Hello, this is my take on the Wes skill tree.
Wes is in a weird spot, where some people see him as a challenge character, while others don't really think it is as much of as challenge as it is an inconvenience. As I see it, an experienced player won't really be challenged that much from a 0.75 damage multiplier or a -25% work efficacy debuff, it will just make it take longer to kill things and collect resources. The 75 in all stats at least makes for a more interesting challenge, making so you have to think about which food to make, due to foods that grant 75+ hunger not being as efficient.
Regarding his upsides: Regular Balloons are too bothersome to use as anything but decor; Speedy Balloons do their job well, but due to their low durability, some might find them too laborious to use; Party Balloons can be nice for group sanity, but playing with experienced players they would rather kill the creatures than stand still, and inexperienced ones are better off with flowers and a tent; if you are prepared enough to have an Inflatable Vest when you need it, you should have prepared another boat instead; and Balloon Hat is at least usable, but very very niche. His 25% tool efficiency is very interesting for something that was a byproduct of his reduced work efficacy.
Of course, his upsides being basically nonexistent is by design. But should Wes really be the joke character? I personally would prefer to have another character to actually play as.
Taking into consideration both the players that see him as a challenge character, and the players that like Wes for being Wes, I envisioned this skill tree.
The background was inspired by the fence Wes is seen performing in front of, in his short, along with the Tragedy and Comedy masks that represent the performing arts. The tree offers a lot of freedom of choice right away, without having any perks that are requisites for another, with the exception of the Affinity ones. This was made on purpose to allow the player to customize their experience depending on how much of a challenge they want.
The left ones forming the frowning face are the "Tragedy" perks, the right ones forming the smiling face are the "Comedy" perks, and in the middle we have the "Affinity" perks. To level a Comedy perk you require an insight point and a coin. Wes starts with one coin (because he is Wes), and he can get more by leveling Tragedy perks.
Affinity perks don't cost coins, only insight; And — unlike other characters — you can level the Affinity perks right away, without having to spend points on the rest of the tree to unlock. The regular "choose a side" and "kill the boss" shenanigans still apply.
If you choose to spend an insight point and your starting coin to level a Comedy perk right away, this is what you would see:
You would have to level a Tragedy perk in order to get more coins to spend on the Comedy ones.
Tragedy
I tried making perks that provide a challenge to the solo player, while benefiting a multiplayer setting. To me it seems contradictory to play a challenge character while collaborating with other people, as doing so makes that content exponentially easier. This approach also expands on what we saw on his animated short, having a "misfortune that brings fortune to others" theme. Perks that redirect threats, and perks that alter luck-based outcomes require Wes to be alive to remain active.
● Mime, Body and Soul
"Become immune to the health penalty. However, you can only be revived with the help of other survivors, the portal and touch stones. When another survivor revives you they get an extra 40 sanity."
Disables most revival methods, if you're playing solo you can only revive through the four naturally spawning touch stones. When playing with other players, you can do the same thing Wanda can do: Craft a telltale heart, die on purpose, and then let someone else revive you so they get 80 sanity (120 with this perk).
It is very much the "turn on hardcore mode" perk. Being able to revive through the portal is still allowed, because if you turn endless ON you're probably not looking for this kind of challenge anyway, so its nice to have the bonus of being immune to the health penalty in that case.
Should Touch Stones be replaced with Life Giving Amulets? This would make the perk be more punishing with early game deaths, but after you amass Life Giving amulets its punishment would diminish considerably, at which point you are probably in a stage of the game where the challenges provided have been diminished by progression anyway.
● Evil Eye
"A series of mishaps made the creatures of the constant wary of you. Creatures that are usually neutral now turn aggressive, and critters won't show themselves. Finding food while hunting them is far-fetched."
Birds and Butterflies won't spawn if a Wes with this perk is the source; Catcoons, Merms (except when king alive), Pigs, Bunnymen, and Beefalo are aggressive; Beefalos will buck you off instantly when you try to ride them; Pigs Wes kills will always drop Pig Skin, Bunnymen Bunny Puff, Spiders Silk (unless haunted), and Birds their Feather; Maximum chase time and range increased by 33% (Doesn't stack with Spring, but maybe it should); Wes' naughtiness threshold is always 31 (the lowest possible).
