Moving onto our next job/role combo in the FF XIV TTRPG, today we will be taking a good look at the healer/white mage.

In terms of sheer POWER, the white mage is the most powerful job to date. That power comes at great cost, however, as the amount of MP needed to use their abilities is also by far the highest we have seen.

So let’s dig in!

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES

Looking at the Primary and Secondary abilities, the white mage eschews the +0 we have seen with the warrior and black mage, in favor of two +1 attributes. The white mage also favors the black mage’s higher Secondary attribute array as well.

I really like this, if for no other reason than it gives the white mage greater versatility outside of combat and also reinforces the support role both of the job. Whereas you probably don’t want the black mage taking point on a STR challenge, nor do you want the warrior rolling for an INT challenge, the white mage is more of an all-rounder.

Granted, the white mage’s STR bonus is nothing to write home about, but at level 50 I wouldn’t be afraid to take a STR challenge as a white mage.

However, the white mage is quite squishy with that low Defense and a very paltry hit point advancement of 24, 32, and 45 HP respectively.

The white mage has a speed of 5 as do the other pregens reviewed thus far.

Like the other pregens, the white mage receives a +1 bonus to all attributes.

TRAITS & OTHER EFFECTS

Transcendence is the name of the game with the white mage, and being able to make a character Transcendent makes them immune to both enfeeblements and damage abilities, traits, etc. Powerful stuff!

How the Transcendent effect works can also effect how you stack your characters, especially if this is after a Raise. By pushing the raised character’s turn to the end of the Adventurer’s Step, you can get enough bonus healing into them to (hopefully) keep them on their feet for a while.

Of course, the risk comes into play when this is your tank, and whether you can afford to have the tank waiting as Transcendent is removed “when a character uses an ability”, which would include the tank’s instant abilities.

PRIMARY ABILITIES

The white mage’s abilties are a pure nostalgia trip, with many familiar names like Stone, Aero, and Esuna.

The white mage does have one offensive primary ability, Stone II, which stands a pretty good chance of scoring a direct hit as it target’s the enemy’s Magic Defense.

By far, the most powerful ability I have seen yet is available to the white mage: Raise.

Raise restores an average of 6.5 HP and confers Transcendent on the target. There is quite a bit of push-pull attached to Raise that warrants further examination.

On the Minus side, Raise also afflicts the target with Weakness. Weakness incurs a -2 penalty on ALL checks and doesn’t get removed unless the target rests or an ability removes it. You might think that Esuna also exists and can be used here, but it cannot! See the entry for Esuna below.

On the Plus side, Raise has a proc effect of Critical, which means it restores 2d6+3 HP at level 30.

It’s worth pointing out here that there is a typo on the white mage character sheet. It states that Cure has a (d20, Critical) effect, but it does not. This should read “Medica and Cure II” in the descriptive text, unless this is errata’d later.

SECONDARY ABILITIES

A very interesting bit of description accompanies the secondary ability, Esuna, a Final Fantasy staple.

Esuna does not remove Weakness, so make sure to plan ahead! It cannot remove the Knocked Out enfeeblement, either, but to me that’s just common sense. 🙂

INSTANT ABILITIES

The white mage has a single instant ability at level 30, Swiftcast, which works just like the black mage’s ability of the same name.

There is a FAQ about Swiftcast in the Gamemaster book that is worth mentioning here, especially since MP budgeting is core to how the white mage works:

So you cannot use Switfcast to cast Raise if your ally is Knocked Out and you have less than 3 MP in the tank. Just something to keep in mind.

LIMIT BREAK

The white mage’s limit break is POWERFUL! It removes ALL enfeeblements and fully restores HP and MP, and it affects ALL ALLIES on the map. But what if my character is off the map? I hear you ask. Simple: move the counter to someplace at the edge of the map. 🙂 Simply amazing.

CONCLUSIONS

Of all of the pregens examined to date, the white mage embraces a lot of the core philosophies of the game’s design and tone. Their ability to affect allies on and off the map coupled with a limit break that effectively resets every adventurer are incredibly powerful tools. I also like how the white mage is much more mobile than the black mage.

Mechanically, the white mage is not as demanding as the black mage; they have fewer abilities, less restrictions, greater mobility, and fewer knock-on effects from their abilities, with the exception of Weakness.