Is Arcanist to Red Mage possible? What ways could this happen?

So I'm in a bit of a swirl right now with my IC arcanist. TLDR; she has lost most of her confidence with using her grimoire due to her past. While she has retained some of her knowledge, her fear is holding her back. And has recently been reading up on Red Mages.

However, OOCly I'm at a wall. I'm not quite sure how I would do such if she decides to pursue becoming a Red Mage. Or, at the very least, wield a rapier and enhance it with aether.

I'm kind of at a loss OOCly.... and need some lore wizards to help me understand!

Is it possible to even do such a thing? Without having a soul crystal? Can someone who wields aether with math be able to wield a weapon with aether?

Please halp. :3 TYIA <3

You don't necessarily need a soul crystal - it's not like the first red mages had soul crystals, they had to do it all from scratch - but it's a lot harder without the crystal basically uploading knowledge of the job's abilities into you.

The easiest way would probably be to find an existing RDM to train her, I suppose?

There's an idea. Learn from Ali. Or you could just consider the red mage class quest line canon, I suppose?

Technically anything is possibly within the lore, just less likely the farther you stray from established concepts. Like Jeanne said, soul crystals, and even magical foci like grimoires and staves aren't technically required if you're skilled enough. They just let you cheat by making the learning and casting processes exponentially faster (e.g. Neo downloading Kung Fu master directly into his brain vs spending 20 years mastering it the hard way.)

Mmkay Mmkay! Well, in that case, then what about .. without really *calling* herself a Red Mage... could someone essentially just train in using a rapier as a basic weapon, and then during that time, finding a way to basically just buff the weapon/sword like MNK's do their fists? Just like casting an element buff upon someone's weapon in D&D. Without actually casting ver-abilities and the like, but just using aether to enhance the rapier.

The thing to remember is what actually lore-wise is the difference between a 'class' and a 'Job'. A class is more correctly termed a Discipline, a trade or skillset that are taught by established Guilds that support those who take up that Discipline (and thus are technically the only ones legally authorized by the citystates). A Job on the other hand, are Disciplines that either fell out of use years before (whether being made illegal or their practioners just died out) or have been newly created and hence have no real established Guild. Hence Jobs use Soul Crystals as a shortcut to teaching the skills quickly to their practioners, rather than using the more "slow and steady" formalized approach the Guilds use with classes. Because there is often some similarities between a class and a Job, Jobs often piggyback on an existing class as they draw on similar aspects (like PLD enhancing a GLA's natural sword skills and shield use), but increasingly there are Jobs with no base class, because the class is the Job.

So really, there is nothing stopping you lore wise as having an ACN going to RDM, as that is what is the Armoury System is all about - you change classes by simply picking up the relevant weapon or tool (even if you bend the lore a bit to retain the old cross-class system, as after all 'role abilities' are merely a gameplay mechanic - npcs naturally always thumb their noses at class restrictions so in your story who is to say you can't do it too? ;)). So putting away a grimoire and picking up a rapier is very much in keeping with the lore, so go for it! :D

Thank you guys!

When you think about Arcanist is similar to Red Mage certain respects, being about to heal, resurrect and use some but not all elements.

It would def be possible for one to make the leap to RDM but the methods used would entail that some learning of the basics of art be required (as arcrimina mainly focuses on math and creation magicks, Red Mage focuses more on mana management and synthesis of Black and White magic) comapred to the native of Jobs of Summoner and Scholar

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Originally Posted by Zefina

Mmkay Mmkay! Well, in that case, then what about .. without really *calling* herself a Red Mage... could someone essentially just train in using a rapier as a basic weapon, and then during that time, finding a way to basically just buff the weapon/sword like MNK's do their fists? Just like casting an element buff upon someone's weapon in D&D. Without actually casting ver-abilities and the like, but just using aether to enhance the rapier.

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At this point you’re not really talking about Red Mage anymore. If you’re not using ver spells and just using a magically enhanced rapier you’d be classed as an entirely different job, closer to a dark knight or an entirely new job that isn’t in the game like spellblade.

You also literally couldn’t play RDM this way because your enchanted sword combo comes from using the ver spells, the spells build your mana meters which you then spend on the sword combo there’s no way to build those meters outside of casting.

If you want a job that enchants their weapon, as I said, dark knight is the closest thing you’ll find (it might also actually suit your RP better as the lore is harnessing negative emotion and turning it into power) but that also requires a soul crystal (all jobs eventually do), not to mention heavensward access.

But also keep in mind that all a soul crystal does is grant you the knowledge of the people who held it before you. Machinist is actually an exception to this because you are the first one to wield your soul crystal so you’re the one passing on the knowledge. So if the soul crystal is really a dealbreaker for you perhaps look into that job, it’s also one that enhances its firepower with aetherically charged ammo so KIND OF an aether enhanced weapon?

Interestingly, apparently rapiers had originally been planned for FFXIV 1.0 as a class called 'Fencer' ('FCR') for short, but was never developed or implemented beyond a dummied-out reference in the 1.0 game client files to 'fencing' as a weapon skill type. Whatever concept ideas SE had came up with for this class, if any, would have almost certainly ended up being used for RDM anyway though so it's rather moot now.