Dark Magic Theme'd Healer? [Blood / Mind Flayer / Eldritch / Necromancer / Etc]
https://i.imgur.com/WVUdGPb.png
I've seen necromancer bounce around a few times and thought blood (corrupted lifestream?) magic could be utilized in that theme, as well as I'm not so sure an army of skeletons would quite fit the FFXIV image but certainly I think we could get some dark magic (curses and such) healer going either way.
I decided to post this in part because it seems most of the healers are moving away from damage, and I'm not suggesting this one healer will deal way more damage than the other healers but that they're encouraged by the mechanics of their own job to swat at the enemies in order to actually heal better (and during times where they can't attack they will need to use their blood reserves). So this job would be for those who are sad they just lost a bunch of damage skills (that doesn't mean a perfect scholar/white mage can't damage as well as this job, just that you couldn't play this job perfectly and not be damage dealing).
I don't have a big preference on weapon but I thought it might be fun to give them a scythe tipped chain whip with a bell on the end. Some imagery of how it might be used:
Flay on enemy: whips the scythe tip at the enemy (flaying them.. oo creative.. lol)
Flay on ally: whips the bell end towards an ally causing it to ring and radiate energy out when reaching the apex
Combo of the two: healer plunges the pointy in with a strong whip flick and then rings the bell connected to the enemy, causing the magic to curse through the weapon (granting the healer some odd effect).
But it could be whatever I'm not fixed on a weapon concept lol.
Few of the ideas I've been fiddling with for a unique twist on healing / gimmick mechanics (not that unique lol) is gray health, Auras, monster "heals", and regen on action (RoA), and damage pet (instead of healing like scholar).
Gray health:
tl;dr- Like Bloodborne when you take damage you have your health bar remain part gray, here the healer can restore that gray health more easily than just pure curing. This creates a decision tree for the healer where they can help create these gray health opportunities and also choose the appropriate type of healing for the situation given what they've done so far. (greater planning and more choice to make while healing). *Balance note inside.
Gray Health being an inverse shield, normally a shield goes above your health and prevents it from being taken and here rather a gray health effect would be very much akin to Bloodborne sort of concept where after you've lost it there is a period of time the health remains "re-attainable". Here we'd introduce a few spells that can recuperate gray hp, may make it a bit difficult if you make a mistake mis-clicking but I have a thought that we can use some of the healer's offensive skills on allies to restore gray hp. Something like flay or dominate. Can always be other spells than offensive but I thought it could be fun to get to cast offensive spells on your allies lol (also means a tighter control of ability bloat for SE). Will also need a few skills that apply an aoe (like medica) effect of this, perhaps introduce auras. Concept being that curing gray health is slightly more efficient than just straight up curing it. May ask "what's the difference from gray health and just curing them then?" I think in part I'd like to introduce different healing spells based on the situation giving the player more to chew on as they play. If you knew something was coming up you'd prep them for gray health and then heal them with your domination and flaying spells because it was more effective but if they had no gray health then you'd find other means to heal them. To me I think it adds a little puzzle, which could be helpful seeing as SE seems to be pushing healers to healing even more (I've seen some people say they will be bored if that's the case, this could be a piece of undoing that feeling for those who want to think about what they're going to do).
*For balance reasons it may be important to make gray health healer specific (such that the healer that created it is the only one that can take advantage of it and see it, preventing things like one of these dark healers greatly empowering the other dark healer (to avoid "helping" make preferred combos).
Monster heals:
tl;dr- rather than shields you place on allies this is a shield (curse we should see it) placed on the enemy that will prevent said potency in damage from being dispersed by the enemy. This concept should be relegated to oGCD spells with cooldowns or perhaps a weak potency but aoe variant.
Monster heals might be seen as a new type of shield. Here instead of casting a shield on an ally you cast a shield on a monster, the theme of these skills being curses and other enfeebling effects. "A shield on a monster, you what?" I imagine some people say but just picture it like this: you cast a 500 potency shield on an ally they are prevented from taking that amount yes? Now if you cast that on a monster it prevents that monster from dealing that amount to any target (to a total of that potency, it's not unique for each target the monster makes). So you've gained a lot in preparation power since it might be an aoe, raid aoe, single target, who knows where it's going but you prevented it, but at the same time if you needed to protect player 2 specifically then .. it might not have if player 3 stood in the orange instead. I believe these could be some sort of oGCD toy to play with, and shouldn't necessarily be the core or at least sole method of curing because it's both powerful and also very uncontrollable to who you'll help (so probably should be saved / balanced in accordance).
