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Arlon · **05-27-2013, 11:17 AM**

This is more for description on a forum based RP or possibly text based RP, as it can happen instantly in-game. but my curiosity in this is how will characters change jobs from one to another?

Example:

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?

Uther · **05-27-2013, 11:35 AM**

I've been thinking about this as well, but for different reasons. Say I'm in a tavern, and someone invites me to go adventuring with them for whatever reason. I wouldn't already be wearing armor and weapons in anticipation of this happening. My solution is running into a backroom (if it's on your ship, it'd be your cabin. if it was in an inn, it'd be a rented room or something), changing jobs or putting on armor, and returning. Other people will do different things, but I like to think no one can just transform outfits. If someone comes up with a good magical explanation I'd be open to it. As for my character though, who knows nothing about magic, I'll be changing in separate rooms.

Mycroft · **05-27-2013, 11:54 AM**

Clearly a summoner's powers are not limited to evoking the essences of god-like entities, surely once you've managed to master the summoning arts, you can draw out your equipment from smaller pocket dimension, and have it attach itself to your person.

Now with that joke out of the way, I am inclined to agree with Abodo.
Unless you carry around your wardrobe wherever you go, you'll have to enter your cabin/room prior to doing whatever it is that you wish to do.. And prepare in advance.
And I suppose that if someone could come up with magical explanation more serious than my own, I would have no real problems with it.

Caysen · **05-27-2013, 12:03 PM**

I think it would depend on the situation, but there's some game mechanics that can be overlooked and some assumptions that can be made. If they're in a fight or out in the field, a character would not realistically stop and change all their gear to a new set which they just happen to have stashed in a magic Mary Poppins backpack, they would just drop their weapon and grab another. I would probably RP it this way, ignore the magic armor change, then after the fight switch back to the first job for appearance's sake.

If they're in town somewhere preparing to leave though and they wanted to main a different job for the adventure, it would realistically fit that they changed gear in an inn somewhere. In that case I would agree with the guys above and RP it out.

CassandraJean · **05-27-2013, 12:34 PM**

I agree with Cayson. I think it makes much more sense, in the heat of a battle, to simply describe alternating weaponry than your entire wardrobe. To fight with an axe and then throw it down to fight with your bare fists, or pick up the staff you need for conjuring or something. I think it's one of those mechanics of the game you might have to overlook sometimes while RPing in writing for the sake of actually making sense...

Mycroft · **05-27-2013, 12:42 PM**

In regards to simply dropping a weapon in combat and pick up another (or simply use one's fists), there are a few other things to take into consideration.

The Pugilist and the Monk, both have the ability to move quickly and evade, etc.. That would not be possible for someone who just a second ago was a Paladin/Warrior in full armour. Your punches and kicks, should they connect, might hit harder.. But they wouldn't be as quick, and evasion would be harder.

On the other hand, dropping your staff/wand and picking up a sword and shield, would require you to really make good use of the shield, as now you have nothing but some linen cloth between yourself and some nasty critters claws/another character's weapon.

Uther · **05-27-2013, 01:13 PM**

That's fair. I'm going to RP that my character has nothing with him but what he brought, so pulling an axe out of nowhere isn't going to happen. The fact that you'd be changing weapons so frequently in combat is confusing to me. Unless you're fighting Jackie Chan in an armory, there's really no point as far as RP is concerned. My character will probably only ever use 3 weapon sets just by virtue of his personality and skill set. He'll only be Archer, Lancer/Dragoon, and Gladiator/Paladin, and never at the same time. When I pick a class or job, my character will only carry that gear. No one who travels as much as the adventurers in this game would be able to walk around with a bow, a quiver, a lance, a shield, a sword, and heavy armor. (except maybe Roegadyns) If Uther is called upon to battle or explore, he'll think about the situation at hand and grab his gear accordingly. Of course, problems arise and maybe it wasn't the best choice, but he's not Batman, and he's not coming up with contingency plans for every enemy.Â

So, in short, I'll be only carrying gear for one class at a time, as it makes the most sense in a role-playing scenario.

Vareal · **05-27-2013, 01:25 PM**

In my experience, and I've only RP'd on the forums, It's usually good to go dressed for the occasion, so to speak. If you need to change class in the middle of an RP to suit a certain situation, I have a few suggestions on how to go about that.

