Chapter Concept: Burden of Nobility (Killer & Survivor)

Greetings, I'm Jake, referred to as such by my online friends due to my love of the solitary survivor. I am a studying game designer and have worked hard to create a fulfilling and compelling fantasy for the Dead by Daylight community. I've spent several months on this particular design and consider it to be one of my most ambitious and best projects to date! I have completed a rough map and both a concept character design for both the Killer and the Survivor that I will not be posting here. I hope you all enjoy my chapter concept! I've greatly enjoyed working on this and hope that you all do as well!

Chapter: Burden of Nobility

Killer: The Lady

Priscilla Bondeaux

In a twisted turn of events, lady Priscilla called forth dark powers that be. She offered her son’s life in trade for eternal life. Her son for the ability to rule her house forever. The world would not allow a woman, no matter her stature, no matter her upbringing, no matter her capabilities, to lead a the family. So she turned to something that would. To whatever power that would respond, whatever dark god that would heed her call. And something answered.

Priscilla was bathed in darkness and her son enveloped in eerie mist. The Bondeaux estate consumed by the rising mist. A fog that would not leave. The history books record the Bondeaux house as an unsolved mystery. An entire family line gone missing over night. An entire estate gone with the early morning fog. But lady Priscilla lives on in the Fog. Her house thrives under her rule and her estate serves as the realm which she controls. Her son the eternal sacrifice to her new, dark god known only as the Entity.

Gender|Sex: Feminine|Female

Weapon: Fan

The very tip of the fan’s sides has decorative, metal spikes.

Realm: The Bondeaux Estate

Height: Average

Movement: 96% (3.28 m/s) | Slow

Vault Speed: Normal (1.4 seconds)

//Dev Note: Considered making her vault speed the same as a survivor’s. Unlike the Nurse she cannot ignore walls & barriers.

Terror Radius: 24 meters | Short

Terror Radius Sound: The Lady’s terror radius is unlike any other Killer’s terror radius. Instead of the traditional music and intense heartbeat, her terror radius is a tense, enforced stillness. A harsh absence. The sound of wind on a still night. The traditional heartbeat sound emerges when within 12 meters.

Power: Dark Bargain The Lady gains several talents and supernatural abilities thanks to her deal with the Entity. She entered the Fog willingly and enjoys benefits for her willing service in turn.

Dark Passage The Lady leaves a trail of corruption in her wake as she moves, up to a total of 10 meters long. Survivors that touch the trail gain the hindered status effect for 15 seconds. The Lady recharges her power meter faster while standing on corruption. This corruption lasts for a maximum of 75 seconds but will deteriorate when the length limit is exceeded, starting with the oldest section first.*

//Dev Notes: This ability is intended to make juking the Lady much harder. Deincentivising survivors from doubling back or trying to run around her. She is also rewarded for this behavior by gaining her power back slightly faster when standing in her corruption.

*Realistically this will never occur as she will be moving around as she plays the game. Theoretically, if someone were to walk 10m then AFK, the trail would eventually despawn and would not be permanent.

Noble Lineage The Lady does not break pallets, barricades, or damage generators. The Entity does this for her. She spends 1.3 seconds marking one of these objects, 1 second later the Entity completes the action for her.* Survivors that are on a generator or pallet when the Entity strikes them take damage. The Entity opens windows for her rather than vaulting because it would be improper for a Lady to climb on things.**

//Dev Notes: This ability is intended to allow the Lady to better multitask. She is capable of tagging an objective then leaving immediately. This is to help compensate for her slower movement speed. The damage was added to prevent survivors from manipulating the way she interacts with the environment.

*This makes her 0.3s faster than other killers to break stuff. Brutal Strength is 0.78s faster for reference.

**This is an animation note and not a mechanic. She does not break vaulting points.

Corrupted Connection The Lady can consume her power meter to create temporary terrain in a horizontal line in front of her.* The longer she consumes power, the longer the wall. This wall prefers to branch between terrain and objects if possible.** She cannot place walls within 2 meters of an undropped pallet. Walls last for up to 20 seconds but are destroyed after she completes a basic attack.*** The Lady is unaffected by her own walls, she is capable of passing through them freely. Her terror radius progressively becomes smaller the longer she consumes her power and remains reduced for 2 seconds after it is expended. She can only consume a maximum of 1/2 her total power meter at any given time.**** When a wall is destroyed, it leaves behind a patch of corruption for 5 seconds that does not count towards her trail’s total length.

