Status Effects

Status effects are temporary modifiers applied to characters — buffs that help, debuffs that hinder, and crowd control that restricts action.

You author the effects. Every status effect is a definition you create, name, colour and tune — there is no fixed list to work around. What the engine provides is a set of behaviour types: each effect picks one, and that decides what the server actually does with it. "Burn", "Blight" and "Dragonfire" can all be damage-over-time effects with completely different numbers, elements, icons and VFX.

The tables below group the behaviour types by what they do, using the names the seeded starter effects use.

What the player sees: each effect on them shows as an icon in the HUD, with its timer. Status changes are not written to the chat log, so a monster that slows on every hit doesn't bury real chat. Screen readers hear the effect's name once when it starts and once when it ends, and nothing when an effect already running is refreshed.

Damage Over Time (DoT)#

Healing Over Time (HoT)#

Crowd Control#

Travel Lock and Item Lock#

Two effects that are not crowd control: no diminishing returns, and damage does not break them. Pick them in Effect Type like any other, and apply them from an ability, an item, a ground area, a monster or an event.

The player is told why ("Something holds you here — you cannot teleport away." / "You cannot use items right now."), and the effect's icon shows on their buffs bar.

Every crowd-control type works on players, monsters and NPCs alike, except where the table in Crowd control in detail says otherwise. Hard crowd control obeys diminishing returns when the CC Diminishing Returns feature is on: repeated stuns, roots, silences, disarms, fears, sleeps, charms, confusions and knockbacks on the same target wear off faster and then grant brief immunity, so perma-CC chains aren't possible.

Screen shader and entity tint#

Any status effect can wear two shaders from Assets → Shaders (VFX section of the effect):

• A player who logs in later, or walks into range, sees the tint too: it comes from the effect

  list everyone already receives.

• Players can turn screen shaders down or off in Settings → Accessibility, unless the shader is

  marked Essential. Mark a tint Essential if it is how players tell the effect is on someone.

• Needs the Shader Editor feature flag.

Crowd control in detail#

Where to author it#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, then pick a control type in Effect Type. A status effect only lands from something that applies it — usually an ability's Status Effects list, an element's status procs, or an event command.

1. Create the effect and pick its Effect Type (Stun, Root, Silence, Disarm, Fear, Sleep, Charm, Taunt, Knockback, Slow…).
2. On Magnitude & Timing, set the Duration. Only Knockback (distance) and Slow (amount) read a magnitude.
3. On Behavior, set the type's own options if it has any — Fear's flee speed.
4. Add it to an ability: Abilities → (pick one) → Status Effects → + Add, with a Chance.
5. Publish, and give a managed server its roll before testing it in game.

What each one does#

A controlled player sees a steady label above the action bar — "STUNNED · You can't move, attack or cast." — for as long as it lasts, and every refused press or click flashes the reason. Refusals happen before mana, the global cooldown or the ability's cooldown are spent.

Fields each type reads#

Gotchas#

• Sleep breaks on a direct hit — any direct hit. Attacks, spells, projectiles, chain bounces, pet attacks and reflected damage wake the sleeper; damage over time, ground hazards, the environment and hunger never do. You do not need Remove on damage for this; pair Sleep with a poison freely.
• Silence allows exactly one thing: the weapon's normal attack. A free weapon art (Q/W/E) is silenced too, whatever its mana cost. A monster's basic attack is its Attack Ability (or the built-in melee).
• Disarm is about the equipped weapon's slots. Anything granted by the weapon type or item — normal attack, Q, W, E — is blocked, and so is any ability with a Required Weapon Type. Learned spells and head/chest/boots abilities still work.
• Root blocks dash and teleport abilities (Blink, recall, swap), because they are movement. It does not stop a knockback or pull landing on the rooted unit.
• Fear respects walls. A feared unit runs along walls rather than through them and cowers when cornered. A fear with no source left runs from where the source stood.
• Charm needs a creature with AI. Bosses and brainless NPCs resist it outright. While charmed, a creature hunts monsters and enemy NPCs, never the caster or their allies, cannot be hurt by the caster's side, and follows the caster instead of leashing home. When it ends it returns to its own side, drops every fight it picked up while charmed, and walks home if it was led away. If it dies while charmed it dies as a wild monster — normal loot, normal respawn. If the caster logs out, the charm ends.
• Taunt does nothing to players, and it works with or without the Encounter AI feature (with it on, the taunter also keeps top threat afterwards).
• Stacked Slows never root. However many land, the target keeps a crawl. A Slow authored Flat with an amount above 1 is read as a percent — a flat 30 would otherwise subtract thirty whole speeds.
• Diminishing returns count each type separately. Three stuns shorten each other; a stun does not shorten a following root.
• Out-of-range options are refused on save — a flee speed of 10 is rejected with the reason, not clamped silently.

