GenAbility

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GenAbilities are abilities that are created virtually within CoffeeMUD. Before creating GenAbilities, you should be familiar with the [Builder's Guide] and the [Guide].

Creating GenAbilities

Creating GenAbilities Using the Command Line

To create an ability in-game, use the command CREATE ABILITY [ability_name].

To create a crafting skill, use the command CREATE CRAFTSKILL [ability_name].

To create a language skill, use the command CREATE LANGUAGE [language_name].

• [ability_name] should be very descriptive to the nature of the ability. For example, if you are creating an ability that only wolves would use, you may wish to name the ability Wolf_Rake. You will have an opportunity to provide a more user-friendly display name later. Uniqueness of this name is important for making help file entries.

Creating GenAbilities Using the MUDGrinder

Select the Abilities link in the main Grinder menu. Scroll to the bottom of the list in the Abilities Creator page and type your ability name in the appropriate skill type, then click the Create new (skill type) link to the left of the entry box you chose.

GenAbility Data

Ability/Skill name

This is the display name of the ability that players/mobs will use.

Type, Domain

The type of ability will determine where it appears on a player's abilities list, whether it is a chant, prayer, skill, song or spell. The Domain affects which expertises apply to it, as well as other domain-related affects.

• Do not put a space between the type and the domain, only place a comma between the two fields.
• The domain name should not have any spaces. Typically, an underscore is used between domains with multiple words, like nature_lore.
• Do not attempt to create new domains with this field. It does not work.

Command Words

This is the command you must state before specifying the ability name and target. For spells, this is CAST, CA, C. For properties, this field is blank. This field can be any command word desired, but may result in some conflicts within your mud when players are using socials or other commands of the same name as this field.

Minimum Range

The minimum range in which the mob must be to use the ability on the target. This is a descriptive list, with values of:

• Melee
• Close
• Short
• Medium
• Long
• Longer
• Longerstill
• Extremelylong
• Infinite

Maximum Range

The maximum range in which the mob must be to use the ability on the target. Maximum Range uses the same descriptive list as minimum range, and should be the same or further than Minimum Range.

Ticks Between Casts

This field determines the frequency in which the ability may be used. If set to 0, this ability may be used as frequently as commanded. Any positive integer will cause this ability to be unavailable for use until that number of ticks has gone by.

Duration Override

This field will override an ability's duration. Normally, abilities will last for a Standard Duration.

Affect String

This is the display players will see when using the AFFECTS or SCORE command for abilities that persist. Generally, the affect string should be enclosed in parentheses. This may be left blank if you do not desire a player to be able to detect the affect. Obvious affects (like paralysis, losing a limb, or having a horrid stench) should have an affect string. If the #Can Affect is not set properly, this field will not be used.

Is Auto-invoking

Whether this skill is automatically applied to a player as an affect when they learn the skill. If true, the ability will show no casting message, and proceed directly to affecthood.

Skill Flags

0 or more comma-delimited ability flags that describe the affects of your skill to the rest of the mud engine.

Override Cost

Designate the cost of using this skill in mana/movement/etc.

• A value of -1 means to use the default system as defined in your coffeemud.ini file.
• A value of 0 means its free.
• A value from 0-99999 means to always use that amount.
• A value of 2147483647 means to always use all of the mobs mana/move points.
• A value of 2147483647-100 to 2147483647 means to use that percentage of the mobs mana/move points.

Cost Type

This field allows you to determine what resource(s) are used to activate the ability for the assigned cost from the previous field. Mana is the default, but Movement, Hit Points or any combination of the three may be selected.

Attack-Type

An optional field for malicious skills. This is the Secondary Attack Type of the attack being made, where the Primary Attack Type is determined by the skill type (magic for spells, chants, prayers, etc). For instance, for a flame-shooting spell, FIRE would be an appropriate value.

Quiet Effect ID

This field can be used to provide the entire affect of an existing ability to this new ability, with all of the costs, messages, domains, etc determined by this ability instead of the Quiet Effect ID. In this fashion, you can rebrand an existing ability's affect. None of the messages from the Quiet Effect ID will be applied, including the #Affect String of the Quiet Effect ID (but this ability's affect string will apply).

Public Effects

This field allows you to add a semi-colon delimited list of ability affects to the new ability. All messages and affects will be displayed as if the Public Effects were each cast independently from the new ability.

Extra Castings

An optional semicolon delimited list of miscellanous skills or spells which will be invoked upon the target of this skill after all of the other above things have occurred. Enter ? or help on Prop_SpellAdder for more information on the syntax for this field.

Damage/Healing Formula

An optional formula describing either a range of damage or a range of healing which will be inflicted upon the target of this skill at invocation time. The syntax of this field is a formula. Use +-*/()?. @x1=caster level, @x2=target level. Formula evaluates >0 for damage, <0 for healing. Requires Can Target above! See help on MATH_FORMULA for more information on how to use this formula field.

Help Text

This field provides additional information from the HELP (ability_name) command to players. It should always start with the tag <ABILITY> and does not require a closing tag. It is also useful to add in any Usage and Example information to be consistent with other help files. To add these additional fields using the help text, include the field name and enough spaces to reach the tenth character, which should be a colon (:), then a space and your field information. For subsequent lines within the same field type, use a colon, eight spaces, a colon, a space, and subsequent text. Repeat for each additional field you wish to include. At the end of each field, include a carriage return or %0D to force the formatting. After including all of your field data, put in your abilities description to help players understand and use the ability.

Command Line Example 

<ABILITY>Usage : RAKE [TARGET NAME]%0DExample : rake orc%0DUsing his powerful hind-claws, a wolf may rake flesh from his opponent.

MUDGrinder Example 

<ABILITY>Usage : RAKE [TARGET NAME]
Example : rake orc
: : rake bob
Using his powerful hind-claws, a wolf may rake flesh from his opponent.

Notes

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