So, obviously in-game we're pretty durable. Bullets are a mild annoyance on the same level of getting stabbed in the face, hit by magic lightning, or being
set aflame. But how much of that carries over into RP/lore?
I could see magic users as having a pretty decent excuse - Protect spells and other barriers could be justified as blocking a gunshot or two, deflecting a sword swing, and so forth.
And we also have proven evidence that aether is imbued into our clothing and armour the more we use it. So while it
looks like we're wearing a flimsy robe, it could offer much more protection than it would seem.
Essentially, how durable do you treat your character in terms of being wounded or incapacitated, either during battle or other things? Would a single bullet or stab wound ruin your day?
Apart from a durable coat and metal knuckles, not very. She is more durable than her size would imply, but still can't sustain many severe injuries compared to larger Spoken. She relies on not being aimed at in the first place ideally, but if that's impossible, her training allows her to consistently avoid being shot from one direction and one opponent, maybe two if they're unskilled or distracted, maybe three if they're in the dark and/or panicking. She would rather just be behind cover, but Virara is small and incredibly fast, enough that aiming a gun at her is challenging; she can't dodge a bullet after it's been fired, but potentially could deflect extremely predictable subsonic musket balls or poorly aimed arrows with her iron hora. All of this flies out the window against volley weapons like that which the Garleans use. Against them, her odds are only favorable if she has the element of surprise and doesn't get shot at in the first place.
Otherwise Virara doesn't have the money for good armor and is seemingly not that skilled at using "internal techniques" as she calls them to bolster her durability; if she is, it's likely she has her hands full keeping herself in one piece when she punches. Her thick coat provides some protection but is unlikely to stop a bullet fully. She had armor that could from a friend but that has already been destroyed in a difficult fight. Probably her best armor is unintentional; since she ruins her cheap iron knuckles regularly, she carries a brace of replacements at all times. Maybe if she was lucky one could slow or deflect a bullet, but they could also shatter.
As far as magic goes, she doesn't have any particular resistances. If it is slower than a bullet or arrow she might avoid it, but a curse or something that covers a wide area would be trouble. (Though she was able to avoid a room-filling dragon breath with only minor burns, but it's unlikely to happen twice.) She is not very experienced with magicks and is often at a loss as to how to deal with them.
If we had to be ultra realistic about everything we would have to consider bullets way deadlier than arrows, spears would rule most battlefields without magic...
Since it's fantasy a lot of things can be arranged, explained in many ways...
And it also depends on the power level and tone you play with.
I would say I give my characters a lot of endurance but make them them vulnerable. For example, they can get shot several times and be severely wounded but can still manage to fight/walk for a bit.
For all of my characters, durability is chalked up to their class, their experiences and their backstory. Regarding Akeno, taking a bullet is a pretty big deal depending on where she takes that bullet. A nick to the arm? Probably not a huge deal aside from stinging and some blood. A full-on bullet through the midsection, now that's a bit more of a problem.
   That being said, Akeno does have a protection spell on constantly -- it is weaved into all of her robes and generally is role-play as being a ripple of glitters when touched/activated. However, I consider it to more mitigate damage than fully protect from it. A punch or rough grabbing is likely to still cause some bruising, but the degree of pain inflicted is going to be muted.Â
With other characters, their abilities have a pretty wide range and I do have an alt which is completely defenseless. They aren't very adept at magics and would very likely cry if they were shot at or stabbed. They've never seen the battlefield and are more civilian-types who don't go out chasing down bandits on the regular. Thankfully, these characters don't see too much role-play and have yet to engage in anything which might lead them down the road of danger, danger.Â
Now speaking to battlefield engagement, depending on the situation (and character involved) I do believe it's entirely possible to cast a "shield" of aether which would completely negate any incoming damage from an outside force. Bullets fired off from outside of the shield would likely it it and disintegrate or be slowed to a point of just dropping to the ground without harming another individual.Â
   The use of aether is something I feel is quite open as far as role-play goes and how it is "shown" in character. Perhaps that is just me, but given the genre of fantasy I feel there's a lot that can be done with manifested aether; just depends on the characters development and purpose.Â
How bulletproof is Tyll'a? Not at all. He did manage to block a bullet with a sword, but shattered the sword in the process, shards riddling his face and destroying his right eye.
Bullets and fire are Shopu's greatest weaknesses. She's a small target so she manages to avoid the worst of it, but she's been grazed a lot.
Eaubront, on the other hand, gets shot a lot. Once a bullet got through his cheap maille and into his chest and he almost bled out. But he got a cheap pickup line out of it, and a girlfriend
Please don't shoot Marisa! She'll probably die, or at the very least she'll start crying and it'll ruin the rest of her day.
As far as injuries, I tend to go by how many she's taken. Etoile is a fighter, she would probably be able to take getting shot, but depending on circumstances and shot placement, it could take a lot out of her. One time a poisoned blowdart pretty much took her out of the fight entirely.
I tend to take different stuff into account when determining how badly Etoile is injured. How bad I lose the dice roll, the class she is at the time, what is being used. Barring healing, fatigue and resolve start to become a bigger deal when things start piling up, or when she is poisoned or restrained. But she isn't a stranger to getting hurt in general.
Joke answer: Chachan is a shonen anime protagonist and will take exactly as many bullets as he needs to do the Dramatic Hero Thing. And then likely end up all beat up and bandaged but otherwise fine in the "next day" scene. Minus rampant Senzu Bean use.
In all seriousness, one of Chachanji's "strong" points (for good or for ill) is endurance and stubbornness. If the bullet doesn't hit anything vital, then he might whimper and whine about it... but would push on if it was something he felt strongly about. It probably helps that he's a pretty solid smith and tends to put his money where his mouth is by wearing what he makes. So, properly armored up he's even more likely to be able to withstand small arms fire (after all, melding a basic materia to a cobalt chain mail suit in the ARM questline made it strong enough to stop Limsan-level gunfire).
Judge is also almost always in full armor and surprisingly resilient besides. The others, though? No particular degree of bulletproofing. Especially Gaines - a strong enough light jab could double him over, let alone something as potentially fatal as a gun shot. At least Gogon might be able to have some aetheric protection or something up.
I've never really done combat RP so I imagine I'd have to balance it around what the other people are doing. A 1v1, for example, is probably better off closer to realism but fighting a horde of Garleans probably requires your character taking a couple bullets.
When I do personal writing I tend to have things closer to being realistic with magic protection being weaker. Since I can control what happens, I can have my character get more severe injuries at the end or run off to heal herself. Writing by yourself lets you do whatever you want but RPing requires cooperating so both parties are happy.
Tsubaki wears partial leather armor when she knows she's going to get in a fight. Half the time she gets caught in her "adventuring clothes" which are more for protection from the environment than from weapons. Ideally, she keeps herself far away from danger and snipes so it isn't a problem. When she does take hits she can push past the pain and keep fighting but she can't last particularly long. She has healing abilities but they're very weak (ie she can close cuts but not cure poison or mend bones) and she has to concentrate too much to use them in a fight. A single bullet won't take her out of a fight if it doesn't hit anything vital it's the healing process that would take her out for a day (or more).
Khaz isn't really bulletproof but he does have the potential to slow some projectiles. I mean, given he'd have a helluva headstart in knowing it was coming. But if he got shot, it'll definitely hurt and if he got shot somewhere especially crucial - RIP, Khaz!
His brother Feine, being undead, is much more "bulletproof" by most standards. It'll still do some relative damage (minus any bleeding) but won't actually "kill" him unless he's shot somewhere very specific.
Between TBN every 15 seconds, Grit, getting shot at constantly by giant magitek mecha armed with plasma cannons and rocket launchers - somewhat reasonably bulletproof, seemingly
Depends how important the character getting shot is tbh.
A random NPC getting shot in the head would probably die in a FF setting but knock that NPC up to a MC (Looking at prime example Cloud Strife here) and you can shoot them point blank in the head with a bullet and all they get is a shallow blood wound.
Don't think XIV has a static durability meter tbh. It all depends on what'd be cool in the moment.
Ki wong is ananime character in my mind.. so it's all plot. Jokinig aside - kindof- she's a monk, she can most likely block most of the bullets with her fist or aura so you'll need a gun over the level 70 or her ilvl. I'm sure if I'm rping with someone tho the rules wil change but for now, it's plot. And a bit of gameplay. Cause from what I seen, she's jumped off cliffs longer than the empire state B. Been hit by all kinds of mechs monsters, demons, GODS.... she's not scared by a bullet. Now bad breath and silence... those can burn in all hell.