Final Fantasy d6 (Complete System)

[Kobold-Bard]

I've currently been a part of a game that has been using the FFd6 max level 15 rules (named FFd6_v1.3). After liking the system quite a bit, I decided to host my own game with a few friends.
However, when searching for the most updated rules, I also found a version that goes up to level 30 and has quite a few changes to the character system.

Which rule set is the most recent? I might be combining the two in order to fix some things that seem odd (Black Mages in 1.3 using PWR for black magic means they also do great melee damage) but I was wondering what the most recent version was.

The level 30 one was the original version. The other one is FFd6 2ed.

[Saharan]

What all count as Beneficial Primary Effects, for the purposes of Backfire and not interrupting Slow actions? Would HP Drain count as Beneficial? If you had 100% HP Drain and Backfire and it backfired, would you get back all damage done to yourself?

[elmerg]

I've currently been a part of a game that has been using the FFd6 max level 15 rules (named FFd6_v1.3). After liking the system quite a bit, I decided to host my own game with a few friends.
However, when searching for the most updated rules, I also found a version that goes up to level 30 and has quite a few changes to the character system.

Which rule set is the most recent? I might be combining the two in order to fix some things that seem odd (Black Mages in 1.3 using PWR for black magic means they also do great melee damage) but I was wondering what the most recent version was.

I've been using the 30-level version's baseline, but adding in some things from the v1.3 to flesh out or pad out areas where it felt a little low or where I found problems. Some things I'm using:

* v1.3's ARM/MARM chart due to a typo in the 30-level PDF's armor chart
* A variant of v1.3's 'split spell damage' rule for targeting multiple enemies with low-level offensive spells; rather than using a different attribute, I simply lower the multiplier by 1 (so an INTx3 becomes INTx2) and only roll 1d6. So far it's not shown itself to be overpowered.
* Some weapon and armor properties from v1.3 since there's more in v1.3 than in the 30-level version.

I had also thought about mix-and-matching some of the abilities (since one of my players wanted to play a Dark Knight, but disliked the 30-level version ability that gave a bonus per each killed enemy), but haven't really done a lot with that (mostly because I've been poking at my own homebrew for Jobs anyway and doing other game planning for my FFd6 game).

[steelsmiter]

* A variant of v1.3's 'split spell damage' rule for targeting multiple enemies with low-level offensive spells; rather than using a different attribute, I simply lower the multiplier by 1 (so an INTx3 becomes INTx2) and only roll 1d6. So far it's not shown itself to be overpowered.

I have been doing what I call the L/R 1 button mode, because I don't remember whether it was L1 or R1 in 9. the rule that I use is that tier 1-4 damage on single target spells can be halved and used against a group.

I also have a few class houserules in the other thread.

[awahl]

Hey guys,

I have quick question if anyone knows or if Dust wants to chime in.

The Wall spell reads "The user of this spell is capable of forming a shimmering barrier of magical force, strong enough to deflect and absorb most projectile attacks.
All attacks made against the target of a wall spell from a medium or long range are negated. Short range attacks are unnafected...."

A couple of players in our group were questionoing the definition of attack and what is afected by wall; does the word "attack" mean non magical attacks like arrows, bullets, etc. or does "attack" also include spells?

I'm inclined to believe it also blocks spells similar to the game series or the way the warrior ability Parry is described, but some input would be nice.

Thanks. :)

[Dust]

It does indeed shut down hostile spells cast at a significant range, along with the specified projectiles.

While this might seem overly good at first glance, remember that all this really does is put the kebash on SNIPING. Ranged combat within a Short Range is perfectly common and doesn't impose any penalties, but with this spell, characters that would otherwise sit several city blocks away and sling fireballs will need to inch closer.

What all count as Beneficial Primary Effects, for the purposes of Backfire and not interrupting Slow actions?

This needs to be worded much better. It's much too vague when certain effects like 'Movement' could be argued as both beneficial as well as non, given the context.

