Relationship

Heroes develop personal relationships with each other. In some cases these are the result of events, in others they arise or change without the input of the player. Fighting in battles together increases the relationship.

Outcomes

Heroes can be friends, lovers or rivals. Each relationship has 5 possible levels and each level affects stats.

Friends

Friendship is indicated by the silhouette of a head and shoulders in the lower corner of the hero portrait.

• Level 1 - Crony - +5 stunt chance when walling with this hero.
• Level 2 - Confidant - +10 stunt chance when walling with this hero.
• Level 3 - Comrade - +15 stunt chance when walling with this hero.
• Level 4 - Companion - +20 stunt chance when walling with this hero.
• Level 5 - Bloodbond - +25 stunt chance when walling with this hero.

Note, the description in game says "walling" but actually only adjacency is required. Heroes in grayplane cannot wall, but do provide a Friend bonus.

Lovers

Romance blossoms

Romance is indicated by a small heart in the lower corner of the hero portrait.

• Level 1 - Crush - +1 damage against enemies who attack this hero, until end of mission.
• Level 2 - Flame - +2 damage against enemies who attack this hero, until end of mission.
• Level 3 - Sweetheart - +3 damage against enemies who attack this hero, until end of mission.
• Level 4 - Lover - +4 damage against enemies who attack this hero, until end of mission.
• Level 5 - Soulmate - +5 damage against enemies who attack this hero, until end of mission.

Attraction

Romances can start randomly if both heroes are "eligible"—i.e. can be mutually attracted to each other gender-wise, not already in a romance, and have compatible personalities. When a character is generated they have a hidden aspect that determines whether they're attracted to males or females.

Devmode allows you to view hidden aspects, and has a cheat to force a relationship between any two characters you like.

Rivals

Anything you can do, I can do better

Watch this! Rivalry is indicated by a small lightning bolt in the lower corner of the hero portrait.

• Level 1 - Peer - When your rival stunts, you get +25% to stunt, until you successfully stunt (does not chain).
• Level 2 - Irritant - When your rival stunts, you get +35% to stunt, until you successfully stunt (does not chain).
• Level 3 - Frenemy - When your rival stunts, you get +45% to stunt, until you successfully stunt (does not chain).
• Level 4 - Antagonist - When your rival stunts, you get +55% to stunt, until you successfully stunt (does not chain).
• Level 5 - Rival - When your rival stunts, you get +100% to stunt, until you successfully stunt (guaranteed stunt vs single target) (does not chain).

Parents and Children

The parent/child relationship exists in game, but as of version 0.10+98 (Ryvio Wartmarch) it has little effect. More development is intended.

Implementation details

Several players and modders have requested to know the numeric details of how compatibility is determined. Here is some information from the code; for the original reference see [1].

Nate wrote on 06/04/2020:

   enum CompatibilityStats {
       bookish(BOOKISH, HEALER, SNARK, GREEDY, GOOFBALL),
       coward(COWARD, LEADER, HEALER, HOTHEAD, LONER),
       goofball(GOOFBALL, GREEDY, SNARK, BOOKISH, POET),
       healer(HEALER, COWARD, BOOKISH, HOTHEAD, ROMANTIC),
       hothead(HOTHEAD, LEADER, ROMANTIC, HEALER, COWARD),
       leader(LEADER, COWARD, HOTHEAD, LONER, SNARK),
       loner(LONER, ROMANTIC, POET, COWARD, LEADER),
       greedy(GREEDY, POET, GOOFBALL, ROMANTIC, BOOKISH),
       poet(POET, LONER, GREEDY, SNARK, GOOFBALL),
       romantic(ROMANTIC, LONER, HOTHEAD, HEALER, GREEDY),
       snark(SNARK, BOOKISH, GOOFBALL, LEADER, POET)
   }

The first three are positve, the last two are negative. So, a bookish hero likes other bookish, healer, and snark characters, and dislikes greedy and goofball. A coward likes coward, leader, and healer, and dislikes hothead and loner. The game sorta sums up all the interactions to come up with a compatibility for each potential couple. Only high stats (over 50) are counted.