Creature

Autobalance

Autobalance dictates the difficulty of the creature by scaling the creature's abilities to the Adventure Level that is required for the creature. The designer chooses a category and the game engine will then balance the creature appropriately. A 10th-level gimp will be more powerful than a 1st-level gimp but will still be relatively interesting for a 10th-level adventurer to fight (whereas fighting the 1st level creature with a 10th-level character would be boring).

Note: If you choose Do_Not_Autobalance, the creature will come into the world exactly as implemented in the creature editor (i.e., without spells and such because the package system does nothing for them, see below).

Packages

Package dictates the creature's theme and affects the creature's difficulty by customizing its repertoire of capabilities.

The packages are used to dictate what kind of spell/talent lists you want your creatures to have. You do not explicitly give spells or talents to creatures; the system decide which ones are appropriate for it to have based on difficulty settings (Difficulty) and the Package. While Packages are not intended to influence the difficulty of a creature (that is what Autobalance, above, is responsible for) different spell lists will be more or less powerful depending on the situation. A healing package, while useful in a group, would make for a weaker one-on-one opponent than a bloodmage package. Generally you choose the Package to fit the theme of the creature.

If you do not select a package type, you can set abilities explicitly by using the "Skills", "Spells" and "Talents" fields. These fields are only available when a package has not been set.

Appearance

To add new appearance types to the game you'll need to edit some 2DAs generated from the APR_base.xls file.

See also: Morphs

Inventory

Each item can have the following properties set:

• Slot - Sets whether the creature has equipped the item. "Not equipped" leaves the item in the general inventory, "Main" puts the item into the creature's main hand, and "off-hand" puts the item into the creature's off hand.
• Set - Items that are part of a set are meant to be given as a group. !!This is handled in the giving/taking script?!!
• StackSize - how many copies of this item are present in a stack
• Droppable - a checkbox that indicates whether the item is dropped when the creature is killed
• Stealable - a checkbox that indicates whether the item can be stolen from the creature

For automatically-generated treasure, see the treasure system.

Perception

Values are:

• PerceptRngLng
• PerceptRngMed
• PerceptRngShrt
• PerceptRngMonster
• PerceptRngPlayer
• PerceptRngCrowd
• PerceptRngLargeCreature
• PerceptRngDefault

"Plot" markers

Icons can be shown floating over the heads of certain creatures to draw the player's attention to them and indicate that they've got some sort of plot importance. To toggle the "plot" icon, use the script function

WR_TogglePlotIcon(object oCreature, int nActive);

in the "wrappers_h" include file.

Variables

AI_BALLISTA_SHOOTER_STATUS	int	When set to AI_BALLISTA_SHOOTER_STATUS_AVAILABLE, will try to move to nearby available ballistae and fire them. Set to AI_BALLISTA_SHOOTER_STATUS_INACTIVE to disable. This variable is modified by the ai_ballista_h script to keep track of ballista-related activities while active.
AI_CUSTOM_AI_ACTIVE	int	Set via the CAI_SetCustomAI function (include cai_h in your script for custom AI support.)
AI_CUSTOM_AI_VAR_FLOAT	float	A float value that can be used by custom AI scripts for any purpose.
AI_CUSTOM_AI_VAR_INT	int	An int value that can be used by custom AI scripts for any purpose.
AI_CUSTOM_AI_VAR_STRING	string	A string value that can be used by custom AI scripts for any purpose
AI_DISABLE_PATH_BLOCKED_ACTION	int
AI_FLAG_PREFERS_RANGED	int
AI_FLAG_STATIONARY	int
AI_HELP_TEAM_STATUS	int
AI_LAST_TACTIC	int
AI_LIGHT_ACTIVE	int
AI_MOVE_TIMER	int
AI_TARGET_OVERRIDE_DUR_COUNT	int
AI_THREAT_HATED_CLASS	int	Used by target selection AI (ai_threat_h) to weight target selection in favor of a particular class
AI_THREAT_HATED_GENDER	int	Used by target selection AI (ai_threat_h) to weight target selection in favor of a particular gender
AI_THREAT_HATED_RACE	int	Used by target selection AI (ai_threat_h) to weight target selection in favor of a particular race
AI_THREAT_SWITCH_TIMER	int
AI_THREAT_SWITCH_TIMER_MIN	int
AI_WAIT_TIMER	int
AMBIENT_*		see Ambient behaviour
BASE_GROUP	int
COMBAT_LAST_WEAPON	int
CREATURE_COUNTER_1 to 3	int
CREATURE_DO_ONCE_A and B	int
CREATURE_LYRIUM_USE	int
CREATURE_REWARD_FLAGS	int
CREATURE_RULES_FLAG0	int
CREATURE_SPAWNED	int
CREATURE_SPAWN_COND	int
CREATURE_SPAWN_DEAD	int	When set to 1 the creature is spawned in a dead state. If it's set to 2, the creature is spawned feigning death, but can get up and fight the character with the help of UT_CombatStart() or UT_TeamGoesHostile() (set such creatures to be part of a non-hostile group, otherwise the feigning won't be very effective and the player can walk over and kill them while they lie there snarling ineffectually)
CREATURE_SPAWN_HEALTH_MOD	float	What proportion of the creature's health it starts out with (0 to 1)
DEBUG_TRACKING_POS	float
DEBUG_TRACKING_POS_Y	float
FLAG_STOLEN_FROM	int	see Treasure system
FOLLOWER_SCALED	int
GO_HOSTILE_ON_PERCEIVE_PC	int
IS_SUMMONED_CREATURE	int
PHYSICS_DISABLED	int
RUBBER_HOME_ENABLED	int	When true, the "rubberband home" system will cause the creature to return to its home location in various circumstances.
RUBBER_HOME_LOCATION_X, Y and Z	float	Defaults to the location that the creature is initially placed on the level. The home location is updated after any QuickMove or LocalJump command.
SHOUTS_ACTIVE	int
SHOUTS_DELAY	float
SHOUTS_DIALOG_OVERRIDE	resource
SOUND_SET_FLAGS_0 to 2	int
SPAWN_HOSTILE_LYING_ON_GROUND	int
STAT_CRIT	int
STAT_DMG	int
STAT_HIT	int
STAT_MISS	int
SURR_DIALOG_OVERRIDE	resource
SURR_INIT_CONVERSATION	int	If this is true, creature will initiate conversation with the player upon surrendering. Automatically set to false after the conversation initiates.
SURR_PLOT_FLAG	int	Flag within SURR_PLOT_NAME that is set to true when the creature surrenders.
SURR_PLOT_NAME	string	Plot whose flag defined in SURR_PLOT_FLAG. If blank, no flag will be set.
SURR_SURRENDER_ENABLED	int	Allows the creature to surrender instead of fighting to the death. 0 disables surrendering, 1 enables surrendering. This variable will be set to 2 while the creature is actually in the act of surrendering.
TS_OVERRIDE_*		see Treasure system
TS_TREASURE_GENERATED	int

