Help to balance weapons

[HumanNinjaToo]

I would like to know what steps you all have taken to balance out the weapons portion of your game. For example, I don't like the idea of having 15 different swords that all get stronger from town to town. I like the idea of having a set amount of weapons, all of them different and useful in their own way (kind of like how weapons work in Dark Souls series, they all are different and useful depending on the situation). So in order to balance my own game, I created 24 different weapons and give them their own stat modifiers based on weapon class and type.

My basic weapon class/type information is below and I wouldn't mind having some opinions regarding balance for my own ideas. I've divided weapons into the following types, and I'll put the traits next to them:

Light: Evade +2%, Hit Times +1
Finesse: Crit +2%, TP charge *125%, Dual-wield, Hit Times +1, Counter +5%
One hand: Evade +3%
Two hand: Phy Dam *110%, Seal Off-hand
Heavy: Crit +3%, AGI *80%, Hit -2%, Phy Dam *110%
Range: Evade -2%
Simple: Hit +3%
Advanced: Hit +3%, Phy Dam *110%

A particular weapon could be a combination of these types (i.e. Heavy Crossbow is Two Hand/Heavy/Range/Advanced). For some more background, my character classes parameters range in: Hit % 94-98, Evade % +1-8, and Critical % +4-12. Also, I think I should point out that my weapons are primarily labeled as Light, Finesse, 1H, and 2H; they can be further typed by Heavy, Ranged, Simple, and Advanced <these last 4 types are only conveyed through the stat modifiers.

I'm going for some semblance of realism when it comes to how a weapon affects a characters ability to use said weapon in battle. If you were to look at these traits from a semi-realistic point of view, do the traits seem to align with the weapon type?

So again, I'm interested in hearing what steps you've taken to create balanced weapon systems in your own game, and I'm interested in hearing your opinion of what I'm doing in my game as well. Thank you.

EDIT: I changed the traits attached to the weapon types.
EDIT 2: I changed my question to hopefully allow for broader discussion.

 

[Tai_MT]

I'm not sure what you're asking, but I'll give it my best shot.

You're asking me if your labels match what I would infer as a player that they do, right? If that's what you're asking then... I'm going to have to say "not to me". However, you'll have to remember that I come from a background of playing D&D and working with "similar" traits on weapons.

Light - A light weapon implies to me that wielding it should be no problem. I'd have no problem getting it to the target or getting multiple hits in with it. After all, if you are using a dagger, it is light, and you can do five or six very quick cuts on an enemy within 2-3 seconds if you know how to use it. It's light enough that it doesn't hinder movement. Or, maybe, it suffers a damage reduction because it just doesn't "hit as hard".
Finesse - This also seems a lot like the "Light" one to me. Extra swings of the weapon, using it is like an artform. Maybe you get chances to disarm opponents or counter attack (like if you had a Rapier... I can only ever imagine Rapiers having any kind of finesse on the battlefield).
One Hand - Eh... I just kind of expect this to have some kind of advantage. Is the advantage that you can equip a shield with it? Depending on how good your shield is, one handed weapons might be worth equipping. Those, some of these options look better. Like, maybe extra Evasion instead of extra Defense. I'd rather avoid all damage than reduce current damage.
Two Hand - Makes sense. I'd likely inflict a penalty to your "To Hit" as well though. Anything you need to use two hands for is going to be unwieldy. You're essentially going to be using it "as a bludgeon" most of the time.
Heavy - I'd honestly expect a bigger penalty to Agility with something like that. But, your stats are probably balanced differently than I think they are. I'd also think it would "hit harder" since you've got a lot of weight behind it. It'd likely also have the same "To Hit" problem your Two-Handed weaponry would. Heavy objects are unwieldy in combat.
Range - I have no idea why this would improve evade. If you're firing a bow or throwing a knife, you still must take the time to aim it. The most accurate aiming would require you stand still. There's a reason Snipers in modern times don't "run and gun" with their rifles. Their accuracy suffers if they try. Honestly, I'd probably just give it a "To Hit" bonus, since long range bow strikes that are aimed can be far more deadly than sword swings. Unless you hit a shield or something.
Simple - My personal definition of "Simple" would be that anyone could pick it up and use it without training. Maybe not to be a professional badass, but enough to be able to get a kill or two in an army. It's a simple weapon. A club, a knife, a crossbow. Something that requires very little training. I think I'd make it more accurate instead of less accurate. After all, if one inexperienced person swings a baseball bat at another inexperienced person, that bat is basically going to connect 80% of the time at least. The only thing that changes that is if the person being swung at has more "combat experience" and sees it coming, can dodge it, can block it, whatever.
Advanced - I think my definition of "Advanced" would be anything that requires some training to use. As such, the weapons wielded by combatants that know how to use them would naturally inflict more damage upon enemies than they would if they were to use a "standard" kind of weapon. They could probably inflict more damage with a Sai than they could with a Dagger. Inflict more damage with a Naginata than they could with a simple staff. Etcetera. It'd be a "specialty weapon" of some sort. Something defenders might not be familiar with. I'd think instead of more accuracy, it might just do more damage.

