Do job *exclusions* define your character, and how?

As a roleplay-minded player (if not an active roleplayer in FFXIV), one of the barriers to me immersing myself into a character, and literally a personal barrier to my going both feet into the game, has been crafting a persona of substance that could conceivably be any class/job that I felt like playing… which I once assumed to be all of them, given my fanatical “altoholism” in WoW.

What eventually contributed to my full-on commitment to FFXIV was crafting a character that would embody a big swath of classes that I was legitimately excited to play to scratch itches that WoW could never fully address. I now have somewhat firm barriers as to what jobs make sense for my character, and I’m excited to use them all in the very specific niche of content that I so greatly enjoy in the game.

Sindyr is, conceptually, a samurai, who focuses upon personal discipline and strength through martial mastery with weapons and without. I know my profile here says my main class is Dark Knight, but that’s certainly going to change with Endwalker. Sindyr *was* a “dark knight with a nodachi” until I fell in love with samurai and discovered that trusts would always have my back if I wanted to main a melee DPS. Since embracing this concept, I’ve utilized the power of glamor to branch him out into Bard, Monk, and soon Lancer and Ninja. There isn’t a casting DPS class or healing class that suits him, nor do dancer or machinist suit him, so I won’t touch those. I may find a way to stretch him into reaper if I can find a “samurai enough” scythe glamor, but I doubt I, the player can fully resist such edgelordy goodness forever!

How about you? What jobs’ exclusion strongly define your character concept? Have you crafted a character whose personality is defined by what jobs they’ve leveled as much as what they haven’t? Is there a job you love too much to exclude from your character that you’ve done some mental gymnastics to fit it in? For me, I really wanted a ranged option, so I literally wrote some musical talent into Sindyr and got him a suitably “samurai aesthetic” bow glamour before I’d let myself level bard!

I dont have a lore/rp reason for playing many different jobs . What I do like about it though is because there are differences in NPC reactions to your involvement with the early class guilds or the jobs introduced in HW and on wards having some impact on story I feel its like the replay value you get similar to single player games that have large spanning stories in which you can make alternate choices from a prior play through so you get to see the other side of the coins , so to speak or that you understand more about XYZ faction, or persons because you are now seeing in hindsight ( if you play jobs after doing much of the msq already)

My character is just a mercenary and to me that sorta justifies having multiple styles of combat though I'm usually a gunbreaker. I would say for op's character you could easily say they learned these other martial skills so you would know better how to combat them if the need ever arises.

Mine is the casual destroyer. He learned every job so that he destroys casuals before they destroy that job.

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Originally Posted by Omedon

How about you? What jobs’ exclusion strongly define your character concept? Have you crafted a character whose personality is defined by what jobs they’ve leveled as much as what they haven’t? Is there a job you love too much to exclude from your character that you’ve done some mental gymnastics to fit it in?

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You know, thinking about it, my character kinda IS.
Tl;Dr I am a magic pumpkin inhabiting the body of an 89 year old Lalafell, so I've shied away from the jobs I've felt were extra nimble (DNC, RDM, DRG) because I felt that didn't fit my character.

So I'm similar to you in the fact that while I don't actively roleplay, I do enjoy coming up with backstories and justifications for my characters and the things they do (or don't). I've barely touched most jobs on my character mostly because it seems... daunting and I have really narrow specific tastes, the ones I have to any extent have been WAR, DRG, NIN, DRK and SAM.

... but "canonically" it went WAR>DRK>NIN>SAM. Long story short, due to their atypical constitution, Tsiron couldn't adapt to life on the Steppe and got on the first ship to anywhere else (in this case, Limsa Lominsa), a shitty axe on their back, thinking to try and make the best of their larger-than-usual body (despite funnily enough being almost min height). They swapped for a greatsword by the time of HW as their combat ability improved and they got PTSD, which got shattered during the first fight with Zenos, after which they (and I...) lost confidence in their ability to, well, Tank. Took up NIN for a while until they were able to come to terms with the fact they don't have to take everything on themselves (power of friendship and etc.) and became SAM from that point on.

