class questions

[Creagán]

i am currently working on the gunblade line of classes. i have it divided into 3 seperate classes: user, specialist and expert. to expand the number of weapons available to the player i have compiled a list if ALL gunblades from the series as well as a couple of fan made ones. i give the following question, should i make a 4th class that can be taken instead of expert that utilizes the gunbow as seen in xiii-2? keep in mind this is supposed to be based on ff8 so it may be wrong to do this but the campaign im running takes place 14 years after the events of the games so it could be possible to have gunbows. you need not know anything about these 2 games, im just looking for a philosophical answer to my problem.

I will say that, at least going with how this incarnation of Final Fantasy d20 is constructed, it would be rare to even have three classes total (this is not assuming epic levels are included). This is because the first class is usually around 20 levels (going with standard D&D connotation). From there, prestige classes range from very small (maybe 3-5 levels) to the more common 10 levels. So, assuming that your Specialist and Expert classes are the standard 10 levels and that the character would have 7-10 levels in the first class, you have roughly 30 class levels to already contend with.

As you can see, this would already put a character into epics; more specifically, the usual maximum epic campaigns tend to go towards. So, I would advise against four classes. And while I know that you are basing these classes on the weapons the characters use, I think it would be better to try and abstract them a bit more. Thus, your classes mentioned above could work equally with gunblades and gunbows, as they could possibly be seen as being similar enough. Granted, I know nothing about gunbows, so you will just have to decide this for yourself.

there is your starting class (gunblade user) then your prestige class (gunblade specialist) i was thinking of 2epic prestige classes (gunblade expert and gunbow expert). from what i read you are suggesting something like the ranger where it can be either but once you pick that weapon that is the type you get right?

i suppose i could make it like the ranger. basically bladed ballistics user, you pick gunblade or gunbow and advance normally through basic class, prestige class and epic prestige class like i would normally have it set up. but that will have to be in ffd20 in general and not in ff8d20. though it would work in ff13d20.