Is this possible?

[TCArknight]

In a game system I'm working on, a character purchases a "Tree" of abilities for their character. Abilities in the first row cost 2 points, second row 4 and the third row 8 points. An ability can appear on multiple trees, but if it's not considered a 'ranked' ability, then you pay for it once on one tree, and it becomes automatically selected on any other tree it's on.

I'm looking at this this way -
Tree component: name field, matrix field to hold the Thingids of the abilities on the tree in their positions, matrix field to hold the costs of the positions on the tree. Abilities available on the tree are bootstrapped to this component.
Leaves form: name field containing the name of the tree component that opened the form, portals for each position on the tree which will show information for the bootstrapped abilities

I've got a table on a tab that lists the selected Trees on the character. I want to have an edit button to display the Leaves form so that abilities can be chosen from it.

Are there any thoughts on how to do this? My first thought is to do it as a gizmo, but not sure how to tie everything together that way.....

Thanks in advance

[Mathias]

You don't say if there's a limit on the number of trees a character can select.

Are there any abilities that appear on different rows in different trees, or does the same ability appear on row 2 in all trees it appears on?

What does "ranked" mean vs. the abilities that appear on a tree?

There's no way you can bounce an ability down from one gizmo and then up into another. I'd look for solutions on the hero for all this before trying gizmos. This sounds like it can just be handled with prereqs.

[TCArknight]

Mathias, thanks for the quick response.

As long as the character has points to spend, they can buy multiple trees (each additional tree costs x more than the previous). An ability can appear on the 2 row on one tree, but on the 8 row for another (a combat ability on a combat tree vs. on a non-combat tree for example).

A 'ranked' ability is one that can appear multiple times, and would provide a particular bonus for each rank in the ability. For example, Toughness is a ranked ability. It can be on one tree in both a 2 row and 4 row, and in another on a 8 row. Each rank of toughness would provide +1 Health, so the one tree it could provide a Toughness 2 (and a +2 Health) if taken both times at a cost of 6 points. Then, if the other tree was bought, Toughness could be selected again for an additional rank for 8 more points. A non-ranked ability would be something like Acrobatic which would provide one bonus once to something. And any other tree that had Acrobatics would show it as already taken.

Does that help?

[Mathias]

Since there isn't a way to move an ability from one tree onto another tree automatically, would that affect things if those abilities just weren't shown? Or does that ability, when added to the trees other than where it was bought, alter the number of things you can select in that tree?

Also, are there any prereqs that couldn't be implemented if you couldn't show the abilities from one tree in all other trees? (remember that the abilities could be shown on the hero, so simple prereqs like "ability A required somewhere on the character" could still be implemented).

[TCArknight]

Yes, it would affect other trees. Each ability is linked to anywhere from none to all the ability around it. I think I have a good visual example.

Tree 1-
X X X
| |
X--X X
| | |
X--X--X


Tree 2-
X X X
| |
X--X X
| | |
X--X--X

The character has to have selected one of the abilities linked to it before they can select it. On the second tree, to get ability at 2,3 the abilities at 1,2; 2,2; 3,2; and 3,3 would have to be selected at a minimum.

[Mathias]

How are the costs of abilities applied? You mentioned that there's a cost to start a tree, but how are the costs of the individual abilities calculated?

One idea I have is to allow the user to add the same ability to as many trees as they want, but when all those abilities from all the trees are collected onto the character, any duplicates are hidden, and the cost of duplicates is only applied once.

So in this case, if the user added something to one tree that is allowed on other trees, it'd be up to the user to manually add it everywhere else it belongs.

[Mathias]

I'm also thinking that perhaps agent tabs could be used for this - think of a ranger/horizon walker in Pathfinder - the way the favored terrain options selected on one class would appear on both tabs.

[Mathias]

Here's an existing thread with some information on agent tabs: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthrea...ighlight=agent

[TCArknight]

Thanks Mathias!

I set things up with the agent, and now if I add a tree, I get the tree listed on one tab, and get an additional tab with the Tree name.

I figure I can layout the matrix portals, and control their visibility with one matrix, while another matrix will hold the status of the selected/not of the positions.

[Mathias]

In terms of how things get added, would it work to have several multi-column tables on each tab - one for each row?

That would allow you to add several picks at a time to a row, and if your table was sized such that it only showed one row high, and used a user-controlled sort order, they'd appear from left to right on the tab.

Then, to add things to another row, you'd add to the next table down.