I specified 'primary effects' but of course that doesn't actually mean anything unless you can read my mind. It was to try and express that something like, say, Death Attack would not be beneficial, even if it was paired with other lesser effects that made it....Stylish, for example. In your case, an HP Drain attack would still be non-beneficial.

The next update's the bestiary and limit break update, so hopefully I'll manage to clear away the confusing points then.

[Valnnar]

Hey there. Long time player, first time poster. Been building some super mage builds lately and ran into something that makes me very curious. How does the spell "Comet" respond to other abilities (IE Momentum-Slow) that increase damage steps on spells. . . Is the damage increased after the final calculation of comets, or for each comet?

Comet does 2d6 comets at [PWRx3] each. . . Does momentum make each comet now become [PWRx6] when under the effects of slow? If so, it's possible to make Comet do more potential damage (though unlikely based on luck) than Ultima.

Thanks for the help, sorry if this has already been answered.

[Lord Badguy]

Consider the question seconded, as I was thinking the same thing about the Blue Mage spell Trine.

Edit: Do you have to declare use of the Blue Mage features "Diffusion" and "Escalation" when the spell starts (at the begining of the slow action), or can you wait until the slow action is complete to commit an amout of HP to them?

[Vicedets]

Is there an ETA on the next update? Also, are monks getting touched at all? My players have been playing as Monk, but can't hit /anything/ and they feel like their passive is useless beyond "Boost".

[Valnnar]

Also. . . does boost stack with itself? Thus meaning you can Punch-boost, Punch-boost, Punch-boost and get super high stats boosts on a long fight?

[squiggit]

Hey! First time poster. I should start off saying I'm a big fan of the system. It's a lot of fun to play around with!
A few things I need to clarify though:

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-Unbroken Spirit for Samurais, I'm not sure if this is an oversight or not, but the special ability only applies to 'blade' class weapons, even though the Samurai can 'Draw Out' Blade or Reach weapons. I realize it's just fluff, but it seems odd that the Samurai can draw the spirit out of a polearm but not have a spirit in the polearm to begin with.

-Spells like Transform and Regen have no described duration. Are they permanent until dispelled? Or is there something I missed?

-I realize you lose innates when you change classes, but if a Red Mage dumps points in their Lore(everything) skill and then changes classes... what happens? Do they lose the skillpoints? Have them refunded? Or do they just lose the ability to put points in that skill until they're a red mage again but retain the skill itself? I was assuming the latter in my games.

-Is there some special condition to using a Maelstrom as a geomancer? I couldn't find anything of the sort, but many of them seemed particularly strong, and the way the way Weight of the World says it can 'even' use Maelstroms makes it sound like there is some special condition

Also three typos I found, admittedly I didn't actually try to proofread anything, so if you want more typo help I could give it a better look over...

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Page 37: For the Clockwork Tools description it says Drill costs 13 points to use but the table beneath it lists Drill as the 11 point skill.

Page 49: The Geomancer Defensive Mountain Geotrance "Stone Wall" is mislabeled as Offensive.

Page 50: The Geomancer Town Malestrom says 'The Blue Mage makes an opposed force check'. It should probably say Geomancer

lastly a couple random thoughts/suggestions:

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-For Limit Breaks, are you considering recoil effects of any kind? Say a reverse of the 'status effect' limit property that allows you to either put positive statuses on the enemy or negative statuses on yourself/your team in order to increase your point count. Or some sort of self damaging effect for points. Or maybe the ability to just stack certain effects like Backfire for additional points (I could see a Gambler, thematically at least, not minding an especially strong limit break with a 50/50 backfire).

-The Once per Session spell limit feels a little too arbitrary and restricting. I realize that GM discretion plays a big part here, and other comparables in other games that are in-game time based are equally arbitrary, but at least that gives the GM and players more control over it. Once per session feels too disjointed from the game itself in my opinion.