Buffs#

Stat Modifiers#

Shields#

A shield is a pool that soaks damage before it reaches health. It is a status effect like any other, so anything that can apply a status effect can grant one: an ability, a passive, a worn item, a consumable, a quest reward, a boss phase.

Where to author it#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, with Type set to Shield (damage absorb).

1. Set Shield pool — how much damage it soaks. Switch the mode to

   Percent of the holder's maximum HP if you want it to scale with the wearer.

2. Set Duration. Leave it as-is for a cast barrier; it is ignored entirely

   when a passive or a worn item holds the shield open.

3. Open When the pool empties and pick the shape you want (see below).
4. Bind a break VFX and break sound on the VFX tab if you want the

   shatter to land. Nothing is bundled — an unbound slot is silent.

The one setting that decides everything#

Every field#

Putting a shield on a worn item#

A status effect only lands from an ability. For gear, a skill level or a quest reward, it travels through a Passive:

1. Create the shield status effect (above). Give it Recharge after a delay

   and a Recharge rate — worn shields that simply end never come back.

2. Database → Effects → Passives → New, and list your shield on its

   Status Effects tab.

3. On the item, Skills & Effects → Passives (while equipped), add that passive.

Worn shields open empty and charge up on login, so relogging is never a free refill.

Gotchas#

• Environmental damage pierces shields by default. Ground hazards, the

  battle-royale ring, damage floors and starvation ignore them unless you turn on Shields vs. Environmental Damage in World → Features.

• Shields drop at logout and on death, but survive a portal.
• A shield held by a passive or worn item cannot be dispelled, and does not

  end when broken if it can recharge.

• A passive's Max Stacks does not multiply a held shield — it always opens at

  one stack.

• A status-immunity entry naming your shield blocks it silently, even

  though it is a friendly effect.

• "Set HP to X%" ability effects are not damage — shields do not apply to them.
• Pet battles are out of scope. They run a separate HP system.
• A shield with no recharge that is held open by a passive or worn item will

  not come back after its first break. The editor warns you about this.

Reflect#

A Reflect effect sends a share of every hit its carrier takes straight back to the attacker — a thorns aura, a mirror barrier, RPG Maker's "Star Reflect". The attacker takes it as real damage: their armour, shields and invulnerability apply, it counts toward their threat on the carrier, and if it kills them the carrier gets the kill. Players and monsters can both carry it.

Where to author it#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, with Type set to Reflect (return damage).

1. Set Damage reflected (%) on the Magnitude & Timing tab — 25 sends back a

   quarter of each hit.

2. Set the Duration and, if you want it to build up, Max Stacks.
3. On Behavior, pick what it Reflects: all direct damage, physical hits

   only, or magic hits only.

4. Put it on an ability's Status Effects (a self-cast "Star Reflect" spell with

   Target Mode Self), or on a Passive to make it part of a worn item.

Fields#

Gotchas#

• Only direct hits are reflected. Attacks, spells, projectiles, beams, chain

  bounces and pet attacks. Damage over time, ground hazards, hunger and event scripts are never sent back — there is nobody standing there to take them.

• Reflected damage is never reflected again. Two Reflect carriers hitting

  each other each take their share once; it does not bounce back and forth.

• It reflects what reached health. The percent is taken from the damage that

  got past the carrier's armour and shields — a hit their shield fully soaked sends nothing back.

• The total is capped at 100%. However many Reflect effects and stacks the

  carrier holds, an attacker never takes back more than the hit dealt.

• In game the number rises over the attacker tagged REFLECT.

Airborne (knock-up)#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, Type Airborne (knock-up).

The carrier is knocked into the air: for the duration it behaves exactly like a Stun — no moving, attacking or casting, and a cast or channel in progress breaks with its mana refunded — and players see "You are airborne." and an AIRBORNE label above the action bar. On screen the character floats off its shadow with a small bob and drops back when it ends.