So, a summary: No healing from Butterflies, getting a Bird for a Bird Cage is a lot more difficult, breaking Pig Houses early on isn't as easy anymore, no Beefalo domestication, Krampus are more common, and all the weird range interactions with aggro range spring brings are always active.
However, you don't need to transform Pigs into Werepigs to guarantee the Pig Skin, always getting Silk has its upsides, and if you manage to get a Bird you will always get the feather. Can be relevant along with a Wickerbottom using Birds of the World to manually Krampus farm, since you spawn Krampus faster, and get a lot more feathers.
● Hapless Hunter
"Suspicious dirt piles you uncover are a lot more likely to lead to threats."
Increases the chances for a hunt surprise to 80%, regardless of the world's age.
Getting the vests is more difficulty, but making a War Saddle, and/or a Varg farm early is a lot easier.
While I think that is enough, a factor that could make this perk more undesirable is making so a Wes with this perk can find the Gingerbread Varg or Clay Varg even outside of events.
● Poisson D'Avril
"Its as if the Ocean is playing a prank on you. Increased chance to find threats when out at sea, fishes always have minimum weight and are randomized, and being wet makes everything incredibly slippery."
Fishes spawning due to a Wes with this perk will always be completely randomized, being able to spawn even out of place, season or events, and they will always have minimum weight. Rockjaw chance is increased to 20%. Gnarwail chance is increased to 20%. Pirate Raid odds increased to 40%. Tools on Wes hands are guaranteed to slip when he is Wet starting from 35 Wetness.
Bad if you want to explore the Ocean or go fishing for specific fish, good if you want Gnarwail and Pirate Raid loot. You get less Bootlegs since the Deep Bass will never be heavy. You might be able to get a Wurt an early Sunfish and/or Ice Bream. The perk still affects you outside the Ocean due to the being wet part.
● Dramaturgy
"Embrace the drama and let out your performative side: Getting hit provokes a dramatic performance, spurring nearby survivors into action. However, your melancholic acting makes shadows more eager to oppress you. Empathize with nearby survivors afflicted with insanity."
When hit realize a dramatic performance that makes other survivors nearby receive a 20% speed boost. Crawling Horrors that would spawn due to Wes' insanity are replaced by Terror Beaks. When someone is insane near Wes, the Shadow Creatures will go for Wes after doing their screech (similar to his innate perk with Hounds after barking), regardless of if Wes is at full sanity. If Wes kills someone else's Shadow Creature, the sanity goes to the person that made it spawn instead of Wes.
One of the few things that can actually threaten an experienced player are situations where two Terror Beaks are involved, this perk would make those situations come into play a lot more often. There has been a lot of times where I wanted to help someone kill their Shadow Creatures, but instead I would just end up stealing the sanity gain from killing one. This perk would solve that issue.
Credits to @Picklesaurus, who has given a suggestion similar to this in another post.
● Magnetic Personality
"Natural phenomena such as lightning, meteors, and earthquakes seem to have a vendetta against you."
Lightning strikes spawned on the overworld will always go for Wes if he is on the shard. Surrounding Meteors target Wes directly. Falling debris in the cavern that are supposed to spawn within other survivors close proximity spawn on Wes instead if he is on the shard. All of the debris that is supposed to spawn on Wes' surroundings always spawn in his close surroundings. Antlion will always target Wes (and only Wes). Lightning spawned from Wickerbottom's The End is Nigh!, and the special lightning spawned from the Moonstorm will not be redirected by this perk.
Very "animated short"-like. Can be used to your advantage, you could use the Meteors focused on you to kill the nearby Tallbirds for example.
● Clown to Earth
"Embrace your misfortune in matters of the earth. Your interactions with nature and graves are more likely to be negative. In turn, allies' are more likely to be positive."
If grass geckos are able to spawn, they will. Same chance to spawn Treeguards as Woodie, and will always spawn the maximum amount regardless of the world's age. When planting with random seeds, chance to get forget-me-lots increased to 80%; But other survivors planting random seeds will never get weeds (this effect is global). Graves dug by Wes always give trinkets and spawn a ghost. However, if Wes is near but another character is the one digging the grave, a ghost will spawn aggroed onto Wes and the grave will never give trinkets, only the other loot.
