What would an RPG party look like if...

The Hero is one of the following members of Competitive Balance:

• Jack of All Stats
• Mighty Glacier
• Stone Wall
• Fragile Speedster
• Glass Cannon
• Squishy Wizard
• Lightning Bruiser

My analysis:

• Jack of All Stats - A well-balanced party. The Hero is good at anything, but each member of his party is better than him in at least one aspect. One would be faster but weaker, one would be stronger but more fragile one would excel in any kind of magic but is physically weak, and one would be tougher but less powerful.
• Mighty Glacier - The Hero doubles as Party Tank and Damage Dealer. He will have the same party as the Jack of All Stats, only that his power and defense will be the most prominent in the party. This is the reason why a lot of RPG heroes are this trope.
• Stone Wall - The party consists mostly of fragile members for The Hero to protect. The player's objective would be more like "keep the party from dying" than "deal the highest damage in the party". In exchange, the party will do the hunting for you for as long as you can protect them.
• Fragile Speedster - The Hero who falls under this trope is almost always the fastest character in the game, and are usually Ninjas or Assassins. The objective is to deal as much damage without ever getting hit. This trope is often the basis of stealth-based games. I think Fragile Speedsters allow the most number of party members to shine because speed is the only advantage the hero has over them.
• Glass Cannon - The inverse of the Stone Wall party happens: your party members will actively try to protect you by going ahead into the frontlines so you can nuke them from far away while they take the hits for you.
• Squishy Wizard - Same as Glass Cannon, but the Sword and Sorcerer and Technicolor Wizardry tropes are in effect. Squishy Wizard heroes are often the most powerful mages in the game, but the casting time pretty sucks. Mighty Glaciers and Stone Walls will tank your hero, while the co-mages often cast spells faster than him but deal weaker damage.
• Lightning Bruiser - Same as Jack of All Stats, only more or less balanced, depending on the game. Definitely, mages will shine here because of the Sword and Sorcerer trope in effect. Otherwise, physically-oriented party members will be either Bare Fisted Monks, Ninja, or Magic Knights.

edited 15th Feb '12 6:24:13 AM by judasmartel

Hmm... (Most of this will admittedly be more story that party, but...)

• Jack of All Stats- Our hero plays (adjusted for RP Gs) like the Elder Scrolls of Kingdoms of Amalur, begin able to do whatever he wants. He/She would probably recruit one of each of the other types.
• Mighty Glacier- Probably like teh above.
• Stone Wall- The party would probably consist of one of each extreme (Speed, Defense, Melee, Ranged, Magic, or similar)
• Fragile Speedster- See Stone Wall, but supplant accordingly.
• Glass Cannon- Yup. See above.
• Squishy Wizard- What do YOU think?
• Lightning Bruiser- OP. No party needed. If there must be party, it's all cute/hot girls for a harem.

edited 15th Feb '12 7:24:53 AM by MetaSkipper

My idea for the Stone Wall - the hero is a massive / monstrous creature that actually carries party members on his back / shoulders, like the ranged attackers and spellcasters, and the melee fighters will from time to time use the hero as mobile cover.

I want to play that game now.

One game that I noticed that really shook up party balance was Final Fantasy IV. People joined and left your party at the whims of the plot, so sometimes you'd have more spellcasters than frontline fighters, sometimes you'd have more frontline fighters than spellcasters, and sometimes you'd have Edward. Heck, if the protagonist wasn't a knight I wouldn't be surprised if they threw in a section of the plot where you had nothing but mages. And a lot of enemies that are weak to fire.

Generally most early Shin Megami Tensei protags are made into a Stone Wall as a necessity due to We Can Not Go On With Out You and Nintendo Hard. (some get barely any abilites as it is)

I am forced to think of Raquel Applegate, of Wild Arms 4 fame. The mightiest Mighty Glacier I have ever seen in any RPG. . .

The DS version of Final Fantasy IV is pretty much the Stone Wall example. I wonder if whoever made taunting a passive ability in this game was aware of how much it would break it.

I've actually seen the JackOfAllStats one. It was in dotHackGU. The protagonist Haseo was capable of using four different weapons: A scythe, a BFS of course, twin swords, and dual guns. I suppose Final Fantasy V would count as well.

One cool thing about Last Scenario is that the main character is more of a Jackof All Stats instead of a Lightning Bruiser. He fights with a Bow and is decent, but not excellent, at attacking. His biggest plus was probably his high speed (only beaten by one character that you don't get until late in the game) which generally resulted in him getting item and utility spell duty. Other party members include a Mighty Glacier, Stone Wall, and a couple Squishy Wizards.

edited 16th Feb '12 10:22:38 AM by Barrylocke

Super Mario RPG is a good representation of the Jackof All Stats Hero (obviously since Mario was the original Trope Namer).

Jackof All Stats: Mario

Squishy Wizard: Mallow

Glass Cannon: Geno

Mighty Glacier: Bowser

Staff Chick -> Combat Medic: Peach

edited 16th Feb '12 11:40:14 AM by tclittle

So how did Final Fantasy XIII look like? I read that Lightning is a Fragile Speedster by default.

