In yesterday’s coverage of the Gamemaster Book, a lot of the top-down concepts of the FFXIV RPG were looked at. Today we will be looking at the Player Book.

Containing the same page count, the Player Book has all of the core mechanics and crunch of the system, though streamlined for the starter set. I will be presenting my thoughts in the same manner as Pt 1. So without further ado:

After some introductory what is game front matter, the book dives right in on page 004.

1. MAKING CHECKS

There are basically two types of checks made in FFXIV: ability checks, which are used during encounters (there are no melee, missile, or spell ‘attacks’ in this game), and action checks, which are performed outside of encounters.

Success is determined by rolling a d20 [+/- modifiers] against a Challenge Rating (CR) of 5 (Easy) to 30 (Nearly Impossible).

As FFXIV is very much a fail-forward type of design, very rarely will missing a CR result in a nothing happens result.

Checks can have Advantage or Penalty dice added to create a pool of d20s (up to 3d20). It’s best to get in the habit of rolling different colored d20s.

Checks can be opposed by both NPCs and fellow players. In an opposed check, highest roll wins.

2. ADVENTURERS

Though FFXIV has many jobs (classes), there are but three roles: Tank, Healer, and DPS. The game is designed around a party of four adventurers (their name for player characters): one tank, one healer, two DPS.

Every adventurer has a mix of common and unique traits and abilities, as well as a set of primary and secondary attributes.  The primary attributes are STR, DEX, VIT, INT, and MND. The secondary attributes are Defense, Magic Defense, Speed, Vigilance, Max HP, and Max MP. Anyone familiar with TRPGs will be able to suss out the meanings of these attributes.

It is worth pointing out that at least as far as the starter set is concerned,  FFXIV does not have social attributes (charisma, willpower) or abilities. (See titles, below)

3. ADVENTURER PROFILE

This is where a player can note their character’s race, appearance, gender, and basic background info.

The book briefly mentions titles, which apparently does appear to influence NPCs.  Whether NPCs can also have titles is not covered.

4. ENCOUNTER BASICS

This chapter takes up the remainder of the Player Book. 10 pages of crunch is nothing to sneeze at, yet none of it feels overwhelming or needlessly simulationist.

Encounters are largely abstracted with adventurers going first (unless they are surprised).

FFXIV is not a Theater of the Mind  style game, with encounters taking place on a square-grid map. The maps appear to be very compact (12×12) and are divided into 1-inch squares. There is no map scale provided but it appears to conform to 5ft (1.5m) squares, so your existing battle maps and 3D terrain should work fine.

The Player Book contains no rules regarding flying enemies, lines of sight, or vertical movement.

After determining surprise, enemies are placed on the map and then adventurers.

Encounters are broken into phases and rounds. Most encounters will have a single phase.

Rounds are broken into steps. These are: Adventurer, Enemy, and End of Round.

On your turn, you can perform one primary action, one secondary action, and one standard movement or focus action. Movement can be split up between other actions and it looks like general positioning is very important in this game.

The secondary actions are: use a secondary ability,  use a secondary item, perform scenario or GM-specific secondary actions.

Player’s also get one free action on their turn. These include things like opening a door, picking up an item, etc.

Lastly, players get instant abilities. These are reactions that trigger once per enemy on a given turn, so it’s possible to trigger your instants frequently.

Character size determines how much space a character takes up on the map (1×1 to 4×4) as well as whether a character or creature can move through an occupied square.

5. ABILITIES

In an encounter there are three different types of abilities: physical, magical, and unique.

In FFXIV you will never swing your axe, or fire your bow. Instead you will activate Thrill of Battle, Elusive Jump, Tomahawk, Fire II, etc.

Every ability has at least two levels of effect: base effect and direct hit, depending on whether you exceed the CR for that ability. I am assuming that the ability check CR is rated the same as action check CRs, but the starter set does not say.

A natural 20 produces a critical effect, doubling any direct hit damage.

6. MARKERS

In my opinion, markers is one of the most unique and evocative mechanics in the game.

Markers provide advance notice of what is about to happen on the encounter map. Each marker has a trigger condition which states the conditions under which the effect is resolved. The example in the Player Book has two example markers with the trigger, The beginning of this character’s next turn.

7. HIT POINTS

When an adventurer’s HP drops to 0, the character is knocked out. The fate of NPCs, and whether they are knocked out, dead, or enter a new phase at 0 HP is decided by the scenario or GM.

8. LIMIT BREAKS

Limit breaks are special abilities with specific trigger conditions and some can be used to interrupt the resolution of another ability or marker.

9. ENHANCEMENTS AND ENFEEBLEMENTS

Any condition with a beneficial effect on a character is considered an enhancement.

Any condition that has a detrimental effect on a character is considered an enfeeblement. The list of enfeeblements in the Player Book include DOT (Damage  Over Time), Prone, Slow, Blind, Stun, Knocked Out, Weakness, Brink of Death, Comatose, and Death.

INITIAL THOUGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

With only two small booklets of rules at this point in time, does the FFXIV RPG convey enough information to tell us what this game is actually about? I think I will have to wait for the scenarios to arrive to answer that question.

Does the FFXIV RPG replicate the feel of the MMO? Without having played the tabletop version yet … I am strongly leaning towards yes. The encounter dynamics, in particular with regard to markers, limit breaks, and instant abilities, feel like Final Fantasy to me, as does the base effect/direct hit/critical mechanic.

I think it would be fairly disingenuous and reactionary to say that this is a 4e style combat engine with a 5e style action mechanics. The two things that prop up 5e, advantage/disadvantage and inspiration (themselves not particularly original ideas), don’t seem to be treated with the same frequency in FFXIV and are not core to the experience.

FFXIV also does some very unique things that are both more intuitive and totally opposite of D&D, one of which is how size is treated in FFXIV when attempting to move through an occupied square.

FFXIV’s terminology is aimed directly at MMO players, which I am fine with, though it took a bit to get used to seeing things like DPS and Proc in my tabletop RPG. 🙂

My initial thoughts are very positive on the encounter side of things, but I do wonder about how you can create a meaningful campaign from these rules. I am certain that the upcoming Standard Rules and Gamemaster books will flesh out many of the things that are brushed over or not used in the starter set, such as travel, money, resources, and purchasing items and equipment.