Save Sookuma! Early-Game Survival Hotfix for the Baby Bear

Wah, save me! Hi, I'm Sookuma.
The early dungeon has been so spicy lately—I kept collapsing to ranged mobs and Needle Rats, went whole runs without ever seeing a shop, and even got trapped while trying to escape, which really brought tears to my eyes!
This hotfix doesn't add new dungeons, classes, or spells, but it's a balance and bug-fix patch to save me from constantly falling over and to nicely tune the feel of weapons, bows, and magic!
Let me walk you through everything that changed, one by one!

Early Mobs, Bosses, and Named Monsters: Less Spicy and Less Painful

• Needle Rats no longer move fast. They used to move three times every two turns with a fast mark above their heads, but now they only move once per turn. Their Attack was also lowered from 6 to 5.
• Four mobs on early Floors 1~3 that had no reason to be fast now walk at normal speed. Paper Cranes, Bubble Imps, Sock Ghosts, and Cinder Mites now walk at normal speed.
• We slightly lowered the Attack of five mobs that hit way too hard for their floors. Bone Dog 9 → 8, Firefly Lantern 9 → 8, Wave Puppy 14 → 12, Horn Imp Cub 15 → 13, and Rainshower Child 16 → 14, so their hits don't hurt nearly as much.
• Monster swarm sizes have gotten smaller. Worker Bee swarms in the Beehive Mine went from 10~14 down to 6~9, and Clockwork Mouse swarms went from 10~20 down to 8~14.
• The number of mobs spawning on Beehive Mine floors has been reduced. The share of Main Dungeon mobs mixing in also dropped from 18% to 10%.
• The range of the Lullaby Harp's sleep song has been shortened. The song's reach dropped from 6 tiles to 4 tiles.
• The ranged named Pincushion Kokkok got a new habit. Before, it dashed far away and ran endlessly, but now it no longer just runs away. There's no speed bonus!
• Bosses kept their health, but their hits don't hurt nearly as much. Sewer King Gurgleguts's Attack dropped from 24 to 21, and Wax Queen Hanibera's Attack dropped from 22 to 20.
• The Attack of five named monsters was lowered too. Numo, the Erased Scribe 21 → 18, Celune, Star of the Ceiling 22 → 18, Peep the Doorcrack Eye 14 → 12, Kin of Hearth-Ash 22 → 19, and Two-Breath Hound 21 → 18 have all been adjusted.
• We removed the blanket +2 Accuracy and +2 Evasion that was on all named monsters. Now each named monster fights with its own stats. Sookuma can hit them more reliably and get hit by them less.
• Restrictions have been placed on The Lone-Sock Grudge's tricky abilities. Once it steals a step, it cannot steal another for 5 turns. The Shield stacks it builds with each steal are capped at 3 stacks (previously 9 stacks).
• We removed Haste from named monsters that had no reason to be fast.
• Speed statuses have been split in two. The new 'Move Speed Down' and 'Move Speed Up' statuses only affect movement, while 'Slow' and 'Haste' affect all actions (movement, attacks, and spells) just like before. Sewer King Gurgleguts now only walks fast on wet ground and sluggishly on dry ground. He strikes once per turn on any ground, so while he used to attack once every two turns on dry ground, he now strikes more often on dry ground. The Quickstep spell now only speeds up movement (swing and spell speeds stay the same). When The Lone-Sock Grudge steals a step to run away, only its movement speeds up too.