She's a Jackof All Stats.

She's the 3rd(out of 6 total characters) best at all 3 of her main roles:

Commando- Which specializes in non-elemental(and especially physical) attacks.

Ravager- Which specializes in elemental(and especially magic) attacks.

Medic- Healer.

edited 26th Feb '12 8:16:15 PM by JotunofBoredom

Does Crono count as a Lightning Bruiser? Bonus points because his element was light/lightning?

I see then.

You see, I had an RPG project in mind with this setup:

• The Hero: The Gunslinger
• The Lancer: Hot Chick with a Sword (makes a Face–Heel Turn later in the story) Glass Cannon
• The Big Guy: Bare-Fisted Monk + Playing with Fire (Does this remind you of a certain Shaolin monk?
• The Smart Guy: Shock and Awe Fragile Speedster
• The Chick: Staff Chick + Making a Splash + Healing Hands + later An Ice Person
• Sixth Ranger: Lady of War + Blow You Away
• The Obi-Wrong: Cool Old Black Mage

So, how are Gunslingers usually portrayed? I guess Lightning Bruiser with a few Fragile Speedsters?

The Jack of All Stats hero would probably fit best in a game where you can customize your characters a bit, where you can thus make the hero fit any category you feel you want them to be, generally adding to whatever core strategy you appeal to. (For example, if you're offense heavy, then bump up his attack stats, but if you tend to play defense, bump up his guarding game.) Otherwise, he becomes a sort of Tight End, going to where ever he's needed for that occasion.

The Mighty Glacier hero would do best in an offense-heavy game where many of the battles rely on his power. I can't really think of a game off the top of my head that plays this straight, without actually the hero becoming a Lightning Bruiser of Glass Cannon. Either way, the game basically becomes "make an opening to the boss" for the other characters, doing what they're best at to ensure that.

A Stone Wall hero... Interesting. I'd imagine this in an RPG where the story/battle system is geared towards defensive playing, with the hero taking an "above" role in comparison to their party members. Meaning, their position is unique, and not truly geared towards battle pre se, rather, forming the right strategies and relaying them to your team in order to accomplish the mission.

Fragile Speedster heroes would work best in a game where the party members are essentially meat shields or buffers for the hero, if the hero hasn't already become a niche-filling character on equal terms with the rest of the cast. The hero would be using their speed for more tactical purposes rather than offense or defense, only going into important battles and when properly prepared.

Glass Cannon, as I've mentioned earlier with the Mighty Glacier, would basically be a hero where the party needs to clear an opening so that he can make it through to attack. The game would end up revolving around such a tactic, and the best battle system would be one where you can influence who your opponent has to hit, such as a tactical strategy game.

A Squishy Wizard essentially is a Glass Cannon by its very definition, though they would have less offense power, trading it for more general use. The hero would have enough magical abilities under their belt to assist other party members, only taking the highlight during big battles where the party's purpose is focused on keeping the Squishy alive.

A Lightning Bruiser hero, again, is much like the Glass Cannon or Mighty Glacier. However, a Ligtning Bruiser is also similar to the Jack of All Stats character, in that they can fit their way into just about any situation, meaning they're not some hidden force that's just trying to be kept safe until the boss appears.

edited 26th Feb '12 8:41:17 PM by HeavyDDR

Hmm... I'll go with the Gunslinger Jack Hero, then.

That doesn't sound like a bad name, either.

"Hey, kid, you look new in town. What's your moniker?"

"Gunslinger Jack Hero."

Well, I meant that to be a Jack of All Stats Gunslinger Hero, not exactly as a nickname.

Just sayin'. It works.

Say, anyone knows other RPGs with mage protagonists, like Terra and Yuna?

edited 26th Feb '12 10:25:44 PM by judasmartel

^ Play any Bio Ware RPG, choose mage for your class...

Hmm.. No, I mean, not like you can choose your class right from the start. What I mean is that are there any other non-class system games with a mage hero on it, like Terra and Yuna as mentioned above?

It gets even more hilariously broken in the DS version, with Augments.

Instead of Cover, give Cecil Draw Attacks, to make every attack target him alone, if it isn't multitarget.

Then give him Counter: Attack, since he has the strongest weapons in the game.

Then give him Reach, and put him in the back row.

Then use the Auto Battle option to make him able to attack manually anyway.

Hahaha.

Now that's fun.

@Judas: While it's in truth a Strategy game, Micaiah in Part One of Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn comes to mind. She is the commander of the Dawn Brigade and the only Light Mage in the game. Keeping that in mind, the Dawn Brigade for most of the first game is an example of a party mostly made up of Stone Walls with bad growths, Squishy Wizards and Fragile Speedsters, leaving you with having to rely on Lightning Bruisers and Mighty Glaciers to win.

edited 27th Feb '12 3:07:08 AM by Lemurian