Chapter Concept: Concealed Envy

icemancat

Overview:

This chapter concept is tied within the Red Forest, following the story of two characters; a young woman who longs to reunite with her mother and a peculiar man with a particular appreciation for pottery and other valuables. This chapter includes a new Survivor, a new Killer, and a new map on the Red Forest Realm. It is worth mentioning that this is a long post, so feel free to skip to certain parts that you are more interested in.

New Survivor: Niesha Monta

Background:

Every morning, when Niesha would wake up in the morning, she looked out her window at the clear, blue sky. The view from her window was beautiful, yet limited, as she always had to get up early to prepare for her classes. Niesha would go down stairs after a shower and greet her younger brother, sisters, and father for breakfast. She would never stay long and always be on the move, never having time to stay for a longer period of time. Not long after breakfast, she would rush out the door to catch the bus to make it to her classes.

While riding the bus to her university, two other passengers caught her eye; a mother and her daughter. The daughter was sitting in her mother’s lap, listening to a story as they rode the bus to wherever their destination may be. Niesha couldn’t help, but smile as she watched them. She thought back to a happier time when her mom was around to read her stories. However, it has been years since she has heard back from her mother ever since she went on a business trip overseas.

Niesha’s thoughts were interrupted as her bus stopped in front of her university. Now ready for what she thought would be another ordinary day, she made her way to class. Once she sat down for her class, she got out her notebook and began to take notes. As class went on, she caught a fellow classmate watching her from his seat. Each time she looked over, he would quickly turn away. Niesha was confused. Why was he looking at me? What does he want? These questions ran through her mind as class went on. She got up to use the restroom during class to try and process this. With only a few minutes left of class, Niesha returned to see a sheet of paper, neatly folded with her full name neatly printed on the top of it; “Niesha A. Monta''. Her heart began to pick up the pace as she frantically looked around the room only to see that the same guy looking at her earlier was missing. She took the paper, her belongings, and rushed out of the classroom, garnering the attention of the whole class. She looked out in the hallway to see if she could find the mysterious classmate, but didn’t see him. Niesha looked back down at the letter in her hands and stepped outside.

Now outside on a bench, she slowly opened the letter, nervous of what message that guy was trying to deliver her. She removed the letter from the envelope and began reading through the details. She read from the letter that someone from that guy’s family also works in the same department as her mom and that he believes her mother sent her a message over email. Niesha’s heart raced. It’s been years since she has heard back from her mother and wanted so badly to see her again. Niesha rushed over to her car, ditching her next few classes for the day. As she was driving back home, she checked the time: 12:45. She figured she still had some time until her father and siblings came home from school to make a bold decision she’s been wanting to make for years: finding her mom.

Back at her home, Niesha frantically opened her email and to her shock, her classmate was not lying. A brief email from her mother told her to come visit at the place she was staying for her business trip and that she misses her. Niesha printed the email and packed the message along with many of her other belongings to make for the trip overseas. Her savings, clothes, personal assets, everything was being brought with Niesha. However, before Niesha left, she wrote a letter to her family, explaining the situation. Niesha looked back at the house one last time before getting in her car and leaving. 

Several hours passed and Niesha finally made it just in time for her flight. She put her suitcase onto the cargo hold and brought the smaller bags with her once she boarded the plane. She took her seat and pulled out the message from her mother once again and read it to herself. She smiled and became excited to see her mother after all of these years. Excited to hear about her time with work. Excited to finally see her biggest role model. Excited for a new beginning. All of a sudden, the pilot introduced himself as Fitz Guerhan over the speakers on the plane and told everyone that they were ready to take off. The plane began to move and Niesha started to listen to some music. Knowing that this would be a long trip, she decided to get some shuteye for a couple hours.