• It has its own diminishing returns. Repeated knock-ups shorten each other and then grant brief immunity, but a knock-up does not shorten a following stun (and a stun does not shorten a knock-up) — each is its own bucket.
• Pair it with a Knockback status, or a Displace action, on the same ability for a launch that also pushes.
• An ability's Damage modifiers → Bonus vs status can target Airborne for a follow-up that hits harder on a juggled enemy.

Damage Taken Up (mark) and Damage Reduction (%)#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, Type Damage Taken Up (mark) or Damage Reduction (%).

• They are percentages, not flat Defense. A 30% reduction matters as much against a boss as against a rat — use a Stat Buff on Defense for the flat kind.
• Stacks and separate effects add up; a mark of 25 and one of 15 is +40%. Reduction is capped at 90% in total, so stacking can never make a unit invulnerable — use Invulnerable for that.
• They apply to hits and DoTs from anyone. Hunger, thirst and the environment are not affected.
• A mark pairs with an ability's Damage modifiers → Bonus vs status → Damage Taken Up (mark): the mark raises all damage, the bonus raises that ability's damage again.

Healing Received and Healing Done (anti-heal, heal sickness)#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, Type Healing Received (anti-heal / heal sickness) or Healing Done.

• -100 or lower stops healing entirely — a heal can never turn into damage.
• Mana and stamina restores are not healing; they are never changed.
• These stack with the Healing Received / Healing Done character stats (gear, affixes, passives) — see Character Power.

Recipe: heal sickness#

"Every big heal leaves you less healable for a while" is a status you author, not a global rule:

1. Status Effects → New: name it Heal Sickness, Type Healing Received, Magnitude -50, Duration 10 s, Max Stacks 1.
2. Open your big heal in Abilities and add Heal Sickness to its Status Effects list with Chance 1.
3. Save both. The heal lands in full; for the next 10 seconds every further heal on that target restores half.

For a harsher version, give it Max Stacks 3 and Magnitude -25: each big heal adds another 25% until the target is at -75%.

Transform (shapeshift)#

A Transform status turns a player into another form for as long as it lasts: they wear the form's avatar — every nearby player sees it — and fight with the form's own ability bar instead of the one their gear gives them. When it ends, the normal look and bar come straight back.

Where to author it#

Database → Effects → Status Effects → New, Type Transform (shapeshift), then the Behavior tab. The form's bar and look are the Form ability bar and Form look boxes there. An optional stat change uses the usual Affected Stat and Magnitude & Timing → Form stat change fields.

Setting one up#

1. Build the form's abilities first in Abilities (for example Maul, Pounce and Howl for a bear form).
2. Status Effects → New: name it (Bear Form), set Type to Transform (shapeshift) and a Duration.
3. On Behavior → Form ability bar, pick an ability for each slot you want: Basic attack, Weapon ability 1–3, Head / Chest / Boots ability, Off-hand and Cape ability.
4. On Behavior → Form look, pick the Form avatar from your sprite library.
5. Optional: pick an Affected Stat (for example Max HP) and set Magnitude & Timing → Form stat change (flat, or percent of the player's own stat).
6. Give the ability that transforms (a staff's weapon ability, a spell) a Status Effects row that applies Bear Form to self with Chance 1. Save both.

Fields#

Gotchas#

• Transform wins over everything. A transformed rider sees the form's bar, not the mount's; the gear's abilities come back only when the form ends. A form with no bar slots filled (look only) leaves the bar alone.
• It only affects players. On a creature the status does nothing but its stat modifiers.
• Expiry, a dispel and death all end it and restore the look and the bar. Logging out ends it too.
• Leave the Basic attack empty and the attack button does nothing while transformed, unless Empty slots keep gear abilities is on. The editor's dry run warns about it.
• Pick a sprite with its animations set up in the sprite library (frame size and the idle/walk rows); a bare sheet with no animation settings can't be drawn as a body.
• Saving refuses a bar slot or a form avatar that doesn't exist.
• Needs the Shapeshift feature flag (on by default). Off, a transform status is only an icon; its stat change still applies.

Triggers#

A status can carry triggers — rules that react while it is on a unit: fire an ability every third hit, pay off at five stacks, empower the next N casts, block hits, cheat death. Author them on Behavior → Triggers. See Triggers.

