Part 1: creating a new skill

Introduction

Creating skills in your mod is easier than ever with our newly introduced tool, the Stats editor.

To create a new, useable skill you need 3 things:

A new skill entry in the stats editor
A new skillbook entry in the stats editor
A skillbook template

Creating our skill

Step 1: Opening the Stats Editor

_{The Stats Editor button}

First, we need to open up the stats editor. To do this, locate the "Stats Editor" button on the menu bar (under "Editors").

_{Creating the Skill_Projectile document}

Next, we need to create the Skill_Projectile stats document in our project. If the document already exists, you can skip this step. To open the document, expand the "SkillData" item and double click the "Skill_Projectile" item.

_{Creating the Object document}

Finally, we need to create the Object stats document. Create and open the document the same way as we did for the skill_projectile document.

Step 2: Creating a new Skill

_{Copying an existing skill}

After creating the necessary documents in our project, we copy the "LightningBolt" skill from the Shared project. Copying an existing skill makes creating new skills much easier.

To copy the LightningBolt skill, first open the Skill_Projectile document in the Shared project (1). In the image, I docked the Shared Skill_Projectile document under the Skill_Projectile document in my own project. You can do this by clicking and dragging the tab.

Then, select the LightningBolt stats entry, copy it (Ctrl+C), select the empty row in your project's Skill_Projectile document, and paste (Ctrl+V) (2).

_{Editing the new skill}

Once we copied an existing skill, we can begin editing it. I:

Renamed the skill (LightningBolt to WaterBolt)
Changed the action point cost (2 to 1)
Changed the cooldown (3 turns to 0)
Changed whether the skill can target terrain
Changed the projectile template (see next step)
Changed the DisplayName, the name the skill will get in-game
Changed the Description, which will be visible in game
Removed the MemorizationRequirements, from 1 Aerotheurge to nothing

Note that all these modifications except for renaming the skill are optional.

_{Copying a projectile Id}

I also changed the projectile template, which is the object a projectile skill spawns as it is flying from the caster to the target.

The value that needs to be assigned is a projectile template GUID. I:

Opened up the Root template panel
Opened up the Sidebar
Filtered the root template panel by projectiles (1)
Filtered the projectile templates by those containing "water" (2) (you can also create a custom projectile template, which is explained further down)
Selected the "RS3_Projectile_Wand_Water" projectile (3)
Right clicked the "GUID" property and clicked "Copy Value" (4)

Once the GUID of the projectile template is copied to your clipboard, simply go back to the Stats Editor, double click the "Template" field on your new projectile and paste the GUID.

Step 4: Creating a Skillbook

_{Copying a skillbook stats entry, like we did for the skill}

Our skill has now been created, and is ready to be used in the game. However, we do not have a way for characters to learn the skill yet. Next, we will be creating a skillbook.

First, we need to create a new skillbook stats entry. We do this the same way we did it for the skill:

Open the Object stats document in your project
Open the Object stats document in the Shared project
Find and copy the SKILLBOOK_Air_LightningBolt entry

I modified the following fields:

Name (required)
RootTemplate (see further down for creating a new skillbook template, we assign this the same way we did the projectile template)
Requirements, from 1 Aerotheurge to none

_{Copying a root template}

To create our new skillbook template we:

Open the Root template panel
Filter the root templates by item templates
Filter the item templates by "lightningbolt"
Select and right-click the "BOOK_Skill_Air_LightningBolt" template, which is the skillbook for the LightningBolt skill
Click "Create new from selected..."