-This isn't a balance concern, but the combat application of the second aspect of a Dragoon's jump feels slightly underwhelming thematically. Balance wise it's probably okay, but 'instant melee attack that can't crit' doesn't really size up aesthetically with 'instantaneously destroy the surface they land with' or with the imagery of an armored warrior slamming down from the heavens onto a target spear first.
The fact that it can't crit feels doubly painful since the Reach special property is all about crit.

-I think it might be cool if Dark Knight's Last Resort, either baked in or through additional point investments, could gain extra tiers at say, 10% and/or 5%

I'll probably have more later when I get another chance to peruse the book. Sorry if any of that came off as demanding or pretentious though, that wasn't my intent. Also sorry if this is old questions or comments. I tried to glance through the rest of the thread, but I might have missed some stuff.

[Lord Badguy]

-I realize you lose innates when you change classes, but if a Red Mage dumps points in their Lore(everything) skill and then changes classes... what happens? Do they lose the skillpoints? Have them refunded? Or do they just lose the ability to put points in that skill until they're a red mage again but retain the skill itself? I was assuming the latter in my games.

This was actually answered earlier in the thread, though I don't blame you for missing it given how long the darn thing is. The ex-red-mage can continue to roll the skill, but cannot invest new points into it until they become a Red Mage again.

Is there some special condition to using a Maelstrom as a geomancer? I couldn't find anything of the sort, but many of them seemed particularly strong, and the way the way Weight of the World says it can 'even' use Maelstroms makes it sound like there is some special condition

Look under the "Offensive Geotrances" header. If you roll boxcars (two sixes) on your Geotrance Attack, you (must) perform the Maelstrom effect instead of the Offensive effect

[ThreadOfFate]

Just downloaded this. Love it, will probably be porting my FF d20 game over soon.

I've got a question, though. Is there any advantage to wielding a weapon two-handed, like using a single spear or a single giant sword with both hands?

I didn't see one in the PDF, I was wondering if it's something that's here in the thread and I just missed it. Not all my players like the idea of dual-wielding, mostly for flavor reasons, and the Dragoon doesn't really use a shield.

[elmerg]

Just downloaded this. Love it, will probably be porting my FF d20 game over soon.

I've got a question, though. Is there any advantage to wielding a weapon two-handed, like using a single spear or a single giant sword with both hands?

I didn't see one in the PDF, I was wondering if it's something that's here in the thread and I just missed it. Not all my players like the idea of dual-wielding, mostly for flavor reasons, and the Dragoon doesn't really use a shield.

I haven't seen anything, though I'd say a fair tradeoff might be adding a +1 multiplier if wielded in both hands, like the Doublehand Augment from the various FF games.

[ThreadOfFate]

I haven't seen anything, though I'd say a fair tradeoff might be adding a +1 multiplier if wielded in both hands, like the Monkey Grip Augment from the various FF games.

Ah, good idea. Thanks a lot!

[elmerg]

Ah, good idea. Thanks a lot!

Sure thing. Though I would also perhaps edit in the ability for Dragoons to use Shields; the DRG in every FF game that has one has been able to use them. I did that with the Red Mage in my 30-level game.

[squiggit]

This was actually answered earlier in the thread, though I don't blame you for missing it given how long the darn thing is. The ex-red-mage can continue to roll the skill, but cannot invest new points into it until they become a Red Mage again.

That was my guess! Thanks for the tip, and sorry for not noticing it.

Look under the "Offensive Geotrances" header. If you roll boxcars (two sixes) on your Geotrance Attack, you (must) perform the Maelstrom effect instead of the Offensive effect

See, now I feel really dumb for not noticing this earlier. Not sure how I missed it the first three times.

I ran a game with a few friends earlier and they had a complaint on multiclassing mages. Didn't mess with it much myself when I played, so I can't really corroborate but I thought I'd pass it along

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-they felt that class changing to/from magic classes felt inordinately punishing because you sort of double dip on what you miss out. They felt the best way to end up playing was to start as a completely different class, grab some starting abilties, then job change over at 4 or 5 so you only lose out at low level spells.

