Occultist [healer], another job idea

[AlphaSonic]

Tired with hundreds of mindless job proposals? Me too, but I want to make another suggestion. You can criticise me later if you want, but at least try to understand the concept and don't look at the numbers, they are for the sake of being there.

The Idea

My first idea came from Arcanist job from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2. In Spanish the name was Ocultista which means Occultist => Necromancer. It was a mage that throw dark aspected spells and some kind of spells that could hit you if your level was multiple of 3, 5... Well the important aspect is the use of dark magics. But we already have the Black Mage, so how can we fit this mage ingame? Making it a healer! I'm tired of healers with Golden/Green/White particles. We need (I want) a new healer with another vision about healing. What about a healer that draws magic from the void and turns it into healing power? And that's how it came the idea. An Occultist is a person that manipulates energy from the void and voidsents and infuses it to people and heals them.

How could we fit Occultist in FFXIV lore?

That's more complicated but not really much, we already have the War of the Magi. The overuse of White Magics was condemned by an elemental and punished with a flooding. Survivors of this catastrophe in order to overcome the environment after that disaster decided to use the same kind of magics that they destroyed their city in that war, but because they were before White Mages a new kind of healing magic was born.

Well it's a bad story it needs a lot more of context, but people who know about the War of the Magi, 3 factions, Amdapor, Diabolos and the flooding might understand how the story goes.

Resume of the story: What doesn't kill you (Destructive Void magics and Overuse of White Magics), I mix it and convert it into a new kind of magic and "Voila" Occultism was born.

Magics, abilities and Mechanics

WHM has raw big healing, SCH has fairies, AST has cards and aspects...

Occultist will have a well, a void Well. Why? Because they can!

The Void Well allows the Occultist to acumulate Void. How? Performing damaging magics or magics specialized in replenishing the Well. With that void they can use other abilities which are more potent and bring big heals or even more damaging abilities.
The Void Well goes from 0% to 100% it can't surpass 100%.

And here will go the spoiler tag with all the abilities with some numbers which can be ignored for the sake of balance and some traits:

Abilities and Magics

Lvl 1: Darkness
Deals unaspected damage. Potency: 150
Replenishes 5% the Void Well

Lvl 2: Infusion
Restores target HP Cure potency: 400
Replenishes 5% the Void Well

Lvl 4: Condemn
Deals unaspected damage over time. Potency: 20 Duration: 15 seconds
After 15 seconds deals unaspected damage. Potency: 100
Combined Total Potency: 220
Instant Cast
Replenishes 5% the Void Well

Lvl 6: Void Trance
When activated damaging spells use Mind attribute instead of Intelligence and grants +20% accuracy. Healing potency reduced 33%. Healing abilities don't replenish the Void Well whereas damaging abilities replenish it 50% more. Effect ends upon reuse
Instant Cast
Cooldown: 5 seconds.

Lvl 8: Dark Curtain
Grants an ally a barrier that lasts 10 seconds. The next spell or ability recieved destroys the barrier but blocks 10% of that damage.
Instant Cast
Trait Void Curtain: Dark Curtain restores the same HP it blocked.

Lvl 10: Soul Saver
Resurrects a target to a weakened state.
Trait Soul Manipulator: Allows to use the ability in combat and the resurrected target isn't weakened.

Lvl 12: Expunge
Removes a single detrimental effect from target.

Lvl 15: Succubus Kiss
Deals unaspected damage. Potency: 150
Replenishes 25% the Void Well
Restores 5% MP
Instant Cast
Cooldown: 30 seconds

Lvl 18: Void Pool
Enemies inside the pool move 25% Slower.
Allies inside the pool move 25% Faster.
Drains 15% the Void Well (can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 15%)
Instant Cast
Duration: 10 seconds
Cooldown: 30 seconds


Lvl 22: Void Conversion
While activated it Drains 10% the Void Well and Restores 2% MP per tick. (Can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 10%).
Instant Cast. Effect ends upon reuse
Trait Enhanced Void Conversion: Increases the MP restored per tick up to 4%.

Lvl 26: Ahriman Lens:
Target ally won't miss any attack.
Drains 10% the Void Well
Duration: 15 seconds
Instant cast
Cooldown: 90 seconds
Trait Enhanced Lens: Grants +10% critical chance.

Lvl 30: Infusion II
Restores target HP Cure potency: 550
Replenishes 5% the Void Well

Lvl 30: Void Infusion
While activated every Infusion/Infusion II drains 10% the Void Well. Infusion/InfusionII potency is increased 25% and their MP cost is decreased 25%
Instant Cast. Effect ends upon reuse. (If your Void Well is less than 10% the effect ends and cannot be activated.)

