HeroState (beta)

A roleplaying addon that makes your character react to the world around them and to their inner state. They feel hunger, thirst, fatigue and cold, and more habits, good and bad, are on the way (the first is alcoholism). Everything is driven by their environment and your actions.

⚠️ Beta. HeroState is early and still changing. Numbers will be tuned, features will be added, and things may break. I'll be highly motivated to keep developing it if people show interest. If not, I'll still tune the basic states and update it from time to time. Bug reports, balance notes and ideas are very welcome. Also, the goal of addon is to add more life to player character, it is not supposed to make you run for tavern every 5 minutes, I like cozy style of playing, but if you want to - everything can be tuned (at least right now)

What it is

HeroState is a roleplaying and immersion addon. Your hero stops being a tireless machine. They get hungry and thirsty, they tire after a long run or a hard fight, they shiver in a Dun Morogh blizzard and sweat in the Tanaris sun, and their clothes get soaked in the rain.

Everything reacts to where you are and what you do, including Forever's real in-game weather. Rain, snow and sandstorms change how your hero feels.

An addon can't hurt or slow your character, so HeroState never does. Instead it makes you feel their state: screen effects, sounds, and a few lines of text describing your hero in their own words. Whether you look after them is up to you.

Your hero feels…

🍖 Hunger

• Drains slowly over time, faster when running, swimming or fighting.
• Eating fills it. Eat past full to become Overfed, a small reserve that also makes effort less tiring.
• Well Fed buffs slow hunger down.
• From Peckish to Hungry to Starving, the world grows darker and your stomach starts to growl.

💧 Thirst

• Drains faster than hunger. Heat makes it much worse, so carry water into the desert.
• Only drinking fills it. Rain and swimming slow it down a little.
• Parched and Dehydrated heroes tire faster and overheat sooner.

😮‍💨 Tiredness

• Running, fighting, swimming, jumping and professions wear your hero down. Ordinary questing empties it in roughly 30–40 minutes, less in bad weather or when hungry or cold.
• Where you rest matters:
  • Sitting in the wild only lets you catch your breath, up to a point.
  • A campfire or a roof is much better.
  • A warm inn is best.
  • Sitting on chairs and benches counts.
• Exhausted heroes see the edges of the screen darken and their eyes start to close.

❄️🔥 Cold and heat

• Body temperature follows the air around you:
  • every zone has its own climate
  • nights are colder
  • real weather: snow and rain chill you, sandstorms heat you
  • buildings shelter you, and inns are warm
  • campfires warm you fast, including a Basic Campfire you light yourself
• Cold heroes get frost on the screen and chattering teeth. Hot ones get a shimmering heat haze and heavy breathing.

🌧️ Wet clothes

• Rain and snow soak you while you're outside, and swimming soaks you at once.
• Wet clothes make you colder until you dry off by a fire, under a roof, or slowly in the open air.

🍺 A craving for drink (optional, off by default, just for fun)

This is an example of the features I'd like to add. Why not give our hero bad or good habits? Here's the first one:

• Your hero develops a taste for ale. Only alcohol satisfies it; water won't. Every drink also counts toward thirst.
• Tipsy, Drunk, Smashed: the world sways, you hiccup, and the drink warms you on a cold night.
• Overdo it and you get a hangover. Go without and the shakes set in.

How you see it

• Meter bars: small, movable bars with detailed tooltips explaining exactly what's affecting your hero right now.
• "How you feel" text: a few lines under the bars in your hero's own words, such as "You shiver in the cold.", "Your clothes steam by the fire." or "Your legs are growing heavy."
• Screen effects that fade in gently: darkness at the edges, frost, heat haze, a grey wash, blinking when exhausted, swaying when drunk.
• Sounds: a growling stomach, chattering teeth, heavy breathing, a pounding heart, hiccups.
• Minimap button: left-click for options, right-click to show or hide the bars, hover to see how your hero feels.

Options

Open with the minimap button, /hs, or Esc → Options → AddOns → HeroState.

• Switch each feeling on or off.
• Difficulty sliders for each one, from 25% to 300%: hunger, thirst, tiredness, recovery, temperature change, weather strength, craving.
• Show or hide the bars, lock them, resize them, toggle screen effects and sounds, set effect strength.

Commands

Good to know

• Made for WoW Forever. It relies on Forever's weather system and modern client API.
• Nothing is forced on you. HeroState never changes your stats, speed, damage or abilities. It only shows you how your hero is doing.
• Logging out in an inn or city lets your hero rest properly. Logging out in the wild doesn't, and hunger and thirst creep up while you're away (with a limit).
• Your progress is saved per character.

Beta status and what's next

HeroState is in active beta. Known rough edges:

• All rates are first guesses and will be tuned from player feedback.
• There may be bugs, so please report them!
• Chair detection only recognises English object names for now.

Ideas for the future, depending on interest:

• reactions to events around player - deaths of teammates, getting into the new zone, seeing new monster or killing same one for 100th time…
• more visual cues, such as: breath clouds in the cold and raindrops on the screen
• a small portrait of your hero that acts out how they feel
• a swaying view when exhausted
• loneliness or social anxiety, depending on whether other players are around
• more habits, moods and roleplay states

Your feedback shapes it. Tell me what feels too harsh, too easy, or pointless, and what you'd love your hero to feel next.