Waxwell

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-07

Overview

waxwell is a player character prefab that extends MakePlayerCharacter with specialized mechanics for shadow magic. It manages shadow creature minions via the petleash component, enforces sanity penalties for each active shadow minion, handles equipment-based sanity resistance for shadow items, and announces when equipping items with increasing shadow levels. It integrates closely with reader, magician, sanity, health, hunger, foodaffinity, and skinner components, and also modifies dapperness behavior for equipped items.

Usage example

local inst = MakePlayerCharacter("waxwell", prefabs, assets, common_postinit, master_postinit)
-- This prefab is automatically instantiated by the game when selecting Waxwell as a character.
-- Modders typically reference its components via:
-- inst.components.petleash:GetPets()
-- inst.components.sanity:AddSanityPenalty(pet, TUNING.SHADOWWAXWELL_SANITY_PENALTY)
-- inst.components.magician:StopUsing()

Dependencies & tags

Components used:

• builder (inst.components.builder.freebuildmode)
• equippable (IsEquipped)
• foodaffinity (AddPrefabAffinity)
• health (IsDead, IsInvincible, Kill, SetMaxHealth)
• hunger (SetMax)
• inventory (DropEverything)
• inventoryitem (IsHeldBy)
• magician (StopUsing)
• petleash (DespawnPet, GetMaxPets, GetPets, SetMaxPets, SetOnDespawnFn, SetOnSpawnFn, ondespawnfn, onspawnfn)
• reader (SetOnReadFn, SetSanityPenaltyMultiplier)
• sanity (AddSanityPenalty, IsInsane, RemoveSanityPenalty, SetMax, SetPercent, dapperness, get_equippable_dappernessfn, ignore, no_moisture_penalty)
• shadowcreaturespawner (SpawnShadowCreature)
• shadowlevel (GetCurrentLevel, level)
• skinner (CopySkinsFromPlayer)
• talker (Say)

Tags added/removed/checked:

• Added: shadowmagic, dappereffects, magician, reader, quagmire_shopper
• Checked: shadowminion, shadowcreature, _combat, locomotor, INLIMBO, notaunt, playerghost, shadow_item

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
refusestobowtoroyalty	boolean	true	Indicates Waxwell refuses to bow to royalty.
starting_inventory	table	(depends on game mode)	Starting items for the character.
customidleanim	function	customidleanimfn	Priority function for idle animation selection.
customidlestate	string	"waxwell_funnyidle"	Fallback idle animation state.
soundsname	string	"maxwell"	Sound bank identifier.
_announceshadowlevel	table	{ task = nil, time = -math.huge, level = 0, levels = {} }	State for shadow-level announcement cooldowns.
is_snapshot_user_session	boolean	nil	Used to suppress inventory drops during snapshot despawn.

Main functions

customidleanimfn(inst)

• Description: Determines if Waxwell should use the idle3_waxwell animation based on proximity to a floating codex umbra book. This takes priority over customidlestate.
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: String "idle3_waxwell" if a floating codex is within range; otherwise nil.
• Error states: None.

KillPet(pet)

• Description: Recursively attempts to kill a shadow minion pet; reschedules if the pet is currently invincible.
• Parameters: pet (entity) – Shadow minion to kill.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Does nothing if pet has already been scheduled for killing (pet._killtask ~= nil).

OnSpawnPet(inst, pet)

• Description: Called when a shadow minion pet spawns. Applies a sanity penalty for each minion and copies player skins. If the owner is dead, schedules pet for immediate termination.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • pet (entity) – Shadow minion spawned.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: If inst.components.builder.freebuildmode is true (commented out), no sanity penalty is applied.

OnDespawnPet(inst, pet)

• Description: Called when a shadow minion is despawned. Drops all inventory (except keepondeath items), then either initiates a quickdespawn state or removes the pet outright depending on snapshot context.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • pet (entity) – Shadow minion despawning.
• Returns: Nothing.

ReskinPet(pet, player, nofx)

• Description: Synchronously or asynchronously (with minor delay) updates a pet’s skin to match the player’s current appearance.
• Parameters:
  • pet (entity) – Shadow minion to reskin.
  • player (entity) – Player whose skins to copy.
  • nofx (boolean, optional) – Skip visual effects.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnSkinsChanged(inst, data)

• Description: Responds to player skin changes (e.g., equipping clothing) by triggering skin updates on all shadow minions.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • data (table, optional) – May contain { nofx = true } to skip FX.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnDeath(inst)

• Description: On Waxwell’s death, schedules all shadow minions for termination with a randomized delay.
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnBecameGhost(inst)

• Description: Removes sanity penalties and listener for pet loss; despawns shadow minions; resets sanity to 50% with temporary immunity.
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

ForceDespawnShadowMinions(inst)

• Description: Despawns all shadow minions immediately (e.g., during roll-over events or world migration).
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnDespawn(inst, migrationdata)

• Description: Called on entity despawn; if migrationdata is present, forces all shadow minions to despawn.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • migrationdata (table or nil) – Non-nil triggers force despawn.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnReadFn(inst, book)

• Description: Handles book reading while insane: spawns a shadow creature if under the global cap (TUNING.BOOK_MAX_SHADOWCREATURES) and sanity is active.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • book (entity) – The book being read.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Does nothing if sanity is not in an "insane" state.

OnLoad(inst)

• Description: Restores state on character load: stops magician usage and immediately reskins shadow minions without FX.
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

GetEquippableDapperness(owner, equippable)

• Description: Calculates dapperness for equipped items, reducing it by TUNING.WAXWELL_SHADOW_ITEM_RESISTANCE for shadow_item items.
• Parameters:
  • owner (entity) – Player entity.
  • equippable (equippable component instance).
• Returns: Number – modified dapperness value.

DoAnnounceShadowLevel(inst, params, item)

• Description: Announces via talker when Waxwell equips an item with a new or higher shadow level, respecting cooldowns (600s per level, 3s minimum spacing).
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • params (table) – Shared state for announcements (task, time, level, levels).
  • item (entity) – Item with shadowlevel component.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: No announcement if item invalid, not equipped, not held, not owned by Waxwell, or cooldown in effect.

OnEquip(inst, data)

• Description: Listener for equip events; schedules a delayed DoAnnounceShadowLevel call if the equipped item has a shadowlevel > 0.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • data (table) – Event payload containing { item = ... }.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnUnequip(inst, data)

• Description: Listener for unequip events; records the current time for shadow level cooldowns.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
  • data (table) – Event payload containing { item = ... }.
• Returns: Nothing.

common_postinit(inst)

• Description: Client-side initialization: adds tags, assigns AnimState overrides, and sets game-mode-specific tags (quagmire_shopper, magician, reader).
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

master_postinit(inst)

• Description: Server-side initialization: sets inventory, components (magician, reader, petleash), sanity/hunger/health stats, dapperness override, food affinity, event listeners, and mode-specific hooks.
• Parameters: inst (entity) – Waxwell instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:

  • onskinschanged – triggers skin updates for minions.
  • death – schedules minion termination.
  • ms_becameghost – handles transition to ghost state and minion cleanup.
  • ms_playerreroll – forces minion despawn during roll-over.
  • equip – schedules shadow level announcements.
  • unequip – updates cooldown timers for announcements.

• Pushes: None directly. Delegates talker announcements and component events to the game’s event system.