Lvl 34: Dark Tether
The caster and an enemy are bound by a tether. If the caster moves the tether breaks.
While binded the caster restores 7.5% the Void Well and the enemy receives unaspected damage. Potency: 50
Combined Total Potency: 300
Combined Total Void Well restore: 45%
Duration: 18 seconds
Instant Cast
Cooldown: 60 seconds


Lvl 35: Beacon of Darkness
While activated it Drains 12,5% the Void Well and grants a healing aura.
Cure Potency: 100
Instant Cast
(Can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 12,5%). Effect ends upon reuse.

Lvl 38: Vodoriga Slash
Deals unaspected damage in a cone form. Potency: 150
Replenishes 2,5% the Void Well x enemy hit.


Lvl 40: Sacrifice Pact
Restores target HP. Potency: 650
Instant Cast
The caster loses 10% of their maximum HP.
Consecutive casts place a debuff on the caster that doubles the lose of HP (10% → 20% → 40% → 80%)
The debuff lasts 30 seconds. If the ability was meant to kill you it wouldn't be activable.

Lvl 42: Condemn II
Deals unaspected damage over time. Potency: 25 Duration: 18 seconds
After 18 seconds deals unaspected damage. Potency: 130
Combined Total Potency: 280
Replenishes 5% the Void Well

Lvl 45: Soul Mark
Target 1 ally. After 10 seconds or after you reactivate the ability the mark will explode and heal all nearby (6yt) party member. (It can't be reactivated until 3 seconds have passed) Cure potency: 400
Drains 20% the Void Well
(Can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 20%).

Lvl 46: Void Passage
Target 1 party member. The ally moves 25% Faster 15 seconds. If that party member touches another one it grants the movement bonus and the caster replenishes 5% the Void Well
When the first bonus fades, all of them fade too.
Instant Cast
Cooldown: 75 seconds


Lvl 50: Diabolos' Nightmare:
Replenishes 100% the Void Well.
Deals damage over time to the target and nearby enemies. Void trance healing penalty removed for 15 seconds.
Potency: 50
Instant Cast
Duration: 15 seconds
Cooldown: 180 seconds

Lvl 50: Vampirism
Target 1 ally. The ally gets a buff that last 15 seconds. 40% of the damage done by that ally is converted to HP.
Instant Cast
Cooldown: 30 seconds.


Lvl 52: Veil of Darkness
Creates a Veil that covers all party members. Nullifies the next detrimental effect.
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Drains 15% the Void Well
(Can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 15%).

Lvl 54: Darkness II
Deals unaspected damage. Potency: 200
Replenishes 5% the Void Well

Lvl 56: Shadowlurker
It spawns a Shadowlurker in the designated area. The shadowlurker will damage nearby enemies while healing the caster.
Potency: 25
Cure Potency: 50
Duration: 30 seconds


Lvl 58: Traumatize
Deals unaspected damage to the target and nearby enemies.
Potency: 200
If the target is alone. Potency: 300
Drains 25% the Void Well
(Can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 20%).

Lvl 60: Vampiric Tendencies
All party member receive a buff that lasts 9 seconds. 10% of the damage done by all party members is healed to all party members.
(If the party deals 6000 DPS during those 9 seconds all party members will be healed [6000x10x9/100 = 5400])
Cooldown: 90 seconds.
Instant Cast
Drains 50% of the Void Well
(Can't be used if you don't have at least your Void Well at 50%).


Traits:

Lvl 8: The Void Well
Allows the replenishment of the Void Well

Lvl 14: Enhanced Mind
Increased Mind by 2

Lvl 16: Enhanced Mind II
Increased Mind by 4

Lvl 20: Maim and Mend
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 10%

Lvl 24: Soul Manipulator
Allows casting Soul Saver while engaged in battle and the resurrected target isn't weakened

Lvl 28: Increased Mind III
Increased Mind by 6

Lvl 32: Void Curtain
Dark Curtain restores the same HP it blocked.

Lvl 36: Enhanced Infusion:
20% Chances that it will replenish 10% the Void Well and next Infusion II potency increased 33%.

Lvl 40: Maim and Mend II
Increases base action damage and HP restoration by 30%.

Lvl 44: Enhanced Lens
Grants +10% critical chance.


Lvl 48: Enhanced Void Conversion
Increases the MP restored per tick up to 4%.

