Advice wanted for 3.5 homebrew Final Fantasy XI races

[Totema]

Earlier today I had the idea to host a D&D 3.5e campaign with the world of Final Fantasy XI as the setting. I like this idea primarily because I, and the majority of my regular players, are veterans of the MMO and know the setting very well. After considering it for a while, though, I ran into a few obstacles regarding how to make homebrew races that correlate well to those in FFXI.

The primary problem is that the stats in each system do different things, and that's largely because the battles play out a lot differently in each game. Since FFXI is an MMO, routine battles only last a few minutes, and there's very fast and continuous action compared to a tabletop game. Getting hit a lot in combat doesn't matter as much, and in-combat healing is an absolute necessity. The style of combat in 3.5, where a single battle can take all session long, getting hit even once can be lethal at any level of play, and in-combat healing is too inefficient to be worth it, is a much different experience and this is reflected in how stats are laid out in each system. To make a long story short, simply correlating a race's stats in FFXI won't get the same kind of race in 3.5, and getting the same kind of race is exactly what I'm aiming for.

Making the assumption that the vast majority of you have never played FFXI, here's more or less how the stats work in the game:
Strength: How much damage attacks do in battle
Dexterity: How easily you can hit with your attacks
Agility: How easily you dodge attacks
Vitality: How much damage is mitigated when you get hit
Intelligence: How good your "black magic" is
Mind: How good your "white magic" is
Charisma: ...Not much, but certain classes depend on it heavily for their abilities

They're pretty much the generic "fantasy RPG" stats you can imagine, much like 3.5's stats, but don't correlate with each other too well. Dexterity is used to determine hit accuracy instead of ability to dodge, which is handled by Agility, and etc... Add to the mix the fact that HP and MP are independent stats, and there's going to be a whole lot of futzing around to get the races to feel correct.

Speaking of which, here's a rough idea of the stat growth loadouts for each race in-game:
Hume: Medium everything (Seriously, I'm probably just going to use the PHB Human as the race here. No translating necessary.)
Elvaan: High HP, low MP, very high Strength, medium-low Dexterity, low Agility, high Vitality, low Intelligence, high Mind, medium Charisma
Tarutaru: Low HP, high MP, very low Strength, medium-high Dexterity, high Agility, low Vitality very high Intelligence, medium-low Mind, medium Charisma
Mithra: Medium HP, medium MP, medium Strength, high Dexterity, high Agility, low Vitality medium Intelligence, medium-low Mind, low Charisma
Galka: High HP, medium MP, high Strength, medium Dexterity, medium-low Agility, very high Vitality, low Intelligence, medium Mind, low Charisma

That should give a general idea of what each race should do in both systems, I hope. So to reiterate, I want to turn these FFXI races into 3.5 races that feel like they belong in their original setting flavor-wise but are still effective in play.

One thing I was considering was using the "defense score" variant rule in Unearthed Arcana, which would let me translate the races over more smoothly, but I'd rather cut down on the complexity in my game, and not force my players to learn yet another new thing. Additionally, I was considering adding some kind of "hit die modifier" or "spells-per-day modifier" to represent the independent HP and MP stats, but again, I think now that it's better to just not bother with these.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on how I could tackle this?

[ArcturusV]

Nope, haven't played FF 11. But have played other FF games. But really I don't think it's THAT hard to draw the line towards for kitbashing something together. Mostly it's condensing. Dex and Agility being just Dex in 3.5. Strength and Dex being just Strength in 3.5. Vitality is pretty directly Con, Int for Int, Mind for Wisdom, Charisma to Charisma.

But I wouldn't focus too hard on direct number crunching and trying to make some Formula to cross over. Just simple "Make it feel right".

Like Mithra would probably have stat adjustments of +2 Dex, -2 Con. I wouldn't bring the Charisma penalty into play and the rest are kinda "eh". If you're that worried, maybe go +2 Dex, -2 Cha, which would help the feel of "medium HP" better than a Con penalty. Toss on a few Racial bonuses based on what Jobs they're better at in game to give them the right feel, yep.