They basically told me it only felt 'good' when stacked with onion knight and lots of destiny so they could keep switching back almost constantly (to play off of odd numbered spell slots and even number ability slots for the classes they wanted to splash)

Blue mages being the exception here on the opposite end of the spectrum, since they could just grab observe and then class change out of blue mage permanently.

I, again, can't really comment on it myself... nor really have any ideas on what could be done about it that doesn't break the system(if it really is a problem in the first place). But I can say that the guy who tried to be a ranger/white mage ended up being pretty useless as a healer.

Also, more random stuff:

-This might be another oversight, or just a play on how over the top FF can be, but Two Hand Grip (Samurai ability) doesn't preclude the use of dual wielding. Which probably ends up being kind of silly from a fluff angle.

-Also found another typo. On page 163 under "Attributes" it says you gain 2 ability points on even levels, when it should be 2 attribute points.

[elmerg]

-This might be another oversight, or just a play on how over the top FF can be, but Two Hand Grip (Samurai ability) doesn't preclude the use of dual wielding.

I don't see that it's an oversight, myself. Wielding something two handed would, by its own words, preclude wielding two weapons as both hands are already used. It's probably redundant to include a note about that in the description.

[rpgmaven]

Registered on the forums solely because of this system! I'm excited to try it out on my group.

Anyways, had a few questions regarding equipment, which is basically...how do you know what you can get? I guess I'm used to D&D 3.5 that has a detailed list of every piece of equipment you can have. All I can find in ffd6 (v1.3) is a segment telling you how and what you can craft. Do I assume players and GM are responsible for "pre-crafting" the weapons that will be bought or looted in the game? Also, why are weapons/armor divided into tiers?

[squiggit]

Anyways, had a few questions regarding equipment, which is basically...how do you know what you can get? I guess I'm used to D&D 3.5 that has a detailed list of every piece of equipment you can have. All I can find in ffd6 (v1.3) is a segment telling you how and what you can craft. Do I assume players and GM are responsible for "pre-crafting" the weapons that will be bought or looted in the game? Also, why are weapons/armor divided into tiers?

Basically yes, you design your own gear for crafting, dropping and buying purposes. Instead of having equipment lists you just has tiers, which tell you how effective a weapon is, which and how many enchantments it's allowed to have, and how difficult it is to craft. The reason gear is tiered is because the system is designed to be freeform with equipment design. For mechanical purposes the tier is what defines the piece of gear.

For instance, you can have a tier 2 blade weapon with the Glowing property, but whether it's a shortsword that leaves a trail of energy behind it, an iron rapier that glows with holy light or a stone machete made out of a phosphorescent rock is all fluff. It's the tier of the gear that determines how effective it is. WHAT it actually is is just the roleplaying aspect.

[elmerg]

Registered on the forums solely because of this system! I'm excited to try it out on my group.

Anyways, had a few questions regarding equipment, which is basically...how do you know what you can get? I guess I'm used to D&D 3.5 that has a detailed list of every piece of equipment you can have. All I can find in ffd6 (v1.3) is a segment telling you how and what you can craft. Do I assume players and GM are responsible for "pre-crafting" the weapons that will be bought or looted in the game? Also, why are weapons/armor divided into tiers?

Each of the Tiers represents an increasing power level, which is meant to scale with level. The weapons themselves are made using the noted stats for those tiers (which is a STATxTier+2d6, so a Tier 2 Blade would be PWRx2+2d6). Additionally, each level has a certain amount of special abilities that can be put on them.

There's no D&D-style huge list of equipment, though there is some example equipment in the equipment chapter. The game is made so that you can customize what you want to have, rather than have a premade huge list of stuff you might never even use.

[Dust]

Let's see if I can't shoot out a few answers here. Feel free to follow along with the Dust drinking game - take a shot whenever I talk about buffs or nerfs like we're chatting about an MMO.