You will notice that this Job only has 1 AoE heal and it has a small area. Well it's the weakness of the job. It doesn't have big AoE heals. But it has Beacon of Darkness which is supposed to be the AoE main healing tool. As long as you have it active your party HP will increase. It has some filler abilities like Ahriman Vision, that their main theme is about using the Void Creature powers. The job also fills the Vampirism niche. Healers are the best suited to have those kind of abilities, because their main job is healing. This job has lot of passive healing and relies a lot on party members.

Cross class skills ACN and THM, that means no Cleric Stance/Protect/Stone Skin. Void Trance is supposed to be the Cleric Stance of this Job, most tools to replenish the Void Well are damaging abilities, this class needs to damage in order to fill the Void Well effectively.

Remember numbers can be changed if you have to blame me, blame for my ideas not for the numbers, oh and answer those questions:

Do you think it would feel like a different kind of healer this job compared to the ones we have right now?

Would you play it if there was a similar healer playstyle ingame?

[Naunet]

Hah. Reminds me of Defiler in Rift - really dark-themed healer type built on channeling death magic to warp the pain of friends into the pain of foes. I love twists on classic paradigms like that. xD

You've got an interesting idea here! I don't really know anything about other FF games, so I always kinda just shrug mildly when people clamour for other FF jobs. I like that this is something new. Good job!

[Kazrah]

It does put an interesting spin on healing, especially since I suspect that the next healer job SE comes up with will most likely be more oriented toward dealing damage. It's something I'd definitely go for, but there are three general questions I have with it.

1) You've mentioned how Void Trance will compensate for lacking Cleric Stance, but what is there to compensate for the lack of Protect? That core healer staple means less damage taken, leading to less healing overall required, so how will Occultist counter this dilemma?

2) Given the understanding that this is a healer with a heavier focus on dealing damage compared to other healers, how much damage would you expect this job to put out? Would the typical damage output be at about Machinist and Bard levels, or would it be closer in-line with current White Mage and Scholar DPS?

3) How would this Void Well manifest itself in the game in a way that is still something that allows the player to understand how big it is or whatever percentage it's at? Is it an actual effect separate from the caster? Is it an aura-type buff similar to Darkside? Or would it just be some super-generic buff with a stack number on it?

Story could definitely use some work, but this is overall an impressive approach. Well done!

[AlexanderThorolund]

I like it! Finally an interesting new job idea!

[Nektulos-Tuor]

It sounds cool, it would be a cool job in a raid setting as well. (24 man). Just would be hard in a regular group or coil.

It would only work if the healing spells also did damage.

[AlphaSonic]

snip

1-2) I will answer both questions at the same time. They should do more damage than Scholar but less than Bard and Machinist. If they have more DPS than SCH that would mean that they need less healing as they will burn the enemy faster. But in most cases what you want is to avoid pairing 2 Occultist. It would be more difficult without protect, 100% sure. It would be impossible, I doubt it. I know it's risky taking out protect. In 4 man dungeon I don't think it would be a big problem, as long as the Occultist heals properly and damages properly it should overcome the lack of Protect. In 8 man raid/trials, I would rather not have 2 Occultist at the same time. But if there are 2 occultist that means that the DPS will be higher. Remember that SCH has high DPS and can boost even more DPS with Selene, Occultist only has 1 ability that boosts DPS and it only increases 10% Crit chance.


3) Regarding 3 it could totally replace TP bar or add a new bar under MP. It would be empty, and when it starts filling it would show a number like 30% or something like that. It could even be an animation, like an aura in your feet. The more darker it is, the more Void it has. But it would need a bar that shows the exact number.

[AlphaSonic]

It sounds cool, it would be a cool job in a raid setting as well. (24 man). Just would be hard in a regular group or coil.

It would only work if the healing spells also did damage.

I don't understand the last phrase. Would you mind explaining more why should healing spells did damage too? I'm curious seriously. Maybe I didn't explain properly.

With Void Trance you are supposed to DPS, but Void Trance doesn't destroy your healing capabilities like Cleric Stance, it's just a "minor penalty". You can heal while in Void Trance, less effectively but you can. If you wanted you would maintain Beacon of Darkness while dpsing. Or you could just DPS to maximize your Void Well if you think a big hit will come and after that unleash all your Void Well to heal all your party member. And then we have Diabolos' Nightmare, this ability is your time to shine(or in this case to shadow), and unleash all your power while DPSing and Healing and the same time.

[Kazrah]

3) Regarding 3 it could totally replace TP bar or add a new bar under MP. It would be empty, and when it starts filling it would show a number like 30% or something like that. It could even be an animation, like an aura in your feet. The more darker it is, the more Void it has. But it would need a bar that shows the exact number.

