Final Fantasy RPG Junction System
Written by
Shivafang (temiel@telusplanet.net)
Here it is, I know people have been anticipating this ever since you've heard the word 'Junction' in reference to Final Fantasy 8. Here's my take on it. I've been thinking about this all day Tuesday and started Tuesday night, so don't mind it if it's a little wonky wink Also, I havn't beaten the game yet, I got to disc 3.. but then accidentaly erased my game with a re-start game (I do that, I get bored and start again at the beginning) so I had to start again at the beginning of disc 2 when I started again 'cause I had a separate save file. Anyway... Most of this information comes straight out of the Strategy Guide... with obvious tweaks to make it easier for calculations and FFRPG compatability. I didn't go into depth with the new spells or with some of the abilities 'cause I wanted to see what everyone thinks of my basic write-up first...
Another note: Gms should be aware that FF8 uses the same AP progression decided in FF3 WB, _NOT_ the same as used in FF7!. Each monster would have 1-4 AP. Bosses may have up to 20 total.
Also if you're strict to the e-games, characters don't gain experience from boss fights, and neither do GFs.
New Spells
Double: Causes Double status effect on ally
Triple: Causes Triple status effect on ally
Aura: Limit break can be used more often (if using FF7 style limits rather than FF8 style, treat this as the 'Rage' condition)
Meltdown: Non-elemental damage and vit. 0
Pain: Adds Poison, Silence and Blind
Zombie: Inflicts the Zomebie status condition.
New Status Conditions
Double: Character can cast a spell 2 times in succession.
Triple: Character can cast a spell 3 times in succession.
Vit. 0: Character has no Armor Rating (it's 0).
Curse: I'll let you know when I find out myself
A note on Double and Triple. The spell cast has to be the same spell, just multiple times. Also the character has the option of casting it once only. If a character has Triple cast on him, but not Double, they can only cast it one time or three, however if the character only has two of the magic in Stock, then he will only cast it twice. Using double or triple uses up one magic for each additional cost. eg. Erylai uses triple to cast Cura on all three allies. 3 curas will be deducted from her Stock.
Creating a Character
Characters really don't need creating, other than personality and limit breaks and Stats and Skills. By nature of the Guardian Forces, all characters pretty much have the same DC and such. Everything is based on the Guardian Forces the character Junctions. The only thing that should be noted: Characters get 1d6 HP per level. 'Only 1d6!?' I hear people exclaim. yes. When you consider HP Junctions and the Guardian Force abilities HP+10% and HP+20% etc, you can understand why I say 1d6 HP/Level.
Creating Guardian Forces
Gudarian Forces can be created based on ones from the e-game, or via a player or GM's imagination.
Hit Points: Guardian Forces all start with 30 HP (For simplicity, I devided all the e-game GFs that start at lv 1 and devided by 10, rounded and they were all 30 so...) Guardian Forces gain 1d4 HP each level. That may seem low, but when you consider that all Guardian Forces have GFHP+10%, +20% and in some cases +30% it isn't quite so bad. A Guardian Force takes damage during the time it takes to summon them. All damage that would normally be delt to the character is instead dealt to the Guardian Force. Damage is calculated based on the Character's Stats, I.E. Armor, M.Armor, HPs (for Percent attacks like Demi) as well as any spell effects on the character like Shell or Protect.
Level and Experience: Guardian Forces gain levels at the same rate characters do. However, Guardian Forces don't gain experience under some cercumstances:
1) If the character who they are junctioned to is Knocked Out (0 HP)
2) If the Guardian Force is Knocked Out (0 HP)
GF's Attack: This can be as the player desires. It may not even have to be an attack. Examples are Carbunkle's Ruby Light (Reflect on all Allies) and Cereberus' Counter Rockets (Double and Triple on all allies) and similar effects.
Since Guardian Force's damage is based on the Guardian Force's Level and not the character's, I've opted to use the old formula for calculating damage. 6d8+(Level/2)+Magery+Mag-J bonus. However, when you factor in such things like SumMag+40%, and the fact that SumMag's are CUMULATIVE. Then there's also the Boost Command which could in the e-games go as high as 250%. Therefore the total bonus could be in and around 350. This winds up being a tad to powerful. Therefore, I've reduced it to 4d6+(Level/2)+Magery+Mag-J bonus. Now the Maj-J bonus in the stats below is for calculating MDC. When used in this formula, you'd have to use the original number from the e-games.. so multiply the bonus listed by 5 for the damage modifier for the Guardian Force. This is not effected by what Maj-J does to MDC.
Example: Tabatha is junctioned to her Guardian Force Kismet. Kismet is a 5th level Guardian Force with the Mag-J ability. Tabatha has 100 Waters junctioned to her Mag-J, giving her a bonus of 3 (total MDC of 4). Multiply 3 (not 4) by 5 and you get 15. Her Magery stat is at 6.. so her total damage with Kismet would be 4d6+10+15+6 or 4d6+31, which give a damage range between 35 and 55. (This may seem weak, but that's OK, because remember there are SumMag%'s at later levels!!! That and the Boost command could cause characters to become Monty Haul with their GFs!!.)
