RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

sima · **12-19-2016, 09:41 PM**

Hiya

I've only just purchased FFXIV and I'm excited to begin playing. Super interested in the RP aspect of the game, but feeling quite overwhelmed with all the lore and race related information there is to take in.

I've so many questions and I'm not exactly sure where I should be posting them. I don't want to turn this thread into a newbie question fiesta, so I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

I'm sitting in character creation right now with my male Au Ra, unsure of a few things that I'd prefer to know about before finalising anything. Is there any significance in the birth date of my character? I can't find much pertaining to it, but I'm wondering if there are certain traits that are thought to be found in people born on certain days or under certain moons, a bit like the zodiac for us; or if it's purely a fluff/cosmetic thing.

Also, when it comes to surnames, if I were to go with a Xaela clan already established in the lore, would this cause any complications should I meet other RPers going by the same name? Not sure how it all works out, sorry!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to begin playing and I hope you're all having a great day.

tl;dr hey im noob send help

**Unnamed Mercenary** · **12-19-2016, 09:59 PM**

Hi there! Welcome to the RPC!

I'll try to touch on a couple things quickly, but please always ask questions! ...or search. Both are good. Smile

Namedays are purely gameplay fluff for the most part. You won't see any gameplay differences on your choices. (Yeah, there's that tiny smidge of elemental resistance, but it's negligible). I haven't seen anything in the lore book as of yet on it, but I could have simply not scoured the right pages.

For Xaela names, think of them as clans/tribes. Your character would probably recognize them if they were from a smaller clan, but from a larger one, less so. It does provide a good way to network with people! If you're ever unsure, I'd recommend sending the person or people a /tell, which is the FFXIV version of a private message. You can find more information on Xaela names here on the official forums and here on RPC.

You can find a bunch of great starter lore by SounsyyÂ here:

Eorzean Lore Starter Kit
-Racial Lore Compilation
-Class/Job Lore Compilation
-Hydaelyn Geography Lore
-Settlements in Eorzea Pre-Calamity
-Eorzean City-states' Political Structures Lore
-Eorzean Units of Time and Measurement Lore

Faye · **12-19-2016, 10:02 PM**

Hello there, welcome to the RPC! Smile

Picking a pre-established Xaela clan is fine, and encouraged, even. If you run into another character from the same clan, all it means is that they may or may not recognize each other and perhaps it could give you a hook for RP!

Sounsyy · **12-19-2016, 10:14 PM**

Hey there Sima and welcome to Eorzea and the RPC! ^^

(12-19-2016, 09:41 PM)sima Wrote: Is there any significance in the birth date of my character? I can't find much pertaining to it, but I'm wondering if there are certain traits that are thought to be found in people born on certain days or under certain moons, a bit like the zodiac for us; or if it's purely a fluff/cosmetic thing.

The only true significance is the one you give it! That said, in Eorzea the people believe in a pantheon of Twelve deities, which you'll select from during the character creation for a "Guardian." While Eorzeans can choose to worship any or all twelve deities for any one of many reasons, their "fate" will also be (supposedly) governed by the deity of the month, or moon, they were born under.

We had a recent discussion about this and Zodiacs in this thread. You might also find it helpful!

That said, seeing as how you're creating a Xaela, a clan from a race not native to Eorzea, your character is not likely to worship the Twelve. Xaela instead worship the Far Eastern Azim, god of the sun, and Nhaama, goddess of the moon. However, that doesn't really help you with character creation, as those will not be options. But in Eorzea and in RP interactions, a character might take your birth month and associate the Eorzean god or goddess who commands that month with your character somehow. Alternatively, you could pick a month or guardian deity from the Twelve that you think your character might find some affinity with to adopt as they grow accustomed to Eorzean cultures.

(12-19-2016, 09:41 PM)sima Wrote: Also, when it comes to surnames, if I were to go with a Xaela clan already established in the lore, would this cause any complications should I meet other RPers going by the same name? Not sure how it all works out, sorry!

This is actually quite common in the city-states to see multiple Xaela from the same tribes. Some are more rare than others, obviously, but I've never seen complications arise from two Dotharl meeting in the street. Most often, the Xaela being largely refugees in Eorzea, tend to react happily to meeting someone from their mother land.