I decided to include grass geckos due to their jump scare nature, the regular chance is low but every character can get it easily with the shovel method, so Wes being guaranteed is not that big of a deal. Tree guards for living logs is good, but three at the same time with a 0.75 damage modifier can complicate things. Greater Forget-Me-Lots chance makes starting a farm more difficult, however the perk can make this the opposite when other players are present, and can be a good thing if you actually want the Forget-Me-Lots. You get to manipulate grave loot with the help of other players.
Is always spawning the maximum amount of tree guards too much?
Credits to @Swiyss, who has given a suggestion similar to this in another post.
● Clown Jewels
"Embrace your misfortune when dealing with treasure troves. Treasure-based interactions are unlikely to wield you good results, but allies' odds are improved."
The part that impacts other players has global range, unless stated otherwise.
○ Sunken Chests opened by Wes will have its treasure always grant the least quantity of items per stack possible, but ones opened by another survivor will always have the most.
○ Tumbleweeds opened by Wes can only contain grass, twigs, and creatures. Tumbleweeds opened by another survivor while Wes is near will never contain grass and twigs, and if creatures spawn from that tumbleweed, they spawn aggro'd on Wes.
○ Loot Stash opened by Wes will never contain the % drops. But ones opened by another survivor have 20% chance for Krampus sack, guaranteed extra Life Giving Amulet, and guaranteed extra boss loot.
○ Ancient Guardians killed while only Wes is nearby will have its treasure always grant the least quantity of items per stack possible. But one killed while another survivor is present will always have the most.
○ Labyrinth Chests opened by Wes always activate their trap and have the lowest possible modifier, while for other survivors the trap always proccs but with the highest possible modifier.
Bad if solo, great if with other players. Maybe the effect should affect what items can be found in the chests, instead of only stack quantity?
● No Dice
"Embrace your misfortune when dealing with opposition. Enemies you kill are less likely to drop especial loot, while enemies killed by allies have their odds enhanced."
If an enemy last hit by Wes has a % drop and it succeeds, it is rerolled and the new result persists. The opposite is true for other survivors, if the % drop fails it is rerolled and the new result persists. This effect is global.
Some of the % loot that comes to mind: Message in a Bottle, Tam o' Shanter, Walrus Tusk, Krampus Sack, Butter, Bat Wing. But there are a lot more.
Alternatively, the perk could make so Wes is never able to drop the % loot. This would challenge solo Wes' with this perk to adapt into a gameplay style without access to those drops. I personally think that might be too harsh, this might already be the perk with the biggest negative of the Tragedy branch.
Would be really cool if the loot-related perks had a little animation like a four leaf clover shining when something was rerolled into a success, or a four leaf clover decaying when something was rerolled into failure.
● Target Audience
"Enemies that attack periodically seem to have a vendetta against you."
○ When Hound/Worm waves occur, if a Wes with this perk is on the shard Wes will get the waves of up to three other survivors, and if it is a Great Depths Worm it will be guaranteed to go for Wes. All of the hounds redirected this way are special Hounds.
○ Varglets are unable to spawn for Wes, being replaced with 5 special Hounds.
○ Every Hound that spawns for Wes is always a special Hound.
○ If Wes is alone on a server, time between Hounds that are spawned in the same wave is reduced.
○ Eye of Terror/Twins of Terror will always choose to go for Wes.
○ 50% of the Frogs from Frog Rain meant for other survivors are redirected to Wes instead.
○ Bearger and Deerclops will always choose to go for Wes.
If you're solo, all of the redirection doesn't affect you. Can be extremely helpful while playing with beginners. Having all hounds be replaced with special Hounds can make killing them a little more complicated, but they have less HP and you get gems for your effort.
Comedy
My objective in this branch was to strengthen Wes current upsides into things that you would actually want to use, and to give him more engaging gameplay aspects.
● Expert Haggler
"Use your mime charm to obtain good deals when trading."
○ Queen of Moon Quay removes 6 trinkets instead of 4 when given a banana.
○ Pig King grants 1.5x more gold.
○ Receive a 50% discount in the Prize Booth and Benevolent Rabbit King crafts.
○ Frost Jaw will give 2 bootlegs per small fish and 3 per heavy fish.