How does the spell "Comet" respond to other abilities (IE Momentum-Slow) that increase damage steps on spells...

Multi-attack spells have run into some problems and are getting heavy-handed fixes. The math mighta been sound at one point, but those unchanged-since-alpha spells aren't really playable in their current form anymore. Which I guess is a roundabout way of saying.....by RAW, you're right, it'd be on every comet. But we both can see that's completely nuts, it was my oversight, and is getting yanked. The changes have been in place for awhile, I just haven't pushed out a new copy of the PDF for months.

Do you have to declare use of the Blue Mage features "Diffusion" and "Escalation" when the spell starts (at the begining of the slow action), or can you wait until the slow action is complete to commit an amout of HP to them?

I've always written the rules with the idea that the 'casting' of the spell refers to any point during the process between when the player announces what they're doing and when the spell resolves - lights flash, allies get healed, and more likely, enemies become goo. Honestly, forcing players to follow a M:tG-esque set of steps to is unnecessary in this case, especially in a system where we try to avoid punishing players. Getting a spell interrupted is already frustrating because it effectively means you lose a turn - we're not gonna spit on your character and take away the cost of the spell's MP as well, much less force you to, say, pay a bunch of health that you don't get back.
Things like Diffusion, Escalate, Swift Guardian, etc....feel free to announce to your GM they're being used when the spell is finally resolving, when it's safest for your character to do so.
I'll word-of-god this next update. The question of picking targets when the spell is started comes up too often.

Is there an ETA on the next update? Also, are monks getting touched at all? My players have been playing as Monk, but can't hit /anything/ and they feel like their passive is useless beyond "Boost".

In a perfect world, I'd like the next big (semi-final? Maybe? A girl can dream...) update to coincide with the release of FFXIV so that I can finally include that section and not have to change all my page numbers and page references AGAIN. A google search tells me that'll be another month or two. Which is good, as that'll be about on par with the end of testing the bestiary.

Regarding monk accuracy - they should be sitting at a 72-83% hit chance at first level against your average monster, even with that piddly +1 job bonus, so my gut's telling me there's some anomaly here. Insects, extra-evasive bosses, or the like. And that's not just a struggle for monks, but rather for most physical builds. I'll keep an eye on it, though.

That said, you're right that the passive needs a tune-up. (chug!) Right now the fights don't last long ENOUGH to make use of the higher-level stuff, and if they do, Monks tend to fixate on using Boost over and over instead (to indirectly answer Valnnar as well)....which in turn makes the GM want the fights to NOT last long enough to use higher chains. Tweaks are obviously in order.

And, hey. If you find yourself hunting monsters soon, be a sweetheart and pop back in every so often, let me know how things are going? Highly relevant to my interests since I'm testing out the new bestiary math currently.

Unbroken Spirit for Samurais

Oversight! And good catch, though I've already fixed this to get rid of the weapon restrictions. If you're a Samurai who takes an ability to fight with gun-kata instead, who am I to say you can't do magic tricks with it?

Also three typos I found, admittedly I didn't actually try to proofread anything, so if you want more typo help I could give it a better look over...

I always appreciate this. Much obliged.

This isn't a balance concern, but the combat application of the second aspect of a Dragoon's jump feels slightly underwhelming thematically.

I adress this one an awful lot. It basically goes like this.
Jump is the Dragoon's signature ability. It's gotta be the job's passive. I toyed around originally with it being a wyvern companion instead, but neither myself or the players appreciated it.
So, given that Jump (a naturally defensive ability) has to be usable at-will whenever the Dragoon wants (being a passive), what would prevent the character from just using it every single round if it lacked a drawback? It would effectively be 'attack with extra mobility and safety.'
Taking damage away from Jump completely makes it wholly underwhelming.

