SPecial Surprise Pixel Dungeon

[This wiki page is updated with the changes from the developer's latest releases "Epic Battle 3: Time Cave" and "2019 Spring Festival".]

Overview

SPecial Surprise Pixel Dungeon (formerly Special Sprouted Pixel Dungeon), commonly referred to as SPS-PD, is an in-development fork of Sprouted Pixel Dungeon, but with some elements, especially items, borrowed from Shattered Pixel Dungeon, Yet Another Pixel Dungeon, and a few other mods. It was created by Reddit user hmdzl001.  This version aims to add several improvements to the overall gameplay, while still retaining a small part of the grindiness of Sprouted. Like its predecessor, it allows players to farm stat boosts to a high degree, and grants access to items of very high levels. However, the gameplay of killing all of the mobs on the floor as fast as possible, something that before had been an optional choice, has become the front and center of SPS-PD's gameplay, whereas grinding for rare resources like Scrolls of Magical Infusion or Phase Pitchers, while still possible, has lost much of its importance. These, among many other rebalances, make gameplay much more fast-paced, less grindy and up the challenge to a relatively constant level. There are new items, new bosses and a boss rush, new floors, a whole lot of new items, a whole new hero, and much more added to the already sizable Sprouted package, some of which are from other versions of PD. It's worth a shot to any and all that don't mind its unfinished state or its occasional language mistakes and “No text found” game messages.

Although these guide sections are rather extensive, they presuppose knowledge of the items and mechanics of Sprouted Pixel Dungeon, on which SPS-PD is based (yes, they contain only SPS-PD's new elements), so if details about a mechanic (like alchemy) are missing, that means that they are exactly the same with Sprouted - when a reader thinks that some information about SPS-PD that he/she needs is missing, he/she should search for it in the Sprouted pages of wiki and there is a 99% chance he/she will find it there. Also, whenever a feature, item etc. is described in the guide sections as “new”, that means “new compared to Sprouted”, or else a more detailed expression is used (“totally new” / “new compared to all other mods” or something similar). Lastly, there is a good amount of spelling and expression mistakes in the game messages and even in the name of items, that are mostly put in correct form in this guide, occasionally with also a mention to the game’s initial language form.

Book / Trial floors - Key / Challenge floors

The Key floors from Sprouted are renamed to Challenge floors, and have received various changes in their drops and rewards. They are all repeatable. A new mini-boss is added to them, the Gnoll King.

Main article: https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Mod-SPecial_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/Dungeon_Depths#Key_.2F_Challenge_Floors

The Book floors from Sprouted are renamed to Trial floors and none of these floors are repeatable anymore. The Book of Heavens / Power Trial has its enemies changed.

Main article: https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Mod-SPecial_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/Dungeon_Depths#Book_.2F_Trial_Floors

Bosses

The main bosses remain the same with Sprouted, but Shadow Yog and Zot have different minions, some special enemy skills are added and some other are removed.

Main article: https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Mod-Special_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/Bosses

BossRush Challenge

The Dolyahaven Mines have been removed from SPS-PD but their entrance hasn't. A new enemy is located there, which after being defeated gives the option to the hero to visit a new floor crowded with mini-bosses and with two unique rewards, the BossRush Challenge.

Main article: https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Mod-Special_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/BossRush_Challenge

Classes and Subclasses

Classes have all been buffed very much compared to Sprouted, with many new abilities added to all of them, and boasting much more versatile starting equipment and higher stats. This greatly reduces the initial difficulty of the Sewers, which were sometimes nearly impossible in Sprouted without the help of an early lucky weapon drop and/or the initial 50 dew needed to start watering. A new class with its two subclases, the Performer, is also added.

All Classes

Start with 30 HP, 10 Strength, 10 Accuracy, 5 Dexterity (Evasion) and 0 Magic Power (apart from the Mage, who starts with 3).
Gain 4 HP, 1 Accuracy, and 1 Dexterity on level ups.
Start with a Random Soul which they can use to summon their first pet, something that may be needed to deal with some of the dungeon's stronger regular enemies. They all also have a Lantern of Soul Collect, that can be used to store any pet ny throwing the lantern at it (it can be used only once, but lanterns are sold in every regular dungeon shop). The lantern's game description is misleading in the part that it describes the lantern's damage - the lantern can not be used as a thrown weapon. Lastly, the Lantern of Soul Collect, when it contains a pet, cannot get dropped, and when it is thrown it will release the pet and get spent.
Have a bag of Pet Food, which can give a pet several level ups immediately after hatching, as it instantly adds 120 XP to it. Typically, it offers enough experience to boost a level 1 pet to level 7.
Get Jump Shoes, which are used to jump to tiles from two up to five tiles away (depending on the class), and come with class-specific bonuses in addition to slightly more or less charges, though the charge differences offer no serious impact on the gameplay. The Jump Shoes fill a main inventory slot, but cannot get dropped or thrown.
Receive an Ankh Shield, which is used to deal 5 damage to and stun every enemy in sight for many turns (it also damages pets but does not stun them). This is exceedingly useful throughout the entire game. From mobs that run away like Gnoll Archers, the Gnoll Trickster, and Crazy Thieves, to evasive mobs like Wraiths and the Giant Crab, and even extra difficult mobs for the hero’s level like Living Mosses and Troll Warriors, the stun effect of this is one of the strongest in the game as long as it has enough charges to be used when needed. Despite being called a shield, the Ankh shield can’t be upgraded and doesn’t block damage like a normal shield would do. The Ankh Shield fills a main inventory slot, but cannot get dropped or thrown.
Are able to equip a third Ring or Artifact.
No longer keep the Tome of Mastery after beating the second boss once. Instead, it is always received from the second boss.
Like Sprouted, a Ration of Food, a tier 1 Armor, and a Key Ring are also included.

