New Class idea [Geometrician]

[Seraphor]

So I’ve struggled with new healer concepts for a while now. Not just conceptually, as none have really sat well with me from a design standpoint or how they would integrate with existing lore, but also in terms of balance.

The current healers are so well balanced it seems tricky to insert anything else in there. You have the WHM’s pure healing potency and HoT’s, SCH reactionary utility and shields, and the AST jack-of-all-trades model that can replace either of the other two, with additional buffs and support. Basically giving any combo of two out of the three almost perfect synergy.

Getting another job to work in that set up, and be unique, would be very tricky, and would only work if it followed the same formula of AST by being able to replace either of the other three in a 2-healer party. Basically this means it would require three different stances or methods.

This train of thought led me back to an early concept I had, of a reinterpretation of the Tactics job Calculator/Arithmetician, but based around Trigonometry. Utilising three different stances or healing modes, in order to use placement oriented abilities, aka geometry.

The ‘Geo’ part didn’t escape me either, with another often suggested job being the ‘Geomancer’ I thought this could perhaps be incorporated in there somewhere. Of course, you’re utilising subterranean aethercurrents or ‘Geoaetherics’ and redirecting them using trigonometry to utilise them to their full potential. This could be implemented as the aspects of the geoaetherics influencing the abilities, and providing unique effects based on terrain.


Ultimately, this job would be Calculator + Geomancer, repurposed as a healer, while avoiding the already established lore around Geomancy.
It would function similarly to a AST + MCH, with reduced potencies but higher burst healing/damage and some buffing abilities.

It’s animations would include a lot of floating equations and ley-line type effects featuring geometric triangles and arches.
It's weapons would be a Pair of Compasses, as in; a navigational compass for detecting geoaetheric currents in one hand, and a pair of compasses for mapping targets in the other.


So what’s the lore?

Aethercurrents in the air are tricky to measure and control, doing so typically requires more mystic means, schools of magic, astromancy, etc. Aether in solid matter however is much easier to handle, not only can it be transported in crystals, but even non-crystals can have their aether content and any currents running through them more accurately measured with non-mystical means, as the physical structure actually influences and directs the aether.

Thus geoaetheric currents are, or were, a focus of study by the Garleans in their early development of magitek. Although the field hadn’t progressed much, due to its limited capacity to be weaponised compared to other aether sources, it still continued to be studied by less military minded practitioners.

To this end, you would be introduced to Geoaetherics via a Garlean group sympathetic to the Eorzean resistance.


It’s main unique feature would be the placement of Aetherprobes. Similar in a way to MCH turrents, but for healing, they emit an AoE field with a certain effect that’s either a HoT, a Shield, or a buff, depending on your stance and the terrain.

Some of the descriptions may sound slightly math heavy and a little convoluted, but in practice you wouldn’t need to understand any of it to play the class.



Signature Abilities

Lv. 30 Aetherprobe
Place an aetherprobe in the ground, generating a 10y field that bestows the effect of the current Geometry stance. The Aetherprobe will last indefinitely unless HP depleted or replaced by another. Can be damaged by AoE’s or targeted by enemies.
30s cooldown.

Lv. 50 Aetherprobe II
Replaces Aetherprobe.
Place up to two aetherprobes in the ground, forming a 5y width corridor field between the two plus a 5y radius at each end.
20s cooldown
Vector: Level 55 trait. Enemies in the field are effected by the ‘Vector’ effect, receiving 60% more damage from your Axiom spells.

Lv. 60 Aetherprobe III
Replaces Aetherprobe II.
Place up to three aetherprobes in the ground, forming a triangular field between them. 10s cooldown.
The third Aetherprobe will always snap into place to form a right triangle, meaning there will be an arc in which the third one can be placed, therefore the placement of the first two Aetherprobes will form the hypotenuse and determine where the third one can go.
Cartesian: Level 66 trait. Enemies in the field are effected by the ‘Cartesian’ effect, receiving double damage from your Axiom spells.

Lv. 30 Retreive
Remove the 'oldest' Aetherprobe you placed.
For when you don't want to form a corridor, and just want a series of 10y circles, as your progress down a path/through a dungeon.


Three stances: Known as ‘Geometries’, like AST’s Sects, can only be changed when not in combat.

Lv. 30 Geometric Thesis – WHM’s HoT philosophy
Causes Aetherprobes to generate an 80 potency HoT field.
Can use the Cosecant and Cotangent abilities.

