Final Fantasy d6 (Complete System)

[Creed]

Wow, I haven't looked at this game for a while... if anyone is up for playing a few encounters, give me a buzz, I'm always game for this. It was one of my favorite systems for a long time, time to check out the changes.

EDIT:
Hey! My name's on page 3! What a pleasant surprise!

[ThreadOfFate]

Apologies for not responding or even checking this thread often recently.

I want people to know that I'm still not satisfied with huge chunks of the FFd6. The stupid abilities need to be replaced and literally dozens of new ones need to be added - I want to shoot for another full page for every Job. Combined with the rewrite for the whole destiny mechanic, making spells more interesting than just damage numbers thrown at enemies 'til they fall over, the constant progress and testing of the bestiary, and handfuls of balance problems have kept me busy.
I don't have any sort of expected date for the next release. This thing ain't easy to while away hundreds of hours on.

If you need testing, I'd be happy to help. Not sure what I could do, but the offer's there.

[War Planets]

Apologies for not responding or even checking this thread often recently.

I want people to know that I'm still not satisfied with huge chunks of the FFd6. The stupid abilities need to be replaced and literally dozens of new ones need to be added - I want to shoot for another full page for every Job. Combined with the rewrite for the whole destiny mechanic, making spells more interesting than just damage numbers thrown at enemies 'til they fall over, the constant progress and testing of the bestiary, and handfuls of balance problems have kept me busy.
I don't have any sort of expected date for the next release. This thing ain't easy to while away hundreds of hours on.

I also offer my assistance in any way that I can. I offer you the services of my campaign and the feedback from my players. I have a group that is meeting in person and I will ask them to make assessments of the system and how as a group errors could be fixed. It is a 5-6 member party spanning several classes and will be working with your design for grid-based combat.

So if there is anything you would like me to test for you just ask me and I will use it.

You are never alone working on this. We are all here to help you in any way you need.

[Temotei]

Hey! My name's on page 3! What a pleasant surprise!

Right?

Dust, as the others have said, if you need help, we can.

[Mono Vertigo]

Once again, Dust, thank you very much for all your hard work. I do know I'd be unable to come up with a tenth of the system (no, not even the least good tenth with the cheese and odder mechanics). Even with all the flaws and bits mentioned by everybody else, I still would like to play it as is.

Personal note that's terribly minor compared to other comments: I just remembered that one of the iconic things about summons in Final Fantasy is the length of time between the moment you start calling the summon and the moment it actually arrives, AND between the time of its arrival and the time of its departure. The minor ones tend not to linger on the battlefield, but the most powerful ones spend an egregious amount of time doing their attack.
So, perhaps, in order to make them feel more Final Fantasy-ish, you could play on that? Eidolons are still incredibly powerful, but they don't show up before a round or two or three and you have to protect the summoner in the meanwhile?

[Temotei]

Once again, Dust, thank you very much for all your hard work. I do know I'd be unable to come up with a tenth of the system (no, not even the least good tenth with the cheese and odder mechanics). Even with all the flaws and bits mentioned by everybody else, I still would like to play it as is.

The great thing about this system is that it's so fun as a base that it can't not be fun wherever you modify it. It's even fun to just browse the book.

[kaiten619]

the system is so much fun. im planning to run my players based on ff1

[Assurau]

Dust,
Like many in thread, i appreciate the work that you're putting into this system. I enjoyed the previous version of it, and i like the limit abilities. It has given me some interesting character concepts that i would love to play in the future. I look forward to the next version eagerly.

[squiggit]

I'll second/third/fourth the appreciation for the system and offers of help.

Speaking of, not sure how I mixed these two typos:

On page 10 Magic Points are referred to as HP in their description.

Not so much a typo, but on pages 131-132, the universal property list... H properties are listed after I and J properties.

Also, the details on Haste and extra actions is a little unclear: If I have haste and an ability that gives me extra action, and I use haste to turn my slow action into a standard, can that extra ability give me two more standards or only one? Likewise, if I have an ability that gives me two standard actions that isn't haste, can I still do a slow as a standard? I'm pretty sure the answers are "one" and "yes", but like I said, the way it's worded is unclear as to whether resolving a slow on one turn is a special property of haste or the result of spending two standard actions.

