Not pretentious at all, I'm glad to read your detailed response and thank you for taking the time to write it. Nodappjung is indeed a talented artist, and I like every single character design he's made. However, for some reason, he lacks a grasp of the actual style of this game. All his characters, despite being well drawn from a purely technical perspective, don't quite fit.

And I agree with you, his characters are actually better drawn than vanilla, which are much simpler and require less technical skills. Best of luck and I hope to see more work from you!

Part 2: I think the slight mismatch in style only elevates the Judge in lore, as he is always said to be uncanny in an unspeakable way. So in the game too, there's nothing outright magical about him, his sprite has the same palette, the same broad strokes; but yet he is larger, has more details, slightly different proportions... there is literally more to him than meets the eye. That is, to me,a feature, not a bug, and a slight nod to his extraordinary character.

Yes, it may not strictly match the game's artstyle, but it is very close to it and truth be told, I prefer Nodappjung's detailed design to the original. I've always been all about the grayest colors, the subtlest nuances, and spending the greatest time on the smallest details. Hell, my favourite movie of all time is Possum. In my eyes, the Judge is perfect, and I apologize if my vision wasn't to everyone's liking.

And sorry if I sounded pretentious.

@neIVIesis thank your for your praise. At times like this, I feel all the effort that went into the mod was worth it.

Now, I didn't draw the idle/combat/camp sprites myself. As you can see from the hero comic, I'm not too shabby myself, but I just couldn't do sprites well. So instead I commissioned Nodappjung to draw it. He's the artist behind the Exorcist mod, which I consider the pinnacle of Darkest Dungeon character mods in all aspects - your mileage may vary, of course. I wanted to assemble an all-star cast for this mod so I wanted the best mod's artist to draw the Judge.

CONT.

You have given a very granular and logical response to the user typing in Russian. The fact that you even wrote a page detailing your decisions is frankly impressive.
Someone as meticulous as you seem to be, you must also clearly see that despite the great character design - which I honestly also really admire - the final execution is incongruent with the artistic direction of the game: It's too detailed, the linework is too thin. It lacks the wood block aesthetic that Bourassa was so careful to craft. And even the proportions, despite making the legs short, just are not consistent with any vanilla heroes "chibi" style.
The virtue and affliction sprites actually do excel because that's where images are meant to be more detailed and realistic in the game.
Pointing this out is not meant to insult you, this is clearly a labor of love that took you 2 years to accomplish. So I'm curious as to why you settled short at the finishing line.

No need to apologize for anything, I'm just telling you these things so you can understand my reasoning behind his design. I put him as a kind of "backrank leper-occultist mix" to capture the Judge's malicious motivations. He is a manipulator and control-freak wanting to be in charge of everything, so he goes to the most prestigious backline position. From there he can watch the bloodshed in relative safety, while still enacting control over the battlefield.

Мною как-то были упущены эти моменты. Вероятно из-за скорости анимации и того, что его стиль боёвки в игре мне не понравился, отчего играть данным верзилой расхотелось. Не подумай, что критикую, это просто личные предпочтения, ибо в игре и при переводе мне представлялось, что этот громила должен будет стоять на первых двух рядах и менее скромно пересчитывать косточки на теле удачно попавшего под руку скелета-аристократа. В общем, прошу извинений и пожелаю удачи в чём бы там ни было.

Part 3: About your other observations: he's fat in the novel too - he's described as having a giant, round mass and a face like a full moon. His legs are small because that's how all Darkest Dungeon heroes look. When camping, he takes off the judicial robes and puts it at his feet, referencing how he always strips in the book at the campfire. And when he's striking with his gavel, his wig slightly falls off his head so you can see he's bald.

Part 2: In Darkest Dungeon, the characters are represented by their professions. The Jester is a stereotypical jester, the Crusader is a stereotypical crusader, etc. The correct approach for depicting the Judge's essence is therefore to allow him to feel at home in the environment of Darkest Dungeon, and let him wear a judge's outfit. That is his real purpose as revealed in the feverish nightmares of the Kid when he's healing from his leg wound. This is why he fights with a gavel, and not a howitzer. Sure, howitzers are powerful, but that's not where the judge's authority over this world comes from.
CONT.

Буква 7, you should read the justpaste link at the Lore FAQ section where I explain the decisions behind the judge's design. But here's the short version:
Copypasting the judge's apperance in Wild West clothes is something an amateur would do who doesn't truly understand the Judge's character. Truth is, as an allegorical character, he is always at home in whichever environment he is in. When leading the gang, he dresses like a cowboy. When at the governor's ball, he is distinguished and refined. When walking through the desert, he appears with burnt skin and cracked lips - even though we know he's immortal and can't die by thirst, etc.
CONT.

vitez_vaddiszno, окей, оставлю его только для себя, тогда уж. Ну и книга улёт, конечно. Правда Судья будто бы не совсем по канону выглядит: через чур тучный, ноги слишком гипертрофированно маленькие(пусть в книге так и писалось(причём с отсылкой на демона совращения)), хотелось бы иметь его внешность без одеяния судьи(ну или хотя бы без этого парика, Холден должен сверкать своей лысиной), ну и маленький судейский молоточек выглядит слабо, вот бы он как в оригинале гаубицей сражался, раскрывая в полной мере свою силу.

Dear Буква 7, I am very glad you like the mod, but I can not accept automatic translations here. I'm very pro-technology, but as you know,The Judge's barks are almost all Blood Meridian quotes, and McCarthy's prose is perhaps the ultimate example of stuff you can't just translate with an LLM (as of yet). I'll accept translations if and only if the translator has read Blood Meridian in the original English, and translates the barks with their context in mind. I spent hours daily for 3 months hand-picking the barks myself, so I accept no substitutions.

