Difficulty
Wildermyth has two difficulty settings: combat difficulty and overland difficulty. These are described as follows:
Combat difficulty mostly controls hero health, monster health, armor, and damage. High combat difficulty means heroes are more prone to getting killed in a given situation.
Overland difficulty mostly controls the pace of calamities, time pressure on the overland map, and the frequency of infestation and incursion. It can end up having a big impact on combat difficulty, too, because of calamities!
Hero stats
The starting stat values for a young adult human depend slightly on the combat difficulty level. They are:
| Storyteller | Adventurer | Tragic Hero | Walking Lunch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health | 7 | 6 | 5 | |
| Speed | 1 (+3.4 for 2 natural legs) | |||
| Armor | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | |
| Warding | 0 | |||
| Melee Accuracy | 105 | 100 | 97 | |
| Range Accuracy | 100 | 97 | ||
| Stunt Chance | 15 | 14 | ||
| Bonus Damage | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | |
| Potency | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | |
| Dodge | 50 | 45 | ||
| Block | 45 | |||
| Perception | 10 | |||
| Recovery Rate | 40 | 30 | 25 | |
| Retirement Age | 45 | |||
| Charisma | 15 | |||
| Tenacity | 15 | |||
Monster strength
The starting stats of each monster depend slightly on the combat difficulty level.
Additionally, Calamity cards that strengthen your foes are drawn at timed intervals on the overland map. The interval is shorter at higher overland difficulty levels. Calamity cards are also drawn after every battle, and the number of cards drawn in this fashion depends on the overland difficulty level.
| Storyteller | Adventurer | Tragic Hero | Walking Lunch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card draw interval | 220-240 | 160-180 | 120-140 | 100-120 |
| Cards per battle | 1 | 1.35 | ||
Some calamity cards boost monster stats. For these cards, the magnitude of the boost depends on the combat difficulty level:
| Storyteller | Adventurer | Tragic Hero | Walking Lunch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protection | +1 Armor | +1 Armor, +1 Warding | +2 Armor, +1 Warding | |
| Health | +20% | +25% | +30% | +40% |
| Damage | +1 | +2 | ||
A number of calamity cards are removed at the end of each chapter, and this number depends on the overland difficulty. In particular, a small fraction of the total number of calamity cards are removed, and a larger fraction of the calamity cards collected above a threshold number are also removed.
| Storyteller | Adventurer | Tragic Hero | Walking Lunch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remove one card per | 7 | 9 | 11 | 14 |
| Remove this fraction of cards above threshold | 80% | 70% | 33% | 0% |
| Thresholds: | ||||
| Chapter 1 | 6 | 7 | 10 | - |
| Chapter 2 | 10 | 12 | 18 | - |
| Chapter 3 | 14 | 17 | 26 | - |
| Chapter 4 | 18 | 22 | 34 | - |
Missions
At higher combat difficulty levels, enemies draw more monster cards in each mission. Typically, enemies draw one extra monster card at Walking Lunch difficulty, but the effect can vary by mission.
Within a mission, doors have a chance to start open at higher combat difficulty levels:
| Difficulty | Starts Open |
|---|---|
| Storyteller | 0% |
| Adventurer | 25% |
| Tragic Hero | 50% |
| Walking Lunch | 50% |
Additionally, the range of a monster's Alarm call varies with combat difficulty level:
| Difficulty | Range |
|---|---|
| Storyteller | 8 |
| Adventurer | 10 |
| Tragic Hero | 12 |
| Walking Lunch | 14 |
Overland map
The chance for a tile to become infested and the chance for small groups of heroes to be ambushed in an infested tile both depend on the overland difficulty level.
Also, many aspects of incursions vary with overland difficulty: their frequency, their size, how fast they move, and how quickly they destroy constructions.