Also, most of my various criticisms have been fairly minor fluff details, but I really have to say the way skill caps and points are calculated really bugs me. From a fluff standpoint it feels awkward that a Warrior is more likely to be a jack of all trades (by virtue of simply not having very many points in dex or mnd) and a red mage is going to be specialized (by having high skill caps from their finesse stacking). From a gameplay standpoint it's just not fun at all being in a position where you have to either take a level in dark knight, dump attribute points into your 'off' stats, or simply deal with the fact that you'll have a skillcap of 3-5 even at level 15.

I really think they should be reversed: A skill cap that's fixed and only adjustable by things like level and abilities like skillful hero.. and skill points that are based on some attribute: That not only feels more fluffy (because the red mage will have a bit of everything while the warrior might be focused primarily on athletics and awareness).. but also feels a bit better to play as. That or come up with something more convoluted where different attributes associate with different skills.

I hate to harp on a point, just find this of all things the most difficult to deal with in the game.

[Kiton]

Regarding Geomancers; last group I was in switched the trance damage to 1+1/2lv [rounded down], and that seemed to be enough to deal with things. Elements were still an issue, however; Home Terrain is basically a feat-tax, as even Fire Terrain's Defensive won't help against 'Absorb', and it is otherwise very difficult to expect anything other than "resist" or "immune" against something's base terrain.

In other words; If you're in the fire cave, dealing fire damage with your geomancy, you'd better hope your geotrance is useless instead of actually healing monsters.

There's definitely a rather large power-gap between those who can kinda do magic and maybe, perhaps, eventually, if they put about as many points into MND as they do into PWR, actually cast their Ancient spell, and those with Charismagic who can and will do so, and do so to great effect.

The worst offender there is probably the Blue Mage, which are stuck with nothing but Novice spells until level 10, get their Ancients only at 15, and whose job per-lv MP gain is so low that they'll be splitting their stats up even moreso than a time-mage in order to even be allowed to cast. They also cannot cast half the Novice spells at level 1 [though Laser Eyes is clearly 'intermediate'].

I'd like to see some change to skills as well; if one starts as a fighter or the like, starting skill points are significantly lower, and being limited by finesse is one more reason to use the various methods of circumventing PWR's very existence in any way.


Either way, I am usually quite available for playtesting, campaigning or just plain numbercrunching as well.

[Sparx MacGyver]

Hello! First and Foremost, WOW! Great Work Dust! I'm truly impressed by this. I found this while attempting my own FFd6 system using the OpenD6 system. A quick search of "Final Fantasy d6" led me to here.

So, as I'm reading through, I'm finding the system amazing and it looks like it can gandle any of the FF games. I admit my experiences with the earlier FF's are limited by memory, and I don't have any experience with anything after X-2. FFVI and FFVII are my favorite in teh series, VI because I grew up playing it on the SNES (when it was called FFIII in the US, I'm sure ya'all knew that though), and VII just really sucked me in. I don't think I've played any other FF or RPG's as much as those two, getting all the items, and quests and all that. Hours upon hours of enjoyment, even now. And here we are with a 'rules-lite' d6 FFRPG, something that, so far, looks like it kicks any Pathfinder/D&D conversion out of the water.

Anyway, back on topic, in Chapter 6: The World, I notice that FFVI doesn't have Magicite or Espers listed, while VII has the Materia. Was this an oversight? Maybe just an accidental forgotten bit? Did I, in my zeal to post and excitement of finding this system, just not notice it?

Thanks for creating this, and all those who helped in play testing and getting the kinks out!

[Sparx MacGyver]

OK folks, so while working my way through this system, I think I've hit a snag. I want to make sure I understand this right. All weapons are basically flavor, in that they all do 2d6 damage, and you add in your relative stat x tier, So if a player has 12 PWR (higher than his 8 RES) with a tier 3 weapon will do 36+2d6 damage. And to hit he is going to use PWR(12) +2d6. So if she rolled a 7, it would be a 19 to hit, and assuming she did hit, it would be 32+7 for damage. And of course, this is regardless of weather it's an axe, sword, dagger, trident, or gun (using DEX of 12 for this example). If these are all tier 3, and PWR or DEX is 12, then the actual weapon description is just flavor. Also, is there a character level limit for weapons/armor/accessories? Like, for example, a level 1 thief could only wield a tier 1 weapon, and at gaining a new level, he could then wield a tier 2 weapon/armor. Or, is it just a case gil (money)?

