Hexcaster

by BradTheFae

Work in progress: Hexcaster is still in development (0.x). Expect rough edges, placeholder visuals in places, and balance changes between updates. Feedback and bug reports are welcome.

AI disclosure: Hexcaster was made with heavy use of AI. BradTheFae came up with the character and directed and playtested everything. Claude (an AI model by Anthropic) wrote most of the code, rigged the model, built the hand-made animations and the effects, and made the icons. BradTheFae made the character model and the short sword himself, and some animations are motion capture from Mixamo.

A Hexblade warlock who made a pact with something that lives in a sword. He fights up close with a cursed blade, hexes everything around him, raises the hexed dead as Accursed Specters, and when his Patron's Favor is full, his Patron manifests as a giant cursed blade that tears through the battlefield.

Skills

Passive: Hex & Patron

• Hex (6s): hexed enemies take +15% damage from you. When a hexed enemy dies you heal 3% and the Hex jumps to a nearby enemy.
• Accursed Specters: hexed enemies that die rise as ghostly allies with 50% of their health and damage for 12s (up to 3 at once).
• Patron's Favor: hitting and killing hexed enemies fills the bar above your skills. When it's full your Patron manifests for 12s: a giant cursed blade that strikes nearby enemies for 600% damage, hexed ones first. It consumes your specters on arrival, gaining +25% damage and +2s for each.

Primary: Pact Blade Chop twice for 160% damage, then a huge sweeping slash for 450% that Hexes everything it hits. Hits on hexed enemies extend their Hex.

Secondary: Eldritch Blast A bolt of force for 400% damage that homes in on hexed enemies and Hexes what it hits. Fires 2 extra bolts while your Patron is out.

Utility: Misty Step Vanish and dash 15m wherever you're looking, untouchable during the dash. Aim at one of your specters to swap places with it. 2 charges.

Special: Hexblade's Curse Unleash your Patron's curse in a 20m burst for 300% damage, Hexing every enemy it hits. Then you're Cursebranded for 6s: every hit you land Hexes, and hexed enemies that die pass their Hex on to 3 enemies instead of one.

Config

Nearly every number can be changed in BepInEx/config/com.Bradthefae.Hexcaster.cfg (restart the game after editing).

Multiplayer

Everyone needs the mod (same version). Known limits: on clients the Patron's blade animation picks its targets locally, and the specter half of a Misty Step swap only moves on the host.

Credits

• Made by BradTheFae, including the character model and short sword
• Built with Claude (Anthropic), which handled the code, rigging, hand-made animations, effects and icons
• Built on the Henry template by rob / ArcPh1r3
• Some animations from Mixamo
• Visual effects are recoloured from Risk of Rain 2's own effects

Feedback

This is a work in progress, and balance is still being tuned, so feedback is welcome.