Final Fantasy Hacktics

Skillset Name: Master of Arms
Innate: Equip Change
Tactical Art: Blood Weapon

Freelancers are every unit's starting job. Through the ARH (hopefully), they'll be able to use a variety of skills based on what items they have equipped. The catch, however, is they aren't able to innately equip the equipment needed for their skills. They'll need to traverse the job tree and get the Equip X skills in order to use their skills (or have Master of Arms on a secondary skillset)- kind of like FFV's Freelancers needed to master jobs to become more powerful. The Freelancer's Tactical Art- Blood Weapon- allows them to consume MP to strike an enemy with their weapon and drain HP.

Skillset Name: Lore
Innate: Move-Get EXP
Tactical Art: Erase

Scholars are primarily a magical class, able to use Bio and Aero magicks, as well as using Esuna to dispel negative status effects, and Libra to dispel all magical effects on a single adjacent enemy (although it requires a Book to use the latter). The Scholar can also use skills that inflict Innocent on targets, using logic and reason to dispel religious beliefs. Their Tactical Art- Erase- allows the Scholar to heavily consume MP to nullify all status effects on the field.

Skillset Name: Ravage
Innate: Martial Arts
Tactical Art: Aura Cannon

Berserkers are designed to be frontline fighters, albeit at the cost of low HP thanks to only being able to equip Hats, Clothes, and Gauntlets (as their only accessory). Berserkers focus on pumping up their PA and inflicting Berserk on themselves and allies to further bolster their physical prowess. Their primary skill is Pummel, which has a 25% chance of attacking the enemy with another Pummel strike, and another 25% chance from there. Their Tactical Art- Aura Cannon- allows them to deal ranged physical damage at the cost of heavy HP damage in return.

Skillset Name: Thievery
Innate: Move-Find Item
Tactical Art: Dervish

Brigands are masters of stealing items and other tricks. They can steal items while equipping Knives, or they can threaten and coerce enemies whilst using Guns, or they can focus on damage while equipped with Crossbows. Thus, Brigands are jacks of all trades, however, their light armor makes them quite frail, even with their Evasion. Their Tactical Art- Dervish- bestows the Brigand with Haste, Regen, and Vanish at a heavy MP cost.

Skillset Name: Lightbringer
Innate: Magic Defense Up
Tactical Art: Rising Phoenix

Devouts are masters of Faith-based magic, and all their magic relies on the target's Faith. They use a wide variety of magic, from Cure, to Water, to Dia. Like White Mages before them, they can use Raise and Arise to heal fallen allies. Devouts can also use the Faith spell to fill their target with faith, making their skills more effective on that target. Their Tactical Art- Rising Phoenix- fully restores all fallen allies at a huge MP cost.

Skillset Name: Thaumaturgy
Innate: Defense Up
Tactical Art: Atheism

Magi are masters of Faithless magic, meaning their spells are more effective on enemies with less Faith. They focus on Ice and Earth elemental spells as well as minor statuses such as Blind and Silence. Their innate Defense Up allows them to be frontline fighters against enemies, and their ability to have low Faith allow them to resist magic with ease. However, they can only wear Robes and no headgear, meaning their HP will be very low. Their Tactical Art- Atheism- decreases the Faith of all enemies by 7, making their spells more effective against those enemies.

Skillset Name: Transmutation
Innate: Throw Items
Tactical Art: Mutation

Alchemists are masters of Item usage and Transmutation magic. (If I can have them boost Items by using them somehow, I will, otherwise, they'll use transformation magic. Thus, I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with them yet.) Their Tactical Art- Poisonous Frog- allows the Alchemist to consume a great amount of MP to Poison, Chicken, and Frog an enemy. Chicken wears off after the enemy's turn when Poison damages them.

Skillset Name: Chivalry
Innate: Defend
Tactical Art: Stonehewn Wall

Paladins are a combination of heavy defensive warriors and defensive spellcasters. They have access to Protect and Shell, and can restore nearby allies' HP and MP slightly. They can use either Sword and Shield for defense, or choose to use Knightswords for pure power. Hopefully through the ARH, they'll need to use Shields for certain skills. Their Tactical Art- Stonehewn Wall- allows allies to take damage equal to the Paladin's HP at a heavy MP cost.

Skillset Name: Aim
Innate: Concentrate
Tactical Art: Disarm

Snipers are long-range units, capable of using Bows, Crossbows, and Guns. Snipers are able to shatter an enemy's equipment with great accuracy, due to Concentrate. Snipers are also capable of pinning enemies to the ground for their other skills to land. Snipers can also inflict Vanish on themselves to sneak around enemies and get to a prime location on the field. Their Tactical Art- Disarm- allows the Sniper to destroy an enemy's weapon and damage them at the same time with perfect accuracy at a heavy MP cost.

