Below is the Equipment Guide for 4 Dimensions. The guidelines have been set up to create a well-balanced mud that is fair and fun for all players, so please follow them as strictly as possible. Spiralling stats are generally bad for the Mud. Zones with out-of-bonds items will not be allowed in the Game Port, and creating such items will seriously damage your trust and credibility as a Builder and might result in the loss of your building privileges. NEVER make a high-powered item without discussing it first with the head Builder, or you may be accused of trying to cheat.

If you want to make exceptions from the rules for some special reason (for instance an extremely hard Quest), this MIGHT be allowed, but you must discuss it with the Head Builders and get it approved first.

1. General Guidelines
2. Addaffects
3. AC for Equipment
4. Special Items
5. Artifacts
6. Innate Spells
7. Containers
8. Weapon Damage
9. Magic Items
10. Scripts
11. Appendix: explanations about Object Types and Object Flags

1. General Guidelines

The strength of the item should always correspond with the level of the zone/mobs. (See tables below.) Normally an item should be placed on a mob of corresponding strength, but exceptions are allowed (see below under ).

Each zone may have 2-3 items that are max level for the zone (i.e. avg dam 30 for a level 20-30 zone, avg dam 50 for a level 40-50, etc). Those items should either be planted on one of the top-level mobs of the zone, or be especially hard to find (in the middle of a maze, a secret container, mob-run quest etc. The harder the item is to get, the better the stats can be). For Special Items and Artifacts, see below.

The maximum ArmorClass (AC) value set under C on any item is 6.
Remember that AC under C is set positive, whereas Armor set as addaffect should be negative to be good.

Armor, when worn, slows a player down, the more AC it has the more that item will slow down a player.
Warriors and hunters can cope with heavier and higher AC values than Spellcasters could.
So if you want to make good items for Priests, Mages or Espers, don't make them type armor, instead make them of type worn. Also remember that different stats are good for different Classes.
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2. Addaffects

1. Any item with more than 3 affects given to it, needs to be approved by a head builder.
2. Items in zones between level 1 and 25 can have 5 points worth.
3. Items in zones between level 26 and 40 can have 10 points worth.
4. Items in zones between level 41 and 50 can have 15 points worth.
5. You can use negative addaffects to balance other addaffects that are too high.

Stats that can be used as addaffects:
Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma:
2 points for each +1 to stat, with a maximum for any one of them of +5.

Hitroll and Damroll:
3 points for each +1 to stat, with a maximum for any one of them of +6.

Maxhit, Maxmana and Maxmove:
1 point for every +5 to stat, with a maximum for Maxhit being +50.

HitRegen, MoveRegen, ManaRegen:
1 point for every +5 to stat, with a maximum at +20.

Age:
1 point for any +5 to stat, with a maximum of plus or minus 20.

CharWeight And CharHeight:
1 point for any +2 to stat.

Exp and Race:
This stat does nothing, so don't use it please.

AC/Armor:
1 point for any armor change for every +1 or -1 stat
(Remember that AC as addaffect needs to be set as negative to be good.)

Paralyze, Rods, Petrify, Breath, and Spell Defence:
1 point for every -2 to stat.

Speed:
Please use very sparingly.
1 point per 5 speed, with a max of 3 points used ever.

Coolness:
1 point per 5 coolness points, this is mainly used for RP reasons so add wear necessary.

Mine Speed, Bonus, Stealth, and Damage:
Each of these stats is used specifically for tunnelling,
1 point per +1 stat.

Spells on wands, potions, staffs, scrolls:
3 points per spell, 3 points per 15 levels.
The spell heal should not be used on any magical item unless approved by a head builder.

Artifact weapons can be given 11d10 damage at the cost of 3 points.

Objects for the wear_locs face, eyes and ears may not have hitroll and damroll as addaffects.
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3. AC for Equipment

MAX AC FOR DIFFERENT WEAR_LOCS:

For positions not found on table above, please ask a Head builder.
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4. Special Items

For every major event in a zone, one special item can be given. An event is something like a large quest that involves a lot of problem solving and probably some mob killing. There are also a lot of other alternatives to giving out items as rewards for smaller Quests, such as subskills, exp, gold, TP, tokens, a teleport item, or some other unusual item.

