Final Fantasy D20 Stuff, yet again...

[Creamsteak]

it appears you're going to have the Red Mage play some role different than his normal FF1 or FF5 roles

No. Not unless you don't agree with me that the red mage traditionally used lesser black and white magic, and had a medium rank as a front line fighter.

Further, you're implying anyone can start out as a monk, thief, warrior, or other color mage, but to be a chemist requires leveling as a mage

Monk, thief, fighter, red mage, black mage, white mage are the core classes in this design; all of these classes are on call from ff1. I kinda like using the original game as the core for the others. Chemists create and control magic items in quite a few ways. This is a DnD conversion, not just a d20 conversion, so spellcasting should remain requisite of item creation.

In my opinion.

First of all, why should the Black Mage and Black Wizard and the White Mage and White Wizard be separate? [and Red Mage and Red Wizard]

I'm still thinking about this. It makes sense on a progression based level, and theres ways to do it mechanically. However, the Fieari summarizes my feelings about the wording more precisely. "Why would?" unless I pigeonhole a class which is the opposite of what I want to do. Of course, who would rather be called a warrior instead of a knight either, except if warrior implies additional versitility over being a heavy armored swordsman.

I've detailed other versions of the project; I've worked with variants that you might appreciate more. This version is sort of an attempt to have clarity from the organization standpoint without forcing the classes through class loops like Final Fantasy Tactics.

 

[The Goblin King]

I was just wondering why Ninja wasn't the advanced class for Thief? Hunter? My best archers (or most broken archers depending on how you look at it) always started as Fighter for the BAB and feats. But Ninja isn't really the best name either. Would using Rogue cause too much confusion?

I agree that Knight could have a name change. Veteran?

I think when you had each class only 10 levels really worked.

 

[Creamsteak]

And the 10 level system supports the Black Mage -> Black Wizard thing quite well...

I can split the warrior. That's what I'll do. Split it's paths, move ninja down, and perhaps add mime at the tip of the thief's progression. Let me rig up the table real quick and post it and then tell me what you think...

 

[Creamsteak]

Alright, try this out. This is a 10 level class system with Prestige classes made available for characters that want to specialize. It still uses the 6 core class mechanic, but classes can continue into a highly related (dark grey) class to carry them over the next 10 levels so that they can continue leveling into epic Dnd levels while maintaining one general spell progression or ability setup. Or they can go into one of the PrCs. Here is the full progression:

Core Classes
Black Mage
Monk
Red Mage
Thief
Warrior
White Mage

Promotion Classes
-> = Easy Promotion
->-> = Simple Promotion
->->-> = Difficult Promotion
Black Mage -> Wizard
Black Mage ->-> Blue Mage
Black Mage ->->-> Chemist
Monk -> Master
Monk ->-> Samurai
Monk ->->-> Ninja
Red Mage -> Red Wizard
Red Mage ->->-> Blue Mage
Red Mage ->->-> Chemist
Thief -> Treasure Hunter
Thief ->-> Ninja
Thief ->->-> Samurai
Warrior -> Archer
Warrior -> Berserker
Warrior -> Knight
Warrior ->-> Ninja
Warrior ->-> Samurai
White Mage -> Priest
White Mage ->-> Chemist
White Mage ->->-> Blue Mage

Prestige Classes
Assassin
Bard
Berserker
Blademaster
Blitz Master
Calculator
Calculator
Dancer
Dark Knight
Dragoon
Engineer
Engineer
Geomancer
Hunter
Legendary Beast
Loremaster
Mediator
Mime
Monsterkin
Mugger
Mystic Knight
Oracle
Paladin
Sage
Summoner
Summonkin
Time Mage

*** If you have any question about the source for a class (such as the new FFVI classes), I'll provide the iconic. Basically they are Umaro, Cyan, Sabin, Terra, Gau, and Strago. The rest are somewhat obvious, save the Mugger. Mugger being more of an extension for the stealing while fighting mechanics of FF.

 

[The Goblin King]

Nice.

 

[Creamsteak]

6 Core, 12 Advanced, 24 Prestige.

I like the number breakdown as well. After I give this thread a bit more time (a week or more possibly), I'll start working on this.

 

[SylverFlame]

I like this, especially the multi-path warrior. It makes sense for such a broad and flexible class. The ability to make a whole host of "iconics" is also kind of nice for the lazy DM (all hail the lazy DM, of which I am one).

I look forward to more info on rules and such, or are you gonna publish a book? That would be really nice.

 

[DreamChaser]

my question is could you skip the advanced class and go to a prestige class? if not, then what is the point of having "knight" as an advance of "warrior" if everyone has to become a "knight" eventually anyway.

DC

 

[Creamsteak]

Yes.

Now, realize that I'll iron out the specifics when I actually start writing, but here are some examples of approximately what level will allow a character into a specific class:

Promotion Classes
Warrior -> Knight or Archer (level 5 warrior)
Warrior -> Berserker (level 7 warrior)
Warrior -> Samurai (level 7 warrior)
Warrior -> Ninja (level 7 warrior)
However, a warrior/thief or warrior/monk will have an easier time being a Samurai or ninja.
Warrior/Monk -> Samurai (warrior 2/monk3)
Warrior/Thief -> Ninja (warrior 2/thief 3)

Mages will require 10th level in their core class to move into their promotion. So only a 10th level black mage will be able to become a 11th level black wizard.

Prestige Classes
These will vary more depending on the class. Some of these will be able to be taken from any "path." For instance, a 7th level thief might be able to become a dancer. However, note that a thief can become a dancer. You don't have to follow the paths directly in order to reach every PrC, and you often won't have to max out a given class to move into the PrC.

It'll be a long time before I have the specifics though.

 

[elvnsword]

Are you, or have you put any thought into, writing out the blitzes as per FFVI, for the Blackbelt/master class. I would love a way to land a player in the middle of a fray, Pummel and Bumrush his way out..
What kind of nod to the Lancer are you going to make, or even the racial issues having to do with moogles, yeti, espers, elves and dwarves in the FF world. (btw any reason you have for the Elves and Dwarves vanishing after FFII? lol). For that matter what of the other classic Square games in which iconic character types are presented, such as the king of Figaro, Edgar, or Lucca, as a innovative "tinker" type.
I am quite interested in this overall and would love to add some FF flavor to my own campaign (thinking about a lancer/Dragoon PrC). I hope to see more from this thread, as thus far it has stimulated my own creative... tendencies... ::insert evil DM Laugh::

Sincerly
Mark