General help with my first Character Mod

[WesisBless]

Hello! I'm rather new to the forms as well as to modding, but I'm not new to Don't Starve! I've recently been interested in modding in an OC of mine (Who wouldn't be?) and was wondering if there were any helpful souls out there who would be willing to be patient with me and help me out on making him? I'm fine with everything so far (I've got his own custom speech, he's loading into the game correctly, only a few minor script errors that I should be able to fix without issue. I've even got him up to date with being able to comment on Winona's machines!), I mostly just need help with figuring out a few technical ideas that I have, as well as perhaps a useful base to start the sprite art on. There are so many pieces, and mapping the face is going to be a nightmare, so if anybody has useful tips, I'd appreciate it!!
Things I'd need help on:

• I eventually plan on him having a transformation when he has low sanity (About the time when the Nightmare Monsters begin to attack)... but this is a far-reaching goal that would probably be a final update after he's a functioning character.
• I wish for him to be able to make a few minor magic items from the Prestihatilator, without needing a blueprint.
• I wish for him to be able to carry a "fire" in his hand, that would last about as long as a torch, and have a 'cool down' after it's used up before it can be used again. It'd use a smaller version of the blue fire from a endothermic fire, and simply function as a torch without being a torch. I just need help figuring out how this would work. This might end up being a later addition along with his transformation.
• No sanity gain from Science... is that possible? Instead, he'd gain it from Magic (He's a warlock!)
• I also want him to very very very slowly lose sanity over time... as the intended point of him is for him to eventually reach his transformation for a strength boost and nighttime immunity at the cost of his defense and sanity.
  Edit:
  So a lot of this is no longer necessary, as I've decided to simplify him by a lot. Here' is the new concepts that I wrote down in a google doc:
  Spoiler

  Abilities and Such
  Can use Blue, Red, Purple and Yellow gems as if they were their respective Staves. Can automatically craft low-tier amulets without needing their respective crafting stations.
  
  When crafting staves, Cassius’ expertise in magic allows him to improve upon existing blueprints. Cassius is also very used to the dark arts, and so he takes half as much sanity drain (rounded down) from using staves. (This makes using Fire and Ice staves free!)
  
  Warlock’s Fire Staff - Deals 50 damage, also sets target on fire.
  
  Warlock’s Ice Staff - Deals 35 damage, also chills target
  
  *Warlock’s Lightning Staff - Deals 55 damage, also slows target and causes a ‘static aura’ that deals 5 damage to anything that gets too close. (Lasts the same amount of time that being on fire does).
  
  Warlock’s Telelocator Staff - Upon first use with a Telelocator focus, gems are not consumed. Every use thereafter has a percent chance not to consume the gems. Lightning will also not strike, but world moisture still increases.
  
  Warlock’s Lazy Explorer - 35% faster movement, slightly larger teleportation range.
  
  Warlock’s Star Caller - Stars last for 4 minutes instead of 2.
  
  Warlock’s Deconstruction Staff - Can return gems if they were used in the construction of an item.
  ------
  Cassius also has troubles keeping his human form as his sanity starts to drop. The lower his sanity is, the monstrous he becomes.
  
  100% Sanity - Normal, no changes.
  
  75% Sanity - Horns and tail grow slightly longer, claws show | 5% damage increase, 5% ‘Armor’ reduction.
  
  50% Sanity - Horns and tail far more noticeable, fur growing on claws | 10% damage increase, 10% ‘Armor’ reduction.
  
  25% Sanity - Eyes glow, fur fully covering arms | 15% damage increase, 15% ‘Armor’ reduction. Is now ‘Monstrous’, causing pigs and like creatures to be hostile towards him.
  
  0% Sanity - Horns fully grown, Tail fully grown, has to hold mouth ‘open’ due to sharpness of teeth | 20% damage increase, 20% ‘Armor’ reduction. Sanity Reduction Aura set to -3/m. (Stacks with other sanity drains) Is also immune to darkness, however cannot see in darkness and can still be attacked by shadow monsters.
  
  Intended blueprints and necessary re-coding ideas
  
  * Walrock’s lightning staff is a Cassius-only blueprint.
  Requires: x2 Nightmare Fuel, x1 Spear, x2 Yellow Feather, x1 Yellow Gem

  I do know that I'll need to look at the code for Wolfgang's mighty form and draw up proper sprites for him, though Wolfgang I believe uses 'Skins' for his various forms rather than new builds. What I really need help with is figuring out what goes where in each folder (modmain.lua and [character].lua)
  I was able to use modmain.lua to have custom reactions to my character through looking at another character mod, but that mod unfortunately didn't help me much with where to put what. I assume that the gems/staves will need their own custom prefabs, which I'd think would go in the [character.lua] folder... but I'm still learning and new to this and my dumb baby brain isn't nearly as clever as Wilson.
  
