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4e Blue Mage Class
Topic Started: Sep 21 2012, 05:44 PM (530 Views)
Hiro_Tsukasa
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NICE DRIVE!
I know there are several people on here that are familiar (to varying degrees) with 4e, so let's play Armchair Game Designer. Recently, I've been thinking that it'd be cool to do a Campaign set in Ivalice (the setting for Final Fantasy XII and the Tactics franchise). Overall, it's easy to port over (every Job Class has a readied equivalent in 4e or can be created with the right power choices and most races that would be Playable have an easy 4e analogue). The one iconic thing that I couldn't just find a re-flavor swap for was the Blue Mage.

So I thought I'd post what I've come up with and see what people think and try to revise it further into something that would be fun to play but balanced with 4e. First, it's important to consider what it is the Blue Mage does or should be able to do:

-They utilize Blue Magic. This is a special style/school of Magic that involves copying the spells/techniques of Monsters.

-These powers are learned by having them used on the Blue Mage and surviving the attack.

-They are not as weak as standard mages, in physical attack and defense, and are capable fighters. However, they will never match up to a purely straightforward martial class.

-In the Tactics series their iconic weapon is usually a rapier or other light blade.

-They almost always have an outfit that is themed Blue (matter of Flavor not mechanics)

-They tend to have a late game ability to be immune to certain status effects. (Probably best saved for a Blue Mage focused Paragon Path or Epic Destiny)

-In Ivalice, only Hume (Human) can become Blue Mage. (Not sure about utilizing this or not?)

====

This is my starting point. It focuses solely on the Heroic Tier as class features beyond that are decided by Paragon Path and Epic Destiny. I drew primarily from the motif of the Essentials classes Mage (to satisfy the learning of many monster abilities) and the Hexblade (to satisfy the concept of a spellcaster with martial potential). I tried to constrain to the standard number of things for classes. A Skill List of 7-9 skills, trained skills making for a total of 4-5, 6 or so Class Features at Level 1, etc.:

Blue Mage
Hit Points: You start with hit points equal to 12 + your Constitution score. You gain 5 hit points each time you gain a level.
Bonus to Defenses: +1 to Fortitude, +1 to Will
Healing Surges per Day: 6 + your Constitution modifier.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Hide
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple Melee, Military Melee, Simple Ranged
Implement Proficiencies: Rods, Orbs, Wands
Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Athletics (Str), Bluff (Cha), Nature (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Religion (Int), Dungeoneering (Wis)
Trained Skills: Arcana plus three more from the list of class skills

Class Features
Level 1: Mage's Cantrips, Brilliant Duelist, Blue Magic, Learning, Memorized Abilities, Bonus Feat: Ritual Caster, +2 At-Will, +1 Encounter, +1 Daily
Level 2: +1 Utility
Level 3: +1 Encounter
Level 4: Ability score incease, Close Study
Level 5: Advanced Learning, +1 Daily
Level 6: +1 Utility
Level 7: +1 Encounter
Level 8: Ability score increase, Casual Observer
Level 9: +1 Daily
Level 10: Master Learning, +1 Utility

Class Features Details
Mage's Cantrips: As Mage.

Brilliant Duelist: When making Melee Basic Attacks using Light Blades, a Blue Mage may use Intelligence instead of Strength.

Blue Magic: Through an esoteric School of Magic, you may learn and use Monster Powers as your own. You must be wielding an Implement to utilize Blue Magic. Monster Powers used as Blue Magic will always key off Intelligence and use Charisma for any secondary features/riders/etc.

Learning: Gain the Level 1 "Learning" daily power. This cannot be replaced via the Memorized Abilities feature. "Monster" is defined for the campaign setting as any Non-Playable Race. The DM should design the stat block for the Power and inform you what to write down.

Memorized Abilities: As Mage's Spellbook, but note these are merely committed to the Blue Mage's memory rather than transcribed on a physical source. If you have empty power slots, then you may place a newly learned Monster Power as active during a Short Rest. Otherwise, like the standard Spellbook feature, it requires an Extended Rest for Blue Mages to gather their thoughts and swap their active Monster Powers.

Bonus Feat: At level 1, you gain Ritual Caster as a bonus feat.

