D&D Conversions - FFXI (added Tonberry)

[malcolm_n]

Hi everybody,

Background

About two weeks ago now, I was playing around with the idea of taking other game ideas; be they Pen and Paper, mmo, video game, etc. and writing them out for 4e D&D. Mostly, it's a means by which I could transition one of my campaign worlds over in which the 3.x incarnation allowed my players to be just about anything they wanted, within reason and scale of power.

My friend, who also happened to play in the campaign at the time, suggested that I start with what's freshest in my mind right now. So, I took a look at FFXI and started with a conversion of some weapon skills. Their current form in this exercise is as Weapon powers, which any class can pick and use if it has proficiency in the required weapon type.

So, here's the first example I have that I wanted to post and preview. I'm working on others, and also wanted to see if there are any requests out there for particular games, characters, or other things the fine people of this site would like to see converted to 4e D&D.

FFXI Axe Weapon Powers Preview

Mistral Axe - Axe Attack 1
At-will * Weapon
Standard Action Ranged special
Target: One creature
Requirement: Must be wielding a one-handed axe.
Special: You can throw your axe a number of squares equal to your Constitution modifier. After the attack, the axe returns to your hand.
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Level 21: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Decimation - Axe Attack 19
Daily * Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Requirement: Must be wielding a one-handed axe.
Attack: Strength vs. AC, three attacks
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack. If two attacks hit, you deal an extra 1[W] damage. If three attacks hit, you deal an extra 3[W] damage instead.
Miss: You may spend a healing surge and reroll the attack. You can do this up to three times.

[malcolm_n]

Got a couple of others I've completed to throw up. I'm also finishing a monster or two for a little later.

FFXI Weapon Powers Continued

Double Thrust - Polearm Attack 1
Encounter * Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Requirement: Must be wielding a polearm.
Attack: Strength vs. AC, 2 attacks
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack.
Special: You can use this attack as an opportunity attack. If you do, the target is marked by you until the start of your next turn.

Penta Thrust - Polearm Attack 17
Encounter * Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: Up to 5 creatures
Requirement: Must be wielding a polearm.
Attack: Strength vs. AC, 5 attacks
Hit: 1[W] damage per attack, and each target is marked by you until the start of your next turn. For each different target you hit, you deal extra damage to that target equal to your Strength modifier.

FFXI two-hour to daily powers

Bard 2 Hour Ability - Soul Voice
This ability replaces Song of Rest and Words of Friendship.

Soul Voice - Bard Feature
Daily * Arcane
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, double the bonus or penalty provided by your songs.
Sustain Minor: The effect persists.

Beastmaster Ranger 2 Hour Ability - Familiar
Familiar - Ranger Feature
Daily * Martial
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, your Quarry damage is reduced by 1d6 and your companion deals an extra 2d6 damage with its attacks.

Wizard 2 hour Ability - Manafont
This ability replaces Arcane Implement Mastery.

Manafont - Wizard Feature
Daily * Arcane
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, powers you have with Sustain Minor last until the end of the current encounter instead.

Paladin 2 hour Ability - Invincible
This ability replaces Lay on Hands.

Invincible - Paladin Feature
Daily * Divine
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, you have resist physical equal to 5 + one-half your level.
Level 11: 10 + one-half your level
Level 21: 15 + one-half your level

Archer Ranger 2 hour Ability - Eagle Eye Shot
Eagle Eye Shot - Ranger Feature
Daily * Martial, Reliable
Minor Action Ranged weapon
Effect:
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity + Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + 3d6 + Dexterity modifier damage, and until the end of the encounter, your Quarry deals 1d6 less damage.
Level 11: 1[W] + 5d6 + Dexterity modifier damage.
Level 21: 2[W] + 5d6 + Dexterity modifier damage.
Special: Any feats or benefits which benefit or trigger because of your quarry damage also trigger when you use this attack.

Sorcerer 2 hour Ability - Chain Spell
Chain Spell - Sorcerer Feature
Daily * Arcane
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, you gain no bonus damage to arcane spells as a result of your spell source and can cast 2 arcane spells with 1 standard action on your turn. You cannot cast at-will spells in this way.
Sustain Minor: The effect persists.

