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February 25th, 2019
Idle Champion Spotlight: The Black Viper 
Posted in Idle Champions.

Once upon a time, the Rosznars were one of the most prominent families in Waterdeep — that is, until they were convicted of a serious crime and exiled over 100 years ago. They have since returned, and among their ranks the young noble woman Esvele Rosznar harbors a secret. She has assumed the identity of the Black Viper, a legendary outlaw who once terrorized Waterdeep.

Assassin. Thief. Catburglar. Pickpocket. The Black Viper is all these things and more. Esvele carefully cultivates the infamy and mystique of her alter ego as she gossips among nobles about the Black Viper's exploits. She leads a double life: one of luxury and privilege, and another where she relies on her skills and cunning to survive, where one mistake could lead to imprisonment or death.

Welcome to the Idle Champion Spotlight for the Black Viper! If you want to know more about the latest Champion, you're in the right place!


All photography by Tyler Curtis


An Infamous Champion...

Warning: Potential spoilers for the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist Campaign
    The Black Viper was a notorious burglar, pickpocket, mugger, and assassin who died a century ago, after a long and nefarious career. Esvele Rosznar, a brash young noble, has recently adopted the Black Viper’s persona to lead a secret life of crime. Like many other nobles, Esvele gossips about the Black Viper’s exploits to lend credence to the villain’s mystique.

    The Rosznar family was convicted of slave trading — highly illegal in Waterdeep — and banished over a hundred years ago, but has since returned. The Rosznars’ inability to regain the respect they feel they deserve rankles them. The slave trade has continued in Amn and elsewhere, and it’s not like other noble houses don’t have skeletons in their closets. But just because of a little family squabble that went public, the Rosznar name has been said with a sneer for a century. As part of the family’s constant effort to prove this conception wrong and win others’ respect, Esvele has been brought up to be the most proper noble possible, partaking in lessons of etiquette, dance, and poise as befits someone of her station.

    In her younger days, Esvele openly rebelled, but that behavior led to locked doors at night and house guards watching her every move during the day. So she taught herself how to pick locks, pluck keys from belts and pouches, clamber up walls, and sneak past guards — playing the perfect daughter by day while cutting loose at night. To hide her identity from those she met, she wore a hood and mask, exchanging her fine clothes for the kind of practical clothing her parents would never let her wear.

    One of the things Esvele has learned is to embrace the legend of the Black Viper. When she throws back her cloak to reveal the costume she has put together, most folk toss their purses and flee. If that doesn’t work, she usually needs only to draw her dagger. Of course, some of the nobles she targets are made of sterner stuff, so Esvele has learned how to fight as well. She knows she’s playing a dangerous game, but is satisfied that at least one member of the Rosznar family is earning the respect of Waterdeep’s nobility.
For more info, check out the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist TRPG Book.


Character Stats

Race: Human Class: Rogue Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
STR: 11 DEX: 18 CON: 14
INT: 11 WIS: 11 CHA: 16

The Black Viper is a DPS Champion able to take advantage of Distracted Foes to increase her damage and deliver powerful Sneak Attacks to enemies she hits for the first time. Her Aura of Infamy ability increases the effect of formation abilities she receives from Bards and Rogues in the party while her Jewel Thief ability improves with boss kills across all adventures.

We have tweaked the Black Viper's stats slightly from her character sheet in the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist book, increasing her Charisma (CHA) score from 12 to 16 for two reasons:
  • First, because when Vivka played Esvele Rosznar/Black Viper during episodes of Dice, Camera, Action! she was incredibly charming.
  • Second, because we wanted the Black Viper to be able to take advantage of Hitch's Friendly buff. It just made sense.
When you want to add the Black Viper to your formation, you can swap her with Minsc (Slot 7).


Artistic Inspiration

When it came to putting together our version of Black Viper, we immediately turned to the official cosplay that Vivid Vivka assembled for last year's Stream of Many Eyes. At an event filled with talented performers and creators (including an amazing Minsc cosplay by Beamdog's Trent Oster) Vivka's take on the Black Viper stood out.


