Yet Another Pixel Dungeon

Yet Another Pixel Dungeon (YAPD) is a fork of original Pixel Dungeon. See the announcement of YAPD.

Overview

This mod is based on the source code of Pixel Dungeon v1.7.5. It began as a small project with the goal to improve the original game here or there but has since gradually grown into something much, much bigger.

What makes this mod different from other mods is that it is mostly focused on tweaking game mechanics in order to make the game more interesting, diverse and balanced. It adds quite a few new things though, including new items, enemies and rooms. Despite all of this, it is still a tribute to the original game in its spirit, as general gameplay and visual style were left unchanged.

All that said, anyone who is familiar with the original game will have much to learn again in YAPD. It increases the game's difficulty a bit, but with enough time and experience, it is not much more difficult than the original game. Especially considering that YAPD aims at being much more honest about its mechanics, featuring more detailed item descriptions and a huge list of loading tips (descriptions of wands, rings and buffs are coming later).

Features

There are four difficulty options to provide an adequate challenge for every type of player.
Character classes were reworked and now have different strengths and weaknesses.
There's a variety of equipment options - dual wielding, firearms, shields, and more!
All bosses have been completely or partially reworked and are now even more epic!
New items, enemies, traps, and interactions added between them!
Many old enemies gained new abilities or were moved to other parts of the dungeon.
Loading tips and more detailed information about items and character stats.
The user interface was improved - auto-aiming, extended journal and other stuff.
Both new and modified potions, scrolls, wands, rings and other items...
Healing, stealth, wand usage and item durability systems were reworked!
Most enchantments on the weapons and armor now are more powerful than before.
The environment now affects stealth and evasion, encouraging a more tactical approach.
Seeds were reworked: now you find herbs, not seeds, and stepping on them has no effect. Instead, they are used for brewing potions and you can also eat them to satisfy hunger (but you'll suffer secondary effects).
Each chapter now contains six floors (for a total of 31 floors instead of 26).
Shops are now on every fifth depth, and their assortment has become more varied.
Even more features are coming later since this project is still in development!

Characters

Main article: Characters

YetAnotherPD keeps the same amount of classes, but instead of perks, it makes classes be different in their starting stats and their growth rate. The main intent was to stick to the formula "everyone can do everything, but not everyone can do everything well." Perks are going to be back, but as subclass bonuses.

Important: There aren't any subclasses in the game right now, but they will be back, and they will work in a more interesting and gradual manner.

Warrior - bonus strength and vitality, decreased dexterity and stealth
Brigand - bonus dexterity and stealth, decreased magic power (formerly magic skill) and attunement (formerly willpower)
Scholar - bonus magic power (formerly magic skill) and attunement (formerly willpower), decreased accuracy and perception
Acolyte - bonus accuracy and perception, decreased strength and vitality

Enemies: Regular and Special

Some of the enemies were moved to other stages, and almost all of them had their abilities changed in one way or another. Additionally, all of the enemies were divided into four categories (evasive, accurate, ranged and strong), with their stats being calculated depending on the current stage, their EXP value and category.

Special enemies can be spawned on any depth (especially if this depth is flooded, overgrown, haunted, etc), and their EXP values are usually equal to the depth number + 1. They are generally more dangerous than usual enemies, but all of them have some kind of weakness to compensate for that.

"Magical" enemies are always immune to all body- and mind-related debuffs (including life stealing), but they are susceptible to scrolls of Banishment and potions of Blessing.

Stage 1

Marsupial Rat - no special abilities or drops
Mugger - semi-ranged attack when on full hp, drops gold
Gnoll Hunter - throws javelins, drops ammunition
Sewer Crab - moves twice as fast, drops raw meat

Stage 2

Carrion Insect - flying, drains 1% satiety on hit, aggroes when you eat
Skeleton - magical, can wither on hit, drops gold
Gnoll Shaman - casts magic missile, spends a turn to prepare spell
Giant Spider - can poison on hit, ensnares its target and runs away, drops raw meat