Niesha slowly began to open her eyes, looking around at people exiting the plane. Niesha got up, gathered her bags, and proceeded to exit the plane. However, a man at the exit quickly stopped her. It was Fitz Guerhan, the pilot for the plane. He questioned whether or not she was stopping at New Brunswick, to which she replied no. Fitz then proceeded to tell her to go back to her seat and to wait as they will soon depart for her destination. She got a cold chill down her spine, having a weird feeling about the pilot. She felt a little more comfortable when more people started to board the plane for the same destination as her own. Niesha checked her mp3 player and sighed in disappointment as it was dead. She threw it back in her bag and started to close her eyes, feeling tired and exhausted once again. 

Niesha woke up to a loud and sudden noise. Passengers were starting to panic as alarms for the plane began to go off. Some passengers began to put on their air masks while others screamed for help. Niesha started to take a deep breath and blocked out all of the noise going on. She got up from her seat, but fell to her knees, as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She just now realized that she hasn’t eaten for nearly a day. Nevertheless, she got herself back onto her feet and rushed to the cockpit of the plane. Whenever she entered, she was shocked to see that the pilot was missing. Just as she began thinking as to what on Earth was happening, a quick movement of the plane threw Niesha into the side of the plane, knocking her out.

Niesha woke up only to find herself in the middle of the woods. Fog slowly traveling through the woods caught her eyes as crows cawed and flew away. Niesha got herself up from the ground and began thinking only to stop thinking. Niesha paused as she looked all over her surroundings. She began walking and started to repeat the same question in her mind: Where am I? She stopped and saw a light in the distance; a campfire. She stared ahead and managed to see four figures sitting next to the fire only for them to be engulfed into the fog. Niesha ran towards them, hoping they would be able to help her. Once she reached the campfire, however, they vanished. At a loss for words and thoughts, Niesha instinctively sat next to the campfire, awaiting for whoever or whatever may show up.

Survivor Rundown

Niesha Monta is an inquisitive seeker, able to complete tasks in order to gain bonuses to help aid herself and her allies.

Her personal Perks, Scrutiny, Impeder, and Completionist, grant her and her team strong abilities after finishing specific tasks.

Scrutiny

Being around danger for long enough has taught you what to expect for future situations. After staying within the killer’s Terror Radius for 180 seconds without being chased, Scrutiny activates. Once you step within the Exit Gate area, you and your allies see each other's Auras as well as the Killer’s Aura for 10/15/20 seconds. Scrutiny can only be activated once per trial. “Please. You all need to see what’s going on.” - Niesha Monta 

Impeder

Your encouragement to others in desperate situations gives them hope. Unhooking a Survivor from particular types of Hooks grants you and the rescued Survivor the following bonus based on the type of Hook:

• Scourge Hook: You and the rescued Survivor gain a 5%/6%/7% Haste Status Effect for 30 seconds.
• Basement Hook: You and the rescued Survivor gain a 5%/6%/7% Haste Status Effect for 60 seconds. 

“I’ll waste no time following in her footsteps. Now is the time to get out of here!” - Niesha Monta

Completionist

Going through hardships inspires you to do better. After repairing one Generator, Safely Unhooking one Survivor, and Cleansing one Totem, gain a 3%/4%/5% action speed bonus to Repairing, Healing, Sabotaging, Unhooking, Vaulting, Cleansing, Blessing, Gate Opening, and Chest Unlocking. 

“Now that I’ve finally done it, all I can do from here on out is to press on.” - Niesha Monta

Trivia

• Although the exact location of her home is unknown, Niesha lived in Canada.
• Niesha’s Unique Perks tell the story of her past in the order at which you unlock them.
• It is unknown whether or not Niesha’s classmate and/or Fitz Guerhan (The Pilot) were responsible for her getting captured by The Entity, but it is not out of the question.
• The name ‘Niesha’, means pure while her last name ‘Monta’ means mountain.
• Niesha may be a member of The Pariahs. Niesha getting captured by The Entity during the plane crash avoided Niesha from getting into contact with her mother. Therefore, it is a possibility that Niesha is a member of The Pariahs while her parents are members of The Imperiatti, something that The Entity wants to avoid from living on.
• While some may conclude that Niesha running away from home was selfish, the quote with her unique perk, Scrutiny, hints what may have happened earlier in her life.