The extra details and personality that Vivka brought to the character inspired us to focus more on her take on Waterdeep's infamous burglar/pickpocket/assassin, including her custom-made Kris push daggers. When it was time to draw and animate the Black Viper for the game, the job fell to our Art Director Adam Kosh and Senior Artist Alexis Theroux.


Vivka put a lot of work into this costume. You can even see it in motion over on Vivka's Instagram here!

Note: Some of Vivid Vivka's content on Instagram and Twitter is NSFW.

Designing the Black Viper

What is the best way to bring a legendary outlaw to life? Which Rogue abilities combine to create the Black Viper as seen in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist?

After spending time going over the 5E Rogue subclasses in the Player's Handbook and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, we came to the conclusion that this Champion needed to be both Thief and Assassin.

To adapt an Assassin's combat style to Idle Champions, we looked to Sneak Attack. It's an integral part of all Rogue designs but isn't something we've really focused on, and we wanted to bring it to the forefront of the Black Viper's design to really capitalize on Vivka's Kris push daggers.

Distracted Foes is intended to be like a cross between Sneak Attack and gaining advantage. Enemies are busy with other Champions, attacking them, so the Rogue uses that opportunity to strike for massive damage. this will really come in handy during encounters and adventures with party-wide damage or multiple tanks up front.

Aura of Infamy symbolizes the mystique of the Black Viper that Esvele cultivates. She thrives when people know who she is - and who is more likely to know of her than other Rogues and Bards? They're the outlaws, right? Once she has gained enough notoriety with her Jewel Thief ability, Ranger and Warlock abilities are included as well!

Speaking of Jewel Thief, Chris came up with something really special. We wanted to feature The Black Viper's burglary skills, and we thought: maybe she gets better with each Red Gem she finds, not just during the adventure you are on, but across all adventures. The idea is that Black Viper will be a Champion you can stick with as your DPS of choice, and that continuing to play her when you're farming gems or completing objectives has a real benefit.


  • Distracted Foes — Whenever another Champion in the formation takes damage, Black Viper deals +100% increased damage on her next attack. Stacks up to 5 times (additive). Does not trigger when Black Viper herself is the one to take the damage.

  • Aura of Infamy — Increases the effect of formation abilities from Bards and Rogues on the Black Viper by 25%.

  • Sneak Attack — Whenever Black Viper attacks an enemy for the first time, she deals 100% additional damage.

  • Jewel Thief — Whenever a boss is killed, there is a 25% chance a Red Gem drops. Red Gems are collected by the Black Viper and grand unique bonuses:
    • Red Gems collected on the current run grant the Black Viper +10% damage (stacking multiplicatively) for the current run.
    • The Black Viper also keeps a permanent count of Red Gems earned across all adventures, which unlocks buffs at certain thresholds. There are 10 total buffs to unlock.
      • 10 Gems: Aura of Infamy now also affects buffs from Rangers and Warlocks.
      • 50 Gems: Increase max stacks of Distracted Foes by 5, and increase the damage per stack by 100%.
      • 300 Gems: Increased the effect of Black Viper's gear by 25% (excluding cooldown)
      • 800 Gems: Black Viper damage x2
      • 1500 Gems: Black Viper damage x2
      • 2500 Gems: Black Viper damage x2
      • 3500 Gems: Black Viper damage x2
      • 4500 Gems: Black Viper damage x2
      • 5500 Gems: Black Viper damage x2
      • 6500 Gems: Black Viper damage x2



When it comes to Black Viper's specializations, the question you need to ask yourself is simple: am I farming, or am I pushing to my wall or attempting to complete a difficult variant?

Since the Black Viper is the first-ever Champion whose formation abilities take all of her adventures into account, you may want to go with her Collector specialization to maximize her Red Gem earning potential. If you are doing regular gem farming runs in The Mad Wizard Free Plays, this specialization will appeal to you (assuming you don't reset before even reaching Slot 7).

On the other side, Assassinate offers the most damage potential out of Black Viper, further increasing her monster-clearing potential. A 0.5 second faster attack may not seem like much, but it really helps!

  • Assassinate — Sneak Attack now also triggers against enemies that The Black Viper has already attacked once, and her base attack cooldown is lowered by 0.5 seconds after a Sneak Attack.

  • Collector — Increase Jewel Thief Red Gem drop chance to 33% and the current-run damage bonus is increased by 25%.