//Dev Notes: This ability is her main staple. Her special connection with the Entity allows her to directly influence the map, unlike other killers. The cap on her power charge is to prevent players from holding her power indefinitely, but other blockers may need to be added such as animation time.

Added corruption on broken walls in order to compensate for her slower movement speed & loss of bloodlust when she hits a survivor. This is tentative and may change later.

*The Lady cannot change the orientation of the wall she spawns. It is tied to her position and where she is looking.

**Walls will latch onto the sides of terrain to create a proper blockage point if possible. This makes it impossible for her to ‘miss’ and accidentally create a wall in a choke point with space exposed enough for a survivor to pass through.

***The wall is broken even if she whiffs. The wall breaks when she finishes her lunge as her recoil animation begins. This is to allow survivors to still benefit from the damage speed increase.

****This means that her terror radius can only be halved at most.

Animations

Idle: She silently fans herself with her fan, slowly looking around. At ease.

Walking: She fans herself at a metered pace, inline with every other step.

Chase: She stops fanning herself, closing the fan with a flicking gesture.

Basic Attack: She strikes with the closed fan, opening it again with a flourish as she shakes the blood off.

Generator/Pallet/Barricade Break: She closes her fan and gestures to the object in front of her with a gloved hand. Black spikes erupt from the ground a second later.

Vault: She closes her fan and makes a dismissive gesture with it. The vaulting location quickly burns away, allowing her to step through it. It rebuilds itself immediately after.

Pickup: Standard*

//Dev Notes: *I feel she should have something special and thematic to a noble woman but all ideas have been too complicated and would be unclear. For the sake of simplicity and clarity no animation change has been implemented here.

Power: A delicate, gloved hand raises at the ready, dark fog starting to seep from her fingertips. On release, she flicks her wrist upwards in a simple motion.

Stunned: She dramatically recoils, her head jerking away. Her fan partially closing, almost falling from her hand. A dignified, offended scoff can be heard.

Memento Mori: She strikes the survivor with her closed fan causing them to stagger away from her. She follows this up with a backhand with her free hand and makes a dignified, dismissive gesture with that gloved hand. Black spikes leap out of the ground, impaling the survivor. She steps up to them, tipping their face to one side with her fan. The spikes recede, dropping their body to the ground. She leans down and wipes the blood off both sides of her fan using the survivor’s body. She straightens up and returns to her idle position.

Perks

Dark Destiny

Description: “They are all destined for greatness.  Prithee, allow me to help that along.”

The Lady’s insight into the Entity’s terrible, twisted mind allows her to see which victim the Entity desires most. As they slowly break under the Entity’s power, her own insidious plans begin to unfold.

You become obsessed with one survivor. Each time you hook the obsession, this perk gains a token and a new survivor becomes the obsession. After this perk has 5/4/3 tokens, gain movement speed towards hooks when carrying the obsession. When this perk has 6/5/4 tokens, your basic attacks cause the broken status effect for 20 seconds and the obsession becomes afflicted by the oblivious status effect. The Killer can only be obsessed with one survivor at a time.

//Dev Notes: This perk is intended to reward the killer for switching targets rather than focusing on a single survivor the entire match. This rewards following the obsession around as it jumps between survivors.

Tactical Affluence

Description: “They think I do not notice. And that is why they are never prepared when I come for them.”

The Lady’s cunning is what has allowed her to remain in power for so long. She plays an oblivious figure head while watching carefully, waiting for her time to strike.

If a survivor remains in your terror radius for more than 40/30/20 seconds, gain a directional notification of where they might be. 35/25/15 seconds later, if they have remained in your terror radius without leaving, gain an audio cue of their location. 25/15/10 seconds after the audio cue, if they still have not left your terror radius, gain Killer Instincts on them until they leave your terror radius. This perk resets if you successfully basic attack a survivor and does not apply to survivors inside lockers.

