New book idea / spitballing future Wicker design

[marynn]

Hello! I'm new here, so be patient!
First time posting on a Klei forum, but I had what I thought was a pretty cool idea on a new Wickerbottom book that I wanted to share!
As always, I'm interested in hearing everyone's thoughts, so by all means feel free to add to or critique my idea! 

So for a bit of pretense (what you're all really here for), I came up with this idea while thinking of what I'd like for Wickerbottom's eventual skilltree. I've personally liked the skilltrees so far, though I think the number one thing I want from future skill trees is depth. So how would I go about adding depth to Wickerbottom's future skills? I'd double down on the mechanic previously introduced by Pyrokinetics Explained, and create new books which are designed with pens in mind, and add pens to some pre-existing books where it would be meaningful or engaging.

"Wait, but what does a pen do?"
 I'd say that a "pen" is defined by two things, or rather can be confined to two things when trying to add or create more.

• A pen is any item created or refueled when reading a book
• The effect or purpose of a pen relates to the book which made it

For example, the previously mentioned Pyrokinetics Explained is a book which extinguishes fires and smoldering items, and the Fiery Pen it creates can be used to light new fires. The Fiery Pen is created and refueled when the book's effect is used, and it relates to the "fire" theme.

With that overly long introduction for what will essentially be a single paragraph introducing a new book over, just what do I have in mind for creating a new book that fits in with Wickerbottom's current library, and interacts with the "pen" mechanic I described?

For that I introduce... A Teleport book! Or, err... Telelocate?
What I propose is a book with similar function to the current Telelocator Staff, though different in setup, target, and timing. What I imagine is a book which operates in two parts. The reading of the book, which would set a location where Wickerbottom is standing, and be clearly marked with some sort of indicator (maybe some crackling energy, this will be referred to as a "marker" for the rest of the post), and the follow-up, done with the pen created when reading the book. The pen functions similarly to the Telelocator Staff, but differs in two major ways. First, the pen cannot transport grounded items or living entities. The pen can only transport structures and heavy objects (within reason as well, no moving ponds or beequeen around), and transported structures will retain their inventory, meaning a teleported bookcase will carry the same inventory, as would a chest, fridge, drying rack, etc. The second difference, is that using the pen and book may be done in any order. What this means is that without a marker previously set by the book portion of the combo, the pen will instead mark the structure (with a similar visual affecting it, signifying it's "ready to teleport"), allowing the transportation of the structure to be done in any order you like. Imagine setting the marker in your base, then later teleporting a structure you found there (like cacti or reeds), or instead marking a structure first, and using the book to summon it to where you are (like a chest full of healing items, or an empty one you can dump loot into).

I'm sure there are plenty of oversights I've made while conceptualizing the idea, and I'm truthfully relying on feedback to determine things like book durability, sanity drain, and materials for it's crafting (I imagine the book having a low number of uses and decent cost, so the transportation for large farms is expensive, but the book remains convenient), but I overall think it's adds both tremendous depth and an incredibly creative new niche Wickerbottom could explore.

Here are some images to help convey the mechanics: (Example marker, this is where structures teleport to, and is created where you stand when you read the book. Inside your inventory the book will be shown "open" if there is an active marker or marked structure present already. You can toggle "close" on the book to destroy the book's marker or unmark any structures remotely. This does not return book durability.) (A structure marked by the pen. Reading the book will transport it to the newly placed marker. The sinkhole entrance pictured would not be an eligible target for the pen. Either a voiceline saying it's impossible, or the option is simply not present.) 

[marynn]

Ah!
A couple things I forgot to mention, transferring structures between the surface and caves is a NO GO! As previously mentioned, the book will "close", or rather lose connection to any surface/cave markers or marked structures.
Another thing that I forgot to convey, is that when a structure is successfully transported the marker is consumed. It's also instantaneous, occurring as soon as a marker and marked structure exist. Unsure of how this would function with two Wickerbottoms. Because the pen has low durability (meaning other players can't use it much before having to return to Wickerbottom), and that the marker needs to be replaced, making large farms for natural recourses (reeds, cacti, undug plants) will be both expensive in materials and time. Speaking of materials, how about purple gems as part of the recipe? Purple gems are require a decent bit of work to obtain, but can be guaranteed by the both ruins bishops and blue/red hound, which are replenishable, allowing for those large farms like I mention for the megabasers among us.

