Need help with Cutlass Spider abilities

[Paris.Crenshaw]

I'm stumped on two things for the Cutlass Spider:

1) The Collapse ability grants bonuses to stealth. First, there's a +8 bonus when the spider is collapsed. Second, the bonus increases to +12 when the spider is collapsed in trash or debris.

My thinking was to use both activations and let the GM pick which of the two fits the situation.
Activation: "Collapsed (not in trash)" ... would give a +8 bonus
Activation #2: "Collapsed (in trash/debris)" ... would give a +12 bonus

I've got the activation working for the first part:

Phase: Pre-levels (users); Priority: 6000

      if (field[abilActive].value <> 0) then
        #skillbonus[skStealth] += 8
        endif

But I can't find the name of the field that will allow me to reference Activation #2. Where can I find info about the code needed to utilize both activations?

2) The Shared Enhancement ability allows the spider to incorporate a new magical weapon into its body and apply the enhancement bonus and special abilities of the most powerful weapon it has to its bite and leg attacks. My thinking was that I'd just provide an incrementer where the GM can enter the enhancement bonus from the current weapon, which would be added to the creature's bite and leg attacks. I have that part implemented and it works fine. I'm not sure if I can do anything about adding the magic weapon special abilities. I thought maybe allowing selection from a list of magic weapon special abilities using a custom expression, but I'm not sure if that's the best choice...or how to make that work if I did. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

 

[Paris.Crenshaw]

Anybody have any ideas on these?

For the shared enhancement ability, it would be cool to be able to equip the spider with a magical weapon and have the enhancement bonus and properties automatically transferred to the cutlass spider's bite and leg attacks. But I think that would be pretty complicated to code.

 

[Paris.Crenshaw]

I'll give this one more bump before putting the beasty to bed "as is."

Thanks!

 

[bodrin]

How about modifying the Broken equipment mechanic for the shared enhancement ability!
You could possibly recode the script to apply the greater modifier and bootstrap it onto your creature. Just a suggestion!

 

[Paris.Crenshaw]

That's a pretty good idea. I'll look into that. Thanks, Bodrin.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

But I can't find the name of the field that will allow me to reference Activation #2. Where can I find info about the code needed to utilize both activations?

The answer is abilAct2. Now to find this you go to Develop->Enable Data File Debugging. Then once the Race Thing is bootstrapped to the race add the race as a character. Then you can right click on the Racial Thing ? and select "Show Debug Fields for XXXX". Then you can turn the 2nd switch on and off and see what changes. Attached to this post is a image of the window you get for the debug fields.

So the full code is:

~ If first switch active give +8
If (field[abilActive].value <> 0) Then
   #skillbonus[skStealth] += 8
Endif

~ If second switch active give +12
If (field[abilAct2].value <> 0) Then
   #skillbonus[skStealth] += 12
Endif

2) The Shared Enhancement ability allows the spider to incorporate a new magical weapon into its body and apply the enhancement bonus and special abilities of the most powerful weapon it has to its bite and leg attacks. My thinking was that I'd just provide an incrementer where the GM can enter the enhancement bonus from the current weapon, which would be added to the creature's bite and leg attacks. I have that part implemented and it works fine. I'm not sure if I can do anything about adding the magic weapon special abilities. I thought maybe allowing selection from a list of magic weapon special abilities using a custom expression, but I'm not sure if that's the best choice...or how to make that work if I did. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

I have no real easy good thoughts on this. Honestly I think I would just leave the ability as text. So many possibilities exist for this and it grows with each book. Not including if the person is using any 3.5 books like the MIC which opens it up in the hundreds actually.

 

[Paris.Crenshaw]

Thanks, Shadow!!! I'm finally learning the power of (and how to use) those debugging tools. I really hadn't figured out which ones to use, until now.

I think you're right about the Shared Enhancement ability. I'm pretty happy with just having it manage the bonuses to leg and bite attacks, which it does well.