Okay, I wanted to mod http://darksouls.wikidot.com/ that games hundead/humanity system into Dwarf Fortress somehow.
My plan was that everyone would start as an undead human. And when they died they'd transform into an Undead Skeleton. And then they'd have to go to a campfire structure and use a droppable [SOUL] item to transmute themself back into the original [UNDEAD HUMAN] race.
So basically I just wanted to know if I could make a race that when it died transformed into another race (one time). instead of becoming a corpse.
Not without a huge walkaround. It...Might be possible though....Let me think for a second.
You could make the "human undead" have a syndrome in their blood, or brain, so that when hit with a "Fatal" shot, instead of dying, it covers the creature with the blood. The blood could then have a syndrome that turns undead into skeletons. The skeletons could have a boiling body part called the "soul" so it flies off when they transform. It can then be collected and thrown in a fire to explode, releasing a syndrome that...Turns you back into an undead?
more simplier than add, soul items are added to EVERY creature. I guess I'll do that manually.
So the syndrome thing, how would this look like? Just create the syndrome with a [UNDEAD] qualifier? and a [CUSTOM RACE NAME] tag so it only happens with my special human undead race?
and how would I stop them from dying? on death it would instantly transform?
Anyway, the soul item is something they must get from killing other non undead races. And then ressurect themselves at a special building with a interaction to gain back their undead race form.. Is the idea...
It is simpler then it sounds, the soal thing, it would be something that could be done in the body tag, mostly.
The syndrome would have to effect only the species you want to use, which can be easily done by SYN_AFFECTED_CREATURE.
The other part would be *kind* of problematic. If you don't give them a brain, the only way you can kill them is by cutting them in half. Think of them like a mummy. On "Death", that is, when they start bleeding vitals everywhere, the blood will get on them. When the blood gets on them, they will transform. It won't be instant, but it will probably work.
If that is what you want, then you would want the "soul" item to be an additional drop, not a body part, so it gets dropped when you kill a creature. Then you can go to a workshop and use the reaction, you can use it to release a boiling stone that gives the new reaction, that turns them back by removing the transformation.
That does have a lot of glitches (it might not work in the rain, for example), but it will probably be the closest thing you can get to what I think you want.