Stage 3

Vampire Bat - steals health on hit, moves twice as fast, flying
Gnoll Brute - semi-ranged attack when on full hp, resistant to mind debuffs, drops gold
Evil Eye - casts disintegration, resistant to energy damage, flees from melee range when on full hp, flying
Cave Scorpion - can cover in ooze on hit, creates cloud of corrosive gas on death, resistant to caustic damage, drops raw meat

Stage 4

Dwarf Monk - attacks twice, stacks combo on hit, drops iron rations
Fire Elemental - semi-ranged attack when on full hp, fire-based attack, immune to fire, damaged by frost and rain, flying, magical
Dwarf Warlock - casts lightning, spends a turn to prepare a spell, drops gold
Golem - moves slower than usual, less armored while burning, resistant to most sources of magical damage, magical

Stage 5

Malicious imp - energy-based attack, can steal an item on hit, teleports away, flying
Succubus - steals health on hit, casts charm when not in melee, blinks to you
Fiend - unholy-based attack, casts harm, spends a turn to prepare a spell, creates a cloud of miasma on death, magical
Blackguard - resistant to most sources of magical damage, magical

Special

Wraith - ignores armor class, steals health on hit, casts harm, flying, magical
Piranha - moves twice as fast, can move only on water tiles
Animated Statue - resistant to most sources of magical damage, susceptible to ambushes, magical
Mimic - moves slower than usual, devours items when not hunting

Enemies: Bosses

Main article: Bosses

Some of the bosses (Goo, Dwarven King) were reworked to be more challenging and interesting. Other bosses are going to be reworked as well, but currently they are simply buffed somewhat.

There aren't any new bosses in the game right now, but alternative bosses are planned and will be implemented sooner or later (most likely later though).

Goo
Tengu
DM-300
King of Dwarves
Yog-Dzewa

Mechanics

Main article: Mechanics

Most of the game mechanics were changed. There are new attributes now; most of the old attributes had their effects changed (at least slightly), and there are lots of things to learn anew. It is highly recommended to get familiar with the main article for a better understanding of how the game works now.

Health
Strength
Accuracy
Dexterity (in YAPD it is synonym with evasion)
Magic power (formerly Magic skill)
Attunement (formerly Willpower)
Perception
Stealth

Alchemy - Herbs

Main article: Alchemy - Herbs

Alchemy is redesigned as a whole in YetAnotherPD. Now you find herbs, not seeds, and stepping on them has no effect. Instead, they are used for brewing potions and you can also eat them to satisfy hunger. Until the latest beta sometimes you would suffer secondary effects by eating them (and if you are not a beta tester, you still do), but since the latest beta eating herbs has only beneficial effects.

Armor

Main article: Armor & Shields

Armor was divided into several categories. Light and heavy armors differ only in their armor class, strength requirements and weight penalties, but Cloth Armor also provides bonuses to one of the wearer's attributes (the Rogue Garb increases stealth, the Mystic Robe increases attunement/willpower and the Elven Cloak increases perception). This bonus is equal to 5 % + 5 % per every upgrade level. All types of armor can get found enchanted or cursed or they can become enchanted / get sold already enchanted.

Shields can be used in your offhand slot. They increase your armor class while wielded, but they also can be enchanted / cursed like armors, and they can be used to block attacks (weapons can be used for that as well while dual-wielded or when one hand is empty), allowing to counter attack your enemy with 100 % chance to hit and bonus damage if both block and counter checks were successful.

Important: There isn't special class armor in the game right now and most likely will never be. The sprites of the older class armor were used for Cloth Armor.

Cloth armors - Rogue Garb, Mystic Robe, Elven Cloak
Light armors - Studded Armor, Mail Armor, Scale Armor
Heavy armors - Disc Armor, Splint Armor, Plate Armor
Shields - Round Shield, Kite Shield, Tower Shield

Badges

Like Original PD and most other mods, there are various badges in YetAnotherPD with some of them higher in hierarchy, that replace the lower badges with a higher badge. Some badges of Original PD are missing though, and some new badges are added. The badges of YetAnotherPD are:

