Weapon Upgrade Plugin for RPG Maker MZ

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 Weapon Upgrade  -  RPG Maker MZ

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Six independent weapon-growth systems in one plugin, with a complete upgrade

menu added to the main menu. Every layer is optional per weapon, so the same

plugin serves a simple "+1 sword" game and a full Final Fantasy VII Remake

style build system without either getting in the other's way.

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 THE SIX LAYERS

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REINFORCEMENT (+N)  -  most JRPGs, MMOs, Souls games

  Spend gold and materials to push a weapon from +0 upward. Costs are

  formulas, so they can scale with level or the weapon's price. Optional

  success rates, three failure modes (nothing lost, drop one level, or reset

  to +0), pity counters that guarantee a success after N failures, and

  per-level overrides for building difficulty walls.

UPGRADE GRID  -  FF7 Remake

  A node board laid out on coordinates you choose. Spend upgrade points to

  light up nodes granting stats, materia slots, skills and abilities. Nodes

  connect by links, unlock outward from a start node, and can be gated behind

  weapon levels. Core nodes are drawn larger as branch points. Resetting a

  board refunds every point, free by default, so players can experiment.

WEAPON LEVEL  -  FF7 Rebirth

  The weapon levels up from being used, earning EXP per action taken, per

  enemy defeated, and per battle won. Each level can pay out upgrade points,

  stats, materia slots, skills, abilities, or unlock grid nodes outright.

  Custom EXP curves per weapon.

WEAPON ABILITIES  -  FF7 Remake proficiency

  Skills the wielder can use while the weapon is equipped. Each use builds

  proficiency, and at 100% the actor learns the skill permanently and keeps

  it after switching weapons. Can be set to weapon-only for games where a

  weapon skill should never be retained.

INFUSION  -  Dark Souls / Elden Ring

  Give a weapon one exclusive affinity: elements, stats, states, skills, or

  extra materia slots. Only one is active at a time and swapping is always

  allowed, with an option to charge each infusion only the first time.

EVOLUTION  -  Monster Hunter upgrade trees

  Consume a weapon to turn it into a different weapon, equipping the new one

  automatically if the old one was held. Branching paths, requirements on

  reinforce level, weapon level, grid completion or story switches, and

  selective carry-over so you choose exactly what survives the transition.

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 THE MENU

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Adds an "Upgrade" command to the main menu, optionally gated behind a switch

and greyed out until the party owns something upgradeable.

  - Character switching with the page keys

  - Weapon list covering equipped and carried weapons

  - A tab strip showing only the layers the selected weapon actually has

  - An info panel previewing effects, costs, success rates and requirements

    before you commit

  - Confirmation prompts on reinforcement, evolution and grid resets

  - The node grid is drawn with real connector lines and navigates by board

    position rather than list order, so the cursor moves the way the board

    looks

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 UPGRADE POINTS

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Two models. In ACTOR mode each character has one pool that all their weapons

draw from, refilled as they level up - spending on one weapon leaves less for

another, and resetting gives it all back. This is the FF7 Remake model. In

WEAPON mode each weapon earns and spends its own points, for games where

weapons improve by being used rather than by the character growing. Weapons

can also bank their own points from level rewards in either mode.

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 SETUP AND CONTROL

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Everything is configured with notetags sharing one readable grammar:

    node 1: pos 0,0; name Attack Up; sp 1; stat atk,5; link 2,3; start

Stat bonuses cover the eight core parameters as flat or percentage values,

plus all ten x-parameters and s-parameters (critical rate, evasion, MP cost,

and so on).

Nine plugin commands cover opening the menu, granting points and weapon EXP,

setting reinforcement levels, unlocking nodes, applying infusions, forcing

evolutions and resetting progress. A script API exposes the same operations.

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 COMPATIBILITY

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  - Stat bonuses go through paramPlus / paramRate / xparam / sparam, so they

    stack with other plugins instead of overwriting them

  - Granted skills are added in Game_Actor.skills and respect normal

    usability rules

  - Weapon name decoration (+N and infusion prefixes) appears in shops, the

    equip screen and the item list

  - If Materia.js is installed, slot rewards add materia slots on top of a

    weapon's own <Materia Slots> notetag

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 IMPORTANT

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Upgrade progress is stored per weapon DATABASE ENTRY, not per copy. RPG Maker

tracks inventory as counts rather than individual instances, so upgrading one

Long Sword upgrades every Long Sword the party owns. This is exactly right for

FF7 Remake / Rebirth style games where each weapon is a unique named item, but

if you want upgradeable generic gear, give each upgradeable weapon its own

database entry and hand out only one of each.

Free for commercial and non-commercial projects. Credit appreciated.