Properties

⊟	General
	Character	One or more creatures can be mapped to a single character resource. This resource determines which FaceFX appearance is used when editing the creature's facial performance.
	Class
	Comments	General information about this creature.
	Conversation	the default conversation resource for this creature.
	Copper	The amount of money the creature is carrying. The game will display money as "gold", "silver" and "copper" values based on the value entered here.
	Description	Description of the creature as seen in the game
	DescriptionRequiresReTranslation	A flag used during game development for keeping track of localization work
	Gender	can be male, female, or neutral
	Group	The creature's group as specified in groups.2da. Each group can be either hostile or non-hostile towards each other. See creature groups for more detail.
	Interactive	if set to true, the creature can be clicked on. If set to false, the creature can not be clicked on.
	Inventory	Determines what the creature is carrying. Items are taken from the item palette. See the Inventory section for more detail.
	Name	Name of the creature as seen in the game
	NameRequiresReTranslation	A flag used during game development for keeping track of localization work
	PerceptionRange	determines how far the creature can detect things in the world around it.
	Plot Giver	Puts a glowing exclaimation mark over the creature's head to attract the player's attention.
	Race	Certain races have bonuses to various attributes, restrictions on classes, and so forth, as defined in various 2das. race/race.2da contains a list of available races.
	Resource Name	A unique string identifier the toolset and the game both use to refer to this resource.
	Tag	A non-unique string identifier used mostly by scripts and other resources to refer to this resource.
	Team	A numeric tag. All creatures with the same team number belong to the same team, which is often used in scripting plot-related events.
	Variable 2da	Allows selection of a variable table. Only the values in the table can be set and retrieved by scripting.
	Variables	Displays the table selected in the variable 2da field. Allows initial values to be defined.
⊟	Abilities
	Skills	Selecting this property opens a skill selection list where you can add any number of pre-defined skill levels to the creature.
	Spells	Similar to the Skills property, but for spells.
	Talents	Similar to the Skills and Spells properties, but for talents.
⊟	AI
	Script	The script that controls this creature's behavior. Defaults to creature_core.
⊟	Appearance
	Appearance	Base appearance type for the creature. Can be a full body, or a base body in which other parts can be added (hair, head, and eyes)
	Art Fidelity	This field is primarily used by art leads to determine which characters need additional work.
	Beard
	Body Tint
	Body Tint Mask
	Eye Color
	Eyes	Available for some appearance types, allows selecting different eye models
	Hair	Available for some appearance types, allows selecting different eye models
	Hair Color
	Head	Available for some appearance tupes, allows selecting different head models
	Head Morph	Specifies the head morph to use for this creature. See morph.
	Head Tint
	Head Tint Mask
	Skin Color
⊟	Package/Scaling
	General Package Type
	Max Level	The maximum level of the creature in the selected Class.
	Min Level	The minimum level opf the creature in the selected Class.
	Package	Used for AI and the scaling system. A package will also pick the default stat values for a creature (attributes and resistances)
	Package AI	The name of the selected AI Package 2DA that contains the tactics table.
	Rank	A general difficulty level used by the autoscaling system
	Treasure Category	Determines what kinds of treasure is generated by the treasure generation system when the creature is killed.
⊟	Special
	Creature type	Combatant/Non-Combatant
	Immortal	if true, the creature can not get below 1hp and die.
	No Permanent Death	e.g., party members ('dead' party members get up again after combat unless the whole party is wiped out).
	Plot	If true, the creature cannot be damaged or affected by any hostile effect.