FFXIV x D&D - Wizard Archetype: Summoner

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Bkl_QkcnV

Summoner

The classic Final Fantasy Summoner job is one of my favorites in the series. The idea behind conjuring entities that are far beyond us, and making them do our bidding for a short time, has always been so enthralling. Their attacks are cinematic, often changing the environment, and the cost for their help steep, but worth it.

I have to admit that I've never been satisfied with the FFXIV representation of the Summoner job. Not only are Egis laughably lackluster, but the direction towards Summoners channeling Bahamut is something that clashes with the job's identity, in my opinion. I always saw Summoners as those who would call and command their summons, not channel or "become" them. As such, My take on the Summoner takes the best parts from it's counterpart, while hearkening to the classic iteration of the job.

In my research for this subclass, I looked to see how official resources handled summoners. The Conjuration Wizard focuses more on teleportation than it does summoning; a pity, since it looks like they've stripped Wizards of their summoning prowess from previous editions and gave it to Cleric and Druid. That's when I decided to make Wizard the base class for Summoner, because it would add something interesting to the class; the other option was Warlock, and maybe I'll do Warlock-Summoner in the future, which would focus on the Dreadwyrm Trance aspect of the job. Sorcerer would have made sense if Summoners were like in previous iterations, where you have to come from a family of Summoners to be one; in FFXIV's case, however, this is not the case.

Besides Conjurer Wizard, the other clear summoning subclass is Circle of the Shepherd Druid. I looked at their features and came up with Resilient Summons, Enkindle, and Focused Conjuration; Most of them are altered versions of other features.

Next, I focused on making sure that Summoners felt like they were always progressing on abilities that were summoning related, and I looked at their spell list for this. Their first level spells had Find Familiar, so I made a Carbuncle stat block that they can summon with this spell ( I didn't think it was necessary to make Topaz / Ruby / Emerald versions of the Carbuncle. Maybe another time. ). Because Find Familiar is a conjuration spell, it benefits from Resilient Summon's temporary hit points, helping your Carbuncle familiar become a fighting ally at lower levels. I made the Sustain spell for summoners that want to stand back and support their minions.

For the 2nd level spell slots, wizards don't get any good summoning spells. Clerics on the other hand, have a very cool spell called Spiritual Weapon; it summons a spectral weapon that they can use during their bonus actions. Very straightforward. Inspired by this spell, I made the Summon Egi spell, which works essentially just like Spiritual Weapon. I may not be a fan of Egis, but I do think they're a great stepping stone to summoning the actual primals.

For the 3rd level spell slots, I grabbed Spirit Guardians from the Cleric spell list. This spell can be easily flavored to conjure whatever Primal the Summoner wants to conjure that they don't normally have access to.

For the 4th level spell slots, I yoinked Conjure Minor Elementals from the Druid spell list. It already summons elementals, so all I had to do was make stat blocks for Demi-Primals, since it didn't seem quite like it was time to allow the summoning for actual Primals. I only made Demi versions of Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan, but I'd like to make Demi versions of other primals, but in lower CRs so that they can be used when conjuring multiple allies is preferred.

For the 5th level spell slots, I thought that Conjure Elemental was the perfect summoning spell to base the subclass around. Like Conjure Minor Elementals, it already summons elementals, so repurposing currently existing elementals into Ifrit, Titan and Garuda was easy. In the future, I'd like to make new summons for CRs 6, 7, 8, and 9; This way, Summoners will always have something new to add to their repertoire every time they gain a new spell level.

Conjure Elementals, however, has two big limitations. The first one is that they need an area of fire, air, earth, etc. for the spell to work. For this, I made a magic item that could be used to overcome this limitation easily: The Primal Element Crystal. The other "limitation" is that if the Summoner loses concentration, they also lose control of their summon. I like the idea behind this, because it makes Summoners be respectful and careful of their summoning procedures, but I understand how this could become a bit cumbersome. The Focused Conjuration feature certainly helps, but it doesn't stop the Summoner from losing concentration if they, for example, went unconscious. For this purpose, I made a limited version of Dominate Monster called Aetherpact, which only works for creatures you summoned, which gives Summoners another chance at seizing control from their summoned monsters.

For the 14th level feature, Swift Summons, I thought it would be cool if Summoners could use their more powerful summoning spells during battle. I took a page from the Evoker Wizard's Overchannel feature, and allowed Summoners to use this ability multiple times per day, at the cost of gaining exhaustion. I might change it to deal damage instead, if exhaustion isn't enough of a penalty.

