View source for Ideas:chad3f:SkillsSystem

== Skills System ==

Some of these ideas may have already been mentioned in some form, but this will cover my ideas as a whole.

=== Acquired Sklls ===

Instead of limiting skills to general attributes such as atk and def, create itemized skills that map to realistic real-world skills (where possible, as a few synthetic ones may be needed).

* Attack/Defense placement
** Range
*** Close<br>(fists, hand dagger, knife, short sword)
*** Medium<br>(long sword, thrown dagger)
*** Extended<br>(arrow, ice/fireball)
** Elevation
*** High<br>(head)
*** Medium<br>(torso, arms)
*** Low<br>(legs, feet)

* Enemy experience
** General type<br>(elf, dwarf, orc)
** Specific type<br>(archer_elf, leader_dwarf, hunter_orc)

* Enhierent skills
** Agility
** Strength
** Speed
** Endurance


Except for ''Enemy experience'', all of these skills would also be assigned to creatures.  And with persistent non-player storage support, even specific player experience could be a factor for creatures. So the more you fight a specific create (or type in an area), the better it is against you. as if it learns to anticipates your combat.

=== Item Skills ===

Like general learned skills, items (like weapons and armor) also have common properties that can be mastered over time.

* Experience
** General Type<br>(sword, dagger, hammer, club, shield, armor)
** Specific Type<br>(great_sword, war_hammer, wood_shield)

* Use styles
** Stab
** Slash
** Throw

=== Item Definitions ===

Items would then be defined as a [weighted] list of skills that makes up it's use. Here is a rough example of some hypothetical items/skills:

 &lt;item name="short_sword"&gt;
  &lt;skill name="attacking" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="sword" weight="20"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="short_sword" weight="20"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="slash" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="stab" weight="3"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="range_close" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="range_medium" weight="2"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="agility" weight="5"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="strength" weight="5"/&gt;
 &lt;/item&gt;
 
 &lt;item name="long_sword"&gt;
  &lt;skill name="attacking" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="sword" weight="20"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="long_sword" weight="20"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="slash" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="stab" weight="3"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="range_close" weight="5"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="range_medium" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="agility" weight="2"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="strength" weight="10"/&gt;
 &lt;/item&gt;
 
 &lt;item name="knife"&gt;
  &lt;skill name="attacking" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="knife" weight="20"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="slash" weight="5"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="stab" weight="15"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="range_close" weight="10"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="agility" weight="7"/&gt;
  &lt;skill name="strength" weight="1"/&gt;
 &lt;/item&gt;


The method for applying these attributes is to calculate the proportion that each is of the whole (this can be done up front in the code). The reason for using weights instead of raw percentages is so a person doesn't have to adjust all other values to total 100 just because they add/remove/change a single skill.

For the sake of calculations, all current player skill values are converted to a number in the range of 0.0 to 1.0. How this is done should remain independent of this portion of the skill system, but the values are assumed to be a linear value where 0.0 = complete novice, and 1.0 = perfect expert.

The proportional skills from the item is then scaled (multiplied) against the player's current value for the corresponding skill. All of these values are added together, which have a maximum total of 1.0. This total is then use to apply/scale the item's normal potential (like atk, or whatever might replace it) and applied as needed. As skills are gained from use of an item, the gain is divided up based on the proportion each skill's weight and added to the player's skills (based on it's independent implementation).

==== Example Case ====

Assuming a new player, that has no skills except the default ''attacking'' skill that has a value of 0.5. The player has a knife a preceeds to use it, over time gains skills related to it. The maximum atk potential of a knife for this example is 10.

Here are the calculated proportions for a knife, along with the player's skills and scaled result:

              portion  player   final
 attacking    0.147    0.500    0.074
 knife        0.294    0.000    0.000
 slash        0.073    0.000    0.000
 stab         0.220    0.000    0.000
 range_close  0.147    0.000    0.000
 agility      0.102    0.000    0.000
 strength     0.014    0.000    0.000
                              + =====
                                0.074


In this case the total skills applied are 0.074 (or 7.4%). There are several ways this could be applied to the weapon (possibly even using item specific algorithms). In this case, a simple attack value +/-20% random chance (even novices get lucky hits).

The final atk value is computed as:

 effective_atk = (10 * 0.074) +/- (10 * 20%) = 0.74 +/- 2.0 = [0.00 - 2.74]

In this case, let's assume the the number 1.60 was generated. Assuming this was enough to kill something (or accrue per-hits "xp"), and the total xp earned was 20, the amount of xp given to each skill is:

              portion  skill xp
 attacking    0.147    2.94
 knife        0.294    5.88
 slash        0.073    1.47
 stab         0.220    4.41
 range_close  0.147    2.94
 agility      0.102    2.06
 strength     0.014    0.29

These dived xp points are then added to each skill (this example assumes skill is stored as xp and converted to [0-1] skill values when needed). The next time the weapon is used, the new skill values contribute to it's potential as done above resulting in a slightly better use (statistically speaking, given the random factor).

Now let's say that many days (or weeks) have passed with the play constaintly using only their knife and improving their associated skills.. so much so, that have maxed out all those skills to their full potential (1.0).