Elmo turned into a tree: Okay this is it, I got you all beat....And no cheating, sheer coincidence and honest mistake, people. And I have the pictures to prove it.... Okay, the story: I have been trying to get 'Otto's Irresistible Dance' to work,and I have it working as per the spell description in the SRD, except for one thing.... there ain't no dance without the DANCE. The frog tongue spell animation is perfect and I tried lots of ways to get it to happen. my latest attempt involves obj_set_int((obj_f_animation_handle,.......) It turns out that every 'object' on a map is assigned an animation handle and you can assign (with some effort) any animation handle on the map to any object on the map and that object will look just like (clothing and all) what is defined by that animation handle. Anyway, knowing this, I try to assign my party leaders (happens to be the pregenerated Mialee) animation handle to Elmo and see what happens when I change the equipment and clothing on Elmo. Thought the handle was 30 so went ahead.....The results are below. Poor bastard can't move. Rooted to the spot, although he rotates as the party moves. don't Know if he can attack, didn't get that far. Just burst out laughing and had to come post here. Anyway will post about my investigations in the 'Well Whaddya Know' thread in the documentation forum when I am done....... Darmagon
*snicker* Now that is interesting experiment. Anyway, I think this link is quite relevant. Although to be fair, Tree-Elmo is hardly an assassin.
On a serious note, this event could be meaningful. You may have stumbled on to something. If an object can be spawned at a particular point on a screen map, the object could possibly be converted to a more appropriate looking tree and could attack, then that could allow Treants to be in the ToEE game. And, possibly, a group of magical trees that can attack, too, along with the Ent. This could also mean that with some effort, an object could be spawned and other objects could be brought to life in the game, as well.
> And of course the petrification gaze effect for gorgons and basilisks (turn people into statues). Though we'd need to make sure Break Enchantment works properly to change them back and that there's a way to kick petrified characters out of your party if that's not available. We should probably add the spell to Terjon's list of available healing as well. Still, very cool. I'd have to go back and fix the CRs for gorgons and basalisks once it was done, of course. (Their CRs are currently lower due to the fact they can't actually petrify anyone.)
Damn, shouldn't have said anything. Now my funny becomes a let down. What you have been suggesting is way beyond what can actually be accomplished with what I have discovered. Cerulean came closest when he said it was the beginnings of something. Much more has to be done to make something of it . Right now, it is good for parlour tricks, but as far as making a spell out of it, there is much more that needs to be discovered. Darmagon
A let down? Nah, I happen to think Elmo's 'wooden' acting style would make Keano Reaves jealous! And if something useful comes of it way down the line, well that's great too.
Petrification could be achieved (graphically) by setting the paralyzed flag - and thats exactly what the dude looks like, since he is 'frozen' in mid-movement. Does Elmo have a model number to everyone else (for the swaying?) That would explain this situation - though he still dances on the end of a frog's tongue (afaik), so he should still be doable. Just have to add an 'if obj.name == 8000' (or whatever it is) line to the spell and hunt down however that animation is called in his case. O yeah, and great work D!
Okay, definite problems with this. In combat a critter with an animation_handle other than its original one will sometimes not complete its turn and the game will hang and you will have to ctr-alt-del out. As I said, I shouldn't have said anything, but , given some recent goings on (ie. Elmo turns into a Drow, Elmo turns into a door) which were all connectable with me, Elmo turning into a tree accidentally was just too good to pass up. Anyway, for now, forget I ever mentioned it. Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, yes I do know that the game has a bug in it, involving equal initiative rolls, that will sometimes (ultra extremely rarely) cause the same effect. I have tested this to exhaustion (well, mine anyway) and I am sure that messing with the animation handles is the cause. Darmagon