Lv. 35 Geometric Antithesis – SCH’s damage negating philosophy
Causes Aetherprobes to generate a 20% damage reduction shield. (does not stack with SCH shields)
Can use the Secant and Cotangent abilities.

Lv. 45 Geometric Synthesis – AST’s combination of the two with buffs.
Causes Aetherprobes to generate a ‘Terrain Aspect Bonus’ field while boosting own healing potency and spellspeed by 20%.
Can use the Secant and Cosecant abilities.


Stance related abilities

Lv. 64 Secant
Detonates all three aetherprobes in order to heal the party for 80 potency multiplied by the length of the shortest side (opposite) of the triangle plus a HoT. 120s cooldown. Resets your Aetherprobe III cooldown.
Maximum multiplier = 9, so you never technically need the shortest side of the triangle to be more than 9 yalms.

Lv. 66 Cosecant
Detonates all three aetherprobes in order to shield the party for 80 potency multiplied by the length of the medium side (adjacent) of the triangle. 120s cooldown. Resets your Aetherprobe III cooldown.
Maximum multiplier = 12, so you never technically need the medium side of the triangle to be more than 12 yalms.

Lv. 68 Cotangent
Detonates all three aetherprobes in order to heal the party for 80 potency multiplied by the length of the longest side (hypotenuse) of the triangle. 120s cooldown. Resets your Aetherprobe III cooldown.
Maximum multiplier = 15, so you never technically need the longest side of the triangle to be more than 15 yalms.


Terrain Aspect Bonuses: Similar to AST’s cards, but based on location so they’re entirely predictable and not under your control.
These can vary by location within dungeons but will never vary within a boss battle arena.
The gauge will display what bonus your current location provides.
The specific buffs are merely ideas, with enough differentiation from AST cards, but there might be better ideas out there.

Water: 40 potency HoT
Earth: Damage received -10% (does not stack with Bole)
Wind: Speed +10% (does not stack with Arrow)
Fire: Physical damage inflicted +10%
Lightning: Magical damage inflicted +10%
Ice: DHit Rate +10%


Lv. 32 Gaia
Bestow the effect the current Terrain Aspect Bonus to one target for 30s. 30s cooldown.

Lv. 50 Stratification
Tap into a deeper aethercurrent, unlocking a second Terrain Aspect Bonus to utilise in addition to the current one, combining two buffs at once when using either Gaia or Aetherprobes.
Secondary bonus is entirely random. Effect disappears after 60s or if you move to a different terrain area. 120s cooldown.

Lv. 69 Aspecification
Convert the second Stratification bonus into the same aspect as the Terrain Aspect Bonus, doubling the effect. 120s cooldown.


Basic spells and abilities

Damage

Lv. 1 Axiom
Deals 128 potency damage to target. GCD

Lv. 42 Axiom II
Replaces Axiom.
Deals 205 potency damage to target. GCD

Lv. 4 Negative Logarithm
Inflict a DoT that decreases over 30s. GCD
1st tick: 80 potency, 2nd: 65 potency, 52 potency, 42, 34, 27, 22, 17, 14, 11.

Lv. 28 Negative Logarithm II
Replaces Negative Logarithm.
Inflict a DoT that decreases over 30s. GCD
1st tick: 160 potency, 2nd: 128 potency, 102 potency, 82, 66, 52, 42, 34, 27, 22.

Lv. 34 Quake
Deals unaspected damage to a target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 200 for the first enemy, 10% less for the second, 20% less for the third, 30% less for the fourth, 40% less for the fifth, and 50% less for all remaining enemies. GCD
Proc’s Aftershock, available for 12s.
Yes, basically a weaker Gravity, however it would be available at a lower level than Gravity, have Aftershock to bolster its damage at higher levels, and personally I'd like to see Gravity changed to have its potency scale with targets HP, e.g. 300 potency to all targets at 100% HP, 100 potency to all targets at less than 10% HP, and everything in between like 200 potency if at 50% HP, etc.

Lv. 56 Aftershock
Can only be used when proc’ed by Quake. Instant cast. 20s cooldown.
Deals unaspected damage to a target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 100 for the first enemy, 10% less for the second, 20% less for the third, 30% less for the fourth, 40% less for the fifth, and 50% less for all remaining enemies. Also stuns all enemies for 2s.


Healing

Lv. 2 Congruence
Heals for 320 potency, GCD.

Lv. 38 Congruence II
Heals for 640 potency, GCD.