Сделал машинный перевод мода. Как и куда кидать - не знаю.

Он никогда не спит. Он говорит что никогда не умрёт. Он танцует и на свету и в тени. И все его любят. Он никогда не спит. Этот судья. Он танцует и танцует. И говорит, что никогда не умрёт.

I don't even need to read his class description, he's perfect.

Phoenix Wright's grimdark cousin

I really like the character design of this class. It really matches the deviant mood of the game and a judge character is right at home in a Victorian setting, which is a detail many outlandish classes miss and look out of place.

With that said, I think he needs a little bit thicker linework and blocked in shadows to fit in 100% into the visual language.

*Why Not*

@Zoi I'll have to take a look at that, but I think it should work since I have seen other mods successfully accomplish it.

@vitez_vaddiszno Ah. I may have misread that tooltip then, I think.

@nickpresley I am happy that you like it, but please keep in mind that "Hanging Judge" does NOT PREVENT ambush. It increases ambush chances by 20%. It should say so in the game too, although given how many players think it's an ambush prevention skill, I am starting to think there is a bug with the tooltip.

The +20% ambush chance is a reference to how his ongoing cruelty eventually invites a Native ambush at the gang's riverside base.

I kinda figured the camp skill that prevents ambush would sound like "Any enemies that exist without my knowledge, exist without my consent."

At any rate,there is room on the stage for one beast and one alone. All others are destined for a night that is eternal and without name. One by one they will step down into the darkness before the footlamps. Bears that dance, bears that don't, and the odd shambler too. The Hamlet welcomes The Judge.

@mmmihkel - Hanging Judge does not prevent nighttime ambush, it actually increases nighttime ambush chance by 20%.

the 'prevent nighttime ambush' in camp skill dont seem to work.

@Jenek - resubscribing resolved the issue. Give it a shot.

Hello! Please see image. There is a bug in the loot table of this mod. https://i.imgur.com/XpuK11h.png

Clever, mechanically fun, and well-designed. Another beauty to add to the Hamlet.

@jonathanjoeyjoey No problem, I understand you just fine. I am planning to make more class mods in the future, so keep an eye out for that. But for now I am focused on finishing a mod another game, because that's been long overdue. I'll eventually get back to my planned DD mods.

@vitez_vaddiszno i repect your choice,i still wait for BR 1.0 for a long time but they dissapear in a whole year. At this time i've play DD for 7 year ( most crack but I bought a full game this Aug). It;s for a long time to see again a good class mod also with comic. I don't know how to decribe it all bc my english still not good.

@jonathanjoeyjoey That is not planned for now. While I have great respect for the dedication and ambition of the Black Reliquary team, I cannot on principle agree with their decision to include sexual fanservice in their mod (namely, enemy designs).

It's not because I'm a prude or a fundamentalist - quite the opposite in fact. It's because I value immersion, flavor and the dark atmosphere of DD above all, and I think having cheap fanservice like big boobed enemies goes against all those things. But if you like to play with BR, I'm happy that you're happy, we all have different tastes after all.

Will your mod class will have any br (black reliquary) patch in future?

@Fiki Ripfiend That is great to hear. I am happy you enjoy playing with the Judge!

Very original character who works from backline, is flavourful and has really useful camping skills. Great addition to any roster since the rank 4 is difficult to occupy. Life sentence is a great wordplay, since the poor sob who gets stunned for 3 rounds will really die stunned, humor is needed in the Hamlet :D

I see you are guilty of wiping my whole team

@Clockworky the comic is a reference to the ending scene of Blood Meridian a Novel in which Judge Holden is the main antagonist. Judge holden is the character that this mod is based on. dont read the book if you cant handle considerable depravity.

Darkest Desire support when?

Он никогда не психозит... Он говорит, что никогда не умрёт.. Он повышает мораль и на свету, и в тени, и все его любят. Он никогда не психозит. Этот судья поднимает и поднимает мораль.. И говорит, что никогда не умрёт.

If this is a Blood Meridian reference, then count me in.

can someone explain the lore comic?

When he said, "ill be the judge of that" and proceeded to judge all over the place I cried so hard ten out of ten

Whatever in knowledge creation without my exists consent

the discord admin mod

@Lavahit yes, it's a bug. I'll get around to fixing it (and ask around, because it requires a certain method of coding I haven't done before) in the near future, hopefully.

He reminds me of a certain Judge... tallow-skin, very tall, no hair...

@ArasakaScum It was considered during development that his combat skills directly mirror the book, but I've decided against it in favor of more symbolic abilities. Please read the LORE FAQ section for details behind this design choice.

give him grapeshot loaded howitzer and I'll call this mod good

oh... its THAT judge...

Subpoena has a bug that after used as a free action, unless i select a new skill, i can keep using it again and again for as many times as I please. While it is fun to do, well it is a bug (or is it a feature?).

I heard you. I had the pleasure of reading Lovecraft, not only The Call of Cthulhu and The Dunwich Horror, but also many of his stories. I'll read Blood Meridian and translate it while I study The Judge

@pavlik.yanin Unfortunately, I'll only incorporate a translation if the translator has read the book in both English and their original language. I myself spent months reading the book and selecting quotes. It is a hard read, like Lovecraft, and you have to know the context of phrases before you include them as barks.

Bruva alfabusa...