This tutorial assumes that:
Spiked Fist: 7 gp, 1d3 damage, critical 20/x2, 1 lb, tiny, piercing damage.By the end of this tutorial, you should be able to add a weapon to the data file, and include it in the random weapon tables that the treasure generator uses to generate treasures.
All weapons are defined in the "weapons.bsk" file. The original file should be in the "dat/standard" subdirectory of your treasure generator directory, but you should be working on a copy of the data. Locate the weapons.bsk file and open it in a text editor or word processor. (Note that although a word processor will work for this, it is best to use a text editor, like notepad).
You will notice that this file begins with a big list of all the weapons. It should look something like this:
template in ( groupWeapon ) { name cost damage criticalRange criticalMultiplier weight size sources }
weaponAdamantineBattleaxe { "adamantine battleaxe" 9310 gp 1d8 20 3 7 lb medium sourcesCoreRules }
weaponAdamantineDagger { "adamantine dagger" 3302 gp 1d4 19 2 2 lb tiny sourcesCoreRules }
weaponArrow { "arrow" 5 cp $ $ $ 3/20 lb tiny sourcesCoreRules }
...
end
You will notice that, between the curly braces '{' and '}' is a list of "attributes". These
attributes are properties that describe a weapon. Some weapons have more than this, and some
weapons don't have all of these, but, in general, these are the attributes common to weapons.
Here's what they each mean:
After the name, type an opening curly-brace '{'. This begins the attribute list of a thing. The first attribute, as mentioned above, is the name of the weapon, so type (including the quotes) "spiked fist". Following the name is the price (7 gp), then the damage (1d3), then the critical range (20), the criticalMultiplier (2), the weight (1 lb), the size (tiny), and lastly the sources . . . but this item does not come from any published source. You can either create a new source to describe your additions, or just omit the source from this thing. For this tutorial (and for the sake of simplicity) we will simply omit the source, so instead of a source name, just type the $ character. This makes Basilisk "leave out" that attribute. Be sure and close the attribute list with a closing curly-brace '}'.
You should have something that looks like this, now:
template in ( groupWeapon ) { name cost damage criticalRange criticalMultiplier weight size sources }
weaponSpikedFist { "spiked fist" 7 gp 1d3 20 2 1 lb tiny $ }
weaponAdamantineBattleaxe { "adamantine battleaxe" 9310 gp 1d8 20 3 7 lb medium sourcesCoreRules }
weaponAdamantineDagger { "adamantine dagger" 3302 gp 1d4 19 2 2 lb tiny sourcesCoreRules }
weaponArrow { "arrow" 5 cp $ $ $ 3/20 lb tiny sourcesCoreRules }
...
end
Now, we need to categorize the weapon as a "piercing weapon". Near the bottom of the file, there is a category named "groupPiercingWeapon". It contains a list of all weapons that cause piercing damage. Remember the identifier for the new weapon we just added, the one with no spaces, that starts with the word "weapon"? You'll add that to this list. Just create a new line immediately after the line that says "category groupPiercingWeapon" and type "weaponSpikedFist". The category should now look something like this:
Since a spiked fist is a melee weapon, we also need to add the identifier to the groupMeleeWeapon category, so be sure to do that, too, in the same way that you did the groupPiercingWeapon category. Be sure to save your changes!category groupPiercingWeapon weaponSpikedFist weaponDagger weaponPunchingDagger weaponSpikedGauntlet weaponHalfspear weaponShortspear weaponLightCrossbow weaponDart weaponHeavyCrossbow weaponJavelin weaponLightLance weaponLightPick weaponShortSword weaponHeavyLance weaponHeavyPick weaponRapier weaponTrident weaponHalberd weaponLongspear weaponRanseur weaponScythe weaponShortbow weaponCompositeShortbow weaponLongbow weaponCompositeLongbow weaponHalflingSiangham weaponSiangham weaponGnomeHookedHammer weaponSpikedChain weaponDwarvenUrgosh weaponHandCrossbow weaponShuriken weaponRepeatingCrossbow weaponMightyCompositeShortbow1 weaponMightyCompositeShortbow2 weaponMightyCompositeLongbow1 weaponMightyCompositeLongbow2 weaponMightyCompositeLongbow3 weaponMightyCompositeLongbow4 end
Congratulations! The Spiked Fist is now a weapon in the Basilisk file! However, before the item will actually be used by the treasure generator as a valid weapon in a treasure, you need to modify the random weapon tables and add the weapon there. The random weapon tables are located in the mundane.bsk file, so you'll need to open that file next.
As the Spiked Fist is not a common melee weapon, we should probably add it to the uncommon weapons category. Look for a category named "groupUncommonWeapons". There will be a big long list of many different weapons, with a number in front of each identifier, in square brackets '[' and ']'. It should look something like this:
The number before each identifier is that item's weight. The greater the weight, the more likely the item is to be selected. No item can have a weight that is less than 1, and all items must be integers (for example, 3.5 is not a valid weight, but 3 and 4 both are).category groupUncommonWeapons [ 3] weaponOrcDoubleAxe [ 4] weaponBattleaxe [ 3] weaponSpikedChain [ 2] weaponClub [ 4] weaponHandCrossbow [ 3] weaponRepeatingCrossbow ...
We now need to decide how likely it is to randomly find a spiked fist. This will vary from campaign to campaign, but for now we choose 3, making it about as likely as a spiked chain or a repeating crossbow. We add a new line at the top of the list, first with the number 3 in square brackets, followed by "weaponSpikedFist". The result should look like this:
Lastly, we just need to compile the new data file and generate treasures! To do this, open the treasure generator, select "Compile Database" from the "Tools" menu, and press the "..." button to browse until you find the "index.bsk" file in the "dat/tutorial" directory. Add the "dat/tutorial" directory to the list of directories in the bottom half of the dialog box, and then click "Compile". If you made any errors in typing the data in, they will show up in the console window, otherwise you will get a message box saying that the data compiled successfully. Now, generate a few treasures and see if you can come up with a magical spiked fist!category groupUncommonWeapons [ 3] weaponSpikedFist [ 3] weaponOrcDoubleAxe [ 4] weaponBattleaxe [ 3] weaponSpikedChain [ 2] weaponClub [ 4] weaponHandCrossbow [ 3] weaponRepeatingCrossbow ...
You will probably notice that the spiked fist will be very rare. To make it more common, you can move it from the "groupUncommonWeapons" category to the "groupCommonMeleeWeapons" category, and/or give it a greater weight. Experiment and see what you get!