Healer NPC Diversity

[Rongway]

I also feel that a need to shoutout to the unconventional healer types in certain solo duties: Cid functions as a healer in the Mor Dhona ARR MSQ when you protect Maggie from Imperials by using "Aqua Vitae" to heal the Warrior of Light. This skill is re-used by other NPCs for the same purpose. During the Interdimensional Rift solo duties, Midgardsormr will be the one to cast Cure should someone drop below a certain threshold, since neither Nero nor Cid are capable of magic. Yugiri also uses a skill "Suiyaku" to heal the Warrior of Light in several duties as well, and I believe the Ninjas in the job quests do as well.

Aqua Vitae (water of life) and Suiyaku (liquid medicine) are supposed to represent them using potions on you, so anyone could have access to those "abilities" if there was a need for an improvised healer NPC. They just need to use which ever potion word fits the NPC's cultural background.

[Bright-Flower]

Almost all healer NPCs are conjurers simply because that's what there are most of in Eorzea. White mages are very rare and almost exclusively padjal. Scholars are nigh extinct, with the WoL and the occasional tonberry being the only modern practitioners. Sharlayan astrology never really caught on in the rest of Eorzea so there just aren't that many astrologians outside of Sharlayan. By default that leaves conjurer as the primary healing class in modern Eorzea.

This. It's a side effect really of how some jobs are largely written to be so exclusive so you don't often see npcs that are tied to jobs directly outside of job storylines.

It seems to affect magic jobs more so than dow jobs. You see more thaumaturges than black mages, more arcanists than summoners, for the same reasons. Obviously there are some actual job npcs like Estinien, Yugiri, Gosetsu and Hien etc. I think Lyse is probably a pugilist rather than a monk but I'm not 100% on that.

Jobs tend to be pretty limited to the WOL and a handful of npcs for the most part. Though some more so than others. New monks are being trained in the Peaks, there's an order of dragoons and only the azure dragoon is limited to the WOL, the sultansworn are training free paladins but they wouldn't hand these out to just anyone I think.

Though this may be changing to a degree. We see Urangr as an astralogian, Thancred seems to swap from rogue to gunbreaker etc, so maybe we'll be seeing more ncps with jobs etc.

[Brightamethyst]

It's not brought up as often any more, I think, but soulstones are rare (though becoming more common! think of all the soulstones the Summoner questline introduces and it's arguably the oldest job usable by the Warrior of Light!); so NPCs are often relegated only to classes, and so, the disparity.

Soulstones are not required to become a job (except SCH and WHM.)

Soulstones are a history of the job and the abilities learned by the previous holders, making it easier for the current holder to learn said abilities. It's possible to become a paladin/bard/dragoon/etc through time and effort and training alone. The soulstone is just a shortcut that lets you skip the years of extra training. (The exceptions being SCH where the fairy is tied to the stone, and WHM where the elementals won't accept a non-padjal without it.)

[Vanitas]

Running out of things to complain about I see.

[LineageRazor]

Soulstones are not required to become a job (except SCH and WHM.)

Soulstones are a history of the job and the abilities learned by the previous holders, making it easier for the current holder to learn said abilities. It's possible to become a paladin/bard/dragoon/etc through time and effort and training alone. The soulstone is just a shortcut that lets you skip the years of extra training. (The exceptions being SCH where the fairy is tied to the stone, and WHM where the elementals won't accept a non-padjal without it.)

From a lore perspective, this is correct. Take Machinist, for example - their Soulstone is completely empty. In theory, an individual should be just as accomplished with or without the stone equipped, since the stone provides no knowledge or skills whatsoever (rather, you're wearing it as a courtesy to pass your own skills and knowledge on to future bearers of the stone).

I would guess that the others are the same way. It's not impossible to learn the job skills though research and self-discovery - having them pre-packaged in a stone just makes it easier and more convenient to pass knowledge of these skills. I'd argue that this even applies to SCH and WHM. In the case of SCH, a Soulstone is a convenient place for the fairy to dwell, but it needn't be the only possible such dwelling. An animated puppet, like the one you earn at the completion of the Anima questline, could serve, as well. (As for WHM, I forget what makes their Soulstone so special and unique - but recall that Amdapor in its prime had PLENTY of folks wielding White Magic; a single stone couldn't possibly account for that, so it's clear the skills can be learned without bearing that specific stone, or likely any stone.)

[Brightamethyst]

As for WHM, I forget what makes their Soulstone so special and unique - but recall that Amdapor in its prime had PLENTY of folks wielding White Magic; a single stone couldn't possibly account for that, so it's clear the skills can be learned without bearing that specific stone, or likely any stone.

Theoretically you could come across a WHM stone in a sixth era ruin or something but you'd probably seriously piss off the elementals if you tried to use it without padjal approval.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Though this may be changing to a degree. We see Urangr as an astralogian, Thancred seems to swap from rogue to gunbreaker etc, so maybe we'll be seeing more ncps with jobs etc.

I think they also called Y'shtola a BLM back in the February fanfest? Though that may just mean "suped up Thaumaturge" and she won't actually get a soul stone.

[Bright-Flower]

I think they also called Y'shtola a BLM back in the February fanfest? Though that may just mean "suped up Thaumaturge" and she won't actually get a soul stone.

There's also the theory that it may be Matoya in her body but we'll find out soon enough when 5.0 launches. With the ambiguity of the sutation there I decided to leave Ysthola out.

[SannaR]

It's also stated in the Black Mage quest line you can't cast the bigger/harder black magic if you don't have a soul stone or you end up dying. I think there could be more Red Mages as our trainer got taught by someone else and had a fellow student. Then we also have Geomancers who from what little we know about them are a cross of conjury and astrology. Some of the we don't see a lot of X job is probably due to having so many soul stones or teachers of the art not being around or lost to time and various calamities. I mean we've had giant earthquakes, floods, fires ice ages and at least where scholar is concerned a whole city engulfed by a magical weapon of mass destruction.

[Bright-Flower]

It's also stated in the Black Mage quest line you can't cast the bigger/harder black magic if you don't have a soul stone or you end up dying. I think there could be more Red Mages as our trainer got taught by someone else and had a fellow student. Then we also have Geomancers who from what little we know about them are a cross of conjury and astrology. Some of the we don't see a lot of X job is probably due to having so many soul stones or teachers of the art not being around or lost to time and various calamities. I mean we've had giant earthquakes, floods, fires ice ages and at least where scholar is concerned a whole city engulfed by a magical weapon of mass destruction.

I'd have to redo the blm quest, but it seemed to me like those people burned themselves out more so because of inexperience/poor training than it being inevitable without a stone. Much more dangerous without one but it didn't leave me thinking it was impossible.