Running on ToK.22f, hard mode, iron man.
I used wands on the first Golden Goblin and can confirm that it works and does not bug out.
I created this very strong ring using the second Golden Goblin. But, now that I check it many levels later, is it bugged? It seems to increase strength and not all stats.
Sometimes my equipment falls off due to taking off or changing other equipment. Could that have something to do with it? Or maybe that the ring was created by the Golden Goblin?
Poison on the player character does not appear to stack, unless I am mistaken. Is that on purpose?
You wrote somewhere that you intended to make the Breeding Grounds more open. I do not believe that is necessary, or at least, you could keep one of those levels like it currently is and then change the other one. More traps, enemy variety? For the second level, playing into the "breeding", have temporary enemies spawn? Like, giving an enemy a summon spell like the snake summon spell the player has? But that might run counter to the player's expectation and possibly also the game design and game balance.
Why do I have 52 intelligence? I do not believe my items should add up to that. Is it a bug? I did put a lot of points into intelligence, but I am playing on hard mode, and I have unspent ability points.
Wait, I just switched around a lot of gear to try to figure out what the source of the intelligence was, and now I am at 60 intelligence with the same gear as before.
I think I figured out how. Changes to secondary weapon and shield, stats not sufficient and drops including shield, switch back, pick up equipment.
https://fastupload.io/n92WEZwVTFjH3FY/file
One way to robustly fix this in programming might be to not directly mutate the "final" variables and try to keep them accurate always, but instead just store all "sources" of attributes. And then, whenever equipment changes for whatever reason, you recalculate the final attribute value from all sources. It can be a bit finicky, but should possibly be much more robust than straight-up mutation and a better trade-off in the code, and the computational cost should be a non-issue since it is just the main character and very few equipment slots and sources. That might fix a number of different bugs related to stats - the ring I forged with the Golden Goblin also appeared buggy in regards to stats. In some ways inspired by "reactive" programming, or like Excel cells, or "unidirectional data flow", but just limited to stats. It will likely take you time to implement that subsystem and replace the current apparent direct-mutation-bookkeeping method you use.
I do not know whether my iron man hard mode run is now ruined, because having 108 intelligence is over-powered. At least "intelligence" first and foremost affects the ability to read books.
Wait, my maximum mana is also affected. I have 195 mana. That must be from the paladin's shield, since the "mind" ability is what gives extra maximum mana.
I will end my run and claim that I lost due to being completely over-powered due to unintentional exploit-usage due to bugs.
I still have not completed an iron man hard mode run. Much sadness.