Sadako Power Rework

I posted this a while back, and I had some ideas since then and wanted to touch this up. Regardless, I really grew to love Sadako in her old iteration, and this rework aims to strengthen old Sadako through numbers buffs, adding more thematic elements to her power, and overhauling her addons. So, let's get to it

Deluge of Fear

Demanifested

Start the trial in the Demanifested state. While Demanifested, The Onryō:

Gains Undetectable, Gains a lullaby, Cannot be stunned by any means, cannot be inflicted with a negative status effects from survivor perks while demanifested, Cannot attack survivors, Is not visible to survivors beyond 24 meters, and is intermittently visible, visible for 1.5 seconds and invisible for 1.5 seconds [formerly 1 second]. You can enter chase while demanifested, but Bloodlust tiers take 5 seconds longer to reach. [In her live iteration, Sadako cannot enter chase while demanifested.]

Add-ons: Reiko's Watch, Clump of Hair, Mother's Comb

Reiko's Watch - While demanifested, passing though a survivor will make them scream and inflict them with blindness while they are in chase and for 17 seconds after the chase ends. If you phase through a healthy survivor, the next time they are healed from injured to healthy, they scream and are Exposed for 17 seconds. [formerly only increased demanifested invisibility by 33%.]

Clump of Hair - Decreases the range at which Survivors can see the Onryō while Demanifested and reduces the lullaby's radius to 18 meters. Terror Radius increased to 30 meters. [formerly only reduced range at which Sadako was visible.]

Mother's Comb - While Demanifested, break and damage actions are 10% quicker, and you vault 15% faster. Stuns last 10% longer. Pick up and put down speed reduced by 17%. You can carry and pick up survivors while Demanifested, but they can wiggle off 20% faster. You move an additional 5% faster while carrying a survivor. A survivor that successfully wiggles off will force you to Manifest and be stunned. [formerly showed TVs powered off in yellow and displayed a loud noise notif when a survivor turned off a TV.]

Comments: The only basekit changes to the demanifested state is that all stuns, not just only those from pallets, are ignored, that Sadako cannot be inflicted with a negative status from a survivor, and that her invisibility lasts longer. This is all to give her a stronger chase with unique but not overpowered effects, these effects having use outside chase that are still unique without being overly powerful. Her chase is stronger, but fundamentally unchanged from her current live version. Utilizing invis during chase is still a mindgame that can go either way. Chasing while demanifested had some good benefits, which includes no TR to activate survivor TR perks, using invisibility to mindgame and be harder to track, and most notably, still gain bloodlust. Bloodlust is a volatile and complicated topic, but, for all the other unique utility chasing while demanifested gives, nerfing bloodlust for her feels like the way to go. Nerfing her chase, as with the reiko's watch nerf, just incentivized other playstyles that survivors don't find as fun even further, so nerfing bloodlust for Sadako felt like a fair trade off when she has a better chase than even her first iteration.

Reiko's watch is the first addon changed, it's original effect of increasing demanifested invisibility to 1.5 seconds now made basekit. 1.5 seconds seemed to me to be a good sweet spot. Long enough to be able to be used with at least some success at most loops, but not too long for it to be too difficult for survivors to win the mindgame.

Clump of Hair in its live version is a rather useless addon, only potentially useful in maps with high visibility like the borgo or haddonfield street. But even then, one should be using cover to approach, rendering the addon useless. Lowering the lullaby gives it much greater use, while increasing the terror radius has its own pros and cons, more cons though with perks like distortion and hyper focus/stake out, but something worth considering all the same. And TBH, sadako has a banger TR.

Mother's comb received a complete overhaul, buffing most actions while demanifested. Simple, and proven reliable with similar addons like some of wraith's. It also offers the unique effect of being immune to stun or flashlight saves, the drawback being that survivors can wiggle faster. Slower pick up allows for survivors to position to take hits and make sabotage and breakout plays. Slower put down means those survivors who were nearby can make more distance. Perks can be used to help counteract this counterplay, but that of course requires devoting perk slots to that. Though, this no pallet or flashlight saves may be too much, but even without that effect, faster action speeds is fine all on its own.

