Offhand Weaponry (Weapon pack)

Discussion in 'Modding' started by Alistaire, Oct 28, 2014.

  1. Alistaire

    Alistaire Member

    [​IMG] Version b1.0 (beta)

    This mod adds a new Offhand weapon class and four subclasses to the game.
    The mod is currently in beta! This means that the mod has not been thoroughly playtested and that you're more than welcome to post any issues you might have with the mod in its current state.

    Includes:

    b1.0 _ 44 Offhand weapons: 13 Claws, 12 Crosses, 8 Defenders and 11 Lanterns.

    Downloads:

    Offhand Weaponry b1.0 on Dropbox

    The beta is also attached to this post.
    b1.0 is the latest version! (Offhand_Weaponry_b1_0.zip)


    Hope you like the mod!
    ~Alistaire
     

    Attached Files:

    Vitellozzo likes this.
  2. Vitellozzo

    Vitellozzo Member

    I'll test it now... I hope it will not corrupt my other save!
    :edit: question: could I find something in the first level or must I play a long run to find something?
    Also: should I uncheck other mods?
     
  3. Alistaire

    Alistaire Member

    Level 1 has a Wooden Cross and a Gimlet Knife, both with targetHitEffectBuffs.
    Level 2 has a Stone Cross, Crude Iron Claw, Black Jack and Torch which are all in a different category.

    There are about as many Offhand weapons in every category as there are tomes in the base game, so you'll probably find them quite frequently.

    It should work alongside other mods, but if there's any problem you could post it of course.
     
  4. Vitellozzo

    Vitellozzo Member

    I just lost my vampiric character on level three, and I've didn't encountered any of yours.
    But I was punished, since I ran a NTTG game. My bad.
    I'll make a normal run without any mod, to ensure I'll find those!
    Anyway, it seems it doesn't corrupt anything with the mods I'm using, so there is the first thumb up. :upvote:
     
  5. Vitellozzo

    Vitellozzo Member

    Sorry for the double post but it helps keep track of activities better than edit older posts: I've encountered on the first level the crude iron claw but it seems I cannot understand it's power.
    If it's a targetHitEffectBuffs it seems it either don't trigger any name (I cannot remember if items show procs names) or it's just a big damage so I just kill things better. Behing a full wizard (plus werediggle) build I haven't encountered any problem in melee so it could be this case... But still players will never know this if not very very eye-sharp.
    You could add a false debuff just to let people know of this effect being procced.
    Or I just misunderstood the whole item.
    :edit: I've just encountered a wooden cross! More test ensured!
     
  6. Alistaire

    Alistaire Member

    The claw's combo hits are supposed to be targetHitEffectBuffs which deal :dmg_slashing: damage plus :dmg_piercing: damage scaled off of :crit:. Some claws would be exceptions and deal other kinds of damage, scaled off of :edr: or so.

    Having said that, I didn't finish that system yet because I have to make some more claw hit animations.

    -

    Claws in b1.0 are basically swords with +:crit: and -:block:.

    Crosses are more like orbs lite with a playerHitEffectBuff which triggers some light flash, blinding enemies and dealing :dmg_righteous:.

    Torches are really interesting I think. They have :sight: and counter the negative sight buffs on some heavy helmets. They lower :sneakiness: and increase :edr: too, and they have targetHitEffectBuff setting enemies On Fire(!). They're for characters without perception and for rogues and dagger builds in general, to add :dmg_conflagratory: to the amazingly weak :dmg_piercing: damage on daggers.

    Defenders are Dual Wielding / Assasination lite, adding several playerHitEffectBuffs and targetHitEffectBuffs. They are also like weaker (or sometimes much stronger) daggers with :block:.
     
  7. Vitellozzo

    Vitellozzo Member

    Nice ideas then, just try to not being too generous with stat bonuses... take in mind that if your offhand items have those skills, the vanilla offhand are:
    Shields, with just defensive stats
    Orbs, with the most stats in general, going only in that direction for the whole orb group
    Tomes, which add little stats and triggers
    Now, if you put triggers on, you should give less stats than a orb.