Ultimate Attack

When it came to putting together an awesome ultimate ability for the Black Viper, we hit a bit of a wall. Rogues are mostly known for Sneak Attacks, which we already based much of the Champion design on. What else should we add?

We eventually settled upon the more traditional ninja-inspired concept of dropping a smoke bomb for cover, allowing the Black Viper to kick some serious butt. This ultimate will prove especially helpful during encounters and adventures with formation-wide damage.

    Smokescreen — All Champions takes 50% less damage for 20 seconds, and all of Black Viper's attacks are Sneak Attacks for the duration.

Equipment

Drawn by our resident in-house portrait and icon specialist, Kat, every one of the Black Viper's items is taken from Vivka's official cosplay. This proved to be especially invaluable since the version of Black Viper included in the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist TRPG book does not have a list of items outside basic 5E Rogue starting items.

  • Master Thief's Gauntlets — Ornate gauntlets perfect for hiding thieves tools inside!

  • The Black Viper's Rapier — Esvele Rosznar's ornate rapier, wielded by The Black Viper.

  • The Black Viper's Mask — Masks are iconic when it comes to legendary outlaws.

  • The Viper's Fangs — The better to Sneak Attack you with...!

  • Viper's Cloak — Concealing one's identity and intent is important for a thief - or an assassin.

  • Ostentatious Display — Some nice stolen jewels for a jewel thief.


Final Thoughts

The Black Viper is kind of like Zorro, the Dread Pirate Roberts, and Catwoman all rolled into one. We think she'll really be able to shine in certain DPS formations, especially when the buffs are coming from Aura of Infamy classes. Her Sneak Attacks hit like a truck, especially when you have multiple Champions taking damage to further buff Distracted Foes. And finally, with Jewel Thief benefiting from repeated runs, we feel like Black Viper offers an excellent incentive to stick with a DPS Champion for a long time, and one to focus on with your gem farming runs.

We look forward to seeing how she impacts the Idle Champions meta!

Feel free to send us feedback on via the Idle Champions Subreddit, Steam forum, or the Idle Champions Discord!
February 22nd, 2019
Sssserpentine Asssisssstance in Bushwhackia 
Posted in Bush Whacker 2.

A sssserpentine visitor needs your help training new breeds of Serpent Mounts! Catch them slithering around the Commons, pick a serpent, and start training!

You'll get Serpent Coins for every level your chosen mount gets and for completing the visitor's daily quests, and you can spend them in their slithery serpent shoppe!

This opportunity ends on Wednesday, February 27th, by which time you'll have to return your serpent, unless you've adopted it!

February 22nd, 2019
BW2: Feb 22nd, 2019 Release Notes 
Posted in Bush Whacker 2.

Serpentine Assistance Limited Time Quest (February 22nd, 2019)

- Limited time quest line, available via visiting NPC in the Commons (Feb 22nd - 27th)
- Borrow a serpent mount and train it
- 3 repeatable dailies awarding Serpent Coins
- Serpent Coin for each level your mount gets
- Serpent Coin store

- Three unique serpent mount packs available from Feb 22nd-27th; standard $20 mount pack.

- If pet/mount has an expiry, will show "Expires in..." instead of their age when you mouse over the pet/mount.

- Fixed the light darkening effect sometimes going away when you move.

- Changed the name of Sasha’s gift store from "Ye Olde General Store” to “Ye Genial Present Parlour".

- Pets/Mounts in your inventory list with the "Favourite" filter set will now be sorted like "All" if they aren’t favourited.

- Fixed various reported typos and quest descriptions. Keep the reports coming!
February 20th, 2019
Idle Champions: Dragon Heist, Part 4 
Posted in Idle Champions.

The chase is on! After discovering that a Nimblewright set off the explosion in Trollskull Alley, the Champions are on the hunt for the construct and its prize.

Soon the Champions find themselves in the middle of a conflict between competing factions — and lured into a trap set by their enemies...

Note: you will need to have completed the previous two Dragon Heist Adventures, Trollskull Manor and Attack on the Manor, in order to access these new Adventures.

