Ite's FF7 D&D Variant

[Ceydin]

Hello, I'm planning on DM'ing roughly following what you have made (thanks for this! This is by far the most developed and has helped me save so much time) and I'd just like to ask whether the SOLDIER prestige class uses character levels, replaces their class, or isn't counted towards player level?
Basically, if someone has 3 levels invested in SOLDIER would they still be able to get to level 20 and get the benefits of Crystal Awakening?
I'm not expecting my group to get to level 20, even less likely that someone is a SOLDIER, but I'd just like to know what would happen in case it did happen.

 

[Ite]

Hello, I'm planning on DM'ing roughly following what you have made (thanks for this! This is by far the most developed and has helped me save so much time) and I'd just like to ask whether the SOLDIER prestige class uses character levels, replaces their class, or isn't counted towards player level?
Basically, if someone has 3 levels invested in SOLDIER would they still be able to get to level 20 and get the benefits of Crystal Awakening?
I'm not expecting my group to get to level 20, even less likely that someone is a SOLDIER, but I'd just like to know what would happen in case it did happen.

Hi! Thanks for reaching out. Fantastic question, and you may be the first person to even look at Crystal Awakenings hehe. I will admit, looking at them now I have no idea how they would interact with multiclassing. What an oversight ??

The SOLDIER Prestige Class was designed to work with the regular multiclass rules (there’s an unearthed arcana that introduced Prestige Classes to 5e but it boiled down to “it’s a class with fewer than 20 levels with more specific prerequisites.”) I rigged up a Cloud character sheet for the beginning of FFVII during a playtest, he had 3 levels of SOLDIER and 3 of fighter (Battle Master), making him Level 6 total.

My impulse would be to have the Crystal Awakening kick in at total character level 20, and to keep the maximum class levels capped at 20, so: normal multiclass rules to 20, and after 20 no more class levels but CA levels instead. Although, I’m just as interested in how you might work around this, because I’ve been playing and DMing for 15+ years and never had a campaign reach Lv 20, so designing for those levels amounts to so much guesswork.

I hope you have lots of fun at your game! I’d love to hear all about it

 

[Ceydin]

Hi! Thanks for reaching out. Fantastic question, and you may be the first person to even look at Crystal Awakenings hehe. I will admit, looking at them now I have no idea how they would interact with multiclassing. What an oversight ??

The SOLDIER Prestige Class was designed to work with the regular multiclass rules (there’s an unearthed arcana that introduced Prestige Classes to 5e but it boiled down to “it’s a class with fewer than 20 levels with more specific prerequisites.”) I rigged up a Cloud character sheet for the beginning of FFVII during a playtest, he had 3 levels of SOLDIER and 3 of fighter (Battle Master), making him Level 6 total.

My impulse would be to have the Crystal Awakening kick in at total character level 20, and to keep the maximum class levels capped at 20, so: normal multiclass rules to 20, and after 20 no more class levels but CA levels instead. Although, I’m just as interested in how you might work around this, because I’ve been playing and DMing for 15+ years and never had a campaign reach Lv 20, so designing for those levels amounts to so much guesswork.

I hope you have lots of fun at your game! I’d love to hear all about it

Thanks for the reply! I honestly wasn't expecting one!
Not sure if it will go up to level 20 tbh, but my playgroup LOVES FF7 and I know they'd want to play in that world as long as possible, and thanks to your work they can so that's awesome.
I was just wondering about that class cause I really loved the idea, cause most SOLDIER subclasses tend to just give you limit breaks and nothing else.

Speaking of limit breaks, I LOVE the concept of yours! I really like the templates to help with customizing attacks that are unique to them. Not sure if it says I can do this in the book but I'm allowing the players to change the templates to their liking while still staying true to what it was, so I'll keep you posted on how that works out.

Also last question, what kind of power ceiling were you thinking of when you designed the idea for the final level of limit breaks? Cause with how I'm seeing it, things get pretty crazy at that point XD

 

[Ite]

Thanks for the reply! I honestly wasn't expecting one!
Not sure if it will go up to level 20 tbh, but my playgroup LOVES FF7 and I know they'd want to play in that world as long as possible, and thanks to your work they can so that's awesome.
I was just wondering about that class cause I really loved the idea, cause most SOLDIER subclasses tend to just give you limit breaks and nothing else.

