Are jobs bound by lore?

[MikkoAkure]

Though this raises a question: If an Astrologian requires a soul crystal for their spells, how is Urianger one in Norvrant?

Didn't think of that. Probably an oversight. Or maybe because his body itself is present with the soul stone? Anyone's guess at this point, but the game system describes him as a full-on Astrologian and it's a pretty important plot point in the AST quests that Levava's grandfather needed that stone in order to cast AST spells.

The same way Jannequinard does I assume. Also Leveva post level 60 has let anyone who wants to learn Sharlyean Astrology to do so. Which is similar to Geomancy and last I checked the Hingan we meet in the SB questline doesn't have a stone. That and anyone who won a riddle contest that lasted for seven days against pixies probably can find a way to switch from a 1.0 arcanist to Astrologian.

Levava's grandfather is presumably a better astrologian than Jannequinard and he required a soul crystal, becoming powerless after giving his to us. It could be that smaller scale spells don't require anything special other than training. Just like how conjurers can pull aether from nature and also cure people on their own with just a little help from the elementals and a teacher. But we never see any of the conjurers casting assize or holy.

Regarding Geomancy, I think it has a lot more in common with conjury than astromancy. Both source their aether from the area and elements around them.

[SannaR]

Yet Hingashin Geomancy use divination to tell fortunes and shields that are exactly like that of Astrology. It's why so many "Geomancers" in Kugane weren't practicing the spells side of things and only the divination aspects so that they could get rich off of their clients who met them in hopes their business would profit. Similar to how Ishgardian Astrology didn't evolve into spellcraft, but to help predict dragon movement.

[MikkoAkure]

Yet Hingashin Geomancy use divination to tell fortunes and shields that are exactly like that of Astrology. It's why so many "Geomancers" in Kugane weren't practicing the spells side of things and only the divination aspects so that they could get rich off of their clients who met them in hopes their business would profit. Similar to how Ishgardian Astrology didn't evolve into spellcraft, but to help predict dragon movement.

I was under the impression that the "diviners" were charlatans without any actual magical abilities and that the "divinations" were no different than modern feng shui, which isn't exactly magic.

The lore book itself makes note of geomancy and conjury being close.

With regards to the mastery it grants over wind, earth, and water, as well as its affinity for barriers, geomancy is thought to share many similarities with conjury. Scholars have pointed out how certain aspects of the art have a kinship with Sharlayan astrology.

Astrologians are mentioned, but considering everything we've actually seen of geomancers in action is barrier mending and creation, the longer mention on conjury with astrology being tacked on at the end, the name of the profession itself, as well as that character in question using conjurer spells, I'm more inclined to believe that the nature magic aspect plays more into it than anything else. If you had been around for as long as I have, you would remember a time when it was conjurer who had more unique barrier abilities than any other class: protect, shell, and stoneskin. Shell disappeared in Heavensward. Then in Stormblood, protect was changed from a conjurer ability to a "healer role action" and stoneskin disappeared. And then protect finally disappeared in Shadowbringers.

[Cleretic]

Though this raises a question: If an Astrologian requires a soul crystal for their spells, how is Urianger one in Norvrant?

I believe it is actually stated at one point that Urianger is actually just using Sharlayan techniques he learned back there, and is just falling back to an already-learned skillset rather than picking up a new one. The Astrologian job we have is Sharlayan astrology, after all.

[Vyrerus]

If you been around as long as I have...

Conjurer had Protect and Stoneskin until Heavensward and a job trait called, "Proshell" that gave Protect cast by a Conjurer or WHM Magic Defense as well as physical. So it had a whopping 2. It was rolled into Protect itself in Heavensward, so that SCH and AST could also reapply Protect without requiring a WHM for the best Raid defense. Comparing CNJ to other classes and talking about supportive barriers is kinda silly, since it's the only class that is actually a full on healer, required by every healer for cross class until Stormblood.

Arcanist also had two damage reducing abilities. One was the barrier that inflicted a dmg down debuff, Eye for an Eye, and the other was Virus (with Supervirus perk it lowered all forms of damage via lowering STR DEX INT and MND of the mob).

Once the two became jobs, SCH had more barriers. They pretty much have to default to saying that Geomancy is similar to Conjury/Sharlayan Astro, because it's the baseline healing techniques known to them(Nymian technique are a lost art). The Geomancy barriers they're referencing are on full display in Swallow's Compass as literal barriers to progression.

It's sure gonna get awkward in Endwalkers when AST no longer focuses on barriers either lol.

[MikkoAkure]

Conjurer had Protect and Stoneskin until Heavensward and a job trait called, "Proshell" that gave Protect cast by a Conjurer or WHM Magic Defense as well as physical.

I refreshed my memory and shell was a conjurer spell in early 1.0. For some reason I thought it lasted until HW. Probably mixed with my memories of being a WHM main for years in FFXI. Regardless, the lore book itself relates barriers to conjurer rather than astrologian.

I feel like the only reason geomancy is associated with astrology at all is that the writers introduced it through the AST storyline and needed a reason for AST to go to the new SB zones. Otherwise, a foreign class where they protect, heal, and cast earth, wind, and water spells is much closer to conjurer than anything else.

[Kemiko]

Jobs are not bound by lore. Jobs can, and will, change as needed overtime and their lore (including their specific quests) will be edited to reflect this. This has already happened a few times, most notably with Summoner being the most recent subjected to this.

For example: Arcanist, Scholar & Summoner didn't exist until 2014 with the release of A Realm Reborn. Prior to that Thaumaturge was the "poison mage" class and very much is not anymore. Conjurer was closer to the ARR+ Thaumaturge back then. In fact, many of the abilities and spells that we had back during those times are still present in the game and still utilized by enemies we face.

Thancred, prior to Rogue & Ninja's release in ARR, was actually a Gladiator. He didn't make that shift until it was available.

[StriderShinryu]

I think in most cases they do at least try to tie character to job to lore, but in some cases it's basically just a convenient source for combat animations. There are definitely some cases, though, like with Urianger as AST that do raise an eyebrow.

[Cilia]

In regards to Urianger picking up AST... it's a Sharlayan art, so it's entirely reasonable he'd be trained in it to some degree and have filled in the gaps while waiting for us to appear on Norvrandt. (Incidentally it's an excuse to have Urianger play with cards, referencing how his JP voice actor got his big break as the lead in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.)

[Rosenstrauch]

In regards to Urianger picking up AST... it's a Sharlayan art, so it's entirely reasonable he'd be trained in it to some degree and have filled in the gaps while waiting for us to appear on Norvrandt. (Incidentally it's an excuse to have Urianger play with cards, referencing how his JP voice actor got his big break as the lead in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.)

So that's why Ifrit and Garuda fused into Elemental Hero Flame Wingman...