Characters Table

If your prog needs to access character data not in this list, contact Lasher.

Property	Description
Align	Current alignment
Clan	Character's Clan
Class	Primary class
Clones	Returns number of same type of mob in the room, excluding self. Always 0 for players.
Con	Current constitution. NOTE: All stat values include equipment and spells.
Damtype	Character's primary damtype - compare to FOCUS_variables below.
Desc*	Character description - read only on players.
Dex	Current dexterity
Explored	Number of global rooms the character has explored.
Exploredhere	Number of in-zone rooms the character has explored.
Gold*	Gold on hand
Heshe	He/She/It name for current char.
Himher	Him/Her/It name for current char.
Hisher	His/Hers/Its name for current char.
Hp	Current hit points
Maxhp	Max hit points
Hppct	Percentage of HP remaining
Ingame	Number of same mob in-game
Following	Return name of character the target is following
Gid	Unique integer ID on each char - used for comparison.
Groupsize	Number of other people in player's group in room.
Gtarget	Same as target, but the previously remember char does not still have to be in the same room.
Int	Current intelligence
Key	Mob key, blank for a player
Keywords	Mob only - returns keywords of the mob. Useful with give etc.
Lastroom	Room the character was last in.
Leader	Return the name of the character's group leader
Level	Level of character
Longname*	Mob only - description of mob as seen in room.
Luck	Current luck
Mana	Current mana
Maxmana	Max mana
Manapct	Percentage of mana remaining
Mobkills	Number of mobs the player has killed.
Moves	Current moves
Maxmoves	Max moves
Movepct	Percentage of moves remaining
Name*	Character name - read only on players.
Order	Returns order of current mob in room among mobs with the same key. Useful for ensuring a prog only fires once.
Owner	Return name of character's owner - only applies to pets.
Position	Current position of character
Practices*	Player only - practices on hand.
Questsdone	Player only - number of quests the player has completed.
Race	Character race
Racename	Character racename
Room	Returns room character is in as a ROOM type variable.
Roomkey	Returns key of room character is currently in.
Saves	Current saves
Sex	Male returns 1, sexless returns 0, female returns -1.
Str	Current strength
Subclass	Character subclass
Target	Returns mob's target as 'CH' type. See below.
Tier	Current tier of character
Totlevel	Total level as it would appear on rank 1.
Trains*	Player only - training sessions on hand.
Wis	Current wisdom

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.

Characters Table

MUD Table Definitions

Lua Object Return Types

Comparing Lua Object Return Types

Related Pages