Hero and Sword Abilities Design w/ Code

Hi Returners,

It's been almost a year since my last contribution, and someone was helpful enough to alert me of an SNES debugging tool.  I was trying to use new code tricks to completely redesign and expand Sabin, Cyan, and unique item abilities.  In the end even the debugging tool couldn't help me understand why the code wasn't working (maybe I wasn't clever enough) so I stopped for good.

Here is what I came up with, in case others can build on it and create the abilities this game deserves.  The general gist of the abilities is that by calling data from enemies and heroes, skills such as the following may be possible:

Sabin - He's Phys or Mgc, Based on himself, heal, heal ailments
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Pummel - Phys. Dmg, HP+MP dmg only
Aura Bolt - Mgc Dmg, Stats*stats dmg only
Death Dance - Phys Dmg=2*hp/targets
Mantra - Mgc, Heal, lift ailments
Bum Rush - Phys., Best of MPwr or (Vig*1.5) dmg, dispells
Suplex - Phys, Damage based on # of buffs on the hero, lifts buffs
Chi Strike - Mgc, Removes reflect, Dmg based on HP of hero and target
Redemption - Mgc, Mpwr+Vigor huge dmg to enemies and self, exploder-style

Cyan - He's All physical, based on others, add ailments, dispel buffs
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Dispatch - 1BP 250HR attack based on level^2 of opponent+physical dmg, condemns
Mana Burn - (Magic attack) MP damage based on Max MP
Fell - Current HP+ = +dmg, sleeps opponent
Forsake - Damage to multiple based on absence of buffs, adds dark
Empowerer - Absorbs HP and MP
Revoke - Dmg based on buffs, attempts to removes buffs
Slay - 255 BP 255HR, kills or slows
Afflict - 1255BP 4x hit, damage based on # of ailments

Other Damage Abilities (for items, etc.---with my random crazed notes)
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    Hero has less def & dodge = more damage
    Target armor higher = more damage
    Bigger damage but some damage done to the hero also, and attack dmg is based on HP% (via exploder code)
    Lvl target - lvl attacker, then lvl attacker - lvl target, but first compare lvls and branch accordingly
    Damage based on speed - $11A4 (speed * speed / 8)
    Stamina -         $11A2
    Magic Power of hero -     $11A0
    Vigor of hero -     $11A6 (I think this is also *2)
    Vigor*2 or Mpwr -    $11AE (this is wierd eh?)
    Vigor * Mpwr
    BP of weapon ^2 or something (awesome for all of swdtech skills)
    Level of attacker -     $11AF (probably hero only)
    Vigor+Mpwr+Stamina+Speed / 4 (average of stats) ^2 /8 - great early game and then very late game I think!
    Ability/Weapon effect that does damage based on the difference in stats on the hero (Mpwr - Stamina),
    or the inverse where similar levels of stats are preferred!
    Best of stat (Vig or Mpwr!) via AND operand    
    Vig (or Stam) of Hero/HP of Monster ratio would be awesome
    Spd/2)^2+[(Spd - target's speed)/2]^2 would be super awesome
    1/2 Mdef and 1/2 Def instead of just one defense type, and STZ $3414 (ignore other modifications of damage)
    Dmg weapon based on mdef - would need insert whole new copy of physical damage formula


Here's the code I made for starting to create these abilities.  I believe HP+MP damage worked, but immediately the other ones I tried had calculation problems or froze the game.  As I couldn't fix with the debugger, here is the code for anyone else who may be interested:


This is a dissection of the Dmg*A/B formula.  I believe this is a standard formula used by the game.



Dmg based on HP + MP (ending on first part of next image)




Dmg = Vig*Mpwr*Stam*Spd (continued on next slide)





Damage based on ailments




Damage based on absence of buffs


Subroutine for the above ability


Here's a diagram of statuses and their bit location