The Minstrel Custom Character

Huge thanks to Skilotar_ for the new update!

An enchanting yet reluctant troubatrix, the Minstrel relies on charming and boosting enemies and companions to make up for her lack of confidence in her own strength and survive in the treacherous halls of the Gungeon, yet rewards skilled players with the possibility of completely negating her drawbacks and unlocking her full potential. The Minstrel is able to play passively, charming enemies and picking up kills on weaker foes as she builds up her Neume and confidence, before becoming ever more daring as her damage increases but demands her to get closer to the action, while charming enemies becomes less and less of an option; up until she is hit and has to once more slip back into a more passive, charm-focused playstyle to build up the Neume again. The Minstrel is a character that offers endless possibilities for risk/reward decisions, having weaknesses and strengths that are in constant flux and that invite you to take part in the prominent shift between caution and daring that composes the ever-changing symphony of her personality.

CHARACTERISTICS:

• Starts with an infinite ammunition Derringer and the Really Special Lute.
• Starts with the Neume, a custom item that works similarly to the Metronome and Charming Rounds, but does not lose charge upon switching weapons and has a higher damage buff that decays as the bullet travels.
• Normally deals only 70% damage to normal enemies and 87.5% damage to bosses, but can do extremely high damage with a charged Neume, especially at close range (up to a whopping 300%)!
• Only 2 full hearts of health as opposed to 3, making receiving damage bite even harder!
• Custom sprites, bosscard, facecard, and foyercard, made as an eclectic mix of a bard and princess... WITH HAIR PHYSICS!
• Punchout sprites and Punchout health cards, all made to be unique and distinctive to fit with the Minstrel's personality and aesthetic... WITH HAIR PHYSICS!

TIPS:

• When the Neume is not charged, the Minstrel relies on charming to clear rooms, having lower damage but high chances to inflict charm. When the Neume is charged, damage steadily increases but charming becomes rarer, and to take full advantage of the damage buff you have to get close to your enemies. Since most Bosses don't spawn enemies that can be charged, try to build up the Neume's charge before a bossfight!

CHANGELOG:

1.0.0 - Uploaded the mod.

1.0.1 - Updated the Punchout sprites to work with the new Kyle's Custom Characters Mod update. Made small sprite changes.

1.0.2 - Altered some Punchout sprites to make use of the new way Kyle's Custom Characters Mod handles Punchout sprites.

1.0.3 - Improved shading in some punchout sprites.

1.1.0 - Vastly improved the Minstrel's face in the Bosscard, Facecard, and Foyercards. Increased the contrast of all non-punchout sprites, making the Minstrel look much livelier in-game. Fixed small errors in the colours used in some sprites.

1.2.0 - Giant rework, all thanks to Skilotar_! The Minstrel now has a custom item (the Neume) with a much more interesting take on the Metronome and Charming Rounds. In addition to that, the Minstrel now uses CharAPI instead of Kyle's Custom Characters mod! That means her Breach animations now look as they should, one additional animation is now visible, and she an have her own spot in there!

AND A BIG THANKS TO:

Skilotar_ - For his wonderful work updating the character to use CharAPI (thus fixing her Breach animations!) and for coding the custom Neume item! Ski is awesome!

Nevernamed, qaday123 - For all the help with me learning the ropes and for being cool guys!

Dallan - For also being a cool guy and pretty much getting me into modding!

Wade the Wilson - For convincing me to upload this mod!

Everybody in the EtG Modding Discord server - It's so cool in there that my active items are charging quicker just for having joined it!

You - For reading this sappy description and for (potentially) downloading this mod!