GCA v5: Custom attributes

[FnordMan]

Basically how does one make a custom attribute and then base a skill off of it?

I managed to get something working. (WIS, just to pull something out of thin air) Copying the main stats (IQ, etc..) I added basevalue to 10 for the new attribute and added a symbol.
The problem is skills, I can't either reassign an existing skill to the new stat or make a new skill to be the new stat.
I'm probably missing something here but I don't have a clue what.

[Armin]

You can reassign a skill to be based on WIS just by using Add Tag in Advanced Edit to add tag stat and the name of your attribute, WIS in this example. That will tell GCA to base this particular skill on that attribute but otherwise use the progression given.

So, if you take Acting, an IQ/A skill, and use Add Tag to change stat to WIS then it would be treated as an IQ/A skill but use WIS instead of IQ.

That's the ad-hoc way.

For a more comprehensive method, you'd have to create and edit a book file to create a new skill type, such as WIS/E through WIS/VH. Then you'd have to include all the skills (or just commands to change existing skills) to the new types, such as WIS/A for Acting.

That allows you to implement your changes for any new characters for the campaigns using a library where that specific book is included.

[FnordMan]

Originally Posted by Armin

For a more comprehensive method, you'd have to create and edit a book file to create a new skill type, such as WIS/E through WIS/VH. Then you'd have to include all the skills (or just commands to change existing skills) to the new types, such as WIS/A for Acting.

That allows you to implement your changes for any new characters for the campaigns using a library where that specific book is included.

Is there a guide somewhere on how to do this?
Also, could I include the new stats in the book file?
Ideally i'd like to load up the book file and have the new stats and skills show up.

[Armin]

The first two documents on the Documents page of my GCA5 site have much of what you need. (They should be combined, but I haven't gotten to that yet.)

Those, and looking at how Basic Set is set up, should do what you need. There's no step-by-step guide for this. (Make sure you use a plain text editor.)

You can start by selecting your newly created Attribute in the character, and then open Edit Traits for it. Use the Save to File button to save that attribute to a file. Then you can use the file that is created as the base for your new book. (If you have multiple attributes you want to use and have created in GCA already, you can save them all to the same book file.)

You can then add the Skill Types that you need in a section.

Example:
[SKILLTYPES]
WIS/E, cost(1/2/4/8), base(-1), defaultstat(ST:WIS), relname(WIS)
WIS/A, cost(1/2/4/8), base(-2), defaultstat(ST:WIS), relname(WIS)
WIS/H, cost(1/2/4/8), base(-3), defaultstat(ST:WIS), relname(WIS)
WIS/VH, cost(1/2/4/8), base(-4), defaultstat(ST:WIS), relname(WIS)
WIS/WC, cost(3/6/12/24), base(-4), defaultstat(ST:WIS), relname(WIS)

NOTE: Use the full name of the attribute in defaultstat() along with the ST: prefix.

Then, for the Skills, you have a bunch of options:

1) You can copy-and-paste the data for each one you want to change from Basic Set (or wherever) and edit the type declaration.

2) You can use #ReplaceTags commands to just change the type() to your preferred one. This has the advantage of not having to update your file again if a correction or bug-fix is made to the original source file.

Example:
#ReplaceTags in "SK:Acting" with "type(WIS/A)"

This is a bit more work, but the most robust in the end.

3) You can change each skill on a character in GCA, editing the type() tag in Advanced Edit Traits, then Save to File each one to the file you made for the attributes. This will save the whole thing, like option 1, but you won't have to do it in a text editor. This is probably the worst option, because it's very time consuming, where the other options can be sped up a lot with copy-and-pasting.

[FnordMan]

Perfect, thanks for all of the info. The main thing I wanted was the info on the tables for the new stats so I can have them display properly. Me? picky? never.. sure I can make a DX/H based on WIS but it still displays "DX" and not "WIS"