Speaking of limit breaks, I LOVE the concept of yours! I really like the templates to help with customizing attacks that are unique to them. Not sure if it says I can do this in the book but I'm allowing the players to change the templates to their liking while still staying true to what it was, so I'll keep you posted on how that works out.

Also last question, what kind of power ceiling were you thinking of when you designed the idea for the final level of limit breaks? Cause with how I'm seeing it, things get pretty crazy at that point XD

Totally crazy haha. And your approach is exactly what I had in mind when I made that page. The limit break page is there to help inspire creativity and get a sense for how to restrain the power of each tier. The final limit breaks are only hinted at because, at that point, you’re leaving the realm of “things that can have rules” and entering “pure collaborative” roleplay territory. Whatever feels right for the character’s style within the setting according to the DM. That final attack/ability is intended to be repeatable, so if they want to blow up the moon as part of their attack that’s... gonna cause some issues once the moon is gone. But on the other hand, you and your players might actually rather have the final limit breaks be one-time use wish spells or dragonball booms that will scar the campaign world forever! Using the final limit would then become a very climactic story moment (a la Advent Children). It’s up to you! And not something I think the book oughta dictate =)

 

[Ite]

Update: the bestiary folder has been updated with all the Disc 1 monsters concluding with Jenova-LIFE. I’ve started on Disc 2 and discovered to my astonishment that almost every single screen in the Great Glacier uses a unique array of random encounters. I usually use a scratch pad when figuring out how to translate the game data into an encounter chart, but here’s what my desk looks like rn:



After much humming and hawing, I finally came up with usable roll tables for this area:



Feeling proud

 

[tamsynnimogen]

looking good not really had a look at the character options as was using the races and classes from the ff14 project. as ive stated before i love this materia system especially for a one shot were didnt have to worry about tracking materia xp since my group uses milestone leveling not sure how that translates. keep up the work looking forward to being able to have a full ff bestiary to use at some point

 

[JeffAndNikki]

After reading through a lot of this and browsing the bestiary, all I can say is this...

*Those Who Fight Further intensifies*

 

[tamsynnimogen]

looking forward to seeing any further updates

 

[tamsynnimogen]

hows things going?

 

[Mobius Stripper]

We should plan a Discord oneshot using this system. What say you all?

 

[Ite]

hows things going?

I haven’t made much recent headway on the bestiary, because I’ve been running four campaigns (!!) in my standard D&D setting. That being the case, I’ve centered one of my campaigns around introducing materia into said setting. I’m learning a lot about how this system complements (or, most of the time, completely overpowers) 5e’s standard array of classes and magic users. Things I’ve learned so far:

- Tip: Double the HP of every monster unless you want your players to roll initiative more than they actually get to play.
- A successful green materia spell basically does crit damage. Using it vs players is very deadly at low levels.
- DMs have three options when it comes to attunement rules:

1. Have each materia take up one of the standard 3 attunement slots, maxing characters out at 3 materia (this balances the best with standard 5e, especially if you’re mixing magic systems.)

2. Allow characters to attune to 1-16 materia, using only a single attunement slot (this is what I am using and it makes materia feel unique and mysterious, and gives that overpowered FF feeling to the game)

3. Allow characters to attune to 1-16 materia WITHOUT using a standard attunement slot (godlike power, this is not my preference but ymmv)

I’m also still in the concept phase for justifying weapons with materia slots, even though in a non video game concept this is a really unattractive way of storing magic items. I’m brainstorming reasons why characters would want to wave their materia around inside a very droppable item. First I’m going to try enchanting the slots so that materia is protected from “attunement stealing.” Another enchantment might be extending the distance you can travel from the materia while still being attuned to it. I could also change the system to attunement option 1, with enchanted weapons allowing you to expand that number.

But this all is being done during a live campaign, so I’m really slowly trickling the homebrew stuff in.

We should plan a Discord oneshot using this system. What say you all?

There’s no such thing as a oneshot, but I’m in.

 

[Erotic Materia]

Oooh me me me! I wanna try this!

