Build a procedural loot and item generation system with rarity tiers, affix pools, stat rolling, and drop table balancing. Perfect for RPGs, looter shooters, and survival games.
## ROLE You are a systems designer specializing in loot economy and item generation for RPGs and looter games. You have shipped procedural item systems for multiple live-service titles and understand the mathematics of drop rates, stat distributions, affix weighting, and player psychology around loot satisfaction. You balance the tension between randomness and meaningful reward. ## OBJECTIVE Design a complete procedural loot and item generation system that produces exciting, balanced, and varied items. The system must support rarity tiers, affix combinations, set items, unique legendaries, and crafting material integration. Provide data schemas, generation algorithms, and balancing guidelines. ## TASK **SECTION 1: ITEM TAXONOMY & BASE TYPES** - Define the item classification hierarchy: - Equipment: weapons (sword, axe, bow, staff, dagger, etc.), armor (helm, chest, legs, boots, gloves, shield), accessories (ring, amulet, belt) - Consumables: potions, scrolls, food, ammunition - Materials: crafting ingredients, upgrade stones, currency items - Quest items: keys, map fragments, story artifacts - For each base type, define: - Base stat ranges (damage, armor, durability) - Item level range (what player level can this drop for) - Visual archetype (for procedural name/icon generation) - Weight class (affects inventory, movement speed) - Equip requirements (strength, dexterity, intelligence, level) - Base type pools per environment/enemy type (undead drop different bases than beasts) **SECTION 2: RARITY SYSTEM & DROP RATES** - Define rarity tiers with color coding and stat implications: - Common (white): 0 affixes, base stats only, ~58% drop rate - Uncommon (green): 1 affix, +10% base stats, ~25% drop rate - Rare (blue): 2-3 affixes, +25% base stats, ~12% drop rate - Epic (purple): 3-4 affixes, +50% base stats, ~4% drop rate - Legendary (orange): 4-6 affixes + unique passive, +75% base stats, ~0.9% drop rate - Mythic (red): fixed affixes + transformative ability, +100% base stats, ~0.1% drop rate - Drop rate modifiers: - Player magic find stat - Enemy difficulty tier multiplier - Boss guaranteed rarity floor (bosses always drop Rare+) - Pity timer: after N drops without Epic+, force one - Party size bonus - World difficulty multiplier - Smart loot: bias drops toward the player's equipped class/build (60% class-relevant, 40% random) **SECTION 3: AFFIX SYSTEM & STAT ROLLING** - Define affix pools: - Prefixes: +damage, +armor, +health, +elemental damage, lifesteal, critical chance - Suffixes: +speed, +resistance, +resource regen, +experience, +gold find, +cooldown reduction - Each affix has: name, stat type, value range per item level, rarity weighting, allowed base types - Affix rolling algorithm: - Determine number of affixes from rarity tier - Roll each affix slot: weighted random from eligible pool (no duplicates) - Roll stat value: gaussian distribution centered on item_level * scaling_factor - Tag affixes with roll quality percentile (0-100%) for player-facing "item score" - Affix synergy bonuses: certain affix combinations grant extra effects - Example: +fire damage + +critical chance = "Ignite on crit" bonus - Negative affixes for cursed items: -speed, -resistance, durability drain (offset by higher positive stats) - Reroll mechanics: player can spend currency to reroll one affix while keeping others **SECTION 4: UNIQUE & SET ITEMS** - Unique items (hand-designed with procedural variance): - Fixed base type and core affixes - 1-2 procedural affix slots for per-drop variance - Unique passive ability not available on random items - Flavor text and lore snippet - Example: "Frostbrand" — always has +cold damage and slow-on-hit, but rolls random secondary stats - Set items: - 2-6 pieces per set - Individual pieces are strong alone - Set bonuses at 2-piece, 4-piece, and full-set thresholds - Set bonuses should transform playstyle, not just add stats - Example set: "Stormcaller's Regalia" — 2pc: +lightning damage, 4pc: chain lightning on crit, 6pc: summon storm elemental - Define a legendary/unique item generation template with fields for all properties - Drop restrictions: certain uniques only from specific bosses or zones **SECTION 5: ITEM NAMING & PRESENTATION** - Procedural name generation: - Pattern: [Prefix Adjective] + [Base Type Name] + [Suffix Phrase] - Example: "Blazing Longsword of the Void" - Prefix adjective pools mapped to primary affix theme - Suffix phrase pools mapped to secondary affix theme - Rarity-specific naming: Legendaries always use a proper noun name - Tooltip layout specification: - Item name (colored by rarity) - Item level and base type - Base stats - Affixes (green text for positive, red for negative) - Set membership (if applicable) - Unique passive description (gold text) - Flavor text (italic gray) - Item score / power level number - Comparison display: highlight stat differences vs. currently equipped item **SECTION 6: ECONOMY BALANCE & ANTI-EXPLOIT** - Item power budget formula: total_power = base_power + sum(affix_values) * rarity_multiplier - Cap total_power per item level to prevent outliers - Log items exceeding 95th percentile power for review - Vendor sell price calculation: based on rarity, item level, and affix quality - Disenchant/salvage yields: materials proportional to rarity for crafting loop - Anti-exploit measures: - Trade cooldowns on high-rarity items - Account-bound flag for Mythic items - Drop rate server-side only (never trust client RNG) - Duplicate detection: flag accounts generating statistically impossible loot patterns - Seasonal item rotation: new affix pools, base types, and uniques per season - Inflation control: gold sinks via repair costs, enchanting fees, stash expansion Ask the user for: the game genre and setting, number of base item types, desired rarity tier count, whether trading between players exists, the crafting system complexity level, and any specific loot mechanics already planned.
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