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Hello forums. While I've hardly begun what I'd call work on an actual project, I've been jotting down ideas for it, and one idea I had was the player character being able to dual class (and change classes while at safe areas like towns/savepoints) with allies having a pre-determined main class, but the ability to still use a subclass to somewhat alter their playing style.
And therein lies some of the bigger questions when it comes to class design: How to balance it, how to make classes properly synergize, and soforth. Hence, this topic! I wanted to get some opinions on what I have so far, and see if there's anything I'm missing design wise that could make it work better.
Another thing to note: There's three groups all classes fall under, Neutral (always available), Light (one story route), and Dark (Another story route). So yeah, this is gonna be a fairly lengthy post, but I'll try to avoid inflating it with too much information.
NEUTRAL CLASSES
Soldier: Your all round tank/warrior/etc. High HP, DEF, has skills to mitigate damage, increase their chance to be targeted over allies, take hits for someone, etc.
Hunter: Long range damage dealer with good ATK and AGI. Able to attack from a back row to reduce damage they take but not lower damage they inflict. They lend a support function as well by being able to 'mark' a foe for increased damage from all allies, can improve their accuracy for more agile foes, and can buff themselves to do bonus damage versus specific creature types: Dragons, Beasts, Birds, etc.
Shaman: A mostly support based magic class that has some attack and healing options as well. Effectively an entry level healer that can still do other things to weaken or damage foes, but not as well as a dedicated attacker. Lower MATK than a Mage, but has higher MDEF which also affects healing potency.
Mage: Offensive magic class that is almost entirely offense, their only support being the ability to temporarily buff an ally's weapon with an element for extra damage. Extremely high MATK but much lower MDEF, better than a physical class, but lower than a Shaman or dedicated healer. Obviously low ATK, HP.
Rogue: Advanced damage dealer that relies on improved crit chances via high LCK stat and often acts first due to high AGI. Can steal items and gold from enemies, and attempt to 'sneak' out of direct battle to set up for high critical chance attacks.
Brawler: Frontline hand to hand damage dealer with good HP and ATK, but lacks in DEF compared to a Soldier. Much higher AGI than a Soldier however. Limited skillset mainly consists of being able to do high damage at the cost of a self inflicted stun, or grapple a foe to temporarily keep them from acting. What they lack in skills they make up for in solid damage output.
LIGHT CLASSES
Paladin: Advanced frontline fighter that has high HP and DEF much like a Soldier. Unlike a Soldier however, they specialize in reducing damage the party takes as a whole rather than taking hits, though options to cover allies do exist. They also have access to basic healing, and Holy magic that is especially potent versus Undead and Demon enemy types.
Cleric: Dedicated healer/support class with high MP and MDEF. Has superior healing and group healing compared to a Shaman. Also has a potent variety of buffs for the party, but lacks in the ability to do debuffs compared to a Shaman. No attack magic.
Sage: A master of magic that can use all spells from the Shaman, Mage, and Cleric schools. However, mastery comes at a cost of lower MP, MATK, and MDEF than the classes this one draws its spell list from. Cannot be a Subclass.
Shinobi: A support damage dealer that relies on elemental damage combined with debuffs to perform two jobs at the same time, albeit not as good as a class dedicated to one of those roles.
Monk: Frontline fighter that is more or less a damage variant of Paladin. They have high HP and ATK, and the ability to hit hard, especially versus Holy weak enemies. They can also do a variety of self buffing and healing which can afford a healer the chance to aid other allies as the situation demands.
Ranger: Another support damage dealer that mostly relies on their weapon for damage, with their skills being a mixture of support actions that help allies or weaken foes. Relies on a bow and attacking from the back row to reduce incoming damage.
DARK CLASSES
Demon Knight: Frontline fighter that has high HP, good ATK and MATK, but must be willing to constantly sacrifice HP to do high damage. Assuming they do sacrifice HP, they can hit incredibly hard against a single target or a group. They can also steal HP to keep themselves going, and if the situation looks grim, they can give their life to utterly destroy an entire group of enemies. Unlike Soldier and Paladin, they have pretty much nothing designed to support their party, they're in it for themselves with the exception of the ability to terrify foes to weaken their attacks.