  Someone was kind enough to give me the Blueprint code in this thread, but I can't really figure out where it goes. I wanna say modmain, but I'm really clueless! I've gone forum spelunking for pointers but it seems specifics are hard to find and I'm not sure of any characters who auto-know blueprints that already exist in the game.

I know this is all a bit messy, and some of it might not be possible, but if anybody is willing to help me (either on here or on Discord), I'd really appreciate it. I can do a lot of the work, but I mostly just need helpful guides as I'm a little slow when it comes to learning where everything is. Thanks!

Edit: I do know about a few of the basic guides (They are very helpful!) But unfortunately some of them seem either outdated, or the base they use for the art is really really hard to understand. I also wouldn't think any of them would have any info on how to code some of the ideas I had. Thanks!!

Edited October 15, 2020 by WesisBless
Changes to mod ideas and clarification on needed help.

[WesisBless]

*bumping this because it's still something I'm working on to this day.*
A few things to add, actually: I do hope to get a job at some point (thanks mr. virus), and would be willing to commission someone to help with the coding part while I work on all the art and the [Character]_Speech.lua so if anyone has any suggestions for past coders with a good reputation or such to eventually reach out to, that'd be much appreciated. There's a few changes to the character now that I've had a LOT of time to think about it, and a few of the refreshes have come out thus giving me new ideas for what's possible, but a lot of this still remains!

[Thomas_klei]

On 3/15/2019 at 1:54 AM, WesisBless said:

I eventually plan on him having a transformation when he has low sanity (About the time when the Nightmare Monsters begin to attack)... but this is a far-reaching goal that would probably be a final update after he's a functioning character.

does this mean a woodie or wolfgang themed transformation 

This is the Code for learned Recipes

local magic_recipe  = {"prefab_name","prefab_name"}

local function onnewspawn(inst)
--	onbecamehuman(inst) 
-- if you're using the dst character templte i recommend leaving this in
	for k,v in pairs(magic_recipe) do
		local blueprint = SpawnPrefab(v.."_blueprint") 
		blueprint.components.teacher:Teach(inst)
		blueprint:Remove()
	end
end

inst.OnNewSpawn = onnewspawn

 

also i don't recommend bumping period

>the code for sanity over time can probably come from other character perks such as wortox
>woodie themed transformations seem abysmal to do so i wouldn't recommend it personally 
 

Edited October 11, 2020 by thomas4846

[WesisBless]

On 10/11/2020 at 2:12 PM, thomas4846 said:

does this mean a woodie or wolfgang themed transformation 

This is the Code for learned Recipes

local magic_recipe  = {"prefab_name","prefab_name"}

local function onnewspawn(inst)
--	onbecamehuman(inst) 
-- if you're using the dst character templte i recommend leaving this in
	for k,v in pairs(magic_recipe) do
		local blueprint = SpawnPrefab(v.."_blueprint") 
		blueprint.components.teacher:Teach(inst)
		blueprint:Remove()
	end
end

inst.OnNewSpawn = onnewspawn

 

also i don't recommend bumping period

>the code for sanity over time can probably come from other character perks such as wortox
>woodie themed transformations seem abysmal to do so i wouldn't recommend it personally 
 

I was actually thinking Wolfgang based might be nice, now that you mention it. Originally I was going with a Woodie-like one, but that seems absolutely nightmarish to do, so perhaps having a (in wolfgang terms) "Mighty" transformation the lower his sanity is would work best. I actually already have concepts for such a transformation! Also, thank you so much for the blueprint code!

One of my ideas was for him to be able to use gems such as red, blue, purple, and yellow as if they were their staff forms (with durability and sanity costs) , and then have a special crafting tab at the required stations to make 'better' versions of the staff that also half (rounded down) the sanity cost when he specifically is using them, effectively making fire/ice staves free for him only. This would likely require making specific prefabs for them, I'm sure (something like 'Warlock's [insert staff name here]' is what I was thinking, since his name in the code is 'Warlock'). The only big difference for these 'better' versions is sight mechanic tweaks, such as the fire staff dealing damage to a target along with setting it on fire, or the ice staff dealing less damage and also 'chilling' instead of immediately freezing.

Sorry for rambling, I'm mostly trying to spitball ideas so I have a clue of what might be good or bad mechanic wise. Last thing I want is for him to be broken!