BLU Idea

So I was thinking of different ways to have Blue Mage work in game and came up with an idea that probably sounds stupid but thought it was interesting regardless.

Job Requirements:
30CUL/15LNC
Main Weapon: Pan
Sub Weapon: Fork
Job Quest: You Are What You Eat
Details: Create a dish that embodies the very essence of the organism it is made from for the quest giver.
Cross-Class Skills: LNC, Crafting Classes

Basically I came up with the idea based on Quina from FFIX. My idea was that the Blue Mage "spells" would come from eating meals that come from a special crafting log. The spells are learned permanently, so the recipe would be difficult to craft and ingredients hard to acquire based upon the strength of the spell. The fork is used to supplement the pan and make them a useful weapon. Since the Culinarian does not have any class skills of their own for battling purposes, they would be able to be replaced based on what type of skill they are on a one to one basis, with enemy skills that represent an equivalent strength of the original ability. For example, the synthesis and touch skills could be replaced, with enemy skills that would be considered the attacking/combo skills. B.Synthesis > B. Touch > S. Touch > A. Touch could be one chain and B.Synthesis > S. Synthesis could be another.

Then, the mend skills would be replaced by healing abilities (self or target) and the boosting abilities would be replaced by buffing abilities. The use of MP vs TP would be based upon the skills that are used, melee vs spell.

For job abilities I was thinking:

Iron Stomach: The Blue Mage is able to be under the effect of two foods at once, but with 1/4 of the effective time. After food effect is up, gain status "Full Stomach," which keeps the BLU from eating for some time.

Extra BLU Ability: Exactly what it sounds like, an extra slot for a BLU ability.

Intimidation: Based on role, Tanks receive more enmity, Healers lose enmity, DPS lowers enemy defense.

Kin Eater: Grants combat/tanking/healing bonus when faced against an enemy based on food (Meats > Beasts, Fish > Fish, Breads > Plants, etc.).

Copycat: Uses the last attack that was used on you against targeted enemy.

As for traits, I think it could work in a similar manner to XI, where traits are dictated by the Blue Mage abilities equipped. Different sets could also change the role that the Blue Mage plays in party situations as well as for the duty finder. For this to work, however, there would need to be a specific place where one could change their spells, rather than being able to do it on the fly.

I know the idea of using a DoH class and turning it into a DoW/M job is weird but I thought it would be neat, plus the AF would look awesome.

AF: http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...fix-battle.png
Myth: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2.../d/d8/Quan.jpg

Not really solid on any of this, so any suggestions and ideas are welcome.

I like the IX inspired idea and solution to teaching Blue Magic skills (it is both oddly refined and slightly shamanistic) but I think there are a few problems.
Basing if off of a crafting class and then giving it Lancer cross class skills gives it a really limited move pool and no offensive stat growth. Yes, I know with Blue Magic they can have a lot of skills they CAN learn but starting off would be a nightmare, plus this is kind of edging into one of the problems that XI had, where you had to get scrolls to learn new spells, which usually meant either paying a lot at the market board or .
I would suggest creating a class for it, giving them either a skill that lets them eat the foe (like Eat, Devour, or even something that absorbs like Lancet) or a skill that increases the drop rate of the item(s) they need for their special recipes, and some non-Blue Magic skills. I would also like to suggest that giant forks be there main weapon because they are awesome and then they can use shields. >w>

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mimilu

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Yeah, I wasn't too hard set on the LNC requirement, I was originally leaning towards ARC for the available cross-class skills, but couldn't really find a reason how that class would mesh well with it. I was figuring that the BLU soul gem could be made in such a way that it makes up for the lack of stat progression in DoH classes, and becoming a DoW/M class would give it the extra stat points it missed out on as CUL. As for the ingredients for recipes, I do agree that Eat/Devour would be great to use, I just really liked the idea of making a dish so good that it gives you some of the power of what you ate, hence the job abilities "Iron Stomach" and "Kin Eater." There would, of course, be easy to craft recipes that would give the basic spells, so that the first few levels aren't terrible. There would definitely be a skill that can be gained from these first spells that increases drop rate.

The reasoning behind my approach of using CUL is not only for flavor but to allow the BLU to get the most out of its spells. Having it based off of a class (Gourmand, GRM for short), could potentially lower the options for the BLU's spells to be utilized, possibly limiting the number of actual set blue magic spells to 5 as its job abilities. I was also tooling with the idea of having their first 3 job abilities be a combo set of moves, or having the Synthesis skills become the combo set which can be linked to BLU spells. I was also leaning towards BLU becoming one of the first hybrid classes that can change its role based on the spells it has equipped. I do agree with using the fork as the main weapon, and was thinking of having the pan you get from the job quest allow you to have your sub weapon be your main weapon (I had this same idea for letting DRK be based on MRD and being able to use scythes). Or, the pan could allow the use of the fork as a main weapon and the pan as a shield.

the main problem with BLU is the number of abilities he could get.

they don't want to give one more egi to SMN because its no fair to other jobs, i'm not sure what their stance would be on BLU getting so much more than one :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kiraan

the main problem with BLU is the number of abilities he could get.

they don't want to give one more egi to SMN because its no fair to other jobs, i'm not sure what their stance would be on BLU getting so much more than one :p

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Well, BLU from FFXI at Lv. 99 had 157 spells (way more than any other job, I think RDM was 2nd with around 130 spells) but could only equip about 20 of them. However it had a lot of options for different builds this way, but you cold only play with 1 build at a time and would have to be outside of combat to change that build and then you would have around a 3m cooldown to use any spells after switching.

This made BLU VERY versatile and could switch to ANY role this way, but it wasn't OP by having FULL access. However in FFXI RDM did have FULL access to it's 130 spells at all times and was a much better job when going for versatility in non-controlled environments and it's ability to alter roles mid-combat, but that isn't an issue for the way FFXIV is setup.

Also, each BLU spell in FFXI had an attribute bonus you received by equipping certain spells. So in FFXIV that could work out by giving tanking actions a bonus to VIT, magic actions a bonus to INT, melee actions a bonus to STR, and healing actions a bonus to MND, (perhaps buffing/debuffing actions a bonus to PIE), etc. Not sure how SE will handle ranged physical spells (if at all), but I doubt BLU will need DEX either way (unlike FFXI).

This way BLU won't have to worry about having multiple gear sets in order to fulfill multiple roles. It just won't be an ideal hybrid as it won't be able to switch roles mid-combat unless you make a build that is 50-50 and willing to risk being sub-optimal in either role (similar to a PLD tanking on Sword Oath and/or a PLD attempting to DPS period).