Weapons and Armour: New Equipment Traits and Punchy Impact

• Weapons now carry a larger share of each strike. Sookuma's base Attack without a weapon was reduced from 4 to 1, but in return, the Attack value of most weapons doubled (Etched Longsword +3 → +6, Dreamsilk Longsword +5 → +10, Glassstar Staff +2 → +4, Pillow Mallet and Long Honeydipper +2 → +6). Unarmed attacks get a fist bonus so they stay the same as before, but the better the weapon, the clearly bigger the difference!
• The Dream Blade's starting equipment is much sturdier. Instead of the Worn Cotton Vest, they now start with Pressed Cotton Armour (Armour 3) and a Cork Buckler (Armour 1, Block 12%), appearing with a shield in hand. In exchange, class Attack was reduced from +2 to +1, and wearing armour and a shield makes spells cast a bit less reliably.
• Blades gained a new trait to deflect enemy attacks: 'Parry.' Instead of cleaving adjacent enemies, you now absorb an entire adjacent melee hit to take 0 damage (arrows, spells, and traps cannot be parried). The trigger chance starts at 3% and increases by 1.5% per Blades skill level, giving Dream Blades 7.5% at the start and 21% at Blades 12, triggering more often as your skill grows.
• Daggers gained a new trait to stab again and again: 'Double Stab.' The time taken per strike increased from 0.8 turns to 1.0 turns as a base value before proficiency, making them a little lighter and slower, but on a hit you have a 10% chance plus 3% per Daggers skill level to stab one more time (46% at Daggers 12).
• We boosted the single-hit power of Maces and Polearms. Maces are slower, but each hit is now 1.3x stronger, while Polearms deal 1.15x damage.
• The Thornvine Whip changed from a Dagger to a Polearm. It's a two-handed weapon that strikes enemies up to two tiles away in a straight line, and the skill it trains is Polearms.
• Attacking with a staff now trains Maces. Staves has been removed, so the Starcatcher Wizard now starts with Maces 3, and any Staves experience in runs continued after the patch is merged into Maces.
• You can now see attack speed and trigger chances right on the weapon and skill screens. Checking a weapon in your bag displays 'Turns per attack,' and the Blades and Daggers sections on the skill screen show your Parry and Double Stab chances!

Bows: Range and Personality by Weight

• Bows are now tiered by weight—heavier bows reach farther, but are less accurate and slower. Turns per shot are base values before proficiency: the Downfeather Shortbow (6 tiles, Accuracy +3, 1.00 turns per shot) remains unchanged and is the fastest and most accurate bow. The Honeystone Sling (6 tiles, Accuracy +1) got faster from 1.10 turns to 1.05 turns per shot, and since it's a one-handed weapon, it can be held with a shield. The Toothed Hand Crossbow (8 tiles, Accuracy -1 → 0, 1.10 turns per shot) pierces half of Armour; the Echo Bow (6 tiles → 8 tiles, Accuracy +2 → -1, 1.10 turns → 1.20 turns per shot) now has a 30% chance to fire an extra arrow at the same target; and the Moonbranch Longbow (10 tiles, Accuracy -2, 1.25 turns per shot) newly features long arrows that pierce half of Armour.
• Arrows now factor in mobs' ranged resistance and weaknesses. Targets resistant to ranged attacks take only half damage, while vulnerable targets take 1.6x damage.
• Attacking an adjacent enemy with a bow now swings the bow instead of shooting an arrow. For enemies right next to you (including diagonally), swinging the bow deals only half damage, while enemies two or more tiles away are shot with arrows as normal.

Honey Hunter's Mark: A Drop of Honey That Never Misses

• The Honey Hunter's F skill was changed from 'Honeymark Shot' to 'Honey Hunter's Mark.' Unlike before, where an arrow automatically fired at the nearest enemy, you now open aiming with F and choose a visible enemy within 5 tiles to throw a clump of honey. The honey never misses and deals 1 damage (enemies with a Shield still get the Honey Mark even if the damage is blocked), accompanied by a splat as honey drips down the target.
• Hit enemies are afflicted with 'Honey Mark' for 6 turns. While the Honey Mark is active, Sookuma's attacks against that enemy bypass the target's evasion check (melee, arrows, throwing, and spells that roll for evasion). However, stray arrows hitting another target along the path can still happen. Companion and summon attacks are excluded, and the same rule applies to bosses and named monsters.
• The mark skill can be used regardless of your equipped weapon. The cooldown remains at 40 turns as before, it can be used regardless of equipped weapon, and canceling with ESC does not trigger the cooldown.

Magic: A Magic System Tuned to Proficiency and Tiers

• Spell success rates have been reworked to follow spell tiers. Low tiers will almost always cast with just a little proficiency, but high tiers require digging deep into their school before they stick. For a starting Starcatcher Wizard, success rates changed to: Firebolt 100% → 100%, Spark 100% → 95%, Fireball 89% → 92%, Quickstep 88% → 95%, Lightning Bolt 74% → 86%, Banishment 60% → 38%, and Fire Storm 61% → 24%. If proficiency in that school is 0, success caps at 85% no matter how high Spellcasting is, and you must raise the school to 3 to unlock 100%.
• Summoning magic follows the same curve as its success rate rises. As your Summoning skill increases, low-tier summons reach 100% (previously, Summon Cotton Critters was still 90% at Summoning 12). Dual-school summons like Ember Hound and Spore Swarm compensate for whichever proficiency is lower, raising the starting wizard's success rate for Summon Ember Hound from 34% to 51%.
• The Starcatcher Wizard now begins the adventure with Air Magic 2.
• Damage from lightning spells has become erratic, just like real lightning. The floor drops down to 75% of power. Spark and Fork Lightning keep their maximums, while Chain Spark and Lightning Bolt also gained power, increasing their maximums. For a starting wizard, they deal: Spark 8~10 → 6~10, Fork Lightning 7 → 5~7, Chain Spark 12 → 11~15, and Lightning Bolt 14 → 13~18 damage.
• Lightning spells in the Great Tome of Storms are now well worth their mana. Chain Spark and Lightning Bolt cost less mana and gained more power (Chain Spark power 9 → 12, Lightning Bolt power 10 → 14). Spark's values remain unchanged, but hitting even a single target is now better than Spark.