Take my character, Caden, for example. He has two main classes; Archer and Gladiator. Now, carrying a bow and a sword around at the same time is rather simple and convenient. I can have him, obviously, carry his sword in a sheath at his left hip and his bow can be slung over his shoulder, across his back. Rather than having his quiver slung over his back, I like to have it affixed to his waist -through his belt- at a slight angle so the arrows are at a fast and easy position to reach with his right hand. It's also a little easier to conceal if he's wearing a cloak. And even though I'd use it in the game to obviously train the Gladiator class, in an RP situation Caden will not have a shield.

Carrying much more than that can be come quite cumbersome, but lets say down the road I would like him to also be an efficient Pugilist. I can have his Cesti affixed to his belt at his right hip so I effectively have three classes I can change to at a moments notice.

It's also worth noting that in FFXIV you can use skills from other classes, so say if you're a Gladiator, you can use white or black magic or other skills from other classes. Try tying this into your character. If he/she is a Black Mage, but you're running around with a sword, remember that not all your Black Mage abilities are lost just because you aren't that class. It may not always be necessary to change classes on the fly when you have access to borrowed skills.

Aysun · **05-27-2013, 02:47 PM**

Can I just say that in 2 years of RP this has never once come up as an issue for me? Lol. Just use common sense, you'll be fine. Smile

Moonfire · **05-27-2013, 07:42 PM**

I too have been thinking about it.

On one hand, I think of instances in anime where swords grow and people transform so I think it is reasonable to see an instant change of abilities and gear with no real need to explain it out.Â

However my rational mind still has trouble accepting that and I will avoid that as much as possible and try not to change on the fly. I play all aspects of the game ICly so I know it will come into play at some point.

Open to suggestions.

Aysun · **05-27-2013, 08:41 PM**

Playing all aspects of the game ICly is just a bit much for most people. Game mechanics exist that are essential to making it a good MMO, but are completely unrealistic even in the magical setting. Thing such as instantly changing clothing, timers/cooldowns, a pack that carries an incredible amount of gear and items..

If you insist on RPing everything, I wish you luck. But please be mindful that not everyone is going to accept your or even need explanation for some game mechanics.

Xenedra · **05-27-2013, 10:28 PM**

I want to fight Jackie Chan in an armory Big Grin

!

Personally I think the realistic stance is the best. Pretend your clothes don't change, you just happened to have that other weapon on you.

Rhostel · **05-27-2013, 10:40 PM**

Something something stored in the Aether something something that's why all your abilities go on cooldown when you change.

At least, five bucks says if an official lore position on the matter was asked for, this is what they'd say, rather than brushing it off as a gameplay conceit. MMO developers feel this compulsive desire to insist that everything that can happen in their game has a canonical explanation, even when that creates internal contradictions that they don't care to resolve.

Momo · **05-28-2013, 01:17 AM**

I think really realistically, this ultimately wouldn't be reasonable to question. Â Taking into account how the lore and everyday NPC interaction takes place, most of the time it would be unreasonable for many of us to have random multiple jobs like some of the examples here. Â If you are a warrior, chances are the way the world works...you aren't suddenly going to pick up a staff and say hey I want to use all that BLM training I got in between warrior training...it just usually doesn't work like that. Â

Now...if you have a story that supports the change then fine, go ahead with questioning of how to justify it, but I will agree with Aysun, when it comes to game mechanics such as these, you usually ignore them to survive a battle if need be, otherwise you just stay as the one class if you are going to be realistic. Â Sure Momo has WHM sub job and is a PLD, but those classes make sense together, and I don't to truly change anything to use both, so those work, but as I said, if you are really trying to fit with the lore and world stance to this degree, you shouldn't be randomly changing in between anyways.

These jobs, they aren't passing fancy, most of the skills that you will come to learn are apparently learned through years of hard training, even if it truly only took you a couple months or less, so they should be treated with such revere in a hardcore RP world, and with that being said, the game mechanics should be ignored for the purpose of purity. Â Anywho, I hope that you guys find an answer if you wish to keep on with this train of thought, I am interested to see what other ideas are come up with.

Uther · **05-28-2013, 02:13 AM**

(05-27-2013, 10:28 PM)Xenedra Wrote: I want to fight Jackie Chan in an armory !

So glad someone caught this.Â 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.Â 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.

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RP and changing jobs

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