Idea: RPG Mechanics

You know how in games, such as Paper Mario, where the character who joins you next is nesscary to pass the fortress /castle/volcano/whatever? I thought of a neato little thingy. WOW! LET'S HEAR ABOUT IT~

In old RPGS, you chose out all your Team mates. In newer games, they are predecided.

So in my imaginary rpg, you still meet a character who can use their skills to pass the level, but you will be able to pick thespecific type of character.

Example:
Normal RPG:
In one level you meet a ninja with a rope who can cross pits.

My RPG:
AT the beginning of the chapter with said ninja, you pick what type of character replaces the Ninja: Thief with hookshot, Ninja with rope, bridgemaker etc. They will all be similar but different enough so that you can make strategies around what characters you pick.

Also, strange idea, but I thought of a BG Thief skill, where the character can make backgrounds via BG Bandit of Kirby Vs Shy Guy fame. They would put up one background, hiding behind it. Then somehow they would be able to put them anyway, and would be able to pretend there was solid land behind them so they could travel across pits. When they get across, they put up backgrounds in front of them, and kicks them over. The party is behind it.

ASCII THINGY

BG= BG Thief
P=Party members
__=floor
*= nothing
H=background thingo

1
_PPPP__BG *****________

2
_PPPP__HH*****_________

3
_PPPP__HHHHHH_________
4
_PPPP__*******__BG______
5
_______******__BG_HHHH__
6
_______******_BG_PPPP__

The BG Thief is a joke ability btw.

So slightly customisable team mates that can do things but differ in actual attacks. Yay or nay?

Yay. It would add some strategy and replay value, as well as some nice puzzles.

To add on to what I said about different abilities..

The Ninja would be able to use light armour.
The Thief wouldn't be able to use any.
(The ninja needs to be agile but defended, the thief is supposed to avoid combat as much as possible)

The thief can steal items.
The ninja can guard, allowing him to dodge or take less damage from attacks.
(Obvious)

The thief can relate well to other scum, such as sailers, barkeeps and small time thieves.
The ninja can gain respect, which will let him get more info out of people.
(Thieves can also get attacked by police.)

The theif's hookshot can paralyse in battle, but solid material based enemies are immune.
The ninja's rope can bind enemies but enemies with blades can cut away. They might be able to cut their rope, and fire based enemies will burn the rope in number of turns.

In battle abilities that are used in the overworld will be similar person to person, but will work differently or effect different people.

This game would be epic, if you could pull it off right.
Which I hope you will.

WHAT IS HUMAN GAME MAKING TALENT

Yeah, it would be epic. Less predictable. Usually you learn that XYZ is crap, and that WXY is better. EG Goombario is crap and not worth upgrading (leveling up) nd that Kooper is.

I don't think the actual character choosing would be that hard. Making the abilities,even the ones that do the same thing but affect different enemies would be harder. It would have to be balanced.

Example:
Move: Paralysing Rope/Hook

You already know who it affects. But let's say that the Ninja's rope affects less characters then the thief's hookshot. I would have to tweak the rope move so it (maybe) does more damage because it doesn't affect as many people (more fire based and blade welding enemies then solid material enemies), but I would have to make it just right: It could easily be unbalanced and 1 hit kill all solid enemies later on at a low level or something.

So yeah, balancing out. Neither character is supposed to be superior, that defeats the whole purpose of the two characters.

You know how Mrs.Mowz in TTYD was practically worthless? What about optional characters? Do they count for the balance rule?

Maybe a trade in system? You dismiss the BONUS ninja for a while and have the BONUS thief.

Only one optional character at a time? Yea, I like that. Let's go with that.