Necromancer: Has incredibly high HP and MP, as well as MDEF. The reason for this is the Necromancer is a Healer that must give life to others, rather than simply heal. Necromancer healing requires the Necromancer to sacrifice from their HP pool, though the Necromancer has potent HP stealing abilities to upkeep his own, and he can also grant his allies the power to steal life with their weapons. He has access to a Dark based magic for attacking and debuffing foes as well.
Assassin: A long range damage dealer that works by exploiting a weakened foe. Ideally they can poison their weapon through consumable items to inflict debilitating conditions like Poison, Sleep, and soforth. When enemies are under these conditions, an Assassin can employ special attacks that do extra damage to targets under the appropriate affliction, in some cases even extending the negative effects.
Nightblade: A close range damage dealer that is the opposite side of the coin compared to Assassin. Rather than exploiting enemies with certain negative conditions, a Nightblade can use skills to add these afflictions to their attacks (With lower success rates than items however). They also are the only class that can buff their weapon to have a chance to kill enemies outright, making them a good choice for tougher random encounters.
Warlock: The Dark version of a Sage. Pretty much the same, except they get the Necromancer school in place of the Cleric school of magic. Cannot be a subclass.
Berserker: Another raw damage class similar to the Demon Knight, but rather than sacrificing HP, they simply enter an Enraged state that gives them high ATK at the cost of their DEF/MDEF. They also have the option to go completely Berserk for an ATK boost at the cost of randomly attacking foes for several turns, but they don't suffer the DEF loss. (Enraged/Berserk cannot stack. Going Berserk removes Enrage). As such, they have slightly better options than a Demon Knight, whose only option is to sacrifice their HP.
So those are the base classes. What I've been trying to do is design classes in such a way they can theoretically synergize with one another, some results may be more obvious than others, admittedly. Some examples...
Soldier + Paladin: Combine the Soldier's simpler (but stronger) defense abilities with the Paladin's wider skillset (Though his defense skills are a bit less potent) to have the best of both worlds.
Rogue + Hunter: Combine Rogue's high criticals with Hunter's ability to damage certain enemy types for much more potent damage.
Rogue + Shinobi: High criticals, damaging debuffs, and the ability to slip out of combat in order to set up a single, solid hit.
Demon Knight + Berserker: Go completely glass cannon with HP and DEF being sacrificed for raw damage.
Nightblade + Assassin: Get the best of both worlds. Inflict conditions, then exploit them.
Whew. So that's the list, thoughts?
And therein lies some of the bigger questions when it comes to class design: How to balance it, how to make classes properly synergize, and soforth. Hence, this topic! I wanted to get some opinions on what I have so far, and see if there's anything I'm missing design wise that could make it work better.
Another thing to note: There's three groups all classes fall under, Neutral (always available), Light (one story route), and Dark (Another story route). So yeah, this is gonna be a fairly lengthy post, but I'll try to avoid inflating it with too much information.
NEUTRAL CLASSES
Soldier: Your all round tank/warrior/etc. High HP, DEF, has skills to mitigate damage, increase their chance to be targeted over allies, take hits for someone, etc.
Hunter: Long range damage dealer with good ATK and AGI. Able to attack from a back row to reduce damage they take but not lower damage they inflict. They lend a support function as well by being able to 'mark' a foe for increased damage from all allies, can improve their accuracy for more agile foes, and can buff themselves to do bonus damage versus specific creature types: Dragons, Beasts, Birds, etc.
Shaman: A mostly support based magic class that has some attack and healing options as well. Effectively an entry level healer that can still do other things to weaken or damage foes, but not as well as a dedicated attacker. Lower MATK than a Mage, but has higher MDEF which also affects healing potency.
Mage: Offensive magic class that is almost entirely offense, their only support being the ability to temporarily buff an ally's weapon with an element for extra damage. Extremely high MATK but much lower MDEF, better than a physical class, but lower than a Shaman or dedicated healer. Obviously low ATK, HP.
Rogue: Advanced damage dealer that relies on improved crit chances via high LCK stat and often acts first due to high AGI. Can steal items and gold from enemies, and attempt to 'sneak' out of direct battle to set up for high critical chance attacks.
Brawler: Frontline hand to hand damage dealer with good HP and ATK, but lacks in DEF compared to a Soldier. Much higher AGI than a Soldier however. Limited skillset mainly consists of being able to do high damage at the cost of a self inflicted stun, or grapple a foe to temporarily keep them from acting. What they lack in skills they make up for in solid damage output.
