[FFD20] Let's Mass our Forces, and Rebuild our Power

[Drake Masters]

Lancet

Yeah, lancet was pretty puny, when Khimari's normal damage wais in the thousands, lancet was only dealing something like 70

 

[GnomeWorks]

Hmm... what about Peep and Scan, from V? Peep was a highly useful ability, and Scan even moreso. I don't think these would be broken as class abilities... though it would be somewhat odd knowing for certain how many hps and mps a creature had, and I don't know how you would explain that IC...

"Well, it's got 20 hp."
"WTF is an hp?"
"Good question..."

 

[Pengin]

Peep sounds funny. Giggle.

Anyway, I think allowing the player to know certain things about the monster (HP, BAB, Save modifiers, ect.) would make a good sort of ability. You could even rationalize it as the blue mage having an innate ability to gague (guage? gauge? argh, I can't spell) his opponents' weaknesses. I think in Oriental Adventures that's how they explain finding out the opponent's Initiative, ranks in Iaijutsu Focus, and level during duels.

So it's be more like:

DM: Frank, the monster has 34 hit points left and a +4 to reflex saves.
Frank: Okay. Dreyfuss says, "He's almost dead guys. Anybody got a fireball?"

Or something like that.

-Karl

 

[GnomeWorks]

Peep sounds funny. Giggle.

Heh. Probably why the spell name was changed to scan in later FF's...

Anyway, I think allowing the player to know certain things about the monster (HP, BAB, Save modifiers, ect.) would make a good sort of ability. You could even rationalize it as the blue mage having an innate ability to gague (guage? gauge? argh, I can't spell) his opponents' weaknesses. I think in Oriental Adventures that's how they explain finding out the opponent's Initiative, ranks in Iaijutsu Focus, and level during duels.

I like the rationale. However, knowledge of too many things is, imo, a bad idea... in V, !Peep was usable all the time, and didn't cost anything (other than an action). IMO, !Peep should just do hp (and possibly mp), and !Scan could do more (hp, mp, resistances, weaknesses, type, BAB, saves, etc), as I planned on making !Scan a little higher level.

So it's be more like:

DM: Frank, the monster has 34 hit points left and a +4 to reflex saves.
Frank: Okay. Dreyfuss says, "He's almost dead guys. Anybody got a fireball?"

Or something like that.

Well, I imagine that's how it would be handled anyway. I was just making fun of the idea.

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

For peep/scan I suggest an alternative using of Sense Motive to simply figure out the creature's BAB and possibly highest spell level available. Then there are spells such as know protections/vulnerability from magic of faerun to emulate other features of it if you like.

 

[GnomeWorks]

For peep/scan I suggest an alternative using of Sense Motive to simply figure out the creature's BAB and possibly highest spell level available. Then there are spells such as know protections/vulnerability from magic of faerun to emulate other features of it if you like.

Using Sense Motive as a base isn't a bad idea. However, knowledge of highest level spell available doesn't fit... imo, it should stay current (and possibly maximum) hp and mp.

Hmm... I also had another idea, which doesn't fit an FFT flavor, but does everything else...

Spell Dispersal [Metamagic]
You can cast spells that usually have only one target over a larger range, though less effectively.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast spells.
Benefit: Whenever you cast a spell with a single target, you can instead pay double its mp cost and have the spell create a 20 foot burst effect that affects all those within the area of effect (by tripling the original mp cost, you can set the area to a 30 foot burst; by quadrupling, the area increases to a 40 foot burst. The newly affected area cannot be larger than a 40 foot burst). If the spell deals damage, the die used is reduced by one size (from d8 to d6, for instance; d4's drop to d3's); otherwise, all those in the affected area get a +4 on their saving throws.
If the spell neither deals damage nor allows a saving throw, then it cannot be used in conjunction with spell dispersal.

 

[Pengin]

Oh, I agree that Scan/Peep shouldn't be able to be done both easily or for free. Maybe one or the other, but not both. If the Blue Mage has MP then perhaps a small MP cost for Peep (assuming it's the weak version) and a larger MP cost for Scan (assuming, of course, it's the stronger version.)

Sense Motive makes a lot of sense as the Blue Mage skill. It would then just be a matter of figuring out the DC. I think that level/HD should play into the equation so that it's harder for a 1st level character to Peep a Dragon than it is for an 8th level character to Peep a Chocobo. Also, learning HP may be easy but learning something like subtype might be harder. Of course we don't want to make things too complicated or else it'll be more like playing a calculator, you know?

I'm not sure, but I think I just made a horrible joke.

-Karl

 

[Jeff_M_Stone]

scan can also fail sometimes, so it would be good to make like a will or reflex save against it

 

[Creamsteak]

scan can also fail sometimes, so it would be good to make like a will or reflex save against it

If you use a skill check, you can fail... and that makes it less odd than a saving throw for an observation.

I'm going to be in and out for a while. Moving onto campus and getting my new gaming group together. After I'm settled I'll try and see if I have enough energy and time one week to just kick ass and put together another rendition of the classes.

 

[Xiryc]

I'm thinking it should be a spot check. Also, they should have a chance of learning it by watching it done to anyone. Then if it's done to them, give them a bonus to the skill check to learn.