Scholar... SAY WHUT?

[Yrusama]

I feel like people are forgetting the non-FFXI scholar. Yes in almost every instance it has access to white and black magic but was never really proficient in them outside of FFXI

Originally in FFIII it checked the monsters HP with scan (later libra). Later it gained Item Lore (enhanced potency of curative items), and its scan was enhanced to check HP, weaknesses and dispel a monsters buffs. Also had lvl 1-3 black and white magic, not making it very good at nuking or healing.

In FFIV:TAY scholar got an ability to stick a weakness on a monster (though this won't be used, SE already stated elemental resistances are out) as well as Gil Toss (lol in an mmo...)

In FFTA2 it could see the Treasure/Items/Gil of a unit as well as raising Resilience (a stat used to evade debuffs) and dealing elemental and non-elemental damage to all units (good and bad guys, could exploit this with equipping units with absorb gear). They could also use an ability to grant a random buff.

In FF4HoL it could halve the defense of all foes, halve the attack of all foes, slow all enemies, reduce atk/def of all foes to 1 for a single turn.

So there are a lot of things they can pick and choose from. I could see it as using the debuffs from ACN and then getting buffs as SCH from quests as well as some unique debuffs. I can see it learning Libra as well though what it will do I have no idea. They could also add a bunch of new things. I could see them getting Bio/Dia like THM used to have as well as Sacrifice if SE intends for this to be a 2nd healing job.

As for nuking and healing, we know they won't give it higher level "Cure" or any of the elemental nukes as those belong to THM and CNJ. Unlike in FFXI, a classes abilities are uniquely theirs, allowing access to a few of them from various other classes. I could see SCH getting access to THM and CNJ abilities. The lower tier nukes and cures would fit right in but the tomes would need some good m.atk to compensate I'd imagine.

Great history writeup!

I agree, SCH likely won't be a main heal or nuke. Maybe it'll be a buffer or debuffer, but it's so hard to know because a "scholar" by definition isn't really a combative thing. It consistently gets Libra, but other than that it could be a completely new iteration.