If I am understanding things correctly so far, then I love this system. I love d6 system anyway, as I've been playing Ghostbusters International and Star Wars d6 for years, but man this thing takes the cake, as far as Final Fantasy games are concerned. It seems like it covers just about everything you need to run a FF game.

[Kiton]

You are in fact understanding it correctly: That 2d6 is your attack roll, and doubles as the damage roll if you succeed.

Basically you take that one roll. You add your Accuracy to it, to see if you hit. If so, you then take that same roll [without the added accuracy] and add Tier*Stat [in some cases PWR, but often dex or mind] to get your total damage. 'course, that's all before crits, situational modifiers and all elemental W/R/I/As

As for equipment, far as I can tell nothing's stopping you from getting a Tier 6 at level 1, except lack of gil and lack of GM willingness

[Sparx MacGyver]

Here's a few other questions. 1) Would it hamper anything if I were to alter the exp/lvl up slightly. What I would do is change ti to 5 exp x level. So from level 1 to level 2 you would need 10 (5x2), and the 15 for 3, and so on until you get to level 99 and need 495 exp. I don't think this would alter much, as I'm not changing things with what you gain, just the exp needed to level. (I highly doubt we would reach 99, though that would be some crazy cool characters if they did..) I know it says under Accuracy that is a value of 1-8, but sometimes we just keep playing so I'm trying to plan ahead, so to speak.

2) the Pact Gift from Summon's is only available if a character has taken Grand Summoner, yes? I see no other references to the Pact Gift otherwise. Grand Summoner mentions "You possess a supernatural pact with a Summoned creature - ....." Like I said, I don't see any other reference.

I'm learning the system, so I'm just seeing things that jump out at me and I might need an answer for.

Edit: was there a stat block for this game? I know the pretty bestiary blocks, but I mean't something similar to ones used by D&D or Saga Edition or Pathfinder?

[ThreadOfFate]

Here's a few other questions. 1) Would it hamper anything if I were to alter the exp/lvl up slightly. What I would do is change ti to 5 exp x level. So from level 1 to level 2 you would need 10 (5x2), and the 15 for 3, and so on until you get to level 99 and need 495 exp. I don't think this would alter much, as I'm not changing things with what you gain, just the exp needed to level. (I highly doubt we would reach 99, though that would be some crazy cool characters if they did..) I know it says under Accuracy that is a value of 1-8, but sometimes we just keep playing so I'm trying to plan ahead, so to speak.

2) the Pact Gift from Summon's is only available if a character has taken Grand Summoner, yes? I see no other references to the Pact Gift otherwise. Grand Summoner mentions "You possess a supernatural pact with a Summoned creature - ....." Like I said, I don't see any other reference.

I'm learning the system, so I'm just seeing things that jump out at me and I might need an answer for.

Edit: was there a stat block for this game? I know the pretty bestiary blocks, but I mean't something similar to ones used by D&D or Saga Edition or Pathfinder?

1. Well, there's two ways, as you lack some specifics. Do you mean each level is (next level * 5) total, or since last level up?

If it's total, then you're not at all changing the experience progression. You'd need 10 total EXP to get to level 2, 15 total for 3, and so on. Since you level up every 5 EXP, this works out to...exactly the same.

In the other method, you would need a total of 25 EXP to get to level 3 (1 to 2 costs 10, 2 to 3 costs an additional 15). Level 4 would be another 20, a total of 45, and so on. That would be pretty unfair, as getting to level 15 would require a whopping 75 EXP, since the last level up. That is a -lot- of fights. Also a total of...lesse...595 experience points. Assuming, say, 3 EXP a session and one session per week, that's 198 weeks, or just under 4 years!

Admittedly, I've seen longer campaigns, but still...

Honestly, just hand out experience at a slightly slower rate, or just level them up whenever you want them to.

Stat block query: Just for a few monster blocks already exist. Monster creation is actually really fun and easy - one of the best parts of GMing this system. A few pages ago in the thread, you can find an Excel spreadsheet I made that does a lot of the calculations for you.

[Sparx MacGyver]

Yeah, that exp idea probably wasn't all that great.

As for the excel sheet, I can't seem to get ti to work. Is there a problem with the drop down boxes? Guess I'll have to create a stat block for now, unless I can get this excel sheet going.

