Weighing in at just under 30 pounds and with a grandmotherly demeanor befitting her advanced age, Rosie Beestinger is easily mistaken for someone on the wrong side of the 'aggressor/victim' relationship. But this is a mix-up that few people make more than once.

Originally released in March 2019, Rosie Beestinger is a sassy Halfling Shadow Monk created by Kate Welch for Acquisitions Inc: The "C" Team. And now it is time for a Rosie rework!

Rosie has been significantly reworked to better lean into her niches - adventures with ranged enemies, and formations with younger Champions. In addition, she has been given a new niche as the first Champion who can affect the BUD decay rate. For more information about Rosie's updated design, read on...

Faerûn's Savage Frontier has no shortage of dangers, but that hasn't stopped the citizens of Triboar from carving out a living in this picturesque stretch of fertile northern farmland.

This year, however, the people of Triboar are in need of aid. As the Highharvestide Festival approaches, bandits have begun causing trouble for farmers attempting to bring in their harvests, and it's up to the Champions to put an end to it!

Highharvestide 8 marks the beginning of Year 8 Events in Idle Champions and the beginning of Idle Champions 7th Anniversary Celebration! That's not confusing, is it?

But wait, there's more -- today also marks the launch of our latest Saturday Morning Squad member: Bobby the Barbarian!

Bobby is the first of the Featured Champions for Highharvestide 8, with the second, Rosie Beestinger, launching on Wednesday, September 11. Rosie's rework has been a long time coming, and we are excited to finally share with you what we've done.

Read on to learn more about Highharvestide 8 and the 7th Anniversary Celebration!

• 7th Anniversary Celebration
• Featured Champions
• Flex Champions
• Event Augments
• Feedback Wanted!

7th Anniversary Celebration

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

We are excited to be celebrating the 7th Anniversary of Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms along with the launch of our first Year 8 Event. Huge thanks to everyone who has helped Idle Champions along the journey so far - and be sure to log in daily for the next week to unlock your free daily rewards!

Players who unlock at least four of the daily rewards during the 7th Anniversary Celebration will unlock Presto (if he hasn't been unlocked yet) along with the Harvestguard Presto Skin, 3 Gold Presto Chests, and an Epic Feat!

Featured Champions

Bobby the Barbarian

Bobby is the youngest of the group that was transported to the magical world of Dungeons & Dragons. As a brave and loyal Barbarian, he wields a powerful magical club that enhances his strength. Bobby has close ties to his sister Sheila and his pet unicorn, Uni. Despite his impulsiveness, Bobby's courage and determination are key assets in the search to find the way back home.

Learn more about Bobby in his Champion Spotlight. Bobby arrives today with the launch of Highharvestide!

Rosie Beestinger

Weighing in at just under 30 pounds and with a grandmotherly demeanor befitting her advanced age, Rosie Beestinger is easily mistaken for someone on the wrong side of the 'aggressor/victim' relationship. But this is a mix-up that few people make more than once.

Learn about Rosie's upcoming rebalance in her 2024 Champion Spotlight launching on Friday, September 6. The Rosie Rebalance arrives on Wednesday, September 11 at the beginning of Highharvestide Week 2.

Flex Champions

Flex Slots allow players to unlock additional Champions and earn chests during events, choosing from a pool of retired Champions associated with the event. This collection of retired Champions includes the Champions from previous years of the event as well as some Champions whose events have been retired. This event's Flex Slot pool includes:

Event Augments

• Augment 1: M-M-M-ulti-Tier
  Description: Completing an event variant in a high enough area will award multiple tiers of progress.

• Augment 2: Boon Enhancements
  Description: Boons obtained during this event last until the beginning of the next event (October 2nd), rather than expiring when the event ends.

• Augment 3: Future Boons
  Description: If you obtain an event boon in this event, you'll start the next event (Liar's Night) with a level 1 event boon as well.

• Augment 4: Worth The Wait
  Description: Rebalanced Champion Rosie will unlock at the start of week two, and completing her tier 2+ variants awards double chests!

Feedback Wanted!

We want to hear about your experiences in Idle Champions! Your participation and feedback have brought us this far, and we would love to have you join our community on one of our official platforms:

• The Official Idle Champions Discord.
• The Official Idle Champions Subreddit.
• Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

How far would you go to celebrate foolishness?

Festival of Fools is a time honored tradition in Sword Coast communities. Townsfolk engage in the usual gluttonous consumption of food and drink during the festivities, but they also play pranks on each other.

