Judge Class for Tank Role

[Aonns]

I posted a reply on reddit describing a tank class and it was recommended I post the idea here. I'll include a link to the post as well.

Judge. You wield a great hammer. I know in XIV it would be themed like the garleans but I prefer the Ivalician judges.

Your gauge revolves around invoking "Laws". These laws create aoe fields centered on the Judge that gives small boosts to abilities, spells, or weaponskills depending on the Law in effect.

This is drawing heavily from Tactics Advance lore. Every fight has restrictions in that game that are more or less random. Like "You cannot use items." The judges are the ones that enforce the Laws of each battle and if you break the restriction, the judge removes the character that broke the Law and puts them in jail for the rest of the match.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/s/05W2YjOSWl

[Enkidoh]

Judge class is technically already taken, it's the GMs' special 'class' that is exclusive to them (their unique gear is literally called 'Judge' gear). So that simply will never be added for players I'm afraid (also the whole law thing in FF Tactics Advance was a rubbish mechanic that just served to annoy players most of the time and was an unnecessary complication.).

And if you really want to be pendantic, the Garlean Legatee like Gaius were technically FFXIV's version of Judges story wise (based on the FFXII version), and, well, the Empire doesn't even exist now so that's another nail in that coffin.

[Aonns]

I didn't know that the DMs even has special gear like that. I've never encountered one.

[Enkidoh]

Yep, they sure do! (This is an example of the gear they wear - that purple glowy mist on it is a special effect that apparently renders them immune to agro and damage from enemies - they're literally functionally invincible).

Also I'm so sorry my tone came across as harsh in my earlier post. I didn't mean to sound so aggressive I'm sorry!

[Aonns]

I didn't find it particularly aggressive. More factual than anything. If my reply sounded chastened it's just because of own short response. I tend to get wordy so I try to keep my replies shorter unless necessary.

[Lyth]

I saw that post. Judges are certainly popular, and a hammer-wielding job is probably the most likely pick for the next tank, but Matsuno would likely need to consult on an Ivalician job. It might be possible for a Covosi expansion, however, potentially under a different name.

As an alternative, people have been eyeing Nero's gunhammer since ARR. If you want a tank utilizing a lot of ground/placeable effects, an Engineer could be the way to go. Analyze is the staple action, so that would likely be there in some form. One thing that we haven't seen yet is LoS-based mitigation, where you place a wall-shaped barrier and it intercepts damage from any source where it blocks LoS. You could have a placeable conveyer belt for fast movement, or perhaps place a party portal to connect two points on the arena. Perhaps you could mecha up with Maggie for some extra mitigation and damage.

[TouchandFeel]

I posted it in a separate thread, but the idea of a tank inspired by the Judges in Final Fantasy could definitely work and to me is one of the current top concepts for a new tank, alongside or perhaps just behind Mystic Knight.
As others have pointed out, there are potential complications around trying to make it exactly what Judges have been in the Ivalice based FF games, but that's why I said "inspired" instead of "based on".

First off, just give them a different name than Judge but still carries the same general idea. Personally I like Arbiter.
A large 2-handed hammer could work as the weapon since people seem to really want that for a tank weapon, plus it's kind of like a giant gavel.
Give the abilities and weaponskills names based on legal jargon or referencing law and justice. Here are some random examples just off the top of my head: Gap Closer - Swift Justice, Combo pt.1 - Arraigning Blow, Combo pt.2 - Proceeding Strike, Combo pt.3 - Final Verdict.
Lorewise they can simply be champions that appear during times of great upheaval when evil ravages the land, taking up massive hammers to mete out justice to the guilty and defending the innocent. Further details that ties them into the history of the game-world can be done by the devs on the writing team.