Lv. 10 Positive Logarithm
Bestow an AoE HoT that decreases over 30s. GCD
1st tick: 80 potency, 2nd: 65 potency, 52 potency, 42, 34, 27, 22, 17, 14, 11.

Lv. 42 Positive Logarithm II
Replaces Positive Logarithm.
Bestow an AoE HoT that decreases over 30s. GCD
1st tick: 160 potency, 2nd: 128 potency, 102 potency, 82, 66, 52, 42, 34, 27, 22.

Lv. 25 Natural Logarithm
Bestow a single target HoT that decreases over 30s. Instant, 120s cooldown.
1st tick: 610 potency, 2nd: 377 potency, 233, 144, 89, 55, 34, 21, 13, 8.

This front-loaded logarithmic healing meets halfway between a straight up heal and a HoT, with almost the same effect as a Diurnal Aspected Benefic.
Natural Logarithm would be similar to Essential Dignity as an emergency heal, being even more front-loaded.


Mitigation

Lv. 18 Coversine
Splits damage with target by percentage. Duration 6s, cooldown 30s.
e.g. if target takes damage equal to 20% of their HP, they only suffer half of that damage (10%) and you suffer damage equal to 10% of your HP. This is a net gain as a healer will have less HP than a Tank, so less damage will be taken overall. Not much mitigation in terms of net damage really, but when you consider you're basically providing the tank with a 50% shield it can be very potent when used correctly.

Lv. 54 Haversine
Splits damage target receives with three other party members by percentage. Duration 8s, cooldown 45s.
e.g. if target takes damage equal to 20% of their HP, they only suffer half of that damage (10%) and the three closest party members each suffer damage equal to 5% of their HP. Same effect as far as the tank is concerned, but you're sharing out 75% of the damage across three characters, so depending on HP values you could be taking more damage overall. This is the drawback to sharing it out more evenly, plus gives you an additional oGCD to weave.

Lv. 37 Phase Shift
Renders target impervious to any damage that would take target below 1HP for 3 seconds. 180s cooldown.

[Seraphor]

Functional analysis. (level 70)

Healing, damage and basic mitigation skills are pretty straightforward, and shouldn’t play much different to an Astrologian.
The signature abilities however take the AST’s stance dancing and buffing role in an entirely different direction.


Firstly, there’s the aetherprobe “rotation” if you can call it that.
With a 10s cooldown, you’ll only get your basic 10y radius out to start with, then 10s later you can place your second probe to create your corridor, then after 20s you can finally get your triangle down, with any luck as big as you can possibly make it, and with some foresight with the probes not within enemy AoE fields.
If your triangle is your priority, which it should be, then your radius and corridor will likely be in less than optimal places, so realistically you have at least 20s, plus positioning time, before you have a working field in place. Similarly you have a 20s+ downtime of HoT/Shield/Buffs should you lose your triangle to enemy destruction, or 30s+ if you detonate your triangle.
This is why the basic stances seem fairly OP for what they do (on par with WHM/SCH instead of being nerfed like AST) positioning them takes a fair deal of prep and forethought, not to mention they can draw aggro just like MCH Turrets and be destroyed, which could potentially undo all your prep.

Your stances would work similarly to AST, with you choosing one based on your co-healer.
WHM; you choose either Antithesis(shield) or Synthesis(buffs+speed)
SCH; you choose either Thesis(HoT) or Synthesis(buffs+speed)
AST; you choose either Thesis(HoT) or Antithesis(shield) (the AST will then coordinate as Diurnal or Nocturnal)
Another GEO; You coordinate with them.

Thesis: Not used when paired with WHM
Your fields generate a potent HoT, allowing you to focus on raw healing and mitigation.
When needed (a big attack in coming/has just hit/your probes are about to be destroyed) you can trigger a detonation ability.
Cosecant: Up to 960 potency damage shield. Use when paired with another GEO.
Cotangent: Up to 1200 potency raw heal. Use when paired with SCH, Noct-AST or another GEO.

Antithesis: Not used when paired with SCH or Noct-AST
Your fields grant a 20% shield, meaning you’ll want to focus on raw healing and HoTs.
Secant: Up to 720 potency raw heal plus a 80 potency HoT for 12s, total 1040 potency. Use when paired with another GEO.
Cotangent: Up to 1200 potency raw heal. Use when paired with Diurnal Ast or another GEO.
If you’re paired with a WHM, you likely won’t be needing to use a detonation, you’ll want to keep your shield up if you can.