Author’s Notes On Niesha Monta

I believe Niesha Monta would be a good addition to Dead by Daylight. Her backstory seems very interesting in that it leaves more answers to be found by players whether it be the true reason why she left home or if The Pilot was truly responsible for her getting captured. 

For Niesha’s perks, while they may require players to complete specific objectives before acquiring the perk’s effects, I believe that this can lead to a very interesting playstyle. 

Scrutiny requires a lengthy amount of time to be in the killer’s terror radius, but if the player manages to stay within the terror radius for that long, then Scrutiny provides a strong effect for that player’s entire team. It is similar to Stake Out and Diversion, but instead serves as an end-game perk to help the team avoid the killer. 

Niesha’s next perk, Impeder, may come off as situational, but can make a difference if the killer would decide to chase either the player using Impeder or the rescued survivor. Impeder would also be strong against killers with a slower base movement speed. With a solid effect, Impeder can be an interesting choice for players wishing to be altruistic while also serving as an extra boost to aid with chases. 

Lastly, Niesha’s final perk, Completionist, is the perk I believe has the best chance of making it into some player’s builds due to its strength. However, this comes at a risk. This perk increases action speed, including repair speed. This is something the devs have noted as something they want to avoid with future perks, however, I attempted to balance Completionist in a way so that the survivor has to work for the bonus. Another concern may rise when Completionist is combined with a few other perks, mainly, Resilience. In a recent balance patch, the vault speed bonus included with Spine Chill was removed as it was never the intention of the developers to have it be included in the first place. In my honest opinion, despite what some may believe to be unbalanced, I think this is ok. In order for a survivor to obtain maximum benefit, they must do the following: 1. Be injured. This puts them at risk given that they can be downed in one hit. 2. The survivor must have completed repairs on one generator, safely unhook one survivor, and cleanse one totem. All of these actions will easily take up some time, meaning that Completionist will not be active for the entire duration of a match. As a bonus factor, if the survivor truly wants to take advantage of a 14% vault speed bonus, that will automatically take up 2 of 4 perk slots that they have available to them, limiting what perks they can use with the new vault speed build. Taking all of these factors into account, this possibly shows that Completionist may not be overpowered, but this is ultimately up to the developers to decide. As a final thought on Niesha Monta, I feel as if her backstory is interesting and brings perks to the table that while starting off weak, provide strong effects later in the match.

New Killer: The Dendron

Background:

Koa Zoticus enjoyed the simplicity of craftwork. Gentle, yet descriptive strokes of the brush completed yet another job of one of his clay pots. He got up from his seat and admired his work, mainly the clay pots with a select few paintings he did. This life may not be the one that his family imagined, but he paid no mind to it. The special craft of his work could not be done by everyone, after all.

One night, shouts were heard all around him, making his eyes open faster than ever before. He opened the door to his home to be greeted by infantrymen, stating that due to their commanders orders, they needed to take refuge inside his home. The man pushed Koa aside as Koa immediately walked to the front of his studio, blocking the entrance. The soldier explained that a hostile presence was likely to strike the village due to orders from the king. Koa couldn’t help but to laugh as the soldiers looked at each other in confusion. Koa closed the door behind him as he entered his studio, excited at the thought of his new plan for the night. He looked at his pottery and spoke to it, saying that the collection is almost complete.

As Koa listened carefully, he peeked out from the window to see the soldier standing outside his home and many others not paying attention. He opened the window and quietly slid down the mossy side of his stone home and snuck away, impressed with being able to sneak behind the soldier. He walked down the path and observed the trees, inspecting every detail of the bark as quickly as he could. He stopped in his path to look over a particular tree once more and admired the texture, ripping off a piece of bark and beginning to eat it. As he chewed, splinters began to form, splinters that he craved. 

Koa approached the massive, towering walls of the opposing kingdom, the kingdom that wanted his village dead. He refused to accept that. Opening his bag, he pulled out a modified caliper, his favorite tool that he used for particularly special jobs, but prepared for the greatest one of all. Knowing that the assault would begin soon, he knelt down in the bushes by the forest, lying in wait.

Hearing the footsteps of the village’s infantry, he raised his head and grinned, delighted to see the diversion he needed to walk forward. Suddenly, a horn was blared as the village’s infantry and the kingdom’s frontline guards began to charge at each other. Amidst the chaos, Koa walked by, hiding behind various objects as he made his way behind the walls. Hiding from both sides of the fight, he watched, noticing guards with high-ranking emblems on their armor run past. He knew the next location where he needed to go. 

Entering the large castle, he maneuvered with ease, not being suspected by a guard once or even spotted. As he peeked from behind the wall, he could see the king with his most trusted subordinates. He looked at his face, watching as the glory he basked in was becoming crippled. He decided to make a noise, planning to lead the king into a safe room where he would be waiting in. He took a rock and threw it as he quickly sprinted to a safe room. He heard gasps and tried to hold in his laughter as even he was surprised of his tactic working. Surely enough, the door swung open, with the king and his large, ugly robe dragged behind him. As a trusted guard followed the king inside, Koa drove a sharp end of his caliper into the throat of the guard, and slid it out, with the guard collapsing from the stab wound and choking on his own blood. The king cried and panicked, desperately looking out the windows to see if he could survive the fall, but was too late as The Dendron already trapped the king’s neck with the jaws of his caliper and twisted it, snapping the king’s neck with ease, and the golden crown falling to the ground. The Dendron walked over to the window and witnessed his village’s infantry taking over. A smile grew on Koa’s face, as his ritual was nearing completion. 

Lugging the body of the deceased king over his shoulder, Koa began to see visions of himself, only imagining how good of a job he must have been doing. Looking down at the window and observing the drop that the king was too afraid to attempt, Koa showed no fear and shattered the window open and took the plunge, using the king’s body as cushioning for a landing. The violent snaps of the deceased king’s bones didn’t bother The Dendron as he sprinted his way to the woods while carrying the king.

Making his way to a dozen trees, each with similar markings, he set the king down and began to tear the bark off of another tree and ate it at the same time. When the side of the tree was ripped to shreds, he finally stuffed the king’s body inside and watched as the moon shone down, blinding The Dendron. The twelve trees each connecting with The Dendron standing in the middle began to reveal the malevolent being he was after, watching its spider-like limbs revolving down closer and closer to The Dendron. He raised his hands up, ready to accept his fate as the horrifying, cosmic entity briefly showed itself, immediately causing The Dendron to black out. 

The Dendron opened his eyes in a place familiar, but not quite the same, seeing vile meat hooks in the distance as well as some of his favorite pottery pieces. Along with the pots, he saw the trees and felt the side of his head growing with roots. Finally achieving his ultimate goal, he would no longer have to hide his victims within his work and could now use it towards his victims.

Design:

(Pictured above is what I imagine The Dendron’s face would look like. I am no artist, so this is the best I’ve got. This is the image of The Dendron mask from Payday 2 for people who bought Dead by Daylight.)

Killer Rundown:

Base Stats

Movement Speed: 4.6 m/s

Height: Tall

Terror Radius: 32 m.

Power: Clay Morph

“A disciple to The Entity, The Dendron as well as his oppressors can morph into specific Props with various effects. Being one with the trees, Ritualistic Trees each have special effects and also are present on the Trial Grounds.”

Batches of specific-sized Clay Pots are scattered throughout the Trial. Ritualistic Trees are also scattered around the Trial.

The Dendron sees the Auras of all of its own Props at all times.