Realistically, they would've become a healer or somesuch, based on what I think their personality's like... but if I chickened out of Tanking you can imagine how scared I am of healing lmao. So instead I'm just going to say Tsiron is... really kind of just a hopeless idiot when it comes to academic pursuits, which extends to magic of any kind.

EDIT: For a bit of (meta) context, I knew from the start I wanted to play an Au Ra... but originally I was planning to make a female character. I couldn't get over... the way female Au Ra are, unfortunately (and playing one as an alt right now has done nothing to change my opinion), so making Tsiron as feminine as I could manage was my compromise. I'm happy with how they've turned out, though!

I don’t actively engage on RP nor do I have the time for it,

What I do carry with me dearly its my own magical-thinking to which I project & visualize on narrating Vencio’s ongoing story & I can tap on how he feels on certain scenarios as also day-to-day errands.

Basically to address your topic, no I don’t/Vencio does not follow the rigidness of job alignment, rather what I can say about Vencio it’s that he did study the principles of a “free Paladin” and does apply it to his every day adventure/tasks/ combat but is NOT a paladin..just a mere fighter w/ tapping onto aether to perform physical feats & does not posses the ECHOE.



PS: I’ve never agreed to be WoL or being focal point of interest for the storyline. I just pretend as an additional mercenary that looked to assist the Scion’s & the “silhouette WoL” whoever it may be & its not relevant for such mystery, best to leave it as ambiguous as it is.

I don't exclude a job for RP, I level and play everything. If I'm ever IC at any point though it's usually on MNK or RDM since those are the jobs used in my character's backstory but I won't just not play a job OOC because I like playing everything. It seems like a lot of wasted opportunities to learn more lore of the world by not picking up other classes and doing their stories, lore than can enhance your RP.

I don't exclude any jobs but not all jobs are ones I'm interested in.

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Originally Posted by WoW

Mine is the casual destroyer. He learned every job so that he destroys casuals before they destroy that job.

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https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...12/563/05d.jpg

Not an RPer in video games, but my main specializes in most of the physical DPS and Tank classes, while my alt main specializes in most of the caster DPS and Healer classes. Both having only a few exceptions.

I level and play everything, but from a RP PoV, my OC/Character only uses certain of those professions. I'm following the principle of gameplay and story segregation.

However, I have a friend that refuses to unlock and play any of the Disciples of Magic as they see their character as a Garlean.

I likely won't ever open reaper because I don't agree with the lore behind it (thus so far) for my character. As per Eorzean law summoning voidsent (iirc) is a crime punishable by death. WoL/WoD (which I do not RP as at all) or not it doesn't sit well with me to even open the job at all, I don't care to attach my character to that kind of darkness. I refuse to wear a soulstone for whm and blm keeping to cnj and thm (I don't play them) but at least I don't have to feel like a criminal in playing them.
Most jobs I don't play and my character wouldn't know are leveled in pvp only, but reaper I won't even unlock RIP achievements for me.

Over the years I've naturally accumulated a collection of characters that I've played in various MMOs, RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, or else ideas from creative writing projects. The ones I really like, I tend to reuse when I can. For example, I have a pre-conceived character concept for "Ranger" classes, one for "Wizard" types, etc. And those characters come with personalities and values, even if the game mechanically doesn't offer much in terms of dialogue choices or moral decisions.

I don't roleplay in MMOs, but just the same I still think of my character having an identity, and things they would do and not do. My main in FFXIV is basically my go-to "Druid" character, who I've played in D&D and multiple other video games. She likes to serve supportive roles, so I mainly heal as White Mage (which I really like the lore of in this game) but I really like Summoner too. I'll have her do any of the magic-based jobs, because it's really not feasible to have a bunch of alt characters in FFXIV -- but I have had to draw a hard line at the martial classes, which I did make a second character specifically for. That one isn't really based on anything, I just needed to have a cutesy catgirl ninja, and she will do other things like Bard or Monk or whatever. I also divide my gathering and crafting jobs between the two characters, which was mainly about inventory management but there was also some slight personality considerations that went into it too.

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Originally Posted by Omedon

one of the barriers to me immersing myself into a character, and literally a personal barrier to my going both feet into the game, has been crafting a persona of substance that could conceivably be any class/job that I felt like playing… which I once assumed to be all of them, given my fanatical “altoholism” in WoW.

