A custom shaped weapon you smith yourself

[homebody]

Making a open ended option for a melee weapon would allow alot of different interesting styles of swords. The player could make any shape sword they wish such as a keopesh, a falcheon etc. With enough ingots you could forge a larger sword like a zweihander and deal more damage at the cost of speed.

[Heart_Afire]

I think the issue here is coding it in as an item. As cool as a custom-made melee weapon would be, it would require more than a few JSON entities 'under the hood' so to speak. And that's without getting into the customization part of custom...how do you allow for a player making their specific Bastard Sword (Whose etymology I seriously would love to know) a little bit longer and heavier than a 'standard' such? How do you adjust damage, etc?

I do agree, however, that the weapon system could do with an overhaul...I have never understood, for example, why the player cannot make Iron spears, of make different types of arrowheads.

[LadyWYT]

First off, welcome to the forums!

It's a neat idea, but not feasible to code, for reasons that @Heart_Afire has already stated. In regards to the game lore itself, standard weapons are implied to be ineffective against the monsters, hence the reason the falx looks the way it does. As for the Blackguard shortsword, that is a weapon made specifically for close-quarters combat, so while it looks like a typical sword it technically falls into the "specialized weapon" category.

23 minutes ago, Heart_Afire said:

I have never understood, for example, why the player cannot make Iron spears, of make different types of arrowheads.

The main reason that bronze is the limit for spears, I think, is mainly that spears hit very hard at range. Iron spears would probably be doing something akin to 10 points worth of damage per hit, in which case why bother using any other weapon at all? The general idea is that while spears are good in the early portions of the game, they're supposed to eventually be replaced by the bow, which can shoot faster, shoot farther, and is a lot more efficient in regards to inventory space.

As for different types of arrowheads...you'd need to have a reason for them to exist. In real life, you have different types of arrowheads depending on whether you're hunting, firing a signal shot, or firing at an armored target, etc. In the game though, it's just...flat damage, as far as I know. I could see a place for signal arrows(fire, whistle), but I'm not sure that more variety is needed otherwise. 

[Heart_Afire]

3 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

First off, welcome to the forums!

It's a neat idea, but not feasible to code, for reasons that @Heart_Afire has already stated. In regards to the game lore itself, standard weapons are implied to be ineffective against the monsters, hence the reason the falx looks the way it does. As for the Blackguard shortsword, that is a weapon made specifically for close-quarters combat, so while it looks like a typical sword it technically falls into the "specialized weapon" category.

The main reason that bronze is the limit for spears, I think, is mainly that spears hit very hard at range. Iron spears would probably be doing something akin to 10 points worth of damage per hit, in which case why bother using any other weapon at all? The general idea is that while spears are good in the early portions of the game, they're supposed to eventually be replaced by the bow, which can shoot faster, shoot farther, and is a lot more efficient in regards to inventory space.

As for different types of arrowheads...you'd need to have a reason for them to exist. In real life, you have different types of arrowheads depending on whether you're hunting, firing a signal shot, or firing at an armored target, etc. In the game though, it's just...flat damage, as far as I know. I could see a place for signal arrows(fire, whistle), but I'm not sure that more variety is needed otherwise. 

Fair enough on the iron spear thing, I suppose, but I still find it rather odd that the PC cannot make an iron spearhead. I get the game-balance reason, but it does mess with my SOD a little bit. Perhaps if it was made that iron spears have reduced range in exchange for their greater damage?

As for the different arrowheads, that's kind of what I mean. The ones we use are a basic broadhead arrow, but I could see things like using a barbed arrow to inflict a bleeding DoT in exchange for less damage at the start, etc.

I'm aware Combat Overhaul does a lot of this, but I do think some elements from that mod should work their way into the base game.

[LadyWYT]

1 minute ago, Heart_Afire said:

Perhaps if it was made that iron spears have reduced range in exchange for their greater damage?

That defeats the purpose of a spear, really. I'd opt for a pike instead. Give it more reach, with a minimum poke range so that carrying a side arm is still a good idea. In that case, it's a good choice of weapon for poking things at a distance, but not a weapon that you can throw.

 

3 minutes ago, Heart_Afire said:

I could see things like using a barbed arrow to inflict a bleeding DoT in exchange for less damage at the start, etc.

That's better suited to poison-making, really. The main benefit of a barbed arrowhead isn't to make the target bleed more on impact, but rather to make the arrowhead much more difficult to remove. If I'm recalling correctly, broadhead arrows are better if you want the target to bleed, since they tend to make bigger wounds.

 

5 minutes ago, Heart_Afire said:

I'm aware Combat Overhaul does a lot of this, but I do think some elements from that mod should work their way into the base game.

I've not used that mod, but my general opinion is that the stuff in that mod should stay in that mod. Nothing against what it does, mind you, but I don't want to see the game's focus shift heavily to combat.

