Building RPG Classes
 

This was a toss up between 'Playing Games' & 'Art'. Move if you like?

So I'm back on retooling this game system I've been working on, and although I've hit some roadblocks, it's time to start testing it out a bit more. To help with this, I'm going to develop some basic starter classes that I can test the system with. What I need is advice and disscussion from you guys.

I don't mean to sound picky but I am looking for opinions from folks who pretty well understand balencing character sheets, becuase I'm struggleing with it. Feel free to discuss either way, of course. Suggestions on cool ideas for classes and abilities are welcome.

Just some basic info to get you started:

You're working with pretty basic stats here - HP, MP, STR, VIT, INT, WIS, and SPD.

With the basic 5 stats, you've got 25 points to assign.

With HP/MP, build options are limited to:
200 : 0
190 : 1
180 : 2
170 : 3
160 : 4
150 : 5
140 : 6
130 : 7
120 : 8
110 : 9
100 : 10
90 : 11
80 : 12
70 : 13
60 : 14
50 : 15

And finally, here are the classes. I've got some builds in mind for them already but I'm worried I'm going to end up with junk classes if I don't get perspective from other gamers. How do I build the class to fit the described function without making them useless or glass cannons?

Fighter - Physical class, mixed defense & offense


Monk - Physical, higher defense


Samurai - Physical, higher offense


Dragoon - Physical, Offense and Speed mix


Ninja - Physical, High Speed


Paladin - Mixed Physical & Energy ability


Berserker - Glass cannon. Needs to last long enough to go nuts with high physical attack


Red Mage - mixed offense/defense mixed physical/energy


Blue Mage - adaptable, learns spells used on character


Black Mage - Nuker


White Mage - Healing mage


Green Mage - Status Mage


Mauve Mage - Elemental Mage

OIC what u did thar


My first question is asking if this is going to be like 3rd DND (where each character has a different role but usually their schema is "attack until it dies" or "Use my abilities" or some measure of both) or if it's going to be like 4th DND (Where everyone has similar stats and techniques but rely on abilities to deal damage/their effects).

Oh and also I'm not sure what you have planned here but is this going to be basically Final Fantasy: The RPG? Because the class systems you've picked basically say yep, this is FF. I wouldn't say just Black Mage/White Mage but it goes all the way to Dragoon and Paladin and Monk all coexisting in an eastern RPG setting.

Oh, by the way, I tried to send you the project, but Gmail threw me back an error because the ZIP file contained an EXE. I'll take it out and try again when I get the time, but I'm honestly pretty, actually EXTREMELY crunched right now. :sweatdrop

I suggest uniqueness. One class could have, say, poisons that only set in a few turns after the initial attack. Another could have damage-dealing attacks that hit for an amount based on their enemy's stats, some such.

It's a turn based system for a linear rpg, and a turn based pvp system. Stats play a huge role in determining the effectivness of the abilities used.

Part of the game is a class & character building system, and while the format of the game is, yes, that FF inspired turn based battle, these classes are just stock to 1) Beta test and 2)include in the final game for people who don't want to build a class from scratch

Very do-able. In an earlier version I built a 'Chemist' class that exclusivly used items to poison or maim opponents. I should bring that one back.

Welllllll, aside from that, there's very little FF has yet to incorporate into their class system. I mean, you have everything from any way of casting magic you can imagine to every way of physically killing things that you can imagine to every way you can use items that you can imagine, which leaves very little left over past delving into out-of-battle jobs like farming and smithing.

With Dragoons, make them Gun users as there WERE Dragoons back in 17th Century France

With Paladins, I would suggest changing them to a Templer and Mages, give different names

Black mage = Warlock, Shadow Arts, Dark Arcana
White Mage = Holy Arts, Light Arcana
Red Mage = Mage, Spell Warrior
Mauve Mage = Terra Mage, Elementalist.

Lose the Green mage. If you must have someone to deal status, give it to your Alchemist, which is adept at setting traps and making a variety of potions.

Monk = Brawler. It makes it westernized enough and seperates itself from the eastern philosophy and Final Fantasy.

That is what I would do. What you want to do is first seperate yourself from the FF Series. That is the important thing.

Why is the Berserker the Glass Cannon so to speak? Low defense with higher offense to offset or HP augmentation?

Actually, if we're going to be picking apart classes:

Fighter Knight - Physical class, mixed defense & offense
Knight makes more sense due to having armor. See why soon.

Monk - Physical, higher defense

Samurai - Physical, higher offense

Dragoon Fighter - Physical, Offense and Speed mix
Fighter makes more sense because a fighter need not be in heavy armor.

Ninja - Physical, High Speed

Paladin - Mixed Physical & Energy ability

Berserker - Glass cannon. Needs to last long enough to go nuts with high physical attack

Red Mage Generalist - mixed offense/defense mixed physical/energy
Red Mages are hard to describe as much anything else.

Blue Mage Spellweaver - adaptable, learns spells used on character
Let me explain this one in-depth. It always struck me that hand motions and such used in spells would maybe draw it in the air. "Weave a spell," if you will. A person who can see how a spell is "woven" can then re-create it.

Black Mage Magus - Nuker
"Mage" is actually derived from the Latin word "magus," meaning basically one who casts magic.

White Mage Medicus - Healing mage
"Medicus" is Latin for one who heals, and would normally be applied to a doctor, but works well here.

Green Mage Trickster - Status Mage
When a person is fully capable of being either helpful or harmful, they might gain a bit of a reputation for it. With my understanding of Green Magic applying to both positive and negative status, it strikes me that it would be someone you'd not immediately trust on the battlefield.

Mauve Mage Elementalist - Elemental Mage
Pretty simple here. It's a full description of the class.

If we're trying to go with historical accuracy you might want to make them mounted combatants and somehow incorporate that to the game.

Or maybe have Horseback as a class/build to pick and they get utilities of their own.

Just throwing ideas out.