Hydaelyn Role-Players
RP and changing jobs - Printable Version

+- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18)
+-- Forum: Community (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Forum: RP Discussion (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: RP and changing jobs (/showthread.php?tid=2024)

Pages: 1 2

RE: RP and changing jobs - E'irawen - 05-28-2013

Forgive me if I'm off base here as far as how people do RP here, but it's been my understanding that you're not literally bound by the game mechanic.

Taking my character, K'aworu for example. He is for all points and purposes a Conjurer and is affiliated with the Fane. However, he does have some talent in Archery. But for RP, I wouldn't really /need/ to switch between those two jobs for the sake of the RP.

I could easily keep him, IG-wise, as either class/job. I could easily keep him as a CNJ, but through the course of RP, use text and other context clues to talk about his archery, or even demonstrate it in RP just using writing. I don't think I have to change him to the ARC job to say he can shoot an arrow, or say that he is shooting an arrow in an RP session.

This has just been my impression on the matter. Changing jobs how the game does it, I don't think has any actual RP representation. Your character can just /know/ those other skills (logically, of course. Not in a godmodding sense.)

RE: RP and changing jobs - faceman7381 - 05-28-2013

(05-28-2013, 02:13 AM)Abodo Wrote:
(05-27-2013, 10:28 PM)Xenedra Wrote: I want to fight Jackie Chan in an armory Big Grin!
So glad someone caught this. Thumbsup


Also, what Momo said makes a lot of sense to me. The jobs and classes you have in the game are supposed to be learned over the course of years in a RP sense. For instance, and I don't mean to plug my own character as some sort of perfect example but, Uther is a dragoon. Even when I'm inevitably going to have to level Lancer, he's still a dragoon in my mind. He's been training to be a dragoon since he was five years old. So the idea of someone switching jobs on the fly back-and-forth in a fight from one extreme to the next is kind of a foreign concept to me and it doesn't hold much ground from a realistic RP sense. I would go as far as to say it's insulting to the lore, but that might be a bit extreme. Seriously though, the only other jobs I can see Uther as are Paladin and maybe one day Archer. And the Paladin shift I have in mind will be RP'd over the course of months. I just don't get why this is an issue. I strongly believe in RPing a character who is a master of his or her art, and has put in the dedication and discipline to truly earn that title. With that comes very few opportunities to switch from warrior to black mage mid-combat. I realize OOC complications may arise in combat, but if you're a competent player even that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

This is just me though, and everyone is different.

This exactly why I RP Samurai now.  It just doesnt make sense that when they add samurai (and they have said several times it was coming) that BOOM I am now a Samurai and know everything about being one.  It just doesnt add up.
However I understand this is a game and FF has a history of changing jobs in battle like FF5 and FF X2.


To each their own of course.


RE: RP and changing jobs - Blade - 05-28-2013

(05-27-2013, 11:17 AM)Arlon Wrote: If my character(WHM) was on his ship, and needed to fight unarmed, would he simply reach into his pocket, pull out two cesti and 'transform' ala sailor moon into a monk with full gear or would he rush into the cabin and emerge a monk, like superman? Or Maybe more 'bleach'ish and change under the cover of light/smoke?

How would you do it? What's appropriate in this situation?

I suppose it all depends on the situation and the scene. If by "needed to fight unarmed" you mean, for example, his weapon got knocked away from him ICly, then you can have him hide his weapon visually and RP out his actions.

Given too that if your character is a martial artist and a mage, it isn't too far of a stretch to go that he could be adept with staves, sort of like martial arts with a Bō. If your character for some reason is attacked (perhaps through something like an IC FATE) and Monk is your stronger job--I dunno. I can't really think of a circumstance where I'd have a character ICly 'job change' on the scene. ESPECIALLY if it meant that I would need to change gear. The only time I would do that would likely be to change from a DD to a crafting job; but for his equipment, it would only be clothes that could reasonably fit under his armor (I like the vests for this purpose).

Jumping in and out from one AF to another is going to get you some questionable glances.

Blade, for example, has a couple jobs. He's a Warrior first and foremost, and he's an 'alright' Gladiator (but not a Paladin). Anyways, that all being said, I can't really find myself trying to RP both in a given scene. That's a lot of gear to be carrying on his back, and I prefer to RP a character that doesn't require a lengthy description when he comes on scene *In addition to his Axe, fellow roleplayer can also see that he has a bow and quiver, a shield, a dagger, a sword...* ... I prefer a more 'what you see is what you get' approach.