Warrior

Warrior has become a very stun-heavy class, in addition to his various defensive capabilities.

His short sword can't be reforged anymore. Instead, it has the "rupture" weapon attribute which causes bleeding and has an excellent upgrade scaling, making it useful as a melee weapon as far as the end of the Mining Caves (but not for the DM-300/Spider Queen).
Now has a Wooden Shield, which can either be thrown like a boomerang to stun an enemy, or can be used to switch to "defense mode" that increases the Warrior's defense but decreases his attack. Like the Ankh Shield, the Wooden Shield can’t be upgraded, and doesn’t block damage by itself, like a normal shield would.
Requires 2 less strength to use armors, instead of having +1 Strength in general. This is represented in-game as an armor's strength requirement dropping by 2 points if it's equipped, but showing its regular strength requirement otherwise.
His Jump Shoes can get him five tiles away and stun enemies adjacent to the place where he lands. Fully charged his jumps shoes have 2 jumps available (32+33=55 charges in sum)
No longer starts with any Darts.
Like Sprouted, Potions of Strength are automatically identified.
His subclasses are almost identical with Sprouted: a) Gladiator gains the Combo buff, which grants bonus damage with each successive succesful hit, ranging from +20% bonus damage with a 3-hit combo to +120% bonus damage with a 8-hit combo (after that, the combo counter starts again), b) Berserker gains the Furious buff when his HP are below 60% of max HP and retains it as long as he stays below 60% HP, getting his physical damage increased by 25% and the damage dealt to him reduced by 25%.
From all the available items he can equip, he is the only class with ease to equip heavy armors due to the -2 strength requirement, and when he chooses the Gladiator subclass, he is benefited very much by a Ring of Accuracy and also by Ring of Force, due to its bonus damage modifier which stacks with the combo damage modifier.

Mage

Mage is now focused around the new Magic Power stat (MIG), which increases damage dealt by wands.

Starts with a Magic Book instead of the Knuckledusters. The Magic Book can stun enemies with its "blunt" attribute, and it's also one of a few weapons to have its strength requirement decreased by upgrades.
Uses wands faster than normal.
Starts with 3 Magic Power instead of 0.
His starting Wand of Magic Missile can no longer be disenchanted. Instead, it has 1 higher max charge than normal.
Also gets a Wand of Disintegration from start.
His Jump Shoes can take him two tiles away, allow him to teleport past enemies (or through them), and have a chance of giving the Arcane buff to increase his Magic Power by 10. Fully charged they have 3 jumps available (3Χ14 + 8 residual = 50 charges in sum).
Like Sprouted, he gains a wand charge after eating, has a higher upgrade limit, and automatically identifies Scrolls of Identify.
His subclasses are somewhat similar to Sprouted, but with many differences, especially for the Battlemage: A) Warlock can "Soul Mark" enemies with a succesful wand hit, and from that point on he will be slightly healed with any succeful hit to them. After the enemy's death he's slightly healed again and also his hunger is slightly satisifed (usually for +10). After some turns, the soul mark can get erased from the enemy, if no succesful wand hit is repeated.
B) Battlemage doesn't equip wands. Instead, choosing this subclass allows wands to take even less time to be used and higher attack speed with them, as the subclass gains +5 Magic Power. The absence of the subclass ability to equip wands and therefore to recharge them quickly by using them as melee, makes familiar Battlemage builds from Sprouted with very highly upgraded wands lose some of their advantage in SPS-PD. On the other hand, a highly upgraded ring of Magic can make this build viable. Important note: a highly upgraded Wand of Firebolt is SPS-PD doesn’t backfire, so it is probably the best choice for a highly upgraded wand due to its damage output.
From all the available items he can equip, Rings of Magic (bonus wand damage) and Energy (bonus recharging rate) apparently benefit all mages very much and can make a Battlemage OP when upgraded as the three bonuses (subclass + Magic bonus damage + Energy quick recharging) stack.
The Book of Heavens / Courage Trial is not repeatable by falling into the chasms anymore and Phase Pitchers are generally a rare resource is SPS-PD, so transmuting all the Scrolls of Magical Infusion to Scrolls of Upgrade and putting all of them on a wand Sprouted-style, is simply not possible in SPS-PD. The closest a hero can get to this build, is to use all of his/her Scrolls of Upgrade in one reinforced wand (and a Ring of Magic / Energy if they are available) and use the Scrolls of Magical Infusion on his/her end-game weapon and armor.

Rogue

Rogue is now very much about good weapons, in addition to even more invisibility-related techniques.

Instead of having high accuracy, his starting Dagger has “puncture” to hit enemies with a second, weaker attack with each successful swing.
Has 10 Throwing Knives instead of 10 Darts.
Requires 2 less strength to use weapons. This is shown in the game as a weapon's strength requirement being lowered by 2 when equipped, but showing its regular strength requirement otherwise.
His Cloak of Shadows has been altered to work more like Shattered's current version of it, where it only starts with 3 max charges, but each individual charge lasts several turns.
No longer starts with a Bomb.
No longer lasts longer without food, gains free evasion from light armor, or instantly identifies equipped rings.
His jumping range with the Jump Shoes is only 2 tiles, but he gets 2 turns of levitation when jumping, effectively allowing flight-on-demand that offers a distance of about 10 tiles if started at full charge. There is also a chance to become invisible for 5 turns when jumping. Fully charged his Jump Shoes have 4 jumps available (4X10=40 charges in sum).
Like Sprouted, he is more proficient as detecting traps and identifies Scrolls of Magic Mapping.
His subclasses are identical with Sprouted: a) Freerunner is very quick, when unencumbered and not starving, and although the game does not display a speed stat or a speed buff with a description, practically he can be almost a quick as a cave vampire bat, b) Assassin inflicts additional damage, when he performs a surprise attack (SPS-PD has the pequliarity though, that among all of its weapons' attributes there is not an "effective against unaware enemies" one).
From all the available items he can equip, when he chooses the Assassin subclass, he should prefer light armors, as they have the highest stealth stats, and should avoid at all costs heavy armors, as some high tier ones even have stealth penalties and can make a surprise attack miss. All blunt weapons by stunning the enemy provide the Assassin with extra surprise attacks, so they should also be preferred. When he chooses the Freerunner subclass he is benefited very much by a Ring of Haste as its bonus speed stacks with the subclass bonus.

