Hey, I'm loving the mod and think you did a great job on it, especially the way you made each stage feel more unique. I do have 2 ideas of how you could expand on Fiend (of course, if you like the concepts).

I feel like he is a cool character, but kinda feels like the lost that gets benefits after losing the holy mantle. A way to make him even more interesting could be that if he reached the heart cap and a black heart pickup spawns (in a cleared room), it turns into one of his minions (perhaps a weaker version). These minions would help you until you lose health (and maybe if the room is cleared). At that point, they would turn into black hearts (or half black hearts, if you think that is more balanced). Essentially, get minions from finding hearts when you can't pick them up. To stop exploits, you could limit their amount to a set number.

My second idea is that he could start with an active item (maybe 2 or 3 charges) that sucks up/kills all of your fiend minions and familiars instantly, and converts them into black hearts that you get healed by instantly. Any black hearts that would be lost to the health cap would drop onto the ground. This way, you would be able to take 2 hits (or more if you sucked up enough familiars) every few rooms if you feel like you don't need the minions right now. Combined with the first concept, you could convert familiars you picked up into fiend minions, as any extra health would drop and become a fiend minion if you are at 20 hearts. Alternatively, instead of an active item, the ability could be bound to the swap key, but also be on a room/time/damage charge.

The implementation of something like this would make him even more unique and give him a good payoff for getting 20+ hearts through tinted rocks, shops and sucking in familiars.


Again, thanks for the mod, it's one of the best I've ever seen.