D&D 5E game inspired by Final Fantasy XV

[ifrippe]

Hi,

I’m about to start a new game with a few friends of mine. I want to try something different compared to what we’ve run recently (Dark Ages Vampire and Forgotten Realms). After surfing the net for inspiration we decided to run a game inspired by Final Fantasy XV.

We are leaning on using Dungeons & Dragons 5 edition, but I’m not sure on how to pull this off in the chosen system.

Before you ask, we are after an emulation of the feeling of the game. It doesn’t have to be a perfect match. We’re aiming for good enough.

How would you tweak the game for the chosen setting? Which races would you allow? How would do with classes? Who would have proficiencies with firearms?


Thanks in advance,
Fredrik

[Sabeta]

There's a small problem with not knowing too much about FFXV right now, so instead I'll be speaking from a mixture of old and new Final Fantasies.

Final Fantasy has two very clear divisions in their world-building and literary style. Final Fantasies I-VI were all fairly high fantasy, complete with Crystals, Dwarves, and an Evil Sorcerer at the end of every game. Final Fantasies VII-XII are all wildly different from each other, and the ones I have the least understanding of, but they trend more towards Dark Fantasy bordering on Cyberpunk at times. XIII and XV are (from what I understand) technically set in the same cosmology, so that simplifies things.

XV probably doesn't use classes, and all of the playable characters are Human. They drive around in a car, explore modern cities, but still encounter high-magic and crazy monsters. Therefore, in order to recreate all of these things

1) Change every playable race to Human. No, that's not the same as removing all non-human entries. Instead just make Elves something like "Eastern Human" and Dwarves "Southern Human", and you could probably leave the rest completely untouched.
2) Rename several classes, but otherwise don't change them.
Barbarian -> Warrior
Bard -> (Lore) White Mage / (Valor) Red Mage
Cleric -> White Mage
Druid -> Geomancer
Fighter -> Knight
Monk -> Monk, Black Belt
Ranger -> Archer, Ranger
Rogue -> Thief, Ninja
Paladin -> Paladin
Sorcerer -> Blue Mage
Warlock -> Black Mage
Wizard -> Sage

These are just a few ideas, however the list is very incomplete since it doesn't feature some big names like Dragoon or Summoner.
3) Fluff the world as you see fit. Hit up the DMG and give your players the weakest guns you can to replace most ranged weapons. Throw Crystals everywhere, give them a Car mount that they can drive around, and make sure to throw in big Final Fantasy names every here and there like Ifrit, Titan, and Shiva.

This is probably the lowest effort it would take to make FFXV, but I admit that I'm not super knowledgeable on it so I can't do a super good comparison.

[Naanomi]

Make sure no one plays a female character because it 'wouldn't fit the feeling of the story'? :smallwink:

[Callin]

Guy I know found this....

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1HBWX5j

[ifrippe]

There's a small problem with not knowing too much about FFXV right now, so instead I'll be speaking from a mixture of old and new Final Fantasies.
From what I’ve read, there are enough similarities with FF13 to assume that any unknown quality can be based on FF13 (as you already have said).


Final Fantasy has two very clear divisions in their world-building and literary style. Final Fantasies I-VI were all fairly high fantasy, complete with Crystals, Dwarves, and an Evil Sorcerer at the end of every game. Final Fantasies VII-XII are all wildly different from each other, and the ones I have the least understanding of, but they trend more towards Dark Fantasy bordering on Cyberpunk at times. XIII and XV are (from what I understand) technically set in the same cosmology, so that simplifies things.
What I want is a cyberpunk setting powered by magic (magipunk?). In some sense it would remind of Eberron, but if Eberron is inspired by film noir I want pulp magazine styled action.


XV probably doesn't use classes, and all of the playable characters are Human. They drive around in a car, explore modern cities, but still encounter high-magic and crazy monsters. Therefore, in order to recreate all of these things
I guess this has more to do with attitude than game mechanics, but at what level would you start the game?

Are there any monsters that seem more suited to this kind of game than others? Are any monster unsuitable?


1) Change every playable race to Human. No, that's not the same as removing all non-human entries. Instead just make Elves something like "Eastern Human" and Dwarves "Southern Human", and you could probably leave the rest completely untouched.
Great idea!


2) Rename several classes, but otherwise don't change them.
Barbarian -> Warrior
Bard -> (Lore) White Mage / (Valor) Red Mage
Cleric -> White Mage
Druid -> Geomancer
Fighter -> Knight
Monk -> Monk, Black Belt
Ranger -> Archer, Ranger
Rogue -> Thief, Ninja
Paladin -> Paladin
Sorcerer -> Blue Mage
Warlock -> Black Mage
Wizard -> Sage
These are just a few ideas, however the list is very incomplete since it doesn't feature some big names like Dragoon or Summoner.


3) Fluff the world as you see fit. Hit up the DMG and give your players the weakest guns you can to replace most ranged weapons. Throw Crystals everywhere, give them a Car mount that they can drive around, and make sure to throw in big Final Fantasy names every here and there like Ifrit, Titan, and Shiva.
Would it be too lazy to change all references to light crossbow with gun, and say that all that can use ranged martial weapons can use a rifle? In both cases I would use the stats for firearms as written in the DMG. How would you do it?

