Building Creatures - Revision history

Arianna: /* Other Considerations */

2025-06-13T06:44:27Z

‎Other Considerations

Arianna at 21:03, 17 May 2025

2025-05-17T21:03:03Z

Arianna: /* Localized Name */

2023-10-29T20:05:12Z

‎Localized Name

Arianna: /* Naming Conventions */

2022-03-06T18:32:48Z

‎Naming Conventions

Arianna at 02:22, 11 February 2022

2022-02-11T02:22:30Z

Arianna at 20:11, 27 September 2021

2021-09-27T20:11:01Z

Arianna: /* Other Considerations */

2021-02-19T23:00:17Z

‎Other Considerations

Arianna: /* Other Considerations */

2020-07-14T02:41:31Z

‎Other Considerations

Arianna: /* Other Considerations */

2020-07-14T02:40:36Z

‎Other Considerations

Arianna at 02:03, 25 June 2019

2019-06-25T02:03:31Z

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 * If you do make creatures with a significantly different power level from others of their type, make sure they have some visual difference from their kin so as to not surprise that party of PC1s with those nasty +12 AB kobolds.
 * If you make a Fey, Elemental or Incorporeal Undead Creature, Check the ''''''Spirit Override'''''' box in the properties tab.  This allows the 'Chastise Spirits' ability to function properly.
 * If you are making a creature that uses a vfx solely to show what it is like a Willowisp, use the Willowwisp appearance and set the vfx accordingly.  Do not use the Invisible Man appearance as it will not render the vfx ingame.
 * If you are making a creature that is just armor or held weapons, use the invisible man appearance and equip the items you wish to have seen.

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 The primary purpose of tag and resref naming conventions is to prevent any naming conflicts. A secondary purpose is to describe the creature in some way. All global creature blueprints must begin with the "abr_cr" prefix to designate them as global blueprints. Server specific blueprints should begin with a 3 digit server number in place of the "abr", so "001_cr" for example. For every subcategory, add a two letter acronym delimited with underscores followed lastly by a descriptive name for the creature itself. This helps to quickly locate blueprints when all we have is its resref. To illustrate, here are a few examples:
-: ''Example: A global humanoid creature blueprint: <code>abr_cr_hu_koboldchieftain</code>''
+: ''Example: A global humanoid creature blueprint: <code>abr_cr_hu_koboldchieftain</code>''  These are typically any creature you make that could be used on another mod
-: ''Example: A server NPC blueprint on server 01: <code>001_cr_np_zhents_fzoul</code>''
+: ''Example: A server NPC blueprint on server 01: <code>001_cr_np_zhents_fzoul</code>''  These are typically Commoners, guards, merchants, leaders and DM NPCs specific to a single server
 === Descriptions ===

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 === Localized Name ===
-Creature names should not be revealed to players in-game, unless a sufficiently unique creature or equipment model does not exist for the creature being created. In such cases, choose a one or two word descriptive name, but be sure you reveal as little of the meta information about the creature as possible. Size based descriptive words are not necessary since creatues can be scaled in NWN2 to properly reflect their size.
+Uncommon, Creature names should not be revealed to players in-game, unless a sufficiently unique creature or equipment model does not exist for the creature being created. In such cases, choose a one or two word descriptive name, but be sure you reveal as little of the meta information about the creature as possible. Size based descriptive words are not necessary since creatues can be scaled in NWN2 to properly reflect their size.  However, common creatures goblins, kobolds, skeletons etc most PCs would know what these are anyway so its ok to use their base name.  We never got any scripting done to reveal a creatures true designation so they cannot make a skill check and have the name revealed.
-Putting creature names inside <code>{}</code> will make them visible only to builders. However, make sure you put the bracketed part behind a Discriptive name or DMs cannot see these in game. This will help builders distinguish between multiple blueprints of the same type and convey important reference information at a glance without revealing any of the information to players in the game. Generally, a creatures name or race, social role or class, gender (if applicable), and challenge rating are useful characteristics to record within {}.  Make sure however that you do not start the name with the bracketed info, doing so will make it so the DM cannot read the creature in creation menu or find them in the area.
+Putting creature names inside <code>{}</code> will make them visible only to builders. However, make sure you put the bracketed part behind a Descriptive name or DMs cannot see these in game. This will help builders distinguish between multiple blueprints of the same type and convey important reference information at a glance without revealing any of the information to players in the game. Generally, a creatures name or race, social role or class, gender (if applicable), and challenge rating are useful characteristics to record within {}.  Make sure however that you do not start the name with the bracketed info, doing so will make it so the DM cannot read the creature in creation menu or find them in the area.
 : 'Example: <code>Larger Kobold {Chieftain CR1}</code> or <code>Male Human {Barbarian CR3}</code>''