Manifested

Press the power button to Manifest. Survivors within 16 meters of The Onryō who witness a Manifestation will scream, revealing their location, and revealing their aura for 2.5 seconds. [Distorted Photo made basekit, aura reveal weakened from 4 seconds.] While a survivor is fully condemned, Manifestation charge time reduced to 1 second. While Manifested, The Onryō: 

Can attack survivors, Is intermittently visible for 2.5 [formerly 4 seconds] seconds after Manifesting, alternating between invisible for 1 second [formerly 0.75 seconds] and visible for 0.5 seconds, and Retains undetectable for 1 second.

Add-ons: Old Newspaper, Mother's Mirror, Well Water, Distorted Photo, Telephone 

Old Newspaper - Decreases manifest/demanifest charge time by 0.25 seconds. [formerly increased manifestation invis by 33%]

Mother's Mirror - Increases intermittent visibility duration by 1.7 seconds. Decreases visibility duration by 0.1 seconds. [formerly only increased intermittent visibility by 2 seconds.]

Well Water - Increases the duration of undetectable when manifesting by any means for 1 second. Extends undetectable from any ofther means by 10 seconds. [formerly increased undetectable by 2 seconds when manifesting by any means]

Distorted Photo (Rare) - Increases the range at which Survivors will scream if witnessing The Onryō manifesting to 20 meters and its aura reveal to 3 seconds. Rarity decreased from very rare due to being weaker than before [formerly made survivors within 16 meters of witnessing manifestation scream and revealed their aura for 4 seconds.]

Telephone - Survivors who witness Manifestation are hindered for 7 seconds. Projecting to a TV within 24 meters of a survivor with at least 5 stacks of Condemn will inflict hindered on all survivors within range and transfer 0.25 stacks of condemn from the nearest survivor with the most condemn to all other survivors within 24 meters. [Formerly hindered all survivors within range.]

Comments: Manifesting received a few buffs, notably basekit distorted Photo. It's a cool thematic effect that improves her chase and can potentially reveal hiding survivors that make the mistake of witnessing this vengeful and wrathful being. It is a good effect, but kept in check by the witness requirement. With a small TR, demanifested undetectable, distortion will quickly lose stacks, leaving few to no other viable means of hiding from The Onryō. In tadem with using the mini whispers TVs provide, hiding will prove not as easy to do. Quicker manifestation while a survivor is fully condemned is another thematic effect to showcase her relentlessness. It can be used against survivors who aren't fully condemned, but such an instance should be rare. Post manifestation flickering has also had its invis increased, old newspaper being made basekit and changed. Just like the changes in the demanifested section, longer invis means more loops are mindgameable. The nerf to the intermittent visibility means Sadako will only get 2 chances to utilize post manifestation invis, as opposed to the about 4 more chances she gets on live. Undetectable duration also nerfed to help balance things out.

Old newspaper is the manifested equivalent to reiko's watch, changed to slightly in/decrease manifesting and demanifesting. Though small and not as lethal as the effect is on wraith with his cloak/uncloak speed addons, still a solid effect since sadako is slowed while manifesting and gains no speed boost.

Mother's Mirror allows for another chance to utilize invisibility while slightly decreasing the downtime between each invis period. Simple as that.

Well Water now only increases undetectable from manifesting to 2 seconds, as opposed to 3.5 seconds on live. In exchange, undetectable from other means, perks or event effects, last 10 seconds longer. A niche but noteworthy effect. Undetectable perks on Sadako are uniquely strong as they are hardly expected and she is harder to notice while undetectable due to her short height and very quiet breathing and footsteps, among the quietist in the game in fact. Sadako could be right behind you, and you would only know if you turned to look and see her.

With distorted Photo basekit to a degree, the range of witnessing was increased to make the addon have a reasonable effect that one might want. It also increases the aura reveal to 3.5 seconds, half a second shy of the live 4 seconds to balance things out, but can still be combined with lethal persuer.

The telephone retains it's hindered effect, but requires witnessing. This nerf was done to balance out it's new effect, condemn transfer, which will only activate if a survivor with 5 stacks is within range. This takes condemn from a survivor, and gives it to another. This effect shows up later, but here, it only activates upon projection on survivors in range. For example, if a survivor with 5 stacks is within range, they'll lose 0.25 stacks per other survivor in range, and those survivors will gain 0.25 stacks. A terrifying way to spread condemn while keeping condemn pressure without focusing it on a single person. Avoiding effects that encourage focusing a single survivor with condemn is something I wanted to make a priority.

