Puppetmaster... Remodeled, Revolutionized.

In the dark back room of the Automaton workshop, two frazzled Puppetmaster brothers alongside Ghatsad, pondered countless hours in attempts to restore Puppetmaster's prominence in the ever evolving world of Vana'diel. While ideas were being thrown back and forth by the two promising ventriloquists, some not even worth the grease between an automaton's bolts while others added to the growing pile of possibilities, Ghatsad was struck with a thought. Withholding some of the specifics of his vision, he said that it would “bring out the unique characteristics inherent in each automaton" as well as "abilities that extract the potential latent in each frame." Amongst the growing problems, such as the lack of sophistication in the automaton A.I, Ghatsad's revelation would reconcile the growing problems of the automaton and master and in theory solve them while still improving the versatility and further harmonizing the master with his automaton.

•Job Ability

Red Herring- Allows all damage inflicted to the Master and Automaton to be transfered to a single target (Master or Automaton only).

•Vision
Drawing from the Black Mage ability, Mana Wall, and due to the fact that automatons are unsusceptable to healing magic outside of their own spells, Ghatsad brainstormed a technique which would allow automaton's to be indirectly healed by party members and also allow puppetmasters to utilize more versatile subjob combinations. He intends for this to further improve the survivability of the automaton and master by syncronizing them such that the master and automaton's HP pools are one.

•Practical Uses
This ability would allow the Puppetmaster to take a supporting role while his or her Automaton steals the spotlight. This could empower the use of mage sub-classes that could increase the Automatons survivability while also revolutionizing the types of armor Puppetmasters sport in their daring endeavors. The puppetmaster could also feel more comfortable with a variety of subjob combinations aside from ninja, due to his or her HP syncronization with the Automaton. (Contemplated duration: Mid-Long [3-5min]; Contemplated Recast: Same as duration or reasonable downtime)

•Job Ability

Incognito- Allows all enmity generated by the master and automaton to be accumulated by one target (Master and Automaton only).

•Vision
Borrowing from the thieves' ability to manipulate the enmity of his or her opponent from the shadows, he began to ponder an technique that would allow the Puppetmaster or the automaton to pull the strings from behind closed curtains.

•Practical Uses
This will further improve enmity control between the master and automaton especially for high damage frames, such as Sharpshot and Spiritreaver, that are more vulnerable to damage by giving them a short enmity veil for quick spike damage; while also allowing for proper hate keeping by the Valoredge frame through its master's formidable Martial Arts abilities, without consuming more elemental capacity and attachment space with a Strobe II attachment, rendering it obscelete. (Contemplated Duration: Short [i.e. 30sec-1min]; Comteplated Recast: Intermediate [i.e. 2-3min])

•Job Ability

Facade- Allows all TP generated by the master and automaton to be accumulated by one target (Master and Automaton only).

•Vision
Ghatsad believes that this ability will allow for Puppetmasters to make up for their lack of martial arts efficiency through their true weapon: The automaton.

•Practical Uses
This could be used to prevent Harlequin, Stormwaker, Soulsoother, and Spiritreaver frames from using unwanted TP abilities such as [0 damage] Magic Mortar, but could also allow the Master to take a back seat to empower the Sharpshot frame to take a stronger support damage dealing role in a party situation and Valoredge frame to better survive and maintain enmity through more frequent uses of weapon skills such as Cannibal Blade and String Shredder. If this isn't enough, it could also allow for the utilization of weapons other than ever-so-popular Verethragna and Kenkonken or maybe even a not-so-common movement into different weapon classes for Puppetmaster altogether (i.e. Daggers)!
(Contemplated Duration: Short [i.e. 30sec-1min]; Contemplated Recast: Mid [i.e. 2-3min])

•Job Ability

Cameo- Calls forth Stormwaker Y-700 for a short period of time to cast a enhancing or healing spell.

•Vision
Stemming from the special nature in which Summoners breifly evoke the aid Odin and Alexander, Ghatsad believes that the creation of a Reserve Automaton would make it possible to allow Puppetmasters access to the long sought after enhancing magic such as Protect, Shell, and Haste that was not before possible due to the limited AI capacity of current day Automatons.

•Practical Uses
Cameo cannot be used while an automaton is currently activated, so the Puppetmaster must strategecally deactivate his or her automaton or prepare beforehand. Stormwaker Y-700 would be summoned and cast an enhancing/healing magic (depending on Masters current HP and already active enhancements) during which time Stormwaker Y-700 is susceptible to interruption due to its high specialization in enhancing and healing magic through damage/Stun/Area of Effect Abilities/etc. After a suscessful cast or if it is interrupted, the Reserve Automaton will automatically deactivate itself, in which time the Puppetmaster may resummon his customized Automaton via Deus Ex Automata or Activate.

...Amoungst all these great ideas, another idea in which Ghatsad had been pondering since he invented the Soulsother and Spiritreaver Heads returned to him: A way to mimic the ultimate ability of each job class to make Puppetmaster's Overdrive more useful...

