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How to implement this - a learning mechanic?


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#1 temnix

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Posted 21 March 2017 - 06:51 AM

This is a long shot, but it would make certain spells much more interesting... In my Phantasmal Force I let the player choose from xvarts, bandits or bats to "summon." The "creatures" are, of course, created, not called from anywhere, so the caster can decide what to put on the stage. I had to dance around to make sure this really works differently from a basic summons, and I finally got it all to work. But now it occurs to me that it would be more exciting if the player had to learn about different creatures from experience, out in the world, instead of or perhaps in addition to the basic selection. After all, illusions need to be convincing, and how is one to know what an ogre looks like after growing up a shut-in in Candlekeep?

 

How could this learning be done? I think being around a creature of a type, let it be an ogre, for some minimum time, and close enough, within a short range, to study him, could set a Global, and with that Global it might be possible to change the available creatures menu. It's the first part that intrigues me. Any ideas about how that could be done? With a timer?



#2 temnix

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Posted 23 March 2017 - 09:31 AM

By way of an update of an idea. It would take too much effort to implement this as written for a spell - the sheer number of icons that would have to be drawn for all the monsters, for one thing - but I know how to go around the 2DA limitation. I mean, if a spell lets you choose from several options with that Select Spell mechanic, then the selection is fixed. It's just what in that 2DA. Even if a character were to spend some time around, say, an ogre, learn about ogres with a timer or something else, and a Global was set, there is still no way to use a Global to change available spell options. You can't give a different 2DA based on a Global, much less a combination for all of the different studied monsters. But if the spell options were instead to appear in Special Abilities or Spell Slots, not in a 2DA, then it would be possible. Like so:

 

First spell is a shell that summons an invisible NPC who checks for Globals like KNOWS_OGRES etc., down the list. Then it puts the corresponding spells in Special Abilities / Spell Slots of LastSummoner.

 

This could be useful for other things, too, like bards learning about something out in the world. Songs, stories, with an impact on abilities.


Edited by temnix, 23 March 2017 - 09:37 AM.