Skillset Name: Dark Pact
Innate: Undead, Magic Attack Up
Tactical Art: Possession

Necromancers are masters of Dark magic and status magic, using Poison, Death, Zombie, and Vampire to sap away enemy forces. Necromancers can also drain HP and MP from enemies using Drain and Osmose. Necromancers can also fully restore an ally's HP at the cost of turning them into a Zombie. Although weak to Holy and Fire, the Necromancer's Magic Attack Up allows them to cast spells with great potency. Further, Necromancers will learn their skills by being hit with them by the Undead. Their Tactical Art- Possession- sacrifices MP to sacrifice the Necromancer's turn and give it to an ally instead.

Skillset Name: Sabotage
Innate: Float, Teleport
Tactical Art: Insanity

Psions, like Necromancers, are masters of status skills. For offensive skills, Psions can use Fire magic and Magic Missile to damage enemies from afar. Psions are also able to Charm, Confuse, and Berserk enemies through their mental manipulation. Like Necromancers, Psions can learn their skills psychically from enemy Psions or from enemy crystals. Though frail, Psions can learn MP Switch to bolster their defenses, at the cost of MP (obviously). Their Tactical Art- Insanity- throws the battlefield into an uproar by inflicting Confuse on every unit.

Skillset Name: Elementalism
Innate: Move on Lava, Any Weather
Tactical Art: N/A

Elementalists, though lacking a Tactical Art, are masters of versatility. Unlike Vanilla's Geomancers, each terrain's skill has a varying effect, such as Hell Ivy (which will now be Poison Ivy) inflicting either Poison or Don't Move, or Water Ball (now Lifefont) healing some HP and granting Regen, or Gusty Wind imbuing Vanish. Therefore, it is now more important than ever to pay attention to which terrain you're standing on if you want to use Elementalists most effectively.

Skillset Name: Commandeer
Innate: Move in Water
Tactical Art: Nepto Dragon

Vikings specialize in heavy defense, heavy physical attacks, and Thunder and Water skills at the cost of being very slow. Using Shields and Heavy Armor, as well as Berserk, the Viking can taunt enemies into attacking the high defense and high evasion Viking, making attacks miss. The Viking can also use Water and Thunder physical attacks, allowing them to easily slay creatures on both land and sea. Their Tactical Art- Nepto Dragon- summons the Nepto Dragon to drown all units in water with a chance of inflicting instant Death at the cost of tremendous HP damage in return.

Skillset Name: Sacred Magic
Innate: Half of MP
Tactical Art: Ultima

Sages specialize in slow but devastating forbidden spells, such as Holy, Meteor, Quake, Tornado, and their Tactical Art- Ultima. Sages have a high MP pool, and can chaincast spells with great ease thanks to Half of MP. Despite this, they must position their spells carefully so as not to hit allies, and the long charge time of spells can also be difficult for them to manage without Short Charge. Their Tactical Art- Ultima- heavily damages foes in an area at a very steep MP cost.

Skillset Name: Summon
Innate: Absorb: Holy/Dark
Tactical Art: Zodiark

Avatars are a very risky job with high return. After defeating each Lucavi or obtaining a Zodiac Stone, a piece of Magicite will appear in the inventory. Each summon requires a piece of Magicite for it to be called. However, if your luck is ill or if you use the Magicite too often, it may break, and you will need to complete certain battles in Deep Dungeon to win it back. Each Summon has a unique effect when called, and the Avatar's Tactical Art- Zodiark- inflicts tremendous Dark elemental damage and Death on all enemy units.

Skillset Name: Despair
Innate: Half: Fire/Ice/Thunder/Dark; Weak: Light
Tactical Art: Black Sky

Harbingers are warriors of destruction, fueling their skills with their own blood. In that sense, they are similar to Dark Knights, with more magical skills and greater HP. They can use either Axes, Swords, or Katana. Harbingers can also throw enemies into stasis, with Stop, Slow, Don't Move, and Don't Act. Their Tactical Art- Black Sky- either inflicts Doom, Blind, Zombie, or Poison on all units.

Skillset Name: Fete
Innate: Fly
Tactical Art: Eyes on Me

Performers are a combination of Vanilla's Bard and Dancer, accessible to both genders. The Performer's Songs and Dances now affect those around him/her, rather than all units. Performers have slightly above average HP, and moderate PA and MA. The Performer is a varied job, using many varying skills, and requires careful positioning as to not harm allies, or heal enemies. The Performer's Tactical Art- Eyes on Me- instantly stops anything that is Charging or Performing on the field at a cost of MP.

Skillset Name: Seduction
Innate: Speed Save
Tactical Art: Nightslayer

Assassins are female-only slayers, using skills that wither away enemy PA and speed, until enemies are rendered helpless against their instant-kill and status skills. Although Assassins are very fast, they lack high HP and MP, and they are left wide open while charging their -sap skills. Their Tactical Art- Nightslayer- inflicts Treasure on an HP Critical unit, finishing them off. However, the attack only has average accuracy, and the MP cost is fairly high.

Skillset Name: Justice
Innate: PA Save, MA Save
Tactical Art: Quickening

Templars are male-only warriors, using a combination of skills and spells that buff allies and deal heavy damage to enemies. They can also slightly heal allies, and their physical attacks get better the more they are attacked. In that sense, they are the opposites of Assassins, in that they get stronger as the battle goes on, rather than weakening the enemy over the battle. Their Tactical Art- Quickening- increases their PA by 3 at a large MP cost.

Skillset Name: N/A
Innate: Concentrate, Defense Up, Magic Attack Up, Attack Up
Tactical Art: N/A

Same as Vanilla's Mime.

~Prologue: The Beginning of the End~

The Mechanical City of Goug lie on the eastern shores of the Bugross Sea, rewarding those citizens
each twilight with a view of a sunset unparalleled anywhere else. The city sprawled across the
shoreline, sprinkled about with various smithies and forges. Rare were the ones whose craft was
handed down from the extinct Moogles. Rarer were the ones who didn't gouge their customers.

The Lithul Forge was one of those very elite forges that took pride in every arm and armor crafted,
and as such, it earned the reputation of being one of Goug's most successful forges. Focusing
primarily in Mythril ore, the forge was family owned and operated for generations. Old wives tales
state that the Forge even operated during the legendary Cataclysm. Such was the nature of things in
that family- even as the world crumbled about them, the Lassels would continue tempering their
blades and shining their chainmail.

Each day was the same in and out. Eudora Lassel would gather her mining gear and head to the North
Ward, where the mineshafts were. The lord of the family, Brionac Lassel, gathered his lunch and tools
for the day and head to the market, where he would attempt to sell the lesser quality goods to peddlers
and soldiers. These lower quality goods were exceptional by any smith's standards, but Brionac was
no standard smith. These lower quality armaments were forged by his apprentice and son, Ren Lassel,
day in and day out.

"How's young Ren, Brion?" The pot-bellied merchant asked. The merchant was one of Brionac's regular
customers throughout the years. The two were good friends, finding a familiar existence with each
other. Both led mundane lives, going about their lives with minor infamy among their kind, and no
Gil nor banner to show for it. In this, they share a familiar pain of having kin who do not wish to
follow the family trade.

"He's as he always is. Talented, but less than ambitious. It as though he rebukes his family's
profession!" Brionac exclaimed, handing over a quiver of silver-tipped arrows.

"Eh, my boy's the very same. Says he wants to be a chocobo breeder! Hah! An aspiration worthy
of a knave, I say!" The merchant laughed.

Chocobo travel was about the only business booming in these rough days after the Fifty Years' War.
Due to the high amount of soldiers sent to Goug after the war, employment was hard to find, and even
those who had jobs had little money. The local inn and church were the only places to find employment,
and that was only if you wanted to be a guard. Not even the Church of Glabados was immune to knavery
these days- the mythril candlesticks and silver rosaries found within were common targets for rogues
to fence. The inn's food was any brigand's mark.

Brionac finished his transaction and headed to the forge, which was conveniently located near the
mines. This gave him a fair amount of business- tempering pickaxes, refining mythril ore that the
miners found, work of that nature. Despite the amount of miners, business dwindled by the day.

The local economists took a variety of stances of why the economy was less than admirable in Goug.
A few thought it was because the War was over, and the need for weapons and armor with it. Brionac
agreed with them. Peace was at long last upon Ivalice, and peace was every craftman's enemy. So
long as people were killing each other, there'd be no loss for customers!

Brionac began his daily work, ever awaiting when his son would decide to awaken and come to work.
He had long given up waking his son up everyday, only for both he and Ren to be an hour late. Brionac
often found that he worked faster- and harder- on his own, without his apprentice. Brionac feared
more than a lack of warhungry soldiers. He also feared that the family duty of blacksmithing would
fall upon his death. Afterall, Ren was by no means a blacksmith, much less ambitious. Louise was a
gentle girl, far too delicate to place in the mines, or behind an anvil.

The sun rose and fell that day, Ren not so much as visiting his father at the forge. Rather, Ren
was with Louise all day, observing people in the city square.

"Ren, have you heard about the clansmen who have recently come to town? I heard they slayed the Midgard
Zolom that was attacking the travellers in the Zigolis Swamp!" Louise said excitedly. The hunters
always fascinated her. They ranged from bowmen to swordsmen to mages to rogues. Exciting were the
days when fetes were held for these bronzed warriors.