Synthesis: Most versatile stance, works with anything, however the other two might be more suitable when paired with an AST.
Your fields will generate a buff, which you cannot control, and is only half as effective as an AST buff of a similar effect, although this can be doubled every other minute with Stratification/Aetherification. This means you’re not micromanaging buffs like Cards, but just throw it out and forget about it. However you’ll heal quicker and for more HP.
You’ll need to use all of your healing and mitigation skills to make up for a lack of constant HoT/Shield.
Secant: Up to 720 potency raw heal plus a 80 potency HoT for 12s, total 1040 potency. Use when paired with SCH, Noct-AST or another GEO.
Cosecant: Up to 960 potency damage shield. Use when paired with WHM, Diurnal-AST or another GEO.

Issues: Pros and Cons
This set up allows for a job that can be all healing philosophies at once, or focus on just one to make up for deficiencies in your co-healer. Potentially the most versatile healer job in the game.
It can have some of the highest healing potency in the game, however these are situational and come at a cost of your aetherprobe fields which provide your main background healing utility outside of your basic and fairly lacklustre basic healing skills.
It’s basic DPS is the lowest of the lot, however when utilising the Cartesian effect with all three probes out, it has the highest DPS with Axiom/II spam.
Because its big ticket skills are based on forming a right triangle, terrain can really screw you over, especially if you just can’t get into position, such as in fights like Ozma.
Utilising its big ticket abilities and highest DPS is therefore clunky and time consuming, and quite easy to screw up, especially if you’re on the move. Thus, why I described it as being similar to MCH.
When you do get everything just right, it’ll feel so rewarding, not just because you’re hitting the right skills at the right time, but by getting your positions correct, and coordinating with other healers/players.

[Mokkabron]

You people must have a lot of free time to think about all this stuff or seriously thinking that SE wil pay any attention to any ideas posted here.

[Eloah]

It's more about showcasing your talents at thinking outside the box, besides if SE reads these they may be inspired to make something similar, since these threads showcase what we as a playerbase would like.

That being said. I only glanced at your idea, since I am at work and can't go in depth. The idea seems nice and appears well thought out, but somewhat disjointed. Right now it reads like a rotation guide, where the skills are already established in the players mind. I would suggest reorganizing the skills into their natural progression, which would make it easier to understand the skills and what links with what.

[Seraphor]

I have a lot of time at work to think and type and not do much else. Besides, I love theorycrafting.
And yeah, id never expect SE to implement this in exactly this way, but the added detail helps to explain how it would work, much better than a vague job description would.

Personally I've always found the skill lists by level to be disjointed, as you're gaining odd skills incrementally, and it's hard to see how later skills interact with early skills.

This way you know what sort of skill you're looking at and how it works with the others.

[Eloah]

Don't think of it as disjointed, which it isn't, think of it as learning how the skills you have work together for a given level. It's great explaining what each skill does and their overall interactions for later on, but if someone is only level 20, it help to see what is available at level 20 learning and knowing and eventually expanding upon those skills.

Also I am home now so I can really dig into your idea... MWHAHAHAHAHAHA... I promise I'll be gentile

[Shihen]

I like the idea of a healer with persistent ground aoes, though the numbers may need some tweaking. It's possible I missed something in the description, but with AST stance it seems like you could just drop two probes behind the boss to form a horizontal line and have dps stack on it for buffs. Then drop a probe directly north or south of a probe for a free critlo before any raid buster goes out. The detonate would reset the probe CD and the party could just stack on that probe until another line can be created and the strategy just repeats. Also, are the probes similar to turrets in that they can be healed? Because being able to heal them would be extremely strong.

Those are just the numbers though. The mechanics and class theme are both pretty interesting.

[Seraphor]

I like the idea of a healer with persistent ground aoes, though the numbers may need some tweaking. It's possible I missed something in the description, but with AST stance it seems like you could just drop two probes behind the boss to form a horizontal line and have dps stack on it for buffs. Then drop a probe directly north or south of a probe for a free critlo before any raid buster goes out. The detonate would reset the probe CD and the party could just stack on that probe until another line can be created and the strategy just repeats. Also, are the probes similar to turrets in that they can be healed? Because being able to heal them would be extremely strong.

Those are just the numbers though. The mechanics and class theme are both pretty interesting.

Sorry, firstly by 'resets aetherprobe cooldown' I meant it triggers the cooldown, so that you can't just throw out another probe.
E.g. Set probe A > 10s > set probe B > 10s > probe C > detonate > 10s > reset probe A, etc.
And of course the detonations are on 2 minute cooldowns themselves.