Overdrive-Augments the fighting ability of your automaton to its maximum level.
Triggers the automaton's job specific two hour ability depending on current frame and head.

Stormwaker - Chainspell (Duration Halved)
Spiritreaver - Manafont (Duration Halved)
Soulsoother - Benediction (Effects Automaton/Master/Current Party Members) (Potency Reduced)
Sharpshot - Eagle Eye Shot (Damaged calculation reworked)
Valoredge - Invincible (Duration Reduced)
(Each respective ability is triggered upon activation of Overdrive.)

>>>>>>>>>>Thanks we stayed up all night with Ghatsad... :D

•Job Ability

Red Herring- Allows all damage inflicted to the Master and Automaton to be transfered to a single target (Master or Automaton only).

•Vision
Drawing from the Black Mage ability, Mana Wall, and due to the fact that automatons are unsusceptable to healing magic outside of their own spells, Ghatsad brainstormed a technique which would allow automaton's to be indirectly healed by party members and also allow puppetmasters to utilize more versatile subjob combinations. He intends for this to further improve the survivability of the automaton and master by thus merging the master and automaton's HP pools.

•Practical Uses
This ability would allow the Puppetmaster to take a supporting role while his or her Automaton steals the spotlight. This could empower the use of mage sub-classes that could increase the Automatons survivability while also revolutionizing the types of armor Puppetmasters sport in their daring endeavors. The puppetmaster could also feel more comfortable with a variety of subjob combinations aside from ninja, due to his or her HP syncronization with the Automaton. If in the case that the Master or Automaton would be K.Oed when under the effect Red Herring, the effect would wear off and further damage with be transfered back to the foe's oringal target leaving the Master or Automaton's at 1HP.

>>>>Notes: Though this is a quite formidable ability, it must be used with caution, such in the case if both the master and automaton were in range of an area of effect attack while one of them were under the effect of Red Herring (Double damage dealt to a single target), but also could provide special protection against either target being KOed by a single area of effect ability if the combonation of their HPs is above that of the total amount of damage being dealt by the area of effect ability on the Master and Automaton. (Example: Master HP - 1000 | Automaton HP - 800; Blizzaga IV is cast which would deal 900 damage to both targets... Instead of completely killing the Automaton, leaving the Master temporarily helpless, the Automaton would be left at 1 HP while the master is left at 101 HP.)

>>>> Current Issues: Inability to cure automatons directly/lack of survivability against high tier mobs (especially outside of Abyssea)/Overuse of certain sub job class/Armor combonations (i.e Ninja/Melee-style armor. . . )

>>>> Fears: Implementation that would allow a Puppetmaster to select his automaton's abilities/magic directly

>>>> Thinking: Everything about Puppetmaster has always been indirect, I enjoy the fact that we do not have direct control over our Automatons (i.e. selecting the use of their magic out of a list) which is my biggest fear... instead they operate as their own seperate entity (much like Mnejing and Ovjang), but of course under the guidance of maneuvers. I believe this is a fitting ability in a way such that it makes us more formidable, not by adding more armor to clutter our mog houses or more attachments to the slew of already many non-used attachments, but instead as we reach high limits (i.e. LV95-99) see more and more that though the master and automaton operate seperately, they are become more and more in-sync with each other. Furthermore, I think it might be really cool to see Automaton learn how to communicate to their masters NPCs TP/HP/MP updates, their in-battle thinkings for the next appropriate ability/spell, or simple playful chat via a talk command that rivals the personality and independence of fellowship partners.

•Job Ability

Incognito- Allows all enmity generated by the master and automaton to be accumulated by one target (Master and Automaton only).

•Vision
Borrowing from the thieves' ability to manipulate the enmity of his or her opponent from the shadows, he began to ponder an technique that would allow the Puppetmaster or the automaton to pull the strings from behind closed curtains.

•Practical Uses
This will further improve enmity control between the master and automaton especially for high damage frames, such as Sharpshot and Spiritreaver, that are more vulnerable to damage; while also allowing for proper hate keeping by the Valoredge frame without consuming more elemental capacity and attachment space with a Strobe II attachment, rendering it obscelete.


>>>>Current Issues: Inability to manage large spike damage during the down time of Ventriloquy and to maintain enmity for the Valoredge Frame

>>>>Fears: Implementation of countless attachments without proper adjustment to attachment space and elemental capacity (i.e. Addition of Strobe II which will most likely be at least 3 fire elemental capacities large)

>>>>Thinking: This would not be an ability that completely oust Ventriloquy, instead it would have a short duration and reasonable downtime, that would provide additional enmity control in it's down time, and would actually work quite well in conjunction with Ventriloquy as a way to more efficiently manage hate between the Master and Automaton, furthering bringing them in-sync.

•Job Ability

Facade- Allows all TP generated by the master and automaton to be accumulated by one target (Master and Automaton only).

•Vision
Ghatsad believes that this ability will allow for Puppetmasters to make up for their lack of martial arts efficiency through their true weapon: The automaton.

•Practical Uses
This could be used to prevent Harlequin, Stormwaker, Soulsoother, and Spiritreaver frames from using unwanted TP abilities such as [0 damage] Magic Mortar, but could also allow the Master to take a back seat to empower the Sharpshot frame to take a stronger support damage dealing role in a party situation and Valoredge frame to better survive and maintain enmity through more frequent uses of weapon skills such as Cannibal Blade and String Shredder. If this isn't enough, it could also allow for the utilization of weapons other than ever-so-popular Verethragna and Kenkonken.

>>>>Notes: Again this is a very potent ability, that has the potential to be abused if there is no downtime between its duration and recast or if the duration was unreasonably long especially wielding multi-hit weapons, such Mercurial Kris or Ursine Claws (2-4 hit).

>>>>Current issues: In the case that Harlequin/Stormwaker/Soulsoother/Spiritreaver are accumlating TP via meleeing they use unwanted Magic Mortars for 0 damage, thus wasting that TP, Valoredge frame cannot use Cannibal Blade often enough to make it useful, could compromise the fact that Sharpshot accumulates TP slowly out of melee range and the fact that he is vulnerable in the melee range of a foe that uses Area of effect abilities.

>>>>Fears: More attatchments with no additional space/capacities, Changing of magic mortar in a way that lowers the potency of it's current way of being used, to make it so it may deal more damage when the automaton's HP is full.

>>>>Thinking: Again in no way would this replace Tactical Swap, but instead allow a way to generate TP faster in a short period of time, and would be an interesting way to indirectly be able to give your Automaton the effect of say Tactician's Roll or maybe an Icarus/Daedulus Wing through its master... :)

•Job Ability

Cameo- Calls forth Stormwaker Y-700 for a short period of time to cast a enhancing or healing spell.

•Vision
Stemming from the special nature in which Summoners breifly evoke the aid Odin and Alexander, Ghatsad believes that the creation of a Reserve Automaton would make it possible to allow Puppetmasters access to the long sought after enhancing magic such as Protect, Shell, and Haste that was not before possible due to the limited AI capacity of current day Automatons.

•Practical Uses
Cameo cannot be used while an automaton is currently activated, so the Puppetmaster must strategecally deactivate his or her automaton or prepare beforehand. Stormwaker Y-700 would be summoned and cast an enhancing/healing magic (depending on Masters current HP and already active enhancements) during which time Stormwaker Y-700 is susceptible to interruption due its highly specialized nature though damage/Stun/Area of Effect Abilities/etc. After a suscessful cast or if it is interrupted it will automatically deactivate, in which time the Puppetmaster may resummon his customized Automaton via Deus Ex Automata or Activate.

>>>> Remember Stormwaker Y-700 is only the frame, the actually Head he spawns with could depend on whether he is casting maybe Haste/Protect V/Shell V on the master (Stormwaker Head) or Cure VI if the master's HP is below 30% (Red) (Soulsoother Head). If one wanted to be really daring, Soulsoother might even cast Protectra/Shellra IV~V in a party situation :P... This also might be reconciliation those who have been dying for the assistance pre-customized Automatons/ability to save attachment sets....

Overdrive-Augments the fighting ability of your automaton to its maximum level.
Triggers the automaton's job specific two hour ability depending on current frame and head.

>>>> So far I've heard SE is contemplating on reworking Blue Mages and Beastmasters' 2HR abilities, which are very much similar to our own (not very strong). So this is just a little bit of "Inception" if you will...

Overall Ghatsad's ideas are ways to reconcile the long list of common issues Puppetmasters, including the Empress herself, are dealing with in a way that not only makes Puppetmaster more versitile and attuned with his Automaton, but also instead of always customizing the Automaton to fit the master... allowing the Master to customize him or herself (i.e. subjobs) to fit the role of his Automaton. If I had it my way, at the very least I'd want to see to it that Puppetmasters being able to utilize more more interesting subjobs and gear combonations so that not every Puppetmaster (of the very few that remain) use the same strategies/subjobs/Automaton head|frame combonations/ and aspire to the same gear sets such that they are all near identical. Hopefully this idea could be extrapolated to other job classes in the future to bring a uniqueness to each person in Vana'diel.

the puppetmaster forum is over there >>>
And don't tell me no one reads it, because people do.

@the very last bit: I believe SE commented about the 2 hour a while back, saying they didn't think it was weak or something- Though I can't ever remember a time when I thought "Gee, My 2 hour would really save me here..."

"Facade" as you call it is unnecessary, Tactical Switch can be used for nearly the same effect, and in fact a better effect (solo skillchaining with yourself, not the auto)

PUP doesn't need to be "revolutionized." It just needs a few annoying nagging problems (e.g. healing AI) fixed and some minor buffing. It's not a weak job.

Don't forget the ability to ride your automation!