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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Exen Trik" data-source="post: 4440561" data-attributes="member: 34942">Of course! Actually, I've been trying to make a 4e based final fantasy system since it started coming out (actually started messing around with the idea in 3.5) so I've given these matters a fair bit of thought already. I went the other way in terms of 4e compatibility though and aimed for a unique system. Haven't working on it much lately, but I'll probably get some big idea and come back to it later.Just nerfing isn't going to be much of a fix, since many of the powers individually aren't so bad. Making a class go from too good at many roles to second best at many roles isn't better, they still need to have a specific purpose in combat. Either limit it's powers to the role of a controller, or use Blue Mage Tactics to determine it's main role, and unlock the full effect of those powers within that role. A blue warrior may get marking with melee powers, a blue wizard would get greater damage, area and effects with controller spells. And you could also add a blue shooter, that could channel powers through a ranged weapon and increased damage and range, and a blue commander with increased defensive and healing ability.Despite being a more martial class than the other mages, melee powers were usually not their thing. There were always one or two like goblin punch and poison claw, but those had nothing to do with weapons. For an exception to this and some good examples of melee blue magic look at the final fantasy 11 blue mage. Here's a handy reference for it:<a href="http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?job=bluemage" target="_blank">http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?job=bluemage</a>Aero was only a blue magic in 5 and 6, a white magic in 3, available to special jobs in a couple games, it belongs to the black mage in FF11 and is otherwise a general attack spell, so you can go any direction with it on that basis. But as a matter of aesthetics, if you plan to have a black mage with the series of fire blizzard and thunder spells, and if you add stone and water, why put aero/aera/aeroga somewhere else?It's a basic line elemental attack spells, if you make a black mage that should really be part of it's shtick. If not, well I guess it does no harm to throw it in.By integrating I mean that right now you have a set of powers based on the blue mage's traditional magic that is gained like any other 4e power, and a separate system of learning enemy powers. Two halves of the basic blue mage idea, that don't work together to actually be that way.You can go with something close to standard 4e with blue mage fluff thrown in, or a more complicated method that imitates the blue mage mechanics of other games, or somewhere in between. As long as it is simple and consistent you can manage to preserve both needed balance and flavor.As best I can figure, the closest approximation to both the blue magic of the games and 4e mechanics is to have the classes various encounter, daily and utility powers be slots where you can learn any number of powers and choose which to use when you use that power. Learning these powers can be done in the same way as a wizard, gaining some automatically with level and with research, and also directly in combat. They can make a check to learn it if they see the power used, with a bonus if they are also effected by it. Yeah I might have misread it a little, thinking the costs accrued more often. Even so, it crosses a line between resources management and power levels that should be done with great care if at all. It's more a matter of muddying the purpose of surges and powers, better to keep those peas and carrots separate. And borrowed strength is just odd with the large number of surges floating about, but at least it's only a daily power.Class features that are situationally underpowered or overpowered doesn't mean it ends up balanced, just unbalanced in two directions and hard to use. The ability to learn *anything* is a bad idea, and needs to be nixed. So too is trading away surges to use a power that may or may not be at all useful. Either have it spend a surge only when it is cast, still be used as a normal surge if needed, or take surges out of the equation completely.Well of course that wouldn't be balanced in this system. But you can break it down into a very basic theme: doesn't always work, but bypasses normal defenses. Having a large bonus to hit or stronger effect but only working if the result is a multiple of 2, 3, 4, or 5 is one way to do it. But even in that case, I would suggest not letting blue mages use them at all, save it for a calculator path or somesuch. But for that I'd probably use an entirely different mechanic anyways.</blockquote>

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