Unfortunately, one prankster has decided to play a practical joke on a Frost Giant nearby...

Festival of Fools 3 introduces Briv Steelmarrow, Half-Orc Paladin (Oath of Heroism), and brings back Rosie and Strix Beestinger. Players have until Monday, March 23 at 12PM Pacific to complete their Festival of Fools 3 unlocks and objectives.

Year 3 Champion: Briv Steelmarrow

Relentlessly brave but markedly uncouth, Briv Steelmarrow is a stalwart champion of the weak, innocent, downtrodden, and oppressed. Centuries ago, a cabal of Netherese mages experimented on Briv’s clan, gifting him with a magical metal inside his bones that he can pull through his skin and shape for attack or defense. Once a slaver, Briv sought atonement by joining the Order of the Lost Cause, an elite group of knights that travel across Faerûn, taking on quests that only fools would pursue.

Briv is a Tank, Support, and Healing Champion. He uses his Unnatural Haste ability to speed up area progression, and his Steelbones boosts his defense while buffing Champions behind him. When you want to add Briv to your formation, you can swap him with Calliope (Slot 5).

For more information about Briv, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Briv Steelmarrow dev blog!

Year 2 Champion: Rosie Beestinger

Weighing in at just under 30 pounds and with a grandmotherly demeanor befitting her advanced age, Rosie Beestinger is easily mistaken for someone on the wrong side of the “aggressor/victim” relationship. But this is a mix-up that few people make more than once.

Rosie Beestinger is a sassy DPS Champion. Her damage increases for each Champion in the formation younger than she is, and she catches and deflects incoming missiles.

When you want to add Rosie Beestinger to your formation, you can swap her with Tyril (Slot 10). For more information about Rosie, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Rosie Beestinger dev blog!

Year 1 Champion: Strix Beestinger

The Sorcerer known as Strix is from Sigil, the City of Doors at the center of the multiverse. Very little is known of Strix's heritage, even to herself, but it was recently discovered that she was a powerful member of the Skizzicks family, who long ago made a pact with Asmodeus, ruler of the Nine Hells, to become Tieflings.

Strix Beestinger is a 'Trash Witch' DPS Champion who attacks enemies with Fireballs. Her Poor Hygiene ability causes approaching enemies to take increased damage. When you want to add Strix to your party, you can swap her with Jamilah (Slot 11).

Year Three Variants

• A Little Perspective — Pixies spawn at random in all non-boss areas. When a Pixie spawns, it shrinks a random Champion by 33%, decreasing their damage done by 99%. This effect persists until the Pixie causing it is killed. This effect can stack multiplicatively if multiple Pixies target the same Champion.
  Reach Area 75.


• Nerves of Steel — Briv starts in the formation and can not be moved, removed, or swapped out. Normal enemies move faster and attack faster; bosses are unaffected.
  Reach Area 125.


• A Delicious Diversion — A cart of tasty pies, baguettes, and other baked snacks takes up two slots in the formation; the cart has 100 hit points. Ravenous Crows and Famished Rats spawn randomly in each area. These additional creatures have armored health. If, for whatever reason, the cart is smashed, you immediately lose the area and go back to the previous area.
  Reach Area 175.

Year Two Variants

• A Lighter Touch — Only Champions with a Strength (STR) score of 14 or lower may be used. Additionally, Champions with an Intelligence (INT) score of 14 or higher deal 400% increased damage.
  Reach Area 75.


• Flay the Fools — During boss areas, Mind Flayers appear and attack the formation. While alive, Mind Flayers make all other enemies immune to damage.
  Reach Area 125.


• Beestingers Unleashed — This adventure features unique dialogue created with the help of Strix & Rosie themselves! Strix and Rosie Beestinger begin the adventure in your formation with Strix asking Rosie what it means to be a Beestinger. No other Champions are able to be used, however, both Strix and Rosie Beestinger have increased damage, increased attack speed, and reduced Ultimate ability cooldowns. Additionally, Rosie Beestinger's Matriarch also doubles her health.
  Completing this adventure will unlock a bee outfit for both Rosie & Strix!
  Reach Area 175.

Year One Variants

• Foolish Variance — Champions randomly do between 0.1% and 199.9% of their actual damage with each hit.
  Reach Area 75.


• Persistent Foolishness — The Drunken Fool appears randomly in non-boss areas. Only one can be spawned at a time, but he has special abilities each time he appears.
  Reach Area 125.


