Monkey Paw

The Monkey Paw (also called the Strange Hand) is a limited-time wish event inspired by W.W. Jacobs' 1902 short story "The Monkey's Paw." Your cat encounters a giant disembodied hand with its fingers raised in the air, and a successful Intelligence check lets them reach out and claim a wish. Every wish comes with a drastic, clearly-stated cost baked into the effect itself, making the paw one of the most run-defining gambles in the game.

How It Works

The Monkey Paw appears up to four times per save (MonkeyPaw1 through MonkeyPaw4), after which it is permanently removed from the event pool. Each successive encounter shows one fewer raised finger, visually tracking the remaining wishes. Examining the paw triggers an Intelligence stat check; a common success produces flavor text and nothing else, while a rare success has the cat place its paw on the hand, one finger folds down, and the Monkey Paw Wish menu opens for that same cat.

Choosing Leave always exits safely with no effect, so low-INT cats can walk away without risk. Because the wish menu only opens on a rare success, sending your highest-INT cat is the only reliable way to actually interact with the paw.

The Four Wishes

Each wish delivers exactly what was asked for, along with a twisted consequence in true Monkey Paw fashion:

• Strength beyond your wildest dreams — The cat swells so large it can barely move. Grants the Gargantuan disorder: +10 Strength, +5 Constitution, -10 Speed, and the cat is permanently immobile in combat. Strong on defensive or ranged-support builds where immobility is acceptable; catastrophic on melee cats that need to close distance.
• Enhanced genes to become the perfect cat — The cat's DNA is scrambled into horrific concoctions. Grants the Tainted Genes disorder: gain a random mutation at the end of each battle, but when downed the corpse is destroyed (no revive, no breeding). The top pick for players farming mutations, provided the cat can stay upright.
• An immensely powerful item — A strong item materializes in front of the cat, which immediately discards the rest of its gear to wear the new piece. Grants the Sensory Overload disorder matching the granted item's slot (Weapon, Head, Face, Neck, or Trinket), locking the cat out of every other equipment slot for the rest of the run. Whether it is a win depends entirely on how strong the item rolls and how much gear you are sacrificing to wear it.
• Learn unfathomably powerful abilities — The cat's brain cells are overridden with new knowledge. Grants the Brain Dead disorder (-10 Intelligence, -5 Charisma, double stats per level up, +1 reroll on level up) and immediately levels the cat up twice. Excellent on non-INT builds that can stomach the charisma and intelligence hit in exchange for accelerated stat growth.

Strategy

Always examine with your highest-Intelligence cat, since only the rare success unlocks a wish. Match the wish to the recipient: a tanky ranged or summoner cat laughs off Gargantuan, a breeding-focused cat thrives on Tainted Genes, and a melee bruiser with low INT can absorb Brain Dead for the free level-ups. The item wish is the coin flip of the four, so pick it only when the cat's current gear is weak enough that a single powerful item is clearly worth being locked out of every other slot by Sensory Overload.

Because the paw only appears four times total before retiring for good, treat each encounter as a committed resource rather than a throwaway event.

Literary Reference

The event is a direct nod to W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw," in which a cursed talisman grants wishes at tragic cost. The game faithfully carries that theme: you get exactly what you asked for, and the paw makes sure you pay for it.