Battle Mage > Red Mage idea?

First off, apologies if I posted this in the wrong sub-forum (I can't find "Fan Creations" anywhere) so bear with me. This is just some random idea that popped up in my head that I wanted to share. However irrelevant, I thought it'd be an interesting concept but I do not know if there has been anything similar posted (I tried searching to no avail). Please don't take it too seriously. :D


Battle Mage (Class; Role: Tank) [Weapon: Scythe]

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This class is supposedly a mage-esque tank class that uses MP instead of HP (which is explained later in much more detail in the skills section) to tank. Meaning to say that this class will have pretty low HP, but very high MP. This class' main stat would primarily be Piety (Again, will be explained in more detail later on) and secondary stat would fall under Intelligence. This looks pretty odd on paper, but it does make sense.

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Skills

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Level.1 Cross Slice [Active; Potency: 150]
Level.2 Conversion [Buff; Toggleable; All damage dealt or healing received to HP will instead affect MP and reduces damage dealt by 15%; Effect: Vitality attained through equipment is instead added to Piety; Toggleable]
Level.4 Vorpal Slash [Active; Combo Potency(Cross Slice): 200; Increased emnity]
Level.6 Ancient Wisdom [Support; Restores MP by 10% and magic defense by 10%; Duration: 15s; Cooldown: 120s]
Level.9 Spinning Scythe [Active; Potency: 105; Area of Effect 4y; Effect: Increased Emnity]
Level.11 Dark Fire [Active; Potency: 110; Effect: Damage Over Time; Potency: 30; Increased Emnity]
Lv.15 Shadow Stalk [Active; Potency: 130; Effect: Increased Emnity; Range: 15y]
Level.17 Repent [Buff; Reverses damage type (Physical into Magical and vice versa); Effect: Decreases damage dealt and received by 10%; Toggleable]
Level.21 Memento [Support; Sacrifices 20% of total HP (or MP under the effect of Conversion) to restore 20% of all party members HP; Cooldown: 240s]
Level.24 Frozen Fury [Active; Combo Potency (Dark Fire): 200; Effect: -5% enemy magic DEF]
Level.28 Destructive Aura [Buff; Effect: Damage dealt is increased by 10% but healing received is reduced by 15%; Duration: 18s]
Level.30 Absolute Silence [Active; Potency: 80; Effect: Silence; 1s]
Level.33 Cloak of Shadows [Buff; Effect: Decreases damage received by 10% and increases magic defense by 15%; Duration: 15s; Cooldown: 120s]
Level.38 Thundering God Hammer [Active; Combo Potency (Frozen Fury): 300; Effect: -5% enemy damage]
Level.41 Infernal Slash [Active; Combo Potency (Vorpal Slash): 330; Effect: Increased emnity]
Level.45 Midnight Carnival [Active; Combo Potency (Spinning Scythe): 210; Effect: Increased emnity and bind; Range: 5y]
Level.50 Primed Guillotine [Active; Combo Potency (Thundering God Hammer OR Infernal Slash): 350; Effect: Restores 3% of MP]

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Conversion is a pretty odd skill to begin with. What it does (if you can't understand, and I don't blame you) is convert all damage received to HP and "shields" it by using MP which eats the damage in its place. This also includes any healing received. The main part of this class is basically tanking while using this gimmick at all time. The additional effect of moving vitality points from armor into piety encourages the use of tank equipment instead of cloth which would not be suitable for tanking.

Repent is another odd skill in the Battle Mage's arsenal of skills. What this does is reverses the state of the damage that was received. For example; Titan's Tumult attack is considered a Physical-based attack. While the Battle Mage is under the effects of Repent, Tumult will change into a Magical-Based attack for the Battle Mage only. This skill allows a more predictive strategy (by switching efficiently to reduce the amount of damage received) whist using the many defensive skills available.

Primed Guillotine is also an interesting skill to note. This skill is the fourth and final skill of two combo branches; Cross Slice > Vorpal Slash > Infernal Slash > Primed Guillotine AND Dark Fire > Frozen Fury > Thundering God Hammer > Primed Guillotine. While this may seem to give the Battle Mage infinite MP and extremely high survivability - in practice, it does no such thing. The length of the combo is dreadfully long for only 3% MP, don't you think? But it's quite fair in a sense because this class boasts high MP in the first place.


Traits

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Level.8 Enhanced Piety [PIE +2]
Level.14 Enhanced Cross Slice [New Effect: Decreases damage received by 10%; Duration: 8s]
Level.16 Enhanced Piety II [PIE +4]
Level.20 Enhanced Dark Fire [New Effect: Applies a DoT; Potency: 30; Duration: 15s]
Level.24 Enhanced Piety III [PIE +6]
Level.28 Enhanced Ancient Wisdom [New Effect; Cooldown reduced to 90s]
Level.32 Enhanced Frozen Fury [Add Effect; Damage bonus increased to 10%]
Level.36 Enhanced Destructive Aura [Add Effect; Damage bonus increased to 20%]
Level.40 Enhanced Shadow Stalk [New Effect; Range increased to 25y]
Level.44 Enhanced Memento [New Effect; Cooldown reduced to 200s]
Level.48 Enhanced Thundering God Hammer [Add Effect; Increases enemy damage reduction to 10%]

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Red Mage

Requirements: Battle Mage Level.30 + Marauder Level.15
Cross-Class Skills: Marauder and Gladiator skill trees

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Level.30
Level.35
Level.40
Level.45
Level.50

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[coming soon!]
I need some ideas for the Job skills. xD

Dont like the term Battle Mage.... Thaumaturge, Conjurer, Arcanist.... and now Battle mage? I would call the class Warlock!