GF Abilities
This is probably the most detailed process of designing a Guardian Force. A Guardian Force may have up to 22 abilities. All of a Guardian Force's original abilities are picked when it is designed. If at a later date some skills are desired to be dropped, they can be via use of Amnesia Greens and new ones added via several items. However, the number of abilities a Guardian Force can have in total cannot exceed 22 All Guardian Forces have the following: Magic, GF, Draw, Item, GFHP +10%, GFHP +20%, at least 1 Command Ability and any 4 Junction abilities. Guardian Forces which have an attack that causes damage also get SumMag +10% and SumMag +20%. Only Magic, GF, Draw, Item and any one Junction abilities are Learned as first level Guardian Forces. Guardian Forces obtained later in the game and are at a level above 1 are at GM's discression.
Guardian Force Ability Lists
The Junction abilities have had their effects noticeably changed from what is obvious in Final Fantasy 8. In FF8, the Magic Junctioned to each stat literally increases that stat. When stats range from 1-100 such an increase is possible. However, in the FFRPG stats only range from 1-30, so the Junction System seems a bit overpowering considering the best relics in the game only raise stats by 3 at most. I have done the following modifications.
HP-J: No modification other than deviding the numbers by 10 to match the FFRPG's range.
Str-J: This functions as the character's Damage Capacity (DC). The percentage listed in the spell's Junction is the amount that the character's damage is multiplied by. I encourage GMs to use the value to the nearest 0.01 and use a calculator, just for sake of consistancy. However, if the GM prefers to round to the nearest whole number (as is done in the current DC system) I have no objections
Vit-J: This adds to a character's Armor rating. Directly invluences the damage dealt to the character. Since no armor is worn in FF8, this is the only means for a character to improve his defence
Mag-J: As Str-J, except influences MDC
Spr-J: As Vit-J, except influences Magic Armor.
Spd-J: I still have yet to find out what I'm going to do with this other than re-work the entire Initiative system.
Eva-J: Influences the Defence % rating. Since no armor can be worn, this is a necessity.
Hit-J: In the e-game this influences the chance to hit. With the skill system in the FFRPG i'm not sure if it works. I don't know how to make this work.
Luck-J: I know this isn't the way it works in the e-game, however I think that this should be used to modify the character's Magic Defence % as Eva-J does.
The prerequisites listed below are guidelines. Some Guardian Forces don't abide by them, but most seem to. The decision is left up to a creative GM.
Articles with an asteriks (*) next to the cost mean that all the Guardian Forces who have that ability start with that ability learned, and I had to estimate a good cost.
Articles with question marks (??) indicate abilities that should have prerequisites, but due to the fact that the GFs in the game that have this ability already have it learned I'm not sure what it should be. In some instances, the only prerequisite should be a Level (such as Command Abilities)
If the GM is allowing a player to create his own starting Guardian Forces, the GM should enforce the players to choose abilities based on the concept for the Guardian Force, and not to simply create a powerhouse type Guardian Force.
Junction Abilities
The staples of any Guardian Force's repitoire. These abilities allow a character to Junction magic to his or her stats, increasing the character's abilities. Since characters cannot wear armor and no DC and MDC are available by leveling up (as is normal in the FFRPG), Junctioning abilities is the only way to be effective in combat at higher levels.
Ability
HP-J
Junctions magic to Hit Poins
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Str-J
Junctions magic to a character's Strength
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Vit-J
Junctions magic to character's Vitality
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Mag-J
Junctions magic to character's Magic
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Spr-J
Junctions magic to character's Sprrit
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Spd-J
Junctions magic to character's Speed
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Eva-J
Junctions magic to character's Evasion
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Hit-J
Junctions magic to character's Hit %
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Luck-J
Junctions magic to character's Luck
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: None
Elem-Atk-J
Junctions elemental magic to character's Elemental Attack
Cost: 160
Prerequisits: Either Mag+20%, Mag-J or Str-J
Elem-Def-J
Junctions elemental magic to character's Elemental Defense
Cost: 100
Prerequisits: Spr +20%, Spr-J or Vit-J
Elem-Def-J x2
As Elem-Def-J except 2 elemental magics may be Junctioned
Cost: 130
Prerequisits: Elem-Def-J
Elem-Def-J x4
As Elem-Def-J except 4 elemental magics may be Junctioned
Cost: 180
Prerequisits: Elem-Def-J x2
ST-Atk-J
Junctions status magic to character's Elemental Attack
Cost: 50
Prerequisits: Mag-J
ST-Def-J
Junctions status magic to character's Elemental Defense
Cost: 100
Prerequisits: Spr-J
ST-Atk-J x2
As ST-Def-J except 2 status magics may be Junctioned
Cost: 130
Prerequisits: ST-Atk-J
ST-Atk-J x4
As ST-Def-J except 4 status magics may be Junctioned
Cost: 180
Prerequisits: ST-Atk-J x2
Ability x3
The character has the ability to equip 3 Character/Party Abilities instead of 2
Cost: 200 (*)
Prerequisites: ??
Ability x4
The character has the ability to equip 4 Character/Party Abilities instead of 2.
Cost: 260 (*)
Prerequisites: ??
Command Abilities
These abilities allow a character to set their abilities. Without a Guaridan Force, a character may only attack. A character can Junction to three such abilities. It should be noted that most of the abilities the Guardian Forces in the e-game possess are unique to Guardian Force that has them. GMs could perhaps invent new abilities to go with the Guardian Force he/she is designing.
