(01-02-2016, 06:49 AM)Valence Wrote: Well yeah, but conjurers could do the same then. And yet it's presented like it's not the thing to do, period, novice or not, unless i'm again misinterpreting the quest lines.
Also, thaumaturges could still do like conjurers for it to become safer, and also not being limited by their own reserves...
If I remember right, the implication is actually that using your internal reserves for magic is better than using your surroundings if you've got enough of it; your average Thaumaturge is packing more aether than the area around them in most circumstances. Sylphie's healing magic is very potent as a result, and Thaumaturges require much more aether than the common man as a prerequisite. Drawing aether from your surroundings as a Black Mage isn't a replacement for your inner aether, it's just a supplementary practice.
(The THM questline and other places touch on this a little more. The youngest lalafell brother is unable to become a Thaumaturge because he just doesn't have enough aether in him. Voidsent also love consuming the powers of Thaumaturges, because while the world around them is like picking for scraps, thaumaturges themselves are like walking four-course meals. If you try to use Black Magic without a soulstone / The Gem of Shatotto to focus it, the aether inside of you catches fire and you burn to death.)
As for why Conjurers don't do that, it's likely that for many of them, their internal reserves just aren't very large; most of the officially-trained Conjurers in Gridania are picked based on how in-tune with the elements and elementals they are, and not how much aether they're packing.