//Dev Notes: This perk is intended to provide the Lady with a resource in order to better locate survivors around her. Because she is slower with no movement modifier in her kit, this allows her the benefit of tracking survivors that linger too closely to her for too long.

Corrupt Machinations

Description: “Be careful trying to thwart forces you do not comprehend. If it doesn’t end you, I will.”

The Lady has mastered the occult and its dark machinations. She will not stand by while others dabble in what is her art. She will not be outdone.

With a practiced hand, you are capable of interacting with totems in order to reignite them. Approaching a dull totem and interacting with it for 10/7/5 seconds allows you to activate it. With a ritualistic gesture, you reactivate a hex that has been deactivated. This causes a global maniacal laughter that alerts survivors of their inevitable fate. If you have multiple hexes that have been deactivated, the reactivated hex is chosen at random. A hex reactivated in this manner is protected by a shroud of shadow and cannot be cleansed for 5/10/15 seconds.

//Dev Notes: This perk is intended to allow a killer to gain back a lost hex. This can allow a killer to recover from a survivor spawning on top of their hex or surprise them with a hex they had thought was dealt with. The protection to the hex was added in order to prevent keen survivors from stalking the killer and immediately destroying the totem the moment it is reignited.

Addons

Iridescent Brooch - Ultra Rare

Description: A beautiful, black gem that teems with foreboding energy placed in a sterling silver frame. The metal is shaped like intricate spider-legs and radiates the entity’s power.

Corrupted Connection no longer creates walls in front of the Lady. Instead, walls are now generated at the fringe of her terror radius when her power is released, creating a cage around her. Her power now consumes all of her power meter each use regardless of how much was charged into using the ability. Reduces wall duration by 50%.

Iridescent Fan-Guard - Ultra Rare

Description: A brace that attaches to the outside of a hand-held fan. It appears to be made of a glossy, glass-like material and radiates the Entity’s power.

Striking survivors causes them to leave a trail of corruption behind them similar to the Lady’s Dark Passage for the next 10 seconds. This trail has a maximum length of 5 meters and has a maximum duration of 2 seconds. This trail provides any other benefits of the corruption as appropriate for the Lady’s addons. 

Iridescent Earrings - Ultra Rare

Description: Earrings made of a foggy, glass-like material that radiate untold, twisted power.

When striking a survivor, a pool of corruption is created at their location. It slowly grows to be 3.5 meters wide. This does not count towards her total trail length and lasts 75 seconds. Any survivor that touches her corruption becomes revealed to her for 2 seconds. Corruption can be reduced but not destroyed by flashlights, to a circle with a minimum of 0.5 meter radius.

Parasol - Very Rare

Description: An afternoon parasol, perfect for any sunny outing. It’s tarnished and ragged from disuse.

The Lady’s Dark Passage no longer causes the hindered status effect on survivors. Instead, survivors are marked with corruption for 30 seconds. Whenever they begin to interact with a generator or totem while corrupted, they generate an audio cue.

White Gloves - Very Rare

Description: A pair of pristine white gloves, necessary for any woman’s attire in a formal setting.

Tremendously increases the Lady’s power consumption rate when charging Corrupted Connection. Reveals vacant pallet locations while charging Corrupted Connection.

Formal Hennin - Very Rare

Description: A headdress worn exclusively by women of noble birth. Embroidered edges around a truncated cone, the lappets are vibrant and the veil pristine.

Considerably reduces the deployment time of Corrupted Connection.

Formal Veil - Very Rare

Description: An elegant, thin veil that slightly obscures the wearer’s face. A style of noble dress worn both over the face and the back of the head.

Tremendously increases the total length of Dark Passage.* Survivors that touch corruption now suffer the mangled status effect.

//Dev Notes: *This does not stack with similar addons.

Grey Gloves - Rare

Description: A pair of grey gloves that can accent most outfits. A good choice for when a lady doesn’t know what occasion may arise.

Considerably increases the Lady’s power consumption rate when charging Corrupted Connection.

Jeweled Hair Brush - Rare

Description: An extravagant hair brush that helps a lady look her best even while tidying herself.

Moderately reduces the deployment time of Corrupted Connection. 

