I have published new release, with changes based on this discussion.
Pawn’s Move
I used “cards played < 5, upgradeable” condition instead, which on the one hand is even harsher than Persists 5 since it requires playing Pawn’s Move before other cards, but OTOH resets every turn, thus making it more “stable” when hand manipulation is needed frequently.
Rally with three upgrades … pray+heartiness
I removed fatigue improvement from Rally upgrade, and also changed Rune of Heartiness to “Fatigue -1”, BUT upgradeable. This hopefully works towards the goal that player must “earn” OP build, by spending more efforts and resources.
Ribcage Armor … Draining Touch
Duh. I internally debated a lot whether to include vampirism in Ribcage Armor anti-healing effect, and just forgot about that decision. For now, I opted for simply nerfing defence value, which maybe makes it a bit less interesting but also increases the risk.
Vampirism itself is rarely a threat. Maybe Garlic could inflict some stun or a fumble effect
I gave minor buff to most vampiric enemies (they now all have Max HP a bit higher than initial one, so can heal on the first attack). I also added minor buff to Garlic (vampiric enemies strength -1) which is not as powerful as stun, but still decent when fighting multiple/multiplying vampires.
Diamond Ring … Censor History
Besides updated Patience (which turned out to be very good, maybe even too good), I added an item with similar “protect if <=1 cards played” effect and a quest for Censor History. Hopefully these changes together give enough boost to Diamond Ring
I also feel that most of “too strong to be interesting” infinite builds are currently centered around Persist effect (as opposed to infinite draw / fetch or infinite defence and multiple turns), so I added new ascension which penalizes such builds.