my %effects = ( part => [qw(acid cold electricity fire)], gaze => [qw(paralysis stone stun death)], range_part => [qw(gas sonic)], touch_part => ['poison', 'energy drain'], touch_special => ['befouls', 'purifies', 'nullifies holy water', 'nullifies unholy water'], vocal => [qw(deafen fear terror flight)], ); $effects{'range'} = [@{$effects{'part'}}, @{$effects{'range_part'}}]; $effects{'touch'} = [@{$effects{'part'}}, @{$effects{'touch_part'}}]; $effects{'general'} = [@{$effects{'part'}}, @{$effects{'touch_part'}}, @{$effects{'gaze'}}, @{$effects{'range_part'}}, @{$effects{'vocal'}}]; sub random_effect { my $type = shift; return 'unknown' if not exists $effects{ $type }; return $effects{ $type }[ rand @{$effects{ $type }} ]; } print random_effect('misspelled') . "\n"; print random_effect( 'touch' ) . "\n"; print random_effect( 'touch' ) . "\n"; print random_effect( 'general' ) . "\n"; print random_effect( 'general' ) . "\n";