TVs

The Onryō can project to any TV, but must Project to TVs to power them on. [Formerly, TVs would only power on automatically after a set period of time from being powered down.] All TVs start the trial powered down. The number of TVs within 16 meters of an incomplete generator that can be powered on is equal to the number of generators left - 1. TVs within 16 meters of a complete generator will power on and remain powered on for the remainder of the trial. Once all generators are powered, all TVs will power on cannot be powered down by any means. [TVs would formerly only power on automatically after a period of time.]

Survivors can see the auras of all powered TVs. [Formerly, survivors could only see the aura of a TV under certain circumstances.] TVs that have a tape placed in them by a survivor remain turned on until another survivor retrieves that tape. [Formerly, inserting a tape would power a TV down.]

Add-ons: Rickety Pinwheel, Sea Soaked-Cloth, Yoichi's Fishing Net

Rickety Pinwheel - Survivors within 10 meters of a powered TV suffer from partial Deafness, only able to hear the TV, and The Onryō and her effects. This effect persists for 7 seconds after leaving a powered TV's range. Survivors who have 6 or more stacks of Condemn will suffer from full deafness. [Formerly inflicted Obliviousness on survivors within 8 meters of a tv, effect lasting for 7 seconds after.]

Sea-Soaked Cloth - Survivors within 7 meters of a powered TV suffer from Blindness and Exhausted. This effect persists for 5 seconds after leaving a powered TV's range. Fully Condemned Survivors also suffer from Exhausted and Blindness. [Formerly only inflicted blindness on survivors within 8 meters of a tv, effect lasting for 7 seconds after.]

Yoichi's Fishing Net - When a survivor is injured within 10 meters of a powered TV, the aura of all other survivors are revealed for 2 seconds. Whenever a survivor who is not fully condemned and has between 4 and 6 stacks of condemn is injured, they lose 0.5 stacks of condemn, and all other survivors scream and have their auras revealed for an additional 7 seconds. [Formerly inflicted Blindness on survivors with at least 4 stacks of condemn.]

Comments: TVs are crucial for Sadako's mobility. With a chase weaker than most other killers with mobility, it seems reasonable to give her among the best mobility. In line with that, they no longer are tied to spreading condemn in any way. Sadako's first iteration meant spreading condemn was difficult, and focusing one survivor was optimal. Her current iteration gives global condemn, which incentivizes teleporting on cooldown. neither is notably fun or skillful. Leaving TVs as only a map traversal and source of utility from add-ons removes those unfun elements and leaves players to use them as they see fit. Spoiler, but whether or not a TV is powered on or off determines how fast Sadako can teleport. This is why the number of TVs that can be powered on is limited with at least 1 TV near a generator always being off, so that she does not become too overbearing in a 3 gen scenario. TVs being powered by complete generators is so that she becomes more terrifying as the game progresses, as condemn becomes more and more scary if left unchecked. And since they are near complete generators, they aren't in areas that are immediate interests.

Rickety Pinwheel utilizes the rarely utilized deafness status, only used in a hag add-on and Bubba's knock out perk. Really, i just wanted the effect to be utilized more. It's weaker now with the visual terror radius, but creates a unique atmosphere and can pair well with undetectable perks. In line with other add-ons, its effect is more sever for survivors with more condemn, dropping the TV requirement and upgrading it to full deafness.

Sea soaked cloth formerly, in both iterations, was useless, as blindness was the most useless status outside of slugging solo q players. It can counter the common and useful windows of opportunity, but being tied to a TV range and only lasting 7 seconds thereafter didn't make it a practical counter. With an upgrade to inflict exhausted, it becomes a psuedo, arguably better, mindbreaker/fearmonger. Though, it has a range of only 7 meters, it should still hit most generators without inflicting the effect constantly while in chase. And honestly, the blindness could even be dropped for a range increase. Regardless, this addon certainly has viability as mindbreaker/fearmonger in addon form, and further displays the debilitating nature of Sadako's curse.

