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Whimsy the Goth (DST)

Whimsy

The Goth

Art by FemaleSpy
Code, art asset integration, and horrible pixel mangling by VoidPointer

Whimsy plays very differently from any of the stock characters in Don't Starve. Many things which normal characters can cope with, such as being in direct sunlight or touching manure, will drain her sanity, and she will outright refuse to do some things unless she is starving, such as eat raw, stale, spoiled, or just plain nasty food or Murder innocent rabbits, and when she does do these things, they also take a harsh toll on her mind.

On the plus side, Whimsy reacts well to some things that normal characters find maddening, and she has some coping mechanisms. She comes with a specially-reinforced umbrella that lets her be in the sun and the rain without losing her mind. She regenerates sanity during the night and in the rain (so long as she’s not wet or being rained on) and can see in the dark. This means, in effect, that Whimsy works best when she works at night, since she can't hold an axe during the day unless she wants to be insane by dusk. She also finds a few things soothing that make other characters crazy, most notably evil flowers, which she thinks are just as pretty as normal flowers, and the Dark Sword and Night Armor, which actually regenerate her sanity over time. And if you lose your umbrella, Whimsy has a special recipe to make a temporary (but less effective) one that requires fewer materials to craft.

At first, you may have a hard time keeping Whimsy alive, since both farming (which requires manure) and trapping (which requires either murder or a fast hand with the attack button) are more difficult for her, and most armor chafes her quite badly. You will also have an interesting time gathering resources, since the night is typically shorter than the day (and thus she has less time to use her tools), but she can operate to a limited degree around the clock, harvesting grass and twigs. Thanks to her ability to work around the clock, she is an excellent explorer, so long as she is well fed.

However, if you can survive long enough to get magical items, Whimsy comes into her true power. Whimsy loses much less sanity from using magic than other characters and, more importantly, her magical items regenerate durability over time. The usefulness of this cannot be overstated. Whimsy need never replace her magical items once they are built, so long as she uses them judiciously. Careful use of a panflute can almost completely replace traps, and an ice staff is invaluable in crowd control, which you will need to cope with Whimsy's lackluster combat prowess.

In short, Whimsy is intended as a character who is initially difficult but rewards success. While many characters' powers begin to lose some degree of relevance in the endgame as the character acquires high-end items, Whimsy is designed so that her unique advantages and disadvantages will have a strong and lasting effect on gameplay, no matter how many resources the player has at their disposal.

Configuration options
There are numerous configuration options for Whimsy which are included so that players may customize their experience with her, making it easier or harder. The default options are chosen to provide a difficult but rewarding experience. Whimsy has not been extensively playtested using many different combinations of options, and these may significantly alter her balance. Please consider carefully what the best options are for you.

Magic/Ancient Affinity: By default, Whimsy can build Prestihatitator magical items without the normal facilities necessary for their construction, a la Wickerbottom, and has no natural affinity for ancient items. Players who wish to adjust this may give her more or less affinity in each area.

Starter Umbrella: By default, Whimsy starts with the Lace Umbrella, an umbrella with slightly higher than normal damage which does not lose durability, and which completely mitigates wetness from rain (in DST and RoG). However, she can be set to start with the Night Umbrella (a more powerful version which reverts to the Lace Umbrella after being used as a weapon a certain number of times), a normal umbrella, or no umbrella. It is not recommended to start with less than the Lace Umbrella, since Whimsy is quite likely to go totally mad without an umbrella, and the normal umbrella has durability.

Daytime Sanity Drain: By default, Whimsy hates the Sun, and will suffer a moderate amount of sanity drain from direct exposure to sunlight. This amount can be adjusted. The Brutal setting is not recommended for players who wish to operate meaningfully in daylight.

Night Sanity Gain: Whimsy enjoys the night and can see in the dark, and regains sanity from exposure to darkness. The amount of sanity gained can be adjusted.

Magic Regeneration Time: By default, Whimsy's magical items regenerate their durability in 10 seconds. You can adjust this to happen (more or less) instantly, over 30 seconds, over 60 seconds, or not to happen at all.

Magic Sanity Costs: By default, Whimsy expends 1/4 the normal sanity when using magical items. This can be adjusted such that she expends no sanity, 1/8 normal, 1/2 normal, or the normal cost.

Easier Resurrection: As we uncovered in playtesting, Whimsy will go mad very quickly if she resurrects and cannot access an umbrella, which can be a problem if the player has not had time to build auxiliary bases near their touchstones or other resurrective items. Turning on Easier Resurrection brings her back with full health, sanity, and temperature, and does so at dusk rather than dawn, which gives her a fighting chance to recover her items. In Don’t Starve Together, the time of resurrection is not fixed, so choose wisely.

Grossness Complaints: Whimsy hates picking up gross things. She is inclined to complain when she is made to do so. By default, she will complain 10% of the time. You can adjust her to never complain, always complain, or complain 5%, 25%, or 50% of the time.

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RoG and Shipwrecked Compatibility: Efforts have been made to make Whimsy DLC compatible, but her developer does not own either DLC and thus cannot test her in these modes or consult their APIs. This may change in the future, but in the meantime, playtesters with DLC are encouraged to report any issues they experience. Logs are helpful in debugging issues.

Mod compatibility: Whimsy's source code uses closures to alter existing code whenever possible, calling the original function for characters other than herself, which means that she should be compatible with most mods, provided that either that mod uses closures in the same way or that Whimsy's mod is executed after the mod in question. However, she is not guaranteed to use functionality from other mods, as some functions had to be written such that they do not call the original code. Wormholes, stategraphs in DST, and certain aura and dapperness functions are the most notable examples of this. If you have any mods you would like Whimsy to be more compatible with, feel free to post a request.