I'm still working on lumping all my lore compilations together in one thread, so until I have the index up and running, I'm still passing out my start kit of lore that will hopefully be helpful in filling in some of the blanks starting out! But please, feel free to ask as many questions as you feel you need to! We can usually find you an answer. ^^

Eorzean Lore Starter Kit
-Racial Lore Compilation
-Class/Job Lore Compilation
-Hydaelyn Geography Lore
-Settlements in Eorzea Pre-Calamity
-Eorzean City-states' Political Structures Lore
-Eorzean Units of Time and Measurement Lore

____________________________________
EDIT: Franz how you type so fast.

sima · **12-19-2016, 10:20 PM**

(12-19-2016, 09:59 PM)Unnamed Mercenary Wrote:

Show Content

SpoilerHi there! Welcome to the RPC!

I'll try to touch on a couple things quickly, but please always ask questions! ...or search. Both are good.

Namedays are purely gameplay fluff for the most part. You won't see any gameplay differences on your choices. (Yeah, there's that tiny smidge of elemental resistance, but it's negligible). I haven't seen anything in the lore book as of yet on it, but I could have simply not scoured the right pages.

For Xaela names, think of them as clans/tribes. Your character would probably recognize them if they were from a smaller clan, but from a larger one, less so. It does provide a good way to network with people! If you're ever unsure, I'd recommend sending the person or people a /tell, which is the FFXIV version of a private message. You can find more information on Xaela names here on the official forums and here on RPC.

You can find a bunch of great starter lore by SounsyyÂ here:

Eorzean Lore Starter Kit
-Racial Lore Compilation
-Class/Job Lore Compilation
-Hydaelyn Geography Lore
-Settlements in Eorzea Pre-Calamity
-Eorzean City-states' Political Structures Lore
-Eorzean Units of Time and Measurement Lore

Thank you for the welcome! It's much appreciated. That's quite reassuring to hear. I've been sitting tabbed out in character creation for the past couple hours trying to cram as much info related to birth dates, patrion deities and tribe names as I can.Â

Thank you so much for the links, I'll definitely give them all a read. I'm completely lost, but it's fun being lost in something you're interested in!

I've never roleplayed in an MMO before, so I'm wondering, how would things such as class changes be incorporated into RP? Is your class something that is seen as a focal point of your character, or is it something that is ignored when roleplaying?

Faye · **12-19-2016, 10:31 PM**

(12-19-2016, 10:20 PM)sima Wrote: I've never roleplayed in an MMO before, so I'm wondering, how would things such as class changes be incorporated into RP? Is your class something that is seen as a focal point of your character, or is it something that is ignored when roleplaying?

That's entirely up to you! Smile

Most people have their characters be the same class IC that they are OOC, or at least have a similar skillset to their class IC. You can choose whether to use your class IC or forego it, and it's also up to you how important it is to your RP. Class changes can also be incorporated into the RP, be it in the form of your character learning new skills, or changing their focus.

The only things I would warn against is having your character be a master of several classes IC (a lot of people will view it as unrealistic or overpowered), and that you may want to research a class/job a bit before you incorporate into your RP (sadly, a lot of the jobs in FFXIV are not easily playable in RP thanks to the lore SE has crafted).

Sounsyy · **12-19-2016, 10:34 PM**

(12-19-2016, 10:20 PM)sima Wrote: I'm wondering, how would things such as class changes be incorporated into RP? Is your class something that is seen as a focal point of your character, or is it something that is ignored when roleplaying?

Most people look at the character before the class. Each class and job has its own lore and history attached to it, but at the same time it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone who uses a spear has trained at the Lancers' Guild in Gridania. Some people may be proficient in multiple weapons, though many people on the RPC usually encourage roleplayers to consider the gravity of having multiple rare jobs and abilities weighed against their age and their history. Some people will play and level a class simply for the gear that becomes available for that class only at later levels, while their character might not be that class at all. For instance, my character's casual attire I picked out has pants that are only available to Leatherworkers, but my character isn't ICly a leatherworker.

So I'd look first at what you want your character to do or be and work around that. In their native lands, were they a skilled hunter? Then you might consider level archer and/or lancer if he/she has talents with those weapons. This wouldn't necessarily mean that your character trained at those guilds to acquire the talents, as she already possessed them in her backstory before she came to Eorzea. Alternatively, she could've been terrible with the bow and now that she's in Eorzea, she goes to the Archers' Guild to improve her skills there and ends up becoming one of the Gods' Quivermen. As an example.