Nimble Escape

Following a lead on the Nimblewright, the Champions enter Gralhund Villa and run head first into a slew of enemies.
  • Variant: Nimblest Escape — Only Champions with a Dexterity (DEX) score of 14 or higher may be used.

Fugitives

The Nimblewright is on the run, and the Champions are in pursuit — but other interested parties are hot on their trail!
  • Variant: From The Shadows — Only Champions with ranged or magic attacks can be used.

See the in-game Change Log for more information!
February 14th, 2019
COTLI: Merci's Mix-Up 4 

The life of a Mad Wizard is a lonely one, and for Merci the Mad Wizard it is lonelier than most. This year, Merci has a plan — one sure to mend his own loneliness through the power of Love Magic!

But it appears Merci has miscalculated, accidentally opening a portal to Super Love Land — and the dangers beyond... Merci's Mix-Up 4 introduces Ishtar the Fire Queen, and brings back Rocky the Rockstar, Sally the Succubus, Warwick the Warlock, Katie the Cupid, and Frankie the Demon Crooner! The romance comes to a finish on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:00PM PT!!

New Tier 4 Crusader: Ishtar the Fire Queen

Legends tell of Ishtar the Fire Queen, a supernatural fertility demon who knows just how to get the most out of each and every Crusader in her formation.

Ishtar's Fertile Thoughts increase Global DPS and her Starlight increases the potency of angels and demons. Her allure knows little bounds, as she is able to attract Fire Sprites that increase Gold Find and speed up quest progress.

Female Crusaders who follow Ishtar will see improvements to their DPS, as long as they don't become too close, and when Ishtar tells Whispered Stories, Global DPS increases for every Royal Crusader in the formation. Don't worry if you cannot find enough Royal Crusaders to boost your formation, for the glorious Ishtar is able to elevate worthy Crusaders to royalty — provided they first become close to The Fire Queen...

Crusaders Return

If you haven't collected them already, you can unlock previous Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 Crusaders by completing their respective objectives. Rocky the Rockstar, Sally the Succubus, Warwick the Warlock, Katie the Cupid, and Frankie the Demon Crooner are all once again available to unlock!

New Tier 4 Objectives

  • Recruit Ishtar | Ishtar the Fire Queen starts in the formation. Meteors randomly strike the formation, and if Ishtar dies, you'll need to restart the Area. Reach area 600.

  • I Put a Cantrip on You | Only The Bush Whacker, Nate Dragon, and the Crusaders from Merci's Mix-Up are available. Additional blue and green monsters spawn; killing the blue monster will cost Crusaders half their health, while killing the green one will improve Global DPS for 15 seconds. Reach area 700.

  • Fly Me to the Stars | Three 'Stars' occupy slots in the formation, changing positions every 75 Areas. Each Star disables the DPS and formation abilities of adjacent Crusaders who are not an angel, demon, supernatural, magical, royalty, or a dragon. Reach area 750.

  • My Funny Valentine Candy | Heart Candies spawn at random and are very difficult to kill. Each Heart Candy disables a random Crusader in the formation while it is alive. Reach area 800.

  • Moon Dancing | The night is dark and the moon illuminates only two Crusaders at a time. Only the illuminated Crusaders are able to do DPS. Taskmasters are disabled. Reach area 850.


Help! Where’s the Loot?

Equipment for event Crusaders can be found in Silver and Jeweled Valentine's Chests, which you can earn from objectives and the free play or buy in the shop. Each non-recruitment objective will drop a chest for its given tier of Crusaders, and free play will drop all-tier chests. Gear for Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4 Crusaders will only appear in all-tier chests once you've unlocked the respective Crusaders. You can select the tier of chest you buy in the shop.

You'll have until Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:00PM PST to complete Merci's Mix-Up 4!
February 8th, 2019
BW2: Feb 8th, 2019 Release Notes 
Posted in Bush Whacker 2.

Valentine’s Event (February 8th, 2019)

- Updated Valentine’s Event
- Added new customization and ranch items
- Added new ribbons and 100% reward
- Added 3 new pets available from Feb 15th to 18th
- 4 new quests continuing Nate’s dating quest line
- Valentine Card Gifts no longer expire and function like the Wrapped Presents from Christmas
- Can buy a skin for the Blonde Unisus mount for event tokens
- Added Blonde Unisus Mount promo (free with BB purchase over $10; 30% more BBs over $5)

- Pet release dialog now has the “Favourites” filter.