But, that's all my subjective personal opinion. Maybe what you did just makes more sense for your setting. I dunno. I hope I helped.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

@Tai_MT Thank you for the opinion, I was hoping to get some D&D based opinion actually, because to me, D&D based weapon attacking is pretty realistic, comparatively. So first off, let me clarify on weapon types, a weapon can either be Light, Finesse, 1H melee, 2H melee, 2H Heavy melee, 1H range, 2H range, 2H Heavy range; and then Simple or Advanced is applied to each of the weapons respectively (based on the type of weapon, i.e. handaxe is Simple and battleaxe is Advanced). I like all your ideas actually, they all make sense to me. I added a plus 1 to attack times for light and finesse weapons. The real difference between the two types is that finesse weapons are dual wield, whereas light are not. One-hand weapons are meant to be used with a shield (like you assumed), although that is not required. I added them to have an evasion modifier. What you said about Two-hand and heavy weapons also makes sense to me, I addressed that by increasing the AGI penalty for heavy weapons and also lowering their Hit% slightly and increasing their DMG modifier again. Also, what you said about the bow makes sense too. Originally I had added an evasion modifier to simulate the ranged user being further away from the thick of battle, however, I had planned to utilize a battle formation script, and I believe that would be the better way to add evasion to an archer, if he is placed in the back row. So for simple, I went ahead and increased the Hit % because I only meant to make simple weapons as ones that nearly anyone could pick up and use, so it makes sense to not penalize a character for that. I increased the advantage of being able to use and advanced weapon by adding a DMG modifier, because as you assumed, they are for characters with more martial prowess. Thank you for your input, it is greatly appreciated and actually helped me with some adjustments for the time being.

I am trying to get all the weapons and armor stuff balanced with my characters and my plan for level/progression before I test against enemies, so for now I am happy with what is coming together.

I am still interested in any other opinions on the matter.

 

[gstv87]

ditch the percentages.
they're a headache in the works.

in order to balance your weapons, you need targets to hit, because hits mean damage and damage is what you want to balance.
write down the conversion for *one* weapon.
if you establish that a weapon with 100 attack will do 10 damage to a target with 90 defense, then that's what it's gonna do, each time, every time.
from there, you add variation.
but take it from solid numbers, not percentages, which you don't know where they're pointing.

 

[jonthefox]

Cool ideas, I may borrow some of this. In response to your question:

-I don't think heavy should give crit. The main draw of heavy weapons is to bash armored enemies, so maybe have it reduce target's defense.
-Also, I'm not sure 110% phys dmg is enough of a bonus for 2 handed...remember you're giving up the use of a shield, so you need something to incentivize this style AND compensate for the opportunity cost.

 

[Kes]

'Game Mechanics Design' is not for feedback on individual, specific projects. If this discussion broadens out a bit into a more conceptual discussion, then it can stay here. Otherwise, I shall have to close it as it as I can't move it to 'Ideas and Prototypes' as that forum has its own requirements.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

@gstv87 Thanks for taking the time to post a response. I have to disagree with you though, I don't believe percentages are a headache, at least not in this case. I understand the relationship between evasion, hit chance, and the other sp- and xp-parameters enough to not be confused by the numbers. I agree with you about having targets to hit, and needing to balance that part out, I haven't made it that far yet. I'm still undecided on how I want the Attack skills damage formula to work, lol.