Even though I think most of the subclass's features are solid, there is still a lot of work that can be done. More Primals and Demi-Primals can be made. Summoning the Warring Triad, Phoenix or even Bahamut is possible with the framework made in this subclass, the only thing that's necessary is stat blocks for each. I could also make variant rulings in case DMs want to use the Primal stat blocks for actual primal boss battles. It's all very exciting.

FFXIV x D&D - Fighter Archetype: Dragoon

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SkZnah0nKV

Dragoon

The Dragoon; Besides having cool-looking armor, they specialize in having mobility- specifically semi-aerial mobility. This informs their style of combat, which involves striking at their opponents with the momentum of their jumps.

The decision to make the Dragoon based off of the Fighter class was pretty straightforward. The other options were Ranger, Monk, and Rogue, but (respectively), the Dragoon has nothing to do with nature spells, doesn't really connect with unarmed attacks or flurry of blows, and is way too flashy for stealthy sneak attacks.

Looking at the Fighter's tools, they provided most of what a Dragoon needed, except for one vital thing: the jumping. So I designed the class into being the best at it in the game. In the process, it turned out to be a very mobile class to play, for those that like to move around in combat.

Most of this can be seen under the Jump Tactics feature. It doubles down on a Dragoon's Athletics skill, allows the use of the Jump spell (which is needed to use Dragoon Dive in lower-to-mid levels), and slowly removes restrictions from jumping.

Dragoon Dive, the feature that enables you to use your jumps for combat, manifests as extra damage if you're able to successfully make an impressive jump before your attacks. This was inspired by the Arcane Archer and was originally going to have cool stuff to do with your Dragoon Dive attacks, but I felt like it over complicated the subclass. I might bring it back in the future.

Slow Fall is ripped from Monk, removing the fear of heights from Dragoons, encouraging them to pull off crazy stunts from high above. Elusive Jump is like the Dodge and Disengage actions combined into a bonus action that must involve jumping. 

Because I felt like a plain damage boost to Dragoon Dive felt too dry, I added Higher Jump as a helpful ribbon feature, which should encourage Dragoons to truly feel like they are unparalleled jumpers. 

It would have been easier to give them limited flight, but I felt like that would have taken away from the job's identity. I tried, best as I could, to present the jumping features as simply as possible, so as not to make them appear too intimidating, since not many players might feel like studying and keeping the jumping rules to memory.

In the end, I feel like the job is well balanced; It should be attractive enough for those looking for a subclass that can hit very hard in bursty situations, and even more appealing to those that want to really feel like a dragoon when they're playing. That being said, I'd like to keep an eye out, in case the Dragoon Dive mechanic is too cumbersome or boring.

FFXIV x D&D - Red Mage as a Bard Archetype: College of Flair

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1VZ0k2FN

Red Mage

The FFXIV Red Mage is a jack of all trades. It swaps between going in close with melee attacks and casting spells at a distance. It can cast healing spells as well as explosive spells, and it can buff party members as well. And it does all of this in bursts and with flair.

This description makes it pretty obvious that the Bard class should be used as the base for this concept. If we look at the basic Bard's toolkit, it does almost all of what a Red Mage does already. In fact, one could argue that you could make a College of Lore or College of Swords and call it a Red Mage, but one lacks the blade flourish aspect, and the other lacks the ability to cast flashy explosive spells, respectively.

The mission behind the Red Mage subclass (called College of Flair) is to merge the best of the College of Lore and College of Swords in a cohesive way to come up with a result that truly feels like a Red Mage.

At level 3, they gain three features. The first one is an evocation cantrip from the Wizard spell list and the ability to select evocation spells from the Wizard spell list when they learn new spells. This way, they get all the flashy spells they want, without stepping on the Wizard or Sorcerer's toes too much.

The second one is their Fighting Style; I made a new Fighting Style called "Spellslinger", which allows them to reroll their damage dice from their cantrips. This should more or less average out in a damage increase from their cantrips, similar to the +2 damage bonus from the Dueling Fighting Style.

The third and last ability they gain at level 3 is Battle Flourish, which is inspired by the College of Swords' Blade Flourish. This grants them a +2 bonus to AC when using the Attack action, effectively granting them the same bonus that a shield would, which Bards are not proficient in. The Battle Flourish options are mostly there to give the Red Mage options to swiftly get in and out of combat.

By the time the Red Mage reaches 6th level, they would have access to Font of Inspiration, which allows them to recharge their Inspiration points every short rest. This would encourage them to use their Battle Flourish abilities more often, and so it seemed fitting to give them an extra attack at this level. By now, the Red Mage should be very good at using flashy spells and entering melee combat for a short time.

