Item-making difficulties in IEEP

[SixOfSpades]

Short version: I'm making an item that adjusts the user's Set Traps score as a percentage of his original score. IEEP, however, refuses to do this. I can edit Set Traps as a flat modifier (new Traps score = modifier), an addition modifier (new Traps score = old Traps score + modifier), but not a percentile modifier (new Traps score = old Traps score * modifier / 100).

IEEP then adds insult to injury by letting me use percentile modifiers on the OTHER Thieving skills, such as Pick Pockets. (And yes, I double- and triple-checked all my entries, using a Potion of Power for a reference.)

So, if anybody out there can make an item that reduces a Thief's Set Traps ability to 75% of its original value, I'd be honored to learn just how the heck you made it work. Pleeeeez!

[ADD:] I should explain what does happen: Absolutely nothing. Using the item has a 100% probability to cast "Set Traps Bonus" on the user, with no Save or MR check, yada yada yada. Statistic Modifier is 75, Modifier Type is 2......and nothing happens. But when I change the Modifier Type to 0 or 1, it works just fine.

[ 08-08-2003, 04:08 AM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

[LennonCook]

Try it in Near Infinity, see if the results are any different - could be an IEEP limitation, or it could be an Engine limitation (are you absolutely sure that the PoP works properly?).

EDIT: Just took my own advice, and my results are as follows:
I modified a Potion of Power, removing all of its effects except the thieving skill bonuses. I changed the Value from 120 to 75, left everything else alone.
Created a Thief with 10 Dex, set all thieving skills to 100. When I took the potion, all thieving skills that it edited were *raised* by 20 points.

[ 08-08-2003, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: LennonCook ]

[SixOfSpades]

Now that's just plain freaky. If all skills were raised 20 points, it must be pulling that number 20 from somewhere....but if you say all numbers were 75s, I'm gonna have to scratch my head real hard.

I actually haven't tested a legit Potion of Power....I place them under the category of "too rich for use, for earth too dear." But with this impetus, I will do so on two Thieves: One with skills of all 100%, and one with skills of all 50%. I'll give them a standard-issue PoP, one that raises all skills by 20%, and one that lowers all skills by 25%. I'll post the results here tomorrow.

If all else fails, we can Email TL (aka Gustav Montessori, or however it's spelled), and let him know of this bug. Odd that we would be the first to catch a glitch this big....

Oh, one more (related) question: Is it possible to put "Equipping Effects" on an item that resides in a Quickslot? I've tried all possible item types available through IEEP (from normal things like "Wand" and "Potion" all the way through "Telescope" and "Bottle of Wine"), but the game does not seem to detect Equipping Effects on any item that is not directly associated with a part of the body.

[SixOfSpades]

Results are in, and boy, do I feel dumb. It turns out that percentile modifiers only affect the "Base" stat, and IEEP and I had different definitions of the "Base" stat:
My definition: "Base" is the Thieving score shown when the character is not using any items, spells, or potions that affect that particular skill.
IEEP's definition: "Base" is the number of Thieving points that the character has put into that skill. ALL other factors, including items, spells, potions, Race bonuses, DEX bonuses, and automatic skill bonuses (such as a Level 1 Thief's automatic 15 points in Pick Pockets gained during Character Creation) are ignored.

That's what fooled me: I was giving the item to Imoen, thinking that it would subtract 1/4th of her Set Traps score (5), leaving her with 3.75, rounded to 4. But those 5 points in Set Traps are solely a result of her high Dexterity: In IEEP's eyes, her "Base" Traps score is 0, which is why running percentile modifers on it didn't do a damn thing: Any change multiplied by 0 is zero change.

The values shown in Shadowkeeper are the "Base" numbers. I created 4 identical Thieves, each with 13 DEX, and SK'd them to have base scores of 0, 50, 100, and 150 (respectively) in everything. Then I added Imoen to the mix, threw various versions of Potions of Power at them, and.....everything worked just fine. Even reducing their Set Traps scores by 20%.

LennonCook, have you figured out what was up with your bonus/penalty issue?

[LennonCook]

Probably something similar; or perhaps I was modifying the wrong field. Or it could have been a random thing, or I could have misread - I was tired at the time.
I'll try again tommorow when I'm awake.