Special items have a larger pool of points for their stats, so you can make them better than the standard.
But also remember that each class has different needs for stats and armor. For example a +5 cha, +2 int, ring would be a wonderful item for a mage, but useless for a warrior, and a +5 damroll, +2 str gauntlet would be perfect for a hunter, and useless for an esper. And because players can remort through different classes, try and make your quests for the special items class unique in some way, this encourages players to seek out your items for different classes.
Try to avoid making a different item for each class to be rewarded at the end of a single quest, as this can cheat other builders out of the opportunity to promote their zones with an item of that worth. If you want to have every class do a quest you make, avoid giving an item as a reward, or make it an item with stats that can be enjoyed by every class, such as regeneration or hitroll.

Special items can get max 24 point, but the amount is dependant on how hard the Quest is.
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5. Artifacts

Artifacts are extra powerful items that should be very rare.
The max number of an artefact allowed in the game is set when the item is created. And the number of this item available determines how often it appears in the game. Artifacts must always have a timer on them of 20000. When a player obtains an artifact the item binds itself to that player making it so that no other player can ever use that item.
Artifacts load rarely, depending on how they are set out. Never load artifacts with scripts (dg_triggers), always load them on a mob or in a room or in a container.
If you want to make an artifact in your zone, you need to discuss it with the Head Builder, to make sure that the item isn’t too easy to get.
If it is approved as artifact, the code for it will be set on it in the Game Port, if not the stats must be reduced accordingly.

Artifacts get max 30 poinst, the amount is dependant on how hard they are to gets.
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6. Innate Spells

These spells can only be set by an imp.
If you want to set an innate spell on an item, you must consult a Head Builder about this. But innates should be used sparingly.
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7. Containers

Please restrict the capacity of any container to 600 and don’t set any hold or wear flags on them.
Max capacity for a container must not exceed 10 x the weight of the container itself (i.e. a container that weighs 40 can have a capacity of 400).
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8. Weapon Damage

Weapons bought from shops may not exceed 8d8.
Standard in game weapons are 10d10, but if the weapon is easy to get as in on a mob below level 50, or a tier 0, please make it 9d10 or 9d9. New skills will be available for players to enhance the dice of a weapon, so avoid giving any commonly available weapons 10d10.

Artifact weapons can be given 11d10 at the cost of 3 points.

High damage weapon with high addaffects should usually be flagged as MAGIC, (meaning it cannot be tinkered).

Ranged weapons should generally have lower avg damage than hand-to-hand weapons, see table below.

If the throw weapon is a knife or a harpoon, you can set an avg damage of max 30, provided the weapon is set on a minimum level 50 mob.
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9. Magic Items

For each usage of the below spells, add the number following to the price of the item.

Magic items with the spell heal may not be reset to be sold in shops.

NB: Use advanced spells like steelskin etc in RARE situations only, preferably as reward in a hard quest. Some spells are not allowed on magic items, others don’t work on all three kinds. Consult the Head Builder. The wand and staff prices will also need to use the above guidelines.

NOTE : ALL potions need to be set as WEIGHT = 10
If a wand uses the 'Heal' spell, it must ONLY have 3 casts available on it.
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10. Scripts

Scripts are allowed on all items, but must generally be approved by a Head Builder.

Avoid scripts that make the item very spammy, for instance random or global messages, or long messages that trigger every time an item is worn or removed

Any scripts that teleport the user out of a room must have a short delay in the beginning, and also a check to see that the user is not fighting.
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1998-09-10
Molly O’Hara

Revision 1 by Mordecai 2004-03-21
Revision 2 by Molly 2008-02-04

11. Appendix: explanations about Object Types and Object Flags

Explanations about Object Types and Object Flags:

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Back to the top

1998-09-10
Molly O’Hara

Revision 1 by Mordecai 2004-03-21
Revision 2 by Molly 2008-02-04