My idea (or rehash) of a new healer role: Chemist>Red Mage

[DawgPilez]

First would be that a chemist would be physical and "item reliant". With Item reliant I wouldn't been being bound to healing supplies, but rather than their healing comes in forms of items - Potion Pitching if you want to call it. Red Mage, on the other hand, is magic reliant, as the name implies, and to an extend physical based. The class concept of Red Mage and Chemist would clash and create a class that would be magic based as well as physics based (pharmacy).

cough cough FFseries characters tend to use both magic and physical attacks including the BLU mage, DRK in FFXI, palidan... cough cough

Plus, I did say the RDM can get access to magic bullets, which if people are truly hung up on RDM having bullets... or the job named RDM that isn't focused on magic, then we can simply change the name. Btw, it's called "throw" in FF speek. Characters that "toss" items at others have the skills "throw". Ninjas tend to sport the skill.

Secondly would be the the weapon affinity of the classes according to the design patterns. Common weapons for chemists (or alchemists) in the Final Fantasy series would be a gun, mace or dagger. Red Mages, on the other hand would have affinity towards fencing swords, such as rapiers, sabers and degens. They also have some affinity towards daggers. While they have a common weapon affinity, the rogue class already claims the dagger weapon in Final Fantasy XIV. As long the armory system stands, no other class can use daggers unless Square-Enix introduces a seperate category for daggers, like how they did that with the initial daggers for Gladiators.

Doesn't mean SE can't mix it up (Bards using bows.... thieves dual wielding innately... all class using only one weapon type). Sounds like you are hung up on the lore of Red Mage, which I suppose is fine, but that's not to say RDM couldn't be evolved. I'm sure if I called the job: Physicists, you wouldn't have any concerns.

Who knows, maybe the CHM/RDM could use the Rapier/gun combo. Talk about sweet and piratey. ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!