Alright, I'm hitting a brick wall again. Any suggestions would be beneficial.

I'm trying to alter and/or place affects on NPC's within a game/plug-in(should be the same method). Here is my wishing, all would be done via a spell that would affect a single target:

1. Adjust the NPC's speed/strength/whatever. -- I know of no way to do this.

2. Adjust the NPC's line of sight(effectively "blinding him" to the character). -- Again I know of no way to do this.

3. Teleport the NPC away from the character. -- I think I can do this one currently, but it depends on whether the "Cast" events are triggered before or after the target is selected(for those unfamiliar with how target-selected spells work, you cast the spell then click on the target, and then the spell goes off. I'm just not sure if the cast event goes off upon clicking the cast button, or if it waits and goes off after the target is selected...). Anyways, I think I can use the &&ActualX; and &&ActualY; globals, assuming the target is selected first, because upon selecting the NPC those globals should be set... should be. heh.

Thats about it at the moment. I can't really see any way to affect NPC's directly, and this is a fairly big thing, in my opinion. If I've missed something, please advise me.

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"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect
it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

Everything I've seen sofar affecting the 'built-in' variables seems to work by replacing the npc.
It is a big thing.

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Unless I'm missing something here, you should be able to do #1 fairly simply. For this first part I'll assume you want this to be done by the player casting a spell. First create a new spell, and set targets to 'single character.' Then pop into statistic modifiers and gve what you want a negative value.

Now, if you're trying to do this as an event, you could do the following: create Monster X, and give him 'Aggresive caster' A.I. He will be hostile. Create spell X, which has targets as 'allies', reduces stats temporarily, and deletes Monster X upon casting. No graphics are needed for any of this, in fact invisibility is a must. Have your event call up Monster X within range of combat when you want the monster's to be modified. That should work well, except it would affect multiple creatures. Oh well. I also don't know about 2 & 3.

Random thought: If a spell you cast reduces a monster's stamina to 0, does he become friendly? And if so, are you screwing yourself if you need to kill it in order to win?

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"Are you a story-teller, Thomas Covenant?"
"I was, once."
"And you gave it up? That is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
-Stephen Donaldson

Quote

Originally posted by -LethaLGraphiX-:
Everything I've seen sofar affecting the 'built-in' variables seems to work by replacing the npc.

Which I'm sure you've deduced as I have that this isn't a realistic scenario if you would like to have several altering abilities. For instance, if I wanted 3 spells; one to affect strength(or damage if I wanted to do it directly), 1 for speed, and one for line of sight. Then I would have to make a stock NPC, and I would need to make an NPC for the strength mod, a seperate one for just the speed mod, one for strength AND speed mod, etc etc.

In other words, a whole lot of work instead of having globals. Hopefully something will be done to add this feature.

Thanks for confirming what I figured. Hrmph.

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"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect
it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

Quote

Originally posted by Celchu:
Unless I'm missing something here, you should be able to do #1 fairly simply. For this first part I'll assume you want this to be done by the player casting a spell. First create a new spell, and set targets to 'single character.' Then pop into statistic modifiers and gve what you want a negative value.

Attribute wizard isn't caster-specific? I figured it was... ie, if I put an attribute wizard into a spell that was target-selected, even though I selected an NPC the attribute wizard would still affect the player...

Well, if it works this way then #1 is licked.

Thanks, I'll test that.

------------------
"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect
it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

off the top of my head, I'd say I've spoken too early
kudos to Celchu

Then again I have seen those spells used too little... not a good excuse, I know.

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Unfortunately it is a no-go.

I attempted to utilize the attribute wizard, but as the manual states, the attribute wizard sets the player's stats only. It won't touch an NPC's stats.

Also, my idea on teleporting the NPC won't work either, as the change global event will not change &&ActualY; nor &&ActualX.; And map position change will only change the player's position, not the NPC's.

So at this point I'm stuck. Hrmph.

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"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect
it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

Where does this say that?

on page one of the spells editor

"the target type allowed:
Caster...
Allies (!!!!) ..
Enemies...
Single character..."

on page two:

"All the modifications will be directly applied to the target's statistics during a specific number of turn... "

Nothing there about player stats only. Then again that is the only mention of 'allied' characters i've ever seen, never noticed that upto now.

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Quote

Originally posted by -LethaLGraphiX-:
Where does this say that?

Well, the spell info does say it will apply the effects to the target. HOWEVER, that is in direct contradiction to the actual definitions of the events. I refer you to page 39 of the CGE manual, under the heading for the Attribute Wizard:

Quote

From page 39 of CGE manual, italics added for emphasis: **
Changes the value of one of the player's attributes...**

This is what I was referring to when I said that the manual states that the attribute wizard only affects the player. And if you stick an attribute wizard into the spell event, even if you have a target specified, the attribute wizard affects the player.

I think the fix would be to create an NPC attribute wizard and an NPC map position function, so that you could have a spell that can affect both the target(loaded into the NPC calls) as well as the caster. Such as say, drain 2 speed from the target and give it to the caster for a short duration.

(edit) Added italics (/edit)
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"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect
it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992

(This message has been edited by Stark Bledfast (edited 07-23-2002).)

1- we're startign to sound like" absolute geeks here.
2-I've given up waiting on a patch

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Quote

Originally posted by Stark Bledfast:
**Attribute wizard isn't caster-specific? I figured it was... ie, if I put an attribute wizard into a spell that was target-selected, even though I selected an NPC the attribute wizard would still affect the player...
**

Maybe I'm missing something, but why use an attribute wizard? Why not use the spell's "Statistics Modifiers" to affect the NPC directly?

Also, a wild guess with regard to changing the LOS for an NPC: Spells let you change all of the target's stats, including those (wisdom, vitality, karma, luck) which NPCs don't actually have. If you're really lucky, maybe Dee just renamed those variables for the NPC and put them to different use. That is, maybe changing, say, "wisdom" of an NPC might change its morale? :crosses fingers:

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Who are the people most opposed to escapism? Jailors! - C.S. Lewis
I'm a heterosexual white American male - if only I were Christian too, I'd be the ultimate oppressor of all that is right and just in this world.

Quote

Originally posted by Glenn:
**Maybe I'm missing something, but why use an attribute wizard? Why not use the spell's "Statistics Modifiers" to affect the NPC directly?
**

Exactly. Stark, I was wondering why you were talking about the attribute wizard. My method uses no events whatsoever for the first step.

------------------
"Are you a story-teller, Thomas Covenant?"
"I was, once."
"And you gave it up? That is as sad a tale in three words as any you might have told me. But a life without a tale is like a sea without salt. How do you live?"
-Stephen Donaldson

Ooooh, THAT stat modifier. Oh yeah, that works just fine.

Ok, so, 1 down and 2 to go.

Any suggestions on relocating an NPC's position on the map?

Thanks

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"Usenet is like a herd of performing elephants with diarrhea --
massive, difficult to redirect, awe-inspiring, entertaining, and a
source of mind-boggling amounts of excrement when you least expect
it." -- Gene Spafford, 1992