Magic
Enables the use of Magic in battle
Cost: 0 (*)
Prerequisites: None
GF
Enables the character to call Guardian Forces in battle
Cost: 0 (*)
Prerequisites: None
Draw
Allow the character to Draw from enemies or from Draw Points
Cost: 0 (*)
Prerequisites: None
Item
Enebles the use of Item in battle
Cost: 0 (*)
Prerequisites: None
Card
Transform enemy into a card
Cost: 40
Prerequisites: None
Doom
Casts Death on an enemy
Cost: 60
Prerequisites: Guardian Force must be Level 10
Mad Rush
Casts Berserk, Protect, and Haste on all allies
Cost: 60
Prerequisites: Guardian Force must be Level 10
Treatment
Cures Poison, Petrify, Darkness, Silence, Zombie, Sleep, Berserk, Slow, Stop, Curse, Slow, Petrify, Confuse and Vit 0
Cost: 100
Prerequisites: Guardian Force must be level 15
Defend
Reduces damage from physical attacks to 0 and cust magic damage in half
Cost: 100
Prerequisites: ??
Dark Side
Triples damage normally dealt with the ATTACK command. However, each time this is used, the character's maximum HP goes down 10%.
Cost: 100
Prerequisites: ??
Recover
Restores all HP to a party member (editor's note: This may seem cheap, but remember that the character must give up a basic command. A character could have Draw/magic/recover or magic/recover/GF... but some necessary basic ability will be lost.)
Cost: 200
Prerequisites: ??
Absorb
Drains HP from the target equal to 1/2 the damage of a normal attack. This will instead damage you if it is used on an undead creature.
Cost: 80
Prerequisites: ??
Revive
Restores one party member from K.O. status
Cost 200
Prerequisits: ??
Lv Down
Cuts target's level by half
Cost 200 (*)
Prerequisites: ??
Lv UP
Doubles Target's Level.
Cost 200 (*)
Prerequisites: ??
Kamikaze
Inflicts damage to target equal to user's current HP, but knocks user our.
Cost: 100
Prerequisites: ??
Devour
Allow cunsumption of enemies
Cost: 200 (*)
Prerequisites: ??
MiniMog
Restores HP to all GF; costs character's average level x100 Gil to use.
Cost: 200 (*) should not be available to starting GFs
Prerequisists: ??
Character Abilities
These abilities are junctioned to the character. A character can have 2 such abilities, unless the Guardian Force allows for 3 or 4 such abilities at a time. Sceptics may say that stat+ abilities should not be cumulative. I feel they should be otherwise they'd be easy canonfodder targets for Amnesia Greens ('cause they suddenly become useless) That and the fact that that's what happens in the e-games.
HP +20%
Increases HP by 20%. This _IS_ cumulative with all other HP+ abilities.
Cost: 60
Prerequisites: HP-J
HP +40%
Increases HP by 40%. This _IS_ cumulative with all other HP+ abilities that increase the character's HP.
Cost: 120
Prerequisites: HP+20%
HP +80%
Increases HP by 80%. This _IS_ cumulative with all other HP+ abilities.
Cost: 240
Prerequisites: HP+40%
Str/Vit/Mag/Spr +20%
Increases the appropriate stat's junction by 20%. These are cumulative with other stat+ abilities.
Cost: 60
Prerequisites: Appropriate Stat-J
Str/Vit/Mag/Spr+40%
Increases the appropriate stat's junction by 40%. These are cumulative with other stat+ abilities.
Cost: 120
Prerequisites: Appropriate Stat+20%
Str/Vit/Mag/Spr+60%
Increases the appropriate stat's junction by 40%. These are cumulative with other stat+ abilities.
Cost: 240
Prerequisites: Appropriate Stat+40%
Str/Vit/Mag/Spr bonus
This gives a permanent bonus to the appropriate stat for each level gained. be advised it's not the stat, but the effect of the junction, just to clarify. Str and Mag get 0.002 extra DC and MDC (permanently!). Vit and Spr give 0.01 armor class points. [okay, that isn't enough. I'm keeping it balanced to the junctions without making either overpowered. I'll leave it at this for now]. Note that this bonus _DOES_ get multipled by Stat+xx%s.
Cost: 100
Prerequisites: Appropriate Stat+20%
HP Bonus
Gives an extra permanent +3 for each level the character gains while this ability is set.
Cost: 100
Prerequisites: HP+80%
Eva +30%
This increases evade by 30%. I'm not sure if it means a total of 30% or a 30% addition to the junction abilities.. but oh well.
Cost: 150
Prerequisites: Eva-J
Luck +30%
This increases m.def by 50%. I'm not sure if it means a total of 50% or a 50% addition to the junction abilities.. but oh well.
Cost: 200
Prerequisites: Luck-J
Mug
Changes the attack command to the Mug command. Every normal attack will mug instead. Mug deals normal damage and has a 32/256 chance of working (as in the e-games) or 12.5%
Cost: 200
Prerequisites: None
Med Data
HP recovery from items doubles during battles
Cost: 200
Prerequisites: None
Counter
Character counterattacks when hit with a physical attack (this counterattack is 100% I think from the e-game)
Cost: 200
Prerequisites: None
Return Damage
When damaged, character returns 1/4 of the damage to the opponent
Cost: 200 (*)
Prerequisites: As near as I can tell, the only way to get this ability is through the Hundred Needles item, and it is not part of any GF automatically.