- The locked field in the Freight Tracks zone will now be hidden after you complete the adventure.

- Fixed not being able to see certain types of runes while using the filters on the Disenchant, Combine, and Blacksmith dialogs, when you had too many runes in total.

- Can buy Fossilized Eggs from Hank the Farmhand for Bush Bucks, after you’ve completed The Mystery of the Infecting Machines quest line.

- Fixed various reported typos and quest descriptions. Keep the reports coming!
February 8th, 2019
BW2: Share the Love in BW2 with Valentines 2019! 
Posted in Bush Whacker 2.

Happy Valentine’s Day Bushwhackers!

The residents of the Commons are putting on a Valentine’s Day dance, so you know what that means! Helping with the set-up through one-time and daily quests, plus turn-ins!

It’s not Valentine’s without presents! Help stock the stands with Chocolates, Teddy Bears and Roses by turning in Candy Hearts as the stations unlock.

The event organizer seems a bit frazzled. Why don’t you help her out by doing her set-up quests each day? And don’t forget to keep those party supplies topped off!

Nate needs to prove he's likable, and eventually he'll have to pick a date. Afterwards, help the one he doesn't pick get over her grief with some Ice Cream daily quests until it's time to help Nate’s rejected girl through the 5 stages of grief. All five quests will unlock right after each other and then she will have a new daily quest for you.

Once the Valentine's dance has started, you get to look for the partner of your choice to share a moment on the dance floor.

Jim and Sasha's relationship quests are around. If you haven't married them yet, you'll see either their Dating or Proposal quest line. If they are married, you get to help the pair pack for their honeymoon, or celebrate their anniversary.

You can also learn how to play guitar to serenade your loved one! And who is that mysterious note from this year?

New for 2019

Nate needs to prove he's a likeable guy. How will this endeavor end?

If you can complete the event, you'll earn this awesome 100% reward carousel creature!



Starting next Friday, the 3 new Valentine's themed pets for this year will be available to purchase over the weekend! Can they woo your heart?



Event Achievements -- POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

There are a total of FIFTEEN possible achievements to earn in the Valentine’s Day 2019 event.

Achievements Returning for 2019
Party Planning Committee - You helped at least once at each Valentines Station.
Party Planning Leader - You helped 50 times at each Valentines station.
Pet Detective - You found each of the lost pets at least once.
Nate's Date - You helped Nate pick a Date.
The Five Stages of Grief - You helped Nate's rejection get through her pain.
Two Left Feet - You danced at the Valentines Dance.
Setup Wizard - You helped the party organizers with all their tasks.
Guitar Training - Follow through with Virtuoso Guitarist Jimmie's lessons.
A Secret Admirer - Find a note from a true secret admirer.

Added/Changed for 2019
Winsome Wardrobe - Purchase all of the 2019 Valentine's Event Item!*

We also have 6 achievements from previous years which may be earnable by spending Bush Bucks if you missed getting them the first time around.

Customization Lover - You bought all the Valentines things from 2013!
Customize Your Love - You bought all the Valentines things from 2014!
Heart-wearer - You bought all the Valentines things from 2015!
Hearts Hearts Hearts! - You bought all the Valentines things from 2016!
Passionate Purchases - You bought all the Valentines things from 2017!
Romantic Acquisitions - Purchase all of the 2018 Valentine's Event Item!*

*The Valentine’s mini-golf piece is not included in the Winsome Wardrobe achievement.

This event runs until Friday February 22nd @ Noon PST (8pm GMT).

Post your love for the event here!
February 6th, 2019
Crusaders of the Lost Idols: Mobile Retirement 


It's with heavy hearts that today we announce the retirement of the mobile version of Crusaders of the Lost Idols. While its release was an awesome milestone for us at Codename, regrettably we haven't attracted the player base we need to continue to maintain it, and the time and effort we use keeping it up to date could be better spent on the PC version of the game.

But don't worry! You can still play Crusaders on a computer on Steam, Kongregate, Armor, Facebook, Miniclip and the all-new Codename Games website! Plus we'll be continuing to support the computer version with the extra development time we'll have freed up!


