PUPPET MASTER (URBAN)
By Dr Mike
PUPPET MASTER (NATURE)
By Dr Mike
Characters with this ability are able to animate various prop objects, causing them to turn into temporary minions that fight alonside them. The urban variety allows the character to animate cars, streetlights, traffic lights and other street objects, whereas the nature variety works on plants of all kinds.
The kind of object animated will determine the kind of minion produced.
Any object that can be animated will have an ANIMATE command on it - use this to bring the object to life. Once an object is alive, it will act under its own AI,a ttacking nearby enemies for about 30 seconds, after which it becomes stunned briefly before changing back to its inert form.
The lifespan and health of an animated creature can be improved using the SUSTAIN command that appears on them. They can also be instantly DEANIMATE'd if you feel the need to stop them.
Customisation
Animate Dummy Power:Power used when animating an object - purely for FX and animation purposes
Scheme:Currently there are three options available here, which describe how the created minions interact with the user:
- plasmatic - the constructs are maintained by your character's willpower alone. Casting them requires no energy, but each construct incurs a cost of energy point per second - the more prestige points the minion has the more energy it costs. If the user moves too far away (about one city block), or runs out of energy, or gets stunned or any other primary state, then the constructs vanish. Constructs that are no longer needed can be destroyed by the RELEASE command to conserve energy.
- independent - casting costs energy, but once created the minion remains for a fixed amount of time, the more prestige it has the shorter its duration. If the user gets stunned or enters another primary state, the minions become enraged.
- gelatinous - the minions are formed from the character's own body mass. Creating them causes you to lose health and maximum health. Constructs can be reabsorbed by a RE-ABSORB command, which will restore the full health lost if the construct is damaged, less if it has taken damage.
See the Customisation Guide for an explanation of Commands, FX and Dummy Powers.
For true customisation, especially for mod-makers, you can find the following code in ffxpuppets.py:
urbanTemplates=(
('car_1','ffx_carman'),
('car_2','ffx_carman'),
('car_3','ffx_carman'),
('car_armoured','ffx_busman'),
('bus_greyhound','ffx_busman'),
('truck','ffx_busman'),
('truck_concrete','ffx_busman'),
('car_night_1','ffx_carman'),
('car_night_2','ffx_carman'),
('car_night_3','ffx_carman'),
('car_police','ffx_carman'),
('car_taxi','ffx_carman'),
('car_night_police','ffx_carman'),
('car_night_taxi','ffx_carman'),
('streetlight','ffx_lightman'),
('streetlight_day','ffx_lightman'),
('streetlight_night','ffx_lightman'),
('trafficlight','ffx_trafficman'),
('dumpster','ffx_dumpsterman'),
('water_tower','ffx_towerman'),
('fire_tank','ffx_towerman'),
('tank','ffx_towerman'),
)
natureTemplates=(
('tree','ffx_oakman'),
('tree_pine_baby','ffx_seedling'),
('tree_pine_big','ffx_oakman'),
('tree_pine_medium','ffx_oakman'),
('tree_pine_reallybig','ffx_oakman'),
('tree_pine_small','ffx_seedling'),
('tree_throw','ffx_oakman'),
('tree_weild','ffx_seedling'),
('tree_wield','ffx_seedling'),
('flora_bush','ffx_hedgeant'),
('flora_cactus','ffx_hedgeant'),
('flora_hedge','ffx_hedgeant'),
('flora_large','ffx_hedgeant'),
('flora_small','ffx_hedgeant'),
('flowers','ffx_hedgeant'),
('small_fern','ffx_hedgeant'),
('fern_small','ffx_hedgeant'),
)
These lists of template pairs detail the objects that each type of Puppet Master can change, and the corresponding character template for the minion created. Add or remove to these as you see fit and the code will do the rest.
An interesting example, would be to change the urban list to:
urbanTemplates=(
('civilian_male','super_man'),
('civilian_female','super_woman'),
)
Where 'super_man' and 'super_woman' are a couple of character templates with random skins - thus giving your character the ability to temporarily unlock the genetic potential of normal people to help them.
The superhero characters created will still become stunned and turn back into normal civilians.
An example is given in the code. If you swap the name powerupTemplates to urbanTemplates and vice versa, then puppet master (urban) becomes the ability to turn civilians into NPC copies of Order and Alchemiss!