Trancer Job Discussion (Large Update on First Post!)

[LastingDawn]

Trancer, the Secret Keeper


The Trancer has many skills from other's skillsets. They are the connection between fallen warriors and the spirits of heaven and earth. Drawing from both they represent all and none. Their equipment options are vast, in which they represent all of the jobs that they possibly can. Moreso then any other class. Knife, "Ninja Blade", Claws, Gun, Crossbow, Book, Polearm, Cards, Shield, Helmet, Hat, Armor, Clothing, Robe, but can only equip Accessory Rings.

Of their own skills, the Trancer has just one, and even that is a secret to all but the highest ranking Trancer.

Arbalist - Disruptive Shot / Waterway, River, Lake, Sea, Waterfall

Driving water ebb and flow, drown my foes thoughts!

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Invoker - Casts Burn in a Cross Arc / Sand area, Stalactite, Salt

Fury of the Sands, Allow me to use you to burn mine enemies.

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Dragoon - Casts Monster Sooth / Roof, Sky, Chimney

Hear me, rest your weary head. I am not the enemy today..

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Monk - Casts Ghost Strike / Natural Surface, Wasteland, Road

Thus the wheel of roads never ends, though your magic is not so infinite.

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Knight - Casts Battle Cry / Grassland, Thicket, Water planet, Ivy

Spirit of the Grassland, slow not our passage!

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Warder - Casts Crumble / Gravel, Stone Wall, Tombstone, Mud Wall, Stone Floor.

I feel them, ancient defenders of times past... I see how they fell...
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Reliquian - Relic 7 / Snow, Ice

Clockwork Night, white death, combine your hate of humanity!

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Gambler- Darts / Wooden floor, Rug, Box, Stairs, Deck

Spirit of the trickster, heed my call!

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Inquisitor - Mirror Stance / Rocky cliff, Lava rocks

Spirit of the Earth, Shield me from my foes sight!

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Hessian - Intimidating Stare - The Hessian channels the horrors from their targets mind, causing them to flee in terror. Inflicts Critical OR Chicken / Book, Tree, Brick, Bridge, Furniture, Iron plate, Moss, Coffin

Look upon me, and know your deepest fears..

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Secret Skill - Galaxy Stop - Attempts to snare all enemies on the battlefield with Don't Act or Don't Move, or Stop, /Lava, Machine

Great powers beyond all sight, stored in the depths of the earth and artificialties of men, now hear my plea... the power of the Zodiac, come to me! Galaxy Stop!

[Archael]

it's possible to remove the terrain dependancy thing on these spells you have to work with?

[LastingDawn]

Hmm, unfortunately not... the Geomancer's skillset is hardcoded, as memory serves.

[Dormin Jake]

But then you could always dump all the elemental abilities into another skillset, set it as a Geomancer's primary, and not worry about the terrain restrictions.

However, I like the terrain restriction mechanic.  It's different, and it's how Geos have always worked in the past, with attacks based on their surroundings.  It wouldn't make too much sense for a Geo to be able to manipulate volcanic surroundings into a blizzard, for example.  And, aside from tapping into water tables deep underground, it would likewise not make much sense to whip out Water Ball on a desert map.

On the other hand, monsters that live around volcanoes and in deserts are more likely to be protected against the elements of their home environment, and being able to summon an unnatural blizzard or water splash would prove more effective in dealing with said monsters.  On the other other hand, that's what Invokers are for anyway.  The whole weakness exploitation shtick.

Having run out of hands (I have three), I personally like the way abilities are tied to the terrain type, and I especially like your idea of varying up the effects a bit.  Attacks like Pitfall and Lava Ball seem inherently more focused than the more widespread-sounding Sandstorms and Local Quakes.

Also: Geomancers = <3 <3 <3

[LastingDawn]

It's Voldemort idea currently to get rid of them, also as for sticking all the skills into another skillset, I'm afraid it's not so simple... their skillset is hardcoded and using a skillset out of the main jonbs causes you to learn them all, this goes without saying that this is a large problem. While terrain is nice, it's not really new anymore... Any normal player knows that the terrain spaces are horribly imbalanced, and that Lava Ball exists in only one stage and the terms of use are rather exorbitant. That's not quite what I call a useful skill... now of course if Razele gets his terrain hack working... that will all be reconsidered.

[VincentCraven]

Perhaps you should make the rare ones more powerful?