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Altoholics unite!! I can't imagine ever playing only one character class in an MMO. Have you played Guild Wars 2? It is basically the ultimate altoholic paradise in my opinion. I get why FFXIV works the way it does, and with so many jobs, I don't think it makes sense to have a new character for each one. But at the same time, I really resent having to pay a higher sub fee to have multiple characters, not having a cross-character bank, not being able to mail my own characters, and all the titles, achievements, etc., not account-wide.

And yeah, I can't imagine making a character I'm actually going to care about or enjoy playing, if they're a pure blank slate with no personality and 100% willing and able to do literally anything. I'd feel like I'm playing as just a generic, gray sludge. Do you know of the Greendale "Human Being" mascot from Community? I feel like I'd be playing as that.

https://i.imgur.com/hmFzeuk.jpg

I do not RP but do align my characters with specific job(s) , however I entirely separate them from how I actually enjoy the gameplay of the game so I level everything since it's what I want to do.

Iyami's whole reason for adventuring is that she gets bored easily and hates staying still, so she dabbles in everything. Which often leads her back to red mage, but she's ready to swap weapons whenever needed. Or when she feels like it.

I wrote a backstory for my character once. It lead him on to be a DRK that was not actually the WoL, fighting by, in my story, a WoL who'd bested him in a brawl once and basically paid him to help out with dungeons/war efforts/24 man spelunking (a woman WoL, MNK main for whatever brain's reasoning was at the time).

I had a lot more fanciful energy for story telling like that when DRK had skills like, "Shadowskin" which were basically imagery fed to me wholesale by the game.

But I guess for me that is moreso a gravitation towards roles than specific jobs. I know each job has in world lore that they bend at their wont, but I try to not get hung up on that unless it beggars belief. In my mind, Vicious once gravitated towards tanks because to him there's a lot of glory to be had in being nearly invulnerable (Literally hearing the audio clip from The Mummy 1999, "...and the glory of invincibility!".

As a player though, I play everything with little hesitation. I'm most hesitant about healers, and I don't feel like they fit Vicious all that much on a character level, but for most of the game's life they've been quite fun to play, especially shield healers that can enable people to ignore damage markers.

If I were to review it all, I'd likely write something different for him. On the most basic level, TL;DR the sturdier the job, the more likely Vicious will gravitate towards it. Regardless of whether that sturdiness is direct or indirect through cures and sustains.

I've had a long winded and overtly specidic back story for my character for decades now. Since 1997'ish. Won't go into too much detail about it. My character currently is flawed, while in FFXI despite the limitations of the game then was perfection in a sense. Mainly how the job/class system worked.

This would be due to used to being SMN/BLM - BLM/SMN and DRG/SAM to even PUP/BLU. While understanding that XIV is different from XI, there is a side wishing to have that feeling again. Here, it would be SMN/THM, BLM/Arcanist and SCH/CON - BLU/Arcanist. While I would like to pick up melee (dps and tank) and physical ranged dps further, I just haven't gotten the right feel for them yet. I think it might be due to the limitations of subclasses and my own personal nitpicking that is limiting myself here.

Mainly, Viola has been magic + familiar since 97. With basic inspiration off of Lina Inverse (The Slayers) and as myself. Why I flocked to SMN and SCH fast and in essence, BLM kinda. BOOKS! I built her off of me as well. Deaf, forced to use hands and writing to cast and communicate.

The real "exclusion" would be the lack of being able to push forward with what XI had, not traditionally being SMN/BLM BLM/SMN. While it still has the same feeling with a quick job switch. The desire to have Viole throw open her book(s) have carry dive into attack while dropping Fire III as an ogcd spell in my rotation would bring back that perfected feeling. But since I have her has the same as XI, the imperfect fits as well due to being from another "land" of the same ancient star. So... maybe it does define... I'm tired and confused, getting labs done atm.

I don't RP much at all in FF14 but it is an issue I have thought about from time to time. I guess I look at it as the jobs I don't particularly like or identify with are just sort of "non-canon." They just don't really exist or don't happen. My character doesn't have a specific attachment to or reason for being their main job, and it's not really part of some larger personal story-arc, it's just who "they are" so to speak.