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 Creature names should not be revealed to players in-game, unless a sufficiently unique creature or equipment model does not exist for the creature being created. In such cases, choose a one or two word descriptive name, but be sure you reveal as little of the meta information about the creature as possible. Size based descriptive words are not necessary since creatues can be scaled in NWN2 to properly reflect their size.
-Putting creature names inside <code>{}</code> will make them visible only to builders. However, make sure you put the bracketed part behind a Discriptive name or DMs cannot see these in game. This will help builders distinguish between multiple blueprints of the same type and convey important reference information at a glance without revealing any of the information to players in the game. Generally, a creatures name or race, social role or class, gender (if applicable), and challenge rating are useful characteristics to record within {}.
+Putting creature names inside <code>{}</code> will make them visible only to builders. However, make sure you put the bracketed part behind a Discriptive name or DMs cannot see these in game. This will help builders distinguish between multiple blueprints of the same type and convey important reference information at a glance without revealing any of the information to players in the game. Generally, a creatures name or race, social role or class, gender (if applicable), and challenge rating are useful characteristics to record within {}.  Make sure however that you do not start the name with the bracketed info, doing so will make it so the DM cannot read the creature in creation menu or find them in the area.
 : 'Example: <code>Larger Kobold {Chieftain CR1}</code> or <code>Male Human {Barbarian CR3}</code>''
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 For global blueprints, you should also include a link to this wiki page so builders that are unfamiliar with conventions or configuration options can easily find them.
 == Event Handlers ==

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 Creature names should not be revealed to players in-game, unless a sufficiently unique creature or equipment model does not exist for the creature being created. In such cases, choose a one or two word descriptive name, but be sure you reveal as little of the meta information about the creature as possible. Size based descriptive words are not necessary since creatues can be scaled in NWN2 to properly reflect their size.
-Putting creature names inside <code>{}</code> will make them visible only to builders. This will help builders distinguish between multiple blueprints of the same type and convey important reference information at a glance without revealing any of the information to players in the game. Generally, a creatures name or race, social role or class, gender (if applicable), and challenge rating are useful characteristics to record within {}.
+Putting creature names inside <code>{}</code> will make them visible only to builders. However, make sure you put the bracketed part behind a Discriptive name or DMs cannot see these in game. This will help builders distinguish between multiple blueprints of the same type and convey important reference information at a glance without revealing any of the information to players in the game. Generally, a creatures name or race, social role or class, gender (if applicable), and challenge rating are useful characteristics to record within {}.
 : 'Example: <code>Larger Kobold {Chieftain CR1}</code> or <code>Male Human {Barbarian CR3}</code>''

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 * If you do make creatures with a significantly different power level from others of their type, make sure they have some visual difference from their kin so as to not surprise that party of PC1s with those nasty +12 AB kobolds.
 * If you make a Fey, Elemental or Incoporeal Undead Creature, Check the ''''''Spirit Override'''''' box in the properties tab.  This allows the 'Chastise Spirits' ability to function properly.
 * Did I mention the CR must be set correctly?
 * When in doubt, play test your creations! Its really all about play balance, and keeping the ALFA experience as consistent as possible between all our different builders with their own assumptions about how to build.

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 * <code>'''ACR_CRE_ISUNDEAD'''</code> (integer) If set to a nonzero value, this creature will be considered undead for all scripting purposes. It will still need undead creature properties assigned.
 * <code>'''ACR_CRE_SPAWN_DAMAGED'''</code> (integer) If set to a nonzero value, the creature will not heal to full health upon spawn-in. This variable allows you to equip your monsters with creature items/equipment that provides health bonuses without them spawning harmed.
-* <code>'''ACR_CREATURE_AQUATIC'''</code> (integer) If set to a nonzero value, the creature will be able to breath in or out of water.
+* <code>'''ACR_CREATURE_AQUATIC'''</code> (integer) If set to a nonzero value, the creature will be able to breath in or out of water, and be made to assume that its land speed is also its swim speed
 These options are available in NWN2 by default: