What Game/System Lets You Play As A Blue Mage?

In Exalted 3e, Solar Exalted of the Eclipse caste have the unique power to learn certain charms (superpowers) possessed by gods and elementals and fairies and stuff. I believe in previous editions they could straight up learn any charm possessed by anyone whatsoever, but that's kind of going beyond blue magic.

Yeah blue mage is a gimmick caster even in final fantasy. They vary between useless and broken depending how strongk those monster abilities are.

Your imagination is as shriveled as your dick

FFRPG

For D&D at least, a Blue Mage makes no sense as many of the abilities that a Blue Mage does are already present on the various caster lists or are abilities tied to specific physiology.

However, this hasn't stopped them from adding in various blue mage like classes or archetypes.

Incarnum from 3.x is very blue mage like. PF has a barbarian archetype called Flesheater which allows the barbarian to mimic powers from various creatures he's eaten recently during rages. A Kobold Press PF class called the Savant is very much like a blue mage except through bardic style storytelling.

>it requires you to give every monster an inherent ability of some kind to steal
The hell it does. As the GM, you know inherently what monsters your party will face, when they will face them, and where. You only need to give every monster a Blue Magic if you're one of those assholes who decides encounters based off of random tables, like I used to do.

What about some Final Fantasy RPG?
reddit.com/r/FFRPG/comments/3vnq9h/updated_download_links_links_para_download/

>so it's just another gimmick caster
>Mage
What were you expecting?

I'm not familiar with the specifics of Blue Rose, but True20 (which is basically a generic/universal version of its mechanics) has a very easy way of handling it by way of the Adept role's core ability.

tennis obv

Reading over this, I like the ability and I could see using it.
Like if you're in a touch situation where none of your spells you have can help you out, but you know of a spell that could.

What systems COULD it work it?
It might be doable in D&D 4e, since monsters also have encounter/daily powers, right?

Posting best blue mage.

What's the difference between the colors of mages

White - healing
Black - killing
Blue - copying
Red - White+Black+Fighter

Green was a debuff specialist.

>are you blue?

>only in color, Michael

>just another

Yet in Final Fantasy its the only gimmick caster.
Thus its the only magic class with any flavor in FF

There are some iconic spells, but whats most appealing is the magic is often unique.

D&D 3.5's Totemist is functionally very similar to Blue Magic, although you don't have to suffer an attack to perform it.

So many classes I like have this problem....

I think a larger problem is Final Fantasy can never decide on just how a Blue Mage works.

>Sometimes they are a fighter mage mix with good physical stats and get more magic the more they fight magical creatures.
>Some games they are pure casters who can take and imitate any spell through observation
>Some games they actually steal the specific spell, for a one time use, and need to stock up on multiple casts of that spell to have a decent amount of casting ammo

Also a lot of the class works out because FF has a totally different spell list for enemies than player classes. Blue Mages are the only chance to use that list. But DnD everything uses the same list.

Maybe a class that can somehow take and imitate the spell like abilities certain magical creatures have after defeating them and passing some kind of a check. Even then a wizard or Sorc could probably still do a better job.

I would like to see something like Brave Fencer Musashi, who can steal the special ability of the creature or person he is fighting. And keep it until you steal the next ability.

Pretty much any system that's point-buy. I'm a fan of Mutants & Masterminds; its technically a supers game, but it has rules for, "archaic," style equipment like swords, shields, and armor, and it's like every other point-buy game in that, if you don't like the basic setting, it's no work at all to make it work with a different one.

For a Blue Mage, all you'd really need is to have a devoted Alternate Power Array for Blue Magic. The way an Alternate Power Array works is, for one point, you can buy a new power, but its point total can't be higher than the base power's before buying any Alternate Power Feats, and you can't use both of them at the same time, you have to spend a free action to switch between them like having a skill wheel.

Seriously, I used an Alternate Power Array to build all of Corvo's(Dishonored) active powers for... ten points, I think it was?

Isn't Green a summoner color too?

The time mages never had their own color

Lets get a list. I love to homebrew shit

Green Mage was only in FFTA2, but the types of spells it used (some buffs but mostly debuffs) move around between black magic, white magic, and various other classes from title to title, or don't have an equivalent in other titles (ie Leap, since movement distance and height aren't a factor in most FF games).

It doesn't do summoning, although because summoner often has support skills (or adds them through a subjob) it's not an unreasonable association.

The class as it works in final fantasy is just a class that doesn't translate well as is to a pencil and paper RPG. If I were to make one, I would probably make it a hybrid fighter/summoner; he can keep a stock of creatures he kills and summon them temporarily and maybe get a bonus to his own stats based on the creature type.

I miss my FFXI BLU. Headbuttin' all day erryday.

So Sasuke from Naruto is actually a blue mage huh?

Not really, because the sharingan just allows you to mimic someone's jutsu as they're making the signs, basically just letting you mimic them when they're used.

Blue Mages keep the spells permanently and get to use them whenever.

His stats might work out as a light to no armor melee type that views and stores spells and skill from others. It does seem to work out about the same yea.

And a few blue mages were described as geniuses who could fully understand how a spell works just by seeing it once.

The biggest problem with the blue mage concept is probably that it's hard to make a standardized mechanic for learning shit from monsters if it wasn't built into the game in the first place. Also in the games it's usually not all that balanced, and it's more like the class that rewards you more for taking the extra time needed to master it.
I have no idea how I would use such a thing in DnD if nothing else (without watering down the concept in some way at least)

Can do something as basic as having to consume some particular part of the monster.

In FFXI blue mages were basically humans with a fiend/monster inside them allowing them to use monster abilities, but if let go too long they would eventually turn into mindflayers. So can play up that angle depending on game/setting.

Gotta eat those monster brains while keeping my inner monster in check.

As I see it there are two ways to handle a 'true blue mage' in D&D (admittedly depending on edition).
A) Whatever the DM is willing to 'give' you. Maybe the adventure takes you to exotic places with interesting monster abilities to learn; maybe you're the fifth wheel in a politics game.
B) You take it into your own hands and your character researches and pursues monsters for their abilities.

It's a two-way street, but a player or DM who struggles with being creative probably won't hit option B.
If you think about it this issue extends to a lot of other classes as well, but in different ways; wizards used to have to seek out or research their own spells, and item creation used to be subquest-worthy; now these aspects of the game get handwaved to shorten the kill-loot cycle.

Anyway, I really do think that the Totemist does an interesting job of capturing 'monster mage' in D&D. It's simultaneously the most D&D class in the game (since some of its abilities are specifically based on creatures that are unique to D&D) and the least externally-dependent class (since its abilities don't depend on any other source, ie dieties or spellbooks or equipment, and can be freely reconfigured on a daily basis, and even partially reconfigured at will).

Blue Mages in FFXI are people who are alchemically modified and implanted with various fiend organs and blood. This gives the the capability of bringing forth to abilities of the various fiends from Vana'Diel but they have to "experience" the abilities first hand to bring forth a reaction in their blood.

Neat lore tidbit, the Blue Mage Artifact armor shown in the OP is actually designed to restrict their powers and focus them lest their blood becomes too powerful and they transform into one of these.

The most effective way would probably just be to give a work around for how they learn monster abilities, as that way they're just another caster or gish with a unique spell list. I can't help but think that sort of defeats the purpose of the class though

Funny story I actually used some monster powers to give to the party. Most obvious one was a beholder who died. They got to take one of his eyestalks as a wand that casted that spell once per day.

I think you can get a good chunk of unusual classes from video games, because the vastly different combat systems like turn-based or action make different playstyles more obvious.

Dragon's Dogma for example loves melee/caster hybrids. That's because the element system is pretty important and absolutely critical in the MMO. It's going so far that the Shield Sage's own mechanic is built around putting the right element on the party.