LIGHT CLASSES
Paladin: Advanced frontline fighter that has high HP and DEF much like a Soldier. Unlike a Soldier however, they specialize in reducing damage the party takes as a whole rather than taking hits, though options to cover allies do exist. They also have access to basic healing, and Holy magic that is especially potent versus Undead and Demon enemy types.
Cleric: Dedicated healer/support class with high MP and MDEF. Has superior healing and group healing compared to a Shaman. Also has a potent variety of buffs for the party, but lacks in the ability to do debuffs compared to a Shaman. No attack magic.
Sage: A master of magic that can use all spells from the Shaman, Mage, and Cleric schools. However, mastery comes at a cost of lower MP, MATK, and MDEF than the classes this one draws its spell list from. Cannot be a Subclass.
Shinobi: A support damage dealer that relies on elemental damage combined with debuffs to perform two jobs at the same time, albeit not as good as a class dedicated to one of those roles.
Monk: Frontline fighter that is more or less a damage variant of Paladin. They have high HP and ATK, and the ability to hit hard, especially versus Holy weak enemies. They can also do a variety of self buffing and healing which can afford a healer the chance to aid other allies as the situation demands.
Ranger: Another support damage dealer that mostly relies on their weapon for damage, with their skills being a mixture of support actions that help allies or weaken foes. Relies on a bow and attacking from the back row to reduce incoming damage.
DARK CLASSES
Demon Knight: Frontline fighter that has high HP, good ATK and MATK, but must be willing to constantly sacrifice HP to do high damage. Assuming they do sacrifice HP, they can hit incredibly hard against a single target or a group. They can also steal HP to keep themselves going, and if the situation looks grim, they can give their life to utterly destroy an entire group of enemies. Unlike Soldier and Paladin, they have pretty much nothing designed to support their party, they're in it for themselves with the exception of the ability to terrify foes to weaken their attacks.
Necromancer: Has incredibly high HP and MP, as well as MDEF. The reason for this is the Necromancer is a Healer that must give life to others, rather than simply heal. Necromancer healing requires the Necromancer to sacrifice from their HP pool, though the Necromancer has potent HP stealing abilities to upkeep his own, and he can also grant his allies the power to steal life with their weapons. He has access to a Dark based magic for attacking and debuffing foes as well.
Assassin: A long range damage dealer that works by exploiting a weakened foe. Ideally they can poison their weapon through consumable items to inflict debilitating conditions like Poison, Sleep, and soforth. When enemies are under these conditions, an Assassin can employ special attacks that do extra damage to targets under the appropriate affliction, in some cases even extending the negative effects.
Nightblade: A close range damage dealer that is the opposite side of the coin compared to Assassin. Rather than exploiting enemies with certain negative conditions, a Nightblade can use skills to add these afflictions to their attacks (With lower success rates than items however). They also are the only class that can buff their weapon to have a chance to kill enemies outright, making them a good choice for tougher random encounters.
Warlock: The Dark version of a Sage. Pretty much the same, except they get the Necromancer school in place of the Cleric school of magic. Cannot be a subclass.
Berserker: Another raw damage class similar to the Demon Knight, but rather than sacrificing HP, they simply enter an Enraged state that gives them high ATK at the cost of their DEF/MDEF. They also have the option to go completely Berserk for an ATK boost at the cost of randomly attacking foes for several turns, but they don't suffer the DEF loss. (Enraged/Berserk cannot stack. Going Berserk removes Enrage). As such, they have slightly better options than a Demon Knight, whose only option is to sacrifice their HP.
So those are the base classes. What I've been trying to do is design classes in such a way they can theoretically synergize with one another, some results may be more obvious than others, admittedly. Some examples...
Soldier + Paladin: Combine the Soldier's simpler (but stronger) defense abilities with the Paladin's wider skillset (Though his defense skills are a bit less potent) to have the best of both worlds.
Rogue + Hunter: Combine Rogue's high criticals with Hunter's ability to damage certain enemy types for much more potent damage.
Rogue + Shinobi: High criticals, damaging debuffs, and the ability to slip out of combat in order to set up a single, solid hit.
Demon Knight + Berserker: Go completely glass cannon with HP and DEF being sacrificed for raw damage.
Nightblade + Assassin: Get the best of both worlds. Inflict conditions, then exploit them.
Whew. So that's the list, thoughts?
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