Green Mage - The caster tank idea

[Kassiekane]

[ Overview and Lore ]

After the calamity, many parts of Eorzea have become affected by corrupt aether, transforming the wildlife and manipulating the elements. With danger on the rise in the Twelveswood, Gridania's Wood Wailers, conjurers, and hearers are not enough to sustain order within the forest. One group of conjurers sought to step up and fight against these evils, but the land's aether is too corrupted to draw such power. As the heroic conjurers used so much aether, the Conjurers guild relieved them of their membership and forbade their entry. With trouble in the Black Shroud festering, the heroic conjurers sought a new source of aether to draw from; the very corrupted aether in which prevented their success. They traveled around Eorzea studying the corrupt crystals and mastered its power. Their martial tactics evolved as they now clad themselves in heavy armor and wield hybrid weapons called obelisks; a mace that can be used as a scepter. They mastered the corrupt aether so well, that the magicks they wield does not glow a menacing gold, but instead a shimmering green. When they returned to the forest, their green magicks purged the evil with such brilliance, and it was from then on these heroes were named Green Mages.


A caster job that is actually a tank. Equips obelisks and bucklers. Classic green mages are support classes, so this aspect of the job will be retained while still fulfilling the role of a tank. Despite its caster-style gameplay, it still utilizes Strength and Skill Speed instead of Intelligence and Spell Speed, due to tanks having to share gear.

[ Enmity Generation ]

If you're a career tank, you are incredibly familiar with your three-skill combo, as well as your area of effect skill(s) to generate the most threat. As with the green mage, the way you rotate through your skills to generate enmity is similar to using spells on a disciple of magic class. You will be able to choose to conserve mana to maintain enmity over extended periods of time by utilizing the procs on different spells, or blow through your mana to generate massive amounts of enmity in a short time.

[ Damage Mitigation ]

In Final Fantasy XIV, when it comes to difficult content, tanks must always be able to deal with the 'big hit' to survive at some point during the fight, as well as being able to take continuous damage from multiple enemies. The Green Mage handles this differently from the other tanks. GRM can soften powerful single-hit blows by spreading the damage over time, and they can also strengthen their defensive abilities by consuming large amounts of TP. Additionally, Green mages are the only job that can parry magic attacks.

[ Utilities & Off-Tanking ]

As an off-tank, the support aspect of the Green Mage comes alive. Usually, off-tanks will focus on DPS. Green Mages can also DPS, but they will also be able to buff allies and debuff enemies. Unlike other tanks, you will not be stunning enemies, you will instead petrify them. As for the dps aspect, while Green Mages can attack from afar, it will be optimal for them to stay within melee range so that they can utilize their physical abilities and auto-attacks.

[ Strengths ]

-'On demand' damage reduction similar to warrior.
- Provides the highest aoe dps of all tanks.
- The most diverse utility of all tanks.
- The second best 'all blocking' ability.
- Powerful self-healing, comparable to warrior (no lifestealing though)

[Weaknesses]

- Casting when off-tanking; meaning you lose a lot of dps in mobile fights.
- Single-Target dps is not that good.
- Poor TP management is dangerous when main tanking.
- Has the lowest enmity burst, making it unlikely to generate 'snap threat'.
- Poor use of Awakening and Reverse can actually kill you.
- Unlike Dark Knight, all global skills use MP. Running out of MP literally means you cannot use your GCD skills.

[ List of Skills ]

[01] - Banish (Cast)2.5s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~1.4% (Range)25y (Radius)0y
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 180.
Additional Effect: Raises magic damage dealt by 20%. Duration: 15s

[02] - Rune Armor (Cast)Instant (Recast)90s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Reduces damage taken by 10%. Does not stack with Crystal Wind. Duration: 30s

[04] - Omen (Cast)2.5s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~2.2% (Range)25y (Radius)0y
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 210.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity.
Additional Effect: Grants a 40% chance the next Omen II has no cast time and cost no MP.

[06] - Absolution (Cast)Instant (Recast)120s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Prevents knockback and draw-in effects and reduces fall damage. Duration: 15s

[08] - Banish II (Cast)2.5s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~1.7% (Range)25y (Radius)0y
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 260.

