Red Mage idea

[TaalAzura]

Best.RDMThread. Ever.

I may be able to get behind Temper and Barrier, but under certain conditions. 1) Instant cast. This is non-negotiable. 2a) Affects all party members regardless of how far they are from the RDM. 100 yalm radius would also work. or 2b) Aura-type effect that originates from the RDM. If I had my way, I'd make it so the RDM gets the full benefit of the buff and everyone else gets the buff at 80% potency.

This is great! and like i said, if there's a balance issue, you can make the AoE only by using Sacred Prism.

[Eremor]

Those are certainly good points, but I don't think entirely necessary. My suggestion has the spells as self-target only (like Sanguine Rite) so when Sacred Prism is used to make it aoe, it can only be centered on the RDM. The buffs are also very melee oriented so there isn't much reason to be hitting back line jobs with them.

Discussion is good, because regardless of how each of us thinks our own particular build would play, someone else may have a different opinion. And if someone finds a way to exploit something about your build that would force it into a role you don't actually want to play, you better believe that's the role RDM will end up playing.

[SwordCoheir]

I would think it would be much easier and simpler to just implement buffs in a Bardish style, similar to the way I had it setup in the second build from the link in my sig.

FNC/MKT
Fog- Increases Evasion and Magic Evasion of party members in range.
Incantation- Increases Healing, Magic Attack, and Enfeebling potency of party members in range.
Bewilder- Decreases Enmity generated of party members in range.

RDM
Temper- Increases the attack of party members within range.

Different buffs, different niche to fill, and lets RDM get back to doin damage like BRD's can.

[kazaran]

PErhaps rather then jsut bringing back the past MMO RDM. Then can bring back something like Green Mage. SUpports buffs, dots, whelds maces, more defense, doesn't have to be a bunny this time bu would fit if that race is brought back.

[TaalAzura]

PErhaps rather then jsut bringing back the past MMO RDM. Then can bring back something like Green Mage. SUpports buffs, dots, whelds maces, more defense, doesn't have to be a bunny this time bu would fit if that race is brought back.

The only thing with that is, a lot of people who are looking forward to playing RDM are looking forward to playing a DPS role while still having useful spells to cast (as a RDM should be).

[Gokulo]

And are looking for an iconic job, which a Green Mage isn't.

[AceofRains]

Okay what a Red Mage needs to work in this game:

Fast Casting/Combat Casting - Make it so they can cast while attacking. Otherwise having to choose casting or attacking puts a deficiency on either action as if it's not bad enough that they don't excel at either. I say make it a "Stance that consumes TP over time like PUG's fists consume MP"

Magics - Should come from the class itself, or sub actions. You shouldn't make simple enfeebles such as poison or stun job abilities unless it's going to be ONE at best. Red Mage needs utility abilities to make it function effectively or it will fail as a job.

MP recovery - Since they are going to be attacking and casting they need to be able to recover MP effectively since they wont be recovering naturally like backline mages. I proposed a skill called translation which changes all of your accumulated TP into MP.

Enchantments - This isn't a nessesity but it will help to enhance your melee attacks for elemental damage.

I say the above because red mage will not work otherwise. Red Mage is a jack of all trades and should be built as such, not an enfeebler, nuker, enhancer, or healer, but a Melee with several utility abilities. At best it is a Damage Dealer, but with something like Fast Cast it can easily spam cures, nukes, enfeebles, or enhancements. At the very least, we do not want red mage to be sitting at the backline.

[kazaran]

As logn as RDM doesn't become an early over pwoered unbalanced mess.

They are the earlier swashbuckler type. So their mains should be En-spells on swords. Weaking defense spells to enhance their malee, stuns, swift attack combo and leave it at that.

Leave elemental nuking to other mages and mainly blms.

Otherwise RDM will be back line again, so it's focus shoudl be minor spells to enhance sword atacks and malee weakness on mobs.

Perhaps they can have hp m p drain spells like Dancer on XI, to enhance them but also the party as long as they are enganged on the mob (s) keeping them up front.

[AceofRains]

Technically it wouldn't nuking. I would be in favor of making blizzard and water sub skills just so red mage can have them for small extra damage against enemies. This way red mage also has an "elementalist" touch to it because it could exploit all elemental weaknesses. IF we had a free cast system they could merely throw in these spells for extra damage. It wouldn't make them OP either especially considering lower base melee damage and lower base spell damage. Make it a point to combine the two for higher damage.

[Alerith]

There is no reason the combo system cannot make RDM work. I'm going to use pre-existing spells and sword abilities just so I don't have to make them up.

Now, give RDM Fast Blade, Flat Blade, Savage Blade, Goring Blade and Rage of Halone.
Also, give RDM Fire, Blizzard, Aero, Stone and Thunder, and only the first Tier.

Now, make combos that require using weaponskills to augment the power of the otherwise low-level spells.

Spell > WS > Spell II > WS > Spell III


Example:

Blizzard starts a combo and Fast Blade combos with it. You use Fast Blade and you can then use Fire to combo further. But now, since you are using Fire as your third combo skill, Fire becomes a single target Fira. Then Flat Blade can combo off of that and (assuming we ever get combos into the 5th stage) you can then Combo Thunder, but since Thunder is your 5th combo, it upgrades to a single target Thundaga.

This would apply no matter what combo of spells you used. A Tier I spell would start a combo, then a preset sword WS would continue the combo, then you could cast any elemental spell again and it would be at Tier II (-ra) level. Then you would use another sword WS and close with one final elemental spell, which would be Tier III level. (-ga)

EDIT:

As there needs to be obvious drawbacks that keep a single job from being overpowered, doing combos like this would either have to have a fair recast timer depending on how powerful your spells got, or they would have to chew through MP.

To go a step further, make the spells for RDM simply elemental damage without any additional effects like the BLM and WHM versions, and make them insta-cast when used in a combo. Make the recast time harsher and harsher the more powerful you make them. (Using a combo resulting in Thundaga would put a large recast on Thunder, etc.)