Huntress

Out of all the classes, she is changed the least.

Starts with Knuckleduster that can cripple enemies instead of a dagger.
When jumping with the Jump Shoes, she can move two tiles away and has a chance to throw Spectral Blades at nearby enemies (but also the pet) for extra damage based on the strength of her melee weapon. Fully charged they have 3 jumps available (3Χ14 + 8 residual = 50 charges in sum).
No longer gets bonus damage for excess strength with Missile Weapons.
No longer gets unlocked after a hero first beats DM-300. Instead, she is unlocked only after killing 10 monsters, so she is practically available after the first game with any other class.
Like Sprouted, she starts with a Boomerang, can recover a used Missile Weapon from enemies, gains more health from dew drops (even if this isn't stated), senses mobs behind walls, and identifies Potions of Mind Vision.
Her subclasses are similar to Sprouted; a) Warden gets more seeds and dew from trampling grass (as if she was having a +3 Sandals of Nature equipped), gets 4 times the regular HP from dew drops (4 HP from one white dew drop/one dew vial drop, 20 HP from one yellow etc.) and instead of the Barkskin buff she gets Invisibility for 2 turns for each tile of high grass that she steps on b) Sniper gets the Sniper's Mark buff after each succesful hit with a missile or thrown weapon (but loses it after an unsuccesful hit, if she switches targets, stops attacking or the target dies), wihch grants quicker attack speed and armor penetration.
From all the available items she can equip, when she chooses the Warden subclass, she is benefited much by also equipping the Sandals of Nature artifact. When she chooses the Sniper subclass she is benefited very much by the ring of Accuracy as its bonus accuracy stacks with the subclass bonus, by the Ring of Sharpshooting as it increases her ranged damage output and by the Ring of Furor, as its bonus attack speed stacks with the subclass bonus.

Performer

A completely new class focused around the Rhythm/Echo buff of defeating enemies to gain accuracy and evasion bonus and the Glass Shield buff that grants much higher defense.

Starts with a Triangolo, a new weapon with the "resonance" mechanic that lets attacks also hit enemies (and allies) adjacent to the target.
Gets a unique Shovel that can be used to destroy any regular wall, even those that belong to pit rooms and locked rooms. It has three charges (3X50/150). The Shovel fills a main inventory slot, but cannot get dropped or thrown.
Finds bombs more often.
Gains the Rhythm buff, which grants increased Accuracy and Dodge for 10 turns after levelling up, killing monsters or using the jumps shoes.
Leveling up or using the jump shoes also provide the Glass Shield buff, which reduces damage by about 80% for 10 turns. (Currently there is a happy bug concerning the Glass Shield, as from floor 1 to floor 7 or 8 it does not wear off at all, making the Performer OP during this period).
His Jump Shoes can move him three tiles away and provide both the Glass Shield and Rhythm buffs. Fully charged his jumps shoes have 2 jumps available (10+10=20 charges in sum)
If he chooses the Superstar subclass it grants him the Echo buff after killing enemies, which increases Speed for 10 turns.
If he chooses the Joker subclass, his attack range is increased by 1 and also knocks back enemies.
He is not benefited especially from any ring or artifact like the other classes.

Dew Vial and Dew / Upgrading

As if Sprouted's version wasn't already strong enough, the Dew Vial now has even more features packed into it. Most notably, the Dew Vial's choice between Draw Out Dew and Water With Dew after the completion of the Tinkerer’s quest in Sprouted has been replaced by a relatively new choice: "Accurate Upgrade", which imitates the Upgrade behavior of “Draw Out Dew” from Sprouted, or "Random Upgrade", which offers similar Upgrades to those of “Water with Dew” (if by chance the hero meets the developer without having the dew vial, the Developer will just say "it's a great place", so apart from the toadstool mushroom also the dew vial must be in the inventory for the quest to get fulfilled). Heroes who choose Accurate Upgrade can identify their items through upgrades from the Dew Vial, and can choose a single item to upgrade - when the item is cursed the negative stat will reversed to positive but the curse will not be removed (for example a cursed -1 weapon will become +1 with an accurate upgrade, but will remain unable to be unequipped until a scroll of Remove Curse is used). Accurate upgrade can also randomly give +2 upgrades to an item, even surpassing the floor dew level cap by +1, based on luck and dungeon depth. Random Upgrades uncurse the player's inventory as a whole, but randomly choose any amount of items to upgrade and do not identify the items they upgrade (rarely they do not upgrade anything at all). The only upgading mechanism in SPS-PD that is accurate and also uncurses is reading a Scroll of Upgrade or Magical Infusion.

The Dew Vial also starts with 120 max drops, instead of 100, and has its familiar healing ability from the beginning (“Drink”, +1 HP per dew drop). When the dew vial is full and the hero without full health, stepping on 1 white dew drop heals 1 HP, 1 yellow dew drop heals 5 HP, 1 red dew drop 10 HP and 1 violet dew drop 50 HP - while starving the amount of healing might seem slightly less because of the simultaneous loss of HP. Whatever option of Upgrade the hero chooses, he/she will start each new floor with a Dew Drop buff (the Dew Charge buff of Sprouted). Lastly, unlike Sprouted, this choice wil follow the hero until the end of the game, as the Dew Developer in the Power Trial / Book of the Living floor, will not change random upgrading with accurate upgrading, as he does in Sprouted.

Initially items can get upgraded with dew up to +2 in floor 2 (and by the Mage up to +3) and up to +3 in floor 3 (by the Mage up to +4), but from that point and on 1 extra Dew Upgrade is possible only every 3 levels, with a level cap at +10, in other words it is possible for the hero's equipment to reach 10 upgrades (or 11 if he is a Mage) by the Dew Vial only by level 24 (on the other hand, Scrolls of Upgrade and Magical Infusion don’t have any floor limit, apart from the general level cap at +15 for equipment that are not reinforced). Upgrades do not lower the Strength requirement for all armor and almost all weapons at all. By the end of the game, once the player has defeated Shadow Yog, the cap jumps up to +13 (+14 for mages). Although the game warns the player about the contrary, dew drops are not evaporated when the hero goes down a level. Dew drops are also not evaporated by fire, even the white ones that drop from high grass, and can’t be destroyed by bombs. Lastly, compared to Sprouted, Yellow dew is now worth 5 dew, up from 2, and Red dew is now worth 10 dew, up from 5. White and Violet dew drops remain at 1 and 50, like Sprouted.

New Abilities Available From The Beginning

Drink: The familiar healing ability from Sprouted. Can't be used with only 1 Dew in the vial.
Light: Grants invisibility and light at the cost of 10 dew. Can't be used if there is less than 30 Dew in the Vial.
Peek: At the cost of 5 drops, players get 2 turns of Mind Vision and get to see where the floor's exit is. Can't be used if there is less than 30 Dew in the Vial.
Refine: For 10 dew, the player gets Clean Water which is needed for many cooking recipes. Can't be used if there is less than 30 Dew in the Vial.
In previous versions of SPS-PD there was also the Escape ability available, that allowed the hero to leave all special levels and repeat them, but it is now removed from SPS-PD.

Abilities Unlocked by the Dew Developer (Sprouted’s Tinkerer) on Floor 2

No matter what option heroes choose (Accurate vs. Random Ugrade), they will always get to Draw Out Dew, and to a lesser extent, Water With Dew.

Plant: The equivalent to “Water” in Sprouted, but nearly impossible to infinitely farm due to now costing 15 dew, up from 2. Generally, farming is only possible with an upgraded Ring of Haste and upgraded Greaves of Nature both equipped, or Greaves of Nature +10 inside of a 3x3 room. It's still only usable with a minimum of 50 Dew in the Vial.
Upgread (i.e. Upgrade): Same as “Bless” in Sprouted, but it costs 70 Dew if the hero chooses Accurate Upgrade, or 60 Dew if he/she chooses Random Upgrade. their different behaviors have been described in the first paragraph. Both are only usable with 100 or more Dew in the Vial.

Abilities Unlocked by Rune Scholar Lynn (Sprouted’s Tinkerer) on Floor 12

Clean: Costs 5 drops, Extinguishes Fire, and washes off Tar and Caustic Ooze. Only in the Demon Halls it can randomly also grant the Blessed buff. Can't be used if there is less than 30 Dew in the Vial.
Speed: Costs 15 drops for a Haste buff (similar to Splash of Sprouted but without invisibility). Can't be used if there is less than 30 Dew in the Vial.

Abilities Unlocked by the Dew Developer at the Power Trial floor / Change from Sprouted

The Dew Vial's max dew capacity will be increased to 350 after this upgrade, up from the usual amount of 300 in Sprouted.

Speed grants Levitation in addition to Haste.
The heroes who had chosen Random Upgrade won't have it changed to Accurate Upgrade, as it happens in Sprouted, and will continue to upgrade equipment randomly.

Dolyahaven / Dolya Town

Dolyahaven is renamed to Dolya Town and now contains almost 40 new NPCs, two new sidequests and a portal to a new challenge, the Boshrush Challenge.

Main article: Mod-SPecial_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/Sokoban_and_Dolya_Town_(Dolyahaven)

Enemies

3 new enemies are added in the Sewers, 2 in the Prison, 1 in the Caves, 2 in the Metropolis, 3 in the Demon Halls, and most of the familiar enemies have their stats rebalanced and skills more or less changed.

Main article: Enemies

Food and Hunger

The hunger mechanic is slightly changed but most importantly, a new cooking system is added with 25 new recipes. Also 5 new holiday food items are added.

Main article: Food

Limited Saving

Rarely, the player can find rooms that are always hidden and are listed as Memory of Fire in the Journal, but have the same appearance as Vanilla's sacrificial chambers. They allow the player to create a single save point (up to the number of 5): this save point can be used only once, and the save file persists for each class even after a run is complete. Each chamber can also be used only once, and that only if it's found (be careful not to check on the pedestal but decide to leave saving for later, as the game considers the save point used and deactivates it). A similar save is offered with the Chocolate Pudding Cup item that is found after beating Yog-Dzewa in the same place that the Amulet of Yendor is normally found [In relation to Sprouted, it is a swapping: the Chocolate Pudding Cup is located where the Amulet is in Sprouted, and Otiluke in the end of SPS-PD gives the hero an Amulet of Yendor instead of a pudding cup.] Due to their limited nature, it's best to use them after important milestones, or before attempting something very risky.

Mini-Bosses

5 new mini-bosses are added in the regular dungeon along with the old ones, 2 in Sewers, 2 in Prison, and 1 in the Mining Caves.

Main article: https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Mod-Special_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/Mini-Bosses

NPCs

[Only NPC's that the hero meets in the regular dungeon and the Book/Trial floors are mentioned here. The almost 40 NPCs of the Dolya Town are presented in the Sokoban and Dolya Town section.]

Old Wandmaker: He is always located at Floor 7 of the dungeon, and gives an Adamant (Sprouted's Adamantite) Wand to all classes, and not only to the Mage. On the option to choose between a battle and a non battle wand, the player should take into account that the game makes the distinction between battle and non battle wands rather randomly because most of its wands are offensive, and the Wandamker will give as battle wand reward a Wand of Acid / Blood / Disintegration / Firebolt / Freeze / Light / Lightning and as non battle wand reward a Wand of Charm / Flock / Flow / Meteorite / Poison / Thundercloud. The reward wand is always upgraded and rarely cursed. Picking up he Rotberry Seed will release a cloud of toxic gas and root the hero, but will not function as an alarm trap.
Rune Scholar Lynn is SPS-PD's equivalent of Sprouted’s Tinkerer in Floor 12. Apart from the Dew Vial upgrade, she also gives a Mr. Destructo or a better version of it (Mr. Destructo 2.0), if the hero has already one from Goo, exactly like the Tinkerer in Sprouted. After the hero interacts with her in floor 12 for the first time, he/she will be finding Lynn in Dolyahaven for the rest of the game, with her saying that she had fixed the altar and and the hero can use it now (it is the altar that the T6 weapons are created).
Shopkeepers are now invincible, and don't care if anything tries to harm or debuff them.
The Troll Blacksmiths (renamed from Bip and Bop to Troll Blacksmith and Troll Welder) are always located at floor 11. Adamantite weapon/armor/wand/rings are now renamed to Adamant weapon/armor/wand/rings, without any change to their function. Also, all classes and not only the Mage get the Adamant Wand, after they finish the Wandmaker quest and there is one extra adamant ring, that drops from the Gnoll King in the Treasure Map key level.
Two of the Sprouted’s Tinkerers (those in floor 2 and in the Book of Life / Power Trial level) are renamed to Dew Developers. The Tinkerer in floor 12 is transformed to Rune Scholar Lynn.

Pets

9 new pets are added to those existing already in Sprouted, and also their stats, leveling up, special skils, eating habits are almost all changed.

Main article: Pets

Strength and Strength Requirements

There are many changes to how the game handles the player's Strength, and what equipment can be used. No longer is it possible, at all, to decrease almost all items’ strength requirement through upgrades. Additionally, Potions of Might give +15 max HP and no additional Strength instead of +5 max HP and +1 Strength, and no longer always transmute into Potions of Strength. Effectively, this means that methods of gaining strength are few and far in between, so players will be switching to higher tier weapons at a much slower rate, even possibly as late in the game as the Demon Halls.

Weapons and Armor

20 new regular weapons, 4 unique drop weapons, 7 holiday weapons and 4 thrown weapons are added to those already existing in Sprouted, and they almost all have a regular, enhhanced or holiday attribute. Also 11 new weapon enchantments are added.

Main article: Weapons

Tier 6 armors are added, and each armor tier now includes three different types of armor: light (less defense, more stealth and dexterity), heavy (more defense, less stealth and dexterity), and normal (balanced in their stats).

Main article: https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Mod-Special_Surprise_Pixel_Dungeon/Armor

Weather Rooms / Light and Darkness

In the dungeon the hero might encounter rooms with special climate, that either buff or debuff any character that is located inside them, and also might experience a sudden shortening of his/her vision during nighttime.

Main article: Weather Rooms / Light and Darkness

New or Changed Buffs

There are some new buffs, some class specific to the Performer, and some other caused by the consumption of food or the use of enchanted weapons or artifacts.

Class / Subclass specific Buffs

Source Power - Blood Imbue: only the Warrior class can gain it, after the Dwarf King is beaten and the hero gets the Skill kit: it grants immunity to debuffs and improves damage for 30 turns.
Combo: only the Warrior subclass Berserker can gain it, and grants bonus damage with each successive succesful hit, ranging from +20% bonus damage with a 3-hit combo to +120% bonus damage with a 8-hit combo (after that, the combo counter starts again)
Echo: Only the Performer’s subclass Superstar can gain it after killing enemies – it increases Speed for 10 turns.
Furious: Only the Warrior subclass Berserker can gain it, when the hero's health is below 60% of max HP, and retains it as long as his HP remain below 60% - it increases physical damage to enemies by 25% and decreases damage to hero by 25%.
Glass Shield: Mostly the Performer can gain it after leveling up or by using the jump shoes - it is a strong Defense Up buff that reduces damage to the hero by 80% (all the other classes can gain it only by using the Defense mode of the Glass Totem). Mini bosses can also gain a glass shield, with various degrees of damage reduction.
Rhythm: Only the Performer can gain it, after leveling up or killing monsters - it increases Accuracy and Dodge for 10 turns.

Hero Buffs

Arcane: it is gained by all classes by using a Scroll of Recharging or visiting a room with this climate and by the Mage also by using the jump shoes, and provides +10 Magic Power.
Armor Break: is gained as a side effect or reading a Scroll of Lullaby, reduces enemies' armor and increases damage as a consequence.
Attack Down: It is gained by using the defense mode of the wooden shield or as a side effect or reading a Scroll of Lullaby, reduces 25% of enemies attack.
Attack Up: It is gained by using an enchanted with Energy weapon, as a side effect of drinking a Potion of Invisibility, or by activating the Robot DMT (randomly) / Glass Totem (optionally) artifacts and provides +20 % to attack (the Performer special skill Special Dance also grants 25% Attack Up) . Various enemies and especially mini bosses can also have an attack buff with various degrees of attack increase.
Blessed: It is same with its equivalent in Vanilla and other mods (increased accuracy and evasion) and not with that of Sprouted (increased damage). Note: The Starflower plant doesn’t grant the Blessed buff, but the Strength/Fury buff, like Sprouted.
Defense Up: It is gained by using an enchanted with Dance weapon, using the defense mode of the wooden shield, as a side effect of drinking a potion of Levitation, or by activating the Robot DMT (randomly) / Glass Totem (optionally) artifacts and provides +20%-50% to defense (the Performer special skill Special Dance also grants 25% Defense Up). Various enemies and especially mini bosses can also have a defense buff with various degrees of defense increase.
Dew Drop: it is gained by visiting every new floor, after meeting the Dew Developer in floor 2, and makes the enemies drop dew after they get killed.
Drowsy: it is gained by reading a Scroll of Lullaby and leads to magical sleep that rapidly replenish HP, can be negated by taking damage or being in full health.
Foresight: It is gained by having the Talisman of Foresight equipped and is activated when the hero is close to a trap.
Haste: It is gained by using the Speed ability of the Dew Vial and only by the Rogue class by using the class Special Skill.
Illuminated / High Light: it is gained with long duration by using a torch, and with shorter duration by using the Light ability of the Dew Vial, by zapping an enemy with a Wand of Light, as a side effect of drinking a potion of Purification but also when ignited by a fire trap. Grants better vision.
Immune to Gases: gained by drinking a Potion of Purification and as a parallel effect to the production of harmful gases from the Testpaint glyph.
Invisibility: gained by using the Light ability of the Dew Vial, by drinking a potion of Invisibility, and only by the Rogue class by using the Jump Shoes / the Cloak of Shadows / the class Special Skill and by the Warden subclass by stepping on high grass.
Muscle: A +2 Strength buff for 200 turns, which is gained after consuming a Power Pill.
Overfed: An Attack Up buff, which is gained after overeating, that is consuming food that its nutritional value surpasses the point 0 of the hunger counter..
Recharging: Unlike Sprouted, Scrolls of Recharging don’t instantly recharge all wands to full charge, but grant a much higher rate of recharging, like Shattered.
Shadowmelded: It is always gained while the hero stays in a garden. grants Invisiblity and Slower Metabolism (less hunger increase).
Strength: It is the Fury and the Moon Fury buffs of Sprouted just renamed – one or many extra powerful hits.

Hero Debuffs

Attack Down: caused by various monsters and mini bosses, reduces the hero's Attack.
Armor Break: caused by the Dwarf Musketeer, the Demon Flower and various mini bosses, reduces the hero's Armor > increases damage to the hero.
Burning: caused by stepping on a fire trap or a Firebloom plant, drinking a potion of Liquid Flame, eating raw meat, by an Animated Steel with a Fire enchanted weapon equipped and other enemies. It causes damage and can destroy scrolls, when the hero doesn't have the scroll holder. Fire can be extinguished by shattering a potion, stepping on water or with the Clean ability of the dew vial.
Caustic Ooze: caused by Demon Goos, Animated Steels with an Acid enchanted weapon equipped or by stepping on ooze traps, can be removed by stepping on water or by the clean function of the dew vial.
Cold: caused by certain climate or Animated Statues with a Coldwave enchanted weapon equipped, makes the hero Slow.
Dry: caused by certain climate, reduces Damage from hero.
Electrostatic Turbulence: caused by Animated Steels with an Electric enchanted weapon equipped or by enemies that zap lightning bolts while the hero is standing on water. It reduces wands' damage and recharge rate and also has a DoT effect (there is currently a bug involved with this debuff and sometimes never wears off - normally it gets away with time or by getting zapped again).
Frozen: caused by stepping on an ice trap or an Icecap plant, drinking a potion of Frost, or by an Animated Steel with an Ice enchanted weapon equipped. It paralyzes the hero but doesn't seem to make potions shatter like in other mods.
Hot: caused by certain climate or Animated Steels with a Tar enchanted weapon equipped, causes Easier Damage to hero.
Leech Seed: caused by the Living Moss and Animated Steels with an Earth enchanted weapon equipped, causes a DoT vampiric effect that heals all nearby characters.
Locked: caused by Thieves in Prison when they flee, makes the hero unable to consume anything.
Poisoned: caused by various enemies, stepping on a poison trap or a Sorrowmoss plant.
Raise Dead: caused by certain climate - Skeletons are probable to spawn (not according to level, but same with those in Caves, so this climate can be lethal in early levels).
Silence: caused by regular level Skeletons when they die, makes the hero unable to read scrolls and use wands.
Tar: caused by the tar gas of Broken Robots and Golems or by Animated Steels with a Tar enchanted weapon equipped, and makes the hero slower - also the fire debuff does not go away at all until the hero steps on water or uses the Clean function from the dew vial.
Weakness: caused by stepping on weakening traps and by various enemies. It is applied by much more monsters and mini bosses compared to Sprouted, but is same with Sprouted in all the rest (except that when it is caused specifically by Dwarf Warlocks it causes -3 instead of the regular -2 strength reduction, unlike what the game says).
Wet: caused by certain climate or Animated Steels with a Coldwave enchanted weapon equipped, causes Reduced Accuracy and Dodge for hero.

New Bags

A Scarecrow Heart that the hero gets from killing the Clockwork Scarecrow in Dolyahaven, a bag that holds up to 22 different weapons, melee or missile.
A Shopping Cart can now be found in a garden, and can be used for storing all of the game's edible items, from berries to mushrooms to other such foods, up to 24 different items. A shopping cart in a garden always spawns in each run, and usually by the end of prison one will have already been spawned, but rarely this can happen in caves and even in the metropolis or demon halls. If by the time the hero reaches floor 24 he/she hasn’t found one yet, it would be useful to go back to the previous floors and map them, until he/she finds the hidden garden.

Sokoban Changes

Main article: Sokoban

About Grinding

If it is Considered Needed

Dew: The Dew Drop buff will have a limited duration in regular floors, when the hero had missed some enemies in a hidden room or had just wasted time and so had finished the previous floor under the goal moves. Fortunately, all the key/challenge floors (Forest, Prison, Caves, City) provide generous amounts of Dew and are repeatable. On the other hand, the Plant ability of the Dew Vial, due to costing 15 dew, is efficient in farming dew only with an upgraded Ring of Haste and +10 Greaves of Nature both equipped, or with +10 Greaves of Nature in a 3X3 room, unlike Sprouted, where watering with dew costs only 2 drops.

Food: Half of the enemies in the Sewers drop regular or mystery meat, various enemies in the subsequent chapters also drop meat (Cave Spinners, Scorpions etc. just like Sprouted) and Dwarf Monks in the Metropolis drop regular rations of food or pasty, with an upgraded Lucky Charm helping the rate of these drops very much. Additionally, the Caves challenge floor is ideal for grinding meat from the piranhas, especially when a Lucky Charm is equipped.

Gold: The hero can repeat the Sokoban puzzle floors as the gold chests contain good loot as many times as the hero visits the level, and can also fall many times in the Thief Lair's basement (he/she will also have already gathered appr. 12.000 gold from the City challenge floor, if he/she had followed the correct method). Lastly, if the player is interested in a higher ranking, in which having a lot of gold helps, he/she can collect all the +10 upgraded and enchanted weapons that are dropped by Animated Steels in the Mirror Otiluke battle and sell them at a Dolyahaven shop, but collecting gold in literal end-game will have no other effect.

Mushrooms: They are useful in good cooking recipes, so a hero might need to farm them. The only monsters that drop mushrooms are the prison Thief (rarely, even with an upgraded Lucky Charm equipped) and the Living Moss in the sewers, but both appear rather randomly. Practically, only piranhas in the Caves challenge floor can be farmed for mushrooms, but with limited results even with an upgraded Lucky Charm equipped. Also, all the floors with lots of high grass (Forest, Prison, Power Trial) can give good drops of mushrooms with +10 Greaves of Nature equipped.

Magic Stones (Norn stones renamed): Their drops from mobs are limited to 6 but are easier to gather in comparison to Sprouted, as they can be farmed from Golems in the Dwarven Metropolis. The can also be bought in the Dolyahaven shops.

Phase Pitchers: Unlike Sprouted, Phase Pitchers are a very rare resource is SPS-PD, as the Book of Heavens / Widom Trial has become unrepeatable (and even in that one visit, phase pitchers spawn very rarely), so there is no way to obtain them through farming. Nevertheless the hero can buy them from the northwest shop in Dolya Town, which restocks in each visit or after a sleep in the hotel room.

Scrolls in general: If the hero wants to upgrade the Unstable Spellbook, he/she will need many scrolls to add XP to the artifact. Gnoll Shamans in prison, caves and metropolis, Broken Robots in caves and metropolis, and Succubi in demon halls, all drop scrolls, especially when an upgraded Lucky Charm is equipped. Also, like Sprouted, the hero can leave a Robot Printer intact in the DM-300 battle, and after he/she has beaten DM-300, he/she can equip the Lucky Charm and farm scrolls of Recharging from the Broken Robots that will constantly spawn from the Robot Printer.

Scrolls of Upgrade and Magical Infusion: Upgrading the Lucky Charm to +15 will help very much with the Wraith drops of these scrolls but will not guarantee them and the Lucky Charm cannot get upgraded above +15. The grave stone that spawns in the southeast of Dolya Town in late levels and reappears in each visit, even when the hero had just destroyed it in the previous visit, and also after a sleep in the Dolya Town hotel room, is currently the only location to farm SoUs and SoMIs in SPS-PD, nevertheless it is very limited due to 500 charges of the Dolya Slate needed for each new visit. The hero also buy these scrolls from the west shop in Dolya Town, which restocks in each visit or after a sleep in the hotel room.

Seeds and Nuts: The only regular enemy that drops seeds is the Dust Elemental in the Sewers. Also, as stated right before, the Plant ability of the Dew Vial, due to costing 15 dew, is efficient in farming only with an upgraded Ring of Haste and Greaves of Nature both equipped or with +10 Greaves of Nature in a 3X3 room. Besides that, the Forest, Prison and the Power Trial special floors are filled with high grass, like Sprouted, with all being repeatable, and especially with Greaves of Nature they can drop many seeds and nuts. Lastly, scrolls of Regrowth are not unique items anymore, but rare, and are sold in the Dolyahaven shops, so they can be repeatedly used to fill a big floor with high grass (with the Vault floor having been removed, the Dolyahaven village is the best candidate as it is one of the biggest game floors and with no aggressive enemies at all).

Loot in general: Item generation has been heavily nerfed in the Wisdom Trial/Book of the Heavens (which is not repeatable anymore) and there is also no way to fall in the Thief King's basement anymore, so the hero will have to be content with what he he/she had managed to find in the regular dungeon. Nevertheless in those floors an upgraded Lucky Charm has a very positive effect in item generation in general and spawning of Scroll of Magical Infusion and Potions of Might in particular.

When Grinding is not needed and also is not possible

Among the most famous (or infamous) characteristics of Sprouted Pixel Dungeon is its grindiness: in order to survive the Dolyahaven Mines and especially to win the final Otiluke and Zot Battles, the hero must do at least some of the following: a) Grind Red Wraiths until they drop a Ring of Wealth b) Reinforce and Upgrade the ring to +28 and grind Grave Wraiths for Scrolls of Magical Infusion, c) Grind the Book of Heavens floor for an equal number of Phase Pitchers to the Scrolls of Magic Infusion that he/she has already collected, d) Drop all the scrolls one by one to phase pitcher wells of transmutation, e) Farm for all or most of the 15 Upgrade Eaters available in the game, f) Upgrade 15 items to +10, g) Throw these 15 items to the Upgrade Eaters and collect the 15 Violet Upgrade Goos, h) Drop all the new Scrolls of Upgrade and Violet Upgrade Goos to his/her Tier 6 weapon (for which the Norn Stones he/she has also grinded in the Dolyahaven Mines) and possibly to some other equipment. All this procedure takes days, literally.

