This RP will be set approximately 700 years prior to the occurrences in FF13. We will be playing as Pulsian and Cocoon soldiers working together to infiltrate the governments of Pulse and Cocoon, as well as attempt diplomatic and political maneuvers to end the war peacefully. The RP will take place both on Pulse and Cocoon. As there is limited canon regarding the world during this time period, I will be making several assumptions throughout, and will hopefully create an intriguing story that veterans and newcomers alike will enjoy.

Pulse is a lush and verdant open world, full of beasts and fal’Cie. The people live either in small villages or the large archaeopolises in Haerii or Paddra. An archaeopolis is an ancient city that has survived for thousands of years, still built in the original manner of construction. Travel is often done by Chocobo (large flightless yellow birds, although some are other colors, and a few rare ones can actually fly) or for the brave or crazy, via Wyverns (dangerous wild flying beasts that would kill you rather than look at you). The terrain is wild and varied, with steep cliffs and caverns such as the Mah’habara to wide open plains like the Archylte Steppe. The people of Pulse have learned to domesticate some of the beasts that roam the wild, and many beasts (like the Gorgonopsids) have been trained to fight.

Cocoon is a floating world above Pulse that can be prominently seen from many locations on Pulse. It is held aloft by the power of the fal’Cie, and was created by the god Lindzei from a chunk of Pulse to be a paradise to keep humans safe from the dangers of Pulse. Tens of millions of people live in the futuristic cities, from Eden to Palumpolum to Bodhum to Nautilus, however there are beautiful nature reserves such as the Sunleth Waterscape. The city of Eden holds the Sanctum, or the seat of power for Cocoon, and floats in the center of Cocoon. As the name implies, the citizens of Cocoon are sheltered from Pulse. Indeed, most cities cannot even see Pulse, as they are on the inside of the crust. Everything is provided by the fal’Cies, from their sunlight to their food and water.

Travel between Pulse and Cocoon is done through personal aircraft or other means of flight. However, as a war is underway, travel between the worlds is forbidden. Most people from Pulse fear and hate anything from Cocoon (and vice versa). That said, the players will be able to get between Pulse and Cocoon with relative ease as needed since they are a part of a military operation.

Ever since Cocoon was created, both sides have feared and hated each other. Pulse is called a land of monsters, and their inhabitants are treated as savages by those on Cocoon. On the other side, Cocoon is called a “nest of vipers” by those living on Pulse, and the inhabitants are treated as completely dishonest. This animosity goes beyond mere prejudice, however, as the hatred is ingrained and taught since birth by the government and the fal’Cies. Few people are able to escape this prejudice, and even those harbor distrust towards the other side. The extremes of this prejudice can be seen in the two descriptions of Cocoon from the FFXIII datalogs:

From her lofty seat, the world of Cocoon has long enjoyed tranquility. The interior of her spherical shell supports several sprawling cities and a population numbering in the tens of millions. Although a variety of dangerous beasts prowl the wilds, advanced technology and the protection of the world's fal'Cie keepers ensure residents a peaceful and prosperous existence. Travel to the lowerworld of Pulse is forbidden, but given their deep-seated cultural fears of the place, Cocoon citizens would not even think to venture beyond the paradise they know.

And lo, the viper Lindzei bore fangs into the pristine soil of our Gran Pulse; despoiled the land and from it crafted a cocoon both ghastly and unclean. Lies spilled forth from the serpent's tongue: 'Within this shell lies paradise.' Men heard these lies and were seduced and led away. O cursed are the fools who trust a snake and turn their backs upon the bounty of Pulse's hallowed land! For those who dwell in that cocoon are not Men, but slaves of the demon Lindzei. Ye who honor Pulse: rise unto the heavens, and cast down the viper's nest! -- Author unknown

With tensions rising, the armies of Pulse made a Preemptive Strike upon the floating shell of Cocoon, destroying a portion of the outer shell and exposing its interior before being driven back by the armies of Cocoon. We will be exploring the immediate aftermath.