○ Antlion gives 2 desert stones instead of one.
○ Crabby Hermit trades that cost one bottle give two items instead of one, the ones that cost more have a 50% discount rounded up in favor of Pearl (Penny-pinching!).
This one is based on his sequence-breaking The Gorge perk. I was so happy when Wes was meta!
● Living Statue
"After standing still for 3 seconds, perform as a living statue, escaping hostile creatures' perception. "
After standing still for 3 seconds, drop enemy aggro and get a hiding state similar to Bush Hat's/Snurtle Shell. Taking damage resets the timer, but won't cancel hiding (it is a incredibly believable performance!).
Can be very powerful, especially if used in tandem with some Tragedy perks. I think the overall silliness, and the street performance vibe fits Wes incredibly well.
Credits to @Picklesaurus, who has given this suggestion another post.
● Pantomimed Rope
"Pantomime a rope to pull items towards you."
Allows Wes to pull items on the screen towards him, this allows him to pull items out of the Ocean, through walls, and out of Cave Holes. To use the perk, right click an item that is on the ground/water while having nothing equipped in your hand slot.
I don't know how the controls would work on controller, they really need the shipwrecked aim system lol. To circumvent this, maybe instead Wes can craft pantomimed rope and then use this new item to pull things. Equip it and use the secondary action button so Wes starts the lasso throw animation, the lasso goes ahead in the air towards the direction you are facing. You can make it fall down on top of an item by pressing the secondary action again, at which point Wes would pull the item automatically. But I really would like to avoid this route, as having to use an empty inventory slot for pantomimed things is too hilarious not to be a thing.
Credits to @gaymime, who has given the foundation for this perk idea in another post.
● Pantomimed Tools
"Pantomime tools to collect resources."
While having an empty hand slot, you are able to chop, mine, hammer, and dig the respective resources.
This perk makes way too much sense not to be a thing. Extremely useful in the ruins, never have to walk half a map back to base because you forgot to bring a hammer to Bee Queen. Save resources on tools. Considering Wes gets the 25% work penalty, I think him getting access to this is only fair.
Credits to @Picklesaurus, who has given a suggestion similar to this in another post.
● Pantomimed Walls
"Learn to pantomime walls and doors."
This perk gives you the ability to craft Pantomimed Walls and Pantomimed Doors. At the cost of 10 sanity you can craft 4 walls or a door. They look like clear fine glass, and function similarly to fences and gates, but unlike fences they break in one hit and drop nothing. Dropping the unplaced wall/door version of the item makes it disappear instantly. They are fire-proof.
Wes' with this perk are able to see Pantomimed Walls and Doors regardless of distance, while ones without the perk — and other characters — only get to see these structures while they are within 2 walls of distance.
Very useful and very cheap, useful in any situation walls are.
Credits to @Picklesaurus, who has given a suggestion similar to this in another post.
● Real-Mime Strategy
"Pantomime a barrier capable of parrying damage."
While having an empty hand slot, use your secondary action button on the ground (Wortox Soul Hop button on controller) to initiate a very brief parry. Missing a parry puts it into a X seconds cooldown. Successful parries can be animation cancelled into another parry.
I don't have numbers for this, but the general idea is being able to — with precise timing — parry attacks to reflect damage back to the attacker. I'd like it to have a duration short enough to make it difficult. With the animation cancelling, doing successful parries into other parries to block multi-hit attacks such as the ones coming from Tentacles, Armored Bearger, or the Celestial Champion second phase, would be possible and look really cool.
Probably not a perk you want to use on high latency, but there's plenty of other perk options for those situations.
● Balloon Glasses
"Learn to craft the Balloon Glasses. Lend it to allies to share your imagination, or use it yourself to enhance your vision!"
Costs 5 sanity to craft. 1 Day Durability. Getting hit with the glasses equipped makes them pop.
Can be equipped in the head slot to allow other survivors to see Wes' pantomimed structures regardless of distance, and allow a Wes with this perk to see and interact with hidden things, such as Shadow Creatures even when at full sanity, what item is a Mimic, Resting Horror, Rictus, Parasitic Shadelings, and Fuelweaver's Shadow Hands.