RoA:
tl;dr- When you take an action and you have an RoA active on someone it'll heal them. So approximately every 2.5 seconds, but certain spells and actions could change that in multiple ways (so you cadence and ability to adapt on the fly is rewarded).
RoA being instead of regen on interval of time it's on interval of action (I think having some actions count as multiple would be a fun play with the mechanic too, like if a spell said "delivers three fold attack" it would trigger three times).
Auras:
tl;dr- affects stuff in a radius, should attempt to balance it such that it affects the closest X number of allies (so the healer gets some positional on the brain and the game isn't unbalanced vs AST and stuff)
Auras to balance perhaps add a limit to the number of people affected by the aura (so it's not like AST where the aoe cards especially as more people were added became bigger and bigger deals, no aoe balance issues please lol). So here like the closest X party members receive an aura of some effect that may also allow their hp to go gray (to work with other mechanics of the job, or consider a spell that does this in radius of your auras). This also gives the healer more thought on where they're standing in relation to specific players. May consider the aura always includes yourself, which might be helpful in self preservation if these auras grant gray health on top of their buff (healing yourself is always effective).
Also another thing to consider that I like with passive/aura skills is an "active". For example lets say you had a passive "stance" that increased your attack speed by 5%, if you pressed it again while it was currently on then it would actually do something extra. A real example would be in heroes of the storm the blademaster has a critical strike passive that every three attacks they get a critical hit however if they activate the ability their next attack is critical. Perhaps here activating an aura buff adds the gray health effect?
Please don't be afraid to make the auras more than a simple "stance", like say for the monk the riddle of wind also causes a small whirlwind to build up around them causing light periodic damage in the area. Making auras a bit more than just a buff, or say if you pressed riddle of wind while it was already active it might engulf the monk in wind shearing armor that adds damage reduction. Keeping in mind that monk example was just on the spot random example.. not actually trying to suggest monk changes in a healer thread lol.
Have fun with it :)
Damage pet:
tl;dr- two pets that behave slightly differently from each other that focus on light damage cc / debuff rather than scholar's healing / buff. Like scholar they may be consumed for benefits.
Damage pets- as scholar has a healing turret I felt perhaps we could give this job a few (not many) abominations which would grow (literally) over time and use of certain spells (perhaps as the healer triggers their RoAs). I imagine one can be a sort of Mist (imagine like the movie) where it blankets the ground a little and as it grows can reach out (shadowy/misty forms) and attack in an aoe of where it exists turning red as it gets more powerful (aoe focus, minor CC like occasional pacification). The other starting as a sort of cute happy slug and changing into a less cute demented slime (single target, minor debuffing). Both minions would be their smaller more normal/cute form unless in combat/growing (so in town they won't look wicked lol). I think it would be fun once they reach peak volume that the healer can use an ultimate skill to burst / deconstruct them into a powerful effect (afterwards they will respawn). Like for the mist it could be a strong aoe heal while slime would enter your target (LOL..) and give them a large shield and a acceptable stat buff (if the shield is consumed the stat buff timer will reset and if not consumed the remaining shield will turn to health at the end, which may result in an overcure).
For example as the dark healer they cast Wither Limbs on the boss which causes the next 8 party member wide damage to be reduced by about 20% (damage raid wide - the heal = end result) then they cast Red Seas in a large area which is a RoA effect, then target the tank with Blood Moon (RoA single target + extra mechanics) which heals those in the red sea, now they turn to the monster and begin to cast flay which causes the red sea to pulse and eb (rises a little and becomes a bit more active) healing those in the area lightly while the tank's is also pulsing but unique since Blood Moon has it's own mechanics (every number of seconds if at least one tick has been made it will upgrade to the next phase, increasing hp per tick, as the moon wanes the heals turn to shields). At any point the healer may flay the target (yes allies and enemies) to change the moon to a full blood red moon and gaining a powerful shield that will also convert a portion of lost hp to gray hp (moon will vanish entirely after being flayed though).
