Healing Magic, Arcanima and New Spells

[Cordia]

Hello all. I've been an avid Final Fantasy XIV player for a few years now, not right from the start but almost, and for the longest time I've been wanting to get into roleplaying. Unfortunately, my sole character is stuck into a data center where, to my knowledge, not much RP is going on, I can't quite afford a transfer and I don't have enough time to handle a second character, but I digress — in the off-chance I can find some RP on the Light data center or eventually transfer, I want to try and establish my character's concept... and for it to be engaging, I think I'll need some help.

 

First off, a brief summary of the juicy bits about my character: she would be a Veena Viera who left the Skatay Range after a sick/heavily wounded wanderer reached her village (Veena are supposed to be more open towards outsiders than Rava, so I assume it would be feasible?) and died despite her people's attempt at healing them. This would leave quite a mark on her, and upon reaching adulthood she would leave her village in order to become a healer through any means necessary, under the idea that no disease should be incurable. She would find her way to Eorzea, and in particular Limsa Lominsa, drawn by the notions of Arcanima as a school of magic that uses precise manipulation of aether.

 

Now, my doubts mostly come in regards to the latest bit, as almost all the dedicated healers we see among the NPCs are Conjurers. My character would be an Arcanist, which shouldn't be an issue at all by itself, but the problem lies in how she would use it: rather than focusing on the offensive spells, she would actually use the precise nature of Arcanima geometry - along with basics of alchemy - to specialize in healing. For example, Miasma produces a choking poison in the target's lung, but using the same principles she could use it as a magical nebulizer of sorts to clear a patient's throat of poisons or gases; and I've heard (but I'm not entirely sure about it, so any corrections will be appreciated!) Bio pretty much creates infectious micro-organisms that attack the target, so this could be used to make helpful micro-organisms akin to a magical version of nanomedicine, and so on...

 

I also thought about having her create entirely new spells. We have multiple examples of NPCs developing their own spells -- but most of them are altered versions of existing spells, and while I like to think my character could learn a Physick II I feel like so much more could be done. I assume a skilled Arcanist could easily do that by drawing up new geometrical patterns to manipulate aether in different ways -- and I think that spells that use lightning-aspected aether to deliver a small shock to the heart like a defibrillator would certainly be very precise, but not outright impossible to develop. Another example would be a clever use of fire-aspected and ice-aspected aether as antiseptics to kill off micro-organisms and achieve a sterile environment.

 

Of course, all of the above is only useful as long as we don't consider basic healing magic like Cure or Physick and Esuna as able to cure everything. Considering that we see infirmaries (Rhalgr's Reach's comes to mind), I've personally assumed most of the skills we use in battle are mostly just meant to revitalize your allies, knitting wounds and acting as painkillers -- but if a character has, say, a parasite inside of them a single cast of Esuna probably wouldn't cut it, and more in-depth healing would be required. This might also be why alchemists are still a thing in the game world, and under that idea I imagine my character would be striving to act as a bridge between healing magic and alchemy to usher in new medical knowledge.

 

That was a lot and I'm not really good at explaining myself, but I hope what I wanted to convey is clear. Would such an idea for a character be feasible, or is healing best left to Hydaelyn's traditional means without trying to overanalyze it as if it was a Trauma Center game? I'd like to hear some thoughts and opinions on the matter.

[Gerel Kha]

Chiming in as someone who plays a Healer-specialized Arcanist on an alt! Yeah, it's totally fine to branch out and start developing your own spells. It's part of how anything grows and evolves to encompass more than the base field--something Arcanima excels at, actually. It's meant to be a fairly adaptable and strategic form of magick. It may lack the raw force and power of other schools that mirror it, but that's because it can theoretically be far more dynamic. 

 

So long as you put in the effort, the work, and the research? Your idea sounds very plausible.Just make sure you do avoid the "I have the cure-all!" factor when you're approaching healing. Communicate with your patient OOCly, get the specifics, all that. Don't wanna step on any toes and take away any tension the writer is trying to draw from the injury/sickness, after all!