Allows you to kill Shadow Creatures before insanity becomes a problem, simplifies Mimic farming, no more having to get insane to get the Relic Chair blueprint, no need to have AoE to deal with Rictus, no need to drop sanity before the Nightmare Werepig fight, and can act as a Walmart Purple Amulet during the Fuelweaver fight. Well, at least as long as you don't let it pop, even then you could craft another one.
Credits to @Swiyss, who has given a suggestion similar to this in another post.
● Loud Balloons
"Your balloons scare enemies when popped. Learn to craft the Whistle Balloon, a balloon that annoys enemies into attacking the holder."
Any balloon when popped scares enemies in a turf radius for 3 seconds.
Learn to craft the Whistle Balloon. 5 sanity to craft. Lasts for half a day. If the holder is hit with it equipped, it pops.
Can be equipped in the hand slot to emit a whistle balloon sound (REALLY recommend the "Noisy Balloons" video on Youtube from the Grand Illusions channel if you are interested on what it could sound like lol, maybe not as obnoxious though), and pull the aggro from enemies within 3 turfs to the user.
Provides some crowd control to Wes. The whistle can be used to save someone or to save Wes himself, if used by others.
Credits to @Swiyss and @Picklesaurus, who have given a suggestion similar to this in other posts.
● Bundle o' Balloons
"Learn to craft the Bundle o' Balloons, it has enough balloons to make the holder float!"
Costs 30 sanity to craft. Lasts for 1 minute. Getting hit with it equipped pops the balloons.
Can be equipped in the hand slot to allow the holder to traverse the Ocean and the Cave Void. The holder cannot interact with the game world while it is equipped (collecting Kelp as an example). If dropped on the ground, the balloons disperse on the air and show up in the map, similar to the Speedy Balloon's current effect. Only one is allowed per inventory, if Wes tries to give it to someone already in the possession of one, he will do his "no no" mime animation. If Wes crafts one while already having one in the inventory, the Bundle o' Balloons will be dropped on the ground and disperse into the air as previously stated. If the bundle is popped, or its durability reaches 0 while the holder is above Ocean or Cave Void, they fall and the usual punishment is applied.
Has synergy with Inflatable Vest, if your Bundle o' Balloons ends while you are above the Ocean the vest will prevent health penalty from being applied.
● Breathing Technique
"Your balloons are more efficient and bring no harm to allies."
○ Regular Balloons deal 15 piercing damage.
○ Speedy Balloons last 3x longer. (Currently 1.5 segments for each 30%/20%/10% bonus, with the perk the balloon would last for 13.5 segments, nearly a day.)
○ Party Balloons deal 10 piercing damage and the confetti effect can now stack.
○ Inflatable Vest prevents dropping items on the water when drowning, working similarly to Wurt's swimming perk.
○ Balloon Hat no longer has durability.
○ Balloon Glasses no longer have durability.
○ Whistle Balloons last 2x longer (a day).
○ Bundle o' Balloons last 2x longer (2 minutes).
○ Balloons now cannot damage other survivors or loyal mobs.
Piercing damage can go through armor such as Slurtle/Snurtle's defenses. The enhanced damage with the added piercing effect makes the disabled friendly fire necessary, should Wes also be able to avoid the Balloons damage? Maybe the Party Balloons become overpowered being able to stack...
Credits to @Swiyss and @Picklesaurus, who have given a suggestion similar to this in other posts.
Affinity
Shadow
● Shadow Jester I
"The Queen will reward your loyalty by revealing secrets within the Umbralla. The Umbralla's barrier slows enemies within, provides protection against the weather, and can be activated even while held."
Umbralla's barriers activated by Wes' with this perk — beyond its usual effects — will also provide 240 insulation against both heat and cold, slow enemies in its range for 20%, and impede debris from cave earthquakes from falling within. Additionally, Wes can choose to activate the barrier while holding the Umbralla; the barrier will move along with him.
Keep in mind the sanity drain aura while the barrier is active. Should the barrier's range be reduced if it is activated while the Umbralla is being held? What brought me to this perk idea was Umbralla kind of looking like a balloon while the barrier is active, and Wes having a little umbrella in his default art.
● Shadow Jester II
"The Queen will reward your loyalty by adding flare to your performance on her stage."