Silver Decorum - Rare

Description: A small, silver figurine that is able to rest in a lady’s hair or on her person. Purely for aesthetic and prestige purposes.

Dark Passage now causes the hemorrhaged status effect.

Ancient Talisman - Rare

Description: A rare coin valuable to collectors of ancient lore. On one side holds the icon of a mysterious spider-like creature, the other bears the mark of an old, forgotten church.

Dark Passage now causes the exhausted status effect.

Silver Vanity - Uncommon

Description: A small mirror that is easy to carry and store. Important for any noble woman that wants to ensure she looks her best everywhere she goes.

Slightly reduces the deployment time of Corrupted Connection.

Green Gloves - Uncommon

Description: A pair of green gloves used for select occasions, typically only reserved for when proper gloves are unavailable.

Moderately increases the Lady’s power consumption rate when charging Corrupted Connection.

Ancient Texts - Uncommon

Description: Texts from a long forgotten church that worshipped an enigmatic creature. It demanded sacrifice and worship in trade for blessings and power.

Moderately increases the total length of Dark Passage.

Restored Scripture - Uncommon

Description: Ancient writings that have been restored, detailing modern and improved ways to commune with an unknown, undescribed entity.

Survivors that remain in contact with corruption for more than 2 seconds gain the oblivious status effect. This effect lingers for 15 seconds after they leave the corruption.

Ruffled Fabric - Common

Description: A noble outfit is nothing without ruffles.

Survivors that come into contact with a wall created by Corrupted Connection emit an audio cue.

Occult Pendant - Common

Description: A pendant with a peculiar spider-like symbol that shares meaning to others that share in dark knowledge.

Moderately increases the duration of walls created by Corrupted Connection.

Rear Veil - Common

Description: A common noble garment to cover the back of the head. Slowly falling out of fashion.

Slightly increases the total length of Dark Passage.

Brown Gloves - Common

Description: A pair of brown gloves to cover one’s hands to ensure they don’t get dirty.

Slightly increases the Lady’s power consumption rate when charging Corrupted Connection.

Survivor: The Heir Apparent

Jeremy Bondeaux

Jeremy Bondeaux was born to a noble house. After the tragic death of his step father, so recently married to his mother Priscilla, he was put under much stress. He was groomed to be the one and only heir to the Bondeaux name. And as the lady's late husband's father was now acting house head, he had an important role to fulfill when he came of age. This pressure only increased when the lord of the house suddenly became severely ill. Oddly enough, only a few short years after he had begun his apprenticeship in the family business.

Priscilla was a cold but not unloving mother. She ensured he had every tool he could ever need to learn and develop. But she refused to hold his hand. She wanted him to learn on his own. Fail on his own. And succeed on his own. The phrase "Failure breeds success" was repeated many times to him. And as he came of age, he learned the truth behind his mother's decisive business practices as acting head of the house. She was a careful and critical mind, knowing full well the world underestimated her simply because she was a woman. It was why she was so successful. But her ambitions went much further than wanting to keep Jeremy from usurping her. A day that was supposed to commemorate his ascension to the head of house marred by sinister dealings and dark whispers. He didn't make it out of the basement as a terrible fog started to shroud the house. And now he only knows his mother as a ruthless, bloodthirsty killer that wants nothing more than to please her dark god to ensure he never takes her seat of power.

Fated Birth

Description: “I’m more than what she wanted from me.”

Jeremy was born and raised by Priscilla for the sole purpose of being sacrificed to the Entity in order to further her goals. But he has pushed on to be more than that.

You are spurred on by near-death experiences. Overcoming them and only allowing them to make you stronger. While in the dying state and within the killer’s terror radius, the repair progress on generators and totems is increased by 5/10/15 percent for all remaining survivors. This effect lingers for 15 seconds if you are hooked and remains active while being carried.

Equipping this increases your chances of becoming the obsession.

//Dev Notes: This perk is intended to deincentivise the killer from slugging while giving other survivors an edge if they choose to do so. This perk does not stack with Dwight’s perk: Leader.

Affluent Patronage

Description: “It pays to help someone other than yourself.”

Jeremy knows a thing or two about social investments. Taking a short term personal loss can be beneficial for both parties in the long run.