Cover
The character automatically jumps in front of an ally who is wounded (maybe critically wounded?) and about to take a physical attack. The damage is halved and dealt to the covering character instead.
Cost: ?
Prerequestites: ?
Expendx2-1
When using Double, you only use 1 magic in stock instead of 2.
Cost: 250
Prerequisites: None
Expendx3-1
When using Triple, you only use 1 magic in stock instead of 3.
Cost: 250
Prerequisites: None
Auto-Reflect
Character automatically has Reflect on him from start of battle. This dosn't wear off due to time and re-activates itself if the character is revived frome being K.O's in battle.
Cost:250
Prerequisite: Counter
Auto-Shell
Character automatically has Shell on him from start of battle. This dosn't wear off due to time and re-activates itself if the character is revived frome being K.O's in battle.
Cost:250
Prerequisite: None
Auto-Protect
Character automatically has Protect on him from start of battle. This dosn't wear off due to time and re-activates itself if the character is revived frome being K.O's in battle.
Cost:250
Prerequisite: None
Auto-Haste
Character automatically has Haste on him from start of battle. This dosn't wear off due to time and re-activates itself if the character is revived frome being K.O's in battle.
Cost:250
Prerequisite: None
Initiative
Character automatically gets the first attack in the first round of any combat. All other combat turns are as normal.
Cost: 160
Prerequisite: None
Auto-Potion
Uses potions automatically when damaged. Uses the weakest potion in stock.
Cost: 150
Prerequisite: None
Move-HP up
Hit Points are recovered as the character walks.
Cost: 200
Prerequisite: None
Party Abilities
Alert
decreases the chance of back attackes and suprise attacks and increases the party's chances of doing the same to the enemy. (think pre-emptive strike materia)
Cost: 200
Enc-Half
Halves the rate for encountering monsters (this would be a great time to put a shamless plub about Azzy's Random encounter rules. If those were used, you could simply reduce the percentages)
Cost: 50
Enc-None
No random encounters are fought.
Cost: 100
Prerequistie: Enc-Half
Rare Item
Makes it more likely you'll get a rare item in combat. (This might be a good addendum to the MCS. In FF8 monsters have a 225/226 chance of dropping something. Then they have 4 different slots they can drop, one is 178/256, 51/256, 15/256 and 12/256. Mug has a 32/256 chance of working and the item percentages is the same as for dropped) Cost: 250 (*)
(as near as I can tell, this can only be obtained from an item...)
Move-Find
Hidden Save Points (if useing that optional rule wink ) and Draw Points can be seen that normally couldn't while this ability is set.
Cost: 40
Guardian Force Abilities
These abilities come automatically equipped while the Guardian Force is equipped.
SumMag+10%
Increases the Guardian Force's attack damage by 10%. This IS cumulative with other SumMag+xx%s!!
Cost: 40
SumMag+20%
Increases the Guardian Force's attack damage by 20%. This IS cumulative with other SumMag+xx%s!
Cost: 70
SumMag+30%
Increases the Guardian Force's attack damage by 30%. This IS cumulative with other SumMag+xx%s!!
Cost: 140
SumMag+40%
Increases the Guardian Force's attack damage by 40%. This IS cumulative with other SumMag+xx%s!!
Cost: 200
GFHP+10%
Increases the Guardian Force's Hit Points by 10%. This IS cumulative with other GFHP+xx%s!!
Cost: 40
GFHP+20%
Increases the Guardian Force's Hit Points by 20%. This IS cumulative with other GFHP+xx%s!
Cost: 70
GFHP+30%
Increases the Guardian Force's Hit Points by 30%. This IS cumulative with other GFHP+xx%s!!
Cost: 140
GFHP+40%
Increases the Guardian Force's Hit Points by 40%. This IS cumulative with other GFHP+xx%s!!
Cost: 200
Boost
This is a semi-random addition to a guardian force's damage. In the e-game, the damage is increased by taping the square button as many times as possible during the summoning animation. However, this is not possible in the FFRPG. To emulate this, I propose this system: Role 2d10. If either one rolls 1, add the two together and that's the modifier. roll another die and add it to the total so far, if the result is above 2 roll again. roll another die and add it. If it's above 3 roll again. roll another die and add it. If it's above 4 keep rolling. roll another die and add it... if it's above 5...
I think you get the idea. Keep rolling as long as the number is higher than the number you checked for the previous time. This makes higher numbers harder to get. When you get to numbers above 8 (roll of 9 or 10 only works) keep rolling until you get neither a 9 or a 10.. don't keep increasing the number wink .
Add 75% to the total roll and that's the % modification to the damage. This IS cumulative with SumMagxx%s.
Boost is optional to use, as there is a chance to get below 100%
Example: Jenny's character is summoning a Guardian Force with Boost. She decides to use it's ability. She rolls 2d10 and gets a 6 and a 2. neither is a 1. She adds them and rolls again. She rolls a 3. IT's above 2, so her total is 10 and she rolls again. She gets a 9, making her total 19. She gets another roll. She rolls a 5. Since she needed a number above five, she has to stop. Hoever her total rolls is 24. She adds that to 75 and gets 99. Unhappy that she lost 1% of her damage that she would have gotten normally, but oh well.