Rogue 2 hour Ability - Perfect Dodge
Perfect Dodge - Rogue Feature
Daily * Martial
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, you deal 2d6 less damage with your Sneak Attack and gain a bonus to your AC and Reflex defense equal to your Strength or Charisma modifier.
Sustain Minor: The effect persists.

Fighter 2 hour Ability - Mighty Strikes
This ability replaces Combat Superiority
Mighty Strikes - Fighter Feature
Daily * Martial
Minor Action Personal
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, your attacks can score a critical hit on a natural roll of 18, 19, or 20.

[malcolm_n]

I'm not done parsing out everything it can do, but here's the skeleton of the Scholar class with it's stratagems.

Scholar Class started with Stratagems

[keterys]

That's a lot of multiattacking. If everything is balanced on many attacks, that's fine, but if you end up having to balance 'I make five attacks on one guy' with 'I make one big attack on one guy' you might end up in trouble.

Cool project though, hope it goes well.

[malcolm_n]

Yeah, even as I looked over it again, I felt much the same. I think I found a reasonable solution to avoid the 5x STR on one target's damage, which evens it out to barbarian or some fighter attacks. I'll edit it now.
*edit* wow, i'm tired today. Okay, I understand what you mean now. The way ffxi does it is to let polearms be the multiattack weapon of choice. A person who wants to make several attacks can use one to that effect. the big one swing damage dealing is left to greataxes (two-handed) and greatswords (two-handed).

[malcolm_n]

One of the toughest enemies around, its Bad Breath attack causes every status problem there is. It looks like a giant round plant with tiny waving tentacles around a large black mouth.

MALBORO Level 16 Elite Controller
Large fey beast (plant) - XP 1,400
Initiative +15 Senses Perception +15, tremorsense 20
HP 308 Bloodied 154; See also Bad Breath
AC 30; Fortitude 28, Reflex 30, Will 25
Saving Throws +2
Speed 6 (forest walk), climb 6, burrow 6, swim 6
Action Points 1
Lash (standard; at-will)
Reach 4; targets one enemy; +20 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 6 damage
Vampiric Lash (standard; at-will) * Healing
The Malboro makes up to 4 Lash attacks against different targets and regains 5 hit points for each target it hits.
Impale (minor; recharge )
Close blast 5; targets enemies; +20 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 6 damage, and the target is immobilized until the end of the malboro's next turn.
Bad Breath (standard; recharges when first bloodied) * Poison
Close burst 5; targets non-malboros; +22 vs. Fortitude; the target is blind, dazed, weakened and takes ongoing 10 poison damage (save ends all). Aftereffect The target is dazed and takes ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends all).
Alignment Unaligned Languages -
Skills Athletics +18, Stealth +20 (+25 in undergrowth, trees, or swamp)
Str 21 (+13) - Dex 25 (+15) - Wis 15 (+10)
Con 18 (+12) - Int 2 (+4) - Cha 12 (+9)

MALBORO TACTICS
At the beginning of the fight, the malboro will often use it's Impale in conjunction with Bad Breath. From a safe distance, it will then spend an action point to use Vampiric Lash. On it's turn, it will continue to use Vampiric Lash if able and follow up with Impale when recharged.

[keterys]

I suspect the Malboro can deal more damage with vampiric lash... that said, you've created a _very_ grindy creature, because it will nullify creatures' attacks a lot, halve damage a lot, and regain hp with some rapidity.

I would definitely suggest removing stun from the Bad Breath (possibly replacing with daze). You _could_ make it increase in power for Failed Saves (dying or petrifying on a 3rd failed save, for instance, or actually just adding conditions onto the stack as saves are failed, starting with just ongoing and one condition, daze or weaken, and adding blind then stun) and/or make Successful Saves less effective. For example, it could remove only a single condition for each successful save (thereby requiring three or four saves, depending how you did it). If kept as is, may as well use the word Aftereffect

[malcolm_n]

Cool, thanks. I'll look it over tonight and take down the grind a bit. Also working up a Tonberry for tomorrow.