Yoichi's fishing net's new effect is an incredible useful one especially with Sadako's mobility. It's range is only 10 meters, reveals auras for a mere 2 seconds and does not work on downing a survivor [to help combat unnecessary slugging] These weaknesses are meant to keep in in check. A bigger range, and the reward would feel too free. The aura reveal is kept short to not give too much information, and due to combining it with lethal pursuer, which it would probably be paired with regardless. However, survivors injured when having enough stacks has a stronger aura reveal effect in exchange for reducing condemn.

Projection

Projection no longer has a cooldown. [Just like the first iteration of Sadako.] The Onryō can project to on and off TVs. [Formerly, only powered TVs could be projected to.] Projecting to a powered TV near an incomplete generator will power it down and make it unable to power on for 77 seconds and unable to be projected to for 67 seconds. [Formerly, projecting to a TV would power it down for 45 seconds] Projecting to a TV will inflict hindered on survivors within 16 meters.

Projecting to a TV within 24 meters of a fully condemned survivor will block all pallets and windows within 24 meters of the TV for 7 seconds, and hinder the survivor for a greater magnitude. 

Teleportation time: 

It will take 3 seconds to teleport to an off TV, 2 seconds to teleport to a powered TV, and 5 seconds to teleport to a TV within 16 meters of a fully Condemned survivor. [Projection Teleportation time formerly 2.7 seconds.]

Speed boost duration: 0 seconds [formerly 1.5 seconds]

Projection cooldown: 0 seconds

Undetectable: lasts 0 seconds after completing a Projection. [Formerly 1 second under universal manifestation undetectable duration. Undetectable after projection can still be obtained with the use of well water.]

Add-ons: Cabin Sign, Bloody Fingernail, VCR, Remote Control 

Cabin Sign - Reduces TV power down duration from projection to 57 seconds

Bloody Fingernail - Grants 1 second post projection speed boost. Injuring a survivor who has at least one stack of condemn within 7 seconds of manifesting by any means will inflict hemorrhage and mangled onto them. [Total speed boost duration with addon formerly 2.25 seconds.]

VCR - Sadako does not enter chase while Demanifested. All TVs, powered and unpowered, play projection effects when The Onryō projects to a TV. Reduces the magnitude of hindered via projection unless projecting to a TV within 16 meters of a fully condemned survivor. While a survivor has 3 or more stacks of condemn, they intermittently suffer from hindered while not in chase, and powered TVs emit an approaching Terror Radius when within 7 meters of them. [formerly, only all powered TVs would display the projection effects]

Remote Control (Very Rare)- Generators near a powered TV will regress at a rate of 0.17 charges a second, and will automatically regress while not being worked on. Projecting to a powered TV will force a difficult skill check on all generators within 17 meters. Teleportation time increased to 5 seconds, regardless is a TV is Powered or not. [Rarity changed from Iridescent to Very Rare. would formerly reveal the aura of survivors within 12 meters of a TV for 7 seconds.]

Comments: What made Sadako fun in her first iteration, aside from using invisibility in chase and to sneak up, in my opinion, was the ability to teleport rapid fire. It was effective, easy, but required game sense to do really effectively so that you still have TVs you can project to if the area is of interest. That was lost in her second iteration, unfortunately, alongside using invis with the nerf to reiko's watch. That's why i wanted her to regain this ability, and bring it back stronger. Though, not without some changes. Firstly, teleporting times have been changed, being quicker with on TVs by 0.7 seconds than live, and 0.3 seconds slower than live on power downed TVs. This effect is to make TVs more interactive and give them more depth. And while within range of a projected TV, hindered is inflicted on survivors as opposed to granting haste. This effect is meant to be more thematically fitting, in line with what we see in the death of Ryuji, Yoichi's father, in the movie. Also in line with that, projection takes longer when projecting to fully condemned survivors, and hindering them more. Blocking pallets and windows is another means to show the futility of running when you are fully condemned, also akin to Ryuji's death. A wildly powerful effect, but survivors know the means to combat the curse unlike Ryuji. To be fully condemned is a mistake on the survivor's parts, and one that Sadako will capitalize on. lastly, TVs remain powered off longer, and cannot be projected too for longer. Just another effect for Balance. The numbers are a midway point between the numbers of her first and current iteration, since projecting to them is longer used to increase condemn. This of course does not apply to TVs near powered generators, as they draw power from them.