Careful Study: You may use the Learning daily power to copy Utility powers used by monsters (Ex: buffs used on self or allies, healing powers, etc.). You must be adjacent to the target and all the level restriction of Learning still applies.

Advanced Learning: The Learning daily power improves to allow the user to copy monster powers of enemies one level higher than their current level.

Casual Observer: You may now use the Learning daily power to copy Utility powers used by monsters within a close burst 5. You must have line of sight to the target. The level restriction of Learning still applies.

Master Learning: The Learning daily power improves to allow the user to copy monster powers of enemies two levels higher than their current level.

And the all important power:

Learning
FLAVOR TEXT
Daily * Arcane, MOREKEYWORDS
Immediate Interrupt (Personal)
Trigger: You are hit by an enemy monster attack.
Effect: If you have not already copied this power and you are the same level as the attacking enemy, you may copy this power. Add the power to your list of Memorized Abilities. If the damage from this attack renders you unconscious, the spell fails. If the monster is above your level, nothing happens, regain the use of this power.

====

Some notes:

-Cantrips and Ritual Caster were included just to give the class some more roleplaying opportunities. In general, I find the lack of Ritual Caster's availability among classes since Essentials to be kind of a downer. These could easily be gutted if needed.

-Brilliant Duelist, I think this pretty easily satisfies the condition of martial prowess. The Blue Mage should hit on par with other martial characters, but without any damage boosting class features that most others get the Blue Mage should never be able to outshine in physical combat. Though I suppose a character willing to sink Feats towards that goal could do so.

-I use the notion of "Monster" to avoid the Blue Mage being able to copy other class powers as that feels like it could get broken very quickly. Learning being a daily and the level restriction makes gaining abilities quite restricted and should help to balance things out; not to mention Learning also permanently takes up the Level 1 Daily slot. I did allow the use of the spell to be regained if the monster is higher level because otherwise feels just a bit on the borderline to cruel.

-Careful Study/Casual Observer exists because otherwise the Class could never gain Utility powers unless there was a cop out to let them pick from the list for Mage's. Again, I tried to balance that with restrictions so you can't just copy what you want when the enemy is halfway across the battle map.

====

THOUGHTS/IDEAS/INPUT!?
Edited by Hiro_Tsukasa, Sep 24 2012, 07:21 PM.
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Erin
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Now, let's play together...under the clearest of blue skies.
I played 4e before Essentials came out, so I'm not super up-to-date on how things are now. But I'll give input anyway.

You may want to explicitly state that encounter power slots can only be filled with encounter monster powers and etc. I think most people would assume that's how it works (I did) but just to be safe. You may also want to clarify how it works with Recharge abilities (I assume they go in the encounter slots, since that's the closest approximation, but still, clarification is always good).

In the ability breakdown, you list Bonus Feat as 'The Blue Mage gains Ritual Caster as a Bonus Feat'. But in the list of abilities at first level, Ritual Caster and Bonus Feat are listed separately.

Master Learning allows Blue Mages to re-use Learning infinitely on higher level monsters without losing their daily use of the skill. I assume the 'regain the use of this power' clause is meant for when the power is supposed to fail. It might be better to have it say 'If the power fails, it is not expended' or something like that.
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Hiro_Tsukasa
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These might just all be issues stemming from Essentials in general but:

-The Mage's Spellbook makes a clear distinction between the various power types like Encounter and Daily. It'd be up to the DM to appropriate a monster power into something for the player to use. PC Classes don't have re-charge abilities (very rarely and usually just miss effects). Still, I'd use those as a means of ranking power. Monsters don't have daily abilities but Re-charge powers tend to fall more in the scale of Encounter powers whereas their Encounters with no re-charge are more along the lines of dailies (naturally, to prevent them re-using them).

-In the top description they're not listed separately. I listed it as "Bonus Feat: Ritual Caster" that's the notation that's standard for that. The description merely clarifies. The feature is a Bonus Feat, what you get is Ritual Caster.