Press and hold the Power button next to a Prop to morph into it. The Clay Pots have various sizes with unique effects for each. The smaller the Clay Pot you morph into, the faster you move, but your attacks are less deadly. The larger the Clay Pot you morph into, the slower you move, but your attacks are more deadly. The Dendron can also morph into the following props, each with their own effects:

• Chests
• Generators
• Lockers
• Pallets
• Totems

While morphed as a Prop, The Dendron is granted the Undetectable Status Effect. Survivors also have the ability to morph into the Clay Pots, but only the Clay Pots. While Survivors are morphed as Clay Pots, mobility is limited in certain circumstances and grants immunity to Aura-reading abilities from the Killer and other Survivors. To exit the Prop as The Dendron, hold the Power button to perform a Morphed Attack or press the Active Ability button to perform the Exit Prop action. To exit the Clay Pot as a Survivor, press the Shift key.

Special Ability: Ritualistic Trees

4 Ritualistic Trees are present within the Trial, each with their own unique effect. Press the Active Ability button to trigger the Ritualistic Tree’s effect:

• Blood Red Tree: Sends a violent wave of thorns from each Ritualistic Tree, erupting from the ground, damaging any Survivor for 1 Health State not morphed into a Prop. The wave stretches out 32 meters from every Ritualistic Tree.
• Ocean Blue Tree: Sends a commanding wave from each Ritualistic Tree, damaging all Generators and breaking all Dropped Pallets. The wave stretches out 32 meters from every Ritualistic Tree.
• Sunlight Yellow Tree: Sends a spontaneous wave from each Ritualistic Tree, healing all Survivors within range overtime who are not morphed as a Prop, but grants The Dendron a drastic boost of 30% increased movement speed for 30 seconds. The wave stretches out 32 meters from every Ritualistic Tree.
• Forest Green Tree: Sends a bashful wave from each Ritualistic Tree, suppressing The Dendron’s Terror Radius and causing Survivors to perceive the Terror Radius for 30 seconds if the Survivor is not morphed into a Prop. Each Ritualistic Tree causes effected Survivors to perceive a separate Terror Radius based on which Tree they were closest to. Each Ritualistic Tree can cause a perceived Terror Radius of 32 meters, 16 meters, 8 metes, or as if The Dendron were right behind the Survivor. Perceived Terror Radius distances cannot be duplicated among the Ritualistic Trees. The wave stretches out 32 meters from every Ritualistic Tree.

Triggering any Ritualistic Tree’s effect forces all into a cooldown of 60 seconds.

New Status Effect: Fragile

Survivors inflicted with the Fragile Status Effect are vulnerable. Any form of getting hit by the Killer will immediately damage them and reduce the Survivor to the next Health State.

Power Trivia

• It takes 4 seconds to exit a Prop as The Dendron whereas it takes Survivors 0.75 seconds to exit a Clay Pot.
• It takes 2 seconds to perform a Morphed Attack. Doing so grants a 5.9 m/s Speed burst for 1.5 seconds.
• The Dendron’s movement speed while exiting a Prop is 1.4 m/s.
• It takes The Dendron 1 second to Morph into a Prop.
• It takes Survivors 1.5 seconds to Morph into a Clay Pot.
• Clay Pots have the following sizes and effects for The Dendron:
• Very Small: Movement Speed is increased by 15%. Attacks are nonlethal, but do grant bonus Bloodpoints
• Small: Movement Speed is increased by 10%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict the Fragile Status Effect.
• Medium: Movement Speed is increased by 5%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict 1 Health State.
• Large: Movement Speed is reduced by 5%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict the Deep Wound Status Effect.
• Very Large: Movement Speed is reduced by 10%. Attacks landed on Survivors instantly put them in the Dying State.
• Clay Pots have the following sizes and effects for Survivors:
• All Sizes: Blocks all Aura Reading abilities, but applies the Blindness Status Effect, similar to Lockers.
• Very Small: Survivors can still Sprint. Getting damaged results in instantly being put in the Dying State.
• Small: Survivors can still Sprint. Getting damaged results in getting inflicted with the Deep Wound Status Effect.
• Medium: No change in Movement Speed. Getting damaged results in losing 1 Health State.
• Large: Movement Speed is reduced by 5%. Getting damaged results in getting inflicted with the Fragile Status Effect.
• Very Large: Movement Speed is reduced by 10%. Getting damaged results in a drastic reduction in Movement Speed of 30% decreased Movement Speed for 30 seconds, but no Health State loss.
• Morphing into other Props have the following effects for The Dendron:
• Chests: Movement Speed is increased by 7.5%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict 1 Health State. The Chest must not be looted in order to Morph into it.
• Generators: Movement Speed is reduced by 8%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict the Deep Wound Status Effect. The Generator must not be repaired in order to Morph into it.
• Lockers: Movement Speed is reduced by 10%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict 1 Health State.
• Pallets: Movement Speed is reduced by 5%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict the Deep Wound Status Effect. The Pallet must be upright in order to Morph into it.
• Totems: Movement Speed is increased by 10%. Attacks landed on Survivors inflict 1 Health State. The Totem must not be a Hex Totem, Boon Totem, or Cleansed in order to Morph into it.