Cabin sign simply makes TVs power on as soon as they can be projected to, as opposed to having to wait an extra 10 seconds to power on a tv for a quicker projection next time.

Bloody Fingernail re-enables the post projection speed boost, allowing it to exist alongside projection hindering, if only for a shorter period than with the addon on live, and also becomes a sloppy butcher add-on. Sloppy butcher is a powerful addon to have, especially for a killer who is good at hit and run like Sadako. It basically frees up a perk slot, but takes an add on slot instead, which will depend on the build if this is really the right choice or not, and does require a survivor to have at least 1 stack.

VCR receives an indirect buff with projection now playing on all TVs, powered or unpowered, and a direct buff by inflicting hindered on survivors while not in chase, a good effect considering Sadako will not enter chase while demanifested with this addon. No chase while demanifested was brought back for this add on to make it more reliable outside of use with DMS. To compensate, the hindered effect's strength from projection is reduced slightly.

Remote control has been demoted to a very rare add-on, though still strong. Powered TVs inflict a Hex: ruin effect on their assigned generator and an overcharge type skill check when projecting. To compensate, projection takes 5 seconds, a major but fair nerf i find. Survivors will have time to hot the skill check on the generator as opposed to having to jump off it and run and hit the skill check at the same time. Though only slightly stronger than ruin's regression but present throughout the trial, this addon still has counter-play as survivors can power down TVs and projection can power them down too.

Condemnation

Condemn builds passively at a rate of 1 stack per minute once a survivor comes within 16 meters of a turned on TV [Formerly, condemn was spread globally upon projection.]. When a survivor heals another survivor who has any amount of condemnation from injured to healthy, they gain 0.17 stacks of Condemnation.

Being hooked while not holding a tape will transfer Condemnation to every survivor. For each alive survivor, the survivor on hook loses 0.25 stacks and the other survivors gain 0.25 stack. Being hooked while holding a tape will destroy the tape and inflict 0.5 stacks of Condemnation on all other survivors. [Hooking a survivor with or without a tape would formerly have no effect on condemnation.]

At 4 stacks of Condemnation, a survivor suffers from smaller skill check success zones, no great skill check zone, and at 5 stacks, also suffers from faster skill check rotations, changing skill check rotations, and more frequent skill checks. At 7 stacks, a survivor is fully Condemned, triggering Killer Instinct for as long as they are fully Condemned [formerly 6 seconds.]. While fully Condemned, a survivor also suffers from Exposed, cannot escape the trial, and can be killed once put into the dying state. Fully Condemned Survivors can still hear The Onryō's terror radius while she is Demanifested.

Add-ons: Videotape Copy, Ring Drawing, Iridescent Tape

Videotape Copy - Survivors do not gain Condemnation. All TVs start the trial powered on, and will only remain powered off for 20 seconds before automatically turning back on. While Demanifested, windows within 16 meters of The Onryō are blocked, and remain blocked for 1 seconds after Manifesting. Break action is performed 5% faster while manifested. [Formerly reduced tv cooldown from projection by 10 seconds and reduced condemn gain form projection to 0.5 stacks]

Ring Drawing - Condemn infliction from being hooked with a tape increased by 0.25. Condemn transfer from being hooked without a tape removes 0.5 stacks per alive survivor and spreads 0.5 stacks to each survivor. Survivors no longer gain condemn from healing another survivor. [Formerly only inflicted 1 stack of condemn on a survivor who healed another survivor with condemn from injured to healthy.]

Iridescent Tape - Condemn begins to build passively at the beginning of the trial. Survivors do not lose condemn by any means. Survivors can only gain condemn passively. Condemn build up only pauses on a survivor if they are left in the dying state, if it was induced by a basic attack, for longer than 17 seconds. Generator repair speed increased by 20%, repair speed bonuses from perks are negated. The duration of Entity blocking effects are reduced by 25%. TVs do not power on from projection or tape insertion. Teleportation time to unpowered TVs decreased to 2.7 seconds. [Formerly, forced survivors to have to take a tape to a certain TV, that tv's aura revealed to them.]

