Ite's FF7 D&D Variant

[Ite]

Milestone reached! And it's only Tuesday! After this I'm taking another break, but I hope people get a chance to playtest these and give me some feedback. I can definitely tell that there will be some things out of balance (the jump between regular encounters and boss encounters is sometimes staggering, but without further ado:

Book of Materia Bestiary (WIP Google Folder)

- 000 Intro
- 001 Bombing Mission
- 002 Bombing Mission 2
- 003 Midgar Slums
--This pack includes the church, the Sector 5 and 6 slums, and Aps
- 004 Midgar Slums 2
--This includes the regular sewer enemies (post-Aps) and the pillar enemies with RENO
- 005 Shinra HQ
--H0512 is the boss of this pack
- 006 Shinra HQ 2
--The escaped monsters, Rufus, Motorball, etc.
- 007 Midgar Area
--No boss in this pack
- 008 Grasslands
--This section includes the Midgar Zolom and the basic rules on CATCHING CHOCOBOS
- 009 Mythril Mines
--No boss in this pack
- 010 Junon
--This includes YUFFIE (multiple versions of her depending on your level) more chocobos, and Bottomswell
- 011 Cargo Ship
- 012 Costa del Sol
--No boss in this pack
- 013 Mount Corel
--No boss in this pack, but it concudes with Bomb and Cactuar, some iconic enemies!
- 014 Gold Saucer Area
--No boss in this pack, but it includes the desert enemies like sand worm, as well as a chocobo table
- 015 Corel Prison and Battle Square
--Dyne is the boss of this pack, but it also includes rules for BATTLE SQUARE
- 016 Gongaga
--This pack includes RUDE and some updated stats for Reno
- 017 Cosmo Canyon
--No boss in this pack
- 018 Cave of the Gi
- 019 Nibel
--No boss in this pack, but another chocobo table. The tables reference kyuvilduns, which appear in 021 Mount Nibel
- 020 Shinra Mansion
- 021 Mount Nibel
- 022 Palmer
--Just Palmer, the normal enemies in this zone are included in 019 Nibel. Palmer's stats here make sense for FF, definitely not for D&D, so I had to do some mental backflipping to justify why he has over 300 HP.

Spoiler: The Planned Rest of It

- 023 Wutai
- 024 Da Chao
- 025 Woodlands
- 026 Temple of the Ancients 1
- 027 Temple of the Ancients 2
- 023 Bone Village
- 024 Sleeping Forest
- 025 Corral Valley
- 026 Snowy Fields
- 027 Great Glacier
- 028 Gaia's Cliff 1
- 029 Gaia's Cliff 2
- 030 Whirlwind Maze
- 031 Junon 2
- 032 Mideel
- 033 Runaway Train
- 034 Ancient Forest
- 035 Underwater Reactor
- 036 Rocket Town
- 037 Diamond and Ultima Weapons
- 038 Return to Midgar
- 039 Sister Ray
- 040 Northern Crater 1
- 041 Northern Crater 2
- 043 Northern Crater 3
- 044 The Planet's Core
- 045 Emerald and Ruby Weapon

Then: a second pass of all creatures after playtesting them.
Then: formatting, "making pretty," maybe replacing the OG designs with Remake's models, or getting an artist to digitally paint them for that 5e feel.
Then: I can die!

Feedback is greatly appreciated as always! The individual links in this post won't last forever but there's a link to the Google Folder in the OP and that should last forever

 

[Erotic Materia]

I actually took some time to read a little more in-depth on some of these documents, and I am blown away. I want SO BAD to play this.

We recorded the sessions and are editing them into a podcast right now.

Did this ever happen?

 

[Erotic Materia]

I actually took some time to read a little more in-depth on some of these documents, and I am blown away. I want SO BAD to play this.

Did this ever happen?

*cough* @Mr. Ite

 

[Ite]

*cough* @Mr. Ite

Ah, ?? they are still raw audio files. I kinda ADHD’d my way onto other projects, although I did start on the Temple of the Ancients enemies for the bestiary!

I‘ll just priority bump that project.

 

[Erotic Materia]

I‘ll just priority bump that project.