I'm not sure if a Scythe would be the appropriate weapon either... Nothing about a Scythe screams Defense. Maybe a Mace & Buckler would make more sense both visually and theoretically since CNJ and THM can equip shields, the "Warlock" would too, but as the gears develop, they wouldn't have the typical Paladin like shield, but would have more of an Focus Orb Buckler that created a magical barrier....

Lastly. Neither of the 2 current tank classes would have access to the Warlock cross class, so it would be thoroughly unfair for the Warlock to have access to both tank classes cross class abilities.... Sooo I'd say stick with Marauder like you have listed, and cross class ACN.... that way Physik is available, as well as virus.

Other than that, I like the set up alot!

For your Red Mage Job abilities, I think this would be a cool place to add a "Mime" function.

One ability would "steal or mimic" a Healer's last ability.... think benediction mimic-ed a second time..... but could be a major fail if the Mimed action was Cure one....

An MP Drain spell would be cool too. Not necessarily the same as the ACN Aetherflow one, but more of the old school FF type... that would steal a small chunk of MP... and drip drain more MP for 10-15 seconds

I like your conversion trait.... I would make an offensive trait similar to that for the RDM... something that reverses Magic damage and Phys damage on the enemy....... Think of Turn 4 Soldiers/Knights.... casting this type of spell on the enemy, and running with a full Phys DPS group, that you could basically enfeeble the Soldiers to die like the Knights.

A good "Oh Sh!t" ability could be FLOAT. That will literally make the entire party immune to MOST AOE abilities for 10 seconds.... Tumults, Plumes, the works.... you are floating above the target area hence no damage... but only lasts 10 seconds.


I'd really like to see RDM carry a critical defensive buff too.... Like SHELL.... since that has great FF history, and neither healing class has it as a spell... put it on the magical tanks abilities would be really cool.

And finally you need a new Provoke ability...

Sooo the RDM arsenal should be MIME, SHELL, FLOAT, REVERSE, and a provoke ability..... sounds very FF like

The one thing I pulled from this is a new idea for a tanking mechanism, based on your 'Conversion' skill.

Right now Paladin has Shield Oath and Warrior has Defiance to make them 'tankier', with one mitigating damage and the other increasing HP and potency of healing received. Maybe another tanking mechanic can be a buff/toggle that pushes damage taken towards the MP pool first, with damage consumed by MP being reduced by say 50%. It would be encourage this tank class to put points into Piety, instead of Vitality, and would also lead to different strategic decisions based on any skills that required MP and the fact that healers can't replenish lost MP.

Just a thought. :)

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Originally Posted by Jakobi

It would be encourage this tank class to put points into Piety, instead of Vitality

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It would only serve to increase eHP without affecting mean mitigation since mp doesn't regenerate fast enough to offset the consumption from damage. To make such a skill worthwhile, you'd have to have the conversion be limited to 20% (to match PLD/WAR mean mitigation contributions from stance) while providing an ability like Riot Blade or Aetherflow to allow the tank to regenerate mp on demand (and have the regular use of said ability be factored into their normal enmity rotation). The advantage of higher PIE then would be the ability to have to "refuel" their mp (and therefore conversion) less often (especially if their regeneration is based off of max mp).

It *could* work as a viable tanking mechanism, but it would require that the class itself have almost negligible mp consumption otherwise; the only potential abilities I could see consuming mp would be some kind of self heal (since you're just shunting one type of functional hp into another) or survivability CDs (since you're sacrificing one survivability resource for another; something interesting would be an ability that consumes 20% of mp to provide you with 20% DR, which is a cost neutral, but allows you to use it as a gain by using your mp regen ability to regenerate the mp back and get the benefit of the stance as well as the CD). The normal attacks would *have* to be TP based. They would also need some kind of ability to increase max mp from non-PIE sources so that they're not forced to sacrifice a secondary stat simply to match WAR and PLD (since their mp would remain static and therefore become smaller relative to max hp and incoming damage), possibly causing conversion to add something like 20% of max hp to mp.

If the mp regeneration were basically like Riot Blade, it would create an interesting variation on the current tanking playstyles since you could ignore your mp regeneration ability for a given period, allowing you to maximize whatever else your other combos do and then spam your mp regeneration mechanism whenever your mp gets low enough that your mp threatens to no longer soak incoming damage. If you have a limited number of mp consuming mitigation mechanisms, it turns mp into a flexible survivability resource that you have to regenerate, somewhat like an inverse Wrath.

Sure, I mean I don't disagree with what you are trying to say. I wasn't trying to present is as a complete concept, just a novel idea for a tank-class mechanic. As you've shown, a lot more thought would have to be put into this idea for it to be properly developed and balanced.