Prismbot Character Generation and Setup

Alright, welcome to my post about Character Generation in Prismbot! Also included will be how to set up your character, since I realized a post about just character generation wouldn't even take up a page at this point due to changes to it.

Character generation is a simple affair. You log into the IRC server the bot resides on (I should pick one sometime for a potental public demo of how it works, suggestions welcome) with whatever IRC client of your choice. Then you open a private message window with the bot (this varies client to client I believe, most use double click on their username), and type in the command !join. It'll send this message to you:

 <PrismBot> To join, please confirm that your current username is the one you would like to register with. To confirm, type !join yes, otherwise, use /nick newname to change to the desired username. Special characters are forbidden.

To complete registeration, just type in !join yes when you are ready. It'll proceed to welcome you, and provide some useful commands to use, as well as display your starting stats. Currently, there is no variance (that is, all players will start out the same), nor are there things like races or classes to worry about. However, you can customize your character stats however you wish. Once character generation is complete, you are provided 75 Ability Points (AP), which are spent on the eight stats shown to you, for a 1 to 5 ratio. If you spent 10 points on Strength, you would actually recieve 50 in Strength.

Your stat display will look something like this once generation is complete.

<PrismBot> Level-1 HP-40/40 MP-40/40
<PrismBot> Strength-10 Constitution-10 Psionics-10 Willpower-10
<PrismBot> Spirit-10 Intuition-10 Dexterity-10 Agility-10

Strength is mainly for Physical damage. Constitution is for Physical defense and Hitpoints. Psionics are used for the Psionics damage type. Willpower is for Magic damage, as well as minor HP and MP boosts. Spirit is for Magic defense, and Mana Points. Intuition. Dexterity, and Agility governs various parts of the Hit Rating, Block, Dodge, and Parry math. Dexterity is also used, when the feature is active, for the Dexterity damage type. You can spend your AP on these stats using !lvlup statname ammount.

With your basic stats configured, you can review them with !stats, as well as the effects they had by leveling them up with !bttlstats and !hitmiss respectively.

<Prismbot> HP-40/40 MP-40/40
<Prismbot> Attack Base/Total: Physical-10/10 Dexterity-10/10 Psionic-10/10 Magic-10/10
<Prismbot> Defense Base/Total: Physical-10/10 Psionic-10/10 Magic-10/10
<Prismbot> Speed Base/Total: 4/4

<Prismbot> Physical Base/Total: Hit-22/22 Dodge-7/7 Block-14/14 Parry-3/3
<Prismbot> Dexterity Base/Total: Hit-22/22 Dodge-7/7 Block-14/14 Parry-3/3
<Prismbot> Psionic Base/Total: Hit-24/24 Dodge-8/8 Block-16/16 Parry-4/4
<Prismbot> Magic Base/Total: Hit-22/22 Dodge-7/7 Block-14/14 Parry-3/3

You may notice that each item listed has two numbers. The first is the Total ammount, which is often incresed with equipment. The second is the base ammount, uneffected (usually) by equipment. Certain techniques can be set to use the base numbers only. Lets see what happens to these when I level up my stats.

<Prismbot> Level-1 HP-340/340 BP-140/140
<Prismbot> Strength-160 Constitution-110 Psionics-10 Willpower-35
<Prismbot> Spirit-10 Intuition-10 Dexterity-85 Agility-35

The first change might not be so obvious. When your stats excel in a nonmagic catagory, the MP display will change to Battle Points (BP) if you are physical based, Psion Points (PP) if you are Psionic based, and Energy Points (EP) if you are Dexterity based and that feature is active. Lets look at our Battle Stats and Hit Miss stats.

<Prismbot> HP-340/340 MP-140/140
<Prismbot> Attack Base/Total: Physical-122/122 Dexterity-55/55 Psionic-16/16 Magic-28/28
<Prismbot> Defense Base/Total: Physical-122/122 Psionic-10/10 Magic-16/16
<Prismbot> Speed Base/Total: 15/15

<Prismbot> Physical Base/Total: Hit-127/127 Dodge-40/40 Block-81/81 Parry-16/16
<Prismbot> Dexterity Base/Total: Hit-127/127 Dodge-40/40 Block-81/81 Parry-16/16
<Prismbot> Psionic Base/Total: Hit-69/69 Dodge-27/27 Block-54/54 Parry-9/9
<Prismbot> Magic Base/Total: Hit-67/67 Dodge-28/28 Block-56/56 Parry-9/9

As you can see, many have dramatically incresed. This build is semitypical of a physical 'tank' of sorts, but would not hold up well against magical or psionic foes. At this time, Dexterity shares alot of math with Physical, this will be changed in a coming update once proper balancing is complete. Now to explain the hit miss stats.

Hit is your chance to hit. The bot will roll two numbers internally when you attack. The first is the Hit roll. Then your target will select if they wish to Dodge (avoid damage completely), Block (take reduced damage), or Parry (avoid damage -and- counter attack for your Total Damage). You can also elect to do Nothing, which is useful for helpful techniques. Unless the target does nothing, it will roll the Dodge, Block, or Parry depending on their selection. If your Hit roll exceeds their roll, your attack goes though. However, should their roll exceed yours, their action occurs instead! Which can be very painful if they have a high Parry rating in the damage catagory you are attempting to use.

This wraps up the basics of character generation and setup. Tune in next post for infomation on equipment, techniques, and maybe even a battle!