(04-14-2015, 03:20 PM)Domri Blackblade Wrote:(04-14-2015, 03:12 PM)Kayllen Wrote:(04-14-2015, 02:48 PM)Domri Blackblade Wrote: What if it's just some form of extremely advanced aetherial manipulation, this jump? Either way, it's something that would be available to the 1% in my mind anyway. Maybe that's why I am so lax on the hows.
When in doubt, its magic to Domri. LOL
Well that depends on who the 1% are, too. Do you mean 1% of Ishgardians? Yeah that's a fair number, likely. Probably a lot less, really, as we don't see armies of Dragoons but small 'squads' and individuals. As an example, the amount of soldiers who fought in the American Revolutionary War never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists at any given time.Â
Ishgard is a warrior nation with a warrior goddess that has been at war for over a thousand years (and still managed to help boot the Ala Mhigans out of the Shroud). That's a bit of an aside, I suppose.
REGARDLESS, -if- the standing military of Ishgard's force of Dragoons makes up 1% of its forces, which may be accurate, I'm not really sure on the numbers tbh, other than that they are rare and highly specialized, based on what we see and know already, 100% of Dragoons still have jumps and the ability to fight in an aerial fashion. So you aren't wrong but I don't think you're wholly right, either.Â
I will say that the one ability I concede as being 'off limits' as per a discussion with Berrod the other day, would be Dragonfire Dive. That was something that only the Azure Dragoon could do, apparently. Still, Dragoons are meant to be powerful, they have to fight dragons in the air, after all. But just like I wouldn't want to tangle with a Dragoon when they have the aerial advantage, I wouldn't want to go toe-to-toe with a monk armed only with my fists, either.
I mostly meant the 1% as more or less the most talented. In my own headcanon, becoming a dragoon is something that takes a lot of training, effort, and time. I can't get behind that it's something that can just be achieved and 'oh look I can leap now', if that makes any sense. I don't find anything off limits (except, yes Azure Dragoon abilities), but I feel like there needs to be a spectrum of reality on how long is spent getting from point A to point B in terms of skill.
And trust me, aerial combat may be great against giant things that fly, but could be disadvantageous against small, grounded targets. And I'd be pretty terrified of monks with heavy jamadhars as I would be terrified of a dude with a giant axe. There's an advantage and disadvantage to everything. I think everything is pretty balanced in the grand scheme of things. Just gotta think outside the box for some.
Completely agree. Flynt attends the Grindstone and trains constantly with others and never uses jumps against people mainly because it just wouldn't work 9 times out of 10. While it is fast, and they come down like a lightning bolt, it still takes what? 1-2 seconds? That is a very long time in a fight, especially when you know EXACTLY where they are going to attack from (See above.../pun).
I also agree that there needs to be a spectrum, and maybe as Dragoon RPers this thread would be a good location to agree upon how much time and dedication we think it takes. As someone who RPs a Dragoon, I think this conversation is incredibly important if only because I've seen others "pick up" being a Dragoon and consider themselves on par with a character who dedicates nearly every moment of training towards that fighting style, and those who suffer the most are the good and interesting Dragoon RPers by invalidating what they work so hard towards. At the end of the day, if the only thing that defines your character is a gimmick your character probably isn't fun to RP or to be RPed with, and that applies to any character/class.
For me, if you RP a skilled Dragoon that is really all you have time to be good at. So much so your character suffers for it. Flynt's rigid training schedule has cost him money, put a toll on friendships and in some ways affects his social skills on occasion. But I don't do it so I can validate my use of Flynt's jumps in case I ever wanted to, I do it because I think it's interesting to tell the story of a PTSD afflicted pseudo war criminal who doesn't know how to do anything else but hunt monsters with pointy things.
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