Talk:Lost Sinner/@comment-4511886-20140814103354/@comment-5264386-20140814105552

No, the same thing happened to me when I used an Ascetic to get the Old Witch Soul (and hence Flame Weapon) early. As a result, I'd say that an Ascetic sets the stats of all enemies past that bonfire to the next NG+ level, whilst not altering most environmental factors, such as spawning of red phantom enemies or iron chests (wooden chests do get reset, though).