Cost: 10
Ability x3 and ability x4.
These abilities allow a character equipping a guardian force to equip three or even four character/party abilities rather than the normal two. Again, all the guardian forces that start with this ability have it already equipped and there's no way to determine an accurate cost.Cost: 250 (*)
Menu Abilities
These are abilities that don't have to be equipped to use. I'm not about to go into detail regarding the actuall effects of each just yet. I may do it later if no one else does.
Haggle
Buy items in shopts for a discount
Cost: 150
Sell-High
Sell items to shops for a higher price than usual
Cost: 150
Prerequisite: Haggle
Familiar
Enables you to buy stuff not normally available at certain shops
Cost: 150
Call Shop
Any shop you have viseted in the past can be be purchased from anywhere.
Cost: 200
Prerequistite: Familiar
Junk Shop
Enables you to make weapons from parts anywhere as if you were at a Junk Shop
Cost: 200 (*)
T Mag-RF
Refine Lightning/Wind magic from items
Cost: 30
I Mag-RF
Refine Water/Ice magic from items
Cost: 30
F MAg-RF
refine Fire magic from items
Cost: 30
L Mag-RF
Refine Life/Recovery magic from items
Cost: 30
Time Mag-RF
Refine Time/Space magic from itesms
Cost: 30
ST Mag-RF
refine Status magic from items
Cost: 30
Supt Mag-RF
Refine Support Magic from items
Cost: 20
Forbid Mag-RF
Refine Forbidden magic from items
Recov Mag-RF
Refine Recovery magic from items
Cost: 30
ST Med-RF
Refine Statice Recovery medicine form items
Cost: 30
Ammo-RF
Refine Ammunition from items
Cost: 30
Prerequisite: GF must be level 10.
Tool-RF
Refine tools from items
Cost: 30
Forbid Med-RF
Refine Forbidden Medicine from items
Cost: 200
GF Recov Med-RF
Refine GF Recovery Medicine for GF from items
Cost: 30
GFAbl Med-RF
Refine GF Ability Medicine for GF from items
Cost: 30
Mid Mag-RF
Refine Mid-Level magic from Low-Level magic (eg Cura from Cure) at the rate of 5 to 1.
Cost: 60
Prerequisite: Any 1 other magic-refine (such as T Mag-RF)
High Magic-RF
Refine High-Level magic from Mid Level magic. (Curaga from Cura)
Cost: 60
Prerquisite: Mid Mag-RF (?)
Med LV up
Refine Rare medicines from common medicines
Cost: 120
Prerquisite: Med Data
Card Mod
Refine items from cards
Cost: 80
Prerequisites: Card Command.
Compatability
The final aspect of a Guardian Force's personality is it's compatability with the characters. Compatability starts at 800 (I could be wrong, the numbers are so hard to read on that screen). While Juctioned, the following actions have effects on a Guardian Force's Compatability.
Summoning the Guardian Force: +20
Casting a spell that's of a similer element as the Guardian Force: +1
Summoning a different Guardian Force: -5 (or more?)
Using the Guardian Forces 'Bonus Item': +1
The maximum compatability is 1000, the lowest is 0
Note all Guardian Forces have some spells that will increase their compatability, even if they are not elemental-based. Examples from the e-games: Siren - Healing/recovery Spells, Carbunkle - Reflect, Cerubus - Double and Triple.
These modifiers don't have any effect if the Guardian Force is not junctioned to you.
Example: Banzai Bennett has two Guaridan Forces: Flamera, a fire GF, and Tonodais, a Wind GF. Banzai's ally, Luceria, has Roszeir, a Thunder Elemental Guardian Force. If Banzai uses Thuder spells, his compatability will NOT increase, as Roszier is junctioned to Luceria. Likewise, summoning Flamera and Tonodias will not lower his compatability with Roszier. However, casting Fire spells will raise his compatability to Flamera and casting wind spells will raise his compatability with Tonodias. Summoning Flamera will lower his compatability with Tonodais and vice-versa.
The time it takes for a guardian force to arrive after summoning is directly related to his or her compatability with the character. The formula looks like this.
60-(Compatability/20)
This is the total initiative penalty for summoning a Guardian Force. The shortest amount of time is a -10 penalty. The most is -60. (I've never had any GFs reach 0 compatability... is this to high? To low?)
It is during this time that all damage the character would normally recieve is instead dealt to the Guardian Force. It should be noted that the summoning STARTS when a character's turn would normally start. Say your speed was 5 after Spd-J mods, and you rolled a 3 on your initiative roll. Your summoning would start on the count of 7 for initiative, damage between that 7 and the end of the summoning would be dealt to the Guardian Force. Damage before and after are dealt to the character.
If a Guardian Force's HP is reduced to 0, then the Guardian Force is knocked out and that summoning aborts, and the character can act normally on the next combat turn, except that that Guardian Force cannot be summoned again until it's HP is restored.
Spells do not works on GF's HP. Only items specifically designed for Guardian Forces will work. (Such as a g-potion or a g-returner). If you cast a healing spell on a character in the process of summoning a Guardian Force, the spell effects the character, not the Guardian Force.