Taking a protection hit grants nearby survivors haste for 4/5/6 seconds gaining 7% movement speed if they are not exhausted. If you are put into the dying state and within the killer’s terror radius, reveal the Killer’s aura to any survivor also within the killer’s terror radius. This effect remains active for as long as you are in the dying state but deactivates if you are picked up or hooked.

//Dev Notes: This perk is intended to reward survivors for sticking together and playing with one another. It rewards a survivor for playing decoy, even if they lose the subsequent chase as a result. It also allows for survivors to better strategize on how or if to save the downed decoy if they stick around to help.

Foreboding Influence

Description: “Betrayal is devious and cruel. It can only come from those you trust.”

Jeremy was sacrificed to the Entity by his mother. A betrayal he never saw coming and one he still reels from despite what she has become.

When within the killer’s terror radius, you heal survivors 30/40/50 percent faster than normal. After the healing action is completed, you and the survivor you healed gain the oblivious status effect for the next 40/35/30 seconds.*

//Dev Notes: This perk is intended to allow a survivor to get off that clutch heal at the last second. Playing too close to danger, however, means that the line between safety and danger becomes blurred.

*This perk cannot activate again until the oblivious status effect is removed as the survivor is incapable of detecting the Killer’s terror radius.

Map: The Bondeaux Estate

The Bondeaux Estate is a map that features both inside and outside parts as well as four levels to the house itself: the bottom floor, the first floor, an attic, and stone basement. Unlike other realms, this realm is in immaculate condition. There is very little actual damage to the Estate itself save for key locations that hold significant impact to the Lady’s and the Entity’s relationship.

This map features two major floors at a time. In no versions of the map are all levels present. If the first floor is accessible, then the stone basement is not. Vice versa is also true. In a similar vein, half the estate grounds are accessible at a time. If the front courtyard is accessible then the rear gardens will not be. Vice versa is also true. Variations of the map will include different sections of the manor that are accessible. In no version of the map are all parts of the house accessible.

The Exit Gates are tall stone pillars with wrought iron fences instead of metal doors. The activation switch is gold with lamp lights as the opening progress indicator. Instead of a loud buzzer, the gates signal a loud, resounding ringing melody akin to an early version of a door bell.

The foyer has a grand staircase leading up to the second floor with three doorways leading to other parts of the house serve as the entrance to the manor. This area will serve as an indicator to which parts of the house will be accessible each trial. If the bottom of the stairs are broken and unusable, then the second floor is not accessible. If the basement doors behind the stairs are closed then the basement is not accessible. If the front doors leading out of the foyer are closed then the first floor is inaccessible. Small rooms on the sides of the house will always be accessible.

In the stone basement resides an altar with occult writings on the walls, floor, and ceiling. A space for Priscilla to practice her dark arts. Since entering the Entity’s realm, this space has massively expanded to take over the entire basement, even consuming most of the wine cellar. It was here that Priscilla sacrificed her son to the Entity to complete her dark bargain.

The front courtyard is complete with a stone fountain centered near the front doors leading into the manor itself. It is styled with tall hedges and stone pathways. One section of the front courtyard will feature either an area of hedges cut into the shape of animals or a small, swirl-like hedge maze.

The rear gardens hold long, stone ponds with controlled plant life sprouting along its edges. Stone benches for sitting and carefully placed statues and hedges to keep the space from appearing too open or empty. There is always something to look at in the rear gardens. And always something to hide behind.

The second floor is composed of the master bedroom, a guest room, and a sitting room. There is a service staircase that can be opened by both survivors and killers if interacted with for 1.5 seconds. Doing this creates a loud creaking sound as both sides of the hidden staircase are opened. This staircase leads down to the bottom floor and the attic. This can be reclosed by the killer for the same 1.5 second interaction. An entrance to the attic resides on the far side of the second floor. The master bedroom contains a walk in closet and a personal bathroom. A secret passage in the bathroom can be opened by killers that leads down to the kitchen on the first floor.

Edit (10/22/2020):

Completely reworked one of the Lady's perks. She no longer exposes survivors and instead taps into her occult knowledge to protect her hexes.

The Lady now vaults faster but is still slower than survivors.

Less tokens are required to activate Dark Destiny.