How would YOU make DRK work ?

[Dyne_Fellpool]

Balance should be the #1 concern, but they need to "feel" different from the other 2 tanks too.
How would I make them work?

-I'd give DRK the same eHP as PLD/WAR in tank stance. (This is important. DRK must be able to tank every encounter in the game but not be any better at it than the other tanks.)

-I'd have DRK's dps stance involve sacrificing HP for dps, but DRK would sacrifice slightly less mitigation than the other 2 tanks do in their dps stance.
Somewhat like how WAR has a unique resource just while tanking (Wrath), DRK would use HP as a resource just when DPSing. I don't think using this kind of thing while in defensive/tank stance is a good design idea. (Balance is important here -- DRK needs to sacrifice enough HP so that they can't tank in dps stance any more often than the other 2 tanks can, but they need to not sacrifice so much HP that they must constantly be babysat by healers.)

-I would NOT give them self-healing abilities since both tanks already kind of have this. Also self-healing would counteract the HP-sacrificing mechanic in an undesirable way.

-I'd have DRK's dps be slightly higher than PLD & WAR while in dps stance (compared to the other 2's dps stances)

-I'd have DRK's dps be in between PLD & WAR while in tanking stance (compared to the other 2's tank stances)

-I'd have DRK's mitigation tools be slightly stronger than WAR but weaker than PLD. However I'd give them longer CD's on their mitigation tools than what WAR has with IB. (kind of like how PLD has more mitigation tools but cannot be used as consistently as IB)

-I'd give DRK an AoE that is weaker than Overpower but can be used more (more sustainable, but not infinitely) that builds Enmity about equally to OP spam or Flash spam.

-DRK would be more complicated than PLD while tanking, but less so than WAR. While DPSing, DRK would be the most complex of the 3 tanks with a unique dps rotation different from the tanking rotation and a HP-sacrificing mechanic.

-DRK would use the power of darkness, NOT the power of evil. Final Fantasy is not (and imo should not be) a franchise where you play a badguy. Kind of like how BLM's use destruction for good and Ninja's use the shadows, but neither are evil.

To summarize:

eHP: PLD = WAR = DRK
overall mitigation: PLD >= DRK = WAR
dealing with longer periods of sustained high damage or unpredictable damage: PLD > DRK > WAR
dealing with frequent, predictable burst damage: WAR > DRK > PLD

MT dps: WAR > DRK > PLD
OT dps: DRK > PLD > WAR

sustainable AoE dps: DRK > WAR >> PLD
burst AoE dps: WAR > DRK >> PLD
AoE Enmity generation: PLD = WAR = DRK