Revamp Gehennom by making its main branch substantially shorter, a “hub” branch
containing stairs or portals to a bunch of sub-branches containing demon lords’
lairs. Most of the lairs are optional, but at least some of them are required in
order to enter the Sanctum. Each demon lord that you don’t kill, however,
incurs a unique, harsh effect or debuff on you once you have the Amulet.
Suggested ones include:
- The mysterious force, as it exists in vanilla.
- When you try to ascend the stairs, they vanish and several illusory copies of
stairs appear across the level, along with one real one which you have to
find.
- Walls extrude from existing walls around the hero in random directions, never
entirely closing off, via a cellular automaton that looks for walls with a 3x2
area of walkable spaces in front of them, with the space directly in front a
regular floor space - the effect of this given enough iterations turns the
terrain around you into a maze.
- Generic damage over time, not severe but enough to provide a headwind. Or
partial or total disabling of natural regeneration.
- Asmodeus: Some damaging cold effect that happens periodically, or your cold
resistance is nullified and replaced with a vulnerability to cold effects, or
a slowing effect (flavored as due to cold).
- Baalzebub: Something to do with insects, either periodic summon insects from
nowhere or stronger/more frequent insects. Or buffed insects that routinely
spawn around you.
- Juiblex: You may randomly become ill, or have your regeneration dampened or
something
- Geryon: Hordes of buffed q generate and rampage periodically.