>Mystic Knight/Shield Sage
MK uses buffs that add effects on your attacks and blocks and has some location bases spells. For example you can place an orb on the ground that shoots projectiles whenever it's hit, with your current element. You can put three of those next to each other and hit them with the weapon enchant that adds small extra waves to your attacks, killing your framerate in the original version. Or you use a sigil that pulls enemies into one location while your party members ready their aoe spells.
The MMO version ditches the weapon to become more of a caster based on blocking and debuffs.

>Magic Archer
Uses spell-projectiles of the different elements. Different spells have different flight path which make the better in different situations. Lightning bounces on walls, going crazy in hallways. Light shoots a single bolt on eleven different targets, making it against groups or very big monsters.
You also have daggers which are mostly used for buffing(there are dagger attacks, but it's the same other dagger users get). You can increase your magic power, set yourself on fire and then cling to the enemy's balls.
MMO version ditches daggers for healing spells.

Cont.

>Alchemist
A spell and movement based tank. Your various attacks stack alchemical drills onto your enemy that you can detonate to inflict damage and debuffs. The last patch also added a counter-attack mechanic with little shockwaves of gold or something.
Also got some of the location based spells the MK lost in the transition to the MMO.

>Spirit Lancer
A spellblade healer that builds up a ressource with spells and then spends that on some melee combos. Doesn't have much yet because it's pretty new.

Another interesting case is Golden Sun, where everyone is a spellblade summoner that can switch classes on the fly. Though that system kinda depends on the entiry party being linked to it because you share the ressource for summons.
Basicly, you gain higher classes by bonding with spirits.
Which type of spirit determines your spells/stats and each individual spirit has a effect you can use. After using those spirits you can do various summons, but that puts you back in the lower classes.
I think you can make a decent class out of this. Maybe some sort of druid/shaman where you are limited to spells of a level equal to the bonded spirits. Depending on the type of spirits you find you get different spells or become more of a martial or caster.

I like monster powers in general. Whether it be symbiotes, blue magic, morphing into one... Wait.

Are there games with something like the Morpher class? It's sort of like Blue Mage but you actually turn into a monster.

FFd6. There was another good Final Fantasy based tabletop rpg floating out there somewhere that I liked even better, but its name escapes me at the moment.

Redux, I remembered. It was FFRPG. I prefer it over FFd6.

Which FFRPG? Third or fourth edition?

I like third edition, but I haven't actually taken a look at fourth edition yet, so it might change my mind.

I just took a look at fourth edition, and it's not to my liking. I think I'll stick with 3e for now.

Seed?

Could you tell what you didn't liked in it?

>Yet in Final Fantasy its the only gimmick caster.
What are Mediators.
What are Calculators.
What are Scholars.
What are Geomancers.

Forgotten, because Ivalice is too good for this world.

I'm pretty sure at least Scholar and Geomancer got resurrected for FFXI expansions, the latter one I was always hoping they put in when I first played.

The joint problem AND uniqueness with classes like Geomancer and Blue Mage, however, is that they're extremely dependent on environment and campaign progression. GEO needs certain terrain to get the most out of their abilities (kind of like a Ranger class, but potentially more cripplingly restrictive), while BLU's arsenal is entirely up to whatever monsters your GM decides you encounter. Still, I really love gimmicky classes like that, and I think a system where all the casters had these intricacies would be cool if they also abandoned the universalist ones like White/Black Mages.

Druid?

Thats exactly the main point about Geomancer, Blue Mage, Summoner, Tamer, and other classes like that. You're relying on the GM to provide you the means to grow. You do not have reliable ways to choose how your character will work.

Used to be the same thing with old D&D Wizards, and I think thats why it created the "auto learn spells with level up" mechanic of newer editions

Don't forget Gamblers

This thing's a homebrew I've been working on, called the Three Paths.

The third Path- the 'Rogue' or 'Wanderer' or whatever, is all about learning special abilities and using 'secrets', some of which are learned from monsters. It's the basis behind a Blue Mage, though they also learn warrior maneuvers and wizard spells and such if they need to.