Given that Shadowbringers is just a matter of weeks away and calls for Dancer and a gunblade job have been answered, it seems like there has been more requests for a Psychic job in the game. I figure that there is an increased possibility of us getting a caster DPS in 6.0, so I got bored and decided to cook up a job concept for Psychic using the same ORMOA method that I have used in the past knowing that the opportunity for for a job like Psychic is definitely somewhere down the road. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to make this, so it’s just some basic spitball stuff for this concept, and I can flesh it out more if requested.
While this will be nowhere near as long or detailed as any of my previous job concepts, I still feel that I need to provide the general disclaimer that it’ll be a sizeable chunk of text with no TL;DR. Spoiler text blocks have been implemented for reading convenience, and of course a big thank you for those of you who look through all of it.
Origin:
The Origin asks three questions for the job:
1) “Where did this become a thing?”
What comes to mind when you think of Psychic as if it were a job in XIV? I’d wager X-2 would be the most likely response, with a more modernized or even futuristic feel at times compared to the more traditional “staff and tome” spellcaster of the fantasy genre.
While the world of the First does open up far more possibilities, this is one circumstance where Garlemald would be the only real known answer to this question if Psychic were to fit the future theme associated with it in X-2 unless some other modernized land were to show up in the path of the Warrior of Light (or Darkness).
2) “Why did this become a thing?”
If we were to go with our chosen answer for the previous question, then the answer to this is far simpler….in fact, it’s actually an answer we’ve seen in multiple games throughout the series. Within every massive, overwhelming and overbearing ruling party lies some sort of resistance movement, especially if it was related to the empire’s particularly unethical technological advances in more recent parts of the story. I even had a line for it come to me when I was thinking about this answer:
”We see all. We hear all. We KNOW all, for we are the Shadows of this realm.”
Perhaps a bit over the top, but something like “the Shadows” would be a means of bringing in a job that would be far different from anything we have seen in the game so far. The upside to a Garlemald job story is that it could bring in a potentially darker story revolving around ethics, political intrigue and other interesting and questionable themes.
”How does this thing reach the main protagonist (the player’s character)?”
Following the answers of the previous questions, any sort of underground resistance movement likely wouldn’t have a sign saying “come here to learn our stuff”. More likely, something would be laid out for the main character to come to where the movement is. Could be a simple item as a clue or someplace that serves as a front for their undercover operations.
Role:
This concept has been designed for Psychic to be a caster DPS.
The goal would be a little bit of support, but not a whole lot. Something along the lines of Monk or Dragoon. Unfortunately, this was one of those cases where time constraints have barred me from thinking about it on a more detailed level, and I can flesh it out more if so requested.
Mechanics:
So this would be a bit of a diversion from the Psychic of X-2. To make it work for a game like XIV, I looked to a lot of sources both in and out of the Final Fantasy series given that many MMORPGs make use of the character theme that a job like Psychic brings.
P.S.I. Level Gauge
Since every regular job needs a gauge, I figure going with something like a digital gauge with a number going from one and capping out at ten. I’m sure some other flashier or fancier visuals could be used, but I’d rather keep it a bit simpler.
Spells that consume P.S.I. Level would be mostly longer-term effects such as dots and buffs as a means of keeping a more active combat flow compared to other casters.
As for the P.S.I. acronym for P.S.I. Level, there could probably be something in the story about it meaning “Psionic Synapse Indicator”, and that it basically means power level.
Move it!
So compared to other spellcasters, I wanted considerably more mobility. A mix of casted spells and some dots with all of the spells that consume P.S.I. Level being instant-cast.
And of course, there will be teleports.
Outfitting:
As this would be a caster, it would be wearing Casting gear. If they can put a Red Mage in a robe, then there’s not much reason why they would make an exception here. However, relic AF gear is where there could be some differentiation, offering a look more along the lines of what we see of the X-2 Psychic.
The weapon I chose for the concept would be the Focus: some sort of bigger item that orbits the character and is used to aim spells. The image I had in my head for it was an ornate floating lens, but it could be something that looks more like a traditional magical focus. I would also try really hard to make it not look like that one focus-like weapon in Tera.
The other option I had for a Psychic weapon was a gauntlet kinda like the Kinetic class in Skyforge just as an excuse to have a character doing the Infinity Snap because yes, I am definitely a dork like that and I’m positive I’m not the only one who would think that. ANYWAY, the big complication to a weapon like that is that XIV isn’t exactly known for elaborate hand movement, and a gauntlet would just exacerbate how bad a simple action like a snap would look in the game. That’s why it’d probably look better just keeping such motions to barehanded abilities like Bard’s Sidewinder.
Abilities:
So unfortunately, this is the part where I’m just spitballing at this point. I’m just going to give relative terms to power since I didn’t feel like crunching the numbers for potencies. I can make them if requested, but the goal is to give at least a basic idea of how the job would function.
Psiblast: Basic, bread-and-butter cast time single-target spell. Increases P.S.I. Level gauge by 1.
Reverberation: DoT spell. Increases P.S.I. Level gauge by 1 if used on a target that does have this effect already applied to it.
Resonance: Cast time ranged AoE direct damage, applies DoT and heavy. Increases P.S.I. Level gauge based on the number of targets hit that are not under the effect of this effect (the dot), up to a maximum of 5.
Mind Shear: Instant high-damage single-target spell. Consumes 5 points of P.S.I. Level.
Teleport: Caster is moved 15y forward. Grants “Enhanced Feedback”.
Feedback: Instant cast AoE centered on the caster. Consumes 5 points of P.S.I. Level. Enhanced Feedback effect: increased damage and caster is teleported 15y backward immediately after dealing damage.
Clairvoyance: 15 second duration, 90 second cooldown. Absorbs damage equal to 50% of max HP. While this effect is active, all damaging spells are direct hits.
Psionic Recovery: 15 second duration HoT (goal of being roughly a bit stronger than White Mage’s Regen). Consumes 5 points of P.S.I. Level. Potency is reduced by half if used on another player.
Awaken: 10 second duration, 120 second cooldown. Increases all damage dealt by 15% and the cost of all abilities that consume P.S.I. Level is reduced to 0.
Visual: Caster briefly levitates. P.S.I. Level gauge displays “11” for the duration of the ability.
LIMIT BREAK: Raw Power
Cast animation: Caster levitates, waves of air ripple through the target area.
End animation: Massive shockwave hits target area, pebbles and debris briefly levitate before getting disintegrated.