[ThreadOfFate]

Yeah, that exp idea probably wasn't all that great.

As for the excel sheet, I can't seem to get ti to work. Is there a problem with the drop down boxes? Guess I'll have to create a stat block for now, unless I can get this excel sheet going.

Shouldn't be one. Here's a step-by-step, just in case:

Select a species, then a difficulty, and type in a level. After that, allocate the attribute points to PWR, RES, DEX, and MND. That'll give you the derived statistics for your monster and basic attack damage, not accounting for any special abilities that may change those values.

After that, I actually recommend using the book. My Ability selection is not so well implemented.

[Sparx MacGyver]

Shouldn't be one. Here's a step-by-step, just in case:

Select a species, then a difficulty, and type in a level. After that, allocate the attribute points to PWR, RES, DEX, and MND. That'll give you the derived statistics for your monster and basic attack damage, not accounting for any special abilities that may change those values.

After that, I actually recommend using the book. My Ability selection is not so well implemented.

That's what I'm saying, there is a problem. It says Aerial, and when I click it, nothing happens. It's not a drop down box, nor is difficulty. If I type something else in for aerial, nothing changes, same as difficulty.

[ThreadOfFate]

That's what I'm saying, there is a problem. It says Aerial, and when I click it, nothing happens. It's not a drop down box, nor is difficulty. If I type something else in for aerial, nothing changes, same as difficulty.

Are you using Microsoft Excel, or some other equivalent software?

When you click Aerial, there should be a little arrow to the right of it to signify the drop down.

If that doesn't work, typing the name of another species should work (Amorph, Dragon, etc). The first letter has to be capitalized.

[Sparx MacGyver]

I am. Excel Student '07. While there is no drop down, I did get it to work by typing it in. Just as good.

[Valnnar]

Dear ThreadOfFate,

Could you please repost your awesome rewritten version of the character that you linked a while back? The link is now broken and my computer didn't save your file. Me and my crew would really like to get our hands on that copy again, it was clean and lovely. Thanks.

-Val

[squiggit]

Huh, did anyone know that someone made a wiki for ffd6?

It's completely devoid of content, but still.

[ThreadOfFate]

Dear ThreadOfFate,

Could you please repost your awesome rewritten version of the character that you linked a while back? The link is now broken and my computer didn't save your file. Me and my crew would really like to get our hands on that copy again, it was clean and lovely. Thanks.

-Val

Ah, I shuffled some files around recently. My apologies, here you are!

Here's the one with spell description room.
And here's the one without.

Enjoy!

[War Planets]

I have a possible theory for the summoning issue (summoning being a Destiny pit for players).

Summoning Points (or whatever they should be called).

It costs a number of Summoning Points to summon an Esper equal to that Esper's Rank. A party summon's cost would still equal its Rank times the number of party members.

A) Players get a number of Summoning Points per level equal to their levels. Any points not spent are lost upon them leveling up. If they got to keep them then someone would have 120 Summoning Points at level 15 and could just spam-summon a Rank 5 for the entire End Boss area. With the loss of unused Summon Points an individual player would now only be able to summon a Rank 5 Esper 3 times.
-or-
B) The number of Summoning Points a player gets per level is equal to 1/2 their level rounded up instead of full level. This puts a more limiting cap on summoning, so I might would go with this one. At level 15 a player would be able to summon at most a Rank 5 Esper twice if that player has completed its pact requirements.

Please let me know what y'all think about this idea. I have not tested it, as my campaign will most likely not be using Espers. First campaign with this system, want to keep it simple, but I still want to help.

[squiggit]

Please let me know what y'all think about this idea.

I don't like it only because it wouldn't really mesh with a campaign that continues on at max level for any serious period of time or has a slow XP progression. Though in general I like any idea that fields them more easily, as I really think they're overly restricted for their power. Their normal abilities are really only about as good as spells of the same tier and outside T5 even their astral flows aren't particularly beyond the norm in terms of power.

My friend's been trying to homebrew up a 'summoner' class to capture the more one-shot use summons had in older FF games (though with FFX style summoner flavor thrown in), and it's been surprisingly easy to balance because summon ability power seems right in line with magical power (might share the class when it's finished if anyone cares, not sure what the etiquette on homebrew for homebrew is)

[Sparx MacGyver]

I have a possible theory for the summoning issue (summoning being a Destiny pit for players).