 

[tamsynnimogen]

sounds intresting and yh in my experiences oneshots tend to be minimum 2 average 4 (altho i have been successful in doing an actual oneshot but felt rushed

i agree materia can seem op. way i sortta balanced it in the past is giving martial classes less mp (higher the hit dice the lower the mp dice)

hit dice/mp dice
d20/d4
d12/d6
d10/d8
d8/d10
d6/d12
d4/d20

and yh im aware classes dont have d4 or d20 hit dice but thought to cover any homebrew classes

this allows the martial classes like barbarians and fighter to use materia but not be able to cast green materia or red materia often due to lower mp but spell casters can make more use of them. i also made materia very rare to obtain. my players had 2 materia each and that was it. the hardest part i found is materia exp esp when playing in a milestone advancement game

 

[tamsynnimogen]

oh i did expand upon the materia slot system. basically you need equipment with slots otherwise you cant use the materia

as standard equipment has a number of slots depending on rarity

Rarity-Slots: Common-1, Uncommon-2, Rare-3, Very rare-4, Legendary-5, Artifact-6

this can also help to limit how many materia can be used to help balance and i increased the cost of materia cages depending on the rarity and how many extra are already on it

rareity-cage cost: Common-5+(1xn)gp, Uncommon-10+(2xn)gp, Rare-15gp+(3xn), Very rare-20gp+(4xn), Legendary-25gp+(5xn), Artifact-30gp+(6xn)

were n is the number of extra slots already added

eg a common weapon adding 1 slot would be 5gp + (1x0gp) = 5gp
but adding another slot would be 5gp + (1x1gp) = 10gp

and if you want to link slots then its the 2 times the base slot cost so linking 2 common slots would be 10gp

 

[tamsynnimogen]

So my group is really wanting to start adding materia into either our current campaign or our next campaign but we use milestone leveling

Any suggestions/ideas on how to level materia using milestone?

 

[Ite]

A quick fix: anytime you level them up, reference the levelling chart on PHB page 15. Minus the XP of that level with the XP right above it. So, when they level up to 3 (900 XP) minus the level 2 entry (300 XP) and give all their equipped materia the resulting 600 XP.

An alternate suggestion would be to make a totally new system. For instance:

Every time you level up, you gain a number of stars equal to your new character level. You can use these stars to level up your materia. To do so, select the materia to level up, and expend a number of stars equal to the new star level. So, when you achieve 4th level, you gain 4 stars, which you can use to level a brand new restore materia up to a 4-star rating, or you can level it and a brand new fire materia both up to a 2-star rating. You cannot store any of these stars for later use.

 

[tamsynnimogen]

intresting might not do the star thing mainly because could lead to leveling powerful materia very quickly but will have a think in regards to both those ideas
thanks for the suggestions

quick thought

maybe something like on a short or long rest (not sure which would be best) you gain materia xp for all your equipped materia equal to your magic dice (rolling all but not expending them) x10.

not sure how to treat it with swapping materia but maybe you can only swap out materia during this part aswell. needs more thinking i think but may be ok

 

[Erotic Materia]

Reading all this stuff is fascinating. I have no idea how you guys math all this out.

 

[Ite]

intresting might not do the star thing mainly because could lead to leveling powerful materia very quickly but will have a think in regards to both those ideas
thanks for the suggestions

quick thought

maybe something like on a short or long rest (not sure which would be best) you gain materia xp for all your equipped materia equal to your magic dice (rolling all but not expending them) x10.

not sure how to treat it with swapping materia but maybe you can only swap out materia during this part aswell. needs more thinking i think but may be ok

Actually, something like this is already in the book! Check out the fighter subclass on Page 6. The Foster the Planet feature seems like what you’re looking for! This is my most updated wording of the feature:

You gain the ability to commune with your materia. You spend a short rest in meditation with a materia with which you are attuned. At the end of this rest, the materia gains an amount of XP equal to your MB x your total character level. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you have finished a long rest. .

Maybe you can give every PC that feature? For balance issues, here's how it would play out - if a level 3 character with a Wis bonus of +2 (thus, MB 5) wanted to give as much XP as possible to their acid materia (I often use acid as my example, just because it's first), they would only be giving it 15 XP per day, to the exclusion of any other materia they are meditating with. Using this method, it would take such a character 60 days to bring that materia from 1 to 2 stars, and between 6- to 7-thousand days to advance it to 3 stars (that's over 18 years).

It scales with level, however, so a 15th level character with the same Wisdom (MB 17) gives 255 XP during each meditation, allowing them to level a new acid materia to 2 stars within four days, and 3 stars in just over a year.

This is meant to work in tandem with normal XP gains, which is where my quickfix comes in. The quickfix is actually how I would do it. I've even made the process even quicker! Please see this handy chart:



This represents the XP needed to advance to each level on the chart on PHB 15. With milestone levelling, istead of getting it in smaller increments across an adventure, when you reach a milestone, they get all that experience at once! This is the fix I would use for sure, because it doesn't require overhauling the whole system.

Spoiler: “Hojoesque Ramblings about Overhauling the Whole System”

The real weakness of the current materia XP system is that it expands XP, a cumbersome abstract number system most tables yeet, and applies it to heckin’ items.

I slaved away at the XP thresholds for the different materia, so that it didn't matter if you had a materia from level 1 or you picked it up brand new at level 10, it would scale more or less match the power level of the character as you continue to adventure. Here's the spreadsheet I made when calculating where to put the thresholds.



and so on

This system checks my boxes for ( a ) fidelity with VII, ( b ) mechanics that reflect the theme of Life, ( c ) and my personal DMing style, although it does not check ( d ) mass appeal across 5e. Jury's out on whether it's ( e ) balanced, but as you can see, the XP thresholds reflect the XP needed for a PC to be able to achieve its effects through class abilities or spell level access.

The reason behind why I did all this it is to reflect the idea that materia is a kind of lifeform, an expression of the stream, on its own journey and growing when attuned to other lifeforms. Originally I designed an AP system for maximum fidelity, but that would cause the GM to generate two different experience point numbers, instead of just expanding the use of one. So I came up with this m-o-n-s-t-r-o-s-i-t-y.

 

[tamsynnimogen]

intresting ideas may use the fighter thing

 

[Ite]

Awesome! Let me know how it goes.

I made two charts that I'll be including in later releases of the Book of Materia. On the left are all the possible magic bonuses in a standard campaign (although players should still keep track of their magic bonus on their character sheet! Useful for DMs in particular.

The chart on the right is the array of XP that characters can give their materia during their Foster the Planet meditation.

(Never mind the negative math, I'm going to use the 5e standard rule of a "minimum of 1.")

 

[tamsynnimogen]

yh will let you know how it goes and the exact method used

 

[Ite]

Playtesting for the next edition has begun...

Spoiler: They're playing with... themselves... (image)

For those wondering what program I am using, it's a free program called Obsidian Notes. I discovered it a few months ago and it has completely replaced OneNote for me.

Thoughts from Reactor 1: Well, I've now created statblocks for Cloud, Barret, and the trio. I have a new way of creating characters in the game - in the standard game (where everyone is restricted to fighter class) you can choose which saving throws to be proficient in. This satisfactorily creates a dynamic character array that still puts materia combos as the central determiner of class. True to the game, Cloud is two-MPs-worth of XP away from Level 7 at the start of the mission, and Barret starts at Level 6. The trio are level 1 with average to below average stats. During testing, I gave the guard scorpion an "auto-repair unit" from Remake, which made the battle much more dynamic and fun. I'm also going through and sprucing up the fight scenes from my novelization at the same time. Win win win.

EDIT: Oh, and for the battle maps, you know it's gotta be TaleSpire

Spoiler: Images

 

[tamsynnimogen]

looking forward to seeing the next version

 

[tamsynnimogen]

Playtesting for the next edition has begun...

Spoiler: They're playing with... themselves... (image)

View attachment 12304

For those wondering what program I am using, it's a free program called Obsidian Notes. I discovered it a few months ago and it has completely replaced OneNote for me.

Thoughts from Reactor 1: Well, I've now created statblocks for Cloud, Barret, and the trio. I have a new way of creating characters in the game - in the standard game (where everyone is restricted to fighter class) you can choose which saving throws to be proficient in. This satisfactorily creates a dynamic character array that still puts materia combos as the central determiner of class. True to the game, Cloud is two-MPs-worth of XP away from Level 7 at the start of the mission, and Barret starts at Level 6. The trio are level 1 with average to below average stats. During testing, I gave the guard scorpion an "auto-repair unit" from Remake, which made the battle much more dynamic and fun. I'm also going through and sprucing up the fight scenes from my novelization at the same time. Win win win.

EDIT: Oh, and for the battle maps, you know it's gotta be TaleSpire

Spoiler: Images

View attachment 12305
View attachment 12307

hows the playtesting going?