The breakout character of Final Fantasy IX wasn't its protagonist, as fans around the world preferred Vivi Ornitier's story of self-discovery over that of the plot to save the world. Vivi was a living representative of the black mage job from the earlier Final Fantasy games and he can be easily replicated as a Dungeons & Dragons character.
One of the main themes of Final Fantasy IX is discovering one's purpose in life, with Kuja, Vivi, and Zidane struggling with the fact that they are artificial lifeforms. Vivi belongs to the black mage race, which was created specifically for warfare. As the story progresses, Vivi encounters other black mages like himself who have developed consciousness and choose not to use their powers for needless bloodshed. Vivi's journey of self-discovery is one of the highlights of Final Fantasy IX, especially when he discovers tha🐲t his time on the world is limit🦂ed and he has to come up with his own answers about the meaning of life.
The jobs in the first Final Fantasy were heavily based on character classes from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, with the black mage representing the mage. As such, Vivi can be replicated in the latest version of Dungeons & Dragons using similar parameters. The version of Vivi we have created uses material from the Player's Handbook and Eberron - Rising from the Last War. Vivi is a warforged wizard who takes on the School of Evocation as his Arcane Tradition at level two. Using the basic stat spread listed on page 13 of the Player's Handbook and taking his race into account, Vivi'a 𒈔starting stats would be STR 10, DEX 1🐠3, CON 16, INT 16, WIS 8, and CHA 12.
Vivi spent several years living with Quan in the wilderness before appearing in the story of Final Fantasy IX. When Quan died, Vivi traveled to Aleꦗxandria, and soon found himself out of his depth. This means that Vivi qualifies for the Hermit background. Taking his background, class, and race into account, Vivi's starting skills would be Medicine, Religion, Arcana, Insight, and History. If the variant Feat rules are used, Vivi would benefit from Durable, Elemental Adept (Fire), Keen Mind, War Caster, or Spell Sniper. Vivi's alignment would be Neutral Good, as he often risks his life in order to save others without compensation, yet has no problem defying authority figures if he doesn't believe them to be righteous.
Vivi's spell list in Final Fantasy IX includes elemental magic, enchanting wꦡeapons, inflicting status effects, and instant death spells, all of which are easily replicat🔯ed with the wizard spell list in D&D. As such, Vivi's spell list would benefit from:
- Chill Touch
- Fire Bolt
- Ray of Frost
- Shocking Grasp
- True Strike
- Burning Hands
- Sleep
- Thunderwave
- Flaming Sphere
- Hold Person
- Magic Weapon
- Scorching Ray
- Fireball
- Slow
- Lightning Bolt
- Sleet Storm
- Vampiric Touch
- Control Water
- Ice Storm
- Phantasmal Killer
- Wall of Fire
- Cone of Cold
- Hold Monster
- Chain Lightning
- Circle of Death
- Disintegrate
- Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere
- Wall of Ice
- Delayed Blast Fireball
- Finger of Death
- Reverse Gravity
- Incendiary Cloud
- Power Word Stun
- Meteor Swarm
- Power Word Kill
- Time Stop
- Weird
The story of an artificial lifeform seeking meaning in their life has been used throughout fiction with great success, with characters like Pinocchio and Frankenstein's monster being some of the best-known examples. Characters like Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation resonated with a lot of people, as his desire to become more human speaks to the need to be accepted by one's peers. Vivi's story is similar, as he was created for the 𓃲express purpose of war, yet he develops a personality of his own and his environment leads him to seek another path in life. A story of self-discovery writes itself, especially in settings where warforged aren't as common. A character like Vivi existing in Faerun or Oerth would swiftly find themselves the subject of curiosity, if not outright ag𒁃gression when his spellcasting abilities are revealed for the first time. A mechanical wizard that is created to commit murder on a mass scale, but defies its nature in order to forge its own path would make for a very interesting D&D character indeed.
Next: How To Build Terra From♊ Final Fantasy VI Inไ Dungeons & Dragons