Comments: Inflicting condemn has been largely taken out of Sadako's hands, or rather, requires more investment to increase quickly, and now instead mainly progressing passively with time, just as it does in the movie. In her first iteration, slugging with ring drawing, and focusing on a single survivor, especially one with a tape, proved to be unfun playstyles to play against, if effective and the only consistent way to inflict full condemn. In her current iteration, spamming projection to spread condemn has proven to be unpopular to play against and all too easy to play as. With the common denominator here being projection to inflict condemn, it seems logical to conclude that it is the problem. However, for a game like dbd, 7 minutes, the time at which by full condemn is reached by pure passive condemn, is a long time. Thus, now condemn has other means of infliction made basekit. First is a mini ring drawing that basically makes a survivor gain about 10 seconds of condemn. With Sadako being a hit and run killer, i didn't want this number to be too high.

There is the issue of condemn increasing while hooked or slugged, but Sadako has incentive to hook survivors now, so that's more of a player being toxic than a problem with Sadako's power. If one decides to slug someone while near full condemn, then that's mostly a mistake on the player's part for letting it get so high. This same logic applies to someone on hook. Barring monstrous shrine, a hook state is 1 minute, 1 stack. If someone gets full condemn on a hook, again, that's kinda on them. Additionally, being hooked with a cursed tape will transfer stacks, making it less likely that a survivor will reach full condemn on hook. Perhaps a merciless way for the mechanic to work, but its fitting at least.

Next, is a form of condemn infliction upon hooking, similar current iteration's ptb. On that ptb, hooking a survivor with a tape destroyed the tape and inflict 1 stack to all other survivors who weren't hooked or dying. This rework maintains that, but in a weakened form since other forms of condemn have been made basekit and condemn grows passively, unrelentingly. This also makes it so that holding a tape is more dangerous than not holding one. It's being hooked without a tape that holds some pros and cons. The survivor on hook will lose some condemn, as so that they aren't high condemn when unhooked, and other survivors will have higher condemn and will be more enticing targets. Additionally, unstated in the descriptions above, but in the cases of condemn transfer, if a survivor does not have enough stacks to transfer, their current condemn will be spread evenly among the other survivors.

Before moving onto discussing the add ons, there's a new base effect to condemnation. At 4 and 5 stacks, skill checks are harder. This effect is meant to invoke the dread and desperation of a clouded mind that knows its end is on the horizon. It is not a notably strong effect at least on players who have a fair amount of hours on survivor, but a good thematic one i say. Plus, it pairs well with merciless storm. In contrast to this rather tame effect, being fully condemned is much more severe and damning. Ideally, full condemnation isn't happening as often as her current iteration or her first iteration with ring drawing and iri tape. Taking a tape to cleanse condemn should only need to happen one, maybe two times. Thus, being fully condemned is something to truly feel hopeless about. You cannot hide, you cannot escape, you will live much longer. Though, there is the small window where a teammate can retrieve a tape you inserted and cleanse you of full condemnation. So, not entirely hopeless, but still daunting. Being able to hear Sadako's terror radius is another way for survivors to help combat full condemnation, and also adds to the atmosphere. It's a good TR, i just want it to be able to be heard more, really.

Videotape copy is the "meme" addon that most killers have. it's more akin to plague's, giving up a core component of her power for an improvement in a different area. Here, condemn is removed, making any condemn related effects not occur. However, she has an improved chase with window blocking and a faster pallet break.

Ring drawing no longer maintains the effect of spreading condemn via healing another to healthy and instead even disables the basekit version of it. I don't want this addon to buff condemn spread from healing since if it's too strong, it can lead to boring gameplay. In exchange though, condemn spread and transfer from hooking is amplified, subsequently making tapes more dangerous as well.

Iri tape changes the game entirely, making all players have to play differently, Full condemnation is inevitable now. All a survivor can do to combat it is do generators. With 7 minutes to escape, survivors are given a 20% boost to repair speed, making a gen take 72 second to repair solo, not accounting for any other bonuses or penalties, meaning it takes 6 minutes to complete all generators solo, leaving 1 minute to escape before full condemnation. Though, not every generator will be done solo. And without perks like overzealous or prove to boost gen speeds, survivors will have to rely on tool boxes and cooperative action to repair gens faster and combat gen blocking and regression perks, and pressure like unhooking or having to heal. Entity blocking perks like deadlock, no way out, repressed alliance, and blood favor have their duration reduced as they may prove too strong/in favor of sadako given the win conditions. However It's a race against time, offering a different way to look at the game.

