What If? An SCH Design

[dvoraen]

What if faerie heals effectively go away in 6.0?

This question is what led to this post, which would have heavy implications for SCH.

• All healing would have to come from the SCH.
• Without faerie healing, SCH's healing kit might need reevaluated for lower levels.
• The Job Gauge would need a complete redesign.

Despite the question which is the premise of this post, faeries are an integral part of the SCH lore. They can't simply go away completely. As such, I came up with a design that would both answer the 'what if' question while also retaining the presence of faeries and Seraph in the SCH toolkit.

FULL DETAILS: SCH Redesign Document

The gameplay loop for healing below will list the major points. If you want to see boring tables, go check the Google Doc. Note that I'm not going to touch on DPS abilities very much; that's a completely separate issue outside the scope of this post.

Gameplay Loop (Healing)

• Use Physick, Adloquium, Succor, and Aetherflow-based abilities to generate Faerie Gauge.
• Summon a Faerie or Seraph. Eos provides increased cure potency; Selene provides increased barrier potency; Seraph provides both.
• While a faerie or Seraph is summoned, basic ("scholar") spells transform into faerie or angel spells respectively. Physick, Adloquium, and Succor are what transform.
• Transformed spells are better heals/barriers; faerie spells consume Faerie Gauge; angel spells are free.
• When the Faerie Gauge reaches 0, faerie disappears and abilities revert to normal. (Seraph is timed and disappears after time expires.)

You'll notice I mention summoning faeries and Seraph; nothing has changed there. However, their implementation in the game is what would. Cosmetically, they'd be buffs. While summoned, you have a faerie/Seraph that hangs about near your PC model, but it functionally gives you increased HP restoration and/or barrier strength. Your casting animations would also change so as to make it appear that the faerie/Seraph is what is casting the spell. It's all smoke and mirrors, as everything would source from the Scholar, even abilities such as Whispering Dawn. This would also assist with the occasional issue where you push a button for a pet ability and nothing happens.


Actions & Traits
This is a revamp of SCH actions and when they learn them that I came up with. Some traits, such as Broil Mastery, are omitted since they're fairly obvious when they're acquired.

1 - Broil
2 - Physick
4 - Bio
8 - [Cauterize]
10 - Adloquium
12 - Resurrection
18 - Succor
22 - Broil II
26 - Bio II
28 - Physick II, [Improved Adloquium]
30 - Summon Eos, Summon Selene
32 - Whisper -> Whispering Dawn, Whispering Dusk
34 - [Cauterize II]
35 - Emergency Tactics
40 - Luminance -> Fey Illumination, Fey Occlusion
45 - Aetherflow, Energy Drain, Lustrate
46 - Art of War
50 - Sacred Soil

52 - Indomitability
54 - Broil III
56 - Deployment Tactics
58 - Bio III, [Cauterize III]
60 - Dissipation

62 - Excogitation
64 - Broil IV
66 - Chain Strategem
70 - Fey Union

72 - Broil V, Biolysis
74 - Recitation
76 - Fey Blessing
78 - [Enhanced Sacred Soil]
80 - Summon Seraph, Seraphic Veil, Consolation

To quickly explain some of what's on here:

• Ruin becomes Broil. Broil III is the Broil I that we know today, and so on.
• Bio becomes SCH's exclusive DoT. (ACN/SMN would have pet attacks.)
• Cauterize is a dot that is placed by Broil if it's not already present.
• Adloquium starts weaker and improves at 28 to the values we know today.
• Seraphic Veil and Consolation are OGCD heals usable while Seraph is summoned. I envision them as replacing Lustrate and Indomitability while Seraph is out.

To conclude, I think it's possible to do away with faerie healing while retaining them. I'm not saying this is what should happen, but the possibility does exist that it could happen in 6.0. With Sage coming to compete as another barrier healer, and presumably is not a pet job, there exists the possibility that SCH will get reworked to be more like the other healers to make it easier to balance its healing.

I look forward to seeing thoughts.