What's Happening and What Does it Mean?

We want to give you plenty of time to transfer your progress to one of the other platforms where Crusaders is playable. If you currently only play on mobile, you can link your progress to a PC platform by:
  • Pressing the Link button in the in-game Settings menu, and generating a code.



    Settings menu, with Link button highlighted.



    Link Dialog, where you press the Generate a Code button.

  • Load Crusaders on the computer on the platform where you wish to play. Available platforms are Steam, Kongregate.com, ArmorGames, Miniclip, Facebook and the Codename Games website.

  • Play through the tutorial for the game on that platform until you complete it.

  • Type the code from your mobile device into the Linked Accounts option in the Options menu in Crusaders on your computer.
If you don't currently play on mobile, we are no longer offering the option to link your PC progress to your mobile device. We will be disabling purchasing in-game on mobile devices with this update as well.

The mobile app will no longer be available to play or to download as of May 1st, 2019. We will however keep the app up to date with new events and crusaders until that point. After May 1st, if your device has kept the app updated, you will still be able to link your mobile progress off your device, however you will no longer be able to play.

While the era of the mobile version is ending, it does mean that the Crusaders team will be able to focus all their energy on the computer version and allow us more time to add new features and make improvements to the game.


But What About the Ad Bonus?

We'll be adding a passive 25% Idol bonus to all resets, available no matter where you play the game. That's right, no more having to click buttons or watch videos for extra Idols. They'll just happen!

Because we'll be adding this new passive bonus for Idols, we'll be removing the ad bonus system from the various platforms where it's currently offered.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the mobile version of Crusaders of the Lost Idols over the years. We look forward to seeing you all in Crusaders on the PC and we hope you enjoy what this extra development time will help us do to the game!
February 6th, 2019
Idle Champions: Grand Revel 2 
Posted in Idle Champions.

Grand Revel has returned to the Chult, and a day of dancing, music, and decadence has begun at Camp Vengeance.

As festivities begin the Champions begin a quest: to investigate a missing caravan on behalf of a Templar of the Order of the Gauntlet. Their friend, a local bard, has been missing for nearly a month...

Grand Revel 2 runs until Monday, February 18th, 2019 at 12:00pm PST, introduces the Vistani Bard from Dice, Camera, Action!, Paultin Seppa, and brings back Birdsong, the Tabaxi Bard from Chult!

New Champion: Paultin Seppa

    Paultin and his "son" Simon (AKA Murderbot) have been adventuring as part of the Waffle Crew for many years. Paultin is a wise-cracking adventurer who is more at home at a tavern than anywhere else. He cares deeply for those he considers his friends and will leap into action if anyone hurts them.
Paultin Seppa is a Support Champion whose Muderbot son, Simon, rides atop his shoulders. Paultin increases Gold Find through his Lucky ability and increases the DPS of Champions who are not adjacent to him based upon the number of Champions who are with his Magical Secrets ability. Paultin doesn't always attack, choosing instead to drink from his wineskin or play his bagpipes while Simon shoots poison darts at enemies.

When you want to add Paultin to your formation, you can swap him with Jarlaxle (Slot 4). For more information about our latest Champion, check out the Idle Champion Spotlight: Paultin dev blog!

Returning Champion: Birdsong

    Birdsong, a cunning young Tabaxi bard, learned to defend herself while enslaved by the Yuan-Ti. Proficient in playing the lute, Birdsong discovered her potential as a bard when witnessing the effect of her songs had on other slaves. After her escape, she became one of the greatest minstels of Chult. She promised herself to, one day, get the revenge on the Yuan-Ti who destroyed her village.

Birdsong is a Support and DPS Champion. She buffs Champions within two spaces with her Song of Battle ability, and can greatly increasing the potency of Good, Evil, or Neutral Champions depending on which specialization she uses. When you want to add Birdsong to your party, you can swap her with Makos (Slot 9).

Year Two Variants

  • Flower for Nanny Pu-pu — Magical floating crates of flowers take up four slots in the formation.

  • Grand Revel Rock Band — Paultin begins the adventure in the formation. Only Bards with a Charisma (CHA) score of 15 or higher may be used.