Example GF: Shiva (from the e-game)
Level: 1
HP: 30 (1/50 XP)
Bonus Spells: Any ice magic
Bonus Item: Artic Winds
GF's Attack: Diamond Dust
Shiva's attack is elemental Ice based. The attack is very powerful against Fire elemental cratures.
Shiva's Ability List:
Junction
Str-J 50AP Vit-J 50AP Spr-J (Learned) Elem-Atk-J 160AP (prereq Str-J) Elem-Def-J 100AP (prerequ Spr+20%) Elem-Defx2 130AP (Prereq Elem-Def-J)
Commands
Draw (Learned)
Magic (Learned)
GF (Learned)
Item (Learned)
Doom 60AP (prerequ Level 10)
Character
Vit+20% 60AP
Vit+40% 120AP (Prereq Vit+20%)
Spr+20% 60AP
Spr+40% 120AP (Prereq Spr+20%)
Guardian Force
SumMag+10% 40AP
SumMag+20% 70AP (Prerequ SumMag+10%)
SumMag+30% 140AP (Prereq SumMag+20%)
GFHP+10% 40AP
GFHP+20% 70AP (Prereq GFHP+10%)
Boost 10AP
I Mag-RF 30AP
Exampe GF: Gaea (Original)
Level: 1 (1/50 XP)
HP: 30
Bonus Spells: Wind Spells, Shell and Reflect
Bonus Item: Crystal Leaf
GF's Attack: Call of the Wild
Gaea's attack is elemental Wind based. Gaea commands a natural breeze to whip through the area, bringing leaves along with it.
Gaea's Ability List:
Junction
Spr-J (Learned)
Mag-J 50AP
Vit-J 50AP
Elem-Def-J 100AP (prerequ Spr+20%)
Elem-Defx2 130AP (Prereq Elem-Def-J)
ST-Ef-J (Prerq Spr-J) Commands
Draw (Learned)
Magic (Learned)
GF (Learned)
Item (Learned)
Treatment 60AP (prerequ Level 12)
Character
Spr+20% 60AP
Spr+40% 120AP (Prereq Spr+20%)
Spr+60% 240AP (Prereq Spr+40%)
Spirit Bonus
Guardian Force
SumMag+10% 40AP
SumMag+20% 70AP (Prerequ SumMag+10%)
SumMag+30% 140AP (Prereq SumMag+20%)
GFHP+10% 40AP
GFHP+20% 70AP (Prereq GFHP+10%)
Boost 10AP
ST Med-RF
Junctioning Magic
Junction Magic is a lot like Junctioning Guardian Forces. However it's a lot more detailed and has a more direct influence on your character. To Junction magic, you need a Guardian Force with the correct ability corresponding to the stat you want to Junction to. To get magic Stocked to be able to Draw it you must use the Draw command.
A bit about the Draw command before we move on. The Draw command is a command that allows characters to gain magic from enemies and locations called 'Draw Points'. The amount of magic that you Draw goes like this:
1d10 + Magery Bonus - Spells level
The maximum you can Draw during any round of battle is 9. There is no limit at a Draw Point, however draw points can only be accessed once before they become unusable. Draw points will refresh themselves after awhile, however some draw points (esp ones with really high level spells) will take an EXTREMELY long time (ie. some in the e-games don't refresh at all throughout the game! I'm saying they will refresh... just at some point several months/years later.). The Magery Bonus is the same as used for calculating MP and M.Arm in the FFRPG. You get the spell's level from the FFRPG listing, new spells will be up to GM's approval for now. You can have up to 100 of each spell stocked in this manner.
I also believe that it should be possible to draw from other characters. Outside of battles in the e-game you can transfer stocked spells from one character to another. Also at one point in the e-game, Selphie tries to cure Zell and she says "Draw..... CURE!". Seeing as there's no one but Her, Zell and Quistis around.. where did she draw it from but another character?
Now that I've explained that, I can tell you that the more of a type of spell you have, the more useful it will be to you. For instance, if you have 10 Cure's Junctioned to HP, you will have 2 extra hit points. However, if you have 50 Cures, you will have 10 extra hit points. Likewise, different spells will have different strengths. 50 Cura's would give you 25 extra hit points, whereas 50 Pains would give you 140 extra hit points.
The types of Junctions and their effects:
Hit Point Junctions razz retty Straightforward, the number you get after you multiply the value on the table below by the number of the spell in stock is what gets added to your Hit Points.
Strength Juntion:This is less straightforward. I had to use this idea to replace DC. Since the higest stat increase in FF8 is 70, I used a 1 to 0.2 relationship to bring that to a DC of 14 (which is what the best level 99 fighter can get) Use the total value after multiplying by stock as the DC value for the character. Characters don't get DC as normal however. This may seem to make characters pathetically weak, but try de-Junctioning your character in the e-game and see how much damage he does!
Vitality Junction:
Since characters can't wear armor, Vitality (and Sprrit, below) make up for this. After looking at the armor in the FFRPG and adding up all the best armors that a character would wear as a full suit, I decided that a straight 1 for 1 conversion from FF8's Vitality Junction to the Armor values in the FFRPG would be best. This may get iffy 'cause it may mean that characters will be running around with virtually no armor for quite awhile until they can get their magic stockpiled to a fairly reasonable level.