[marynn]

Ha ha! Back from the dead!
Seems like a waste to start a new thread every time I add something or have a new idea, so LORD will this thing get bloated as time goes on.

Anyways, on with it!

 

So, my previous posts had included an idea for a new book, but also my desires/input for what I think a future Wickerbottom tree could focus on. I've backpedaled a bit on how "pen-focused" Wickerbottom should be, but I'd still encourage the addition of pens whenever it would enhance or naturally fit the book. Basically, no egregious pens! But why would I be thinking about Wickerbottom's skilltree? Because I have another terrible idea!

This one relates back to what I mentioned about a skilltree having depth. Now I'm throwing that word around willie-nillie, so let me clarify what at least I think that means. (Feel free to disagree or input your own criteria for depth)

1. The skilltree charts into new mechanics/ideas, or reinvents old. This isn't a terribly hard criteria to meet, and all of our existing skilltrees already do this. A skilltree would have to be entirely stat pumping to miss this mark (imagine if Wormwood somehow had an entire skilltree of bloom number tweaks)
2. The skilltree shouldn't be solved. Now here's a criteria for depth I think a couple skilltrees miss. Willow's skilltree for example, was HUGE on that first one, introducing a swath of new mechanics and depth to Willow that wasn't previously there. Missing however, is much variety once you've got all your insight. Willow's skilltree ends up feeling like (a very nice mind you) rework, which is admittedly a Willow problem, but still shows that a "standardization" of options can reduce the depth of otherwise great skilltrees. 

Well hopefully at least one of those definitions is agreeable to you, and it's perfectly fine to have a separate set of definitions yourself, or not even like depth in a skill tree to begin with.

So with that big 'ole pretense out of the way (I'm sure this won't become a pattern as I continue to post on this topic), what did I have in mind for meeting those criteria in a Wickerbottom tree? Well, I'm taking a page out of Woodie's book and proposing a limit to the number of skills you can take from an otherwise large tree. Now before that'll make sense, imagine a "section" of Wickerbottom's skilltree which focused on not necessarily buffing, but modifying her existing books. This would involve giving them a new use, but ensuring it doesn't buff the array of Wickerbottom's already powerful books. Think of reading Birds of the World three times in a row to spawn a passive Moosegoose, which would fly away if unengaged. This skill is a tempting "buff" to Birds of the World, but it leaves the original book untouched and unchanged. Now with a whole imaginary tree of similarly expanded books, a lock before the book skills which let you only take three would increase depth.

To back up such a bold statement (literally), I think the variety and limiting of options would provoke more thought when selecting skills, and the modifying nature of the book changes would allow each to be tempting enough, at least between what individual players might find interesting or valuable, to prevent any specific three from being the "de-facto" choice to take. Included below is a visual aid of what I mean. (I still don't know how to put images in, so it'll be at the bottom)

Now to ruin what could be such a beautiful idea, what would you all think about a book which lets Wickerbottom (and anyone standing incredibly close to her) unlearn a skill and return some insight? To clarify the immediate counter-argument, this would only allow you to de-learn terminal skills (skills at the end of a tree), and might even have restrictions towards de-learning allegiance skills. My reasoning for proposing a book with this purpose is that it would interact nicely with the "limited" options of Wickerbottom's skilltree I recommended (or it would de-value the whole idea idk), and would allow a woman with such encyclopedic knowledge to shore up any gaps/move around her skills as a playthrough continues/she becomes affluent enough. 

I suppose I'll just keep throwing ideas at the end here, but last thing, the creation of pens I mentioned in my initial post should be Wickerbottom specific, if it isn't already. Plenty of accusations can be made that Wickerbottom is a swap character for Maxwell, and only allowing Wickerbottom to create pens (and therefore benefit extra) when reading her books could be some nice job security. And come on, if you're swapping to Wickerbottom, READING the books to make the pens, and you plan on swapping back to read them again anyways, then it's wasteful enough that you might as well just stay as Wickerbottom. Okay that's all for real this time!