[Loosebearings]

On 11/26/2025 at 10:13 AM, LadyWYT said:

As for different types of arrowheads...you'd need to have a reason for them to exist. In real life, you have different types of arrowheads depending on whether you're hunting, firing a signal shot, or firing at an armored target, etc. In the game though, it's just...flat damage, as far as I know. I could see a place for signal arrows(fire, whistle), but I'm not sure that more variety is needed otherwise. 

Maybe something like a bodkin point being able to pierce armor more easily with a tradeoff for damage? Though I don't really know how the damage/armor class system really works, so this might not fit the game's vision.

[Facethief]

1 hour ago, Loosebearings said:

Maybe something like a bodkin point being able to pierce armor more easily with a tradeoff for damage? Though I don't really know how the damage/armor class system really works, so this might not fit the game's vision.

If bodkin points had a lower additional damage value and a +1 to damage tier, that’d probably do the trick. You could probably mod that into the game in an afternoon if you wanted to.

[LadyWYT]

2 hours ago, Loosebearings said:

Maybe something like a bodkin point being able to pierce armor more easily with a tradeoff for damage? Though I don't really know how the damage/armor class system really works, so this might not fit the game's vision.

Probably, but that would also probably include reworking the current damage/armor system, which I'm not sure is necessary.

[CABLES]

On 11/25/2025 at 8:21 PM, Heart_Afire said:

As for the different arrowheads, that's kind of what I mean. The ones we use are a basic broadhead arrow, but I could see things like using a barbed arrow to inflict a bleeding DoT in exchange for less damage at the start, etc.

I'm aware Combat Overhaul does a lot of this, but I do think some elements from that mod should work their way into the base game.

fully agreed on that. i do think that CO's implementation of damage types is a little clunky -- i especially dislike how class-based weapon proficiencies lock you in to one or two damage types -- but having different weapons be suitable for different situations is a good idea. like, you probably shouldn't try to kill a bear with a shortsword, and using a crappy spear to fight eldritch monsters from beyond the pale seems like a bad idea.

[Arisilde]

I think you could probably make custom weapon shapes tbh, it would just be a significant amount of work.

Shapes are just arrays of points in VS, basically. You could write a custom json writer to copy an item file of the same type as you're crafting, edit the shape/texture attributes, and then save it to disk. That part doesn't even seem that difficult.

The harder part is the "minigame" to create them. Currently, work items have preset shapes they require to trigger being "done", the defined recipe. You'd have to write a completely custom system for the anvil behavior, the workitem class, probably some other things. You'd then have to register the new item so the game knows it exists. Not impossible, just complicated. You could probably have it automatically generate a new forging recipe for repeating the pattern with normal smithing in the future.

That's just off the top of my head, but it seems doable to me. I could be wrong

[Vexxvididu]

6 hours ago, Arisilde said:

I think you could probably make custom weapon shapes tbh, it would just be a significant amount of work.

Shapes are just arrays of points in VS, basically. You could write a custom json writer to copy an item file of the same type as you're crafting, edit the shape/texture attributes, and then save it to disk. That part doesn't even seem that difficult.

The harder part is the "minigame" to create them. Currently, work items have preset shapes they require to trigger being "done", the defined recipe. You'd have to write a completely custom system for the anvil behavior, the workitem class, probably some other things. You'd then have to register the new item so the game knows it exists. Not impossible, just complicated. You could probably have it automatically generate a new forging recipe for repeating the pattern with normal smithing in the future.

That's just off the top of my head, but it seems doable to me. I could be wrong

Absolutely is doable.  But I think at this point, they may as well just have you create your own modded item using that API.  Everything is doable, but being a good cost/benefit ratio is another thing.

[Arisilde]

11 hours ago, Vexxvididu said:

Absolutely is doable.  But I think at this point, they may as well just have you create your own modded item using that API.  Everything is doable, but being a good cost/benefit ratio is another thing.

That's fair. Honestly I think it's more just about immersion than strictly making sense. Like chiseling in general  People just love customization. There's a lot of resulting complications you'd have to work out. Do you add variable resulting damage, swing speed, etc? Seems like there would need to be some sort of balance for using more/less metal for the craft.

That does actually give me another potential idea though. Probably not "easier", but possibly more understandable/scalable. Could do something like chiseling. Create "blueprints" before actually forging. "Chisel" out a block into the exact shape you plan to forge, and have that save as a new recipe. Then you just forge that item directly. Actually now that I'm saying it, that sounds a lot easier. You could copy the anvil behavior to create a custom "prototyping" bench. Start with a raw clay brick, place it on the bench and it becomes a "clayworkitem". This would be a new item class that either inherits from workitem, or inherits from item and copies some of workitem's functionality. Use the same forging hammer UI to do the block edits. Push pixels around, cut them off, add more from clay in your hotbar. Then rather than locking into an existing recipe to finish the item like normal forging workitems, you'd just need a finish button on the UI. Clicking that runs the recipe creation parser. The leftover clayworkitem could be deconstructed back into the raw clay since you'd just be working wet clay realistically.

