Random values for attributes in the combatants list

[Phergus]

The creatures and monsters in DragonQuest, and some other RPGs, don't have a single value for their various attributes. As an example:

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The attributes for a pegasus
PS: 55-60 MD: 15-17 AG: 15-18 MA: None
EN: 25-30 FT: 50-60  WP: 19-23 PC: 16-20
PB: 16-20 TMR: 6/10 NA: Hide absorbs 3 DP

So I was thinking about how this might be handled in the XML combatants file. Obviously I can put the min and max values for each attribute into the list but that isn't particularly useful as instead of having a specific value listed for the combatant in the encounter it will just have a bunch of ranges.

Ideally the value for Physical Strength (PS) could be entered as 54+1d6, Manual Dexterity (MD) as 14+1d3, and so on. Such that when I created an encounter with 3 pegasi each would have unique stats.

So unlike STR in DnD done like this:

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<property display="STR" name="str" type="fixed">The strength for the creature</property>
...
<str>35</str> 

It might be like:

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<property display="PS" name="ps" type="random">The Physical Strength for the creature</property>
...
<ps>54+1d6</ps> 

What do you think?

[jay]

I was thinking to do something like this when I add the computed fields. I was figuring that there will be the following types:

• Standard type that is just a string. I'm not sure if I need to differentiate between numbers and strings yet.
• Standard die roll type that you requested.
• Computed type that has its value generated by a script that is defined with the property definition. The data will not contain an element for this type of property.
• Computed type that has its value generated by a script that is defined with the data.
• A fixed value that is the same for all combatants in the data. The data will not contain an element for this type of property. This is useful for something like including a source field in the data w/o typing it in over and over. That way sombody could sort the combatants or select the combatants from a particular source.

These types will be available for the custom properties as well.

[Phergus]

That sounds really good.