So, you may have glanced over to the sidebar and noticed that I’m pretty new on this forum. I figure I should put a section here describing what you can expect from me. I have been the creator or Co-DM on several RPs on a site called Vagrant Epochers. I am also the main Moderator of the RP section on that forum. In the past, I have often picked up the DM work on RPs where the creator ran out of free time (or became overwhelmed due to a lack of planning). I have done this with a .hack and a Persona RP. The Persona RP lasted approximately four years with a constant roster of 20 PCs, but had to be closed due to some hard-to-avoid structural issues for which the original creator did not allow a work-around. The .hack RP continued for several months before interest waned. I also created a Mass Effect RP, an original creation RP, and a FATE series RP. All of the above RPs typically contained a strong sense of story with structured combat.

I tend to run RPs with turn-based combat set up similar to RPGs. Combat usually is a fair portion of my RPs, but I try to focus more on the interaction between the characters. That said, I try to have a tough but fair approach to combat. If it isn’t difficult, there isn’t much of a challenge. I try to balance my combat so that you’re only a few mistakes from a full party wipe, but never quite get there. Of course, I will have the first several fights simpler to get both the players and the DMs used to the difficulty curve, then slowly increase difficulty to require more strategy from the players.

My number one goal is that everyone has fun and is treated fairly. To help with this, I do have a few rules that I expect people to follow (see the Rules section). In addition, I tend to use Google Sheets quite a lot. Some might say excessively. My FATE RP had probably about 20 Google Sheets associated with it, plus Google Docs for several combos. More often, I simply have a Public Sheet and a GM Sheet where I run numbers and hide spoilers or enemy information. I encourage the use of combo posts using Google Docs to write a longer post with multiple participants, rather than have several shorter posts that are scattered throughout the IC thread, making it hard to follow a single conversation. I also encourage the use of Skype (or if more people prefer, Discord) to chat about strategies or other RP-related things. The real-time feedback of a chat program really helps to make the group gel, and also makes it easier for me to respond in a timely manner.

I work a full 40-hour week (usually more). I have two children and a wife that take up a fair amount of my free time. I also participate in a DnD 5e or Pathfinder live game every Sunday afternoon. I am stating this because it shows that I am a busy guy with limited free time. I completely understand what it means to have limited free time. That said, I usually can find time in a given day to answer questions or improve the RP, especially around noon time on work days where I can check the forums during my lunch break. I am also committed to projects I start. I will only end a project once every alternative has been explored, or it is obvious that interest has waned to a point where it cannot be stoked back up.

This RP is an idea I’ve had floating around for a while. According to Google Sheets, I started the idea before they switched over their system to the new sheets in 2012, but I began in earnest to refine the system in the beginning of December 2016. I will continue to refine the system over time as I find out what does and doesn’t work. This means that there might be some combat changes to simplify things or add new features as time goes on.

I am a fair and patient DM, but there are a few expectations I have of those who join my games.

1. Respect. My #1 rule is to respect the DM, respect your fellow RPers, and respect yourself. As my current status states, respect is a measure of oneself, not the other individual. In addition to following the rules of this forum, I expect players to let me know when they will be gone for long periods of time, to treat each other with dignity in any communication related to this RP, and to work together to improve over time. If a DM makes a blatant mistake, please feel free to point it out, but do so respectfully. If you are for some reason not enjoying your time or have a grievance to air, please send me a PM so we can figure out a solution for all involved, rather than ranting in the OOC.

2. Posting Requirements. As I mentioned, this is intended to fall within the high-casual range. I expect a post approximately once per week. Please make an effort to improve your grammar and spelling, as the whole point of RPing for me (in addition to having fun) is to improve my writing. In the past, I have made frequent use of Google Docs to make combo posts with others. I find this allows for longer, in-depth posts with plenty of back-and-forth without being needlessly complicated. Generally, with 2-3 people in a combo, it is not unreasonable to see several-page posts each week. I do not expect multiple paragraphs between each reply if this method is used, but if you decide to single-post, I do expect a descriptive and well-thought-out 2-3 paragraphs at minimum. However, quality is better than quantity, in my opinion. That said, combo posts require coordination, but you generally only need to spend a few minutes to make a reply, rather than an hour or so to create a full post.

