04-18-2016, 07:09 PM
I would really like to make a game wherein the characters are able to swap jobs similar to how it was handled in FFV. I'm not too sure on how to handle this though. It leaves a huge problem with balance, as one player could potentially stick with one class the whole time where another may swap jobs repeatedly, having several options but none at a level equivalent to the player who sticks with one job.
I had thought first of doing it as more of a subclass system akin to FFXI, wherein each player has a crystal they can invest a portion of their experience into to level another class/classes. This would grant them abilities as they invested in the crystal, but would slow their own growth. I ran with this briefly for a game I did, and the group seemed excited about the prospect and one guy began plotting every way he could abuse the system to break the game. I tried to balance it by saying that levels in crystal did not add to HD, BAB, Saves, etc, and only would provide MP as having a character with no MP pool unlocking a Mage in the crystal would leave them unable to cast the spells they just learned. The player that wanted to try to break the game was a Ninja, and the first class I provided unlocked in the crystal for this Ninja was Black Mage, giving him the spells, cantrips, and MP pool of a 1st level Blm. If he then chose to invest exp into gaining spells as a 2nd level Blm he would only gain more spells, Elemental shield, more MP, and the Mage Talent, but no HP, no increase to saves or BAB. He would therefore have to strike a balance between leveling Ninja and investing into the crystal. Let's say the other players didn't feel the need to invest in the crystal, and instead put all exp into their base class, they would outlevel someone investing in the crystal pretty quickly.
I also have tinkered with the idea of instead of it being an exp investment that instead new unlocks would be given as boss rewards or blessings from the world crystals themselves as the game progressed, so when the crystal was first obtained they would have gained the class held within the crystal, and when the next "boss" was dispatched they would get an arbitrary reward, "boss soul" or something that would allow them to level the class they already have unlocked, or to unlock another class. This keeps the players around the same power level and leaves it more to the GM to set when and how often new abilities can be unlocked...
I've since decided perhaps I should start a group off as NPC classes, commoner, noble, expert, etc to reflect the basic freelancer like FFV, foregoing the whole crystal scenario above, then unlock new class options for the players as the game progresses and allow the players to change their class entirely, so a 2nd level commoner could in essence start over as a first level White Mage, thief, fighter, or whatever. The player could level the new class for a while, decide to swap out again and go from thief to fighter or another class. This leaves the issue of a party of 4th level Heroes suddenly ending up with a partymate who is much lower in level and much less useful. So how would I maintain balance if players are constantly shifting in level, and how would I be able to work out the varied feel of being able to use abilities from one class while actually being another much like in FFV?
Should I allow the 'freelancer' to access ALL abilities from all classes the player has leveled, so that a person who has leveled Black Mage to 10 and Fighter to 10 would be able to do anything a Black Mage 10 / Fighter 10 could do? Should I instead say that the 'freelancer' represents their character level, while job levels are seperate, so HD, BAB, saves, etc are static?
Any thoughts, opinions, insight, or experience in similar endeavors would be appreciated.
I had thought first of doing it as more of a subclass system akin to FFXI, wherein each player has a crystal they can invest a portion of their experience into to level another class/classes. This would grant them abilities as they invested in the crystal, but would slow their own growth. I ran with this briefly for a game I did, and the group seemed excited about the prospect and one guy began plotting every way he could abuse the system to break the game. I tried to balance it by saying that levels in crystal did not add to HD, BAB, Saves, etc, and only would provide MP as having a character with no MP pool unlocking a Mage in the crystal would leave them unable to cast the spells they just learned. The player that wanted to try to break the game was a Ninja, and the first class I provided unlocked in the crystal for this Ninja was Black Mage, giving him the spells, cantrips, and MP pool of a 1st level Blm. If he then chose to invest exp into gaining spells as a 2nd level Blm he would only gain more spells, Elemental shield, more MP, and the Mage Talent, but no HP, no increase to saves or BAB. He would therefore have to strike a balance between leveling Ninja and investing into the crystal. Let's say the other players didn't feel the need to invest in the crystal, and instead put all exp into their base class, they would outlevel someone investing in the crystal pretty quickly.
I also have tinkered with the idea of instead of it being an exp investment that instead new unlocks would be given as boss rewards or blessings from the world crystals themselves as the game progressed, so when the crystal was first obtained they would have gained the class held within the crystal, and when the next "boss" was dispatched they would get an arbitrary reward, "boss soul" or something that would allow them to level the class they already have unlocked, or to unlock another class. This keeps the players around the same power level and leaves it more to the GM to set when and how often new abilities can be unlocked...
I've since decided perhaps I should start a group off as NPC classes, commoner, noble, expert, etc to reflect the basic freelancer like FFV, foregoing the whole crystal scenario above, then unlock new class options for the players as the game progresses and allow the players to change their class entirely, so a 2nd level commoner could in essence start over as a first level White Mage, thief, fighter, or whatever. The player could level the new class for a while, decide to swap out again and go from thief to fighter or another class. This leaves the issue of a party of 4th level Heroes suddenly ending up with a partymate who is much lower in level and much less useful. So how would I maintain balance if players are constantly shifting in level, and how would I be able to work out the varied feel of being able to use abilities from one class while actually being another much like in FFV?
Should I allow the 'freelancer' to access ALL abilities from all classes the player has leveled, so that a person who has leveled Black Mage to 10 and Fighter to 10 would be able to do anything a Black Mage 10 / Fighter 10 could do? Should I instead say that the 'freelancer' represents their character level, while job levels are seperate, so HD, BAB, saves, etc are static?
Any thoughts, opinions, insight, or experience in similar endeavors would be appreciated.