  • Love Hurts — Hordes of adoring fans attack the formation! Superfans, Infatuated Fans, Burly Fans, and Persistent Fans, spawn in each area and attack the formation, each with different abilities.

Year One Variants

  • Three's a Crowd — Any Champion that is adjacent to more than 1 other Champion has their damage reduced to 0.

  • Pair Up — Your ratio of women to men in your formation cannot be off by more than one (at all times you must have an equal number of men and women, or 1 more man than woman or vise-versa).

  • Love Potion — Every 25 areas, two Champions drink a love potion and fall deeply in love. For those 25 areas, if those Champions are adjacent to each other in the formation they do bonus damage themselves (x4), and buff global damage as well (x3). The chosen Champion combos are fixed rather than random.

See the in-game FAQ for more information!

February 5th, 2019
Idle Champion Spotlight: Paultin Seppa 
Posted in Idle Champions.

A haunted Vistani Champion, the sole survivor of a massacre in Barovia who somehow escaped to Waterdeep, and 'The Bard Who Goes Hard': Paultin Seppa is coming to Idle Champions! Players will finally be able to include the entire Waffle Crew, including Simon the Murderbot, in their formations once Grand Revel begins.

Read on and learn more what this Champion can do...


Paultin runs out of wine. Photo taken by Tyler Curtis at the Steam of Many Eyes.

I. Who is Paultin Seppa?

    Paultin and his "son" Simon (AKA Murderbot) have been adventuring as part of the Waffle Crew for many years. Paultin is a wise-cracking adventurer who is more at home at a tavern than anywhere else. He cares deeply for those he considers his friends and will leap into action if anyone hurts them.
Paultin Seppa is a Support Champion whose Murderbot son, Simon, rides atop his shoulders. Paultin increases Gold Find through his Lucky ability and increases the DPS of Champions who are not adjacent to him based upon the number of Champions who are with his Magical Secrets ability. Paultin doesn't always attack, choosing instead to drink from his wineskin or play his bagpipes while Simon shoots poison darts at enemies.

When you want to add Paultin to your formation, you can swap him with Jarlaxle (Slot 4).

II. Character Stats

Race: Human Class: Bard Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
STR: 14 DEX: 15 CON: 14
INT: 14 WIS: 12 CHA: 18

For more info, check out Paultin's Official D&D Beyond Character Sheet!

DCA fans may have noticed that our Paultin has lower stats than he does on the show. Like with Evelyn's release last year, we needed to dial Paultin down a bit for Idle Champions to allow design space for future Champions and abilities.

III. Art

Anyone who attended PAX West last August/September or PAX South earlier this month may have already seen the Dice, Camera, Action! poster created by one of our artists, Michelle, which included the first 'sneak peek' at Paultin in Idle Champions. When it came time to finish designing Paultin and complete his animations, one of our Senior Artists, Alexis Theroux, finalized the version of Paultin for the game.

Alexis took inspiration from Nate Sharp's cosplay of Paultin and some of the cast's favorite pieces of fan art to do the design. Nate gave us great feedback as we worked closely to bring 'The Bard Who Goes Hard' to life.

When it came time to Simon, we chatted with Chris Perkins and went back to the actual Curse of Strahd book and the art for Pidlwick II. Chris, Anna Prosser, and Nate had a few suggestions on how to tweak Simon's appearance, and that's how our Simon came to be!

IV. Design

Paultin proved to be an extremely tough nut to crack in terms of design. As fans of DCA, we definitely wanted to do him justice - but at the same time, Nate's portrayal of Paultin is not easy to emulate in our game. How do you represent a character who is essentially the Waffle Crew's version of Deadpool? Then there was the added complexity of just how many Bard Champions we already have in Idle Champions, with Paultin joining a roster that already includes Deekin Scalesinger, Calliope, Vlahnya Um'vairar, and Birdsong. Adding another Bard when Deekin (and his Troubadour Troupe ability) are already so popular while still doing something unique for Bards was a definite challenge.

