Spirit Chains

Spirit Chains [CURRENT]

Spirit Chains are throwable items — the core verb for both engaging and capturing. You aim and throw a chain on the overworld; it flies in your facing direction and can miss. Definitions live in public/assets/data/spiritchains.json; capture/throw math is the shared pure module src/engine/spiritchains.js; tunables sit in GAME.SPIRIT_CHAIN.

• Engage by throw: landing a chain on a monster starts combat and gives the thrower the first turn (initiative); walking into a monster still starts combat, but the monster acts first. Throwing at a player engages a PvP duel and the thrower gets the first-turn initiative edge (applied on turn 1, then normal). [CURRENT]
• Capture stays turn-based: a map throw only starts the fight; the in-combat catch is what captures, now scaled by the chain's tier (see Combat and Taming). [CURRENT]
• Boomerang throws are free: a thrown chain that misses (range, wall, or empty air) returns to the tamer — overworld throws cost nothing, so you can throw freely to engage. A chain is only spent (one durability capture charge) when it captures a monster in battle; the chain is consumed when its charges hit 0. [CURRENT]
• 3-slot chain loadout: equip up to GAME.SPIRIT_CHAIN.CHAIN_SLOTS (3) chains in the Inventory → Chains tab (tap an owned chain to add/remove; tap a slot to clear). Bring those three into a run and hot-swap the active chain mid-run with [ / ] (or tap the chain HUD on touch). [CURRENT]
• Controls: Space throws (Q still works), aimed along your movement heading (a faint aim line shows the reach) in both single-player and online; [ / ] swap the active chain among your loadout. The Inventory → Items tab shows your combat-item bag (up to GAME.ITEM_BAG_SIZE slots) — items are used in battle. [CURRENT]
• Gamepad (single-player and online use the same in-game scene): left stick / d-pad move, a full stick push sprints, and A or RT throws the active chain while roaming. In combat the four face buttons A / B / X / Y fire attacks 1–4, LB attempts a Catch, and RB Flees. (Chain hot-swap stays on keyboard [ / ] or a touch tap — it isn't bound to the pad; menu navigation, Swap/Skip, and a pad pause aren't wired yet.) [CURRENT]

Five base tiers + three top-tier specials:

Chain	Tier	Capture ×	Range	Max rarity	Throws*	Charges	Special
Frayed Chain	1	0.50×	160px	≤3	3	1	—
Iron Chain	2	0.75×	240px	≤3	5	2	—
Steel Chain	3	1.00×	320px	≤4	8	3	—
Runed Chain	4	1.30×	440px	≤4	12	5	—
Astral Chain	5	1.60×	560px	≤5	20	8	—
Eternal Coil	6	1.40×	480px	≤4	∞	6	Endless: never depletes — now that every chain throws freely (boomerang), its edge is a high 1.40× capture in a single loadout slot [CURRENT]
Sovereign Bind	6	1.00×	480px	≤5	3	3	Guaranteed: ~100% capture at ≤25% HP [CURRENT]
Hydra Lash	6	1.30×	480px	≤5	5	5	Multi/area: a hit pulls the nearest cluster (≤3 within 120px) into a sequential multi-capture — win/catch chains to the next, flee returns the rest. [CURRENT]

* Overworld throws are free for every chain now — a thrown chain boomerangs back to the tamer, so the Throws value is legacy and no longer consumed. The only chain resource that depletes is capture Charges (one per successful battle capture).

Rarity gate: a chain can only capture monsters up to its maxRarity — a too-rare target auto-fails ("the chain rejects it"). Low tiers floor at rarity 3 so they stay useful (the live pool is mostly rarity 3–4; rarity 5 is legendary).

Acquisition

• Starter: every new profile is granted the five base-tier chains (Frayed → Astral, tiers 1–5). Older saves and any post-death chainless state are back-filled with at least a tier-1 Frayed Chain, so a player is never chainless. [CURRENT]
• Loot chests: 10 chests/round spawn against walls (server-authoritative, seeded), each holding 1–2 randomized chains weighted by dropWeight (common low tiers, rare specials). Walk within 40px to open; a duplicate refills that chain's throws + charges. Chests blip on the minimap only within 420px — you explore to find them. [CURRENT]
• Gold shop — spend run-earned gold between runs at the camp's Merchant (server-authoritative buy). Prices: T1 25g · T2 70g · T3 160g · T4 380g · T5 850g · specials 1300–1600g. Buying banks the chain permanently (a duplicate refills its throws + charges); the shop is locked while you're in a run. [CURRENT]
• Crafting — spend Spirit Essence (a material earned in runs: +2 per monster defeated, +3 per chest) to upgrade an owned base-tier chain to the next tier (consumes the lower chain). Cost = 40 × from-tier essence (T1→T2 = 40 … T4→T5 = 160). Done in the Inventory → Spirit Chains tab (SP) and the online Spirit Shop (MP). [CURRENT]

Extraction stakes: chains opened from chests this run are provisional (runFound) — banked on extract, lost on death/timeout (your starter and previously-banked chains are always safe; a death never leaves you chainless). A refill of an already-banked chain is not at risk. [CURRENT]