3. Quality. I have mentioned this already a few times, but my intent is to help people improve their writing skills over time. Everyone can improve, even the most seasoned veteran. I have seen a friend go from near-godmod one-line posts riddled with grammar and spelling errors to in-depth five-page masterpieces with emotion and intrigue. I don’t necessarily expect marked improvement from everyone, but I want you to respect yourself enough to try to improve over time.

4. The Usual. No godmodding (controlling things and characters that aren't yours to control, or performing acts that are physically impossible), no metagaming (acting on knowledge your character does not have), and no Mary Sues (characters that are created as perfect and everyone loves them) or emo brats (Squall). Your character can have emotions, but if they shop at Hot Topic and listen to Evanescence, I suggest finding a different FF RP to play. Please put a number between 27 and 38 somewhere in your interest post if you have read these rules. I mean, nothing against Hot Topic or Evanescence, but whining does tend to get old after a while. Hope.

5. Worst Case Scenario. In long-term RPs, it is inevitable that someone will want to (or have to) drop out. If the reason is because of the RP itself (story, gameplay, other participants, your DM), please come and talk to me before it gets to the point where you have no choice. If it is because of time constraints or other unavoidable real-life issues, please let me know as early as possible so I can plan for it. In both cases, please make an effort to finish the current story arc so that your character can exit the game naturally. If there is a sudden reason why you cannot continue, I will control the character as needed to finish the arc (which pretty much means I will do combat actions for them). My intent with this RP is to make it relatively simple to switch up group composition, but there are always going to be times where a new character’s entry or an old character’s exit is unfeasible for a short time.

What exactly is Fabula Nova Crystallis? Fabula Nova Crysallis, or FNC, is a collection of games that include Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy. Early in the development of two other games (Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy: Type-0), the FNC universe was expanded to include them under the names of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito, respectively. However, as development continued on those games, they were removed from the FNC universe and given a distinct flavor of their own.

If FNC does not include Final Fantasy XV, why did you mention it under the picture at the top? Good question, astute observer. I included it because, although it was removed from the FNC universe, there are still elements of FF XV that tie into similar themes as the Great War in FF XIII. As such, I have included some of these elements in the story I have planned.

So why did you not include Type-0? In all honesty, I haven’t played or watched enough of the story to know how it could tie into FFXIII. It’s possible I will pick up some elements I like and add them in the future, though.

Do I have to worry about spoilers if I have not played FFXIII and FFXV? In short, yes. There will be some thematic elements of both games that may get spoiled for you if you have not played them. For FFXIII, these are not extremely important elements (much of it gets revealed before you obtain all party members in the game, and the rest is buried in lore). For FFXV, I hope that my story’s usage of these elements will be obscure enough that it does not directly spoil important things from the game (I mean, I won’t have a big sign pointing at it and saying “this is from FFXV,” and I will be making up a lot of information as well). However, if you have played FFXV, you might see some of the inspiration at work. So although technically there are spoilers, they should be minor enough or obscure enough so as to not foil your fun.

Surely the world has changed in 700 years. Why are you using images from the games? Two reasons. One: I can’t draw. And two: having a familiar setting is helpful. There are a few locations that will look different. The archaeopolises will be more intact than the images show, and Lake Bresha will actually exist as a city (since the city was destroyed later on). In addition, most Pulsian locations will be in much better repair than seen in the game, including locations like Taejin’s Tower and Oerba.