**Unnamed Mercenary** · **12-19-2016, 10:44 PM**

(12-19-2016, 10:20 PM)sima Wrote: Thank you for the welcome! It's much appreciated. That's quite reassuring to hear. I've been sitting tabbed out in character creation for the past couple hours trying to cram as much info related to birth dates, patrion deities and tribe names as I can.Â

Thank you so much for the links, I'll definitely give them all a read. I'm completely lost, but it's fun being lost in something you're interested in!

I've never roleplayed in an MMO before, so I'm wondering, how would things such as class changes be incorporated into RP? Is your class something that is seen as a focal point of your character, or is it something that is ignored when roleplaying?

If you get lost anywhere, just give me a poke! ...I'm usually around a computer. ( PM > RPC chat because I might not have a tab loaded at that moment)

Faye already answered a bit, but I'll go into how I handle it too for variety!

For me, the classes and jobs are purely optional, although if your character is going to be combat-oriented, it helps to associate with them to have an idea of what the in-game setting allows for. For Franz, he's a bit of a mix between a marauder and an arcanist. (Education is not common in Eorzea, however. Most people probably do not read and write, although most RPers will handwave that so no need to worry!) Like Faye said, I wouldn't recommend combining too many or grabbing them all. I like to think about it as having a certain number of skill points I could reasonably allocate to character traits for experience. Naturally, individual skill/gifts/education/training would grant more points. So if we were to base everything from 1 to 100 for simplicity, where 1 is absolutely awful/untrained/unknowledgeable and 100 is perfect mastery/best in class, I'd say Franz is probably sitting around a 65 for axe-wielding, some 50s for some various crafts, around an 80 for cooking, and around 75 for arcanima, which is what he primarily studies these days. Could he do something else? Sure. But it would probably be average to some extent. How you incorporate classes and skills into your roleplay is entirely up to you. For me, I don't use named skills very often. It's more fun to talk about what is happening rather than the name it has. So instead of say, "Franz cast cure 2" I would instead talk about flipping to a pge in his arcanists' tome, some details on the geometries, and how he applied aether into the ink to cast a spell. But other people might just say they used that particular named skill as well.

sima · **12-19-2016, 10:54 PM**

(12-19-2016, 10:02 PM)Faye Wrote: Hello there, welcome to the RPC! Picking a pre-established Xaela clan is fine, and encouraged, even. If you run into another character from the same clan, all it means is that they may or may not recognize each other and perhaps it could give you a hook for RP!

That sounds like a pretty good way to get involed in some RP. Thank you for the response!

Seeing as I know so little about the FFXIV universe, I think picking a pre-established clan is a safer bet than attempting to create my own. On that topic, though: I've seen that it's quite common for groups of Xaela roleplayers to have their own original clan. Is this usually a case of creating new characters under the name of the clan, or is it common for characters to distance themselves from their old clans and form new ones ICly?

**Unnamed Mercenary** · **12-19-2016, 10:57 PM**

(12-19-2016, 10:54 PM)sima Wrote:
(12-19-2016, 10:02 PM)Faye Wrote: Hello there, welcome to the RPC! Picking a pre-established Xaela clan is fine, and encouraged, even. If you run into another character from the same clan, all it means is that they may or may not recognize each other and perhaps it could give you a hook for RP!

That sounds like a pretty good way to get involed in some RP. Thank you for the response!

Seeing as I know so little about the FFXIV universe, I think picking a pre-established clan is a safer bet than attempting to create my own. On that topic, though: I've seen that it's quite common for groups of Xaela roleplayers to have their own original clan. Is this usually a case of creating new characters under the name of the clan, or is it common for characters to distance themselves from their old clans and form new ones ICly?

I've found most players default to one of the preestablished clans. But it's certainly not a requirement. The official forum's post goes into this well by one of the lor creators.

Fernehalwes Wrote:The Othardian steppe is a vast region, therefore, every so often, one may come across a Xaela with a surname that is not found on the list of 51. This may mean that they are from a clan that was recently destroyed or absorbed. It may mean that they are of a new tribe that was formed by members leaving another. It may mean they are of a tribe that remained hidden in the northern mountains.

sima · **12-19-2016, 11:06 PM**

I appreciate the welcome!