For QoL I think it might be fun to have a spell that is perhaps themed after a deep heart beat (visual, sound, name), that causes RoA to trigger without you (meaning you could double up). Eldritch Hum (name maybe?).
I think an ability that temporarily boosts the mage's healing potency and gives allies an effect during the cast to gain their own RoA interaction would be neat. For example if you cast blood moon while under the effects of Parting Gifts not only would it have an enhanced effect as you cast (not as great as largesse) but would also give that target the ability to trigger a very minor tick as well (bit of an interplay between them).
Anyway I don't really like trying to design whole jobs so I'll probably make a list of gimmicky things now and we can go from there lol. Since I think SE if they like the idea of a dark healer might be inspired by something but they're not going to carbon copy anything we say, so probably better just to introduce a number of concepts and see if they or anyone likes any concept.
Just some random spell mentioned (key word on random, it's not comprehensive or designed for all of them to work together.. someone making an actual job would cut and add lol):
Red Sea - As you take action you fill the void and make a red sea, healing everyone in the area for higher than a regen tick but obviously less often.
Melt Flesh - Deals X potency damage to the target and up to Y bonus potency for every attack made during the debuff (not % based making it not a broken balance).
Wither Limbs / Transcendental Shackles - Prevents up to X potency from the boss over the duration (a new type of pre-emptive shield).
Blood Moon - a growing heal over actions and time, may be consumed for a shield and gray health
Parting Gifts - allows allies to trigger MUCH weaker RoA's of your skills and increases the potency of your offensive and defensive skills both.
Flay - deals x potency to target, increase blood reserve by X, 20% chance to weaken their mind (debuff), restores y gray health to ally and 20% chance to invigorate them (restoring a small % of mp and goes to dominate)
Eldritch Hum - an otherworldy cadence that restores mp and triggers the healer's own RoAs
Dominate - deals x potency to target, consumes weakend mind (from flay) for bonus potency and adds a weaker version of withered limbs (small premeptive shield), restores Y gray health on ally target, consumes invigoration to apply Watchful Eye (you're watching them through the veil) which will give them a small shield that will turn into an RoA if broken (or disappear if not)
Plane Shift - reduces own incoming damage and increases cast speed (much less than lightspeed)
Crown of Madness - shorter duration repose that also deals damage and isn't interrupted by attacks (works once per monster, should probably have a oGCD cooldown concept)
Hemorrhaging Spine - every action the monster takes inflicts X potency, bonus potency up to Y for attacking the monster from ranged or by the flank and rear by melee
Siphon Life - Drains target dealing x potency and adding y to your blood sphere.
Infuse - oGCD dark arts spell (with a cooldown long enough to make it at max every other spell weave), takes x amount of blood from your blood sphere and enhances the next spell. (To make it less spammy I think blood should work in a phase where you collect it, then you can use it till empty, then you collect it, and the amount collected is about enough to do 3 infusions before back into not doing infusions again. So at max it is every other cast and then a few casts where there is no infusions)
Transfusion - heals target x amount and a bonus y amount if infused ("okay" cure without infuse, but pretty good with)
Red Ritual - heals target x potency + a nice y amount for the total in the blood sphere (drains the whole sphere, potentially a very strong cure - benediction-esq)
Last Harvest - instant cast AoE that inflicts a debuff, when a monster takes damage add up to x to the blood sphere (very large group should theoretically fill the entire sphere), at the end of the duration deal damage in an aoe for based on amount filled (damage is shared between monsters in the area, very strong single target if only one was left for example, may end the spell early by recasting it).
Otherworldy Mist - minion, small starting aoe radius, will grow larger during combat and activities (while large in area important that players can see through it easily), will occasionally pacify enemies within the mist with glowing lights, may be consumed for a very large fairly potent aoe heal
Slime Leech - minion, cute little guy, grows into a bit of a nasty large troublesome goop (dnd/wow like slime, the kind that envelope and devour), single target mild debuffer. May be consumed for a powerful shield that turns into a heal if not consumed and will also lightly buff them.
