Idea-Red Mage Tank

Let me start by saying, before the flame, that it seems like square has shifted away from the support class. Thus the jack of all trades could do anything. I also think we need more tanks and more variety of them.

RDM lacks interesting/unique skills for Healing or DPS. Mostly because of overlap from other disciplines. I do see an opportunity for some of their classic moves to help them be a tank.

RDM would surely be the best magic defense tank. They would also have good range tanking abilities as well. They would be better at AOE tanking in general and have a harder time tanking single, hard hitting, targets.

RDM would rotation would revolve around magic spike spells and "En" Weapon enhancing spells. Instant cast and debuffing would also be woven in.

Spells Offensive- RDM has lots of spells that would be easy to convert to tanking.

Dia/Diaga-A high enmity dot, should be used on every target. -This would be the staple of the RDM tanking, letting them both range tank and rotate through targets.

Red Lotus Blade- This would be the standard opener Square likes to use at the moment. Would open up other skills.

Circle Blade/Swift Blade The second tier of attack would let RDM AOE or Single target with higher enmity.

Instant cast spells- Since RDM is a mage, it would make sense that the third tier to their attacks game them a instant cast spell (Stone, Blizzard, Aero, Fire, Lighting)- They would most likely be weaker than the BLM/WHM versions, yet keep the feel of being a RDM

Weapon/Armor: RMD has typically had shield and sword. Thus, the tanking mainstays, blocking and parrying would be viable. You could probably theorize that RDM would be a parry heavy tank. There armor, however has typically been medium. To scale with the other tanks, RDM would naturally use magic to cover its armor shortcomings.

Magic Spikes: Magic spikes would give the RDM a passive defense buff to keep it on par with the other tanks. Most likely, it would also make them slightly better at taking Magic Damage. The RDM would need to use the correct spike spell for the situation, adding a level of planning/skill. All three spike spells would add survivability and have a chance on hit proc.

Blaze Spikes- Chance on hit to aoe a small fire proc (AOE tanking selection)

Frost Spikes- Chance on hit to bind target (Survivability)

Shock Spikes-Chance on hit to stun target (Single target tanking)

En Spells- A staple or the RDM is to enchant their weapon with different elemental attacks. This is where the RDM could really shine. Giving each En spell a chance on hit to debuff. This would allow the RDM to roll through the spells to keep up as much as possible or focus in on an important defuff. En spells would also boost DPS or Enmity as needed.

Enstone- Chance to Slow target

Enblizzard-Chance to bind target

Enthunder-Chance to paralyze target

Enaero- Chance to poison target

Enfire-Chance to blind target

Enwater- Chance to silence

Other-

Gravity- AOE Slow and Silence- On a longer timer, 40-60 secs. Used as an interrupt.

Flat Blade- A stun type attack could also be needed.

Spells Defensive -

Instant Cure- Could be used at the end of the chain to help the healer or gain enmity across all targets

Blink- Absorbs one attack- Would probably be used before battle or during a large boss attack-30 sec CD

Phalanx- Reduces Dmg by *% for * sec. To keep in par with the other tanks, standard damage mitigation

Shell- Called shell but is stone skin, absorbs * amount of damage. RDM staple to soak up a little damage

Aquaveil- Adds some extra dodge for * amount of time. More mitigation options.

Haste- Reduces cool downs by 25%, castable on others- Powerful situation move on 1+ min cooldown

Refresh- Heal Over Time that also regenerates mana. Can be cast on other members 2 min cool down. This is the famous RDM skill and why change it. Make it the level 50 spell and never look back. Can save the tank in a pinch, as well as party member.

Well there are alot of things I want to poke at, while I get the gist of what your going for there are lots of flaws in the design in general.

1- You designed RDM without the class in mind, as the class plays a pivitol role in how the Job functions it also affects the directions it can take when fleshing out how the job works.

2- Some spells (specifically enspells) already exist in the game and your changing how they work which affects the balance of mobs that use these spells as well. (Some of these mobs are not RDM based)

3- There seems to be a lack of variety in what the RDM can do. You can only have one Enspell up at any given time and you only really have one WS combo option. I'm not talking about the role of being a tank, but even a PLD/WAR can do more with itself than just throw out the occasional buff and hate combo.

4- What could offensive spells like RDM's psuedo "Blizzard" or "Thunder" do that's worthwhile enough that they could rotate it between their Hate combo. When not tanking what could these do to be as a passible DPS option when you don't want to pull hate.

5- How much will RDM's AOE hate capabilities affect the balance between WAR and PLD who are already distinguished Tank classes of their own accord. You give RDM alot more crowd control power over both of them.

Now I'm not hating on your general idea, just there are fundamental flaws that affect just how well they can operate on their own two feet and just how much they end up stepping on other jobs toes in order to function properly. If you wan't a good example of what I'm talking about let's consider SCH vs. WHM they fulfill the healer role just fine but their moves and abilities are completely different from one another and in a good way balance one another out, where they work better and are stronger together than say 2x WHM or 2x SCH.

1. The class could be called anything, the only difference between class and job is 5 spells. Fencer comes to mind.

2.You could rename them obviously to fit the new game. The purpose was take transfer over a staple RDM abillity while giving variety to the moves.

3.A few things here. First, the RDM would be rotating the Enspells as needed to keep up different debuffs. Depending on the fight, the RDM may have to constantly prioritize which debuffs they have up. Much like a dot class, the challenge/skill comes down to rotation ability and prioritizing.

4.Well Thunder and Aero are Dots for starters. Blizzard cast slow. Fire is more powerful. The idea is;the RDM has interesting ranged options for tanking and would need to melee combo to make them instant cast.

5.The purpose was for the RDM to be the premier AOE tank. That being said, it wouldnt have the HP or mitigation the other tanks had. Thus would struggle against some bosses.
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Appreciate the input friend, maybe I didn't articulate some of my points well enough.

I think, taking two steps back, this would be a true off tank class. Its aoe tanking ability would help people get through trash in 8 man content. If there is a single boss, the RDM would focus on debuffing and adds. It would also have enough raid utility to warrant the raid spot.

I was thinking of this ideal just recently, and discovered this thread someone wrote, I think it has some nice ideals.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...night-Proposal

Don't forget Phalanx!

SE added Rune Fencer as their magic tank to the latest XI expansion. It sounds like the job you're looking for, rather than an altered red mage:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Rune_Fencer