Suggestion for Wolfgang's rebalance (whenever that actually is)

[Quyzbuk]

I love Wolfgang in concept, but he can eliminate any difficulty in the game by design easier than almost any character. So... for the rework down the road (or maybe sooner if this actually gets read) since this character is supposed to be a coward, let's have his fear more directly influence his battlefield prowess.

 

The main and simplest way I think this can be done is to use the sanity meter. Formula wise (and I'm just spitballing here), maybe have it directly influence the multiplier at a 1:1 ratio. So 1.6 or whatever his max multiplier is at max hunger would be multiplied by sanity (100% being 1 as defined in the code). So 1.6 x .8 (80% sanity) puts the multiplier at 1.28. Zero sanity would be zero bonus, obviously you don't want to remove the ability to fight altogether.

 

In addition, maybe have the state of Wolfgang also play a part (wimpy, normal, mighty), giving an additional -10% to -20% to sanity penalties either through the battle formula, or perhaps even just to the sanity drain itself. 

 

EDIT: Additional suggestion for Wigfrid here since this is going to make Wigfrid look like the de facto choice for combat focused players, a suggestion I would have to keep her a bit more balanced is to add a meter similar to Woodie, but tie this one to combat, a battle hunger if you would. Failing to keep this one in check would result in a boredom debuff, increasing her hunger drain and possibly even her sanity the lower it is. Sanity-wise, maybe the effect could reduce your maximum sanity.

[Swanky Psammead]

I'm paraphrasing something that John Watson said to this effect a while ago; Wolfgang is a fighter. I don't believe nerfs to him should hit his ability to be a fighter, lest he lose that identity. Reducing his damage when he is at low sanity would be hitting his ability to be a fighter in a big way, because he needs to be at low sanity to fight shadow creatures. If he absolutely must have a character-specific combat disadvantage at low Sanity, I'd say amplify the damage that he receives at low Sanity rather than reduce the damage that he deals; at least that way he continues to be high-reward, and good kiters should still be able to avoid taking much more damage as a consequence of it.

I've said this before but to my mind the most redundant part of Wolfgang's kit is his 1.25x speed boost. Speed is a powerful generalist stat which has some combat application re: kiting, but visually Wolfgang does not scream "speedy" and it's not part of his core identity in the way that the speed from WX's system overload is. It's just extra strength thrown into his kit without much reason, making him a lite version of overloaded WX on top of all his other perks.

[Quyzbuk]

See when I think about fear though, I think most people become terrified and are more concerned with trying to protect themselves, if Wolfgang took more damage because of sanity, it doesn't really say fear to me, that's more reckless abandon. Being unable to deal max damage to just punch his problems away is more in line with the theme that his character is supposed to be built around and would force people to actually deal with the problem rather than mitigate it.

Get where I'm coming from?

[Thieverpedia]

Hell, anything to give Wolfgang a noticeable downside would be good. But this is a great one. Fear can affect motor skills pretty badly.

[Blu_Ni]

I like the idea of great risk = great reward. What about the give his this new stat: when at low sanity (a la very scared), he gains ""random""" panic attacks.... Honestly I don't actually know how to build up from this; I rewrote this reply like 3 times, & I've gone nowhere.

[Toros]

Panic attacks are a terrible awful idea that is instantly thrown out with the slightest amount of design sense.

Clearly OP’s goal is to neuter Wolfgang’s combat ability and make him even more tedious to manage.

If you want to balance Wolfgang, taking away his speed boost and reducing his massive stat pools is a much, much better direction to go in than slapping on ill concieved and crippling downsides.