I have been interested to learn how Unreal Engine has set up their Gameplay Ability System (GAS). But I never had an idea of how to apply it to something different than using it for special abilities. When we started working on "Space Pawdyssey", I started looking into it more and realised that there are a lot more options how to apply this system. Based on this Unreal forum entry and the implementation in their example project "Lyra", I started working on making a plugin setup. This plugin has the intention to allow a designer to create modular items and reuse previous elements to speed up the work process, while also allowing to customize the setup to match your needs.
The GAS is getting relevent when objects get equipped. At that point, abilities will get grated to the actor. This enables the user to grant abilities just for specific levels or at certain points in the level and remove them the same way again. It also makes it possible to change stats of the actor which in turn can then affect further gameplay or abilities (eg. temporary speed modifier, ammo type). The abilities can be bound to inputs, but it can be used from NPC's as well. Either by using the same tags, injecting a new subtree to the state machine or starting a specific state machine. The same can be applied to animations by using dedicated animation blueprints or using additive animations.

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