With every update to DF, it seems to get closer to MK's universe, doesn't it? With summoning and experiments, some more elements become viable.
This update makes a number of changes:
Many races behaviors have been tweaked in an effort to make the world much more prone to endless conflict. The effect is noticeable if you generate a world with only Kombat races, very often the population rises much more slowly than in vanilla DF, sometimes reaching year 100 without breaking 10000 historical figures in
a medium-sized world, because they kill each other so frequently. This makes worldgen run quite a bit faster, which is nice if you like generating long histories.
Many special racial abilities have been removed, notably the Edenian's Kiss of Death and the Outworlder's Brutal Strikes. These, along with many, many other abilities, have been turned into secret slabs instead. Not all of these secrets cause a name change to the creature, so although it is rare, it is not impossible to encounter a creature who secretly has a special ability! Be careful attacking nobles, you never know what powers they have up their sleeves. Secrets include:
Various elemental abilities (fire, wind, water, lightning, earth, etc.)
A "Dragon Warrior" secret that lets the user summon dragon-shaped flames
A "Secret of Godlike Strength" which boosts all physical stats, increases the creature's size slightly, massively increases their intimidation-related abilities and ego-related personality traits, and gives them a "ridicule" ability that lowers the target's focus, along with an insulting quote for flavor.
Babalities! Turn the enemy into a baby, well, shrinking them down and making them unable to speak at any rate. (And then smash the baby.)
Animality, transform into a random predator
Race change, that turns you into a random civilized race (basically the closest I could get to Shang Tsung's morph)
Brutalities, a passive effect where every time you manage to deal non-bruise damage with a regular punch or a kick (generally by breaking a bone), the target takes increased damage, and this effect compounds with every successful strike...after a few good consecutive hits letting you explode their torso with a punch.
Ninjas! Okay, it just grants a "hide" ability. And adds the name "ninja" because "dwarf ninja" is funny.
And more...
Among the secrets available are the secrets of automation and hybridization. These secrets do very little to the one who learns them, apart from making them immortal, but it also turns them into experimenters that can potentially create cyborgs and tarkatan hybrids from any other race (except tarkatans cannot become tarkatan hybrids, naturally). This is extremely rare, because experiment interactions are just that way. But it's a thing that can happen. Cyborgs are tougher, lack fear, pain, and emotion, and have the ability to self-destruct in prolonged battles. Tarkatan hybrids gain a power boost and big teeth, making their bite attacks much more dangerous.
Also, two secrets grant the ability to resurrect the dead as Revenants. Revenants are basically the same as they were in life, but gain a power boost and a significant personality change, making them much more vengeful, hateful, and aggressive.
Most Edenians now lack magical abilities, so a fight in an Edenian village doesn't turn into a magical firefight. Now only about 1 in 20 or so Edenians have a special ability. Normal Edenians have slightly higher stats than the magic ones though, and can enter combat trances. Also, Edenians now can create artifacts.
Outworlders are no longer babysnatching dark fortress dwellers. That role has been taken by Oni, who are less prone to overpopulating than goblins, but are also far more physically imposing individually. Oni have EXTREMELY high aggression and activity level, forcing you to fight almost constantly if you play as one. They come in four varieties: normal, one-horned, two-horned, and winged. Oni also have the unique property that, if they learn the secrets of soul stealing or the secrets of the netherrealm, they transform into "Demon Sorcerers". Not DF demons, but human-sized creatures with much higher stats, and their personalities become more managable. Oni also transform into "Demon Thralls" if they are resurrected as Revenants.
As for Outworlders themselves, they get some new pets, like the gigantic Tormentors and the fierce Taigores. This helps them win battles more reliably in worldgen, and if you play as an Outworlder, you can even claim them as pets! Might be somewhat overpowered, heh heh...
Gods (and goddesses) now take human form and descend into the world! (Technically they are semimegabeasts.) There are several different kinds, like thunder gods, fire gods, wind gods, war gods, love gods, time gods... They will sometimes become the rulers of civilizations. In theory, they should be able to write down secrets, though I haven't actually seen this happen... Oh, and there's also a Death God that can sometimes spawn from an underworld spire. Death Gods can innately produce Revenants and can turn Oni into Demon Thralls.
Kytinn have their own civ now...although they are their own worst enemies, often fighting neighboring Kytinn hillocks. They are very hostile towards outsiders, and though the majority are relatively weak males that are only dangerous in large numbers, the Hive Queens are quite dangerous on their own. They can spawn bugs, sting, and spray resin webs.
And finally, Naknada have been added as item thieves.