Right now the Dragoon's abilities lack synergy. That's not ideal, and it's being worked on. But I think Jump is serving its purpose well - when you need to launch yourself across the battlefield or stall/defend yourself for a round it's a great go-to option, but obviously detracts from your normal role as a crit-fishing damage-dealer or a front-line tanky sort.
And remember, all of the Dragoon's weapon properties still work with Jump since it's a normal attack with stuff tacked on. I've seen some ridiculous high-level dragoon builds.

Is there any advantage to wielding a weapon two-handed, like using a single spear or a single giant sword with both hands?

Since most characters fight with one weapon, combat as you described is the default and thus does't get an inherent bonus. I know what you're trying to say, and I'd totally agree were it not the norm.

Dual wielding is still too good at higher levels, but the math just falls apart at a certain point. I've got to actually hear more from players regarding this to make any concrete changes.

I ran a game with a few friends earlier and they had a complaint on multiclassing mages. ....class changing to/from magic classes felt inordinately punishing because you sort of double dip on what you miss out. .....But I can say that the guy who tried to be a ranger/white mage ended up being pretty useless as a healer.

Being a spell slinger in the FFd6 tends to be a pretty full-time job. Because of this it does take some experience with the system to mix-and-match physical and non-physical jobs, especially when you're avoiding hybrids (like Red/Blue mages, Paladins and Dark Knights, who tend to have abilities that help shore up their martial or magical weaknesses) or Jobs that share core attributes or themes. In fact, a Ranger/White Mage is pretty much the best example I could give as a 'don't do this' for new players.

Sorry the system wasn't as flexible as he was hoping for.

Two Hand Grip (Samurai ability) doesn't preclude the use of dual wielding. Which probably ends up being kind of silly from a fluff angle.

Kind of non-sequitor, but I once had someone email me claiming I was racist for not assuming that the PCs might be playing monsters and writing more monster-friendly rules. I guess I can rest easy knowing you're a MILLION TIMES WORSE, two-arms!
Honestly, the ability names are kind of tentative sometimes. Merging mechanics with canon is tricky. Just look at Thief's 'Sleight of Hand.' A porpoise with a tank full of word-balls could come up with something that made more sense.

For instance, you can have a tier 2 blade weapon with the Glowing property, but whether it's a shortsword that leaves a trail of energy behind it, an iron rapier that glows with holy light or a stone machete made out of a phosphorescent rock is all fluff. It's the tier of the gear that determines how effective it is. WHAT it actually is is just the roleplaying aspect.

This is correct.

In some games your GM will have taken the initiative and created lists of gear - using the same rules you the player would use to, say, forge a new sword - that you can purchase with your gil. The low-level town at the base of the volcano might only sell armor with the Fire Ward property, for example.
In other games the GM might just hand-wave this, claim he can't be arsed, and allow the PCs to assume that every fathomable weapon is available for purchase.
Think of it like walking into a D&D store and asking for a +4 Flaming Dancing weapon at the appropriate level. Some GMs are totally fine with the idea of gettin' whatever you want, others will be more specific.

[rpgmaven]

Cool. Makes sense and was pretty much what I thought the system was going for. Thanks for the replies.

The last question I have about it then is how do you determine when to give players a new tier of weapon/armor? I know D&D never explicitly says how powerful a PCs equipment should be at certain levels, but it does give some recommendations. Does ffd6 follow a linear progression? (By that I mean, there are 8 tiers and only 15 PC levels, so something like every 2 levels they get better gear)

[Dust]

Take a look on page 159 of the PDF. The 'Rewards' mini-chapter should have all the info you're looking for.

[rpgmaven]

Awesome. Thanks.

[Valnnar]

Thank you Dust for your replies and your hard balancing work. Me and Awahl have been spending a considerable amount of time looking over the rules from the perspective of power gaming, and we still keep finding things that amaze us. For instance. . . .

Destiny Points + Comet (Question/Warning): Rules say that Destiny Points can be used to add an additional d6 to anything involving a roll. . . What about the d6 that are rolled for the amount of Comets that drop? Spending 3 Destiny points for an increase of 3-18 Comets, while also increasing the damage steps. . . This gets scary.

