Balthier

CANON HISTORY: a link
CANON PERSONALITY: Balthier likes to pretend that his is a man of mystery, above the frays of normal society, and instead committed only to his partnership with Fran and their lives as daring sky pirates. This puts him firmly outside of the realm of the law, and makes him beholden to no one except her, which is how he prefers it. And while he might seem aloof, there's something to be said for his theatric flair. He calls himself the leading man, he wears elaborate, fancy (yet functional) clothing, with gold and hints of color. He chooses his words very carefully, designed to make the most immediate impact.

So, while he likes to pretend that he is aloof, and occasionally only motivated by the basest of desires, peel back at that initial presentation and it becomes obvious that he cares too much. Though he's abandoned his past as the pampered son of a respected engineer, a judge at 16, and well on his way to great things in Archadia, he can't entirely let it go. Though he gripes and pretends the opposite, that he can only be moved by valuable trinkets, Balthier knows that he can't leave the world in the hands of his madman father, a man who taught him everything he knows about airships and to whom he was close to before his descent into madness after the discovery of the deifacted nethecite.

Balthier wants no part in whatever scheme his father has cooked up, and it's the destruction of Nabudis that finally pushes him to flee the life that's been constructed for him. While he doesn't have the ability to face all of the Archadian government and his father head on, he can at least make it clear he wants no part in whatever the end result of this experiment is. While in this instance he runs away, Balthier is quick to take responsibility where he can for his actions. He agrees to rescue Penelo knowing she was captured because of a tenuous connection to him, knowing that if he'd just quit Rabanastre, he would have been free to carry on as he had.

It's as he gets closer to the true story of the nethecite that he offers sincere advice and counsel. His tendency, up to that point, was to shroud his knowledge in the context of "anyone should know this, if they have half their wits about them." In fact, until he gets close, he's more likely to use sarcasm and turn of phrase when speaking, as part of his act as the "leading man." Ironically, his constructed view of the leading man is far more stilted than his behavior after the fact.

In fact, he seems to grow more selfless as time goes on, leading to an act of "sacrifice" towards the end of the war between Archadia and Dalmasca, where he stays behind with Fran to stop the Bahamut from crashing onto the city of Rabanastre, and killing untold numbers. Though it seems like he will die (he was only able to slow and redirect the ship), he tells Princess Ashe that he can't die, "Because the leading man never dies."

On that note, his dedication to Fran is absolute. While it may seem that he is leading the adventures of the pair, were Fran to share any misgivings about their adventures, he'd fly off on the nearest airship with her. He truly believes that Fran saved him from a life of misery, where he would have ended up trading his conscience for power, just as his father had done. She gave him the strength and reason to run away from that life. So, regardless of his feelings elsewhere (and you could argue that he comes to sincerely love Ashe), he will always follow Fran, and he will never go back to his life as Ffamran mied Bunansa, even after the death of his father, and the destruction of the corrupted system he left.
SKILLS/ABILITIES:

AS A NOTE: After thinking about this, I am eschewing the old game's model of "anyone can learn anything" and going with the system in Zodiac Age. So, Balthier starts out with guns as a default, no one ever really keeps him as a marksman. I'm using my classes in my playthrough of Zodiac Age: Monk and Black Mage.

The monk class emphasizes strength, and using your body as a weapon. Its primary weapon is the pole, but it includes several enhancements, should you choose to fight with no weapon. This class is not magic based, and instead relies on technicks to cover the differences (say... if you need a ranged attack for a flying monster, then you could use the 1,000 Needles technick, or if you want to pretend you're a black mage, the Shades of Black technick, which allows you to use a random black magick spell). A full list of the technicks that he can learn is here.

The Black Mage class, however, is the traditional class. Its primary weapon is the mace, but Balthier would use poles instead. This class allows him to work all of the powerful black magicks that are typical to a Final Fantasy. Fire, Fira, Firaga, etc. These magics follow the traditional pattern: Fire, Water, Aero, Quake. There are also Bio and Dark. A full list of black magic in FF12 is available, so that should be the comprehensive list for what he can learn in game.

In addition:
Marksmanship - Balthier is a skilled marksman. That is his preferred weapon

Quickenings - Balthier has three of these extremely powerful moves: Fires of War, Tides of Fate, and Elements of Treachery. I've listed them from weakest to most powerful, but if these are chained with other quickenings, it has the ability to trigger a mist reaction of an even more powerful magic.

Summons - Balthier has Belias and Famfrit as Espers available to him. Belias was his reward for helping Ashe out, and Famfrit used to belong to his father.