What are l’Cie and fal’Cie? I’ve used these terms in a few locations, but haven’t explained them. Fal’Cie are demigods that control various aspects of nature. They have no free will, but are immensely powerful. L’Cie are humans that have been chosen by the fal’Cie to complete a specific task, usually without knowing exactly what that task is. All they get are a few vague images, which are definitely not helpful in being specific. For example, a l’Cie might be tasked with killing a megistotherian, a large wolf-like beast. They might get a few flashes of the beast in combat. Or, another interpretation of the vision might be to protect the megistotherian from hunters. Or perhaps it’s rare, and you are to find it and lead it someplace. It is up to the l’Cie to interpret the vision and act on it. Refusal or failure, and the l’Cie eventually turns into a Cie’th: a horrible ghoul-like monster that roams the world in eternal pain, until their souls condense into a Cie’th Stone that calls out woefully to passersby to finish their quest. Success means you are turned into a crystal and granted eternal life... as a crystal. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation. Our characters will be turned into l’Cie at the start of the RP.

Final Fantasy XIII is a stupid game. Why would you make an RP based on it? Well, first off, that’s an opinion. FFXIII happens to be one of my favorite games of all time. The lore in the game is deep and rich if you look for it, and I love many of the themes used in the game. I also believe that, despite having two sequels, there is a ton of unexplored history in the series. You do not have to be a fan to join this RP, but I do request you abstain from bashing the game and those that enjoy it. And yes, there is a difference between discussing the design flaws of a game and outright bashing it. The upgrade system definitely could have used some transparency.

I noticed you were looking for a co-DM. I am! Being new to this forum, I sadly don’t know enough people here to get any grasp on who to ask. If you have any suggestions, or perhaps you are willing to volunteer, please let me know. This is what I’m looking for in a co-DM: I need someone who shares the same commitment to respect and fairness as I do. I would like someone who has some experience in running Excel or Google Sheets. Knowledge of Excel formulas is a major plus, but I try to make my sheets relatively user friendly (although I might need to give a tutorial... I say “relatively,” but they’re still complicated and full of data). Their number one job would be to assist me with combat to ensure everything runs quickly and smoothly. I would like someone who is fairly frequently available to discuss things with either me or the other players. A co-DM is welcome (and encouraged!) to participate in the RP, as long as they are able to treat everyone fairly. I would also like to participate, and having a co-DM allows me to do so and not have to DM my own combat. I also want a co-DM who is not afraid to tell me if I’ve messed up, and is willing to accept constructive criticism of themselves. Having extensive knowledge about FFXIII (or at least the willingness to look it up) is also welcome, and it would be great to have someone to bounce ideas off of, or who wants to contribute ideas of their own. This RP has the potential to get really complicated (and hopefully have a lot of people!), so being able to split the load would make everyone’s lives better. Although not a requirement, someone who is willing to communicate verbally through Skype or Discord will make several things (including the Tutorial) much simpler.

When I create an RP based off an existing game, I try to keep as much of the gameplay intact as possible. That said, FF13’s Active Time Battle system is fairly difficult to recreate in a forum setting. I have done what I can to keep the spirit of the game intact while making a combat system that is hopefully fun for you and simple enough for the DMs to run without going crazy every combat. When indicating interest, please list your favorite character from the FFXIII trilogy, or put None if you haven’t played. As a side note, I would love to have a Co-DM sign up to help me out.

Standard Combat in FF13. Combat in the game revolves around the concept of roles and paradigms. Each character has a set of roles that they can use to deal damage and drive up the Chain Gauge. The Commando role deals high damage (usually non-elemental) and stabilizes the Chain Gauge, but does little to increase it. The Ravager role deals lower damage (usually elemental), but increases the Chain Gauge significantly. The Sentinel role draws attacks in and has a lot of damage resistance. The Saboteur role deals a little bit of damage and can stabilize the Chain Gauge, but their primary function is to inflict powerful debuffs. The Synergist role buffs the party. The Medic role heals the party. Each role has several abilities that are unique to that role and cannot be used while a character is performing a different role. Changing the roles of the party members is called a Paradigm Shift.

Roles and Paradigms. Each character will have three primary roles and three secondary roles, just like in the game. The secondary roles will not be unlocked until later, and we will play a few levels with just two primary roles to get the hang of things before expanding. In the game, the leader calls for a Paradigm Shift, and the characters change their roles to match. There are only 6 Paradigms available in any given battle to choose from. This is far too restrictive and difficult to coordinate in a forum RP. Instead, I will allow any character to shift their Role at the start of their turn, at the cost of 1 ATB segment. This adds a lot more versatility into the combat system and might make some fights less challenging than intended, so I may change the cost at a later date if needed.

