Hi Sagil, thanks for playing! Great to hear your thoughts.

I went back and forth on whether to code Calcium Comedown as a copy of Flex or as temp str/dex that goes away without triggering artifact.

I know that you can end up with enormous Strength and Dexterity stats if the stars align in the Milkman, but I decided that was part of the fun. When I thought about other classes doing obscene things (like blocking 90 per turn with orbs, or stacking poison up to 300, ironclad reaching 999 block), gaining 150 Str and Dex permanently didn't seem all that out of place. It's very luck-based in that you need to get the Calcium value high, and then draw into Pasteurize, OR get a big chunk of Calcium in one go, after gaining artifact, and before an enemy debuffs you. It also consumes an artifact stack, which is a small price to pay but still could have gone towards blocking Vulnerable for example. I've had runs where 150 Str and Dex haven't even saved me - I don't draw a block at the right time, for example.

My main concern is the over-reliance on artifact/Pasteurize, to the extent that there are no other ways to play the game. Clockwork Souvenir and Panacea are both shop items, and I don't want the only way to play the Milkman to be dipping into every shop you see, ideally. My hope is that the other archetypes (milk generation, thorns, Repeat On, Calcitrate, etc.) are just as viable.

Let me know if you disagree with any of these points. :) I definitely hear what you're saying - balance was a big focus for me on this mod, and just as the base characters can do insane things, the Milkman is capable of some enormous stat buff numbers.I'm going to keep an eye on this interaction though as two other testers before you also brought it up as potentially problematic. :P

I guess a compromise could be to have separate strength & dex reduction debuffs rather than a combined effect. That way 2 artifacts would be needed to get both high strength and dex.

That's a good shout actually, could work as a solution! Will keep that in mind while I'm mulling this over. :)