Humble Beginnings of a Skill System (Feedback appreciated)

[Fhizban 96]

Hi folks,
Okay this is actually my first real post here. I got VX Ace some time ago and work has begun on my premier top-secret project (but Im not completely new to RPGMaker, using 2k3 a long time ago). I would like to gather some ideas and feedback regarding my class/skill system before (possibly) going into the wrong direction. This system is far from perfect and is not as polished as i want it to be, also im not a good scripter (yet) - but I put a lot of care into it already! And sorry, I just noticed that this post became much longer than original planned (I should start a blog):

1. CLASSES
There are five classes in the game (Tank, Fighter, Support, Rogue and Wizard) as well as ten hybrid classes. This sounds like a lot of classes, but the 10 hybrids do not have skill trees of their own, they are just crossover-classes. So its basically just 5 classes throughout the game. This game is all about party composition and party play, you can add a maximum of 2 per class (or hybrid) to your party:

TANKS
Able to sustain large amounts of damage, highest defense in the game and also capable of dishing out great damage as well. Tanks protect your other characters and are often referred to as "Knights" in the game. I will describe Tanks in detail below.

FIGHTERS
High damage output, resonable defense and health. Fighters are your Nr. 1 non-magic damage dealers and also able to sustain lots of damage. They utilize skills like Frenzy to turn them into real war-machines!

SUPPORT
Healers, Bards, Druid and the like. Average fighters and good spellcasters with a focus on healing spells, defensive and support magic. Often referred to as "Healers" in the game this class main role is to support your other characters.

ROGUE
Also referred to as "glass cannon" or "glass sword", this class has the highest non-magic damage output of them all. Rogues lack defense and health but have high agility and several skills that allow them to evade damage. Rogues are able to bring down any enemy alone, but they are not able to survive the battle on their own.

WIZARDS
Finally, the highest damage dealers regarding magic in the game. Wizards could also be reffered to as "glass cannon" but they work a bit differently (and are even weaker...). In addition, their magic grants them access to many utility spells besides dealing damage.

2. SKILLS
Each class has access to one skill family (only talking about battle skills here for sake of simplicity). The only exception are the hybrid classes, those have access to two skill families (So a Tank/Support character can learn both Tank and Support skills). Note: I still have to decide how skills are learned.

Most skills come in three levels (1-3) and only "pure" classes can access level 3. Hybrid classes are limited to the levels one and two. Thats to compensate their dual-skilltree advantage.

Skills either consume MP or Focus (TP is Focus in this game) or both. All skills require these resources. MP are treated as normally. But Focus is much more limited: You start a battle with 0 and do not gain Focus from guarding and only a bit from attacking and taking damage. Typical Focus point costs range from 5 to 15 points per skill. There are items that preserve Focus, but they are really rare. There are additional ways to gain Focus, they vary from class to class.

Tanks and Fighters rely completely on Focus. While Support and Wizards use MP. Rogues use both.

Im using two scripts: "Victors Passive States" and "Yanfly's State Manager" to extend the capabilities of the Maker in order to make my skill ideas work.

3. ENEMIES
This has to be added in order to understand the system: Im using two more scripts: "HIME Enemy Levels" and "HIME Enemy Classes" to make this work. So the enemies scale in level together with your party (a "Myconid" is always the parties level (+/-X) regardless if you encounter it in the first forest or the last one). In addition, the enemies also feature the same classes as your heroes. So there are Wizard type enemies, Tank type enemies and so on. Monsters even use similar skills (but not all of them as stuff like Targeting Rate could not be applied to the party).

Needless to say, Im using the default battle system with some adjustments.

3. SKILL EXAMPLES
I will only go into detail about a few of my Tank skills as the thread will become unreadable otherwise. I hope the skill explanations below make it possible to grasp the role of tanks in my game as well as how the other classes might "interlock" and create a rich and fun battle system:

In general, Tanks are a slow class. Possibly the slowest class in the game. This is not just because of their low AGL, but also because they usually take a turn or two into the battle until becoming effective. This is because the Tank has to "charge" many of its skills to make them useful, wasting one turn of valueable time that could also have been spent on attacking. But, the tank is not relying on its skills. A tank is a powerhouse and also able to deal with many threats without his skills.

3.1 Hail (Passive) (1-3)
Before the battle begins, a Tank automatically gains a number of Focus points depending on its "Hail" skill level. This allows the tank to use his abilities right away. The tank is unique in that aspect, but is not able to preserve focus points.

3.2 Kneel (1-3)
Should the generated Focus points not be enough, the Tank can kneel in order to gain additional Focus points. This wastes one turn for the Tank, but is sometimes necessary. It also removes the "Heroic" and "Avatar" states from the tank (more on that later). Kneel should be used only if you must build up more focus to tackle a more powerful foe (not for basic overworld enemies).

3.3 Shield Wall (Passive) (1-3)
This passive ability increases the Tanks defense even further and also enhances it's Guard Rate a lot. As Tanks can become the primary target of your enemies (see below) it makes sense to "Guard" in order to withstand as much damage as possible. The Shield Wall ability is really helpful when "bricking" enemies that way.

3.4 Avatar
This is the signature skill of any Tank and learned at early levels already. It raises the Tanks Targeting Rate to 1000% (or whatever the maximum in the maker is), thus making the enemies target the Tank instead of the other party members when attacking. This allows to draw attention and therefore damage onto the tank, saving your other heroes. Needless to say, activating Avatar can also be dangerous: As it lasts 3-5 turns and therefore exposes your tank to lots of damage (Yes, you can use "Kneel" to get rid of your own "Avatar" state.)

3.5 Heroism (1-3)
This self-buff skill increases the Tanks HP (current and maximum) as well as its defense and magic defense. It also increases the Counter rate a lot. In addition, Heroism removes two negative effects (Afraid and Slow) and therefore allows the Tank to act freely again. You can buff yourself with this skill at any time, but it becomes really usefull when you use it before activating "Avatar" - if you have the time.

Okay thats all for now. I dont want to have several dozens of skills per class but one dozen would be nice (with 1-3 levels for most of them). Just take this humble beginning and imagine how the other classes might play and interlock with each other.

If you have any feedback, found an error or have ideas for skills. If you want to comment the classes themselves (have i forgot one? are there too many? Make the hybrids sense?) - feel free to post your comments here!

(im *so* close to start a blog now)

Cheers
-Malagar

PS: Thanks Tsarmina for the post merge and pointing me to the edit function!

Edited June 7, 2014 by Malagar

[Tsarmina 2,612]

I merged the posts for you. (Handy tip: There's an edit button at the bottom right hand corner of your posts.)