More Ramblings: Time Mage

[Areya]

Time Mage

Background:  Time Mage first appeared in FFV, and also in FFT.

Overview:  Time Mages are built to do a variety of effects dealing with time and space.  These unique abilities allow them to function as an interesting support mage.

In addition to traditional Time Magic effects, they have access to almost necromatic skills along with some bizarre other effects.

Stats
---------
HP - E
MP - A

STR - E
DEX - D
AGI - E
VIT - E
MND - B
INT - A
CHR - C

Combat SKills
Club - C+
Staff - C
Dagger - D
Evasion - E

Magic Skills
Elemental - B-
Enfeebling - A-
Enhancing - B+
Dark - A-

Equipment Types
Club - Wands, Rods
Staff - Mage Staves
Dagger - Krises, Dirks, Daggers

Armor - Mystic

Job Traits
----------
Lv 10 - Fast Cast I
Lv 15 - Resist Slow
Lv 15 - Clear Mind
Lv 20 - Magic Accuracy Bonus
LV 25 - Clear Mind II
Lv 30 - Fast Cast II
Lv 30 - Resist Slow II
Lv 35 - Resist Stun
LV 40 - Clear Mind III
LV 50 - Fast Cast III
LV 55 - Resist Slow III
LV 60 - Clear Mind IV
LV 70 - Fast Cast IV
LV 75 - Resist Slow IV

Vortex Spells
Vortex spells are special DoT spells.  NM are generally immune.  Uses Dark magic skill.
------
Lv 5 - Vortex
MP - 10
Duration - 60 sec
Recast - 10 sec

DoT = Target's Max HP / 300, doing minimum 1 HP/tick.

Lv 35 - Vortex II
MP - 40
Duration - 45 sec
Recast - 30 sec

DoT = Target's Max HP / 150, doing minimum 1 HP/tick.

Lv 65 - Vortex III
MP - 120
Duration - 30 sec
Recast - 60 sec

DoT = Target's Max HP / 100, doing minimum 1 HP/tick.

Siphon Spells
Siphon spells inflict a steady hp or mp drain/tick on the target.  These are targetable both on opponents and party members.  If the inital effect is resisted, nothing happens.  If the target runs out of mp to drain, the Time Mage's MP does not increase.  Only one Siphon can be active at a time.
Uses Enfeebling Magic skill.
-----------
Lv 10 - Siphon Life
MP - 15
Duration - 5 minutes
Recast - 1 minute

Drains 1 hp/tick from the target.

LV 25 - Siphon Magic
MP - 15
Duration - 5 minutes
Recast - 1 minute

Drains 1 mp/tick from the target.

LV 40 - Siphon Life II
MP - 30
Duration - 3 minutes
Recast - 90 seconds

Drains 5 hp/tick from the target.

LV 60 - Siphon Magic II
MP - 30
Duration - 3 minutes
Recast - 90 seconds

Drains 3 mp/tick from the target.

LV 70 - Siphon Life III
MP - 60
Duration - 2 minutes
Recast - 2 minutes

Drains 10 hp/tick from the target.

Well Spells
-----------
These function the opposite of Siphon spells, donating HP or MP to party members.  Only one Well spell can be active at a time, however you can have both a Well and a Siphon active at once.
Wells are considered Enhancing White Magic.

LV 30 - Life Well
MP - 10
Duration - 5 minutes
Recast - 1 minute

Donates 1 hp/tick to target party member.

LV 50 - Magic Well
MP - 20
Duration - 5 minutes
Recast - 1 minute

Donates 1 mp/tick to target party member.

LV 65 - Life Well II
MP - 25
Duration - 3 minutes
Recast - 2 minutes

Donates 5 hp/tick to target party member.

LV 72 - Magic Well II
MP - 40
Duration - 3 minutes
Recast - 2 minutes

Donates 3 mp/tick to target party member.

Astral spells
-------------
These are special damage spells that don't obey elemental rules.  Previously enemy only.

LV 40 - Comet

Deals magic damage to target.

LV 75 - Meteor

Deals magic damage to all targets within area of effect.

Misc. Magic
----------
LV 5 - Bind
LV 8 - Slow
Lv 15 - Gravity
LV 20 - Warp
LV 35 - Escape
LV 37 - Haste
LV 39 - Stop (Terror)
LV 42 - Slowga
LV 47 - Bindga
LV 48 - Dispel
LV 50 - Retrace
LV 52 - Graviga
LV 55 - Stun
LV 56 - Slow II
Lv 62 - Hastega
LV 67 - Warp II
Lv 73 - Stopga

Level Magic
-----------
These two spells adjust the target's level temporarily.  You can not stack the effect.  Anything that checks "impossible to gauge" is immune.  The amount of exp given by the target may change.  As long as the target's HP is >75%, these spells will always hit on nonNM.

LV 20 - Level UP
MP - 10
Recast - 10 sec
Raises target's level by 3.

Lv 20 - Level Down
MP - 10
Recast - 10 sec
Lowers target's level by 3.

Job Abilities

LV 25 - Extend
Doubles the duration of all effects for target.*
Recast - 10 min
(Can target both opponents and party members.)

LV 35 - Divide
Halves the duration of effects on target.*
Recast - 10 min
(Can target both opponents and party members.)

*Two Hour Effects and Weakness are not affected.