@jonthefox Thanks for taking time to respond. I thought about your concern as well, about the DMG modifier not being high enough, but... The way the system is working so far, I think my works. For example, I have a 2Hand Heavy Greatsword, which is and Advanced weapon, so it gets a DMG modifier from being all three of those types to total at DMG*130%. In comparison, a Staff is 2Hand and Simple, so it is DMG*110%. So after giving you that information, does your opinion change?

@Kes Sorry about fudging the requirements, after posting this, I'm going to attempt to edit my OP in a way that leads to broader discussion.

 

[Martin_Arcainess]

There is a lot of things to consider when balancing weapons. Generally, I tend to go down the more stats it's got the more drawback it has but sometimes it isn't a simple as that.
example:
Axe: Attack +15 but Speed -5
Sword: Attack +10

now yes, the ax gets 5 more attacks then the sword but also loses an even 5 in return but what is the value/weight of agility?
Is it a fair trade-off? You mostly see this when people are doing the tightest builds and you see stuff like.
*In terms of offense*
Agility 1 = 0.495
Attack 1 = 1.000

the amount of maths involved is testing upon test upon test and some serious number crunching. But in all honesty, if the difference with them isn't that big it shouldn't be that much of an issue. As long as the tradeoff is reasonably fair.

Now using the above weights of the stats, 1 agility is like half the value of Attack so a the Ax with an extra 5 would fairly need a -10 in agility. But this again depends on how your agility scales as well and what the cap is.


But my above mention comments if you really and I mean really want to 100% balance them but in all honesty as long as it's not something like.

Axe: Attack +35 but Speed -2
Sword: Attack +10

You should be ok lol.


Another thing to note, is some people may say oh this is too OP while other people be like yeah but the tradeoff is worth it.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

@Martin_Arcainess I agree with you, there should definitely be some kind of trade-off for balance to work properly, otherwise you are left with one or two overpowered weapons that everyone will use while they ignore all others. So I pretty much understand the concept, especially with something easy like trading speed for more power. How might you balance a weapon that does extra attack times? Or weapons that are for dual wielding? I understand there may be a slight trade in that the character is giving up a shield to hold another dagger. So now def is lower than average, however, they are getting 4 attacks because they are dual wielding daggers, which are fast weapons. You may say, just lower the daggers attack, but if you lower the attack too much, then you have taken away incentive for someone to choose dual wielding daggers over sword & board. Any ideas for that?

 

[Martin_Arcainess]

well, when it comes to comparing attack and defense the difference can be a bit wider.

So

Shield: 30 Def

Dagger: 26 *dual wield x2 = 52

so the difference is 4. Which isn't much. So I consider that a fair tradeoff but even then.

Shield: 38
Dagger: 26 *dual wield x2 = 52

now the difference is 12, which I still consider a fair tradeoff.

Some people may prefer option 1 and other prefer option 2.

Reasons for option 1.
My character has ok defense and the tradeoff isn't that much of big issue.

Reason for option 2.
My character has more than enough defense thanks to my other gear providing a lot of defense so it won't harm me that much.

Or another reason: this is the build I want my character to have, I don't care about defense as my Tank like character takes all if not most the hits and my main reason for this character is to stack attack so the more attack regardless of costs the better.

 

[bgillisp]

What I did was I set a base value for weapons of that type, and went from there. Here is what I used, per my game manual: Note that all weapons give ATK and MAT, due to everyone having spells.

Swords: +5% base ATK, -5% base MAT.
Daggers: -25% base ATK, MAT = ATK, 2x attack. +10% agility boost.
Pom-Pom: Base ATK, +5% MAT, small LUK boost, boost to CNT.
Axes: +10% ATK, -10% MAT.
Staffs: -20% ATK, +20% MAT.
Books: Sword's MAT +20%. Boost to MP. Pierce damage.
Fists: 2 handed. +20% ATK, -20% MAT.
Bow: Base stats, boost to attack speed, boost to LUK, bonus to To Hit, +CRT chance.
Rapier: Base stats, +Agility bonus, +CNT and +CRT bonus.

And I have two others, but they were too complicated to explain quickly here. But as you can see, I set the base value first, then decided did I want this weapon to be good for ATK, good for MAT, average in both, or do something else like give you CNT or CRT bonuses? And sure, +5% isn't much early game when everything is giving around 5 ATK, but late game when the weapons give 100 - 150 ATK, it means a lot more.