Apologies for getting back to this so late; I'm making a complete mess of my post formatting in my attempt to reply ahaha. It does however let me reply to things you've written in newer posts, so I'll try my best to do that within this response.

The thread you shared which discusses the Zodiac is just what I was looking for. Thank you!

(12-19-2016, 10:14 PM)Sounsyy Wrote: Alternatively, you could pick a month or guardian deity from the Twelve that you think your character might find some affinity with to adopt as they grow accustomed to Eorzean cultures.

Ahhh, I see. That's one of the things I was confused about when reading about the Dawn Father and Duskmother found in the description of the Xaela, then encountering the guardian deity option.

The lore starter kit has been of great help so far! It was posted earlier by another user, but I'm glad I'm able to properly thank you for creating it.

(12-19-2016, 10:34 PM)Sounsyy Wrote: So I'd look first at what you want your character to do or be and work around that. In their native lands, were they a skilled hunter? Then you might consider level archer and/or lancer if he/she has talents with those weapons.

I'm currently trying to do this, though it's not an ideal scenario seeing as I've yet to play the game and don't know the classes/jobs as well as most. I've settled on tying my character to the Dhoro tribe, which is described as being a solitary clan which employs the use of lookouts. In honesty I haven't gone too far in planning out my character yet, but I'm imagining them to be something of a scout/tracker. Would the Archer class be the best fit for this, or is there something that could be better suited?Â

There's also the (possibly kinda silly) issue of discerning between the class(es) I want to play and the roles I want my character to be tied to. Is it common for players to play certain classes OOC (for instance, if they enjoy playing a Warrior) but completely separate it from their character? For instance, I really like the look of MNK/NIN, but I'm not entirely sure if either of those will fit my character.

sima · **12-19-2016, 11:12 PM**

(12-19-2016, 10:31 PM)Faye Wrote: That's entirely up to you! Most people have their characters be the same class IC that they are OOC, or at least have a similar skillset to their class IC. You can choose whether to use your class IC or forego it, and it's also up to you how important it is to your RP. Class changes can also be incorporated into the RP, be it in the form of your character learning new skills, or changing their focus.

The only things I would warn against is having your character be a master of several classes IC (a lot of people will view it as unrealistic or overpowered), and that you may want to research a class/job a bit before you incorporate into your RP (sadly, a lot of the jobs in FFXIV are not easily playable in RP thanks to the lore SE has crafted).

Aaah, I'm terrible with post formatting and it's causing me to reply so late. Your message perfectly answers a question I just asked! I was wondering how common it is for players to disassociate their played classes from their IC class. I totally understand how making your character a master of everything IC is a lil eye-rolly. Nobody likes a power gamer after all.

I'm sorta struggling with my characters starting class. Not only because I'm not entirely sure what I want to play, but because I'm not sure which fits my character yet. Also I'm not sure which starting area I'd like to be in. Though I suppose the aforementioned issues are more general new player problems than roleplay related ones, haha.

Thunderbolt300 · **12-19-2016, 11:20 PM**

Hey there, and welcome aboard to the RPC!Â Thumbsup

You're in excellent hands here already. Once you've got your character ironed out and have a better idea of what you're going to plot as a direction, I'd suggest creating a Making Connections post if you aim to try and get into RP as quickly as possible. That'll give you a pretty big leg-up on things right out the door!

sima · **12-19-2016, 11:24 PM**

(12-19-2016, 11:20 PM)Thunderbolt300 Wrote: Hey there, and welcome aboard to the RPC!Â

You're in excellent hands here already. Once you've got your character ironed out and have a better idea of what you're going to plot as a direction, I'd suggest creating a Making Connections post if you aim to try and get into RP as quickly as possible. That'll give you a pretty big leg-up on things right out the door!

Glad to be here!

I'm not sure how long it'll be before I've sorted everything out with my character... I've been sitting in character creation for a while, but tbh it's just making me feel pressured into choosing things I might regret later on, so I'll probably hold off actually creating my character until I've got everything planned out.Â

Thank you for the suggestion - I'll definitely make a thread over there once I'm ready! Super excited to get involved aaaaah.

