[Development]Class and Magic Guide Options

[amerk]

This was something I wrote up awhile ago into two parts, but wanted to combine it together as one, and some things have been re-written to be more coherent. Alot of people tend to ask about balancing out their characters and skills in an RPG, and as a result of my own research and testing, along with a combination of useful tips from other members (such as ZeroManArmy), I came up with the following guide that might help others as well.

Even with balance tutorial guides, I still playthrough my game and find myself adjusting the balance somewhat to fit my needs. I also use the battle testing option in the database window to help me along. There are balancing guides available for VX, and while VXA is different in class and traits and formulas, it should give you a helping hand. For a decent level/stat progression, this is probably the best guide you can find right now, by ZeroManArmy and Mithos.

http://www.rpgmakervx.net/index.php?showtopic=38049

I especially like his scripted EXP Fix, although I went with smaller increments of a 500+ increase than 2000 for each level (ie, level 2 takes 500 EXP, level 3 takes an additional 1000, level 4 an additional 1500, etc.). For VXA's EXP Fix, look here, second post by moon:

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/1947-conversion-request-experience-fix/

Now, I'm currently using VX for my own project and came up with some ideas to help me along, but feel free to use them for yourselves if you'd like. Not sure how easy they are to port them over to VXA for balance, but I'd assume that they can be done in much the same way, although using traits and formulas for adjustment:

Character Balance Chart:

[Show/Hide] SHOW

The High, Low, Average pertains to their stats. In other words, if a Warrior's High HP gain for each level is 100, average would be 75, and low would be 50. Likewise, if a high strength increase would be 10, average would be between 7 and 8, and low would be 5. In the case of the Warrior, I indicated no magic. If you can find one, use a script to make the warrior dual wielding so they can carry 1 2-handed weapon, 2 1-handed weapons, 1 weapon and 1 shield, or two shields.

Now, to balance these out further, note that each category has strengths and weaknesses. This will hopefully give you some leeway on balancing out your characters so they all have something to offer to the table.

Finally, I'd like to point out magic balancing. Everybody will have their own system of how spells should effect other elements around them. There's really no right or wrong answer, since in the real world elements can work in an odd and confusing way. If you want something complicated, then by all means go for it. But if you are looking for something quick and simple, then feel free to use this as a sort of stepping stone. The percentages are set up as how much damage it will cause or take in relation to another element:


Fire>Ice>Wind>Stone>Lightning>Water>Fire


Fire:
-100% against Fire, 200% against Ice, 50% against Wind, 150% against Lightning, 100% against Stone, 0% against Water, 0% against Holy, 100% against Darkness.

Ice:
-100% against Ice, 200% against Wind, 50% against Stone, 150% against Water, 100% against Lightning, 0% against Fire, 50% against Holy/Dark.

Wind:
-100% against Wind, 200% against Stone, 50% against Lightning, 150% against Fire, 100% against Water, 0% against Ice, 50% against Holy/Dark.

Stone:
-100% against Stone, 200% against Lightning, 50% against Water, 150% against Ice, 100% against Fire, 0% against Wind, 50% against Holy/Dark.

Lightning:
-100% against Lightning, 200% against Water, 50% against Fire, 150% against Wind, 100% against Ice, 0% against Stone, 50% against Holy/Dark.

Water:
-100% against Water, 200% against Fire, 50% against Ice, 150% against Stone, 100% against Wind, 0% against Lightning, 50% against Holy/Dark.

Holy:
50% against Holy, 150% against Dark, 150% against Fire, 100% to everything else.

Dark:
50% against Dark, 150% against Holy, 50% against Fire, 100% to everything else.

NOTE: Holy and Dark magic both seem to have high advantages and very little weaknesses, making them more likely to be used in place of other spells. A good way to balance this out is to:

1. Make them available late in the game.
2. Make them 50% more costly in MP than other spells.

Here is my Magic Chart and how each type would effect another in terms of damage. A negative means the opponent being attacked by that spell would be healed instead of receiving damage.

[Show/Hide] SHOW

FINAL NOTE: Things are a tad different in VXA (for the better in my opinion) because you have other options to contend with as well, such as Magic Defense and Luck, I believe. You have a variety of ways to write your formulas, and you can even do script calls for your formulas as well. In addition to magic, you can also create special skills that use TP instead of MP. TP goes up the more damage you cause and the more damage you make, and when you hit the level of TP for that type of skill, you have the option of releasing that skill against your opponents, sort of like an Overdrive Technique.

[Levi.core]

Cool
This is spam. You need to add more to your post, than one word. This is your Verbal warning. ~Jonnie19

[Zinx10]

I'd recommend you remove the quote for the one word. Anyways, this is a great guide and is a good reference if I ever need help with magic element efficiencies.