[10] - Quick Strike (Cast)Instant (Recast)20s (Range)3y (Radius)0y
Deals damage with a potency of 100.

[12] - Omen II (Cast)3s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~5.6% (Range)25y (Radius)5y
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 235.
Additional Effect: Increased enmity.

[15] - Heavy Strike (Cast)Instant (Recast)20s (Range)3y (Radius)0y
Deals damage with a potency of 50.
Combo Action: Quick Strike Combo Potency: 130
Combo Bonus: Recover 10% MP

[18] - Bubble (Cast)3s (Recast)2.5 (MP Cost)~6.5% (Range)30y (Radius)0y
Raises target's maximum HP by 15% for 30s.

[22] - Opening (Cast)2.5s (Recast)2.5 (MP Cost)~4.2% (Range)8y (Radius)8y
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 90 to all enemies in a cone before you.
Additional Effect: Lowers the target's damage dealt by 10%. Does not stack with Reprisal.

[26] - Mace Drive (Cast) Instant (Recast)20s (Range)3y (Radius)0y
Deals damage with a potency of 50.
Combo Action: Heavy Strike Combo Potency: 180
Combo Bonus: Lowers target's blunt resistance by 5% for 40s.

[30] - Apex (Cast) Instant (Recast)5s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Reduces damage received by 20%, while reducing damage dealt by 25% and increasing enmity. Magic parry is enabled, and all spells are casted immediately. Increases the chance to hit by 5%. MP Cost of all spells is increased by 10%. Effect ends upon reuse.

[34] - Break (Cast)3s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~10.4% (Range)25y (Radius)0y
Petrifies the target for 6s.
*In PvP, duration is decreased to 4s, and range is decreased to 15y.

[35] - Corruption (Cast)Instant (Recast)1s (TP Cost)200 (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Grants the user a stack of Corrupted Aether. Stacks up to 5 times.
*In PvP, Corrupted Aether can be removed by enemies.

[35] - Aethersurge (Cast)Instant (Recast)5s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
The next magic ability costs no MP and is casted instantly. If used under the effects of Apex, Omen and Omen II will grant more enmity. Can only be used under the effects of Corrupted Aether.

[38] - Toxify (Cast) 2.5s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~2.7% (Range)25y (Radius)0y
Deals unaspected damage over time. Potency: 50 Duration: 30s

[40] - Crystal Wind (Cast)Instant (Recast)30s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Reduces damage taken by 12% multiplied by the current amount of Corrupted Aether stacks consumed. Can only be used under the effects of Corrupted Aether. Does not stack with Rune Armor.

[42] - Leap (Cast)Instant (Recast)90s (Range)15y (Radius)5y
Move to target location. Gain 50 TP multiplied by number of enemies within landing area.

[45] - Bravery (Cast)3s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~9.7% (Range)30y (Radius)0y
Raises target's determination by 15% for 30s.

[48] - Elixa (Cast)Instant (Racast)1s (Range)30y (Radius)0y
Recover 10% of the target's HP. Can only be used under the effects of Corrupted Aether.

[50] - Tranq (Cast)3s (Recast)2.5s (Range)30y (Radius)0y
Raises target's accuracy and critical rate by 15%. When stacked with Battle Litany, critical rate is increased by 5%. Duration: 30s

[50] - Reverse (Cast)Instant (Recast)300s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
For 8 seconds, 50% of damage received will restore HP, and 50% of healing received will remove HP. Reversed healing does not apply to Limit Breaks, and heal-over-time statuses applied before the effect will be removed once Reverse is active.
*In PvP, Reverse can be casted on a party member, but the duration is reduced to 4s.

[52] - Banish III (Cast)Instant (Recast)20s (Range)25y (Radius)5y
Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 360 to target and surrounding enemies. Can only be used under the effect of Corrupted Aether.
Additional Effect: Spreads the effects of Toxify with 50% of its original potency to all surrounding targets.

[54] - Dispel (Cast)3s (Recast)2.5s (MP Cost)~6.2% (Range)25y (Radius)0y
Removes one beneficial status from target.
*In PvP, range is reduced to 15 yalms.

