New Thief Skill - Ransack

Here is a simple snippet to add a new skill - called ransack.  The idea behind this skill is that someone skilled in this area will find additional gold when they search a corpse; the reasoning behind it is they know places where people are likely  to hide gold on their person to make it safe from pickpockets, and so on.

Here is the steps to add it:

1)  In spells.h, define the skill number:

    #define  SKILL_RANSACK       xxx  /* chose a suitable number */

2)  In spell_parser.c, include the initialization of the skill where other skills are set up:

    skillo(SKILL_RANSACK, "ransack");

3)  In class.c, specify when people can gain the skill:

    spell_level(SKILL_RANSACK, CLASS_THIEF, xx);

    replacing "xx" with teh level of your chosing.

Now, we have to work out where to implement the actual ransacking code.  Tracking through the code, get_from_container is a good starting point.  Eventually, we find the function perform_get_from_container in act.item.c, which does the actual "getting".  After the "act" messages telling people what you got, if there was a value (only set if the object you got was money), the container is a corpse, and you pass your skill check, you get a percentage increase in the gold, based on your level.  Only you see the message telling you the extra gold you find.

4) The modified perform_get_from_container function:

void perform_get_from_container(struct char_data *ch, struct obj_data *obj,
                                     struct obj_data *cont, int mode)
{ int value = 0, ransack_gold = 0, percent;

  if (mode == FIND_OBJ_INV || can_take_obj(ch, obj)) {
    if (IS_CARRYING_N(ch) >= CAN_CARRY_N(ch))
      act("$p: you can't hold any more items.", FALSE, ch, obj, 0, TO_CHAR);
    else if (get_otrigger(obj, ch)) {
      if (GET_OBJ_TYPE(obj) == ITEM_MONEY)
        value = GET_OBJ_VAL(obj, 0);
      obj_from_obj(obj);
      obj_to_char(obj, ch);
      act("You get $p from $P.", FALSE, ch, obj, cont, TO_CHAR);
      act("$n gets $p from $P.", TRUE, ch, obj, cont, TO_ROOM);
      get_check_money(ch, obj);
      percent = rand_number(1,101);
      if (value > 0 && isname(cont->name, "corpse") &&
          percent <= GET_SKILL(ch, SKILL_RANSACK)) {
        if (GET_LEVEL(ch) < 8) {
          ransack_gold = (int) (value * 0.05);
        } else if (GET_LEVEL(ch) < 14) {
          ransack_gold = (int) (value * 0.1);
        } else if (GET_LEVEL(ch) < 21) {
          ransack_gold = (int) (value * 0.15);
        } else {
          ransack_gold = (int) (value * 0.2);
        }
        send_to_char(ch, "You find an additional %d coin%s in the corpse.\r\n",
                        ransack_gold,
                        ransack_gold > 1 ? "s" : "");
        GET_GOLD(ch) += ransack_gold;
      }
      if (IS_NPC(ch)) {
        item_check(obj, ch);
      }
    }
  }
}