When performing in Charlie's stage, an illusion is applied to Wes giving him the same appearance and max stats (Hunger/Sanity/Health) as another player currently online on the server. Wes' current stats % is equivalent to what it was before, and usual nametag still remains. The illusion lasts indefinitely and can block up to one hit, but will be dispelled after. When examining stuff Wes will still do his usual mimicry with no quotes. If there are no other players, then a random character is selected wearing the skins you have set. If transformed into Wurt, Webber, WX or Wortox, you get their tags. Both the items and briar hounds won't spawn, but the stage also won't enter cooldown.
Allows Wes to benefit from 150 hunger food, and to access the advantages of having more than 75 sanity. The same can't be said for health, since the illusion is dispelled upon being hit. I guess you could tank starvation and the weather for longer since those don't count as being hit? Slight synergy with WX, although no one uses the hunger or sanity circuits. An extra hit can make a big difference depending on your perk setup.
Moon
● Lunar Jester I
"Take inspiration from The Moon to learn how to turn Brightshade Bombs into Balloons that inflict tremendous planar damage upon bursting. While holding Brightshade Balloons, Wes becomes enlightened."
Takes a Brightshade Bomb and 5 sanity to craft.
Works the same as his regular balloons, but has same damage and properties as the Brightshade Bombs. Maybe could deal ~50 extra damage and/or have extra range?
Getting access to enlightenment can allow Wes to avoid Shadow Creatures and restore sanity through Gestalts, but keep in mind that it takes up the hand slot and is only available after rifts.
● Lunar Jester II
"Listen to Their voice to discover secrets within the dream realm. While asleep, assume control of an Astral Projection."
When asleep by any means, assume control of your Jestalt. This form has its own 15 slots inventory, can see in the dark, but cannot equip items. It can use all Pantomimic skills as long as they are leveled. When the Jestalt is dispelled, its items will drop and Wes is sent back to his body. The Jestalt is dispelled if hit or if Wes' body is hit, dies or wakes up. The form can be dispelled early by the user by clicking a button similar to the one that appears when reviving using a Meat Effigy. Wes will remain sleeping even after reaching 0 hunger, however the health restauration from sleeping is nullified and he takes starvation damage as normal; this means he would be able to be Jestalt for 2 minutes and 15 seconds, since starving deals 1.25 damage per second. The Jestalt attacks the same way as Gestalts (should it get i-frames on attack? probably not). Effects that induce sleep have its duration overridden to last indefinitely, and can be cut short earlier than usual by dispelling Jestalt through the button.
Should Jestalt be able to hover above the Ocean and Cave Void?
I will be honest, I could not resist the Jestalt pun. But hey, the skill is pretty cool, don't you think?
Secrets
Well, a font size 22 in bold isn't really secretive now, is it?
The idea behind these perks is to allow the player to fully commit to one of two identities Wes can have. He is a very talented performer, I am sure he could perform the "Challenge Character" role as easily as he can the "Cute Mime" role.
Let's start with the Joker perk.
This perk appears once the player has leveled all of the Tragedy branch perks.
A Shadow Hand comes and replaces the coin with a perk the player can choose to level.
● Joker
"All of your damage becomes planar. Successful parries now reflect extra planar damage. Become Immune to overheating and freezing. Become unable to benefit from planar defense, and armor is 50% less effective."
Having all your damage become planar works around Wes' 0.75 damage multiplier. The extra planar damage from parries should have very noticeable numbers considering the weakening of armor.
Taking into account you would need to spend 11 points total for this perk (10 from Tragedy + 1 for the perk itself), and have to deal with every Tragedy perk negatives, I think it is only fair for you to get something really cool from it. Especially considering the perk itself adds tremendous additional difficulty through the weakening of armor.
You can still use the remaining 4 insight points to level any Comedy and/or Affinity perks as you wish, even though you won't see the coin anymore.
Credits to @Swiyss, who has given a suggestion similar to this in another post.
_____
Now let us talk about the Le Jour des Crêpes perk.
This perk activates once at least 7 (lucky number!) Comedy perks have been invested in.
The coin shines and a perk icon is revealed within its surface! This works similarly to Wortox's Nice/Naughty alignment, in the sense that you don't need to spend insight to get its effects.
● Le Jour des Crêpes
"Eating Fresh Fruit Crepes allows you to benefit from your luck-based perks for a day."