Good man

 

[tamsynnimogen]

dont suppose you have a homebrewery or gmbinder version of the materia book do you would like to make a few adjustments for my group but would love to keep the formatting the same as well

 

[Ite]

dont suppose you have a homebrewery or gmbinder version of the materia book do you would like to make a few adjustments for my group but would love to keep the formatting the same as well

I’ve been slowly moving all my old stuff over to GM Binder, but I’ve been focusing on the Bestiary now, I haven’t started the materia stuff as of yet, I want to wait until I can replace all the copywritten art with original art.

I’m interested in your adjustments! Can I PM you? I can send you along the tables in markup so you can copy/paste them into your Homebrew/GM Binder

 

[tamsynnimogen]

yh sure havnt done huge changes so far just mainly incorporating into the other phb classes (bit differently to whats in the doc currently) will be adding equipment socketing at somepoint just need to finalise on ways to keep it balanced but not too complicated

 

[tamsynnimogen]

Will this be getting any updates based on final fantasy 7 remake

 

[Ite]

Will this be getting any updates based on final fantasy 7 remake

There aren’t any plans at the moment to incorporate the new materia from FF7 Remake. The renaming of Fire3 to Firaga has already been done. Summon materia already works similar to FF7R (well, closer to FFX summoning, but still).

The trick with materia abilities in D&D is that much of what materia can accomplish in a video game setting is already covered by class abilities and the general nature of D&D combat. Some class abilities have been turned into materia as well, removing the need for things like a Deadly Dodge for a more immersive and balanced 5e system.

The bestiary is so-far FF7 OG’s enemies. At this point all the monsters from Disc 1 are done. After the monsters from Discs 2 and 3 are done, I would absolutely love to address Remake’s enemies. I loved the more powerful versions of enemies such as Sahuagin Prince, as well as tweaks to basic enemies such as Grashtrike’s cold resistance. I would love to add those variants in (much as enemies in the Monster Manual have different versions with higher CRs). My priority is the base game’s bestiary for now, and that’s slow going (I juggle a lot of projects and real life stuff heh heh :sweatdrop: ) so

tl;dr — not anytime soon

 

[tamsynnimogen]

thats fair. good luck with the plans things are looking good so far

 

[GrimaScane]

Milestone reached! And it's only Tuesday! After this I'm taking another break, but I hope people get a chance to playtest these and give me some feedback. I can definitely tell that there will be some things out of balance (the jump between regular encounters and boss encounters is sometimes staggering, but without further ado:

Book of Materia Bestiary (WIP Google Folder)

- 000 Intro
- 001 Bombing Mission
- 002 Bombing Mission 2
- 003 Midgar Slums
--This pack includes the church, the Sector 5 and 6 slums, and Aps
- 004 Midgar Slums 2
--This includes the regular sewer enemies (post-Aps) and the pillar enemies with RENO
- 005 Shinra HQ
--H0512 is the boss of this pack
- 006 Shinra HQ 2
--The escaped monsters, Rufus, Motorball, etc.
- 007 Midgar Area
--No boss in this pack
- 008 Grasslands
--This section includes the Midgar Zolom and the basic rules on CATCHING CHOCOBOS
- 009 Mythril Mines
--No boss in this pack
- 010 Junon
--This includes YUFFIE (multiple versions of her depending on your level) more chocobos, and Bottomswell
- 011 Cargo Ship
- 012 Costa del Sol
--No boss in this pack
- 013 Mount Corel
--No boss in this pack, but it concudes with Bomb and Cactuar, some iconic enemies!
- 014 Gold Saucer Area
--No boss in this pack, but it includes the desert enemies like sand worm, as well as a chocobo table
- 015 Corel Prison and Battle Square
--Dyne is the boss of this pack, but it also includes rules for BATTLE SQUARE
- 016 Gongaga
--This pack includes RUDE and some updated stats for Reno
- 017 Cosmo Canyon
--No boss in this pack
- 018 Cave of the Gi
- 019 Nibel
--No boss in this pack, but another chocobo table. The tables reference kyuvilduns, which appear in 021 Mount Nibel
- 020 Shinra Mansion
- 021 Mount Nibel
- 022 Palmer
--Just Palmer, the normal enemies in this zone are included in 019 Nibel. Palmer's stats here make sense for FF, definitely not for D&D, so I had to do some mental backflipping to justify why he has over 300 HP.