An ability that seems to be a staple for Red Mages, is the ability of Dualcast, which allows them to cast two spells at once. That's why, at 14th level, I gave them the ability to cast a cantrip as a bonus action after they cast a lower level spell (4th level of lower). I felt like this was balanced because, at these levels, 4th levels spells or lower were still used and were still useful, but were nowhere near as devastating as the current 7th level spells that they could cast. Plus, the number of spells they could cast under this dualcast feature was limited. I would like to test this ability out, since it could be the case that it needs to be changed to only include 3rd levels spells or lower, or even 2nd level spells or lower. 

I'm very satisfied with how this subclass turned out, and I'm eager to see more of how it works in actual play. Perhaps in the future, I might have to make adjustments to the Dualcast feature.

FFXIV x D&D - Fighter Archetype: Machinist

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Machinist

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/ByUh8YqE4

The FFXIV's Machinist main in-game mechanic involves playing around with a "Heat" gauge while you shoot your gun and manage your ammunition, all the while aligning everything inside a window of time in which you use another ability called "Wildfire". You also get to occasionally use a flamethrower and a turret that you place and forget for the most part. I think I just described 90% of the job.

I just want to say that, first of all, the concept for this job as executed in FFXIV is not enough to make a D&D class out of. I know the Champion Fighter exists if we're arguing about class simplicity, but I don't think Machinist is supposed to be simple at all. I do feel that, if we explore Machinist's roots in the series, with the likes of FFVI Edgar's Tool ability, there could be enough to make a Machinist Class if done right; that is, if we look outside of the purview of FFXIV.

           

Illustration by Halsh on Deviantart

However, I didn't really have the time to make a whole new class, so I decided to opt for making a subclass instead. I initially thought about basing it off of Ranger and Rogue, but the Machinist neither casts spells nor does it make sense for it to have a Sneak Attack. Then I went to the Fighter class, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me. I'm aware that there's an Artificer class Unearthed Arcana article coming really soon, and I will revise my work after it comes out, because it's likely that there could be some synergy with it.

Let's talk about using Fighter as the base class. When one thinks about Fighter, the first thing that comes to mind is a heavy armor warrior; However, that doesn't have to be the case. If the Fighter favors Dexterity over Strength (as a ranged combatant would), they don't meet the requirements for heavy armor. Additionally, the machination mechanic uses intelligence for it's abilities, both balancing it out and also forcing the Fighter to be more careful with their Ability Score Increase selection. It also doesn't hurt that the Fighter kit allows a Machinist to choose their fighting style; So you can build your own Hammer-wielding Machinist a la FFIV Cid if you choose to.

I considered the possibility of simply repurposing the Battle Master, but it didn't feel like it did the Machinist justice. When I thought about Edgar's abilities, I felt like the Machinist needed to have a repertoire of gadgets they could have at their disposal, perhaps mimicking the effects of some spells. That's when I turned to the Way of the Four Elements monk subclass, and realized that the general idea of what I had in mind had been done already, and I could take that as a model.

For the backbone of the subclass, I essentially took the Battle Master, and replaced the superiority dice mechanic with a specialized version of Ki Points. Battle Master's "Know Your Enemy" goes too well with some Machinist's Analyze ability. 

I listed out all of Edgar's abilities (and I'm proud to say I was able to incorporate most or all of them somehow), as well as other Machinist-type abilities throughout the series. I noticed that both Battle Master and Way of the Four Elements subclasses had 16 or more abilities to choose from, and I tried to reach that number. Perhaps in the future, I can implement some sort of Bazooka and/or lazer gun, which I think are missing.

One thing I still have second thoughts about, is the fact that it took two pages to list out all the machinations, and that I had to basically repeat stuff that was already said in the spell that a machination was emulating. My reasoning is that machinations don't work like spells; they don't require the same components, and they can't be dispelled. Repeating effect descriptions also allowed me to tweak abilities for the purpose of balance.

All in all, this is a subclass I'll be dying to see in action. It encapsulates that over-the-top feeling you get when you play FFVI Edgar, and if you pick certain abilities (namely Flamethrower, Spiked Chain Cannon, Autoturret, Windblower, Debilitator, and Flash), you'll also be able to play like a FFXIV machinist. I might come back to it in the future, though maybe with the mind of turning it into it's own class.

FFXIV x D&D - Astrologian as a Cleric Archetype: Star Domain

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Astrologian

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1rRfxLw4V

For Astrologian, it took me a little while to determine whether it deserved it's own class. After realizing that it shared a lot in common with the D&D cleric's toolkit (and could even gain something from it), I decided to turn astrologian into a cleric subclass.