• Like Father Like Son — The farmer's son takes up a slot in the formation. He moves to a new slot every 25 areas. Every 15 seconds (in non-boss areas) the farmer's son foolishly summons a Frost Giant to attack the formation unless Strix is adjacent to him.
  Reach Area 175.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

"What is the Festival of Fools", you ask?

Well, it's a celebration of feasting and foolishness observed by communities all up and down the Sword Coast. People play pranks, overeat, and overdrink as they celebrate reaching the end of winter.

But some folks take their pranks too far, and the wife of one prankster just told the Champions that her husband plans to prank a Frost Giant...

Festival of Fools 2 runs until Monday, April 1st, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT. Our latest Year Two Event introduces Rosie Beestinger, the Halfling Matriarch of the Beestinger family and Way of Shadow Monk, and brings back her adopted daughter, Strix Beestinger, the Tiefling 'Trash Witch' Sorcerer!

New Champion: Rosie Beestinger

Weighing in at just under 30 pounds and with a grandmotherly demeanor befitting her advanced age, Rosie Beestinger is easily mistaken for someone on the wrong side of the “aggressor/victim” relationship. But this is a mix-up that few people make more than once.

Rosie Beestinger is a sassy DPS Champion. Her damage increases for each Champion in the formation younger than she is, and she catches and deflects incoming missiles.

When you want to add Rosie Beestinger to your formation, you can swap her with Tyril (Slot 10). For more information about our latest Champion, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Rosie Beestinger dev blog!

Returning Champion: Strix Beestinger

The Sorcerer known as Strix is from Sigil, the City of Doors at the center of the multiverse. Very little is known of Strix's heritage, even to herself, but it was recently discovered that she was a powerful member of the Skizzicks family, who long ago made a pact with Asmodeus, ruler of the Nine Hells, to become Tieflings.

Strix Beestinger is a 'Trash Witch' DPS Champion who attacks enemies with Fireballs. Her Poor Hygiene ability causes approaching enemies to take increased damage. When you want to add Strix to your party, you can swap her with Jamilah (Slot 11).

Year Two Variants

• A Lighter Touch — Only Champions with a Strength (STR) score of 14 or lower may be used. Additionally, Champions with an Intelligence (INT) score of 14 or higher deal 400% increased damage.


• Flay the Fools — During boss areas, Mind Flayers appear and attack the formation. While alive, Mind Flayers make all other enemies immune to damage.


• Beestingers Unleashed — This adventure features unique dialogue created with the help of Strix & Rosie themselves! Strix and Rosie Beestinger begin the adventure in your formation with Strix asking Rosie what it means to be a Beestinger. No other Champions are able to be used, however, both Strix and Rosie Beestinger have increased damage, increased attack speed, and reduced Ultimate ability cooldowns. Additionally, Rosie Beestinger's Matriarch also doubles her health. Completing this adventure will unlock a bee outfit for both Rosie & Strix!

Year One Variants

• Foolish Variance — Champions randomly do between 0.1% and 199.9% of their actual damage with each hit.


• Persistent Foolishness — The Drunken Fool appears randomly in non-boss areas. Only one can be spawned at a time, but he has special abilities each time he appears.


• Like Father Like Son — The farmer's son takes up a slot in the formation. He moves to a new slot every 25 areas. Every 15 seconds (in non-boss areas) the farmer's son foolishly summons a Frost Giant to attack the formation unless Strix is adjacent to him.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

An elderly lightfoot halfling walks down the cobblestone street of Waterdeep's Dock Ward, the soft tap of her quarterstaff echoing through the evening air. Her footsteps soft and deliberate, she leans heavily on her staff as she takes in the last of the sunset along the water.

A dark-haired human carrying a hand crossbow, a red-skinned tiefling with an eyepatch and a dagger, and a shirtless, burly, tattooed mountain dwarf have their mark in their sights. As one they move from three directions towards the halfling centenarian, blocking her path.

"Your purse," croaks the human thug in front, his voice indicating a nose broken many times. "Hand it over."

As if to emphasize the threat, the dwarf begins cracking the thick, calloused knuckles on his hands while giving the halfling woman a predatory stare. The tiefling licks his dagger's blade menacingly as he creeps towards her from behind. Stifling a laugh, the human casually lifts his weapon to point it in the direction of the woman — except she isn't there.