Survival Effects#

Effect Properties#

Author effects in Database → Status Effects → + New Effect.

The form follows the type you pick. Choose the behaviour type first: the editor then shows only the fields that type actually reads, labels them in that type's own words ("Slow amount", not "Magnitude"), and explains what the engine does with it. A Stun has no magnitude to set because a stun is on or off; a Heal Over Time asks which pool it refills; a Fear asks how fast the target runs.

Setting one up#

1. Open Database → Status Effects and click + New Effect.
2. On Basics, give it an ID (locked after creation — abilities reference it), a Name, and pick the Effect Type. Read the one-line summary under the dropdown: it is what the server will do.
3. Pick the Affected Stat if the type asks for one. Slow and Haste default to move speed when you leave it blank; Stat Buff and Stat Debuff require one — without it the effect applies and changes nothing.
4. On Magnitude & Timing, set the strength, and for Slow / Haste / Stat Buff / Stat Debuff choose whether that number is flat or a percent of the target's own value for that stat.
5. Set the Duration, the Tick Interval (damage- and heal-over-time only), and Max Stacks if the type stacks.
6. On Behavior, set dispel category, whether damage or acting breaks it, and any type-specific options.
7. On VFX & Animations, point at the apply / active / expire visuals, and set how the carrier looks while it is on them — the pose they hold and the size they render at.

Fields#

The three removal triggers live under Removal triggers on the Behavior tab and work on every effect type. They also carry RPG Maker imports faithfully: Remove by Walking, Remove at Battle End and Remove by Restriction map onto them one-for-one.

Effects can stack up to their configured limit. Each stack tracks its own duration independently.

While it's on them#

An effect can change how the carrier looks for as long as it lasts. Both settings live on the VFX & Animations tab, next to the apply / active / expire visuals.

The pose gives way to walking. A held pose has no walk frames, so the engine only holds it while the carrier is standing still — the moment they move they walk or run normally, and the pose comes straight back when they stop. You do not need a separate "moving" version of the animation.

Size is a look, not a hitbox. A giant is still hit, blocked and reached exactly as their normal-sized self: the server's collision, ability range and targeting never change size. Use it for drama (a growth potion, a shrink hex, a boss enrage), not as a way to make something harder or easier to hit.

Sizes multiply when several are on at once, so a 2x growth and a 0.5x shrink cancel out to normal. Stacks do not compound — a five-stack 1.5x effect is still 1.5x, not 7.6x. The change eases in and out over a moment rather than snapping, and every player sees the same size on the same character.

Gotchas#

• A Stat Buff or Stat Debuff with no stat does nothing. The editor warns you; the server has nothing to change.
• Enter penalties as positive numbers. Slow and Stat Debuff subtract what you type — a Slow of 30 in percent mode is 30% slower.
• Stacked slows can't stop anyone. However many land, the target keeps a crawl of its normal speed rather than freezing in place. Use Root to actually pin something down.
• An effect shorter than its tick interval still fires once, on its final tick, rather than expiring for nothing.
• Effects you made earlier keep their exact length. Durations used to be saved as server ticks and are now saved in milliseconds; older effects, abilities, items and events are read exactly as before, so there is nothing to re-enter.
• Stealth is a tag, not an action. Stealth marks a target without hiding them; Invisible hides them. (Knockback used to be a tag too — it now pushes; see Crowd control in detail.)
• Old effects are repaired on load. Definitions seeded before the current type list (hot, cc, buff, debuff) matched no behaviour and silently did nothing. They are now mapped onto the real types — check any you had authored, because they will start working.
• A resize or a held pose needs a publish and a live server. Both are read from the definition the game server is running, so edit, publish, and give a managed server its roll before judging what you see in game.
• Sizes above about 2x need art that survives it. The sprite is scaled, not redrawn, so a big multiplier shows every pixel. Check a giant against a doorway and a mob pack before shipping it.
• Nameplates and overhead bars keep their normal height. They sit at the offset you set in the nameplate editor, so a much larger character can grow up past their own name.

Mobs and classes can declare status rates per effect (a multiplier on how likely it is to land, with 0 meaning outright immunity), and elements can be bound to an effect so any hit of that element rolls to apply it.