Dragoons (Complaint/Suggestion): Huge fan of Dragoons, always will be. I can understand that trying to make Jump function in a tabletop setting similarly to how it does in the actual FF series can be very difficult. Jump originally boosted damage, could crit, was super defensive, and usable at-will. . . All of those traits in one innate-ability would be BROKEN. I think the limit ability "Highwind" takes a step in the right direction. There needs to be a way to be a "Jump specialized Dragoon". More abilities that directly interact with Jump, or enhance it. That way, if a character decides to pay a lot of abilities they could have the Iconic version of Jump. Cause Currently, Crit-Fishing with a follow-through/spell-burst weapon is WAY more damage, and I still get targeted by group and local effects. . . I love Dragoons, and I want to play them, but I find that Jump synergizes poorly with most other builds that I have tried so far.

Duel-Wielding Reach (Question): Does the crit property stack to become 10-12? Everything else doubles while duel-wielding. . . (I'm currently letting it in my game, so that melee can keep up with casters.)

Death + Deteriorate (Dumb Question): Does the bonus from Deteriorate apply when trying to successfully beat someone in an Opposed Roll for the spell "Death"? (Spell Burst: Death, Crit-Fishing, Dark Knight, here I come.)

Sorry it's long. . . Have had a lot of questions and you seem to be diligent about reading these. From one game designer to another I appreciate what you are doing, and your level of talent. Well done.

[Dust]

Destiny Points + Comet

Again, multi-target spells are the source of many problems. They're getting a total rewrite to make this issue moot.

Dragoons

Totally valid complaint, but the suggestions are too vague to be of any use to me, unfortunately. What it keeps boiling down to is acquiring a variety of abilities or equipment properties that ensure a character can do exactly what I'm trying to avoid - turning Jump into a straight replacement for standard attacks.

Duel-Wielding Reach

Nope. Sorry.

Death + Deteriorate

I ended up pushing the last copy of the book out before the magic section had been brought up to date. That's why you still see relics like Doomsday having listings like 'Supreme Resist (20)' instead of just 'Resistable.'

In the next version of the PDF you're gonna see spells actually have their 'type'...y'know, make sense. This means that something like...say, DEMI...won't be marked as a Status, but Death still will be. And Deteriorate will refer to Status spells instead of status effects. So in the long-term, yes, that's viable. And you could argue it works right now.

[Valnnar]

Well if what you want is steer away from the canon FF version of Jump (Totally understandable, not all things translate well) then here might be some more direct ideas. Sorry to be vague, I don't like to put anyone in a box, and your skill seems to exceed my own in tabletop creation/balance.

Idea #1 (Cooldown/Recharge): Make a "Super Jump" ability (like from FFXI) that enhances your jump ability when activated. You could make it per combat if you didn't want it to be repeatable. Or you could allow regular Jump Crits to recharge this ability rather than increasing damage (Allowing Jump crits to mean something, but not increasing the potential of regular Jump damage). You seemed to have steered away from a cooldown system (counting a few rounds before the ability is available again), and a recharge system (Rolling 1d6 at the beginning of your turn, if it lands on 6 then you get your ability back.) which I assume is because you want combat to remain simple and fluid. So I'll stay away from those. But you seem to like when two abilities interact with each other for recharging.

Idea #2 (Highwind Changes): Regarding the change above, stacking the proposed "Super Jump" and "Highwind" may be OP. However, if you are considering putting the Wyvern companion into the game, here is your perfect opportunity. Taking "Highwind" out completely, and moving it's power over to "Super Jump", and then adding a Wyvern Companion ability seems workable. (however to be honest, I was one of those guys who HATED the concept of a Wyvern pet that was added in FFXI. I thought it was totally random and unfounded in any previous Dragoon lore, and was added for additional flavor because they couldn't find a way to make Jump work as a regular usage ability.)