RE: RP and changing jobs - Observant - 06-01-2013

I would say, even in life, jobs and skills are never really completely clear cut. Par example, I'm in research, (bioengineering.) I wear a lab coat for the biological half of my work, but when I get back to the device half, I don't really take it off. (Mostly because lazy.) - I have all the tools I need for both jobs in the pockets of my l lab coats, so even as I go between the different aspects, I am technically wearing 'gear' for my main job. 

I argue that everyone, IC, has a 'main' job. The one that they do best, that they train the longest for, and naturally, the one that defines their character. Just because my character knows the abilities of some other jobs doesn't mean he's going to switch out most of his gear for a new set when he just wants to use a single skill.

Example here being, and forgive me if I get the mechanics wrong, if my lancer wants to cast some black magic, he doesn't necessarily have to use a staff to do so, perhaps he just plants his pointy stick into the ground and uses his other hand to cast. Or, he can have his channeling built into the lance. But no matter what magic he casts, he's still a lancer casting that magic and not suddenly a new mageling.

RE: RP and changing jobs - Ryanti - 06-01-2013

(05-28-2013, 02:13 AM)Abodo Wrote: So glad someone caught this. Thumbsup


Also, what Momo said makes a lot of sense to me. The jobs and classes you have in the game are supposed to be learned over the course of years in a RP sense. For instance, and I don't mean to plug my own character as some sort of perfect example but, Uther is a dragoon. Even when I'm inevitably going to have to level Lancer, he's still a dragoon in my mind. He's been training to be a dragoon since he was five years old. So the idea of someone switching jobs on the fly back-and-forth in a fight from one extreme to the next is kind of a foreign concept to me and it doesn't hold much ground from a realistic RP sense. I would go as far as to say it's insulting to the lore, but that might be a bit extreme. Seriously though, the only other jobs I can see Uther as are Paladin and maybe one day Archer. And the Paladin shift I have in mind will be RP'd over the course of months. I just don't get why this is an issue. I strongly believe in RPing a character who is a master of his or her art, and has put in the dedication and discipline to truly earn that title. With that comes very few opportunities to switch from warrior to black mage mid-combat. I realize OOC complications may arise in combat, but if you're a competent player even that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

This is just me though, and everyone is different.

This exactly why I RP Samurai now.  It just doesnt make sense that when they add samurai (and they have said several times it was coming) that BOOM I am now a Samurai and know everything about being one.  It just doesnt add up.
However I understand this is a game and FF has a history of changing jobs in battle like FF5 and FF X2.


To each their own of course.

I think it's way too much of a thing against somebody for them to consistently switch jobs and do whatever. At least by my standards. I'm not going to RP all the time. Realm Reborn is just as much of a MMO opportunity as it is for a RP opportunity to me. OOC'ly, I'll be doing and experimenting with a bunch of things. I'm not going to let RP hold me back in experiencing the game in entirety. I'm going to be doing a lot of OOC stuff, but when I'm RP'ing I'll be what my character is.

Besides... hell, I don't know what I'm going to have fun with class wise, job wise...

I'm thinking of Paladin right now, but what if I turn out to despise the Job? What if I like Warrior more? Etc. It's things you gotta think about. Now, I will say that while leveling Gladiator, Berserker, and Conjurer, I will be RP'ing as if I'm training to become a Paladin in the sense of getting used to different weapons, and magic itself as part of the training. That should give me enough time, realistically, for it to make sense of Ryanti becoming a Paladin. I'm not, however, going to spend literal months/years becoming something if it holds me back time-wise. (I'm a college student. Time management.) If I put in enough work to level those classes and the game recognizes me as a Paladin, I believe that to be enough.

I'm not a casual. But there's such a thing as too hardcore for me, to the point where RP becomes a parasite. It just seems to me like making a big deal out of a little deal.

Ryanti is eventually going to be a Samurai. But not right now. This is a stage of his life, and Samurai is going to be the next. I decided to take the situation of me not being able to become Samurai from launch, and turned it into a way for Ryanti to evolve as a character.

When that class comes out, however long it takes for me to level.. I'd probably have to level stuff like Pugilist or something anyhow.. regardless of all that, there will be a good amount of writing of what happens between Ryanti discovering the art, and him becoming one. I'm not going to just have it happen in a snap..

