New idea for Pld sword oath I just thought up

[Agrieus]

So I've been thinking about this for a bit and wanted to toss this idea around to some people. We all know that Raubahn likes to occasionally carry around 2 swords and a shield with him...and it got me thinking. Why not carry that over to the actual paladin job itself? What I'm suggesting is that while in Sword Oath, the Paladin will carry an extra sword to capitalize on it's dps stance (it can be a copy of it's current sword in their main hand or a different weapon entirely) while still carrying their shield on their back.

I know what some of you may be thinking, though....what about abilities? Abilities like bulwark, shield bash, etc, wouldn't make any sense to still be usable since the paladin wouldn't currently be carrying a shield in hand. Which is why I suggest to alter the abilities itself entirely, like, instead of bulwark or sheltron being a defensive ability, the name and description changes to an offensive ability while in sword oath. You're basically not adding any new abilties to the hot bar itself, just changing what each one does when swapping between shield oath and sword oath. So, what're you guys' thoughts/opinions?

[JackFross]

Inner Beast / Fell Cleave
Steel Cyclone / Decimate

Distinct skills, distinct effects. You'd need new skills if you wanted to drastically change name and effect. Conversely, Equilibrium is a skill that exists, which heals HP in Defiance and TP in Deliverance, so having effects like that might be good.

As far as dual-wielding swords as a Paladin? No? Not only from the dev standpoint (you'd need new animations for every skill they have so they make use of both swords) but also from a gameplay standpoint (it would be super weird for a Paladin to suddenly be using two swords), I don't really see it as a good idea. Putting the shield away sounds like a change they should make, for sure, but drawing a new sword? I dunno. Changing skills between Sword and Shield Oath? Absolutely.

[Agrieus]

Yeah, it was just a thought. I know implementing something like this in no way be an easy task, to say the very least. You'd absolutely need new animations for most of the skills that change, but not necessarily all of them (imo at least). It would be somewhat like adding an entirely new job BUT the basis for the job would still all be there. An example for one of the skills that would change would be shield bash. Instead of the skill being named "shield bash", while in sword oath the name would change to something like "blade bash" in which case the animation wouldn't change a whole lot, you'd just be swiping with the blade in the left hand by using the exact same motion you would as if you were using the shield, so not a whole lot would need to change there...at least for this particular ability.

Ultimately, it'd be up to the devs to decide how they'd wanna go about altering/adding animations but, at the very least, the basic requirements that they'd need are already there (stance changing being what I'm referring to).

[PirateCat]

How would it work from an equipment perspective? It seems like you would either need to add an entirely new equipment slot for the second sword (and then figure out how all the damage calculations would work based on each sword's stats) or handwave it by saying that a given "sword" as an item is really two swords all along. I know this is what they do for ROG/NIN daggers, but this wouldn't make sense for swords from a lore perspective. There are a lot of quests involving one specific sword that is of particular importance to the Sultansworn. The Curtana is a famous sword that there's supposed to be exactly one of (discounting the fact that each player can have one) and it doesn't make sense that people could spontaneously bust out another one.

I suppose one possible compromise would be to introduce another class of sword that can be dual-wielded (as in, it's two swords) and have the dual sword stance only be usable if you're using one of those. Then they could start having the endgame weapons all be that. (We're getting pretty "next expansion" by this point.)

[Cabalabob]

I had a similar thought a while back when playing bravely default, knight learns a job trait called two-handed, where you get double damage when wielding with the main hand only.

I thought they could change sword oath so you put your shield away and hold your sword with both hands gaining a large damage boost in exchange for losing your ability to block and losing access to all shield based moves (shield bash/swipe, Shelton and bulwark).

[Februs]

I had a similar thought a while back when playing bravely default, knight learns a job trait called two-handed, where you get double damage when wielding with the main hand only.

They had a similar skill in FF Tactics. Samurai, I think, were the ones who learned it but you could carry it over to knight. When I found out about the job system in this game I hoped that it would work the same way. Sadly, I was disappointed. When I found out about the "gladiator" class, I also hoped we'd be able to actually take advantage of fast skill speed ... sadly, that did not happen either.

As much as they have done a two handed approach in the past, I don't see SE making such a radical change anytime in the future. That said, I am interested in seeing what changes they do make in the next patch. I really hope they're not a let down and actually do something to improve the Pld job ...

[Duuude007]

Don't forget in other FF titles they allowed dual-shield wielding... <giggle>

[SpookyGhost]

Gun Oath.

Paladin throws down sword and shield, pulls out gun.

[Cabalabob]

Gun Oath.

Paladin throws down sword and shield, pulls out gun.

But MCH's do less damage than a sword oath PLD we want a damage increase!

[SpookyGhost]

But MCH's do less damage than a sword oath PLD we want a damage increase!

Give PLD a shotgun.