Wax Queen Hanibera: Wax Melting in the Flames

• Hanibera's wax has been changed to melt away from fire-infused attacks. Previously, she took only half magic damage and had 7 Armour, so early on, small spells like Firebolt could easily be stopped at 1 damage.
• Marrow Spear and Bone Shards now fully ignore enemy armour as described. Previously, they only ignored half of Armour against targets that resist magic, but now they completely ignore Armour just as described.

Faith Pacts: Promises from the Very First Step

• The moment you worship a god, you immediately choose one of three Pact cards. The first Pact used to only appear at 20 Piety, but now the 'Pact of service' window opens the moment you worship a god.
• The Piety milestones for receiving regular Pacts have been moved earlier. Instead of receiving regular Pacts at 20, 50, and 80 Piety, they are now given upon worship and at 20, 40, and 60 Piety.
• At 80 Piety, only Saint cards appear. Dreamguide Maze, who has no Saint cards, does not offer a card at 80 Piety.
• Runs saved before the patch won't lose formed Pacts either.

Items: Hidden Effects and Welcome Finds

• Seven pieces of equipment that had flavor text but no effect now have effects. Drinking a Honeyglow Potion while wearing the Dream Alchemist's Robe restores 42% of max health instead of 35%, so the Starcatcher Wizard benefits from the boosted first potion right from the start. Wearing the Lantern Keeper's Hood automatically reveals hidden traps within two tiles, and the Dreambell Ring changed from Attack +1 to Evasion +1. The Nightmare-Horn Helm adds +2 damage when striking an uninjured enemy. The Moonmoth Wingcloak grants +2 extra Evasion if you walked on your previous turn—displaying 'Moonmoth Wingcloak's wing dust made … misjudge your position.' when you dodge thanks to it. The Stubborn Ring prevents you from being knocked back even by knockback attacks. The Pot-Lid Helm has the drawback of rattling with every step, increasing the chance of sleeping enemies waking to your footsteps by 5 percentage points and showing '… woke to the rattling of Pot-Lid Helm!' when they wake.
• Four weapons that had flavor text but no effect now also have effects. With the Bone Ukulele, each consecutive hit against the same target increases damage by 1 (max +3), and striking another target or missing breaks the beat. Hits with the Thornvine Whip have a 25% chance for vines to bind the target's feet for 1 turn. Targets hit by the Bone Flute lose 3 Accuracy for 2 turns (new status 'Accuracy Down'), and the Lantern Mace increases sight by 1 tile while equipped.
• Freezing, Venom, and silence brands now take effect on every landed hit. The Freezing brand freezes for 2 turns on each hit but gives a window to move once after thawing, the Venom brand stacks poison on each hit, and the silence brand blocks spells for 3 turns on each hit. Brands and divine attack blessings only apply to strikes made with that weapon, and the Lightning brand bypasses armour as described. The Speed brand's 'strike again' applies up to once per action (adding one extra arrow when on a bow).
• Spellbook descriptions now tell you every spell they teach. Looking at the Great Tome of Storms, every single spell you can learn—like Chain Spark, Lightning Bolt, and Starfall Rain—is listed.
• The Scroll of Dreamshift has returned to the dungeon. When read, this scroll teleports you to a distant spot on the current floor, appearing about 3~4 scrolls per run on average.
• Potions, scrolls, and spellbooks are placed on the ground of new floors a little more often. Among items placed randomly on the ground of new floors, the share of spellbooks rose from 14% to 17%, and equipment was not reduced.
• A Dream Merchant's Stall is guaranteed to appear the first time you enter Floors 2 and 4 of the Main Dungeon. Other floors depend on luck as before, but you'll never go an entire run without seeing a shop again!