But at the same time.. months? Maybe. Years? No, lol.



(05-28-2013, 03:47 AM)Kaoru Wrote: Forgive me if I'm off base here as far as how people do RP here, but it's been my understanding that you're not literally bound by the game mechanic.

Taking my character, K'aworu for example. He is for all points and purposes a Conjurer and is affiliated with the Fane. However, he does have some talent in Archery. But for RP, I wouldn't really /need/ to switch between those two jobs for the sake of the RP.

I could easily keep him, IG-wise, as either class/job. I could easily keep him as a CNJ, but through the course of RP, use text and other context clues to talk about his archery, or even demonstrate it in RP just using writing. I don't think I have to change him to the ARC job to say he can shoot an arrow, or say that he is shooting an arrow in an RP session.

This has just been my impression on the matter. Changing jobs how the game does it, I don't think has any actual RP representation. Your character can just /know/ those other skills (logically, of course. Not in a godmodding sense.)

You're not bound by the game mechanic. At least I think so.

I see nothing bad about speaking of talents without switching jobs. It's silly when you think about it IRL. I don't have to dress up in a baseball uniform with a bat and helmet to tell people I'm good at baseball. It's just silly.

For the less extreme examples, sometimes it's more convenient to write things out then bother with modifying game mechanics. Especially if it's something as little as a job change for.. y'know.. shooting an arrow or something.

RE: RP and changing jobs - Uther - 06-01-2013

(06-01-2013, 06:11 PM)Ryanti Wrote: But at the same time.. months? Maybe. Years? No, lol.

I didn't mean you should literally be RPing that you're learning dragoon or monk or black mage for years. I meant the game's lore kind of implies that it takes years to master each job's art. My point is if you envision your character as something, they should at least have some loyalty to the job.

I'll use Uther as an example. Uther was born in Ishgard and is a third generation Dragoon. This explains why he's great at it the second I unlock the job. I'll dabble in other classes and jobs of course, but say I wanted to play Paladin as my main job and not play Dragoon anymore. The Dragoon job is so ingrained in Uther's character that I would have to create a story arc as to why he's becoming a Paladin, and I wouldn't RP him as a master of the trade for at least a few weeks or months. (Not years, because frankly who has time for that? It's a game.) This doesn't mean I'd play the job poorly on purpose or I would level it slowly. I just wouldn't RP that I'm a boss as a Paladin after one day of running around killing squirrels.

Sorry for the confusion.

RE: RP and changing jobs - Ryanti - 06-01-2013

(06-01-2013, 06:25 PM)Abodo Wrote:
(06-01-2013, 06:11 PM)Ryanti Wrote: But at the same time.. months? Maybe. Years? No, lol.

I didn't mean you should literally be RPing that you're learning dragoon or monk or black mage for years. I meant the game's lore kind of implies that it takes years to master each job's art. My point is if you envision your character as something, they should at least have some loyalty to the job.

I'll use Uther as an example. Uther was born in Ishgard and is a third generation Dragoon. This explains why he's great at it the second I unlock the job. I'll dabble in other classes and jobs of course, but say I wanted to play Paladin as my main job and not play Dragoon anymore. The Dragoon job is so ingrained in Uther's character that I would have to create a story arc as to why he's becoming a Paladin, and I wouldn't RP him as a master of the trade for at least a few weeks or months. (Not years, because frankly who has time for that? It's a game.) This doesn't mean I'd play the job poorly on purpose or I would level it slowly. I just wouldn't RP that I'm a boss as a Paladin after one day of running around killing squirrels.

Sorry for the confusion.


That makes a lot more sense.

It's kind of why I'm using the practice of making Ryanti's starting age quite clear (17-18)... and then as he progresses in, learning this, learning that, becoming this/that, instead of numerically keeping track of his age, I'm going to make it more vague. (He's a young man, in his 20's, a growing man, etc.)

So I'm not really specifying how much time he's putting into becoming 'boss' at his class IC-wise to give me some leeway, and also not setting a bar for how long it would take either.

Different people have different philosophies about time passing IC. I intend, for a long time, in keeping Ryanti's age associated with him being a young man. Maybe I will change that much later on, but for now that's what I'm aiming at. There's enough years there for me to do what I want to.

RE: RP and changing jobs - Uther - 06-01-2013

That's fair. There's certainly nothing wrong with keeping your character open to different styles of combat, especially if he's young. I'm just saying it angers me when someone RPs that they're the best at every job ever. 