*CRACK*

The dwarf's eyes roll into the back of his skull as a trickle of blood flows down his temple, and he falls forward, crashing into the cobblestone street. Standing where the dwarf's shadow once was, the elderly halfling woman carefully folds up her shawl and places it neatly on the ground, revealing hands and forearms wrapped meticulously in ceremonial cotton gauze.

With a snarl the tiefling attacks, rushing towards the woman with his dagger at the ready. In the same moment, the human aims his hand crossbow and fires.

To this elderly Way of Shadow Monk, however, these thugs are moving in slow motion. She snatches the crossbow bolt from the air as easily as if she were picking an apple up from a fruit stand, and in a blur of movement she sends the bolt back towards her attacker's foolishly-unarmored knee. The bolt strikes true, and a nasally shriek fills the evening air as the human drops his weapon and falls backwards into the street.

Before the human hits the ground, the elderly monk has already closed the distance to the rushing tiefling, vaulting off the ground with her staff towards his face. He has barely enough time to register surprise before the monk lands a stunning kick to his face, snapping his head back. Consciousness fades long before his body collapses in the cobblestone street.

Dusting herself off, Rosie Beestinger resumes her walk along the water, pulling her shawl back on and clutching it closely to her chest. It's getting chilly out, wouldn't want to catch a cold!

Are you as excited as we are to have Rosie Beestinger coming to Idle Champions? If you want to know more about Grandmother Night, you've come to the right place!


All photography by Tyler Curtis

Not your grandma's grandma...

"Rosie Beestinger came to us highly recommended—by basically everyone. By which I mean at least one hundred halflings all entered her name in our Winter Intern drive. They all seemed a little nervous, and their handwriting was very shaky. Who knows! Maybe they were very, very cold. Winter, right?! She’s a monk or something. Let’s see how she does." ~Omin Dran

Weighing in at just under 30 pounds and with a grandmotherly demeanor befitting her advanced age, Rosie Beestinger is easily mistaken for someone on the wrong side of the “aggressor/victim” relationship. But this is a mix-up that few people make more than once.

Rosie Beestinger. Grandmother Night. Matriarch of the Beestinger family. Adoptive grandmother of Strix. Possible mob boss. This lightfoot halfling Way of Shadow Monk is over 100 years old and her story is still going strong. Played by the always-amazing Kate Welch, game designer at Dungeons & Dragons, Rosie is the most badass centenarian monk you'll likely ever cross paths with.

For more info, check out the Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team each week or catch one of Rosie's many amazing live appearances (Dylan highly recommends last year's Force Grey one shot at Stream of Many eyes).

Rosie's Stats

Race: Halfling	Class: Monk	Alignment: Chaotic Good
STR: 8	DEX: 16	CON: 12
INT: 12	WIS: 14	CHA: 14

Rosie Beestinger is a sassy DPS Champion. Her damage increases for each Champion in the formation younger than she is, and she catches and deflects incoming missiles. When you want to add the Rosie Beestinger to your formation, you can swap her with Tyril (Slot 10).

The Art of Rosie

Every time we do an Idle Champion Spotlight we praise our art team here at Codename Entertainment, and today is no exception! Senior Artist Alexis Theroux did an absolutely wonderful job with Rosie Beestinger, both with her Champion and animations (we're especially fond of her Shadow Step/Flurry of Blows attack) and also with her portraits.

If you'd like to check out more of Alexis' art, you can find her on Instagram.

Designing Grandmother Night

We are big fans of Acquisitions Incorporated, both the original show and The "C" Team, so any chance we get to work on a character we love is a fun day at the office.

When it came to working on Rosie Beestinger, we connected with Kate Welch (as well as Shadow Chancellor Elyssa Grant) and spoke at length about just what makes Rosie tick. We drew inspiration for Rosie from these calls, ongoing design correspondence (usually over email), and of course, the wonderful abundance of podcast and live show performances Kate has been a part of. There was definitely no shortage of inspiration!

First and foremost, Rosie Beestinger is Sassy, and we wanted to make that a core part of her kit. This grandma has no problem putting anyone in their place, and the idea was that we would take a slightly different approach from Gromma's Grandmotherly Love and Rosie would get even more badass the more youngsters were around her. Not only does she keep up with the kids, but she shows them how it is done.