Virella · **12-19-2016, 11:34 PM**

(12-19-2016, 11:06 PM)sima Wrote: I appreciate the welcome!

Apologies for getting back to this so late; I'm making a complete mess of my post formatting in my attempt to reply ahaha. It does however let me reply to things you've written in newer posts, so I'll try my best to do that within this response.

The thread you shared which discusses the Zodiac is just what I was looking for. Thank you!

(12-19-2016, 10:14 PM)Sounsyy Wrote: Alternatively, you could pick a month or guardian deity from the Twelve that you think your character might find some affinity with to adopt as they grow accustomed to Eorzean cultures.

Ahhh, I see. That's one of the things I was confused about when reading about the Dawn Father and Duskmother found in the description of the Xaela, then encountering the guardian deity option.

The lore starter kit has been of great help so far! It was posted earlier by another user, but I'm glad I'm able to properly thank you for creating it.

(12-19-2016, 10:34 PM)Sounsyy Wrote: So I'd look first at what you want your character to do or be and work around that. In their native lands, were they a skilled hunter? Then you might consider level archer and/or lancer if he/she has talents with those weapons.

I'm currently trying to do this, though it's not an ideal scenario seeing as I've yet to play the game and don't know the classes/jobs as well as most. I've settled on tying my character to the Dhoro tribe, which is described as being a solitary clan which employs the use of lookouts. In honesty I haven't gone too far in planning out my character yet, but I'm imagining them to be something of a scout/tracker. Would the Archer class be the best fit for this, or is there something that could be better suited?Â

There's also the (possibly kinda silly) issue of discerning between the class(es) I want to play and the roles I want my character to be tied to. Is it common for players to play certain classes OOC (for instance, if they enjoy playing a Warrior) but completely separate it from their character? For instance, I really like the look of MNK/NIN, but I'm not entirely sure if either of those will fit my character.

/Rolls in at the mention of Monk

Sadly enough the Job is really tied in with religious cultists from Ala Mhigo. Monk are Fist of Rhalgr! Their order is, as far as we know currently, considered scattered and their knowledge lost for the most part: They had their main temple purged by the Ala Mhigan army, and the elders of their order committed suicide to prevent said knowledge being taken from the Fists. We do know however there's a few temples (probably) left within the mountains of Gyr Abania however. Because we do have one NPC who was trained there after the purge of the main temple, and found his way into Eorzea.

It's totally possible to be a Monk (trainee) if you REALLY wanna go down that route of being the 'chosen one' trope if some lost wandering Monk found you, or an absolute newbie, but your character, as far as we have seen, has to be religious; it well, being a religious group of folk who happen to be good at fighting. Fighting is just one of the ways they worship their God.

What brings me to the 'problem' of being an Au Ra. They don't really seem to worship the Twelve. They got their own religion. On top of that, we haven't seen ANY Ala Mhigan au ra either (any other race would be totally fine for a Fist of Rhalgr though).

But fret not! There's nothing wrong with being 'just' a Pugilist either. They still hit like a truck, use Aether in their abilities and what not! Just stay clear of the artefact gear for Monk (because it has some lore with heresy and the other garb flat out killing you), don't claim to have chakras, and bam, you're settled! Smile

In any case, if you want to roll a Monk by some weird chance religious fighters (although don't be mistaken, they were advisor and the like as well) does interest you in this setting? I'd suggested rolling an older character (40+ as the purge happened ~25 years ago) of a non-Au ra race, who was trained in these Ala Mhigan temples!

As for Ninjas? It is probably a lot easier to justify that with an Au ra. If you were rolling Raen? Easy enough. They were ninjas just as much as any other race in Othard as far as we know! Hells, one of 'poster children' for Ninja in this game is a Raen Au ra. With a Xaela you probably have to still write them into living in a Doman village though. I'm not too knowledgeable on Ninja lore, and you probably want to ask someone else about that more x_X (I'd suggest finding one of Sounsyy's handy lore posts, they probably have one of them!)

In any case, I'd strongly suggest just focusing on the character, the job/class next! Nothing stops your character from 'just' being a pugilist. Or just someone who happens to stab people with daggers!

Good luck, and have fun o/

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Hello! New to FFXIV and rather overwhelmed

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes