Numbers check: Who HERE* roleplays a regular class without any special abilities?

[Seriphyn]

Topic title. Paladins are excluded by nature of the fact they are a Job, not a class. I'm curious as to how many characters there are exactly who RP an ordinary class with no special/aetheric abilities, especially disciples of war. Curious to know if there are Gladiators or "sword and board" folk who are NOT free paladins, and lancers who are not dragoons. Or general fighters who know multiple weapons (which I imagine to be a common thing if one has been a fighter for long enough).

 

The more mundane, the better!

[Havoc Snow]

Are you asking if people play classes without any abilities other than the ability to use a weapon, or are you asking if anyone plays classes without the use of Job abilities?

 

All classes have special abilities that could only be explained as using Aether. Gladiator is able to produce a magical barrier that causes them to take less damage (Ramparts, Sentinel) or are able to cause massive aetheric explosions from their swords (Rage of Halone, Circle of Scorn). Likewise Pugilist can do similar things with Arm of the Destroyer, and it's Pugilist who gets Fist of Earth and Fist of Wind, two abilities clearly fueled by Aether if for no other reason than their obvious showy and somewhat spell-like appearance.

 

The way I see it, Aether is just a tool of the Adventurer, as much a part of their training and skill as wielding a sword or a staff.

[Gegenji]

Chachan is training to become a Free Paladin, but right now I just run him as just a GLD, does that count? Actually, I like having him as one because he doesn't know Cure, but a "circle-circle-dot-dot" light version of Physick to deal with small aches and pains. Plus a couple of other cross-class abilities that I think match his personality well (i.e. Goad).

 

... He's also a smith, so the relevant crafting classes could work as well.

[Warren Castille]

All classes have special abilities that could only be explained as using Aether. Gladiator is able to produce a magical barrier that causes them to take less damage (Ramparts, Sentinel) or are able to cause massive aetheric explosions from their swords (Rage of Halone, Circle of Scorn). Likewise Pugilist can do similar things with Arm of the Destroyer, and it's Pugilist who gets Fist of Earth and Fist of Wind, two abilities clearly fueled by Aether if for no other reason than their obvious showy and somewhat spell-like appearance.

 

The way I see it, Aether is just a tool of the Adventurer, as much a part of their training and skill as wielding a sword or a staff.

 

No one's surprised to see me posting this, I bet.

 

That's all arguably subjective, though. Gladiator is based around training with a sword and shield: Rampart and Sentinel could be waved away as tightening up your defenses to protect against specific attacks or dangers. The color burst effects on attacks could be video-game components of flashy attacks to make it interesting to look at. Fists of Wind and Earth could arguably be acknowledged as the beginnings of a fighter's chakra beginning to open in accordance with the Monk storyline. After all, we never see pugilist enemies using those stances.

 

Aether is a tool that not everyone is able to channel to the capacity as the MSQ Heroes. That's why aetheryte travel isn't readily available to everyone in the land, otherwise trade caravans would cease to exist.

[Aaron]

Aaron is a Rogue. Can't do that fancy mudra stuff.

[Flickering Ember]

I don't roleplay a regular class. I don't roleplay Ember as being any class, actually. Rather, I decided a while ago what her skill set was based on her life experience:

 

-Usually depicted as a pugilist, but doesn't actually know any forms. She fights mostly bare-handed but relies more on wrestling and beating with overwhelming blunt force than making use of martial arts

 

-Uses a dagger with poison if she needs a killing blow. But she is not a rogue or a ninja.

 

-Knows how to and actively tracks down animals for hunts.

 

-Knows a simple fire spell (ability to create fire/a weak fireball) and no magic beyond that after being taught by a couple of friends. She is unskilled in magic but has a strong aetheric connection.

 

One of my only characters ever whose combat skills were built around the character, not the class. Probably for the best when any character can be every class.

[ArmachiA]

I just play an Archer who sings. I'm not a "Bard" the way the game has it set up. So no special abilities in her singing.

[Kellach Woods]

That's why aetheryte travel isn't readily available to everyone in the land, otherwise trade caravans would cease to exist.

yeah well when you can accurately use aetheryte travel to haul tonzes of goods, maybe.

 

I'm pretty sure that aetheryte travel is really just for actual people, and not mad amount of goods.

[Warren Castille]

That's why aetheryte travel isn't readily available to everyone in the land, otherwise trade caravans would cease to exist.

yeah well when you can accurately use aetheryte travel to haul tonzes of goods, maybe.

 

I'm pretty sure that aetheryte travel is really just for actual people, and not mad amount of goods.

 

We never really get a peek into the specifics of it, though. I know my character can haul more than a hundred suits of armor across timespace if I make that my inventory, so it's hard to say where gameplay ends and where "aether did it" canon begins. I'm 99% sure there's an explanation that most people lack the aether reserves to teleport though.

[Seriphyn]

I'll be a bit more specific, then, and omit the use of the term "class". Forget about aether; take an individual, give him a weapon, and train them in use of that weapon for x number of years. Imagine that this character could exist in real-life, or any other fantasy universe.

 

From initial postings, seems to be more people than I thought!

[Warren Castille]

I'll be a bit more specific, then, and omit the use of the term "class". Forget about aether; take an individual, give him a weapon, and train them in use of that weapon for x number of years. Imagine that this character could exist in real-life, or any other fantasy universe.

 

From initial postings, seems to be more people than I thought!

 

If not for the "disallow Free Paladins" rule, this is Warren. His life started as a miner scraping by and eventually armored up as a result of RP way back in the earliest parts of 1.0.

[Berrod Armstrong]

I play a simple axe-swingin' Roegadyn.

[Aris]

Aris specializes with a lance and hand-to-hand combat, but doesn't use aether currently and is just a basic solider type of thing. Very mundane. The picture in my sig isn't remotely IC

[Telluride]

Does it count if my character actually is a bard in the more traditional sense of the word - a musician/lyricist?

 

Nathan, IC, is not really the soldier type at all. He's good with a bow, as someone who grew up learning to use it to hunt for food and help defend his troupe, and he's handy in a fistfight, but I don't claim any special "magic" to his musical performances, nor do his MNK levels reflect any "chakras" or fantasy-fu other than his being a big guy who's been through his share of barfights.

 

When put next to those with full military training, he'd not consider himself on their level, nor does he really aspire to be.

[Verad]

Yes, there are plenty of us. We're not particularly special, nor is it a marker of some unique status.

[Perth]

A'toli is very simply a pugilist, Sasahno is just a civilian so she doesn't even fight in the first place (at her most bad ass she'd probably start to throw things) and Aelita is just an arcanist. I hope for that to change in the future however, I'll have to read up on Scholar lore!

[Aeylis Bloodbinder]

Aeylis chops wood.

 

 

 

thats her story and she's sticking to it.

 

mmhmm.

[Seriphyn]

Trying to note patterns. In discussions here, the flavour of player-characters who participate vary the further away from mundanity the topic is. As such, it's easy to get the impression all the more regular characters are mysteriously absent.

[Faye]

I tend to enjoy role-playing mages and also gravitate toward healers in PvE. That being said, my main is a conjurer IC. However, my bard was nothing more than a girl who occasionally shot arrows (and like to sing, to herself, when no one else was potentially in hearing range), at least until I leveled SCH/SMN on her and decided to make her magic user IC since it suited the character well.

 

Aside from that, though they are alts I don't play much, my lancer is just a dude with a lance, my marauder cannot and will not ever be able to use aether or anything IC, and my pugilist is just a scrapper and I plan to unlock rogue on her as well (so she can be a scrapper who both stabs and punches things). My gladiator is the only character I've considered mixing magic and melee on, but I haven't leveled her much and I have yet to RP her or even give her a proper back story.

 

Sooo while I lean toward mages both OOC and IC... when I do play physical fighters, I tend to leave them... uhhh... physical. And on the topic of normal people, though I've yet to have the chance to RP her, my lalafell is a normal mundane civilian with no use of aether and no weapons.

[Mahorela]

I guess Tasa falls under that. Given the nature of warriors lore wise and ability wise I feel like RPing as the job or class is really just a matter of how you swing your axe.

 

It's my interpretation that those who consider themselves marauders are general rough and tumble, "I'll kill you before you kill me" kind of fighters that favor a big heavy axe for smashing and crashing.

 

Meanwhile warriors, from what I gather, are more disciplined and focused. They view it as something of a lifestyle, since it's my understanding that warriors emerged from a the Roegadyn Hellsguard tribes of the mountains I assume it's almost a cultural thing. Of course there's the element of that "inner beast" but such a thing is rather easily explainable and could be seen as a spiritual element more than anything else.

 

I suppose asking about the mundane members of the RPC will result in a mixed bag of ideas of what mundane really means. I think Tasa is pretty unexciting or not super special but other people may think the fact she's a hulking tower of muscle and steel is totally crazy!

[Steel Wolf]

Steel's abilities with her axe are completely plain and have no aetheric ties whatsoever. Even the flashier attacks such as Overpower and Storm's Eye are more just animations without much stock taken in to the special effects tied to those attacks.

 

This is pretty easy with Warrior, since a great deal of the attacks are about a martial discipline controlling one's fury and power. Even the reference and ability of Inner Beast I read more as a technique than something that makes me glow or allows me to tick off other abilities that make me glow.

 

Despite the myriad colorful explosions that erupt with every strike, I see Steel's axe-work in my head-canon as pure martial maneuvers. Nothing more.

[Berrod Armstrong]

Trying to note patterns. In discussions here, the flavour of player-characters who participate vary the further away from mundanity the topic is. As such, it's easy to get the impression all the more regular characters are mysteriously absent.

That would really depend on your definition of 'regular' as it pertains to FFXIV. For example, my monk utilizes the ability to harden his fists and augment his strikes in combat. Yay happy monk magic time! 

 

However, if you ask anyone who has roleplayed with him, he's more or less a regular guy. 

 

The character's abilities or whether or not they use the aether, echo or a macbook don't really define them in that sense at all.

[Roen]

Roen does not qualify, but I will post about a character I know well to insert here! (the player does not visit the boards hardly ever)

 

Anden Anduron, one of the Brass Blade captains, is a gladiator with no aetheric abilities. He and his brothers come from a long line of proud gladiators. His ancestors were originally poor, then made their fortune in the Blood Sands, enough to raise the house to the ranks to the Monetarist nobles.

[Whittledown]

Steel's abilities with her axe are completely plain and have no aetheric ties whatsoever. Even the flashier attacks such as Overpower and Storm's Eye are more just animations without much stock taken in to the special effects tied to those attacks.

 

This is pretty easy with Warrior, since a great deal of the attacks are about a martial discipline controlling one's fury and power. Even the reference and ability of Inner Beast I read more as a technique than something that makes me glow or allows me to tick off other abilities that make me glow.

 

Despite the myriad colorful explosions that erupt with every strike, I see Steel's axe-work in my head-canon as pure martial maneuvers. Nothing more.

 

Maudit is in the same camp as Steel Wolf here. She said it more concisely than I could too.

[Hiro]

Currently Hiro is in the NIN class in between a more suitable class that leans towards his originally intended Samurai roots. I was just fortunate that the Relic weapons are basically paired Katana which suit his background. ICly the only thing I'd utilize of the NIN abilities are the Thrown Knife and Huton abilities (otherwise really I just free form). Having no real abilities at the moment is working for him as he's in the transition of regaining his heritage (which was my excuse for having katana and not knowing what Samurai abilities will be like ).

 

Ideally once Samurai pops out and is (hopefully) an actual Katana class I can move into that.