But as far as HP Modifiers and MP modifiers... eh. Stats already do that pretty well. Con for HP, and Int/Wis/Charisma depending on class for MP. Not something I'd double dip on.

If you feel like getting fancy, might consider Racial Substitution Levels. So something like... A Tarutaru can trade their bonus feat for wizards at level five to add up to 3 Spell Levels in spell slots per day to their list. e.g.: They get a bonus level 3 spell slot, or a bonus level 2 spell slot and a bonus level 1 spell slot, or three bonus level 1 spell slots.

[DedWards]

Speaking of which, here's a rough idea of the stat growth loadouts for each race in-game:
Hume: Medium everything (Seriously, I'm probably just going to use the PHB Human as the race here. No translating necessary.)
Elvaan: High HP, low MP, very high Strength, medium-low Dexterity, low Agility, high Vitality, low Intelligence, high Mind, medium Charisma
Tarutaru: Low HP, high MP, very low Strength, medium-high Dexterity, high Agility, low Vitality very high Intelligence, medium-low Mind, medium Charisma
Mithra: Medium HP, medium MP, medium Strength, high Dexterity, high Agility, low Vitality medium Intelligence, medium-low Mind, low Charisma
Galka: High HP, medium MP, high Strength, medium Dexterity, medium-low Agility, very high Vitality, low Intelligence, medium Mind, low Charisma

I agree on using Human as the base for Hume. As for the others, Elvaan sound close to D&D's Orcs / Half Orcs and Tarutaru like Elves / Half Elves. The Mithra and Galka I'm having trouble placing due to not having played D&D in years (I play Mutants and Masterminds a lot).

I know most people prefer to base their systems on D&D, but have you thought of making a completly new system for FF XI ? It'll take a lot of work, but you can avoid some problems that come with injecting a system into an already established system.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

One thing I was considering was using the "defense score" variant rule in Unearthed Arcana, which would let me translate the races over more smoothly, but I'd rather cut down on the complexity in my game, and not force my players to learn yet another new thing. Additionally, I was considering adding some kind of "hit die modifier" or "spells-per-day modifier" to represent the independent HP and MP stats, but again, I think now that it's better to just not bother with these.

Unless you want to make each race severely different, don't bother. Use Small size for AC/attack bonuses, Dexterity for AC bonuses, Constitution for HP bonuses, and Int/Wis/Cha for casting bonuses.

You might find the Pathfinder race creation guidelines to be useful: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemasterin...ting-new-races

[Totema]

Like I said, I would rather not complicate things for my players. They're all quite new at tabletop gaming and only recently fully grasped vanilla 3.5e. Making up a new system seems almost cruel. They all seem excited at the idea of playing a 3.5 campaign in FFXI's setting, so this is probably the best way to go.

Arcturus, I decided to take your advice to heart. I was originally really enamored by the idea of translating all the little FFXI stat variations to my homebrew, but it is indeed a lot simpler to just use subtler stat variations and fill the fluff gaps with things like skill bonuses and extraordinary abilities. When I'm finished with them I'll put them up for review. Until then, thanks everyone!

[DedWards]

Making up a new system seems almost cruel.

I understand, but if you enver do decide to make a custom system in the future, I'm happy to assist :)

When I'm finished with them I'll put them up for review. Until then, thanks everyone!

Again, I'll help where I can. I really like Fianal Fantasy's setting(s), so I'm kinda looking forward to see what you come up with :p

[RoyVG]

I haven't played a lot of FFXI, but I know a bit about them.

- Humes are Humans, plain and simple.
- Elvaan are akin to (Half)Orc, as said before.
- Tarutaru is a difficult one, but I guess Small sized Elves are your best bet.
- Mithra seem too similar to Catfolk to not be Catfolk (Races of the Wild)
- For Galka, I think Goliath is a decent basis. (Races of Stone)

Problem withthe last two races is that they are both LA+1, but with some minor modification., that should not be a problem.