Cursed Tapes

While holding a cursed tape, any bonuses a survivor has is negated. The duration of endurance effects last half as long, excluding dead hard and any effects that grant or extend endurance upon being unhooked. These effects persists for 15 seconds after getting rid of a tape.

Tapes can be retrieved from any TV. [Tapes could only be retrieved from powered TVs] A survivor can retrieve a tape from a powered TV to make it unable to power on for 67 seconds, unable to be projected to for 57 seconds, and they gain 0.5 stacks of condemn upon retrieval but lose 0.5 stacks once they insert the tape into a TV. Retrieving a tape from a TV near a powered generator, as long as not all generators are complete, will power it down for 37 seconds and make it unable to be projected to for 27 seconds.

Tapes have to be dropped at the furthest TV, its aura revealed in red. The TV that a survivor dropped their Tape off at is highlighted in yellow to all other survivors. 

When a survivor takes a tape from a highlighted TV, that tape's previous owner loses stacks = to the number of stacks they had when they inserted the tape, and the survivor that retrieved the cursed tape is inflicted with half of the stacks removed. Stacks gained this way will not push a survivor's condemn past 6 stacks unless 1 generator remains. If the tape's previous owner is fully Condemned, they only lose 3.5 stacks maximum. If a survivor has multiple tapes that can to be retrieved by a teammate to remove condemn, retrieving one will not require that the others be retrieved and the amount of condemn removed is decided by the first tape they inserted.

Add-ons: Well Stone, Tape Editing Deck

Well Stone (Very Rare) - The Obsession begins the trial with a tape in hand. You cannot enter chase while demanifested. While demanifested and not in chase, Survivors holding a cursed tape will have their aura intermittently revealed. Survivors must wait 30 seconds before they can insert a tape. For each full stack of condemn, a survivor is hindered by 0.66%. Holding a Cursed tape increases the effectiveness of all penalties by 50% and no longer negates any survivor bonuses. [Formerly reduced tv power down duration from a survivor retrieving a tape by 7 seconds.]

Tape Editing Deck (Iridescent) - All Survivors start the trial with tape in hand. Whenever a generator is completed, survivors who completed that generator will have a tape appears in their hands if they do not have one already. These tapes have to be returned to a specific TV, will not decrease a survivor's condemn if retrieved, and not highlight a TV as having a tape that needs to be retrieved. While holding a cursed tape, any bonuses a survivor has are converted into penalties. This effect persists for 30 seconds after getting rid of a tape. [Formerly had all survivors start the trial with a cursed tape in hand.]

Comments: Since Tapes no longer inflict condemn by any means, they need to have other utility. They still aid survivors by weakening Sadako's projecting, but now, aid Sadako by removing any buffs a survivor might have, such as Made for this, Prove thyself, we'll make it, iron will, etc, and weakening endurance. This makes tapes dangerous without making them affecting condemn, which as stated earlier was a problem in the first iteration that led to a sort of "proxy-tunneling," or just straight tunneling a survivor a survivor and can still lead to that in the live iteration. This effect encourages Sadako to chase a survivor who has a tape still, but move on from them once they've been hooked, or not hound them for the game until they're dead as with her other iterations. It's effect on endurance will affect things such as made for this, buckle up, styptic agents, etc. It wont affect DH because it only has a half seconds activation window, it feels kinda mean to make it a quarter of a second. And it won't affect BT, base kit and perk, and OTR so that tunneling isn't incentivized. All in all, this makes a tape really feel like it's a cursed tape, debilitating a survivor with its terrible influence.

While taking a tape poses a unique risk, it can cleanse of all stacks, a powerful thing, and can now be retrieved from any TV. To help balance that by giving some slowdown, a tape must be returned to the furthest TV, just like how tape editing deck has always been in the game. Power down and projection blocking numbers are lower than their projection counterparts, as like Sadako's first iteration, the numbers also an in-between of her first an current iteration. The sort of transfer of stacks from retrieving another survivors tape is so that not all pressure from condemn is lost, and its limit of only pushing to 6 stacks is so that survivors aren't pushed into an unfair situation. And as for the last part before the addon changes, it is to address the issue of a survivor having multiple tapes that need to be retrieved. any one of their tapes can be retrieved, and once its retrieved, the others convert into regular tapes that do not need to be retrieved, as if the survivor never retrieved and inserted them. The amount of condemn they're cleansed of is decided by the first tape they returned.