 

[Countyoungblood]

If you dont want weapons to scale in power then id assume you want all weapons relatively equal in power.

For different weapons to be different yet equal the changes you make have to be equal.

Offensive and defensive changes are both conciderable in overall combat effectiveness and both contribute tp making things equal.

Everything here is just math.

 

[Failivrin]

I have a lot of nonhuman characters, so I'm actually ignoring weapon upgrades =p
In games I've played, I really enjoy customizing weapons when some of them have secondary skills or attributes. It's alright choosing between a rapier of +2 Attack and a great sword of +4 Attack, -2 Agility. But I think a more entertaining choice would be rapier or cursed sword with +4 Attack, -HP each turn.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

@Martin_Arcainess So I think I get what you're saying, you believe it's ultimately just a choice of the player to either be a DPS or a tank.

@bgillisp So I think you are saying that you are classifying weapons by type in such a way that sword is a type, axe is a type, etc. I think that way works great. To me personally, I feel it is just a bit bland because I get tired of just coming across the next best sword within the sword type, you know?

@Countyoungblood Well to me, it's not about really being equal, so much as it balanced. In my game, for example, each longsword is going to be practically the same, you will not find any Fire longsword or Master longsword. Instead, the player will have to customize a longsword to become something unique; this is how the weapons will scale in power. And although some weapons may be very similar, they may have a different attack element, such as slash versus pierce. And yeah, it is just about math, however, I think it's important to consider all aspects of the math because how the math interacts with the fancy things that go into a game will determine success of the mechanics as a whole sometimes.

@Failivrin I agree, that does sound interesting. The whole cursed item thing has always peaked my interest. I like when their are hidden mechanics around the curse that the player must figure out. It reminds me of cursed items in FF6, you used them for so many battles and they actually became very good items in the end.

 

[Countyoungblood]

@Martin_Arcainess So I think I get what you're saying, you believe it's ultimately just a choice of the player to either be a DPS or a tank.

@bgillisp So I think you are saying that you are classifying weapons by type in such a way that sword is a type, axe is a type, etc. I think that way works great. To me personally, I feel it is just a bit bland because I get tired of just coming across the next best sword within the sword type, you know?

@Countyoungblood Well to me, it's not about really being equal, so much as it balanced. In my game, for example, each longsword is going to be practically the same, you will not find any Fire longsword or Master longsword. Instead, the player will have to customize a longsword to become something unique; this is how the weapons will scale in power. And although some weapons may be very similar, they may have a different attack element, such as slash versus pierce. And yeah, it is just about math, however, I think it's important to consider all aspects of the math because how the math interacts with the fancy things that go into a game will determine success of the mechanics as a whole sometimes.

@Failivrin I agree, that does sound interesting. The whole cursed item thing has always peaked my interest. I like when their are hidden mechanics around the curse that the player must figure out. It reminds me of cursed items in FF6, you used them for so many battles and they actually became very good items in the end.

There is a certain way of looking at balance overall that might help..i will try to put a thread together about it.

 

[Tai_MT]

If you'd like a crazy example of "weapon archetypes", I could post my own. But, you'd have to keep in mind that my combat system is a little more complicated. You also have to keep in mind that several of my weapons are exclusive to specific "classes" in order to give those classes other build options while not breaking other classes. You will also have to keep in mind that the weapons "Next Tier" simply goes up by the base value. A weapon with a Base Value of 10 Attack will be 20 Attack at Tier 2 weaponry. There are exceptions to this rule and even "jumps" in power or stat rearranges depending on what I want a specific weapon to do, but giving you the "Base Design" of each weapon should be enough.

Finally, you'll need to know about the stat distribution. Attack, Magic, and Agility are all stats you can use to attack enemies in damage formulas. Defense, Magic Defense, and Luck are all stats you can use to defend against enemies and their damage formulas.

