Combat Arts

This plugin allows you to use Combat Arts, which are special actions or attacks that have additional cost, either with life, weapon uses or the new (and optional) stamina stat.

NOTE: This plugin only works for player-controlled units. AI units can't use combat arts.

Types of Combat Arts - Attack and Action

As mentioned earlier, they are two types of combat arts: one made for attacks and other for non-offensive actions. The attack combat art will allow the unit to use a weapon and do a special attack, with extra effects, custom range and/or better stats. The action combat art will recreate the use of an item without the need of the unit having said item. Aside from that, they both have an additional cost: weapon uses (for attacks), life and stamina.

How to create a Combat Art

To make a combat art, you need to create a new Original Data. If you don't know how to use Original Data, check the instructions below. There are multiple fields that you can write data, but some of them are ignored for the purposes of this plugin.

Here is a list of all the values used and what do each do:

• Value 1: Bonus to attack.
• Value 2: Bonus to hit.
• Value 3: Bonus to critical.
• Value 4: Bonus to defense.
• Value 5: Bonus to avoid.
• Value 6: Bonus to critical avoid.
• Keyword: If the combat art is an attack, use "AttackCombatArt". If it is an action, use "ActionCombatArt":
• Item: Only for action combat arts. The selected item will be the one that will generate the effect of the combat art. For example, if you select a healing item that targets adjacent allies, then the action combat art will do that exact effect, but without needing the unit to have the item.
• Multiple Data: In here, you can select skills, weapons and weapon types. Only use this option for offensive combat arts.
  • Skills: Each skill marked will be added to the unit during the attack. This includes custom skills created by other plugins.
  • Weapons: If there is at least one weapon marked, then the unit can only use this combat art with one of those selected weapons. If no weapon is marked, the combat art is allowed for any weapon, unless there are additional restrictions for the weapon types.
  • Weapon Types: If there is at least one weapon type marked, then the unit can only use this combat art with one of those selected weapon types. If no weapon type is marked, the combat art is allowed for any weapon type, unless there are additional restrictions for specific weapons.

How to create Original Data

1. First, go to Tools->Options->Expert->Display original data on conifg tab and enable that option.
2. Now you can go to Database->Config->Original Data. This will take you to the Original Data window.
3. Inside, you have several tabs (default name go from tab 1 to tab 10). In the bottom left, you will find the "Create Original Data" button.

IMPORTANT: all Original Data related to combat arts must be in the same tab. You also need to specify which tab are you going to use in the config.js file. More details can be found below.

Custom Parameters

In addition to the values explained above, you will also need to write some custom parameters:

• costType: The type of cost. 0 is weapon uses, 1 is HP and 2 is Stamina.
• cost: This parameter defines the amount of weapon uses that will be consumed when doing an attack with the combat art.
• startRange - endRange: These two parameters are optional. With these parameters, you can define the attack range of the combat art. That way it won't depend on the equipped weapon. If you don't use these parameters, the weapon's default range will be used instead.

Some examples of the use of the custom parameters: {costType: 0, cost: 3, startRange: 1, endRange: 3}, {costType: 1, cost:5, startRange:1, endRange: 1}.

Stamina stat

There is an optional stat that can be used for the cost of combat arts, called Stamina. Each unit has current stamina and max stamina, similar to how a unit has current life and max life. The custom parameters determine the value of the max stamina. You can use event commands to alter the stat, and will also be reduced with the use of combat arts. You will also need to use an event command in order to restore to max stamina at the start of each chapter.

By default, it is disabled, if you want to add it you have to change the config.js, as explained below. There are several custom parameters that you can use for this stat. All of them have integer values. Most of them are used for units and classes, but some of them can be used on items too.

• stamina: unit stat. Determines the max stamina possible for the unit. It acts similar to the max HP stat.
• bonusStamina: can be used in several objects. It gives additional max Stamina, it can override the max value of the unit's class
• growthStamina: can be used in several objects. It increases the growth change of the max stamina stat.
• dopingStamina: used for boosting stat items. It permanently increases the max stamina of the unit.
• maxStamina: class stat. The max value possible that can be reached for the max stamina stat.

Stamina Event Commands

There are two event commands for the stamina stat: one called "ChangeStamina" and the other "RestoreAllUnitsStamina". The first will change the stamina of one unit, while the second will restore to max stamina all units of your army. That last part can be useful to trigger at the start of a chapter. In the Execute Script window, you need to change the "Object Name" value to one of the two names mentioned above.

In addition to that, if you are creating a "ChangeStamina" event command, then you also need to change the following values from the Original Data tab:

• Unit: the unit that will change its stamina.
• Keyword: the mode used for changing the stamina. "Set" changes to an absolute value, while "Add" increments the value relative to the unit's current stamina. There is also the "Subtract" that does the same as "Add" but reduces stamina instead of incrementing.
• Value 1: this value defines the amount of stamina that will be changed.

How to assign Combat Arts to units

To assign a combat art to an unit use the custom parameter 'combatArt', which uses an array of the ID's of the combat arts that unit knows. This parameter defines the starting scenario for the unit. If the unit doesn't have the parameter, it wil start the game without combat arts. It can also be used on classes. So you can have the parameter in both the unit and the class and it will merge both lists into one.

For example: {combatArt: [1, 4, 5]}, {combatArt: [2]}.

If you want to assign (or remove) a combat art to an unit during an event, you need to do the following:

1. Create a "Execute Script" event command.
2. Inside the event, select the type "Event Command".
3. In the name field, write "CombatArt".
4. In the Original Data tab of the event, there are some additional fields you need to fill:
   • In the unit field select the unit that will receive (or lose) the combat art.
   • In the field Value 1 you need to specify if you using the ID of the combat art directly, or if you are using a variable to specify which combat art you want to add (or remove): You can write '0' to set into ID mode, or '1' to use the Variable mode.
   • In the field Value 2:
     • If you are in ID mode, you write the ID of the combat art.
     • If you are in Variable mode, you write the ID of the Tab where the variable is located. Note that the first tab has ID 0, the second ID 1, and so on.
   • In the field Value 3:
     • If you are in ID mode, this field will be ignored.
     • If you are in Variable mode, you write the ID of the variable you want to use.
   • In the keyword field to specify the type of command:
     • "Add": This will add the combat art to the unit.
     • "Remove": This will remove the combat art from the unit.

Create an item that teaches the unit a Combat Art

You can create consumable items that, when used, will teach the unit a specific combat art. You can also define the prerequisite weapon category for the combat art, for example a bow art that a mage shouldn't be able to learn.

Create an item of type Custom with the keyword "CAItem". Then, add custom parameters to define the combat art to teach and the weapon category prerequisite for the art.

• teachArt: the ID of the art to teach in Original Data.
• reqCategory*: the weapon category the user must be able to use at least one of in order to use the item (0: weapons, 1: bows, 2: magic)
• staffReq*: true or false, are staff users also allowed to learn this combat art?

*Optional parameters. If you leave off both optional parameters, then there is no prerequisite and any unit can learn the art.

Example: {teachArt:8, reqCategory:2, staffReq:true} allows units who can use a magic type to learn the combat art with ID 8. Staff users are also eligible.

Plugin customization

There are some elements of this plugin that can be modified. For example, you can modify the name of the combat arts unit command. To do this, you need to open the file config.js, you can use any text editor like Notepad. In the file you will find a list of variables, each with a default value. You can change any of them.

Note that among those variables you will find the variable called "TAB_COMBATART", which is needed to specify which tab of the Original Data window you are using for the combat art entries.