If you have ever seen Kris Straub's awesome introduction to The "C" Team, you know Rosie's entrance moment: she's an unassuming kind old lady until someone has the audacity to fire an arrow at her, which she catches it easily and gives the shooter the look of death. You don't mess with this grandma. We knew immediately that we wanted to include Deflect Missiles in Rosie's design, and we're excited to have her tossing those missiles back at enemies in your formation. And to boot, she'll also catch some of the arrows fired at her allies!

Busy Beestinger came together both as a play on words and because we wanted to try something unique with our latest team-focused Formation Ability. Rosie attacks a half second quicker once you unlock this Formation Ability, and for each one of her fellow #cteam members in the formation, she'll attack even more quickly. Float like a flumph, sting like a Beestinger!

Rosie's last two Formation Abilities are tied together, making it clear that she is a DPS Champion first and foremost. With Shadow Arts, Rosie's usual barrage of attacks starts to include her Beestinger Staff to add an AoE attack every fifth attack. With Timeless Body, that Shadow Arts attack becomes every fourth attack instead.

With her Specializations, Rosie can double down on boosting her DPS with Matriarch, increasing the potency of her Sassy self-buff for each female Champion in the formation younger than she is, or she can go for a powerful increase to her AoE damage with From The Shadows.

There really was only one Ultimate we considered for Rosie Beestinger, and it came straight from Kate: Grammamancy. Rosie roots all enemies in place, stopping them dead in their tracks — then she takes advantage of the situation and pummels the crap out of them! And as an added bonus, the cooldown on Deflect Missiles is removed for the duration of Grammamancy, allowing Rosie to take all those pesky fireballs and arrows and swiftly returning them to their senders.

Formation Abilities

• Sassy — Rosie deals +100% increased damage for every Champion in the formation younger than she is.


• Deflect Missiles — Rosie catches/deflects the next ranged/magic attack against herself or any adjacent Champion and redirects it back at the attacker. Damage done is 100% of Rosie's normal damage. This effect can only trigger every 2.5 seconds.


• Busy Beestinger — Rosie's attack speed cooldown is lowered by .5 seconds (stacking additively) and her damage is increased by 100% (stacking multiplicatively) for each member of the C-Team in the formation, including herself.


• Shadow Arts — On every fifth attack, Rosie does a whirlwind attack with her staff, hitting all enemies in a small AoE for 50% of her base damage.


• Timeless Body — Reduce the number of attacks before Rosie performs a Shadow Arts attack by 1.

Specializations

• Matriarch — Increases the effect of Sassy by 25% for every female Champion in the formation younger than Rosie.


• From The Shadows — Shadow Arts now hits for 200% of Rosie's base damage instead of 50%.

Ultimate Attack

Grammamancy — Rosie roots all enemies in place and becomes a blur of movement, pummeling up to 10 enemies on screen for massive damage and, once she returns to the formation, removing the cooldown on Deflect Missiles for the next 15 seconds.

Equipment

As always, Kat (aka @TehArtMonkey on Instagram and Twitter) did a fantastic job with the equipment icons. When a player already has a detailed Cosplay and numerous pieces of official art and fan art, it goes a long way towards helping us flesh out the aesthetic of the equipment.

• AI Cartographer's Gear — You can't have a cartographer without their gear!


• Necklace of the Greater Will — Rosie's handcrafted necklace. Each ball represents a single regret.


• Belt of the Beestinger — No outfit is complete without the right belt.


• Beestinger Staff — Walnut Dankgrass found Rosie this staff, which has since been used to knock out countless foes.


• Stuffed Jar of Eyeballs — Everyone needs to collect something! You wouldn't happen to have any spare eyeballs, would you?


• Emerald Loot Bag — Who doesn't like emeralds? Rosie just happens to have a whole bag for them for no reason at all.

Final Thoughts

We are really happy with the approach we've taken to bring Rosie to Idle Champions. When we get a chance to work with an amazing creator like Kate Welch, it's always a great experience, and it is always an honor to work together to bring their character to life in Idle Champions.

The third member of Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team has joined the fray, bringing a powerful DPS Champion to join her Support Champion friends, Donaar and K'thriss. Rosie will get better with every youngster you include in your formation, which considering her advanced age, is most non-elf/non-dwarf Champions in the game. She punches with fists honed over a century of experience. She lives life to the absolute fullest. And we think that once players have a chance to use her in their formations they will see the benefit of considering a centenarian Shadow Monk DPS in place of say, a Firbolg Druid ;)

As always, feel free to send us feedback on via the Idle Champions Subreddit, Steam forum, or the Idle Champions Discord!