On a side note, I'm all about aging characters. Even in games I don't RP in, I've done it. In WoW I played the same character from day 1 of vanilla to MoP launch, never RP'd, but I still used the barbershop function to gray his beard and recede his hairline, since I had been playing him for something close to 8 years.

I really hope there's a function like this in ARR. Of course my character is only 25 at launch so I don't think the game will be running long enough to need to gray his hair, but giving me the option of having him grow a beard or cut his hair in favor of a more mature look would be outstanding. That was off-topic. My bad. Blush

RE: RP and changing jobs - Ryanti - 06-01-2013

(06-01-2013, 07:01 PM)Abodo Wrote: That's fair. There's certainly nothing wrong with keeping your character open to different styles of combat, especially if he's young. I'm just saying it angers me when someone RPs that they're the best at every job ever. 

On a side note, I'm all about aging characters. Even in games I don't RP in, I've done it. In WoW I played the same character from day 1 of vanilla to MoP launch, never RP'd, but I still used the barbershop function to gray his beard and recede his hairline, since I had been playing him for something close to 8 years.

I really hope there's a function like this in ARR. Of course my character is only 25 at launch so I don't think the game will be running long enough to need to gray his hair, but giving me the option of having him grow a beard or cut his hair in favor of a more mature look would be outstanding. That was off-topic. My bad. Blush

It's quite alright. Thumbsup

Ryanti will definitely be exposed to many things during his training. On purpose, mostly. To basically just verse him in the way of combat, adventuring, and in some cases, war.

But no, Ryanti will definitely not be the best at everything. He will improve.. at things, the more time he spends learning them, of course. Certainly won't be the best though. Ryanti has a natural talent and incredibly deep well at being brave and courageous. To live up to the deeds of his father, whom was an Immortal Flame all the way up to when the Meteor hit.

But it's not something he realizes he has. If anyone would be the one to... tell him he's not good at something, it would be Ryanti himself, at least when he starts out. He's going to be very self critical about himself, and unsure about himself. I'm going to use his weaknesses to define his strengths.

But he's going to grow, as I said. In time, he will be quite the beautiful, majestic warrior with a magnetism and charisma that his father had. Although certainly he wouldn't be a master at it. People twice his age in the Flames would be.

Looking way into the future, when he is a fully fledged Samurai... hm, perhaps then would be the time to go to the barber shop and 'settle down' his hair a bit, and give a more.. experienced expression x3. Make him much more, at peace with myself, and sure of his decisions.

Though of the course the philosophy of a Samurai is that you are always learning.

I don't really think I could ever say I was/am/is a master at any Job, really. Unless it is bestowed upon me by others. I could say I'm really experienced, or that.. I have natural talent, or that I learn quickly. But mastery truely means you have nothing else to learn except from the students you teach.

It'll be kind of complicated though once I'm level 50 with full pvp gear and everything. Unless I don't count that in RP.

Once Ryanti is like that, I could go for the Obi-Wan approach. Be a 'master', have a student (maybe)... but still be, relatively young, and having much to learn still.

I can see being a Master rank wise much moreso then 'mastery' if that makes sense.

Although I still think, other people should make that distinction, not myself.

I'm just rambling now, lol. Dazed

RE: RP and changing jobs - Moonfire - 06-04-2013

The way I see it taking everything ICly isn't hardcore. Being so into the story of your character that you make it difficult to experience the game in an IC manner seems more hard core to me. Not saying people are wrong for that, but I don't see my way as wrong either of course. They are just two different ways to play. 

I don't let RP stop me from enjoying the game. But instead of going OOC to complete the game and IC to play out my RP, I intermix. I never got into deep backstory and tavern type drama RP. I like seeing my character fail and improve through the game. If I don't like a job or concept after I have started, I find a way to switch the character through RP. That being said, I don't just immediately get good at the new skill but develop it over time (both IC and OOC) I like making IC friends through time spent on the field having each other's back. 

This means accepting the world for what it is. As a disclaimer, there are a few times where I do play OOCly but I try to keep that limited as much as possible.

So back to the subject, I see jobs as skills you learn. In RL I have worked in a bank, Fast food, and grooming dogs. I can still do all three as long as I have the right equipment. But I am not cooking in a groomer's outfit and don't need scissors. So when you switch it's just bringing along your tools and changing out as you see fit. Done so instantly in this magical fantasy world.