From all these grindings, none is really needed in SPS-PD. The game provides the hero with approximately 140 to 170 Scrolls of Upgrade and Magical Infusion if he//she has upgraded his/her Lucky Charm to +15 before robbing the game graves and has had a little success in the Sokoban puzzles and he/she can also by some more from the Dolyahaven shop, which restocks in every visit. There are no Dolyahaven Mines any more, and no enemy in general has high resistance to highly upgraded Tier 5 weapons, so there is no need of transmuting the Scrolls of Magical Infusion to Scrolls of Upgrade, in order for them to be able to upgrade a Tier 6 weapon (these weapons also have a rather worse rate of upgrading compared to the T5 and even some of the T4 weapons). He/she will just reinforce his/her weapon of choice, drop most of the Scrolls of Upgrade and Magical Infusion on it (some builds would benefit also from upgraded rings, and the Battlemage will need a small collection of rather upgraded wands or one very highly upgraded, but you get the spirit) and then proceed to the Shadow Yog and the two Final Battles without any real problem. But even if a player wants to be faithful to the Sprouted original and grind Phae Pitchers, he will not be able to: the Book of Heavens / Wisdom Trial doesn't allow falling anymore and does not spawn Phase Pitchers as loot.

Misc.

Cursed armors, weapons and rings can have negative levels (for example a cursed Cloth Armor can be –2), but not cursed wands. Scrolls of Remove Curse and any form of upgrading reverses the negative stat to positive (e.g. from -2 to +2).
In Rooms with Bookshelves that don’t contain scrolls, there are instead hidden bone piles behind the bookshelves, that contain items and spawn Red Wraiths, so the hero has to burn the bookshelves to get to them, like YAPD. If there is a room like that in a floor, a Potion of Liquid Flame will spawn.
Pit Rooms have two differences from all other PD mods: a) Their walls can be destroyed by bombs or the shovel, so the hero doesn’t have to jump into pits any more, if he/she has either of these two items available b) they don’t have a locked entrance, but an “air wall” which cannot be unlocked or destroyed by any means.
Traps new and changed: Fire traps when activated cause a fire cloud like those in Shattered and not a single tile explosion like those in Sprouted. Storm traps create a cloud of paralytic gas and lightning. Warping traps teleport the hero to a previous dungeon floor without unidentifying their floor like they used to do in Shattered. There are also Alarm, Blazing, Chilling (don't shatter potions), Confusion, Cursing, Disarming, Disintegration, Explosive, Flashing, Frost (don't shatter potions), Gripping, Guardian, Lightning, Ooze, Paralytic gas, Pitfall, Poison, Rockfall, Shock, Spear, Summoning, Teleportation, Toxic gas, Venom and Weakening traps in the game, all borrowed from Shattered or Sprouted and almost exactly the same in function. Distortion and Grim traps exist also in the SPS-PD code but are extremely rare and sometimes happily bugged, as they don’t seem to work at all. Trap tiles in general can’t be destroyed by bombs.
Few monsters’ special abilities (like the Shielded Brute’s rage), have a “No text found” message displayed instead of a relevant message by the game. Thus, when the hero sees a “No text found” message during a fight, he/she should expect a special attack from the enemy.
Walls in general can be destroyed by bombs or the Shovel. The only walls that the shovel and bombs can't destroy are a) special colored walls (dark gold veins etc.) and b) the pit room air walls.
Wells: The Well of Health now fills the whole Dew Vial, even if it is upgraded to the capacity of 350. The Well of Transmutation, like the Phase Pitcher plant, no longer necessarily drops the same tier weapon, and due to the artifacts not being unique drops anymore, the well can rarely drop back the same artifact. Lastly, the Well of Awareness, unlike the Scrolls of Magic Mapping and Blue berry, does show hidden doors and traps and also loot, keys and the exit.
Without the "More QuickSlot" option selected, there are two quickslots at the bottom of the screen and one at the right side, under the menu button. With "More QuickSlot" Selected, one is added at the bottom of the screen and two are added below the one next to the menu button.

Bugs

Special Surprise Pixel Dungeon is still in development, so the existence of bugs is rather expected and to a major degree forgiven. The following list doesn’t intend to shame the developer or the mod, but only to compile a list that will be useful for the new player, who might already be struggling with the huge amount of changes and novelties in SPS-PD that do work.

Major bug

The only major bug currently in SPS-PD is when using the shovel in the outer walls of a dungeon floor, that have no wall afterwards but only void space. If the hero destroys that wall and he/she or a pet steps on the "chasm" that is opened, the game will crash and the save file will be possibly corrupted. Don't do it.

Minor bugs

Dolya Stale (Sprouted's Sokoban Journal) can’t be used, if the hero is stepping on a ladder tile.
Ethereal Chains sometimes can't get upgraded or their upgrading stoprs midways. The Dried Rose has the same problem as the hero stops finding rose petals at some point before the rose gets +10, even if he/she had found the Dried Rose in the first dungeon floors.
Pets in the BossRush Challenge might not be able to eat and heal, which is a serious problem because they are not immune to Demon blood. Also if the Sad Ghost is summoned along with a pet, it can vanish without ar reason, or very rarely make the game crash and the save file corrupted.
Shadow Dragon when is ready to get hatched, nothing is heard from inside the Soul Mob.