Question: Why is it that you seem to want Dragoon's to be based off of Dex? I mean, it makes multi-classing with other melee classes a little hard at times. Though I liked the idea in the beginning of a plate wearing using Dex to fight, and thus having higher avoidance, and being an avoidance tank of sorts. . . But you could just let them have shields to give them the avoidance they would need (FFIV Kain Highwind had Shields). I know you don't HAVE to take Dragon's Fang, but taking it means you instantly become a MAD class requiring High Dex, Mid Mind, Mid Res, and Low Pwr. Is all of this on purpose? It just feels that currently for a MAD class, that they seem to lack in raw damage boosts compared to most other things.

Idea #3: If your idea is to make a DEX Dragoon "optional", then you could take the opportunity with the Wyvern additions to bring some dependency on PWR. If you wanna focus on DEX as a Dragoon, then you will be more Leapy, but if you want a pet that does good damage maybe you need more PWR. Unless you are against the idea of multiple builds leading to different stat allocations within the same class.

Finally: None of this is meant to come off condescendingly or judgmentally. I appreciate your work a lot. I just want to get an idea where you think Dragoons should fit currently with the other melee classes. A tank? A damage dealer? A little of both? Also I have yet to find an example of a level 13-15 Dragoon build that stands up to other damage specialized class builds, so what am I missing (Cause I know it's got to be there). And what do you think synergizes well with a Dragoon in multi-class options (1 or two ability examples is good enough for me)?

[squiggit]

One more question:

The T2 version of Gemini says it gains the automatic weapon properties of both weapons. My question is, how many slots does this take?

The description gives an example of a huge cannon that knocks people hit by its shells back, if I were to make that weapon in game, would its properties be Distance, Gemini, Heavy Swing or Distance, Gemini(Huge) or Gemini(Ranged/Huge), Open Property? I'm assuming it's not the former, since that would make it impossible to be on a T2 weapon, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

So, given that Jump (a naturally defensive ability) has to be usable at-will whenever the Dragoon wants (being a passive), what would prevent the character from just using it every single round if it lacked a drawback? It would effectively be 'attack with extra mobility and safety.'

Oh, believe me it's entirely logical from a gameplay balance standpoint. Making it stronger just means you'll have Dragoons pretending they're Mario. I just meant that from a fluff standpoint it feels off that descending down from the heavens on top of your foe is the weaker option.

Maybe you could make it an even slower action? Have the Dragoon's turn take place still in the air, so all s/he could do is self cast spells/abilities(provided they're fast enough) or use items on themselves and the actual attack happens at the end of the turn. So a dragoon that opts not to jump would be attacking twice (more with haste) in the same time it takes to land jump once

Being a spell slinger in the FFd6 tends to be a pretty full-time job. Because of this it does take some experience with the system to mix-and-match physical and non-physical jobs, especially when you're avoiding hybrids (like Red/Blue mages, Paladins and Dark Knights, who tend to have abilities that help shore up their martial or magical weaknesses) or Jobs that share core attributes or themes. In fact, a Ranger/White Mage is pretty much the best example I could give as a 'don't do this' for new players.

Sorry the system wasn't as flexible as he was hoping for.

I get it, it makes sense to me. Though just to clarify it's definitely the magical area he felt deficient in. The stat and equip system in this game is generous enough to help shore of martial failings. His complaint was directly entirely at how slim his spellbook was trying to multiclass.

And like I said, this was less of an issue in a second session where I was a bit more liberal with destiny and he had onion knight. It's just sort of a conflict between the game wanting class choice to matter and the ability/spell system wanting you to change basically every other level to keep up. Splitting focus like that should be hard, it was just an observation from them that multiclassing from nonmage to nonmage felt a lot easier than classing to or from a spellcaster.


P.S. Random thought, but it'd be pretty cool if you could make a separate PDF for just the character sheet, or even make it a PDF form.

[snowboule]

The only thing I dislike bout ffd6 is the max level... Max lvl 15 does not feel like Final Fantasy but everything is great