10 Enemies slain > 50 enemies slain > 150 enemies slain > 250 enemies slain
100 Gold collected > 500 gold collected > 2,500 gold collected > 7,500 gold collected
Level 16 reached > Level 21 reached > Level 26 reached > Level 31 reached (this last badge is obtainable only by drinking potions of Wisdom, as at level 30 no enemy gives XP apart from Yog, whose XP is not enough for the hero to reach level 31)
All potions identified
All scrolls identified
All bags bought
1st boss slain > 2nd boss slain > 3rd boss slain > 4th boss slain
1st boss slain by Warrior, Scholar, Brigand & Acolyte
1 potion of Strength used > 3 potions of Strength used > 6 potions of Strength used > 10 potions of Strength used
10 pieces of food eaten > 20 pieces of food eaten > 30 pieces of food eaten > 40 pieces of food eaten
1 scroll of Upgrade used > 3 scrolls of Upgrade used > 6 scrolls of Upgrade used > 10 scrolls of Upgrade used
Amulet of Yendor obtained on Easy difficulty > Amulet of Yendor obtained on Normal difficulty > Amulet of Yendor obtained on Hardcore difficulty > Amulet of Yendor obtained on Impossible difficulty
3 potions cooked > 6 potions cooked > 9 potions cooked > 12 potions cooked
Happy end

[Note: Many of the badges mentioned in the YetAnotherPD github are currently unobtainable in it (for example the "Monster killed by an unholy weapon" or the "All rings identified" badges), so they are missing from this list.]

Curses

Main article: Curses

Another difference of YetAnotherPD is in its curses. Unlike Original PD and most other mods, YAPD's armor and weapon curses are its enchantments and glyphs reversed: for example the glyph of acid ward, which covers enemies in caustic ooze on hit and decreases damage from acids, is reversed to the curse of corrosion, which covers the hero in caustic ooze on hit. This difference creates one extra difference, that when a weapon or armor gets uncursed specifically by a scroll of Upgrade, its curse is reversed to to the relevant enchantment (so the armor of corrosion of the example will become an armor of acid ward). Cursed rings will have the opposite effect from their uncursed version (for example a cursed ring of Shadows will reduce the hero's stealth), and cursed wands will miscast or have negative effects for the hero (they sometimes work as if they are not cursed though). All cursed items are non-unequippable like in Original PD.

Generally items sold in shops, given as quest rewards, guarded by two animated statues or found inside tmobstones are never cursed (the last one is the most important to keep in mind, as many mods apply the exact opposite). Items guarded by piranhas or found in trap rooms can be cused though, still with a lower chance than the loot found in the regular dungeon rooms. Also in the latest beta curse chances for rings/wands have become dependent on chapter rather than depth number. No cursed rings/wands are supposed to spawn in the Sewers, but later in the game the chance to get blessed/cursed rings/wands should grow to almost as high as 50%/50% chances. This does not apply to cursed weapons or armors though, which can also spawn in the Sewers.

There is no scroll of Remove Curse in YetAnotherPD, but there are a few alternative ways of uncursing:

the scroll of Banishment apart from disrupting evil magic and harming magical enemies will also attempt to uncurse the whole inventory, most often decreasing all negative levels to zero (but not always).
getting resurrected by an Ankh will also attempt to uncurse the whole inventory, most often decreasing all negative levels to zero (but not always).
a potion of Blessing in its area of effect (either thrown or drunk by the hero, in which case its effect will also apply in the hero's inventory) will decrease the negative levels of cursed items from 1 up to 3 levels.
scrolls of Enchantment and Upgrade will uncurse fully an item, and in the case of cursed armors and weapons, the scroll of Upgrade will reverse the curse to the relevant enchantment, while the scroll of Enchantment will just erase the curse.

Difficulties

There are four difficulties available in YetAnotherPD:

Easy

Player character receives less damage.
Bosses have 20% less health.
Mobs have their health minimized.
Players can't earn any badges on this difficulty,

Normal

Player character receives normal damage.
Bosses have normal health.
Mobs have their health randomized.
This difficulty has no special features.

Hardcore

Player character receives normal damage.
Bosses have 20% more health.
Mobs have their health maximized.
Players have to beat the game on Normal to unlock this difficulty.

Impossible

Player character receives more damage.
Bosses have 50% more health.
Mobs have their health maximized.
Players have to beat the game on Hardcore to unlock this difficulty.

Food

The hunger mechanics of YetAnotherPD are not very different from Original PD and most other mods, but there are a few differences.

Starving at first doesn't hurt the hero, but only blocks regeneration. After the passing of a good amount of turns (appr. 200) it gets abruptly damaging and afterwards very damaging (the messages are: "starving gets worse", and "starving becomes unbvearable"). Before the metropolis, where food gets plenty because of the dwarf monk drops, it is better to eat only when the damaging phase of starvation starts or when you want to rest and heal.
Until the latest beta YAPD's food items were basically the same with Original PD, with only the extra option of herbs being edible, but for their beneficial effects and not their nutritional value, as they restored very slittle satiety. In the latest beta there were many changes made, the most important of which are that raw meat is now safe to eat and that it can also be cooked with herbs.You can read details about the beta changes here.

Potions

Main article: Potions

Potions were made in such a way, so they are more balanced against each other, with no potion being too powerful or too situative. Also, they became more dangerous to identify them by use, but this means that they are more useful once identified.

Additionally, potions were designed in such a way so that there isn't an optimal way to identify all of them in a single session - for example, while the Potion of Liquid Flame is much less dangerous if there is water nearby, the Potion of Thunderstorm has increased damage if you are standing on a water tile.

The effect of most potions (except potions of Strength/Wisdom) depends on the amount of potions identified, so their duration/effect is usually increased by 1 turn/10 percent for every known potion (except potions of Strength/Wisdom). It is like a simplistic representation of an "Alchemy" skill.

Potion of Mending
Potion of Mind Vision
Potion of Levitation
Potion of Invisibility
Potion of Blessing
Potion of Liquid Flame
Potion of Frigid Vapours
Potion of Corrosive Gas
Potion of Overgrowth
Potion of Thunderstorm
Potion of Strength
Potion of Wisdom

[Current beta testers should have in mind that some potions were changed or added in the latest beta.]

Rings

Main article: Rings

Rings have their effects streamlined and more balanced against each other. All of them now have a secondary effect to make them more satisfying to use, and all of them have their effects stacked while using two rings of the same type.

Some of them can be very powerful when two maxed rings of the same type are used together.

Ring of Accuracy
Ring of Awareness
Ring of Durability
Ring of Evasion
Ring of Fortune
Ring of Knowledge
Ring of Mysticism (formerly Sorcery)
Ring of Protection
Ring of Satiety
Ring of Shadows
Ring of Vitality
Ring of Willpower (formerly Concentration)

Scrolls

Main article: Scrolls

Scrolls became more dangerous as well, and some of them may even ruin your run if used recklessly. The idea is that some of them should be used while there aren't any enemies in sight, while others.. shouldn't.

Effectiveness of some of them is based on character's willpower/attunement attribute, so they may be more useful for a Scholar but not as useful for a Brigand.

Scroll of Identify
Scroll of Transmutation
Scroll of Sunlight
Scroll of Clairvoyance
Scroll of Banishment
Scroll of Darkness
Scroll of Phase Warp
Scroll of Challenge
Scroll of Torment
Scroll of Raise Dead
Scroll of Upgrade
Scroll of Enchantment

Wands

Main article: YAPD Wands

Wands are now required to be equipped in your second hand to be used, and cannot be used from your Backpack anymore; however, their effectiveness and recharge rate was increased a bit to compensate. Also, their power can be bolstered even further by using weapons with corresponding enchantments.

Wand of Magic Missile
Wand of Avalanche
Wand of Firebolt
Wand of Disintegration
Wand of Lightning
Wand of Harm
Wand of Entanglement
Wand of Freezing
Wand of Phasing
Wand of Blink
Wand of Flock
Wand of Charm

Weapons: Melee

Main article: Melee weapons

All melee weapons were separated into four categories. These categories determine which combinations of equipment are allowed with these weapons. If the combination is not allowed, then strength requirement of this weapon will be increased by the amount equal to strength required by a weapon/shield in another hand.

Light OH weapons can be used as offhand weapons, but they will get their strength requirement increased while doing so. Light TH weapons can be used with shields, but cannot be dual-wielded with another melee weapon. Heavy TH weapons are not allowed to be used with shields and with another melee weapon, but they still can be used with throwing weapons and wands.