Summoning Points (or whatever they should be called).

It costs a number of Summoning Points to summon an Esper equal to that Esper's Rank. A party summon's cost would still equal its Rank times the number of party members.

A) Players get a number of Summoning Points per level equal to their levels. Any points not spent are lost upon them leveling up. If they got to keep them then someone would have 120 Summoning Points at level 15 and could just spam-summon a Rank 5 for the entire End Boss area. With the loss of unused Summon Points an individual player would now only be able to summon a Rank 5 Esper 3 times.
-or-
B) The number of Summoning Points a player gets per level is equal to 1/2 their level rounded up instead of full level. This puts a more limiting cap on summoning, so I might would go with this one. At level 15 a player would be able to summon at most a Rank 5 Esper twice if that player has completed its pact requirements.

Please let me know what y'all think about this idea. I have not tested it, as my campaign will most likely not be using Espers. First campaign with this system, want to keep it simple, but I still want to help.

I'm more inclined to lean towards option A, though both seem relatively acceptable alternatives. Though, to be honest, I've yet to play a game, outside of some battle testing of some PC's I built just to go against some creatures. No actual players were involved, so i guess they are technically NPC's.

[Sparx MacGyver]

My friend's been trying to homebrew up a 'summoner' class to capture the more one-shot use summons had in older FF games (though with FFX style summoner flavor thrown in), and it's been surprisingly easy to balance because summon ability power seems right in line with magical power (might share the class when it's finished if anyone cares, not sure what the etiquette on homebrew for homebrew is)

I don't know the etiquette is either, but I'm sure Dust wouldn't mind if you clearly labeled it as fan-made (btw, wasn't there a fan-made section of stuff? I recall it mentioned a few pages back, like around 30 or so, but I don't know where all that is/was/went). I'd like to take a look at it.

[War Planets]

I don't like it only because it wouldn't really mesh with a campaign that continues on at max level for any serious period of time or has a slow XP progression.

Well then, maybe for the normal 5 exp to level up campaigns it would be half level rounded up worth of Summoning Points; and for the campaigns that take longer to level up use full level worth of the Summoning Points.
After a player reaches level 15 they would regain their 8 or 15 Summoning Points when they would normally level up (such as every 5 exp gained they would regain their 8 Summoning Points)

-or-

Alternatively again, summoning can be based on MP. I did some number crunching and found the average MP required for each Tier of spell.
Novice = 7
Intermediate = 27
Expert = 56
Superior = 102
Ancient = 207
So I believe that if the Summoning was based on MP the cost would be equivalent to the spell averages or equal to the spell with the greatest MP cost in each Tier:
Rank 1 = 10 or 15
Rank 2 = 30 or 60
Rank 3 = 60 or 100
Rank 4 = 120 or 200
Rank 5 = 240 or 300

But personally I think that the point system would be more uniform and better.

[Surrealistik]

Say I have a character who uses Haste as a Standard via his Arcane weapon's Quick Cast property. He now has an additional Standard from the haste status. Can he then initiate a Slow action with that Standard, thus resolving it at the start of his next turn, or does he have to wait until his next turn to start a Slow action?

The rules normally allow you to perform a Standard action OR to start a Slow action. In this case he opted to perform a Standard to use Haste, so is he completely locked out of starting a Slow action, even if he gains a second Standard via Haste? Or can he instead technically begin and finish a Slow action in the same turn instead of taking the second Standard?

"Haste allows you to move an additional range increment OR take a second standard action, OR they may allow a Slow action to begin and finish in one turn."


I'd also consider adding a 'Melee X' range, and standardizing Short, Medium and Long ranges so tactical combat maps are compatible with the system.

Melee is normally 1 but can be greater for Reach weapons and larger creatures.

Short might be 5 spaces (1.5 or 2 meters per space?) and less, Medium 20 spaces and less, Long 21+ spaces.

[Temotei]

I'd also consider adding a 'Melee X' range, and standardizing Short, Medium and Long ranges so tactical combat maps are compatible with the system.

Melee is normally 1 but can be greater for Reach weapons and larger creatures.

Short might be 5 spaces (1.5 or 2 meters per space?) and less, Medium 20 spaces and less, Long 21+ spaces.

Personally, I prefer the current system for FFd6. It fits with the flavor of being very fluff-tastic in combat, in my opinion.