[56] - Sternum Crush (Cast)Instant (Recast)20s (Range)3y (Radius)0y
Deals damage with a potency of 50.
Combo Action: Heavy Strike Combo Potency: 190
Combo Bonus: Recovers 150 TP.

[58] - Hyper Buckler (Cast)Instant (Recast)60s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Increases parry rate and parry potency by 25% for 15s.

[60] - Awakening (Cast)Instant (Recast)180s (Range)0y (Radius)0y
Take no direct damage for 5s, and then spread the damage over time for 21s. Can only be used under the effects of Corrupted Aether. Has no effect on damage over time effects.

[ Traits ]

[8] Enhanced Vitality - Increases Vitality by 2.

[14] Hardcast - All spells are cast without interruption.

[16] Enhanced Vitality II - Increases Vitality by 4.

[20] Foretell - When Omen is cast, grants a 40% chance the next Omen II will have no cast time and cost no MP.

[24] Bigger Bubble - Increases potency of Bubble by 5%.

[28] Enhanced Vitality III - Increases vitality by 6.

[32] Enhanced Opening - Adds a 10% damage reduction to Opening.

[36] Quicker Break - Cast time of Break is reduced by 1s.

[40] Corrupted Piety - Increases Piety by 10%.

[44] Enhanced Toxify - Extends Toxify by 9 seconds.

[48] Diamond Wind - Increases Crystal Wind potency by 2%.

Note that it is implied that the description of all skills include traits.

Level 3 Limit Break: Limelight
Casts the entire party in a veil of concentrated corrupted aether.

[ PvP Skills ]

[01] - Mana Reverse (Cast)Instant (Recast)180s (Range)25y (Radius)0y
When casted on self or party member, 50% of MP used will restore HP, and 50% of lost HP will restore MP for 15s.
>Enhanced Mana Reverse: Shortens recast time to 120s.
>Enhanced Mana Reverse II: Increases transfer potency to 75%.
>Enhanced Mana Reverse III: Increases duration to 25s.

[02] - Aetherochemical Oil (Cast)Instant (Recast)150s (Range)15y (Radius)0y
All damage over time effects applied under the effects of oil will deal 20% more damage. Duration: 10s.
>Enhanced Aetherochemical Oil: Changes the action to an area of influence ability.
>Enhanced Aetherochemical Oil II: Increases potency to 40% more damage.
>Enhanced Aetherochemical Oil III: Increases the duration to 15s.

[ Notes ]

-May be a bit OP in PvP, as you can see in some of the skill descriptions I took PvP into consideration but more nerfs may be needed. I don’t want to take away the spirit of the job (high-utility tank) in PvP so I haven't made anything unusable.

-About Bravery; the original idea is that at level 45 you would get Bravery and Faith which would increase magic attack and physical attack respectively, but this seemed really OP, so instead I removed Faith and made Bravery affect determination instead, which also means healing can be affected by it and simplifies having to use 2 different skills.

-About Banish; this is a spell used by the corrupted sprites in Pharos Sirius, and I thought it would be pretty thematic for the GRM to have this skill given the lore I provided for them.

-About Bubble; I must make it clear that, unlike Thrill of Battle, it does not restore HP so this is not a healing spell.

-About Reverse; it was originally 100% of damage taken will restore HP, but I nerfed it down to 50%.

-About Rune Armor and Crystal Wind; I wanted Crystal Wind to be the primary source of damage reduction, however all tanks at Lv2 get some kind of defensive skill so that they aren’t squishy in low level dungeons, so I made Rune Armor fulfill that slot without making it a huge source of damage reduction. Considering what you can do with Crystal Wind, I prevented the stacking of these two skills.

-I REALLY wanted to make Reverse usable on party members in PvE. But I know better than that.

-This may seem like a really OP job, but if you look at the fact that a lot of its utilities are on the global cooldown as well as the bread & butter abilities you would see that trying to do everything at once is incredibly harsh on your MP and would make you a bad GRM.

-Just because it uses MP doesn't mean it plays like Dark Knight.

Edit - I forgot the traits... hold on.
Edit 2 - Traits added.