XIV needs a Shaman like role for a Job

[DamianFatale]

Shaman is a missing niche style of class in this game. Other games often have this role, but the only thing close to it is Blue Mage, and Conjurer. Nothing else really fits.

And for people who might suggest Beastmaster, I do not mean that. I mean a real shaman, but to talk about that we have to first discuss what that even is.

According to the google definition it is: "a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America. Typically such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practice divination and healing."

Astrologian does divination, and healing, but it does not fit the bill at all. Conjurer only fits the theme because it works in nature, but it is far from being a traditional shaman in an rpg.

No, I'm talking about something that has a relation to animal spirits, and primal magic. Something related to Native Americans, European druidism, and Asian mystics.

Oracle is an old job in the series that MIGHT work for that, but I don't think it quite fits. I do hope we see it someday though.

Still, nothing we have in game really nails the shaman vibe. It would be a good opportunity for a brand new job design. :L

The closest thing I could find in Final Fantasy is from a mobile spin off. https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki...rborne_Brigade) I still think it is worth exploring however.

[VirusOnline]

Something tribal and shamanistic would be nice, but the SMN rework arguably fits this role in the XIV universe imo.

[DamianFatale]

Something tribal and shamanistic would be nice, but the SMN rework arguably fits this role in the XIV universe imo.

Nope, too logical, and math like magic to be shaman magic. It has nothing in relation to a shaman at all.

[Velvet_Lunarfang]

Something tribal and shamanistic would be nice, but the SMN rework arguably fits this role in the XIV universe imo.

I do agree but can we summon more then titan, ifrit and garuda? I like to be able to summon ramuh, leviathan, and shiva as well. Summoner needs more summons

[VirusOnline]

Well, SMN can...

summon deities - spirits/gods worshiped by the beast tribes of ARR that we also call primals
phoenix demi has a aoe regen heal when summoned - healing
these summons also have direct relation to the elements (earth, wind, fire) that then allow us to harness said element's power - this could be interpreted as primal magic
we have an ability literally called dreadwyrm trance - trance

sounds very shaman too me. where are you getting maths and logic from ?

[dspguy]

[QUOTE=VirusOnline;6234875

sounds very shaman too me. where are you getting maths and logic from ?[/QUOTE]
Their weapon is a book. Shaman would use totems or some such.

I could see their being room for it. However, it certainly wouldn't be called shaman. I don't think there's been anything called a "shaman" in the history of FF.

[fulminating]

Arcanist/summoner/scholar's whole deal is they do maths/geometry hard enough that spells/constructs come out.

[Silver-Strider]

I'll take a Druid or Shaman.

[SassyAssassin]

I'll take a Druid or Shaman.

Yeah Id be more up for a druid than a shaman too, but neither ideas are bad

[Shurrikhan]

Though watered down, Conjurer magics and lore are already druidic.

The disconnect seems primarily to be from the difference in Japanese vs. European conceptualizations of how 'normal' or 'broad' that theme is.

To Europe, Shinto, Taoist, and say, Confucian-Korean folk-creatures and concepts of magic based around them are more narrowly based those particular source cultures, whereas Druidism blends more than just Celtic folklore, reaching a broader sort of hybrid.

There are other frequent differences, too, such as the naturist aesthetic usually being absent of anything that'd seem particularly like magic in what outsiders would likely hear of from East Asian lore and most of those other concepts (Shinto, Confucian, especially) often presenting a greater divide between the amoral (or differently-moral) natural world and the human world, even while suggesting a balance with and due respect for the prior, while the outworlder is either usually more of a social or heroic tale more akin to Robin Hood (esp. Confucian) or the mighty rebel Bandit Lord rather or else the wise but practical scholar (Shinto) or hermit (esp. Taoist) than one necessarily "with nature".

Flip that over, though, and you end up with a sort of Druidism that's either distinctly Celtish but therefore promises no mastery over the wilds (only, at best, a stay of execution thereby), older English folklore the likes tapped into by such characters/works as Johnathan Strange or the Magus's Bride, or the ritualistic but largely non-magical world or Germanic tales, or finally the likes of either your Witchers or Ulfhednirr.

It's not surprising then that you'd find the master of elements (Conjurer originally had access to every element) to be also the knower of essences / true names (in both that Greek Platonic/Aristotlian sense and the English/Celtic sense) and one who communes with the near-sentient spirits who underlie reality in that mythos. It comes from varied sources and it's not the admixture we're used to, but for the sake of creating a mage class it made sense. (Though, less so after being bastardized repeatedly, in losing its elemental basis then replacing what little it kept with Glare spam...)

And so we end up at a fork: Do we salvage the druidic class we already have while differentiating from future avenues of Druids-but-less-uselessly-vague, or do we just leave Conjurer as a basic healer with increasing little tie to world or even in-game lore?

Personally, any chance we could take to diversify the jobs we have, but have left lackluster, already seems like it should take precedence, even if those revisions should be mindful of future opportunities for/via new jobs.