Fields

A field is a value your plugin puts on entities: satiety, infection, mana, weariness. Declaring one is usually the first thing a plugin does.

A meter is more than a number

Declaring infection on living entities gives you:

• a range (min/max) the engine clamps every write to;
• tiers — what the narrator says at each band, and what the HUD badge reads;
• visibility — a sheet row by default, a HUD bar if you escalate;
• optionally a creation question, asked when a player builds their character.

Image: docs/field-editor.png The field editor with a meter configured: key, min/max, the tier list with prose for each band, and the visibility control.

Tiers are how the narrator knows

The narrator never sees the number. It sees the tier prose. That is the whole mechanism by which a mechanical value becomes writing:

Band	Narrator reads
0–3	nothing — silence is a tier
4–9	"a fever rides him"
10–14	"veins darkening at the wrist"
15+	"barely lucid, burning to the touch"

Write these as things a narrator could say in scene. "infection: 12" is not a tier; it is a leak.

Silence is a legitimate tier. A field at rest should usually say nothing, or every turn carries a status report nobody asked for.

Absolute bands vs ratio bands

A field without a declared max bands by absolute value. A field with a max bands by ratio of the ceiling.

The engine decides which from the declaration, so an unbounded counter cannot silently put everything in the top tier. If your tiers look wrong, check whether you meant to declare a max.

Reading a field

$.field('infection')             // on the subject
$.field('infection', 'target')   // on the aimed-at entity

A field nobody has reads as null, not 0 — see Missing values.

Derived fields

A field can carry a valueExpr rather than a stored value — computed on read from other state. Useful for a value that is genuinely a function of other things (a carry limit from Might, say) rather than something you write to.

A derived field has no stored entry, so $.hasField() answers false for it inside your own plugin's hooks. If a hook needs to branch on one, branch on the inputs instead.

Next

Cooperation — reading fields another plugin declared.