Ultimately we looked at past episodes of Dice, Camera, Action and how Paultin/Nate reacted to events to find our inspiration. I knew that Thunderwave had to be an important part of Paultin's design, likely his Ultimate Ability based on how Paultin has used the spell at key moments throughout the series. I also knew that I wanted to include Simon, Paultin and Evelyn's adopted Murderbot son from their time in Barovia, to the design. It felt right to include him, and to have Simon shoot poison darts while Paultin sometimes chooses not to attack or engage enemies at all (opting instead to either drink from his wineskin or play the bagpipes) while at other times Paultin attacks multiple enemies at once.

With those starting points a design for Paultin started coming together. Playing off the Waffle Crew's dysfunctional party dynamic, we opted to have Paultin support the party based on how many allies are around him. We don't really have the kind of game where a lot of Paultin's signature spells like Counterspell and Crown of Madness really work, so we leaned into his College of Lore subclass to focus on increasing party damage through his mastery of Magical Secrets.

We didn't stop there with adjacency-based abilities — we also based Lucky, Paultin's Gold Find ability, off how many Champions are adjacent to him, with an ability called Edgy to increase the potency of Magical Secrets whenever Paultin is on the edge of a formation. Get it? Edgy?

Finally, we wanted to include another ability that represented the unity of the Waffle Crew in the form of Stronger Together, a buff to Strix, Diath, Evelyn, and Paultin that increases based on how many of them are in the formation.

    Formation Abilities

  • Lucky — Increases Gold Find by 20% for each Champion adjacent to Paultin in the formation. (stacks additively)

  • Magical Secrets — Increases the damage of Champions not adjacent to Paultin by 50% for each Champion adjacent to Paultin. (stacks additively)

  • Edgy — increases the effect of Magical Secrets by 100% when Paultin is on the edge of the formation.

  • Stronger Together — Increases the damage of Waffle Crew team members by 100% for each member present in the formation. (stacks multiplicatively, THEN any buffs are applied)

V. Specializations

Specializations for Paultin Seppa are surprisingly straightforward: you can either go with Luck of the Vistani to further increase Paultin's Gold Find or you can go with Additional Magical Secrets to increase the effect of Magical Secrets. For those of you who love setting up your Gold Farming Formation overnight, it's hard to find a better ally than a lucky Vistani!

  • Luck of the Vistani — Increases the effect of Lucky by 50%.

  • Additional Magical Secrets — Increases the effect of Magical Secrets by 100%.



VII. Ultimate Attack

Paultin is so well known for his epic Thunderwave casts that we knew from the get-go that it had to be his Ultimate Ability.

    Thunderwave — Paultin leaps to the front of the formation, drawing and swinging the Sunsword while a shockwave shoots out from the front of the formation, stunning enemies, dealing massive damage to them, and slowing their movement speed by 50% for five seconds. This spell deals bonus damage based on the current boss/enemy enrage multiplier.

VI. Equipment

Through our conversations with Nate and our viewing of Dice, Camera, Action! the shortlist of items for Paultin became clear early on in our design process:

  • Bagpipes — Paultin Seppa's instrument of choice needs no introduction, though we do struggle to remember when the last time he played them was?

  • Wineskin — Is there ever a time Paultin doesn't have a wineskin handy? This one in particular is even a part of Nate's Paultin Cosplay!

  • Strahd von Chairovich — Animated by Paultin for the Chair Battle with Strix's 'Chair Richten' in Episode 101.

  • Golden Cog & Marthain Signet Necklace — Just a plain ol' leather strap necklace with a pair of mementos Paultin keeps for no reason at all...

  • The Sunsword — The sentient weapon, once wielded by Sergei von Zarovich, brother of Strahd von Zarovich, and given to Paultin by Ezmerelda in Episode 31.

  • Mandolin — The magical mandolin Paultin stole from Jesper while in Barovia's past, which was eventually fed to a Dragon Turtle in Episode 92 along with Nit Luap/Evil Paultin.



VII. Final Thoughts

Paultin is the fifth(!) Bard to join Idle Champions, but possibly the most important as we finally complete the Waffle Crew. We are really happy with how Paultin's design came together, and feel like he plays differently enough from the other Bards to be unique and is a worthwhile swap in Slot 4. He supports the party while also increasing Gold Find and bringing a truly powerful ultimate to the table, possibly justifying a new kind of Champion formation since Slot 4 will now be a possible buffing/support slot to consider.

We're excited to see what Paultin brings to the meta! We hope you like him :)

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