[Quantarum]

Can't wait to see how you'll do throat stab and everyone's grudge
-Q.

[malcolm_n]

I'm finished with it, just need to get home and post it today. I didn't do throat stab (don't recognize the name), but I got Everyone's Grudge in there with Chef's Knife.

Also, a little later today, I'll post my idea I'm running with on Ifrit and Carbuncle as summons

[malcolm_n]

Tonberry Level 21 Solo Lurker
Small natural humanoid - XP 16,000
Initiative +25 Senses Perception +20
HP 784 Bloodied 392
AC 35; Fortitude 33, Reflex 34, Will 33
Saving Throws +5
Speed 4 With a successful Stealth check, Tonberry can run up to 8 squares with a move action and does not provoke opportunity attacks while doing so.
Action Points 2
Chef's Knife (standard; at-will)
Melee +26 vs. AC; Tonberry can shift up to 1 square before or after the attack; 3d8 + 7 damage, and the target grants combat advantage until the start of Tonberry's next turn.
Chaos Bolt (standard; at-will) * Arcane, Implement, Psychic
From its lamp, Tonberry blasts the party with bright lights.
Ranged 10; +21 vs. Will; 3d6 + 10 psychic damage; if Tonberry rolled an even number for the attack, repeat the attack against another creature within 5 squares of the target. You cannot attack a creature more than once with each use of this power.
Everyone's Grudge (standard; Recharge ) *
Melee; targets a bloodied creature; Tonberry must have combat advantage; +26 vs. AC; the target is reduced to 1 hit point.
---
Combat Advantage
Tonberry's attacks deal an extra 5d6 points of damage to creatures which grant it combat advantage. This does not apply to Everyone's Grudge.
---
Alignment evil Languages - (understands common)
Skills Stealth +26; Thievery +26
Str 20 (+15) - Dex 32 (+21) - Wis 20 (+15)
Con 20 (+15) - Int 20 (+15) - Cha 20 (+15)
Equipment: Dagger, Robes, Lantern

TONBERRY TACTICS
Tonberry will try to open the fight with combat advantage, attacking from the shadows or another advantageous position. It will do what it needs to to use Everyone's Grudge as quickly as possible, even spending an action point before its second standard action to ensure it can bloody a controller or a lightly armored leader with a second use of Chef's Knife. Tonberry will only resort to using Chaos Bolt if it hasn't been able to reach a member of the party in at least one round.

TONBERRY LORE
A character knows the following information with a successful Streetwise or Nature check.
--DC 25: Tonberry's don't actually try to kill opponents, they just like to cut things. This doesn't necessarily mean a Tonberry will stop cutting something that appears close to death. The death of an enemy is proof to the tonberry that the creature was too weak to be worthy of its blade.
--DC 30: Tonberries originally came from a world beyond the material. Some say it is the far realm, other's dispute it is a separate material plane rife with similar monsters and adventurers alike. With their arrival, tonberries made short work of procreating and populating now-dangerous areas.

[malcolm_n]

So, kind of a self critique here. I understand that few (1 I can think of) attacks reduce an enemy to a certain hit point total (usually 0). The idea I played with, and hopefully what DM's would likely use more often, is that of the Tonberry going through battle, reducing enemy hit points and letting them heal up just enough to bring them down again. Obviously this won't mean the tonberry will just fight until it loses; rather, if it isn't pressed (read bloodied, cornered, etc), it will probably wait for everyone's grudge until the second action of its round and not kill the opponent outright. The creatures are mischievous moreso than murderous. At least, that's how I've always seen them.

So, with that said, as a solo mob, it does only get 1 attack per action, with the exception of chaos bolt (which I know kind of breaks tradition, but it needed a ranged attack to survive in D&D). But, I was hoping that the supplement of +5d6 damage with combat advantage would make up for it. It's a little swingy because when it misses, that's a big average of damage lost, and when it hits it hurts just about every time, but that imho gives it its iconic feel from the FF series. In such games, if it missed you was a time to rejoice because you wouldn't be using phoenix down on the char the next round.

So, there's my analysis. Lemme know if trying to hold to it's originality hurts it too much as a solo mob for D&D.