Spoiler: The Planned Rest of It

- 023 Wutai
- 024 Da Chao
- 025 Woodlands
- 026 Temple of the Ancients 1
- 027 Temple of the Ancients 2
- 023 Bone Village
- 024 Sleeping Forest
- 025 Corral Valley
- 026 Snowy Fields
- 027 Great Glacier
- 028 Gaia's Cliff 1
- 029 Gaia's Cliff 2
- 030 Whirlwind Maze
- 031 Junon 2
- 032 Mideel
- 033 Runaway Train
- 034 Ancient Forest
- 035 Underwater Reactor
- 036 Rocket Town
- 037 Diamond and Ultima Weapons
- 038 Return to Midgar
- 039 Sister Ray
- 040 Northern Crater 1
- 041 Northern Crater 2
- 043 Northern Crater 3
- 044 The Planet's Core
- 045 Emerald and Ruby Weapon

Then: a second pass of all creatures after playtesting them.
Then: formatting, "making pretty," maybe replacing the OG designs with Remake's models, or getting an artist to digitally paint them for that 5e feel.
Then: I can die!

Feedback is greatly appreciated as always! The individual links in this post won't last forever but there's a link to the Google Folder in the OP and that should last forever

Hello Mr. Ite, I am Brazilian (so forgive my Google Translate English) and I was after an FF7 system for D&D. I want to thank you for the work you did in making this system. I would like to take this opportunity to ask if you have any plans to do Knight of the Round.

 

[Ite]

Hello Mr. Ite, I am Brazilian (so forgive my Google Translate English) and I was after an FF7 system for D&D. I want to thank you for the work you did in making this system. I would like to take this opportunity to ask if you have any plans to do Knight of the Round.

Hi! Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoy it.

Knights of the Round won’t be included for a couple of reasons:

1. It’s the ultimate secret in the FF7 game, and I wanted the tabletop adventures to be special to each group and not supplant or copy FF7.

2. Whichever player got KotR would be the ultimate badass and this might make other players feel left out.

3. Once players have KotR, adventures would become boring because nothing is going to challenge them except insane god-tier boss battles, which might also become boring or unfair. I don’t think that would be very fun.

4. With the FFX/FF7R Remake/D&D style summon creatures, they stay on the map until they are dismissed, killed, or do their Mythic Ability. Putting 13 giant epic knights on the board would be a lot of work for a DM, even if the player controls them.

With all that said, if you think it would be fun for you to invent a KotR materia for your table, that’s great! This story belongs to you and your players. Here’s what I can offer as advice:

-A magically gifted level 20 character should only be able to use it once per day, so it should cost 150-200 MP. Split that cost between activating them and the mythic ability. (My gut feeling: 130 MP to summon and 50 to perform Ultimate End)
-12 Huge-Size Knights (maybe Fire Giant statistics?) appear in the nearest unoccupied spaces. (Ahh!!)
-The player can use their action to control only one of the knights on their turn
- The mythic ability, Ultimate End, is an attack from all of the knights at once, dealing damage to all creatures within a 20-foot radius sphere (player chooses where). The attacks are melee or ranged and deal 100+MB damage of a certain type depending on the knight. Victims within the area see reality explode around them into a whirling kaleidoscope of patterns. The spell attacks, in order, are: melee (slashing) melee (bludgeoning) ranged (fire) melee (slashing) melee (slashing) ranged (cold) melee (bludgeoning) melee (bludgeoning) ranged (bludgeoning) melee (bludgeoning) melee (slashing) ranged (slashing) and then a final knight appears, melee (radiant). For a level 20 character, that’s at least 1500 damage if they all hit. That’s enough damage to take out any monster in the monster manual three times over.

Good luck! Muito obrigado! Happy playing

 

[Erotic Materia]

Good God, that last paragraph has me SO turned on right now ?

 

[tamsynnimogen]

Ive only realy used this system in one shots or short adventures so not really had to deal with it but has anyone used it in longer campaigbs if so how does the materia xp feel (also how would you go about materia xp in a milestone campaign?)

