Bernie branch lacks depth and uses

[Malfario]

Despite getting so many perks of willow´s skilltree dedicated to him, Bernie still is a bit boring and inconvinient to use.

More health and pasive regen are very good but i dont think they should cost 4 insight points for you to have them. Bernie activating at a bigger sanity thresshold is great except you are better using celestial crown most of the time. Making him faster only really matters for him to be less annoying following you around because he doesnt doge, and that this is more than a comodity than anything else and it isnt worth it the 2 insight points. I think all of this abilities could be either improved or made cheaper to enable, and add new, more interesting abilities on the branch.

Regarding the already mentioned buffs:

-There could be just one perk to really buff his heal, and another one to add a big health regen. One locked behind the other.

-1 perk to make bernie grow at 50% sanity, followed by a perk that allows willow to cap her sanity at 50%, similarly to how maxwell caps his sanity when summoning minions, making bernie not only way more convinient to summon but also letting you use celestial crown AND Bernie.

-For the speed perks, just increase his default speed, save these abilities for more interesting features.

And finally i would like to give sugestions for all the cool things bernie could do and i would like to see:

-Bernie been able to carry statues.

-Bernie been able to give willow a hug granting the same effect as a tent (usable at all times of the day).

-Bernie learning to swim and willow getting on top of him, giving willo a very accesible raft for sea content.

-Bernie been able to have more attacks, maybe giving him gunpowder so periodically he explodes with an aoe effect for example.

-Set enemies on fire for willow.

-Bernie been able to carry willow around, faster than willow with a cane but maybe slower than a rider beefalo.

[Swiyss]

6 minutes ago, Malfario said:

pasive regen are very good

this stat is useless.

 

6 minutes ago, Malfario said:

-There could be just one perk to really buff his heal, and another one to add a big health regen. One locked behind the other.

I think they are discouraging this idea because you can instantly make him full health again with only 1 use of the sewing kit, that's why the stat is very bad right now. But I think buffing his heal is something that could be implemented but it would make not that much sense unless the whole tree is changed a bit alongside it.

 

6 minutes ago, Malfario said:

-1 perk to make bernie grow at 50% sanity, followed by a perk that allows willow to cap her sanity at 50%, similarly to how maxwell caps his sanity when summoning minions, making bernie not only way more convinient to summon but also letting you use celestial crown AND Bernie.

that sounds very bad and counter intuitive since managing sanity is already something that's adressed just by creating a threshold.

6 minutes ago, Malfario said:

And finally i would like to give sugestions for all the cool things bernie could do and i would like to see:

-Bernie been able to carry statues.

-Bernie been able to give willow a hug granting the same effect as a tent (usable at all times of the day).

-Bernie learning to swim and willow getting on top of him, giving willo a very accesible raft for sea content.

-Bernie been able to have more attacks, maybe giving him gunpowder so periodically he explodes with an aoe effect for example.

-Set enemies on fire for willow.

-Bernie been able to carry willow around, faster than willow with a cane but maybe slower than a rider beefalo.

All of this is soooo coool, I wish some of this is looked at and maybe be put into a possibility. She can't be focused all in damage and fighting, we need some casual things like this too. Those ideas are fantastic.

[Yuuko]

Definitely we need more real abilities in the Bernie tree.  In the whole Bernie tree there is only *1* actual new option which is Burning Bernie, and that costs so many points that you cannot get the alignment fire spell with it.  Very costly.  Aside from that everything is just passive stats, and passive stuff is very uninteresting.

If we're going to invest in Bernie I think the main thing we need is a more reliable Bernie.  Like you say:

51 minutes ago, Malfario said:

Bernie activating at a bigger sanity thresshold is great except you are better using celestial crown most of the time.

I think the sanity game with Bernie is great as a default, but if I'm going to invest many skill points into Bernie as a character defining perk I'd better get more use from him.  I think its essential we get a way to pick him up even if we're at low sanity, and a way to have him grow even in lunacy.

 

52 minutes ago, Malfario said:

-Bernie been able to carry statues.

-Bernie been able to give willow a hug granting the same effect as a tent (usable at all times of the day).

-Set enemies on fire for willow.

These are interesting abilities.  I wonder how they could be implemented. 

52 minutes ago, Malfario said:

-Bernie been able to have more attacks, maybe giving him gunpowder so periodically he explodes with an aoe effect for example.

Klei has gone with "Willow the fire witch" but there was a thought that Willow worked with natural fire, more like an alchemist.  In another world with alchemical pyro Willow this would have been a really awesome ability.