    Anyway, I don't have clear what defenders are like: Daggers? Off hand items?

    Please, balance is a big matter which can alter how a mod is seen by players. Adding variety shouldn't make the game simpler, just wider (I'm saying that because the wooden cross seemed to me too similar to an orb, but if it gives you stats AND a trigger it should be weaker than similar orbs).

    Aside from that... do you need animations for claws? You could use something similar to
    pokemon stuff:
    [​IMG]
    but yeah, since it's a free mod you can even use this direct image and no one can say anything.
     
  8. Alistaire

    Alistaire Member

    I'm unsure about the current stats, for sure. It's just hard to show a player that the weapon is, indeed, not what it looks like! I take it people equip weapons based on their stats, and if I lower the stats a lot on them one wouldn't equip it at all, even though for example a Torch is practically better than a Bronze Dagger.
    If I could show the player that my items are actually competition to their gear and not obvious downgrades, I'd decrease stats by a fair bit on the items for sure.

    Defenders are things in your off hand. The idea came from Runescape (again), where there are defenders in Bronze to Rune (and Dragon in RS3) variants. They function like an extra damage dealer, greatly increasing strength bonuses. In DoD you can, however, dual wield almost everything. The defender is supposed to be the damage dealing alternative for when you don't have dual wielding.
    Defenders take little skill to wield and throw a hit in every once in a while, increasing damage dealt somewhat. I included some more low skill weapons, including a Deringer, because DoD is not really into reskins of the same weapon (Bronze to Dragon defenders).
    Some defenders are used solely for defending, such as the Parrying Dagger. They add the targetHitEffectBuffs from Dual Wielding, making it possible to Dual Wield Lite on a character without the skill, or Dual Wield Plus on a character with the skill.

    I figured the shield slot was used for tomes and orbs (exist in Runescape) so I came up with defenders (Runescape) and lanterns (some dungeoncrawlers have this), crosses (generic paladin class item) and claws (exotic weapons in several RPGs).
    If you read ItemDB.xml you'll get some spoilers on other weapon classes I'm still thinking out. They're getting pretty crazy.

    I've considered adding defenders to the Daggers weapon class, might do that if I feel like it.
     
    Vitellozzo likes this.
  9. Vitellozzo

    Vitellozzo Member

    I'll wait some defenders before judging if those should be daggers (since they seems like them!) or just offhand so one could become a little dual wielder... but pay in mind that dual wield is a pretty powerful skill, so there shouldn't be items that emulate that.

    Also, item descriptions should be at least a little informative about the spells of that item, since it's the sole option the player has to see what the item is about. Or you could add those false debuffes, so players see procs suddenly on enemies and they can work their mind on understanding that.

    Aside from that, I want to see the least possible in the xml, but since I'm playtesting this I think I'm gonna go over there sooner or later.
    Anyway, if you mantain your standards in a vanilla-balanced mod, this can be just great as it is.

    :edit: I've come across a Fish Cross and, sooner or later, even a Ankh Cross. I just loved the fishy one for the damage proc, but I feared for the evolution of bonuses. But, after seeing the ankh in a shop, with that little bonus, I got more secure about the whole balance thing.
    Very, very good.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2014
  10. Alistaire

    Alistaire Member

    For the TF2 Mod I made the Demoman's Caber, a held handgrenade. I gave it an explosion damage proc and, during playtesting, really fell in love with it. It just looks great to have something explode whenever you attack, and I think the cross weapons are really a great example of that, at the moment.

    The Fish Cross slipped in because the fishes in the game have a description mentioning the Watery Word. I just can't let such an opportunity pass.

    Also, thanks a lot for playtesting my mod! It's really appreciated, and, of course, I'll be using the feedback for the Steam Workshop release.
     
  11. Vitellozzo

    Vitellozzo Member

    Yeah, it's always fun to have triggers on hits that proc aoe damage - a different way to say explosions at hands.

    Thanks to you too for modding my game!