@GeneralK the weapon abilities were working fine, they were equipping and unequipping as intended, it was to do with the class abilities being forgotten when an item was equipped - but only after that initialize to level node has been run once - prior to that you can have both a class and weapon ability (as intended).
My init schematic adjusts stats based on variables (if players use stat boost items in a run, they retain those bonuses in for all future runs)
HOWEVER, since this post, I've been thinking about "what do these skills add to the game" and came up with they distract from the core monster raising focus. So I've removed them for now.
I may come back to this at a later date, I'm juggling with the idea of monsters being multi use, either as companions or being turned into equipable power gems that grant stat boosts and abilities.
