New Tank Idea (Form Shifting).

[Brady672]

I was thinking lately how maybe we need more tanks in this game to drum up more excitement for the role. Now, I don't expect everyone to totally agree with me about this implementation, but I personally found it interesting when I thought of it, and who knows, people might like it, right? ... Right..?

Anyway, off we go. DISCLAIMER! I don't know what kind of order I would put these skills in level wise, nor do I know about any damage potencies, so I'll just write out my ideas. Also, I was inspired by the Fencer progression in FFTA, as you'll see.

Fencer-->Red Mage

My idea is a magic based tank that takes advantage of multiple forms (Stances I would like to call them) to tank. They will use a combination of physical and magical skills in battle.

Class requirements:

Fencer 30/Arcanist 15

[Brady672]

Equipment notes:

Their weapon would be one handed Fencing Foils (obviously), and they would have access to shields, as they did in TA. However, what I want to note specifically is that their headpiece can only be cloth based, while the rest they have the option of "Light" armor, as in, one piece armor (like you would get from a level 5 class quest for GLD and MRD) while still having an option for cloth.

[Brady672]

Skills:

Okay, here's the meat and potatoes...

Cast: Remove your stance buff and place an effect on your enemies or allies. The effect changes based on the stance.

Flame Stance: Increases enmity gained in combat. When casted, deals AoE damage and places a 6 second DoT on enemies.

Gale Stance: Increases Evasion by 10%. When casted, grants 5% evasion to entire party (except yourself).

Terra Stance: Increases defense by 15%. When casted, grants a protect buff to all party members for 60 seconds.

Aqua Stance: Regenerates HP and MP. When casted, grants party a 6 second regen.

Conducter Stance: Increases Attack and Magic. When casted, Deals damage to one target (stronger than Flame) and stuns for 3 seconds.

Blizzard Stance: Increases resistance to debuffs. When casted, become immune to debuffs for 5 seconds.

[Brady672]

Featherblow: Deals damage.

Swallow Tail: Deals damage and increases enmity. Combo from Featherblow for increased potency.

Piercing Blow: Deals Damage and Increases enmity: Combo from Swallow Tail to decrease enemy's defense and magic.

Swarm Strike: Deals Damage. Combo from Featherblow to inflict a poison DoT for 10 seconds

Checkmate: Deals AoE damage. Combo from Swarm Strike to increase damage.

Manastrike: Inflicts Silence for 3 seconds

Engarde: Increases Def and MDef by 5% for 20 seconds.

Nighthawk: Deal damage and increase enmity (think shield toss and tomahawk).

Red Mage skills:

I don't have much here, however, I have:

Combat Gear: Reverses your armor's defense and magic defense (Think Cleric Stance). Decreases attack and magic by 10%

Fluid Stance: When activated, you can switch stances once without mp, and without a cast time. 90 second cooldown, 10 second duration.

Double Cast: Casts your stance buff without removing the buff. The effects change depending on the stance (off the global cool down). This will certainly be the level 50 skill.

[Brady672]

Conclusion:

Anyway, my vision for this class is to take advantage of multiple forms to take on battles. The way I have it set up at the moment, I can imagine precasting Flame Stance (I should probably note now that each stance has a cast time), rushing into a fight with Night Hawk, Flashing once or twice, Casting Flame Stance, and either putting up Flame Stance again (or just Double Casting), or switching to Terra Stance and picking up more enmity with Featherblow->Swallow Tail->Piercing blow and then setting up Swarm Strike and maybe taking advantage of the dodge buff.

Personally, I think this could be very interesting and very possible to implement. However, this is by no means a "finished" list, and I'd be open to suggestions.

Here come the people to tell me how this is a terrible idea and I should feel bad for thinking of it...

Wow, I wrote a lot... Jeez.

[ChigginNomNom]

Like the idea and love the complexity that it would bring to the table, but provides way too much versatility for one class. It appears too much of an "all-in-one" and would have to have some of its abilities/stances scrapped for balance, otherwise we would have nothing but red mages.

[Strifin]

I really like this one, great idea!

[Brady672]

Like the idea and love the complexity that it would bring to the table, but provides way too much versatility for one class. It appears too much of an "all-in-one" and would have to have some of its abilities/stances scrapped for balance, otherwise we would have nothing but red mages.

Yeah, I'm looking over it now and I'm thinking the same thing. I would probably scrap Blizzard Stance and Gale Stance, leaving the enmity gain, defense gain, and attack/magic gain. Maybe scrap Aqua stance, but I imagine it would just be like a regen spell, not too effective, but noticeable.

Also, I thought of a new Red Mage skill!

Fluid Stance: Think Swiftcast, you pop the skill and you have like, 10 seconds. In this 10 seconds, you can freely switch your stance free of cost and instantly. It can be popped every 90 seconds.

[Myrhn]

For me it look like the Rune Fencer for XI. It is a magic tank, better magic defence than physical defence, and use runes to enhance his magic resistance. A tank like that here would be nice, s tank that excels at magican defence.

[NeonC]

Aw I was hoping for a Vincent style tank, what a let down.