ATB Gauge. ATB stands for Active Time Battle. During each turn, you have to wait for your ATB gauge to fill before you can act. In the game, normally you have multiple people acting at the same time, and you are able to cancel some segments to attack earlier if you need to. In the RP, both of those are difficult to do while maintaining structure and consistency. Instead, each character will perform their full turn before the next can act. You can choose to cancel any number of ATB segments in order to act sooner next round. Your ATB Gauge charges at a rate dependent on the number of ATB segments you have. We will start with three ATB segments that charge at a rate of about 1.4 seconds per segment (4.2 for all three). Every action you take will then have a certain duration between actions based on your weapon type (weapons based on casting magic generally have shorter casting time but take longer to swing, while weapons based on physical attacks are the opposite). Each round then will have a 0.5 second delay at the end of your actions before your ATB begins to charge. This is to make it less desireable to cancel ATBs in order to game the system (such as keeping an enemy launched indefinitely) and approximates the animation time in the game of the character rushing up to an enemy and backing away afterwards.

Chain Gauge. In the game, the main strategy in battle is to build the Chain Gauge on each enemy until it hits its Stagger Point, and then unleash a barrage of attacks to take out their insanely high HP. The Chain Gauge increases the damage dealt by whatever percentage is shown on the gauge. Stagger points vary by enemy, but once an enemy hits Stagger, the Gauge immediately increases by 100% and begins to deplete. At this point, COM does not extend the Chain Gauge anymore, but it deals a massive amount of damage, and RAV generally gets more bonuses to increase the Gauge. In addition, many enemies have weaknesses that can be exploited when staggered, and several can be Launched, putting them out of commission until they land (usually several rounds later). While Staggered, enemies can be interrupted much easier as well.

Actions. Role Actions are active abilities granted to you by your Role, and may include Attacking (COM), casting a spell (RAV), guarding (SEN), debuffing (SAB), buffing (SYN), or healing (MED). Every Role Action you take has an ATB cost. You cannot use a Role Action if you do not have enough free ATB segments. In addition to Role Actions, you can also use Items or Techniques. Both of these take your turn (including the 0.5 second delay after), but do not use any ATB segments, so you can join in the battle nearly immediately after using an item. In keeping with the battle system of FFXIII, you can only target one individual per round (AoEs hit multiple people, but all have an initial target). If you need to target someone else, you must first cancel your remaining ATB segments, then wait for your ATB Gauge to refill. You also may only use abilities from a single Role during a round, but may change your Active Role at the start of your turn (as noted above). Unless you are a Sentinel and have the ability unlocked, there is no “Guard” or “Defend” ability, although you can simply wait and do nothing for a while.

Techniques. Techniques are skills that do not take any ATB segments to use. These include Libra, Quake, Renew, Erase (called Dispelga in FFXIII, but there’s a SAB ability with the same name), Stopga, and Summon. With the exception of Summon, all Techniques are unlocked in your primary Roles’ Crystariums. Techniques typically take as long to cast as a standard magic spell would, with the exception of Summons. Techniques cost a resource called TP to use. Each character will have their own TP bar that has three segments. TP refills over time, and along with ATB segments, is the only non-item resource to not be fully restored at the start of battle. The TP segments are not all the same value. Regaining your first TP segment takes far less time than regaining your final TP segment.