Dungeon Paths: Safer Steps and Smarter Movement

• Pits now always drop you just one floor. Previously, they could skip two or three floors, but now you only fall exactly one floor, and damage is no longer multiplied by the number of fallen floors, reducing pit damage on Main Dungeon Floor 1 from 2~12 down to 2~4. The landing spot is also a random empty tile instead of next to stairs, prioritizing spots at least 8 tiles away from the stairs up and not directly adjacent to awake enemies, with a walkable path back to the stairs.
• Auto-movement now avoids traps that Sookuma knows about. Auto-explore (O), stair travel, and mouse-click movement all detour around revealed, untriggered known traps (hidden traps can still be stepped on as before, and clicking the trap tile itself with the mouse moves you there). If there's no path other than a trap, Sookuma stops without stepping on it and notifies you: 'A trap blocks the path.'
• Auto-explore stops the first time it spots a sleeping enemy. It halts with the message 'You can see Dream Slime sleeping. You stop walking. Press again to keep walking.', and pressing it again paths around that enemy to continue walking (works the same for both Stealth and Aggressive movement).

Companions and Summons: More Dependable Friends

• Injured companions now heal their own wounds. They regenerate 2% of their max health per turn outside of combat, and 0.5% during combat. However, they will not heal if afflicted with poison, burn, frostbite, or bleeding.
• Summons and companions now detour around revealed traps. If there is no path other than the trap, they will wait in place. Released miasma clouds still affect allies and enemies alike as before, so stay careful!
• Little Bees summoned by Jjooni do not take up Sookuma's summon slots. Up to 3 Little Bees can appear, and they do not occupy any of Sookuma's 6 summon slots!

Bug Fixes: Resolving Issues That Blocked the Adventure

• Fixed an issue where you could get trapped from both sides while escaping with the Heart of Dreams. There were cases in dead ends blocked by a Ball of yarn where all the tiles you crossed collapsed, trapping you from both sides. Now, tiles that would sever the path back to the stairs will not collapse.
• Damage from spells, thrown items, and scrolls is now always logged as numbers. Previously, numbers didn't appear unless there was a resistance or weakness. Now they always show up in the log, like 'Sookuma → Dust Muncher: 9 damage.'
• Binding now only links summons called by Sookuma within two tiles. Previously, Jjooni, Jjooni's bees, and distant entities were bound. Now the rules have been properly straightened out.
• When a summon's attack misses, the log now names who missed. When missing, it accurately appears in the log, such as 'Dust Muncher dodged Cotton Pup's attack.'
• You'll always get a notification whenever a skill rises, no matter the situation. Previously, skill rises gained even from failed (fizzled) casts happened silently. Now notifications appear every single time.
• When an enemy's Shield blocks a spell or thrown item, the correct message now displays. Previously, odd lines like 'Struck weak point! (0 damage)' could appear. Now '…'s Shield nullified the damage.' properly displays.
• When a Shield completely blocks a hit, poison and Brands no longer apply. Previously, poison from the Venom Brand could spread even on a hit blocked for 0 damage. Now, when an enemy's Shield completely blocks Sookuma's hit, Brands like Venom or Vampiric, weapon effects, counterattacks, and thorns do not apply, just like with a shield block or Parry. When Sookuma's Shield completely blocks a mob's hit, poison, sticky wax, and knockback do not apply either. Honey Hunter's Honey Mark remains the same, so it still applies even if a Shield blocks the damage.
• Attack on the character select screen now displays your actual starting attack with your starting weapon included. The label has also become 'Attack (incl. weapon)'. Previously, it calculated without the weapon so the wizard appeared as -1 (though the character window originally showed the weapon-included value once you opened a run). Now Sookuma Starcatcher Wizard properly displays -1 → 3, and Sookuma Dream Blade displays 3 → 9.
• We also polished various screen displays and item descriptions. When Sookuma is put to sleep for a set number of turns by a Lullaby Harp, The Lone-Sock Grudge, or Sereno the Sleeptalker, the remaining turns are shown as a number. Hovering over an enemy reveals their permanent traits (ranged attacks, poison attacks, weaknesses and resistances, named monster and boss skills, etc.) along with '· Permanent' (named monster and boss skill descriptions appear after unlocking them in the Bestiary). Meeting Quality Inspector Bamdori for the first time explains what he does through dialogue ('Bug? What's a bug?'), and inspected equipment shows whether it is cursed or not in your bag. Reading a Scroll of Insight prints a line for each category of identified items. Descriptions were updated to match actual behavior, such as explicitly noting the 6-tile range on the Honeystone Sling.

Jump into the now less-spicy dungeon,
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