We specifically designed Guild of Dungeoneering to not overly punish failure. You can never 'lose' the game (even if your graveyard becomes increasingly crowded) and you have unlimited dungeoneers available to throw at dungeons. However this does mean you are never attached to any particular dungeoneer. Even adding features like naming your dungeoneers, or giving them a unique hairstyle didn't quite fix this. So we're trying something new. Hopefully this leads to a little more attachment & unique story for each dungeoneer.
Dungeoneers now gain Battle Scar traits over time, as they survive dungeon runs. New dungeoneers are always 'blank' and exactly alike. But as they complete quests they gain battle scars that can be good or bad. Here's the possible scars you can gain:
Hard-headed (+1 hp, -1 card)
Head injury (+1 stupidity)
Veteran (+1 blade)
Scarred (+1 crush, -1 hp)
Flesh Wound (-1 hp)
Zealot (+1 Holy, -1 loot choice)
Scrounger (One loot choice is of a higher level than normal)
Gullible (One loot choice is of a lower level than normal)
Hubris (same pathing change as Barbarian's deathwish, without the bonus hp in battle, description: 'Convinced they cannot lose. Seeks out higher-level monsters')
Fountain addict (fountain pathing bonus, first tile card each turn always has a fountain)
Tricksy (start quest with level 1 loot choice)
Once you completely clear out any of the regions in the game (grasslands, jungle, mines & pirate's cove) you unlock the option to replay levels in that region.
A new 'boss rematch' overlay appears on the map which will give you a random bossfight from that region. If you find you are stuck on a new region for any reason this is a great way to earn some gold from a previous region. This will also make it possible to unlock pirate's cove with a savegame that has previously finished the jungle region (just find the pirate map in a jungle boss rematch quest).
Dungeoneer rehiring is no longer instant. When you lose a dungeoneer it now takes time to find a replacement. You will need to attempt a quest with one of your other dungeoneers before a replacement arrives. Chumps, however, are ALWAYS available immediately!
Designwise this is again to give a little more downside to failure (though temporary) and to encourage you to try some more classes. If you only just reached a new region (eg, the jungle) and only have one class from that tier, you can avail of the new boss rematch feature with your other classes while you wait for your replacement.