Summons. I will likely cover this in more detail as we get to Summons, but each character will have the option of acquiring an Eidolon during this RP. Once acquired (through story progression), you may summon your Eidolon by using all three segments of your TP bar. Eidolons will be treated differently than in game, and will essentially take the place of your full-ATB Abilities (like Army of One). They take two seconds to cast, but will have devastating impacts on their target. In the game, there are three types of full-ATB abilities: COM, RAV, and SAB. The COM ability dealt a massive amount of damage and reset the Chain Gauge to zero. The RAV ability dealt a series of hits and boosted the Chain Gauge, with more bonuses after the enemy is staggered. The SAB ability was Vanille’s Death, which had a low chance to instantly KO an enemy and dealt a fair amount of damage. In addition to the above, I will also have a SYN option which will grant all allies several offensive buffs (similar to using an Aegisol) and heal them slightly, a SEN option which will nullify all damaging actions from the enemy’s next turn, and a MED option which will heal all allies to full and grant several defensive buffs (similar to using a Fortisol). I will also expand the SAB option to put a series of debuffs on an enemy (similar to Anathema from Sacrifices) and deal a fair amount of damage.

Items. I intend to use Items from both FF13 and FF13-2. I will not be using Shrouds (Aegisol, Fortisol, Deceptisol, Ethersol), but you can get some of their effects from Summons. There will also be multiple weapons and accessories. I am currently planning on a simplified upgrade system where you pay a certain amount to upgrade your weapons (no need for components). I may even have quests to find catalysts to further enhance weapons. I do not plan to have upgrades for accessories. You will be able to upgrade and buy items, weapons, and accessories at specific times (usually any time you are in contact with your organization).

Parties. The RP will be split into parties of 2-3 people. Some parties might join each other on missions (or everyone might go together), but for the sake of combat, you will be in small parties. I am hoping for a minimum of 6 participants to start. That way, if we lose or add a participant, I can restructure parties fairly simply. If you are placed in Group A, that doesn’t mean you’ll never interact with Group B. There might even be points where Parties might get switched around mid-mission (although this should be fairly rare unless there’s a problem with set-up).

Crystarium. This isn’t particularly Combat-oriented, but it fits here. When you complete a battle, you will gain CP (Crystarium Points, which in any other game would be called EXP). You may distribute your CP in any way you choose, as long as you have unlocked that Stage of your Crystarium. At the end of each Stage is a Role Level node that increases the passive bonuses your Role grants you and allies. I have condensed the Crystarium somewhat to give bonuses to every stat on each node, whether you gain an ability or not. Generally, you gain an ability every 2-4 nodes, depending on the Role. This ability might be a Technique, a Role Ability, or something else like an extra Accessory slot or ATB segment. For each of your Primary Roles, you will start with 1-2 abilities for free when the role is unlocked. For each of your Secondary Roles, you will need to purchase several nodes in order to unlock your first ability, at which point you can use that Role in battle. Primary Roles have 4 Stages and 5 Role Levels, while Secondary Roles have only 2 Stages and 5 Role Levels (two Role Levels per Stage). As you acquire more and more nodes in a Role, they get more and more expensive: by the end of the first stage, your Role Level node costs as much as 20 of your first nodes. However, you gain more CP per fight as time goes on. There might be a point where you gain CP, but have nothing to spend it in. That’s fine: you can stockpile CP as long as you need. Once we get to the next unlock, you’ll have plenty of immediate upgrades to spend the points on. The next Stage will likely soon be unlocked after we defeat a (hopefully challenging) boss.

I will post an updated Character Sheet in the OOC once we have enough interest. In the meantime, here are a few things to consider.

Name. No, your name does not have to be a weather phenomenon. If your character is from Cocoon, you will have a first name and last name, as per normal western naming convention. If your character is from Pulse, your name is structured differently. The first word is the town you are from, the second is the name of your tribe (basically our last names), and the third word is the name people call you. For example, Paddra Nsu Yeul would be called Yeul by her friends, is from the area of Paddra, and her tribe is the Nsu tribe.
Age. Anything within reason. For reference, the youngest playable character in FFXIII is Hope at age 14, and the oldest is Sazh at age 40. I would like to avoid going younger than Hope, but older than 40 is a possibility.
Gender. Self-explanatory.
Place of birth. This is fairly important for story aspects. Your character will be either from Pulse or Cocoon. Those who are from the other World will likely treat you more harshly, and those who share your world will likely be more understanding. In addition, you might want to provide a hometown.
Description. Pictures are also welcome, but please also give a brief description of the character. Any race that’s present on Earth can be used as well.
Backstory/Personality. What motivates your character? Why are they part of a covert operation of peace? Why aren’t they running from the enemy forces? Who did they leave behind? Did they lose someone in the initial attack? Personally, I like most of these to remain hidden until explained IC, but everyone should have an answer to the above questions, and everyone should have at least a paragraph or two of public information here.
Mechanics. There are three important things I will have you set up for your character:

1. Assign a value of 1-6 to each of the primary stats: HP, STR, MAG. 1 is weakest, 6 is strongest. The sum of your values must equal 12. A completely balanced character will have 4 in each stat. The astute among you will notice there are no defensive stats. That’s correct. FF13 only has HP, STR, and MAG as stats. The numbers you associate will govern how much you get for each stat every time you level up your Crystarium.

2. Pick three primary roles from the list of COM, RAV, SEN, SAB, SYN, MED. Rate them 1, 2, 3 with 1 as most used and 3 as least used. The third primary role will be locked for the first several levels. The other three roles you don’t use will be locked until mid-game, and will generally be weaker than your primary roles. Keep in mind that if everyone chooses COM RAV MED, this will be a very boring RP in terms of combat. Try to think about your character’s personality when you choose your roles. Each set of two or three roles has a particular name to it. For example, COM SAB SYN is called Bully, while COM RAV SAB is called Ruthless. Some of these names can work really well in describing a character’s way of thinking (which is called a paradigm, by the way). On the other hand, if you choose SEN SYN MED (Protection), you will probably not deal any damage until you unlock your secondary roles. I suggest everyone pick at least one of COM or RAV, or things might get a bit boring for you.

Some hidden information that you might have noticed if you played FFXIII-2 (or were really paying attention in FFXIII): Every role will give different bonuses to different stats based on what they are typically used for. For example, Commando gives more bonuses to HP and STR, and less to MAG. Ravager gives major bonuses to MAG, but less to HP. Medic boosts HP and MAG, but gives much less to STR. Every role gives varying amounts of bonuses, but unless something messed up in my calcs, you should always gain at least 1 in every stat with every node.

3. Pick your weapon type. This choice is surprisingly one of the most complex. Each weapon type carries with it a handful of properties and modifiers for the stats you gain. I would like you to pick a generic type, such as “axes” or “wands.” From there, I will create a series of weapon options that you can upgrade and use at your leisure. Some weapons enhance magical properties, and some enhance physical properties, and the ones with lower stats often have strong passive abilities.

There are four major things to consider when picking your weapon type: Reaction Speed, AMP%, Rand%, and Attack Speed.

Bulky weapons tend to have a slow reaction speed, while light weapons give you a faster reaction speed. A slow speed means you are far less likely to dodge an attack, but you will take a bit less damage from being hit. A faster reaction speed means you are more likely to dodge, but you will be unable to reduce damage from attacks.

AMP% is a measure of the strength of your weapon. AMP stands for Antimatter Manipulation Principle, and is the main technology behind all weapon enhancements. Those who employ high AMP% weapons do so to make up for their innate lack of natural ability. If you want to avoid upgrading weapons and focus solely on your own strength, try a weapon with low AMP%.

Rand% is pretty easy to explain. In every damage formula, there’s a random number associated with the final output. Weapons with a low Rand% tend to have consistent damage output. Weapons with a high Rand% are less consistent, but can deal significantly more (or less) damage depending on your luck.

The speed of your attacks depends on the type of weapon as well. Every weapon has a base physical attack speed and magical attack speed. Some weapons enhance physical speed at the cost of magical speed, and vice versa. Although the bonus is only 0.1 seconds, it adds up over time. If you intend to specialize in one area or another, I suggest finding a weapon that complements the type of attacking you’ll do most.

FFXIII had a variety of weapon types, many of which were unique to that game in the series. I am willing to consider pretty much any weapon type you have in mind. Just let me know what you’re planning, and I’ll try to work with you.