Suppose I wanted to make a mod that added modular melee weapons… how would I go about doing so?
The main objective would be to have twelve melee weapon items, all similar in shape and function with their only defining differing features being length and material that can accept attachments like guns do that’ll change their function and output. They’ll be rods of short, medium, long, and extra long length and their material variance will be wood, iron, and steel and, while unmodified, they’ll serve the same function as a stick, club, staff or pole, dealing bash damage of varying degrees, speed, and reach.
Each would have three slots of modification, tip, misc, and bottom, and depending on what you put in those slots you’ll have different outcomes as to the type of weapon you’ll end up handling. While it wouldn’t be necessary to fill all the slots, as only the tip slot is required for a weapon type change, you may want to min/max to your needs like having a counterweight for balance. Each modification will also have material variance that’ll determine weapon durability and overall effectiveness, namely stone, iron, and steel. There won’t be a lot of parts in the stone category, stone being what it is, but you’ll at least be able to diversify your weapon with it.
Want a spear? Put a short straight blade at the end of the longest rod, resulting in a weapon with some cut, a lot of pierce, and reach. Want a halberd? Attach an axe head to the same spear you made earlier in its misc slot, resulting in a weapon with greater cut damage than its predecessor while keeping its pierce, in exchange for it being harder to handle and may slow your strikes a little. A sword? Attach a long straight blade to the tip of short rod with a small weight to the bottom and a guard in misc, easy to handle, cuts and pierces, and is effective for a lot of situations. It goes without saying that I’d want the parts to impart abilities/moves, holstering/not, to the weapon and change its display name as well if possible. Etc, etc, so many parts that I’d rather not bore people with an encyclopedic recount.
It’s not too hard to make these in real life, though I imagine you’d at least require a drill of some sort to make the slots and attachment points. There’s also a dip in overall durability, but hey, that’s the price you pay for it being made out of separate parts. It’s just that it has become annoying having to carry different weapons for different occasions, so I’d rather have a quarterstaff on hand at all times that has the capability to turn into other weapons with about thirty or less seconds of attachment work with the much lighter and less volumous parts.
If this is currently impossible I’d understand but if it isn’t I’d like to know how I go about cooking this up.