It should be noted that you cannot have two spells junctioned in two different stats. If you have Thundera Junctioned to HP, you cannot also Junction Thundera to Elem-Def as well without first removing it from HP.
Magic Junction:
See notes about Strength Junction, and apply it to MDC.
Spirit Junction:
See notes about Vitality Junction and apply it to Magic Armor.
Speed Junction:
I have no idea what I'm going to do with this. Looking at the Strategy Guide, the best value for speed is 33. Perhaps this could be used as an add-on to the initiative system, a straight 1 for 1 addition?
Evade, Hit and Luck Junctions:
These get added 1 for 1. Evade gets added to Def%, Hit gets added to the weapon skill, and Luck gets added to M.Def%. Hit junction may seem off-the wall, but when you consider that the highest Hit score from magic in the e-game is 38%... that's not too bad. Elemental Attack Juntions:
Elem-Atk-Js actually are calculated as two separate damages, simply because otherwise it's be... well.. strange. Let me try to explain. After the damage roll is calculated, the % of the attack that is elemental based is taken aside and run through the target's affinity, then added back to the attack.
Example: Temiel is fighting against an Ice Sickley. His Guardian Force, Magnazad, is Junctioned to him and had the Elem-Atk-J ability. Temiel has 80 Fire's junctioned to his Elem-Atk, giving him a Fire affinity of 40% with each attack. He attacks the Ice Sickly, who is weak against Fire. Normally the attack would do a total of 100 points of damage (lets use an easy number) The 40% would come off of that 100 and then get doubled because of the target's affinity, making it 80 points of damage. Then it gets added back to the 60 that was non-elemental, and a total of 140 points of damage was dealt. I know that procedure seems off-the-wall, why couldn't you just add 40%?? Well in FF8 if you look at the bestiary in the stragegy guide, not all monsters that are weak against elements have double damage, some are 1.5x and other numbers (1.3?!?)
Example #2: Temiel is fighting a witch that has been plaguing the village recently. This witch is immune to fire magics. Temiel attacks for 100 damage, however since his Elem-Atk is still Fire based, the 40% that is fire is lost completely. He only does 60 damage with the attack.
Example 3: Temiel is later fighting a BOMB. He forgot to change his junction, so he still has Fire Elemental 40% on his Elem-Atk. He attacks for 150 points of damage. The 40% comes off again, this time it's 60 points, leaving 90 behind. Bombs absorb fire, so the damage becomes -60 points. When it goes back to the 90, the Bomb will only take 30 points ofdamage.
Elem-Def=Js work in a similar fashion. The % resulting from the total amount of junctions is the amount protected. Subtract that percent of the damage. Therefore, if the percent is 100, then no damage will incrue. If the damage is ABOVE 100 (up to 200) damage will instead be absorbed onto the character by the amount above 100. So a character with 150% Poison elemental def will gain 50% of all poison damage as HP.
Status Junction attacks are also interesting. When a character attacks with something that is status junctioned, that % of the junctioned is the chanse of success. So if a character attacked with 100 Silences on his attacking weaopn, then the character will have an 100% chance of muting the target. If a GM dosn't want a character to be able mute a monster at 100%, he can create monsters with a 50% defense to that effect. If a target has a 50% defense then half of the normal effect would be used. So if someone with 60 sleeps attacked a target with a 20% Defense (I know I'm mucking the numbers, I'm hoping this is clear enough to follow) then you'd multiply 60*0.8 (or 80%) to get a 48% CoS. Also, enemies can have a 100% defense, in which case that type is innefective. This idea is great for GMs to design monsters with, and even works with Percent attacks (such as Demi attacks. Gravety elemental is the term used in FF7, but there is no 'gravety' elemental and instead it's called a 'Percent Effect') If this monster creating rule is used, spells would also be effected (maybe?)
There is one exception to the above. Drain. Drain actually works more like an elemental junction than a status junction. When you attack with a draining weapon, you get back the % dealt by the attack in HP. So if you had a weapon that drained 100%, you get back 100% of the damage you dealt. Likewise if you have a 100% Drain Defense, you will be imune to drain attacks.
Now onto the magic. Spells with a * next to them don't appear in Final Fantasy 8 and are taken from the FFRPG with stats given to them by me. These spells could potentially unbalance the game, as no MP is required. Higher level spells also have really high stat modifications, GMs should mete these out with care. The spells are in alphabetical order.
Some spells, Aero, Bio, Water etc, got shifted around a bit. The ones in the e-games are a higher level... (Wind 2, Bio 3 and Water 2 respectivly).
Note that these numbers are for ONE of that spell junctioned. To get the total value, multiply it by the number of magic junctioned. It should be noted somewhere in this document (might as well put it here) that when you use a spell, the changes the spell makes to your stats happens instantly. If you have Holy Junctioned to HP and you case it, your max HP goes down by 3 points! This isn't a noticeable change if you have anything less than max HP, but if your HP are maxed out and completely full, than your current HP will drop down to your max HP. Otherwise your current HP isn't effected at all.