Man, the more I talk about this, the more it makes me really want to build it. I'm just tied up in another project right now 

Edited December 4, 2025 by Arisilde

[LadyWYT]

3 hours ago, Arisilde said:

That's fair. Honestly I think it's more just about immersion than strictly making sense. Like chiseling in general  People just love customization. There's a lot of resulting complications you'd have to work out. Do you add variable resulting damage, swing speed, etc? Seems like there would need to be some sort of balance for using more/less metal for the craft.

That does actually give me another potential idea though. Probably not "easier", but possibly more understandable/scalable. Could do something like chiseling. Create "blueprints" before actually forging. "Chisel" out a block into the exact shape you plan to forge, and have that save as a new recipe. Then you just forge that item directly. Actually now that I'm saying it, that sounds a lot easier. You could copy the anvil behavior to create a custom "prototyping" bench. Start with a raw clay brick, place it on the bench and it becomes a "clayworkitem". This would be a new item class that either inherits from workitem, or inherits from item and copies some of workitem's functionality. Use the same forging hammer UI to do the block edits. Push pixels around, cut them off, add more from clay in your hotbar. Then rather than locking into an existing recipe to finish the item like normal forging workitems, you'd just need a finish button on the UI. Clicking that runs the recipe creation parser. The leftover clayworkitem could be deconstructed back into the raw clay since you'd just be working wet clay realistically.

Man, the more I talk about this, the more it makes me really want to build it. I'm just tied up in another project right now 

Honestly I think all this is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out how to do it, with a reasonable amount of system resources, given it seems like something that would tie up quite a lot of them. Likewise, I'm not sure how one balances this for multiplayer. Not every server admin wants to deal with players making mallets that look like swords, or a sword that acts like an axe, etc. not to mention all the rude-shaped weapons that will almost certainly crop up.

As a mod though? Sure, why not! Then players can choose whether or not they want to spend the resources on that kind of chaos.

[Arisilde]

41 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

Honestly I think all this is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out how to do it, with a reasonable amount of system resources, given it seems like something that would tie up quite a lot of them. Likewise, I'm not sure how one balances this for multiplayer. Not every server admin wants to deal with players making mallets that look like swords, or a sword that acts like an axe, etc. not to mention all the rude-shaped weapons that will almost certainly crop up.

As a mod though? Sure, why not! Then players can choose whether or not they want to spend the resources on that kind of chaos.

Something like this wouldn't tie up resources. The UI would be run on the client, so any load is negligible since the user is standing there doing the crafting anyway, so they're not to be producing any other load, and not going to notice any potential load this would cause. Performance-wise I think it would be no different than smithing ultimately.
The server would only have to accept a network packet for the new recipe, run the parser, and register the new item/recipe. That's essentially instant for something as small as an item json.

I was theorizing this with a mod in mind. I wasn't even thinking about this forum being for game additions tbh. Just running my mouth  

[Facethief]

I think the real issue with this suggestion is ho handles are supposed to work dynamically. Either it’s in a fixed location or it can go anywhere, and if it can go anywhere, players start making ridiculous-looking weapons again.

[Rähell]

hello,

i did read only the first couple comets and,

1. about the first replay:

i sonds to more like its just a game desig chois more than anythink. and has nothig to do with coding itself.

wich is also contridicdet by the fackt that we can buy the "Falon Hoppe" Sword wich is just a Sword wich works perfectly fin. <.<

and about the lore as far as i understand wen the classes came to be, thare were no monsters at this time. 

Lore wise, it at last looks to me that Monster only did aper after the aktivation of the Jonas Great Mashin

and the person even told it him self, that the only reason for Ione Spear's absents is just becouse being to OP comper to the rest....

but enaf of that, back to topic, and sorry for the rant.

2. i belive i could aktuly relatv esey.(at last in my mind <.<")

1# just heat and normaly place an ingot on the Anvil.  

2# than select over the regular Menu interface the item Base, like custom- "Sword" etc.

3# the aktuel smithing *may be put a limit of 2-3 ingot depending on item.(the handle wil be add with the craftng grid after quinching*)

*to tell the game were the charater is hilding the item(basicly)

4# how fast and wat ar the stadt of the weapon ar is dementet by how many voxels the smithed item do have,

the qualiti or tier of the material used for dmg & for the durability coulkd be concluded by a mix of the material Tier and the optimal smithing temerur when quinching( wich would needed to be tracket in proces.)

... so that is how i would imiging it more or less,

and wen i see waht other mods are all capeble off this should not be to hard?

well of course i also could be just delusional becouse i do not know much about coding and stuff.