Perks

The Dendron is a deceitful Killer, able to fool Survivors with his Clay Morph and strike unknowingly with his Morphed Attacks while altering The Trial with his Ritualistic Trees. 

His Personal Perks, Cunning Impact, Ceremonial Wisdom, and Hex: Share the Agony, improve his attacks, heighten senses for important objectives, and forces Survivors to share negative afflictions.

Cunning Impact

You know how to do a proper ambush. When your Terror Radius reaches certain limits, gain the following bonus:

• Terror Radius of 17-24 meters: 3%/4%/5% faster Lunge Attack.
• Terror Radius of 9-16 meters: 8%/9%/10% faster Lunge Attack.
• Terror Radius of 0-8 meters: 13%/14%/15% faster Lunge Attack.

“From the moment I saw The King, I already knew how I would kill him.” - Koa Zoticus

Ceremonial Wisdom

Practices in certain arts have granted you profound knowledge.

You become obsessed with one Survivor.

After hooking the Obsession, all unrepaired Generators progress can be determined by the intensity of their Aura for 4/6/8 seconds.

You can only be obsessed with one Survivor at a time.

“Peculiar interests sprout the best in us.” - Koa Zoticus

Hex: Share the Agony

A Hex rooting its power on betrayal. 

2/3/All Survivors get penalized when one Survivor misses a Skill Check provided they are doing an action that has Skill Checks. One Survivor shares the same negative Status Effects for their respective durations when another Survivor is afflicted by a negative Status Effect. The negative Status Effects that can be shared are Blindness, Broken, Exhaustion, Exposed, Haemorrhage, Hindered, Oblivious, and Incapacitated. Status Effects are shared at random. 

“At times, it seems like your greatest ally can be your greatest enemy. Such is the torture of this… Ancient.” - ???

Trivia

• The Dendron’s unique perks give additional hints into his backstory.
• The name “Koa” means warrior and the name “Zoticus” means full of life. This means that The Dendron’s full name literally translates to being a “warrior full of life”.
• The name Dendron means ‘tree’, meaning that Koa’s alias could also be considered, “The Tree”.
• The Dendron was a serial killer before entering The Entity’s realm. He hid his victims inside his clay pots, the very same pots that the survivors use to hide in. 
• The Dendron was to date the most difficult killer for me to design as I needed to redesign the power twice and the lore once. 
• The first power concept enabled The Dendron to camouflage into certain colors by touching specific objects in order to sneak up on survivors. I discontinued the idea, deciding that this would ultimately be too difficult to code.
• The second power concept enabled The Dendron to plant humongous trees that he could use to catapult off of for mobility. I discontinued the idea, remembering that indoor maps exist and would make this ability virtually impossible to implement.
• The original lore was The Dendron being an assassin rather than a potter and a serial killer. 
• It is possible that The Dendron originates from Arcus 1007 from Tome 5.
• The Dendron had some prior knowledge of The Entity’s existence and is one of the few killers who completely accept doing the bidding of The Entity.
• The tree roots growing out of The Dendron’s head indicate having been tortured very slightly despite showing absolute devotion to The Entity. This could indicate that The Dendron showed very slight restraint for an unknown reason. 

