Any thoughts about overall strength or weakness versus other classes? At times I'm bashing monsters in the head and thinking "this is too easy!" Then I face something that I can't melee and it's just awful. Obviously the stealth penalty demands increased slaying ability as well.

That was pretty much the plan, right?

Well it's no accident! :) But I'm wondering where the class ranks in total strength.

I think that the power curve of the class was nicely designed. The only thing I would change is the "return" statement in the code I posted a couple of days ago related to bloodlust. At first I didnt knew what the game was doing. As the BG is so strong the monsters get killed before noticing this "lock", but when fighting a strong unique, as Ungoliant, its kind of a dangerous situation.

Other than that, the BG feels strong enough. Great job!

It should give you the message "You angrily lash out at a nearby foe!"

Yes, but you lose the ability to use the inventory. I would soft that a bit. Perhaps it shouldn't do that twice in a row.

EDIT: the extra hit is nice, but it should allow command execution.

Just few cents from my wallet of feedback:

Detect life: Without Detect Evil or ESP, blackguard is vulnerable against undead and demons. It's good enough but not super reliable for survival. Levels after >30 really started to bug me, because I had not HoldLife atm.

Leap into battle: Very good spell, didn't feel overpowered.

Berserk: It brings what it is supposed to deliver. I also liked that the healing it gave was really modest and didn't affect HP if recast (as far as I remember).

Maim: Very good even though Wand of Stun Monster does the same. Well, the wand doesn't damage monster ofc, but ability stun from range is strong as f.

Whirlwind: Was ok. Fast popcorn remover. Should've probably used it more but I still avoid open space fights.

ImpHP: I don't remember if I got Regen early but I could live with this surprisingly well.

Stealth penalty: Makes things harder, as it should. Sneaking is possible but requires loads of +stealth items.

Werewolf: Great ability. Was my go-to melee damage buff towards the end.

Bloodlust: Extremely strong but hazardous. Hard to state an clarified opinion, because I don't know exactly what are all the risks Bloodlust carries.

EDIT: short stun monster vs maim clarification

If you or anyone else wants to send me PMs I'd be grateful for the info.

Had this as "smell fear" for a while and it was intended to pick up all fearable monsters, alive or dead. Any better or worse in your opinion?
Recasting does heal. It heals at most 10% of damage at 10 max SP or less.

You won with at least one Blackguard, right?

Thanks for the feedback!!

Noticing that my hardest fights now are with undead who can drain life. I now have the Unholy Reprieve spell so that can restore Exp but it's expensive and fails often. Trying to figure out what I'll need to fight deeper undead, including the Ringwraiths. Right now I'm using rods of Light to soften up the lower level 'L's and 'W's before moving in for the kill.