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The table below lists character properties visible from Lua at the time of writing. If your prog needs to access character data not in this list, contact Lasher.

MUD Table Definitions

When using properties such as race, class, subclass and clan, the values returned are numbers. If you happen to know that Troll is race number 11, you could write something like:

if ch.race == 11 then
   say("Hi Troll!")
end

While this works, it is not very convenient. To help with comparing values in tables, several of the game tables have their contents loaded into Lua for easier comparison. The following are all valid:

if ch.race == RACE_TROLL ...
if ch.class == CLASS_MAGE ...
if ch.subclass == SUBCLASS_ARCHER ...
if ch.clan == CLAN_SHADOKIL ...
if ch.sex == SEX_FEMALE ...
if ch.position == POS_SITTING ...

Lua Object Return Types

Some of the properties on objects will return other objects on the stack rather than string or integer values. Once you have a variable of this type, all of the usual properties are available on it. For example, when 'targ = self.target' returns the mob's target, then all the properties of 'targ' are available using targ.level, targ.int, etc.

Comparing Lua Object Return Types

One other important point for builders to remember is that similar objects in Lua do not compare as equal. For example, if Razor triggers a program (ch) and the mob gets it's target (targ) then wants to see if Razor is already it's target, it cannot simply do if ch == targ. This is because the two variables are two different objects in Lua that just happen to point to the same underlying character in the MUD. Every character in the game has a unique 'gid' value and this is what should be used for comparison.

In the sample Lua code below, the mob checks if it has a target already. If it doesn't, it remembers the character triggering the prog. If it does, it wants to either inform the player that they are its target, or inform the player who the target it. The 'gid' character property is used for the comparison:

targ = self.target
if targ == nil then
   say ("I don't have a target")
   remember(ch)
else
   if (targ.gid == ch.gid) then
      say ("Hi! You're my target!")
   else
      say ("My target's name is " .. targ.name)
   end
end

As we get into more advanced Lua programming and store character information for later re-use (in prog timers for example), it is always the 'gid' that will be stored, never a direct pointer to the character themselves which can be become invalid if the target character quits/is killed in the meantime.

Data1 .. Data5 Values

The Data1 to Data5 values are numeric values that can be set on a mob and are saved over a reboot. These have generic names because their purpose is not defined - it is whatever makes sense for the builder to track. Some examples may be number of times a mob has been killed, or the number of repops until a mob moves location or opens a door, etc. It can even be the chance of something happening with the chance increasing each repop via a repop trigger.

Note that all mobs of the same type share data1 .. data5 values. If you have 2 or more of the same mob loading and you set these values, you are setting it for all of them, so it cannot be used to track data about individual instances of mobs.

Damage Focus Types

These values are used with the ch.damtype property. For example:

say("Your damage type is " ..ch.damtype);
if ch.damtype == FOCUS_FIRE then
   say("You are using fire.");
else
   say("You are not using fire.");
end

if ch.damtype == FOCUS_SLASH or ch.damtype == FOCUS_BASH or ch.damtype == FOCUS_PIERCE then
   say("You are using physical damage!");
end