Dagger - Base values: 1 Attack, 3 Agility, 1 Luck. These weapons have a high chance to inflict states on enemies. Poison, Stun, Paralyze, Sleep, Silence, whatever.
Katar - Base values: 2 Attack, 2 Agility, 2 Luck. Chance to Counter Attack. High Critical Hit Rate. Exclusive to Thief Class.
Saber - Base values: 3 Attack, 3 Agility, 2 Luck. No special combat abilities. Exclusive to Pirate Class.
Short Sword - Base values: 3 Attack, 1 Defense. A weapon nearly any class can use. Highest possibility to come enchanted with special features or Elements.
Long Sword - Base values: 5 Attack, 2 Luck. Will never have Elemental Enchants.
Sickle - Base values: 3 Attack, 3 Defense, 3 Agility. Multiple strikes. Exclusive to Necromancer Class.
Axe - Base values: 15 Attack. -50% Hit Rate.
Mace - Base values: 6 Attack, 3 Defense, -2 Luck. Chance to inflict "Stun".
Hammer - Base values: 6 Attack, -2 Agility. Lead or Silver Enchantments (these enchantments make them hit much harder against heavily armored enemies than normal Blunt weaponry does). Exclusive to Cleric.
Wand - Base values: 5 Attack, 5 Magic Attack. Causes Elemental Weakness effects (weak to Fire, weak to Ice, weak to Lightning, lots of variation)on targets. Exclusive to Elemental Class.
Arrows - Base values: 3 Attack, 3 Agility. Best paired with the defensive item "Short Bow" or "Long Bow" for increased stat gain in specific Skills. Can come in Elemental Variants or State Inflicting Variants. Exclusive to Ranger Class.
Bastard Sword - Base values: 10 Attack, 4 Defense, -4 Agility, -2 Luck. Two Handed Weapon that Seals Shield slot. No special combat abilities. Exclusive to Soldier Class.
Claymore - Base values: 8 Attack, 4 Defense, -3 Agility, -1 Luck. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. Frequently comes with the "Blunt" element on it as well as the "Slash" element.
Falchion - Base values: 10 Attack, -4 Defense, 2 Agility, 8 Luck. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. No Special Abilities. Exclusive to Magic Knight. Required for use of certain Magic Knight Skills.
Great Axe - Base values: 25 Attack, -10 Agility, -10 Luck. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. -50% Hit Rate. Required for use of certain Magic Knight Skills and one Pirate Skill.
Halberd - Base values: 7 Attack, 7 Defense, 7 Agility, 7 Luck. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. On occasion comes with the "Slash" element as well as the "Pierce" one. Exclusive to Magic Knight. Required for use of certain Magic Knight Skills.
Scythe - Base values: 12 Attack, 3 Defense, 5 Luck. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. Usually comes enchanted with "Death" element. Sometimes inflicts "Zombie" state. Exclusive to Necromancer Class.
Maul - Base values: 12 Attack. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. Sometimes comes with "Piercing" element as well as the Bashing element. Frequently comes with "Lead" element. Exclusive to Cleric Class.
Staff - Base values: 4 Attack, 4 Defense, 10 Magic Attack, 5 Magic Defense. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. Comes with variable Max MP bonus, starting at a minimum of 10.
Orb - Base values: 10 Magic Attack, 10 Magic Defense. Two Handed Weapon Seals Shield slot. Elemental Trait is "Magic" instead of typical "Strength" or "Slash, Blash, Pierce" variants. Can also come with a single or multiple Elements (Fire, Water, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Earth). Hitting "Attack" with this weapon will do pretty much no damage. It is meant to be used with the 0 MP skill "Energy Beam" which uses the "Magic Attack" stat to do damage in the same way mashing "Attack" does damage (exact same skill, they just use different stats). Exclusive to Elementalist Class.

My goal was not to make the weapons "equal", but to make them "comparable" to each other. I used the weapons themselves to "create build options". I didn't want players to just go, "well, this has the best stats, I'm using it". I mean, that's an option, but I didn't want it to be the only powerful option. So, I just thought up several "Builds" for every character and "Roles" for them to take in combat. I created weapons to fill those "Roles". So, naturally, some are going to be really good for doing one thing, others are going to be really good at doing other things, and then there are options for if you just don't care about "a build" and just want to be "jack of all trades".

I don't know if that's really a good design philosophy for everything, but I think it lends itself better to fitting the play style of any individual player than most standard systems do. I mean, who equips a dagger unless there's no other option for a character? I wanted there to be a reason to do so.

That's my two cents on the "subject at large".

I think balancing weapons is most easily done when you've got a goal in mind for how your combat should work. Like, you have a clear idea of what you want players to be doing in combat and what decisions you'd like them to consider outside of it for their equipment.