Author’s Notes On The Dendron

In case it was not obvious, the majority of my focus went into the design of The Dendron’s power. However, I want to take the time to review each section one by one so as to not overwhelm the readers. I want to start with the simple topics and go to the more complex, starting with the lore.

I think the lore behind The Dendron is quite neat, with The Dendron having an interest in pottery while also being a serial killer unbeknownst to everyone else. However, I believe the two most interesting things about The Dendron are his connection to The Entity as well as the potential of Arcus 1007 linking back to him. These mysteries are what the players would be able to decipher themselves, something that possibly only a player’s imagination and thinking could figure out. That is what makes the lore of a character special. Next, I want to discuss The Dendron’s three perks.

The Dendron’s first perk, Cunning Impact, affects a movement speed that no other perk in the game currently affects, that being the speed of a lunge attack. This is very interesting as this would have to be something for survivors as well as killers to try and adapt to. In terms of its strength, I believe it can be very effective when combined with a low terror radius. Killers like Myers, Ghostface, and Sadako can benefit from this greatly as well as any killer should they happen to have a low terror radius. The requirement of a lower terror radius I believe makes the perk balanced as the bonus speed should not just be able to be used without a requirement. 

The Dendron’s second perk is Ceremonial Wisdom. I think this perk has its uses, but is definitely on the niche side of perks. Compared to other information-based perks like Barbeque and Chili and Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage, this perk does not show the auras of survivors, but does show the auras of highly prioritized generators. This serves as a solid alternative choice for information perks, giving strong information at a cost: you must hook the obsession. If combined with perks like Furtive Chase or Nemesis, then Ceremonial Wisdom has potential to serve as a very powerful information perk.

The Dendron’s final perk is Hex: Share the Agony. Although some may not think this hex perk is valuable, I think the opposite. The effect of sharing skill check penalties is really the minor bonus of the perk as the true effect is with survivors sharing negative status effects. Depending on the killer’s skill, they can really take advantage of this perk’s status effect sharing amongst survivors. Status effects such as exposed and broken have strong potential for snowballing while exhaustion and hindered can help aid in chases. I truly believe that Hex: Share the Agony can be truly threatening if not properly dealt with. Now, I will move on to what I personally believe is the most important part of this chapter concept: The Dendron and his power, Clay Morph.

While I was struggling to design a power for The Dendron, I decided to take a break and instead play the game to see if I could think of anything while playing. I recently came back from an extensive break of a little over a year and played a game during the Bone Chill event of December 2022. I noticed that this event has returned as it has previously been done one other time. Nonetheless, I played a game as a survivor and saw the snowmen. That is when it hit me: a killer whose power is to morph into disguised objects. I immediately became hooked on the concept, remembering how some players have been wanting a prop hunt-based gamemode for a while. With The Dendron and my designed concept, this could be a reality. 

With The Dendron being able to disguise as various props around the trial as well as clay pots, this would classify The Dendron as a stealth-based killer, excelling at sneaking up on survivors. This could also disorient the survivors by tricking them with the disguise. Allowing the survivors to disguise themselves as clay pots also gives them some form of fair counterplay, resulting in the gameplay of The Dendron being extremely innovative and unique. On top of this, The Dendron does have a secondary power: The Ritualistic Trees. The ritualistic trees are meant to represent a form of “mini game” for survivors while also giving The Dendron additional support. From being able to damage survivors, destroy objects, increase lethality, and increase stealth, the trees and their powers make The Dendron’s kit highly versatile, allowing players playing as The Dendron to decide what kind of boost they need freely. 

Regarding Clay Morph, I believe it can be a very effective, yet enjoyable experience for both sides. The various sizes that players can morph into each with their own effects can make gameplay exciting and fresh. The bigger props carry more lethality but at a cost of reduction in movement speed while the smaller props are less lethal but increase mobility. The bonus props such as chests and totems also make the power more interesting. Possible counterplay that survivors could use could include Small Game and Plunderer's Instinct while perks that can enhance The Dendron’s power could be Hoarder and Zanshin Tactics. Opening up more methods of gameplay can make each match unique in its own way. 