Example: A Party member has Haste that would expire in 24 seconds, poison that would expire in 81 seconds, Protect that would expire in 23 minutes, and Chainspell that will expire in 4 seconds.  If Extend is used, the Haste would now expire in 48 seconds, the poison in 162 seconds, and the Protect in 46 minutes, while the Chainspell still expires in 4 seconds.  If Divide is used instead, the Haste expires in 12 seconds, the poison in 40 seconds, the Protect in 11 minutes 30 seconds, and the Chainspell in 4 seconds.

Two Hour
--------
LV 1 - Quarter
All opponents within area of effect lose 75% of their current HP.  Can be resisted by NMs and HNMs.  (For example, something like Mammets might only lose 25%, while Tiamat might lose 5%.)


Artifact Gear
-------------
Scroll of Comet - lv 40

Chronomancer's Steeple - lv 60
DEF11 MP+20 MND+3 Enhances "Fast Cast" effect.

Chronomancer's Robe - lv 58
DEF38 MP+18 VIT+3 Enhances Level effects.  (+2/-2)

Chronomancer's Cuffs - lv 54
DEF8 MP+12 DEX+3 Vortex Accuracy +10.

Chronomancer's Slacks - lv 56
DEF22 MP+16 INT+3 Siphon Accuracy +10.

Chronomancer's Sandals - lv 52
DEF14 MP+14 AGI+2 Spell Interruption Rate -20%.


Thoughts:
Support Jobs:  Most mage jobs plug in well here.  /WHM for heal support, /RDM for more enfeebles, /BLM for some effects, etc.

Magic Well can be used as a pseudo-Refresh effect, and Siphoning the mp of a party member with extra mp is useful.  (Bard, for example.)

Comet and Meteor pack a punch, but they're not really well suited for raw damage, and they cannot burst.

Looking at combat skills and physical stats, it's apparent that TIM are definitely not meant for combat, ever.

Level Down is useful for forcing an overhunting camp into a more managable area.

Level Up and Level Down are both very useful for BSTs, allowing them to tinker with their pets before charming.

Extend + Berserk = Win.

Extend + Reprisal = Handy.

Can't cure that annoying petrify?  Divide and reduce its duration!

/TIM:  Obviously Haste is a big draw here, but not really as broken as other sj out there.  Mana Siphon can be useful, esp. on jobs like PLD or DRK.  Level changing is great for BST/TIM.  Jobs without natural enfeebling skill may struggle to hit with Siphon tho.

[Zerila]

I really like the idea of syphon spells, sort of a DoT version of Aspir or Drain. Beautiful
I'm only concerned that the aspir rate gets to be a bit high. If RDMs ever get a Refresh II, I'll withdraw that complaint

Vortex is nice, too. It seems like a DoT version of Demi. And, of course, Hastega/slowga/stop all fit well with the concept of a Time Mage. They should have some sort of movement speed + spell, though. Probably for an individual target, instead of AoE, just for balance. That would make Time Mages welcome end-game, as they could give kiters a serious boost.

[Areya]

Well, as far as the aspir effects, I wouldn't really consider them overpowered.

Siphon Magic II is gotten quite late, and it can miss on opponents, after all.  And if you compare it to say, Aspir Samba II, it's not really that different.

As for Magic Well II, it's basically Refresh, but you can only maintain one at a time, after all.  (Well, I suppose you could change it to have multiple Wells on, but your mp would be sapped so quickly it'd probably be impractical too!)

A Movement Enhancing spell might fit in.  I also totally forgot to give them Tractor.  <.<  Another spell I thought about is a version of Tractor for living targets.

[Zerila]

The only thing I'm concerned about is Red Mage getting left further behind, as far as party buffer functionality goes. I have some ideas on that, but I think I'll make my own thread of ideas instead of cluttering up this one.

How about a reversed warp spell? In other words, "Warp <party member> to my location" ?

It would sure make getting around a lot easier, though the poor Time Mage would be stuck running all over the place while the rest of the party took it easy. Make it same-zone only for balance. It's not quite right that someone can be sitting in their moghouse and suddenly get warped to some distant locale

[Areya]

The only thing I'm concerned about is Red Mage getting left further behind, as far as party buffer functionality goes.

But of course Time Mage is going to outbuff a Red Mage!  That's the whole idea!

Anyways, it's not like RDM should be worried, since Time Mages don't get natural cures or even natural healing skill.

I always viewed RDM as a fleximage, but they got dealt the support role for the most part.  Never underestimate the power of Bar- spells, healing spells, elemental nukes, etc.

[Lunet_Moon]

 So it's not satisfying enough to just be content with only small time manipulation eh? Gotta head the whole way and mess up the universe are we? I think it's cute though I mean this was well thought out.  For the most part the job seems to be balanced.  Out of curiousity though is there a way to get rid of the Siphon effects besides natural resistance? I bet there would.... no I know there would be a lot of people who wouldn't use that as intended.  As for the wells do you mean the HP/MP gets taken from the Time Mage and give to the party member?

[Areya]

Out of curiousity though is there a way to get rid of the Siphon effects besides natural resistance? I bet there would....

I suppose on a party member you could cancel it like a buff or something.

As for the wells do you mean the HP/MP gets taken from the Time Mage and give to the party member?

Right.  Kind of like Siphon in reverse.  Tho one note here is that you can rest even if you're donating HP to someone.