Wouldn't it make more sense then just to make those void skills cost TP instead? Turn percent values into numbers, multiply them by 10 (since TP is 1000), and add about 100 more or so to those values to compensate for natural TP regeneration and to ensure those abilities aren't constantly spammable (or just put brief cooldowns on them). Could also make Void Well an on/off switch that shuts off natural TP regeneration while it's up.

Also a major thing to bear in mind is how well a healer like this works with another healer of its type in full party groups, which is something SE still has trouble with in the form of dual Scholars since ARR (galvanize bubbles still not stackable) and dual Astrologians in Heavensward (just not enough healing power).

Another question I had while making this post: Why Arcanist as a cross-class choice? The only possible tools for healers there are Eye for an Eye (still limited in positive application) and maybe the base version of Virus that only hits STR/DEX when more and more bosses will be more magic-focused, while Conjurer brings Protect and Stoneskin, hence why SE devs ensures all healers that class to draw abilities from. I know I'm gonna keep beating this "lack of Protect" idea to a pulp, but it's gonna be a big loss when that 11% boost to defense and magic defense isn't present in groups.

[SuzakuCMX]

Occultist doesn't mean Necromancer.

Also in 1.0 (pre-class rework), Conjurers cast all the elemental spells including Fire and Blizzard while Thaumaturge could only cast Astral/Umbral aspected spells. Thaumaturge also had a heal that sacrificed a little bit of their own HP.

My question is, why not just rework AST to be this? Casting healing magic builds Nocturnal, giving an attack magic bonus, and casting attack magic builds Diurnal, giving a healing magic bonus.

[AlphaSonic]

Wouldn't it make more sense then just to make those void skills cost TP instead? Turn percent values into numbers, multiply them by 10 (since TP is 1000), and add about 100 more or so to those values to compensate for natural TP regeneration and to ensure those abilities aren't constantly spammable (or just put brief cooldowns on them). Could also make Void Well an on/off switch that shuts off natural TP regeneration while it's up.

I think its easier to balance and to have a different bar for the Void Well and TP and it would conflict with Sprint (which is an ability that I really like to use as a mage).Moreover, the Void Well is supposed to be empty at the beggining of the battle, and while in battle performing action may replenish or empty the Void Well I think of it as a very dynamic bar. Compared to TP bar that starts filled when the battle starts and it decreases slowly except when you use invigorate or some TP regen ability. I think their dynamic is very different. (And it would give flavor to Occulist too, which is a plus.

Also a major thing to bear in mind is how well a healer like this works with another healer of its type in full party groups, which is something SE still has trouble with in the form of dual Scholars since ARR (galvanize bubbles still not stackable) and dual Astrologians in Heavensward (just not enough healing power).

Another question I had while making this post: Why Arcanist as a cross-class choice? The only possible tools for healers there are Eye for an Eye (still limited in positive application) and maybe the base version of Virus that only hits STR/DEX when more and more bosses will be more magic-focused, while Conjurer brings Protect and Stoneskin, hence why SE devs ensures all healers that class to draw abilities from. I know I'm gonna keep beating this "lack of Protect" idea to a pulp, but it's gonna be a big loss when that 11% boost to defense and magic defense isn't present in groups.

I'm hesitant to give conjurer cross class skills. First because Void Trance and Cleric Stance at the same time would be a noob trap, it would destroy your healing and damaging capabilities at the same time. Even though protect is an important ability, unless you run hardcore content like ex primals or coils I don't think it would be a problem if you are paired with double Occultist, it would be more difficult but not impossible, remember that it should be a fast run because double Occultist should be the highest DPS healer pair. In my opinion not having Protect would contribute more to the balance of this class, the fact that they would be the ones with highest healing DPS means that they would be the most desired healing class for DPS checks, but without protect people will think better if it is worth losing Protect for more DPS.

Occultist doesn't mean Necromancer.

Also in 1.0 (pre-class rework), Conjurers cast all the elemental spells including Fire and Blizzard while Thaumaturge could only cast Astral/Umbral aspected spells. Thaumaturge also had a heal that sacrificed a little bit of their own HP.

My question is, why not just rework AST to be this? Casting healing magic builds Nocturnal, giving an attack magic bonus, and casting attack magic builds Diurnal, giving a healing magic bonus.

Wow word reference trolled me if it doesn't have the same/similar meaning.

But why should it be a rework for Astrologian a Void themed healer?