[I didn't do all of these, I was going to but I've started getting caught up in FF8 and wound up putting it off. I want to post this to see what everyone thinks so far, tho)
Bio (Bio 1)
HP: 0.015 Str: 0.08 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.08 Spr: 0.08
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.03 Hit: 0.02 Luck: 0.01
Elem-Atk: Poison: 0.50
Elem-Def: Poison: 0.50
ST-Atk: Poison: 0.50
ST-Def: Poison: 0.50
Blizard (Ice 1)
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.02 Vit: 0.04 Mag: 0.02 Spr: 0.04
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.08
Elem-Atk: Ice: 0.50
Elem-Def: Ice: 0.50
Blizara (Ice 2)
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.05 Vit: 0.08 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.08
Spd: 0.12 Eva: 0.08 Hit: 0.16 Luck: 0.12
Elem-Atk: Ice: 0.80
Elem-Def: Ice: 0.80
Create Element
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.01 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.03 Hit: 0.03 Luck: 0.03
Elem-Atk: Fire, Ice, Earth, Water, Lit and Wind: 0.10
Elem-Def: Fire, Ice, Earth, Water, Lit and Wind: 0.10
Cure (Cure 1)
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.008 Vit: 0.14 Mag: 0.008 Spr: 0.15
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.04 Hit: 0.02 Luck: 0.02
Cura (Cure 2)
HP: 0.050 Str: 0.016 Vit: 0.28 Mag: 0.06 Spr: 0.28
Spd: 0.04 Eva: 0.05 Hit: 0.05 Luck: 0.03
Curaga (Cure 3)
HP: 2.020 Str: 0.04 Vit: 0.65 Mag: 0.04 Spr: 0.65
Spd: 0.10 Eva: 0.10 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.10
Death
HP: 0.180 Str: 0.044 Vit: 0.22 Mag: 0.076 Spr: 0.58
Spd: 0.10 Eva: 0.10 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.38 ST-Atk Death: 1.00 ST-Def Death: 1.00
Fire (Fire 1)
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.02 Vit: 0.04 Mag: 0.02 Spr: 0.04
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.08
Elem-Atk: Fire: 0.50
Elem-Def: Fire: 0.50
Fira (Fire 2)
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.05 Vit: 0.08 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.08
Spd: 0.12 Eva: 0.08 Hit: 0.16 Luck: 0.12
Elem-Atk: Fire: 0.80
Elem-Def: Fire: 0.80
Holy
HP: 0.380 Str: 0.11 Vit: 0.28 Mag: 0.09 Spr: 0.48
Spd: 0.10 Eva: 0.18 Hit: 0.24 Luck: 0.14
Elem-Atk: Holy: 0.01
Elem-Def: Holy: 0.02
Intimidate
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.01 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.03 Hit: 0.03 Luck: 0.03
Life
HP: 0.120 Str: 0.016 Vit: 0.50 Mag: 0.02 Spr: 0.50
Spd: 0.04 Str: 0.03 Hit: 0.03 Luck: 0.02
St-Def: Death: 0.20
Full-Life
HP: 0.480 Str: 0.04 Vit: 0.80 Mag: 0.04 Spr: 0.85
Spd: 0.08 Str: 0.10 Hit: 0.08 Luck: 0.10
ST-Def: Death: 0.40
Lock
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.01 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.03 Hit: 0.03 Luck: 0.03
Pig
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.03 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Lick: 0.08
Protection From Evil/Darkness
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.03 Mag: 0.02 Spr: 0.03
Spd: 0.07 Eva: 0.05 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.07
ST-Def: Blind, Curse: 0.50
Protection From Light/Goodness
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.03 Mag: 0.02 Spr: 0.03
Spd: 0.07 Eva: 0.05 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.07
Elem-Def: Holy: 1
Quake (Quake 1)
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.03 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Lick: 0.08
Elem-Atk: Earth: 0.50
Elem-Def: Earth: 0.50
Regen
HP: 2.060 Str: 0.036 Vit:0.70 Mag: 0.036 Spr: 0.60
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.08 Hit: 0.08 Luck: 0.08
Scan
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.01 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.03 Hit: 0.03 Luck: 0.03
Scare
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.03 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Lick: 0.08
Thunder (Lightning 1)
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.02 Vit: 0.04 Mag: 0.02 Spr: 0.04
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Luck: 0.08
Elem-Atk: Lit: 0.50
Elem-Def: Lit: 0.50
Thundara (Lightning 2 2)
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.05 Vit: 0.08 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.08
Spd: 0.12 Eva: 0.08 Hit: 0.16 Luck: 0.12
Elem-Atk: Lit: 0.80
Elem-Def: Lit : 0.80
Tongues
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.03 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Lick: 0.08
Unlock
HP: 0.010 Str: 0.01 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.01 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.03 Eva: 0.03 Hit: 0.03 Luck: 0.03
Water (Water 1)
HP: 0.020 Str: 0.03 Vit: 0.05 Mag: 0.03 Spr: 0.05
Spd: 0.08 Eva: 0.06 Hit: 0.10 Lick: 0.08
Elem-Atk: Water: 0.50
Elem-Def: Water: 0.50
Zombie
HP: 0.080 Str: 0.030 Vit: 0.24 Mag: 0.030 Spr: 0.60
Spd: 0.02 Eva: 0.02 Hit: 0.02 Luck: 0.02
ST-Atk: Zombie: 1
ST-Def: Zombie: 1
The following FFRPG spells were ommited because of their useless nature with this system:
Psych
Elemental Blade
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