Planar Possession - enters the target enemy allowing you to zoom your camera out further if a large boss, spells cost less to cast and deal minor potency to the enemy per cast of any spell (you're using their life source to help kick start them), all spells are infused (unlocking enhanced effects) and all spells have greater radius / range.
Terrormorphosis - transforms into essentially one of the lovecraft monsters gone FF inspired (like an outer god / old one). AoE crown of madness on cast and upgrades a few of their skills into forbidden variants, moving doesn't prevent casting (may still cancel by jumping), and spells restore their cost instead. Another effect to consider, perhaps with removal / modification of the resource cost concept is allowing them to cast two spells at once (both having a cast bar).
Guided Passage - If the target would die while under the effect then reset hp to 50%, remaining overkill damage is turned into a DoT over 5 seconds (damage continues so if they got hit so hard that it did their current hp + the 50% restored, then they're still dead lol). Heal X after duration expires. Alternatively the effect might be a gray health excogitation (Scholar heal) so like "heal x% of damage taken/gray health for next % of damage"- making it different in that it's not a shield and when optimal cast timing would be (potentially having a greater or lesser potency based on circumstance).
Eerie Glow - Reduce magical damage taken, physical damage has a chance to inflict pacification to the attacker
Dour Air - inflicts damage and debuff solemn: aoe shield on monsters (preventing outgoing damage from the source), very weak shield but high prevented damage when cast on many monsters
Call from the Grave (or insert Umbral/Void/Otherworld wording) - shadowy/zombie-ish grabs from the ground effect, greatly slowing monsters in a radius, enemies that die under the effect empower your minion (grows faster, meaning it becomes stronger)
Embalm - for the duration change incoming damage into a DoT over 10 seconds (damage is totaled and refreshed to 10 seconds) the DoT may not become greater than 40% of the target's hp.
Enticing Preserveration - keeps your minion from shrinking back to their small size until next combat by feeding them a small amount from your blood sphere (during combat they'll never shrink, it'd be your job to prevent them from shrinking between trash pulls by finishing each fight with a little bit of blood and if you mess up it's not the end of the world but will be a little bit of a loss)
While obviously there are a lot of ideas and probably quite a number should be stripped for balance or "too much to think about at once" I'd hope to see the job feel quite different in their theme and perhaps how they approach healing (two different styles of healing based on gray / non-gray health for example).
So in otherwords I'm not attempting to deliver you a job that works out of the box, in fact I'll tell you it wont lol, but I am trying to deliver flint (fire starter), dark magical evil flint :P, that might kick start a healer that doesn't meet the standard "good guy magics".
I know I avoided some of the necromancer-y (raising the dead.. as still dead lol/skeletons) stuff but mostly for two weak and a bit personal reasons lol.
1st- seems like a lot of companies fear bringing skeletons into China (China has inconsistent censorship and a lot of companies self censor just to dodge that), I believe FFXIV has done this already.. and so making a job about skeletons means you'd have to change it vs maybe making the job just dark magic theme'd and not having to change it lol.
2nd reason is while I think dark magic is totally okay in the FFXIV universe I'm not sure about the players raising zombies out of the ground, I think if the player themselves becomes a zombie that'd be fine but I think it's a harder sell in a sort of npc world view- the whole potential that you're bringing their loved ones back to life to fight lol.
Ultimately though if you wanted to say "just change it for china" and "so what" to the second reason then yeah sure whatever I'm sure you can make it work if you really really wanted to, just my thought that it could be fun to have an otherworldy "eldritch" dark magic theme'd healer and might fit better than bringing bone spears and skeletons. I think it's fine to want the bones, zombies, and skeleton themes, feel free to ask for it- I'd just say good luck to the lore team making it fit then lol. I don't doubt their creativity so I don't like hearing or giving lore no's as there are many examples where they made stuff work when before it "shouldn't" because they wanted/needed to (meaning it's a flimsy no given a strong desire, but may also mean it requires extra work).
https://i.imgur.com/gP1PKB7.jpg
Even if you didn't like it, thanks for reading :)
tl;dr: a dark healer with themes for the mage being eldritch, curses, dark magic, blood, and other things dark in the night, with perhaps a few gimmicks to match. Also I am not against other ideas of healers, I just thought a dark theme'd version would be quite new to our healer scene.