"So I hear. When last we travelled the swamp, we were besieged by a pack of poltergeists. Would
that we carried none of those Phoenix feathers, we'd have joined their ranks!" Ren replied.
Although he was exaggerating, the amount of undead in the Swamp had recently surged with the
amount of deaths in the Fifty Years' War. The local apothecaries often had trouble carrying the
blessed feathers, much to Brionac's envy. A single touch of the feather would banish the undead back
to their plane. Brionac lamented that he was no apothecary. Of late, the Plague had surged within the
larger cities such as Goug, and thus were apothecaries still a necessity.

"Father had wanted me to visit the forge today." Ren stated.

"And yet here you sit with me instead, wasting away the day?" Louise interrogated.

"Keeping you company does more good than idly sitting by in a hot, stench-ridden forge. No customers,
regardless. Just father going on about his childhood, and the stories grandfather would tell him. No
arms to be sold, no Gil to be made." It was the same discussion every week. Complain about the forge,
complain about the lack of income, complain about everything.

"Deep down, I think father grows lonely down at the forge. You're his only son, his pride and joy.
It wouldn't harm you to try and learn the family craft." Louise often tired of these discussions, but
she knew that it would only hurt Ren to keep it bottled up.

"I am no smith- my name does not make me what I am. I choose my own path!" Ren realized he was raising
his voice, and a few curious onlookers gaped at him. Ren looked down, embarassed.

"Sorry, sister." Ren paused. He quickly decided to change the subject.

"What then do you think of us soon moving to the valley? Life here is dull. Life as a valley
blacksmith would be non-existent." Ren said. Ren hopped onto the nearby stone fountain
and dipped his hand in the cool, clear water. Louise joined his side.

"This town is milked dry of its Gil, and the taxes increase evermore by the day.
If we continue to live here, we'd soon be living in the Lowtown gutters!" Louise explained.

"I thought about joining the City Guard. Staying here and catching criminals, y'know. I think I'd
be doing a lot more good than making weapons." Ren stated. The city guards were hardly good people.
They often extorted the poorer merchants, taking food- or Gil- for free. Although there were a few
good guards, most of them just didn't do anything- and got paid for it.

"You underrate yourself, brother. The time spent as a fledgling guardsman would better
be spent at the Academy in Gariland." Louise said cheerfully.

"You flatter me, sister. With what would I get in? My good looks and charming personality?" Ren replied,
laughing. Louise shrugged.

"But brother, you're equally lacking in both of those!"

"Sister, it's not nice to speak ill of your elder, you know!" Ren joked.

The two laughed. The hours seemed to roll by as the two walked about the city. The afternoon ended,
and the sun began to fall. Ren pointed to the sky.

"Sundown is upon us. Shall we?"

"Yeah. We should go to the docks." Louise said.

The two had done this nearly-daily tradition for years now. This was partially the reason Ren hated
working at the forge. The forge's workhours were until after sundown, and the view of the sunset
from the forge was nearly nonexistent.

Despite their moderately decent upbringing, Ren and Louise both felt as if their lives had little
meaning. The son and daughter of lowborn laborers were never going to be nobles, however much
they endeavored. It was this daily ritual of gazing at the orange-hued sunset that gave each of
them the hope they needed to move on to tomorrow.

The land of Ivalice had thought to find new hope after war's end. Ordallia and Ivalice now knew peace, and many
families once broken up by the war had found themselves together once more. Despite this, the returning
soldiers often had nightmares of war's horrors, and many went insane. As many returning chivalrous
warriors as there were, there were as many less honorable groups forming, particularly in Goug. Groups
of disenfranchised miners- losing work to the returning, cheaper veterans of the War- formed, often
in hateful groups who would assault veterans on sight. Tensions were high in this new Goug, a Goug of
violence and poverty.

Goug was not alone in this new Ivalice. The large cities of Gariland, Igros, and Zeltennia also faced
disgruntled veterans. Hope was low and life not worth living for many of these men. The guardsmen,
short in their number, did their best to quell the uprisings, only to meet further resistance from
the rebels, plotting rebellion. For those not losing any to war's horror, hope sprang from a font eternal.
But most were not so lucky, particularly in the Mechanical City.

Despite this, hope bloomed within the city's youth.

As the two youths gazed upon the sunset, each secretly wishing for a better life, they were unaware
of just how soon their wishes would come true. The craft of wishmaking is one of trickery and deceit.
Though pure were the youth's wishes for a better life- a life of meaning and interest- the stars that
night were crossed, and the wishes they make this night do indeed change their lives forever...