Creating a weapon with specific parameters

[BigRedArtSet]

Okay, just gonna put out there right away that I am completely new to VX Ace. I've had it in my Steam library for years now, but this is the first time I've really fired it up to play around with it. The only previous "RPG Maker" experience I've ever had was the PSOne version, which is obviously a far cry from this one.

Now that that's out of the way, here's what I'm interested in doing:

I would like a weapon that conforms to the following two parameters:

A) If the enemy is level 1, the weapon will reduce the enemy's HP to exactly 1 regardless of how much HP they currently have or any other defense stats or buffs. I understand that with this weapon you will not be able to kill the enemy--that is intentional.
If the enemy is above level 1, the weapon will only deal exactly 1 damage, regardless of any other attack/defense/HP/etc. stats.

Think of it as a "tutorial" weapon for a game intro that will have zero use outside the intro tutorial (tutorial mobs will be level 1, all mobs outside the tutorial will be level 2 or higher)

Not only will this give me a tutorial weapon for whichever game I may use it in, it will also give me a crash course in customizing weapons. Hopefully, if this weapon is truly possible to create, I can use the information I'm given here to customize other weapons and/or items with unique functionality.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[Heirukichi]

Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved without a script because VX Ace does not handle enemy levels. On top of it, changing the damage based on the equipped weapon is something that is better done within a script.

That said, there are many workarounds to achieve something like this without involving levels. First of all, since you said that this weapon is meant for a tutorial, I presume that the player does not have access to many skills. You can edit the damage formula for those skills putting something like this:

a.equips.include?($data_weapons[your_weapon_id_goes_here]) ? ModifiedDamageGoesHere : NormalDamageGoesHere

Of course, you have to find a way to tell the engine if the enemy is a tutorial enemy or not. You can do that by using states. Create a state named TUTORIAL and set it to 0% for every tutorial enemy. At this point you can check if the enemy is a tutorial enemy or not by checking if its element_rate(tutorial_element_id_goes_here) is lower than 0.1 (you are checking if it is 0, but for various reasons it is better to compare it with a value that is bigger).

This means that you have to substitute ModifiedDamageGoesHere in the previous formula with something like this:

b.element_rate(tutorial_elememt_id_goes_here) > 0.1 ? 1 : (b.hp - 1)

 

[BigRedArtSet]

Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved without a script because VX Ace does not handle enemy levels. On top of it, changing the damage based on the equipped weapon is something that is better done within a script.

Alrighty, then. Looks like I'll be taking a crash-course in scripting now. I'll probably have to put this particular project on the back burner until I get the basics, but I'll sure to come back to it eventually.

Thanks for the response!!

 

[Andar]

it can be done much simpler.

Create a damage element "tutorial" and give the tutorial enemies a weakness to it (damage rate 1000% means ten times damage)
Then give the tutorial weapon exactly this damage element with low damage base.

if neccessary you can give all other enemies an immunity against the tutorial damage element (0% damage rate)

It doesn't work exactly like you want it, but can be done without any scripting at all.

 

[Oddball]

Can't damage formulas check if a player has a weapon?
https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/damage-formulas-101.81905/
Just put a script call in each of the damage formulas of whatever charecters can equip the weapon that checks if the weapon is equipped. Then, for the "level 1" enemies, you can make something not used like luk rediculusly high and in all other enemies, make it equal to there defense or something. Then, in the skills that can be learned by the actors that can equip the weapon, make it hit the stat you choose in the if it's equiped thing. and hopefully, that will work