What are the guidelines for Geomancy that we have to work with?

Ex: can it use CT? MP?

And by 1 AoE, you do mean that it should only be able to hit 1 unit, right?

[LastingDawn]

I think it can use CT, but I don't think it can use MP, last I checked.

Also I meant AoE 1, which the patcher considers a 5 panel ability.

[PX_Timefordeath]

Maybe changing the skillset around so that each different terrain is completely different and you REALLY have to observe where you are going if possible...

[Kourama]

Just let Geo be able to use any of their spells whenever they want but give a damage boost if they are on the correct terrain.

Then just rework damage/status changes. Could probably make some of the skills heal or add buffs.

[PX_Timefordeath]

^Would be perfect if possible

[boomkick]

Wanna make the Geomancer a mage class for the oracle dismissal?

Druid would be cool, if it makes sense a human can be a DRUID class.

He would have control of many nature abilites, which is what the geo is for anyways.

Example:
Hell Ivy would become entangling roots, which inflicts Don't Move and Poison at a certain chance.


But for the one's like Lava ball and such, i would like to see that made into a special skill where at Bervenia Volcano, an enemy Geo who has that skill can use it, and it is very very powerful.

Make him be able to equip staves/rods and mage clothing. But Shaman has innate Magic Attack UP, yet the HP growth fails and PA growth fails with it.

This is just a suggestion . Hope it helps to bring out others.

[dwib]

You really lost me here boomkick...
From what I got, your idea sounds an awful lot like geomancer as it already is. Druid could be a good idea but I believe arch, myself, and others are trying to get away from terrain-relient skills in general

[boomkick]

The only one that i wanted land based was the one about the lava. I didn't want the Geo to be land based anymore tho.

[VincentCraven]

Here's what I've done with Elemental in the past:

Pitfall - Normal

Water Ball - AoE: 0,  Strong damage

Hell Ivy - Normal

Sand Storm - AoE: 2, 1 Range

Blizzard - AoE: 2, 1 Range

Lava Ball - AoE: 0, Strong damage


The idea behind it is that Geomancer's role changes depending on what map it is, and Geomancer is inherently better on some maps than others.  I took out all indoor tiles for my purposes, since my game made Geomancer really good in Water/Grass environment, but much worse for the indoor fights (like vs Zodiacs) which made some maps easier than others depending on whether I spent JP on Geomancer or on other classes.  But my version was more for an FE style game, where there is limited opportunity to get experience (JP in FFT).  This depth is destroyed if, for example, every unit had all classes mastered, so know that I already know too much about that argument.

Also, Counter Flood makes Elemental pretty ridiculous on snowy or sandy maps due to large AoE.

[LastingDawn]

I think I have my idea for Mercenaries version of a Geomancer, called "Poison Expert" or "Biochemist" which ever flows better. With the Oracle gone,  statuses aren't unheard of but it's not what my aim is. This class will be fully unique, all of it's skills will be based around terrain (well... it is the Geomancer...) but will have a 0 height tolerance, so placing is *actually* kind of important, and avoiding certain places, even more so. This is an MA dependent class, therefore it's skills will be MA based, but their power will be relatively low. For instance...

Mossfungus - Grassland - CT 6 - Poisons all on same elevation level

Things like that, because they are charging, they are preparing what they are doing, this is another aspect of what makes them unique. And gives them a slightly... Illusionist feel from FFTA, except based around status.

May I have thoughts and opinions on this idea? Or does anyone else have alternatives? (note: MP doesn't work with Geomancy)

[boomkick]

That sounds cool, but only effective on flat ground or ground level to the Poison Master. Not useful for small maps or those maps with a lot of .5 Heights.

[LastingDawn]

That is indeed the case, they would be most effective in wide open spaces, but their use on other levels, would really depend on a lot of things. Though it sounds good on paper, I wonder how it will go in game...

[boomkick]

If you can take advantage of the calculator's skillset (Ct, Height, Level, Exp), and only allow poison and it's effects to be put into it, that would make it useful. But... maybe this is way too powerful unless a CT was added to each of the skills, and the skillset is very limited is calculatable.

[LastingDawn]

The Calculator's in any form broke the game, no ct, no mp, the skills were instant, and there is no easy way to change that.

[boomkick]

Well... hmm. What other uniqueness could there be? I think you are getting somewhere good with that "target all on the same height" sort of thing. But i'm not sure where to go from there.