In short, if it's a job I like I just take that as being an element of the character or something they can do depending on the task at hand, but if it's a job I don't like it's purely a game element that doesn't really exist outside of a number on a stat sheet.

I've never cared about playing the 'hero' in a video game who everybody praises constantly and has the entire world revolve around him. So I don't really consider the events of the MSQ's to be relevant to my character concept on many fronts. None of my characters are a 'Warrior of Light'.

I role-play, but I portray my characters as regular people who just happen to be part of the game world. That means that my characters do not do everything, so only a few jobs are ever relevant to each. My current character enjoys cooking in his spare time as a hobby, so I can easily envision him as a Culinarian. His fighting style is basically a fencer, so Red Mage works well enough to reflect that.

My Garlean character, meanwhile, fits as either a Machinist or Gunbreaker. Reaper will be an excellent fit as of Endwalker based on the established lore of the job.

Then there's my Raen, who has the character concept best described as a 'refined brute'. He fits a Warrior fairly well.

Finally, there's my Midlander Hingan. He's fairly devious and driven, so a Ninja suits him best. He's good at causing 'accidents' for Eorzeans when they seek to sabotage the affairs and laws of neutral nations, such as the abhorrent use of the Isle of Val to evade Kugane's tariffs.

I don't roleplay with any great frequency but the core ideas for my characters are as follows:

• Midlander sage/black mage: Half Ishgardian, half Sharlayan, originating from a Sharlayan cononist researcher who married into a minor Ishgardian noble house. He served in the Dragonsong War as a knight medic but also hones his art in more destructive directions, which he is furtive about. He manages the family's foreign business dealings and contact with the Sharlayan homeland.
• Midlander dragoon: One of the above's brothers, retired dragoon who has since married, settled down and taken to managing the family's financal affairs and estates in Ishgard. Dreads the prospect of another drawn out war.
• Raen samurai (eventual DRK/reaper): Raen noble who's been cast down from his position due to losing a prized family relic through a gamble with an Oni. He used to be an exorcist but since then simply sells his services as a mercenary while seeking to redeem himself for his failure.
• Garlean noble: Secondary character I play as the mother of Theodric's Garlean, an ambitious social climber with traits similar to Scarlett from 7R, right down to her looks, who had her eyes set on emperor Varis. She constantly scans the horizon for experimentation she can perform to augment herself and her offspring, and took a particular interest in the Resonance, as well as reviving the art of the Reaper. Has formal training as a spy.
• Garlean scientist: Linked to the above, he is her scientist aide. May or may not have links to the Ascians, and capable of wielding rather dangerous magicks if push comes to shove but will rely on tech before that point. Has taken a fondness to the noble house he works with.

Also have a couple of Xaela side characters, an Oronir and his Buduga brother.

As I mentioned before, I may not roleplay (at least not as much as I used to), but every character I make has a story to them. Thus I usually try to have each character assigned to a job/class that suits them the best. For example:Kindhearted Xiaoyu's never going to touch Dark Knight with a 30ft pole, but Xiaomu's giving it the old college try. Tech geek Xiaolu's main class is Machinist, but is also trying Gunbreaker and may likely give Sage a go as it seem to be somewhat technology influenced.

I like to be at least competent at everything so I usually level up most things except WAR, BRD, DNC and MCH ( altho I am leveling MCH now ).

But as far as my character '' canonically '' goes I think of her as a martial artist who likes to fight hence MNK main but also skilled as SAM and NIN too.
She just prefers to fight with her fists.

I think that playing everything is good tho because it allows you to understand what other players are doing more and makes you a better player.
And there's a lot of overlap too.

Edit: Also I prefer to think of my martial artist characters as more '' magic '' based, in the sense that they're not huge muscle mountains of doom and that's why they can punch hard.
They can punch hard because of '' Chi '' basically, and NIN plays into that too since they have magic so I think there's some overlap there thematically.
My character is more strong because of her spirit rather than because she's a gym rat.

I guess maybe you could read that into me playing the other Jobs too, because I want an understanding of others around me and the whole and that makes me a better MNK.