-I tried to use the same notation other powers use for explaining mechanics. "Regain the use of this power" would be the go to over "If it fails, do X." Saying "if it fails, it is not expended" would also mean that you'd get it back for being knocked unconscious; which is not the case. Not sure what Master Learning has to do with that because all it does is modify the power to shift the level requirement. Regaining the use of the power is a natural feature built into the original power. But, for example, it'd be:

Master Learning
FLAVOR TEXT
Daily * Arcane, MOREKEYWORDS
Immediate Interrupt (Personal)
Trigger: You are hit by an enemy monster attack.
Effect: If you have not already copied this power and the attacking enemy is no more than two levels above your own, you may copy this power. Add the power to your list of Memorized Abilities. If the damage from this attack renders you unconscious, the spell fails. If the monster is three or more levels above your own, nothing happens, regain the use of this power.
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Captain
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The brilliant duelist thing is kinda similar to what the Bladesinger has. I'm worried it might step on it's toes a bit. Then again, nobody likes Bladesinger, so it works out. Maybe make it work off the secondary stat? Con? This way they still have some use of a weapon, but do not have the ability to become super damaging with it.

Making the class Human only wouldn't work. However, I DO see it being specialized FOR humans, with Feats for Humans in mind. Like how Eladrin Swordmages have certain feats.

I could see this being pretty neat if combined with a Swordmage Multiclass feat. It would allow for some neat tricks. Swords as Implements, makes it so you always can have one hand free.
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Nickle
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I am not entirely up to date with 4e, however Blue Mage has been one of my personal favorite spellcaster classes for a good couple of years now since I was introduced to the franchise.

The main flaw that I have always found problematic is that a Blue Mage has the potential to be a good class, but what I've found it tends to lack is survivability, especially with being hit in order gain certain Blue Magics.

This is when my mind travels particularly to Kimahri from FF10. He was somewhat of a mixture between a Dragoon and Blue Mage by Ivalice standards given his weapon choice, abilities and magic list. However, the usage of Lancet was actually something that I felt worked very well for the Blue Mage class. In Tactics it falls under Dragoon, but seriously, it's not like such a staunch class would really need it.

Personally I think a Blue Mage version of Lancet could be a viable starting spell that a Blue Mage could learn in its basic skill set. It grants just enough restoration to keep a Blue Mage going, while still letting them possibly Learn certain Blue Magics in the process. Just some food for thought. (Speaking of which, Quistis from FF8 absorbed/ate monster parts to learn Blue Magic, another option perhaps?)
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Hiro_Tsukasa
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Cap: Good point on outshining the Bladesinger. Though I am not a fan of that class, it still needs to be taken into consideration. Secondary stat thing isn't a bad idea. I'll have to play around with it some. My original idea was that the stat spread would go Int/Cha. Knowledge of the esoteric blue magic and the sheer force of will to utilize it. But who knows, arguments could be made for Con too.

I wasn't thinking about it being Human Only too much, but that was one of the elements from the games. I think it could be pretty safely waived for a tabletop since the games themselves had a lot of pointless restrictions via race. Awesome idea on human feats though, I hadn't considered Blue Mage feats and there really ought to be some.

Nickle: Way off base man. Lancet arguably isn't the same thing as Blue Magic though it's inspired by it. The goal here is to make a Blue Mage class drawing from the Ivalice setting that's in 12 and Tactics. Blue Mages are supposed to lack a strong level of survivability. That's their trade-off for some very unique abilities.

I think basing one around Lancet would get pretty broken fast; and I'm already trying to avoid that. Well defended, strong melee attack and you drain HP and you copy powers. Plus if you want to get technical, those abilities could only be used during 10's version of a Limit Break mode to which there's no easy 4e analog. Blue Mage shouldn't have something built in that negates their weakness. Keeping up to learn the ability is the challenge.

Quisitis' stuff is largely the same to some degree. I think a lot of fun vanishes in a tabletop setting if they just have to wait for the proper loot to drop. And with no RNG for a tabletop then it means what powers they get and when are entirely up to the DM alone. Also, it was restricted only to her Limit Break as well.
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Nickle
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I'm aware of the Tactics version, I just thought it would be an idea one could work with even if it is Tactics based. Still I see what you're getting at. =)
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Captain
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Int and Cha....Actually, I like that more than Int/Con, it's a mage stat layout not used, so it won't step on any toes.
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