Introducing the Star Domain:

• Uses the starglobe as both spellcasting focus and holy symbol
• Draw Allows you to use cards from level 1, as a mechanic very similar to Bardic Inspiration.
• Die starts at 1d4 so as to not step on the Bard's toes and make up for the fact that some card abilities can prove to be pretty strong.
• Further Domain abilities like Spread, Royal Road, and Sleeve Draw play around with the card mechanic, allowing more flexibility.
• Channel Divinity: Sect Attunement involves increased healing or shielding with temporary hit points.
• This way, this domain remains useful without encroaching too much on the Life Domain cleric's territory.
• Domain Spells include three Star Domain specific spells:
• Earthly Star is an AOE healing spell that with increased healing, depending on how long you wait.
• Collective Unconscious is an healing spell that trades your mobility for consistent heals.
• Celestial Opposition is an AOE stun spell.

I'm very satisfied with this subclass and I can't wait to test it out! The main thing that I need to determine now is whether having Draw is satisfying enough to have as an action instead of a bonus action. My reasoning is that bonus actions are supposed to be quick, and the Draw mechanic can be as complicated as a lower level spell. I'll see what the results are and adjust accordingly.

FFXIV x D&D - Bard Archetype: College of Archery

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Hy7u0YWw4E

I know I said I was working on Warrior next, but when I was figuring out what a Barbarian subclass would look like, I realized that the Path of the Berserker fit the bill for what people look for a Warrior anyways. So here's Bard instead!

Bard

For Bard, I thought that Soren's take on it was on point. However, when one of my players asked whether this subclass was going to be on Bard or Ranger, I realized that the Archery style of it needs to be prominent, something that the Bard class doesn't have on it's own (And the Ranger doesn't really fill what the FFXIV Bard does anyways). So I checked the Bard's College of Swords, which turns Bards into competent enough melee fighters, and worked something around that.

The end result might be a little *too similar* to the College of Swords subclass, so I might come back to it and add a little more diversifying flare to it, but for the most part, I think it does the job right.

FFXIV x D&D - Sorcerer Archetype: Black Mage

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1YXOxGNE

My FFXIV x D&D adventure preparation is well underway. I'll post details about the adventure itself once the players start going through it and I don't need to worry about spoilers. In the meantime, here's another one of my takes on a FFXIV job for D&D play.


Black Mage

This time, I'm tackling the Black Mage. For this class, I thought it would be better to make a subclass for it instead of a whole new class, since I felt like the FFXIV Black Mage isn't a broad enough of a concept to branch out into multiple subclasses without diluting the essence of the job.

While one would initially think that Wizard would be the correct class to base FFXIV's Black Mage off of, my argument is that Sorcerer is the better choice. Black Mages in XIV don't really base their power off of studies as much as they do from their aether within; We can see this in the Job Quests themselves when the group of Lalafell Thaumaturge sibling mentos have one brother that, as much as he tries to study the arts, just doesn't have the capacity practice the magickal arts. Therefore, we can infer that in order to be a Black Mage, you must be born with a certain aptitude for it; Also it doesn't hurt that the Sorcerer class design, mostly talking about Sorcerer Points and Metamagic here, merges better with the Black Mage playstyle.

Here are some of my thoughts behind the decision process of making these abilities:

• Manaward and Ley Lines
• Sorcerer's 1st level abilities mostly settle the tone of what the class is supposed to be, granting minor yet important abilities that set the tone for the subclass. Manaward allows the caster to take more hits than usual. Ley Lines gives them an ability to freely roam within a chosen space that they'll want to stay in throughout a battle.
• None of these abilities really tell of a Sorcerous Origin by themselves, but it could be argued that they enable their user to tap into their inner potential by allowing them to focus better- and the best way they can do that is by staying still in a battlefield. Knowing this, we can make sense of why a Black Mage would need to learn these abilities first.
• Enochian
• This ability then becomes the result of a Black Mage's training coming to fruition. In order to execute this ability, they can't move. Their previous abilities allows them to feasibly pull this off. The main reason for this ability is to give Black Mage's cantrips a bit of a boost without having to increase it necessarily.
• Aetherial Manipulation
• In the game, one would normally use this ability to get out of harm's way at the last minute, and this ability reflects that.
• Polyglot
• This ability should encompass everything a Black Mage has been working towards into a single, satisfying display of power. The idea was to give them a passive ability that helped them always, and then another ability that they could use to nuke their enemies, at the cost of them losing something. In retrospect, it might feel a little too limiting for the result, but at the time of writing it, I felt it was balanced against other 18th level Sorcerer subclass abilities. We'll see what the future tells!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this subclass turned out. I'll probably come back and add some flavor to it so it's not so cold and crunchy. I'm pretty sure I can word some things a lot better, too. Next up, I'll be working on the Warrior.