For the Ritualistic Trees, I think that they can serve as a strong, yet fair boost in power for The Dendron. The abilities are all able to be countered by survivors if they want to take the time to do so. Each ability has its uses in various situations of the game, making some trees more useful than others, all depending on the situation within the match.

I think it is worth reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of The Dendron. That way, everyone has a clear understanding on what strengths to capitalize on as The Dendron while familiarizing themselves with the counterplay.

As I have stated before, The Dendron is a stealth-based killer, a type of killer that is not often looked into. Having an advantage with stealth means that it is very easy to find survivors. Aside from that, The Dendron has increased versatility thanks to his Ritualistic Trees, with each colored tree holding their own ability for multiple situations of the game. 

Some notable weaknesses of The Dendron could be a lack of ability to help aid with chases, as he does not really have a reliable way of countering loops. However, I believe that The Dendron’s weakness with a lack of loop counter is what makes The Dendron’s design complete. 

See, the unknown aspect of where The Dendron is at during portions of the game can be unnerving. Now of course, some survivor players could just think that cranking out the generators would be simple, but it is still that particular fear of the unknown that I specifically capitalized on to make The Dendron special. With being able to transfer the terror radius sounds to disguising yourself, the survivors will always have a question in their heads:

Is what I perceive real?

The Dendron’s manipulation of what is reality versus what is replication is what makes The Dendron a threat and is why I believe The Dendron is a well-designed killer.

One valid concern that I can think of right now is the survivor perk, Premonition. I believe that the perk Premonition should not be a concern for the following reasons:

1. Premonition is so underused and forgotten that survivors only looking for the meta would not even entertain the thought of glancing at the perk.
2. With the addition of The Dendron, as of right now, survivors would have a 3.2% chance of being matched up against The Dendron when you only consider a pure random element of match-ups. 
3. There are ways for stealth killers to play around Premonition that it is not even worth running the perk in the first place. 

Now that I have reviewed just about everything, there is one more point as to why I believe The Dendron would be a great addition to Dead by Daylight. That reason being an advantage in the competitive market. Due to the rules of the DBD Forums, I cannot and will not go in-depth about this point, but if you think about it, you should be able to figure out what I’m implying.

New Map: Castle Ruins

The ruins of a once lively Castle haunt those who trespass. After a tyrant of a king ordered raids on the village, many of the residents were slain, with only a few dozen escaping the massacre. Remnants of the attack layed low until repopulating the community. After an excruciating long time, the infantry of the villagers fought back, unaware of their ace in the hole that would assassinate the king and end their torment. The mysterious assassin, however, would never be found.

The Castle Ruins would be set in an outdoor map, similar to that of the Temple of Purgation. This map would have similar obstacles like any map would in the Red Forest, but would have the remnants of the destroyed castle in the middle. The size of the Castle Ruins would be roughly 10,000 m^2, slightly larger than the Temple of Purgation, but smaller than the Mother’s Dwelling.

Thank You For Reading!

If you made it this far, then thank you. It means a lot. Whether you only read one part or the whole thing, then thank you. I plan on creating more chapter concepts, but also plan on doing some lore analyses in the near future. It has been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I’m glad I was able to share this with whoever decides to read this. I’m always open to feedback as it gives me an idea on what people look for in a chapter, but also helps me improve my skills with chapter concepts. 

Thanks,

icemancat

sillyjacob

Amazing amazing amazing concept. Impeder however seems a little too much especially since BT was put into basekit and is stackable by using the perk. Maybe tweak the effect, instead of Haste grant a bonus vault speed or bonus totem cleansing or a different effect! Btw, you have the potential to come up with a new perk mechanic ENTIRELY and still be effectively balanced / fun to use. I see it in you, I cant wait for future concepts. :)