Well Stone has become Very Rare in place of distorted photo. It trades the ability to enter chase while demanifested, this the ability to gain bloodlust more consistently, for a deluge of information and a slightly better chase with hindered survivors, the magnitude of it increasing with condemn and stacking with other effects. Perhaps a bit much, but it does require holding a tape, and the new 30 wait period before a tape can be inserted and the obsession starting with a tape is to ensure value. The drawback to balance this is that holding a tape no longer negates any bonuses. However, any penalties will be increased by 50%. For example, pentimento's 30% penalties will increase to 45%, and gift of pain will increase from 16% to 24%.

Lastly, Tape deck has been upgraded to iridescent, taking remote control's place. This is due to having the simple but strong effect of instead making any bonuses into penalties. For example, We'll Make it will instead inflict a healing speed penalty, making a heal take 32 seconds as opposed to 16 seconds, not factoring in anything else, made for this inflicts a hinder status of 3%, and resilience reduces action speeds by 9%. The bonus conversion penalty will also persist for longer. It will also start all survivors off with a tape, helping ensure value. Survivors also automatically getting tapes means they will frequently be affected by this addon, but this is balanced by the fact that survivors will frequently be losing stacks since they're given a tape.

There is the issue of pairing tape deck and well stone, but that can be combated by how the effect works internally. Tape deck, will convert the bonus values to negative, but still have them labeled as bonuses, and since they're labeled as bonuses, will not stack with well stone. For example, we'll make it. it can have its bonus converted to -100, but still be labeled as a bonus, or, impart a bonus that's -200, achieving the same effect. The basekit bonus negation can work both ways too, converting a bonus value into negative or granting a bonus that's equal to the actual bonus to negate it.

Final Comments

First, I wanna say thing you for reading this, lol, I've been working on this for a good bit. I love Sadako, and dbd is the thing that introduced me to her, so I'll always love it for that, and for the many other characters, original and licensed, that it introduced me to. Her first iteration was admittedly weak, sure, but I found it fun, the killer i had the most fun with actually. She felt very rewarding to do good with. And her weakness somehow felt fitting. she isn't a slasher who chases her victims, and DbD is about chases. Her current iteration is much stronger. It too feels fitting, as she is a nigh unstoppable Onryō. It however, doesn't feel as fun, with projecting on cooldown incentivized, her chase weakened, and the projection cooldown interrupting the flow of her once relentless feeling gameplay, that is when you used projection to keep up pressure in her first iteration to find survivors and damage generators/break resources. So, i wanted to bring back that unrelenting gameplay. It wasn't easy to pull off, especially against better and better teams, but it was rewarding. At the same time, i wanted her to be less annoying to play against as. Not that I particularly did, reiko's watch and old newspaper never went unused by me once i actually started using them, but its an issue that had to be addressed, and i hope I did. Condemn feels much more like how it does in the movie, progressing mainly with time rather than any intervention from sadako. Though, i get not everything can be 1 to 1 with the source material, which is why she has a few added means of inflicting it via hooking and a mini ring drawing effect. These were aimed to help Sadako have some pressure from her power without it being too overbearing.

As for her addons, i wanted to go the route of addons having effects rather than affecting some cooldown and changing a number, not that there are none of those. Addons that have effects that change how a killer is played and how a survivor is supposed to play against them tend to be more fun for gameplay. Again, i look at wraith as an example. Despite some addons just affecting numbers, such as ones that increase movement speed or cloaking and uncloaking, he has ones that allow him to break and vault faster, and his iri addons give him increased stealth and some information to find hiding survivors. Even with his numbers add ons, his speed ones allow him to body block better, not just traverse faster, his vault and break improve his chase, and his uncloak addons allow him to play loops differently. I wanted that kinda variety of gameplay for sadako. I have her addons strong effects, balanced by having drawbacks or being tied to having a certain amount of condemn. I also liked the idea of reaching certain levels of condemn inflicting certain effects, as it adds to the dread that comes with nearing closer to full condemnation.

If you have any comments or suggestions on this concept, I'd love to hear them! And again, thanks for the read!