The game will include places inspired by Tokyo, Venice and Havana. Could you suggest places with similar atmosphere?


This is probably the lowest effort it would take to make FFXV, but I admit that I'm not super knowledgeable on it so I can't do a super good comparison.
Great ideas (all of them)! Please continue with more ideas.


Make sure no one plays a female character because it 'wouldn't fit the feeling of the story'? :smallwink:
Unfortunately this part is the easiest. This group doesn’t include a female, but I guess it will fit the bromance atmosphere in the trailer. :-)


Guy I know found this....
Impressive! Thanks!

[Sabeta]

Guy I know found this....

http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/B1HBWX5j

The link doesn't work for me, but if it's the FFXIV Classes reimagined as D&D 5E classes then I don't like it. Though that's mostly because I'm an avid FFXIV player (or was) and I don't feel as though any of those classes did a decent job capturing what makes the classes unique in XIV. It's a decent starting point though.

So here some other cool ways you can do Science Fantasy
-> Introduce Elemental Martial Weapons. I'm talking Flame Swords, Radiant Swords, Radiant Arrows, Etcetera. Explain it away as an Elementally aspected Crystal which can be slotted into magitech weaponry to change their properties. Bonus points if you give them the means to change out crystals.

-> Firearms need to be carefully balanced. In the real world, Firearms invalidate Melee. This applies to most games as well, and that's why Archers in games end up hilariously under or overpowered. For example, if you include pre-enlightenment firearms into the game as-is then there's no reason to use them. A Hand Crossbow will outperform them thanks to Crossbow Expert. However if you skip to postcolonial then they're hilariously overpowered. The easiest way would be to swap Crossbows out for various guns. The Hand Crossbow can be a Pistol, Light Crossbow a Small Rifle, and a Heavy Crossbow a Sniper Rifle. I wouldn't change anything else about them, but if you want to simulate semi-automatic fire you could always adjust the dice slightly. For example the 1d8 Light Crossbow could become a 2d4 Machine Gun. Just be advised that 2d4 is ever so slightly better than 1d8 mathematically. I would probably leave bows alone.

-> Final Fantasy's roster of Monsters is pretty D&D inspired, but there are a few exceptions. Obviously the world needs Chocobos and Moogles. Chocobos can conveniently be refluffled from Horses (In FFXIV, the Domans refer to Chocobo as Horsebirds), so that fills the needs for that. Just remember to toss your players some Gysahl Greens here and there if you want them to actually ride the Chocobos, and make sure that they run into them in forests more often than anywhere else. Also, several species of Chocobo can cast low-level magic, so consider that.

-> Moogles can be whatever, really. They're noncombatants most of the time so just toss them wherever you want. Keep in mind that FF likes their "Beast Tribes", and that Kobolds aren't scaly in FF universe, but are furry worshipers of Titan. Goblins, Sahagin, Lizardmen, Kobolds are all great FF styled races, but I can't tell you which appear in XV. Do make sure that Tonberry and Cactuar are there though. Just remember that D&D has a copyright on some of their monsters, so naturally those ones WON'T appear in the FF universe. Mindlfayer comes to mind.

-> In order to truly capture FF Magic, you would need a complete rewrite of the magic system. This isn't hard though, as FF has really easy magic to work out. The hard part is making sure the dice values stay in-line with a normal mage and that each of your mage classes still feels unique, for some reason. It might be worth completely scrapping Bard, Sorcerer, and Warlock in favor of making three Wizards who do White, Black, and Combined magic respectively, but at this point we're straying very far away from D&D as a system.

-> Starting level can be 1 for a classic FF start where starry-eyed adventurers start out on a quest to find themselves and save the world. Level 5 is better for war-grizzled veterans with an angsty past and who already have a goal in mind. I would argue that XV is probably leaning more towards the latter.

-> The world is still pretty easy in my opinion. There are a lot of tricks you can pull that will sell the world to your players without too much effort. Simply describing a place as "Venice, only they use magic to create waterways in the sky and all the buildings are floating in the air instead of steadily sinking" is a quick and effective way to convey the world. Each player will fill in the blanks on their own unless you draw them a picture of it. I can't think of any FF cities that perfectly mirror real world ones though, sorry.

[ifrippe]

Based on the feedback I've decided on the following:


The core four races will be possible player races. Humans will be the core race of the setting. Halflings will be the Moogles of the setting. Elves will be the chaos creatures, while dwarfs
will be the creatures of law. Other races might be included later on, but at the start those four will do. Ruleswise I will probably not change anything, but the appearances might be tweaked.
The duality of law (and technology) versus chaos (and nature) will play an important role.
Elemental items (like weapon) will be another important thing.
Armour will be played down, unless it is in the form of a Paladin's exoskeleton/mecha (I haven't decided which one to use yet). Wearing an armour in public will make you disadvantaged when using social skills (unless the social skill is intimidation).
Sorcerers will be the noble class. All sorcerers wear arcane focuses (special rings).
Anything that applies to crossbows, applies firearms (use the stats for firearms in ch. 9 of DMG).

[Falcon X]

Lots and lots of horseback riding...

[ifrippe]

Lots and lots of horseback riding...
Don't you mean chocobo?