Eating Fresh Fruit Crepes makes the perks "Clown to Earth", "Clown Jewels", and "No Dice" treat you as if your were another player for a day.
If you made sure to get at least 7 comedy perks, I believe you do not wish to play Wes as a challenge character, so you get access to this freebie. Inspired by the French tradition that takes place in "Le Jour des Crêpes", it involves placing a coin on top of a cooking crêpe while flipping it, ensuring financial prosperity in the coming year. Others hold a coin in their right hand during the flipping process for good luck.
It is mostly here to allow solo players to benefit from his luck perks. But the justice of making Wes' favorite food actually useful for him is also sweet. Maybe the benefits should be extended to every butter crockpot food? He is French after all.
Just noticed that in the example none of those perks have been invested in lol, get uhhh- January's fooled I guess?
Conclusion
I hope this concept would be able to allow the player to customize Wes into having their desired gameplay experience. He is a mime artist after all, being able to mime his way into the role you want him to be is only right.
Let me know your feedback, did you find something that would impede Wes from progressing in the game? Do you think something suggested would be too overpowered? You are welcome to express your opinions and concerns below.
If I forgor to/just didn't give credit to you, and you want said credits, please let me know (with proof preferably). I can also remove credits I gave you, if it bothers you in any way, no problem.
Edit History
This is here to help me keep track of the changes, feel free to skip it.
1/21/2025
Added credits to @Picklesaurus on several perks, it is such a same the search function in the forum disregards archived posts. While making this concept, I tried searching for previous Wes' skill trees and was unable to find any. Thank you for letting me know about your concepts Picklesaurus!
1/18/2025
A thank you to @Swiyss, who made me reflect on the effects of a lot of the perks and pointed out some edge cases where exceptions to the functionality of some should be made. And a thank you to @NekoSoulx, who pointed out how I should clarify Wes should be alive for the perks to work, and that luck perks should be global, because otherwise they would take away from the Wes' player gameplay.
● Changed "Speedy Balloons durability is too short to give substantial benefit" into "Speedy Balloons do their job well, but due to their low durability, some might find them too laborious to use"
● Added "Perks that redirect threats, and perks that alter luck-based outcomes require Wes to be alive to remain active." to the Tragedy perks explanation.
● Added a new afterthought to Mime, Body and Soul's description: "Should Touch Stones be replaced with Life Giving Amulets? This would make the perk be even more punishing with early game deaths, but after you amass Life Giving amulets its punishment would diminish considerably, at which point you are probably in a stage of the game where the challenges provided have been diminished by progression anyway."
● Revised Hapless Hunter's effect: "Suspicious dirt piles you uncover will never lead to a Koalephant." into "are a lot more likely to lead to threats", "Simple, you cannot get the vests, but you have an easier time making a War Saddle, and/or a Varg farm earlier." into "Getting the vests is more difficulty, but making a War Saddle, and/or a Varg farm early is a lot easier."
● Replaced Dramaturgy's speed debuff effect with a new effect: "Embrace the drama and let out your performative side, allowing you and other survivors to more easily get in tune" "Getting hit provokes a dramatic performance, slowing you down while spurring nearby survivors into action", "When hit get slowed by 20% to realize a dramatic performance". Added: "However, your melancholic acting makes shadows more eager to oppress you", "Crawling Horrors that would spawn due to Wes' insanity are replaced by Terror Beaks."
● Added "Lightning spawned from Wickerbottom's The End is Nigh!, and the special lightning spawned from the Moonstorm will not be redirected by this perk." to Magnetic Personality's description.
● Changed Clown to Earth's description and effect slightly: "In turn, nearby allies' are more likely to be positive", "Survivors planting random seeds near Wes will never get weeds" into "But other survivors planting random seeds will never get weeds (this effect is global)."
● Altered Clown Jewels' description, removing the guaranteed Surprising Seed and making several of the effects global: "but nearby allies' odds are improved". Added "The part that impacts other players has global range, unless stated otherwise."
● Changed No Dice's description to make its effect global: "while enemies killed by nearby allies have their odds enhanced", "The opposite is true for other nearby survivors, if the % drop fails it is rerolled and the new result persists." Added "This effect is global."