 

[bgillisp]

@HumanNinjaToo : Pretty much. Some also do a special type of damage, like Axes do bonus damage to skeletons and so on, but for the most part it is which do you want, ATK or MAT? Or do you want a combat bonus but average stats in both? Or would you like 2 attacks and high speed, but lower ATK and MAT?

Seems to be the best system for my game in the end. While customizing a weapon is a good idea to avoid the whole Long Sword vs Great Sword vs Ultra Sword, I found no practical way to implement such a system in RPGMaker ACE that was fun in the end, so this is what we got.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

@Tai_MT Interesting set ups. They make sense to me. So you are using multiple stats to deal damage, is something you implementing through the use of skills associated with weapon types? Or is that somehow implemented through regular attack command with a particular weapon? Or is somehow implemented through the class type?

@bgillisp Well it seems like a straightforward system that would most likely work well, in terms of how it's designed according to your explanations. I like that you mention certain weapon types are strong against certain enemy types. I think that decision adds even more depth.

 

[gstv87]

I'm still undecided on how I want the Attack skills damage formula to work, lol.

>>>>>>>>>exxxxaacccccctly!<<<<<<<<<

 

[Tai_MT]

@HumanNinjaToo

It's a combination of things. I couldn't find a script that would do exactly what I wanted with a specific set of skills, so I just created my own work-around. Basically, the "Attack" command uses the "Strength" Element (other stuff use it as well, but this is the most reliable way to use that element) as well as uses the simple formula of "a.atk - b.def". I ended up creating 2 other skills (it's really 6, since they fall under specific Skill Categories, and it was being a butt in letting me try to add them without also creating a whole new Skill Category that people had... I wanted it to be under the same heading as their primary skill sets, not a single skill under a new skill menu) that did the exact same thing as hitting "Attack". They are "0 MP Skills" that sit at the very top of the Skill Lists. "Energy Beam" is given to my "Mage" styled characters and it uses the formula of "a.mat - b.mdf". The other is "Swift Blows" and is given to what I call my "Rogue" type characters. It is the same formula except using Agility as the attacking stat and Luck as the defense one. "Energy Beam" uses the Element "Magic", so it's the best method for using that element in combat and "Swift Blows" simply uses the "Speed" element in combat. These elements also typically run in parallel with their respective stats. In such a way, you sometimes get a "bonus" for using them instead of standard skills by exploiting a weakness. So, the equation can then multiply by the weakness. It gives the illusion of "more going on under the hood" than really is. Especially since nobody in game mentions these three elements.

Anyway, sorry that's a little wordy, I'll get back to the main questions at hand. RPG Maker MV comes with "Attack" already set as default, right? You use it, your weapon stats are layered over top of it and it just works. So, all I did was change the default element from "Physical" or whatever it was to be renamed as "Strength" (so that I knew what it was, the players wouldn't see the name) and changed the damage formula to what I needed instead of the whole, "multiply this stat by two, divide this defense by four" nonsense that would be insanely difficult for me to balance. Then, I just copied the skill into new slots, renamed it, changed the formula again, and added it into skill lists with their own unique animations (instead of using weapon animations).

As for the Skills themselves, they use different stats based on the Classes. Rogue classes most often use Agility and Luck for their formulas, with a few using Attack and Defense and one of my rogues even having the ability to use Magic and Magic Defense. Elements on the skills depend basically on what they do. I list the Element type of the skill in the description box so players aren't confused. My Mages work roughly the same way. Warriors too. So, your weapons just go towards creating a "Build" with the classes.

Unfortunately, it's pretty much all executed via the use of Skills, except in the instance of hitting the "Attack" command. I found some Plugins that would do parts of what I wanted, but nothing that would do exactly what I wanted. Like, I could find ones that would "replace" the Attack command, but it would do it for everyone. Or, I could find ones that would let me do it separately, but they'd over-write "weapon animations" and I'd have to put animations in again for every weapon. Or, I could put ones in that would let me do it separately and not over-write the weapon animations, but it would make slapping specific stats on them difficult or states... or elements...

I haven't looked for a while, so maybe now one exists that does what I want, but I'm already invested so deeply into this system that reworking it all from scratch to get a more streamlined effect just doesn't appeal to me.

Also, I just noticed it censored one of my swords to 'lovable" instead of the word I used, ha ha. Basically, it's "A child without a father" Sword.