 

[tamsynnimogen]

after ive realised ive been doing the materia wrong (the 8hour rest thing i was doing cant be used untill after a long rest) ive decided to change to charges per day (once per 8 hours changed to 3 charges and then its +1 charge per level (well depending on materia description). this just made it easier to keep track off. not sure if it was meant to be after a long rest they regain their uses but found that keeping track of individual uses times was a bit of a pain)

 

[Ite]

after ive realised ive been doing the materia wrong (the 8hour rest thing i was doing cant be used untill after a long rest) ive decided to change to charges per day (once per 8 hours changed to 3 charges and then its +1 charge per level (well depending on materia description). this just made it easier to keep track off. not sure if it was meant to be after a long rest they regain their uses but found that keeping track of individual uses times was a bit of a pain)

This is neat! I’d like to learn more. Which 8 hour rest thing? There are a few.

 

[tamsynnimogen]

the ones i was looking at was the support materia like line and cone where it says that once used that it goes inert for 8 hours. when i 1st used this system wrongly i assumed it meant untill after a long rest but after re reading it appears that it means 8 hours after being used. this can cause bit of a headache as requires to keep track of the time of day each of these are used and to then figure out when they become available again. so was thinking the charge thing might be bit better (thought 3 charges a day to start with since thats 3x8 (on a 24hr day at least) just saves having to keep track of things too much and would allow roughly the intended amount of uses a day (suppose could be limited to starting at 2 since one of those 8 hours is usually a long rest of sleep)

ive only been using this system in short adventures and one shots (roughly a day or 2) so not really much experimenting to see how it would work long term but were hoping to introduce into a long campaign once weve had a few plays with it and ensure we know how it works properly)

 

[Ite]

the ones i was looking at was the support materia like line and cone where it says that once used that it goes inert for 8 hours. when i 1st used this system wrongly i assumed it meant untill after a long rest but after re reading it appears that it means 8 hours after being used. this can cause bit of a headache as requires to keep track of the time of day each of these are used and to then figure out when they become available again. so was thinking the charge thing might be bit better (thought 3 charges a day to start with since thats 3x8 (on a 24hr day at least) just saves having to keep track of things too much and would allow roughly the intended amount of uses a day (suppose could be limited to starting at 2 since one of those 8 hours is usually a long rest of sleep)

That’s really helpful feedback, thanks

You are welcome to try that solution in your game, but I’ve identified a loophole that you may or may not want to address. If you’d like a deep-dive, I’m going to get into the nitty gritty of the rule here.

Spoiler: “Blue and Red Materia ‘Resting’.”

I definitely think it is valuable to workshop this rule. It exists for both blue and red materia, so a change to one ought to be shared by the other. I’ll start by explaining what I was thinking/prioritizing, so that we’re on the same page:

1. It was a priority to reflect the blue and red materia’s function from the video game, as in: their star rating equals their number of uses, irrespective of the level of the creature using it.

2. I desired to mechanically reflect the idea that materia is a kind of lifeform, and came up with the conceit that materia is subject to its own rests, irrespective of the creature it is attuned to. You might not share this desire, so in workshopping your idea I will try to let this idea go.

3. I needed to safeguard against exploitation. I have a friend named Ryan, who I have been DMing for about 12 years. He is a brilliant tactician and loves exploiting loopholes in the rules, especially my house rules. Because of this, I anticipate how he might take exploit what I say (or don’t say).

4. A party must be able to freely trade materia without gaining any special benefit or penalty for doing so.

So! Let’s look at the rule as I wrote it. I’m going to use All as the example, as it is the most powerful blue materia.



Using this rule, you can link a 3 star All materia to a one-star Fire materia, and as a level 1 character, you could cast fire-all three times (assuming you have the MP). Once you cast fire-all three times, the materia ‘goes to sleep’ for 8 hours, regardless of what happens around it. The materia can also ‘long rest’ without spending all its charges.

However, that is only the most basic use of the All materia. The above example assumes that only one creature will use All and only linked to one materia.

It takes 1 minute to attune to a materia, and you can sever your connection as an action. This rule exists to prevent players from swapping materia mid-combat, but allows them to swap and re-arrange them pretty freely outside of combat. By that logic, a character with a 3 star All materia might cast fire-all twice, then spend one minute re-attuning to the All materia, this time linking it to a Restore materia for a cure-all before the All materia ‘goes to sleep.’