Important: All items in the game have their upgrade level limited to +3 with no way to increase this limit. All of the items were rebalanced accordingly.

Also, all melee weapons can get found enchanted or cursed or they can become enchanted / get sold already enchanted.

Light one-handed - Dagger, Knuckleduster, Shortsword
Heavy one-handed - Quarterstaff, Mace, Broadsword
Light two-handed - Spear, Glaive, Halberd
Heavy two-handed - Battleaxe, Greatsword, War Hammer

Weapons: Ranged

Main article: Ranged weapons

All ranged weapons require appropriate ammunition to be equipped in your second hand to be used, effectively taking both hands to be used. The accuracy of your attacks with missile ranged weapons is decreased by 12.5 % for every tile of distance between you and your target though.

Flintlock weapons also need to be reloaded before use, (and they require half a turn and some amount of gunpowder to reload) and they may attract unwanted attention on use, but they ignore distance penalties and armor class of your target. They are still quite difficult to use properly.

Ranged missile - Sling, Bow, Arbalest
Ranged flintlock - Pistole, Arquebuse, Handcannon
Ammunition - Bullets, Arrows, Quarrels

Also, all ranged missile and flintlock weapons can get found enchanted or cursed or they can become enchanted / get sold already enchanted.

Weapons: Throwing

Main article: Throwing weapons

Throwing weapons can be equipped in your second hand, and they only have a 5 % chance to be broken on use. However, most of them do not provide any special effects besides inflicting damage. Exceptions to this are Darts (poison), Bolas (ensnare), Boomerangs (stun), and Harpoons (move you or your enemy closer).

Also, Boomerangs return to your hands on misses, Chakrams return to your hands on successful hits and Harpoons return to your hands no matter what, but their secondary effect depends on your strength versus the target's max damage value.

Special throwing - Darts, Bolas, Boomerangs
Light throwing - Throwing Knives, Shurikens, Chakrams
Heavy throwing - Javelins, Tomahawks, Harpoons

Important Notes

Alternative quests, subclasses, golden bees, Lloyd beacon, chasm levels and some other things were cut out for different reasons (most of it will be coming back in one way or another with later patches).
Upgrade levels are now limited to +3 for all items (no exceptions), with all of the items rebalanced accordingly - in fact, almost everything in the mod relies on +3 being the limit, so this is not going be changed near this sector of the Multiverse.
Degradation system was kept, although reworked significantly to make it much more fair and realistic (please give it a try before complaining because it is quite an important part of the gameplay and balance without being ridiculously unfair now).
Wands, throwing weapons, and ammunition for ranged weapons now require being equipped to be used, so you have to mind your selection of equipment before engaging in combat.
In general, most of the strategies you are accustomed to are not viable now or are significantly weaker, so you'll have learn and adapt anew if you want to have any success with this game.
Worst of all, the glorious RAT KING has left for his royal vacation for some time - don't worry though, for sooner or later he will be back, and even rattier than before!

Gameplay tips and Quirks

YAPD has implemented many changes that differentiate it from Original PD and most other mods. Visiting all the different pages of the YAPD category in the wiki will give the reader a detailed picture of this mod, but for the most important differences and idiosyncrasies the reader can visit the Gameplay tips and Quirks page.

Future Plans

Bring back subclasses and make them more interesting and deep, allowing you to combine their perks during the game to suit your own playing style (and the loot you've found so far).
Not only bring back alternative quests for every NPC, but also make it possible to benefit from them in some unconventional way (besides simply receiving reward from the questgiver).
Change most of the item/mob/chapter descriptions to partially depend on your current class to add some flavour and a bit of replayability for those who love digging in game lore as much as I do.
Add more game endings depending on your decisions - getting the best ending will not be a simple race against the hunger clock during your stroll back to the surface!
Give players a simple alchemy and scribing system to allow them creating scrolls and make cooking potions a bit more enjoyable. Crafting is never gonna be a big part of the game though.
Develop a simple spellcasting system - after all, isn't it a bit unfair that even these gnolls can cast spells, but you have to rely on wands and scrolls to do the same?
Make the dungeon look more interesting by adding new tiles, traps, obstacles, rooms and level feelings.