And yeah, Cosecant would basically be an Adloquium and would be used to the same effect, but it's not quite as powerful or free, cnsidering you lose any aetherprobe field for 10s.

Theoretically you could position them like you said, however that would rely on:
The boss being stationary.
The party not needing to move too much.
A large and consistent enough battlefield to do so.

This simply wouldn't be possible in a lot of fights, such as Midgardsormr, Ozma and Shinryu.

You'd be limited by terrain, like a Geomancer...

[Eloah]

Okay to start, I am not sure how attached you are to the name but it sorta looks like a mash-up of two words, and I know it is. I personally would suggest reworking it or making a new one that conveys the idea of the Job better; additionally, while it can be pronounced, it's not a "role-off-the-tongue" kinda name. Granted the same could be said of Astrologian, but that was/is an already established word with a minor ending change Astrolog/er Astrolog/ian. And since the end sound is the same syllable count the flow isn't interrupted. Some names I found/made would be, Mathematician, Trigonometrist, though the best name I found is Actuary, the job you created conveys what real life Actuaries do.

Second, While a compass is nice, I personally suggest using Measures, they are a very underutilized weapon/tool in the series that fits this theme very nicely

Third, make sure you look at each Job in the role you are trying to make/adjust and use the knowledge they show you. As the poster above stated your potencies are rather low. I know you said lower potency with a higher burst, but I think AST's launch showed us that doesn't work all that well.

Fourth, I see you are using Secant, Cosecant, Cotangent, terms used in trigonometry (which is why I suggested that name) but I personally would use the more common Sine, Cosine, and Tangent, mostly because as a whole people recognize them as math terms, do to how common they are.

Fifth, you have a lot of moves whose potencies decrease, why is that? if anything, for strong moves do the percentage thing SE does, as annoying as that is. You do this with Quake and Aftershock, which is great. Though the coloration between those two skills is off. It's not a bad idea, just the fluidity doesn't seem to be there. It seems like you wanna make it similar to Impact, which itself is an odd move, but single target and AoE are different beasts.

Sixth, I really do suggest adjusting the organization, not just to help the reader and make it visually appealing, but it helps you as well. It helps you visualize the flow of the job and where you might be missing something or created a hole you need to fix. Plus Traits? where are they? I only saw two listed.

Okay, I believe that is all I will say for now. I can see what you are trying to do and somewhat how you want to implement it. I have some thoughts on how to improve upon it, but I don't want it to appear like I am stepping on your toes. But I will say that you seem so interested in them being able to do what the other healers can that they don't seem to have their own identity. Yes AST can do HoTs like WHM and Shields like SCH, but they have their own unique thing with the cards. The Probes are a great idea, you wanna use the probes, that's a great way to give them individuality, build upon that. Maybe allow them to gain 3 different probes, like Alpha Probe, Beta Probe, Delta Probe. I would suggest thinking of them like the summons as far as level acquisition, though maybe a little more spaced out, but they should definitely all be available by 50.

Also GO MATH TERMS, lol

[Seraphor]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'll get around to reorganizing the order at some point.

The name: Yeah I was thinking it sounds a bit odd, but I'm kinda set on GEO as the abbreviation due to its reinterpretation of geomancy.
On second thought 'Geometer' is a more accepted term for someone who studies geometry. Or even 'Geometrist'.

I had considered measures for weapons, until I realised that AST starglobes use many of the classic FF measure names. Indeed most of the classic measure are called 'sextant's, which is a tool for navigating by the stars.

"Fifth, you have a lot of moves whose potencies decrease, why is that? if anything, for strong moves do the percentage thing SE does, as annoying as that is."

They're logarithmic, or more accurately, geometric sequences. (see what I did thar?)
Basically front-loaded HoT's, so while you're not getting the full heal instantly, you're also not waiting for the entire duration to get the most out of it.
Natural Logarithm deals 610 on the first tick, that's practically a mid-tier heal. The second tick takes that up to over 1000, and the third to 1200. That's more powerful than Essential Dignity, it just isn't quite as quick, but you still get that initial heal out instantly.
The other logarithms decrease less steeply so it's not such an extreme healing curve.
I don't know about you, but HoT's and DoT's bug me because although I know it makes sense to reapply them before they've finished, it just feels so wrong to do so before it's run its course. This way you're actually gaining potency by reapplying the HoT/DoT.
I could have just made them percentages... but then they wouldn't be logarithms or geometric sequences, and you know... maths.