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Repentance · Pickups, pills and exceptions
Seeing an item, picking it up, using a pill and keeping a trinket are different actions. Learn what advances a transformation and what can undo the setup.
Transformations add effects to the current run. They are separate from permanent character unlocks and the completion marks recorded after defeating bosses. Use the set database for qualifying contributors, then check the action you are about to take here.
Fifteen reviewed examples
Choose a topic and an action. The before-and-after states belong to that example. This reference does not read your save or count your current run.
The pickup counts
You have one eligible book recorded, then pick up The Bible for the first time. It contributes another Bookworm piece.
In a Library, compare the books before deciding which active to keep. You do not need to activate a book to pick it up.
Useful set-building habits
Pick up qualifying active books, then keep the one you prefer. The ordinary swap preserves the contribution, but repeatedly picking up the same book does not supply three pieces.
Compare the book effects before using a pedestal reroll. You may want both the progress and a different active for the next boss.
Every Bookworm contributor →Guppy's Head can be swapped away after pickup. Kid's Drawing supplies a piece while held; if it is your necessary third piece, dropping it loses Guppy.
Check the other pieces before giving up the trinket. New passive copies can count in Repentance, but touching the same dropped active is not another acquired piece.
Every Guppy contributor →Adult comes from three Puberty uses. Carrying a pill does not advance the recipe, and its color is not a fixed Puberty identifier across runs.
Use the effect entry to identify what you learned. A stronger-looking horse pill should be checked against its own effect description rather than assumed to double every rule.
Pill identification and variants →Stompy takes three qualifying size-up counts. Repeated One Makes You Larger effects can contribute, while shrinking does not erase the counts. Leo already crushes rocks before the full transformation.
Read the qualifying recipe rather than counting every item that makes Isaac look larger. Watch for explosive obstacles when using a crushing effect.
Stompy sources and exceptions →Bum Friend, Dark Bum and Key Bum form the recipe. Extra copies of only one kind do not replace a missing member. Dark Bum supplied by Cambion Conception does not count as the collectible pickup.
Check which member you still need and which resources the fusion will collect before making the final pickup.
Super Bum recipe and rewards →Before changing the inventory
The D6 changes items on pedestals. Rerolling an untouched contributor does not mean you acquired it. Compare that choice with the progress you could gain by picking it up.
The D4 replaces held passives. Required pieces can be removed, and a transformation can be lost in Repentance. Recheck the result instead of treating every completed set as permanent.
Tainted Isaac retains ordinary transformation progress when replacing a passive through his inventory limit. Super Bum is an exception: its three contributors must be in his inventory together.
With Jacob and Esau, do not assume passing one active back and forth awards both characters a piece. In Repentance, the first character to pick up an item receives its transformation credit.
Reviewed October 7, 2026 for Repentance 1.7.9b. Repentance+ and mods can differ. These are selected examples, not a complete inventory simulator. Set memberships reuse the mined tags and explicit recipes. Gameplay behavior is checked separately. Original item and pill sprites are reused; pill artwork illustrates an appearance, not a permanent color-to-effect key.
Learn unusual inventories, resources, combat and survival systems through 34 illustrated guides and 102 before-and-after examples.
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