Receive an additional 3 Class and 2 Generic Talent points to distribute after reincarnating.
Lvl 3: All Talents with points in them keep 1 point when reincarnating.
Lvl 5: When reincarnating, if all Talents in the Talent category are at max level, increase the max level by 1. (For example if you have Combat Veteran (category) 5/5; 5/5; 5/5; 5/5 you will start with Combat Veteran 1/6; 1/6; 1/6; 1/6)
Lvl 8: All Talents with at least 5 Points in them, will keep 5 points when reincarnating.
Lvl 10: Keep all Talent points when reincarnating and if all Talents in the Talent category are at max level, increase each Talent’s max level by 5.

Skill 4 Talent Categories (Passive)
Lvl 1: Talent Categories remain unlocked
Lvl 4: Retain unlocked Inscription slots
Lvl 6: Mastery levels are retained upon death
Lvl 7: All Talent Categories may be raised to a Mastery level of 1.6
Lvl 8: There is no cap for Mastery, although on Reincarnation all Masteries exceeding 1.6 are rescaled back
Lvl 10: All right, no more rescaling! Go nuts!


Obviously I know some of the features in this Addon are more easily feasible than others. I think Skill 1 (Eidolon’s Blessing) basically only needed the ability of lvl 1, but with that Talent I wanted to give the player the option to choose how he wanted to play this Addon. I’d personally only put 4 points in it and keep the category mastery at 1.6.

Another major issue is balance. There’s a need for level requirements for the ‘Reincarnation’ talents, so that the character has more obstacles to overcome until he can reap the benefits. It should be a rewarding experience: tanking the first few lives because of the handicap of points lost to the reincarnation mechanic, then restarting ever stronger and progressing more and more. It should provide several hours of fun on Insane/Madness difficulty after you manage to get a character to level 10.


I welcome your comments and thoughts to this Addon!! Hopefully you like my idea, even though the particulars require some fine tuning.
Would you enjoy a NewGame+ like this?



PS: I’ve never made an Addon and from what I’ve seen this one is terribly ambitious. In the near future I have to think about exams, but I felt the need to write down and share this idea. So if someone feels like stealing my idea, you have my blessing.
I’ll check the code to see how I can make most use out of what’s in place already (especially in terms of ‘Restart the same character’) and might have to adjust the ‘Reincarnation’ Talents for practical reasons. Hopefully this Addon can safely remain in the superload directory.

[astralInferno]

Fun idea!

[Micbran]

kill all meta progression