But that’s only if the character keeps the All materia for themselves. Under the rule as it is now, our example character could cast fire-all twice, then give the All materia to their buddy, who spends one minute attuning to it (let’s say he links it to Acid) able to then cast acid-all. Because the number of uses is tied to the materia and not the character, it doesn’t matter who is using it, once our 3 star All has been used thrice, it ‘goes to sleep.’

If blue/red materia could be used based on a character’s level, here’s how my friend Ryan would exploit it: have a rotating circuit of blue and red materia. If the charges were based solely on level, a party of four level 3 characters would then have 12 uses of All per day.

?

Furthermore, because this loophole is best exploited when all party members are efficient with their charges, Ryan is now paying attention to everyone’s charges. Whoever has the All materia has a spotlight on them, and players who don’t want this burden are now letting down the team. Players who don’t want to swap the materia they bought are now letting down the team. Players who wanted to build a purple-only character are now letting down the team. A huge portion of everyone’s attention is now diverted away from role playing, and free form co-operation quickly devolves into scrutiny.

Of course, that is me assuming the worst from my players, but if I were in their shoes, that’s what I’d do. If that doesn’t sound like a problem for your campaign style, that’s the only thing that matters.

I totally hear you in that adjudicating hours of the day based on each blue/red materia sounds like a chore. A DM has enough to juggle without policing materia charges and having materia rest and level up and generally act like NPCs. I think you’re onto something by trying to streamline its use. Is there a way that it can be done without creating this loophole?

Edit: my gut instinct for a solution would be a full overhaul of the attunement rules, instead of 1 minute/each materia it would be a long rest for a whole loadout. This presents its own issues, but it allows for character-level-based charges to be introduced without the whole house of cards tumbling down. This would have to be be accompanied by an overhaul of the star rating system for blue and red materia, which I am less thrilled by, as it’s a big step away from FF7 tipping the balance in favour of D&D.

 

[tamsynnimogen]

i was thinking that the charges wouldnt reset per person so if an all materia has 3 charges then if player 1 uses it it would only have 2 charges left no matter if it was unattuned and attuned by someone else since attuning doent reset charges (the charges would be linked to the materia level not the character level) would be like having 2 druids with 1 staff of the woodlands one druid couldnt cast awaken twice and then on a short rest pass it to the other druid to attune to so they can also cast it twice

 

[Ite]

i was thinking that the charges wouldnt reset per person so if an all materia has 3 charges then if player 1 uses it it would only have 2 charges left no matter if it was unattuned and attuned by someone else since attuning doent reset charges (the charges would be linked to the materia level not the character level) would be like having 2 druids with 1 staff of the woodlands one druid couldnt cast awaken twice and then on a short rest pass it to the other druid to attune to so they can also cast it twice

Oh! I see what you mean now. So a “recharge at dawn” type system? That is indeed much easier and more streamlined.

I see where I misunderstood you, when you said “+1 charge per level” I thought you meant character level not materia star rating. My bad!

 

[tamsynnimogen]

hehe yh sorry may bad yh meat materia level

 

[Ite]

hehe yh sorry may bad yh meat materia level

Giving blue/red materia a flat recharge at dawn really does solve the problem quite neatly. (The only loose question may be “what is materia’s relationship to the sun/dawn?” but now we’re getting into “what is a hit point?” levels of pedantry so I’m fine letting that one go haha)

Thanks again, I’m going to make that change for the next release. Would you mind if I credit you as a playtester?

 

[tamsynnimogen]

sure go for it and i suppose you can say the relationship is due to being linked with the planet and the lifestream

and sure go for it glad i can help

 

[Erotic Materia]

(The only loose question may be “what is materia’s relationship to the sun/dawn?”

You see son, when a sun loves a planet very much, it fills her with a warm, gooey love that spreads through her. We call this the Lifestream. And the sun makes love to the planet every day, which is why your materia (which comes from the lifestream) is recharged when the sun comes around each day.

You may occasionally notice the planet having a smoke after a particularly hot day. This is normal.