Edited October 9, 2019 by Gerel Kha

[Cordia]

4 minutes ago, Gerel Kha said:

Chiming in as someone who plays a Healer-specialized Arcanist on an alt! Yeah, it's totally fine to branch out and start developing your own spells. It's part of how anything grows and evolves to encompass more than the base field--something Arcanima excels at, actually. It's meant to be a fairly adaptable and strategic form of magick. It may lack the raw force and power of other schools that mirror it, but that's because it can theoretically be far more dynamic. 

 

So long as you put in the effort, the work, and the research? Your idea sounds very plausible.Just make sure you do avoid the "I have the cure-all!" factor when you're approaching healing. Communicate with your patient OOCly, get the specifics, all that. Don't wanna step on any toes and take away any tension the writer is trying to draw from the injury/sickness, after all!

Oh, I don't think that'd be an issue! I believe that part of the fun in playing a healer comes in desperately trying to save heavily wounded or sick characters, at times even having to try and develop a cure for a type of injury or disease that is particularly complex and/or has never been healed before. To bypass all that, just cast a spell and save everyone with no pathos goes right against what I'm envisioning. If anything, struggling to heal some patients and who knows, even failing if the chance arises, is a good chance for character development, inner turmoil and tension.

[Valence]

The job and class skills we have ingame are just a sample of what's most representative of it and acts as a core for the job's identity. This only relates to the standard final fantasy staple spells and abilities, and can obviously be expanded upon in the lore since they just act as a base guideline of what kind of stuff you can create.

 

Also there is a lot of actual variations from the ingame vanilla classes seen all across the lore, like ishgardian chirurgeons using conjury healing spells, etc. Also, a lot of NPC use abilities that the PC has never used nor has access to, like the Heavensward, or other antagonists. The Scions themselves (cf Y'shtola) also use sometimes unique spells that you have never seen. More importantly other cultures in history use different variations of the base staple spells as seen by Allag in particular, with Ancient Flares, Ancient Quakes, Ancient Firega, etc. If you have played through the Shadowbringers, some NPCs in the role quests instances use similar stuff like Ronkan Thunder, Ronkan Fire 3, etc.

[Cordia]

Ah, yes, I've played through Shadowbringers, and I did notice they have been pretty creative with variations, from spells 'of the Seventh Dawn', to Ronkan or Sanctified versions of them. Part of my inspiration comes from that. But the differences, as far as we can tell, are mostly thematic and they don't tend to have radically different effects — if the versions we have deal damage, they still do, etc. I'm mostly curious if more radical variations, such as turning a damaging spell into a healing one, would be feasible. I don't think we have seen any examples of this, and while there are precedents of the opposite (healing spells causing harm), they seem to be related to Amdapor and the old white mages (think Kuribu). Of course, while it'd make sense for a healer trying to develop new spells to eventually dabble into that, I am not wont to involve any soul crystal or proper jobs as of yet, and I'm wondering if it is something that a more common healer with a standard class such as the Arcanist could possibly achieve.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Cordia

[Valence]

We tend to often forget that ingame base classes, like jobs, are NOT encompassing to what a style of fighting is in the whole lore/world, but can be equated to a specific cultural background, much like jobs are, albeit less narrow and legendary than the latter. 

 

Gladiator doesn't encompass any fighting art and skill with a sword and a shield. Gladiator is taught by the gladiator guild and trains pit fighters either from free men or noxii to fight on the Blood Sands for the pleasure of the crowds in Ul'dah. 

 

Lancer doesn't encompass all spear martial arts of the world, but just what the gridanian lancer guild teaches you. It relies a lot on what the ala mhigan pikemen brought with them, but it's still based at the core on a gridanian art of the lance, and it is certainly not the same art than what made those ala mhigan pikemen the fabulous force they were on their own.

 

The Musketeer Guild in Limsa as well, isn't the only school teaching people about using firearms. 

 

And so on for every base class of the game, they're all the specific product taught by the guild you have access to. The lore tends to make quite a bit of difference between the mechanics behind how the combat/magic works, and the guilds and what school of thought they decided to go for. Remember that for example the THM guild used to teach a completely different class back in 1.0.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Valence

[Cordia]

Yes, I suppose that's true as well. I was about to ask whether there were any outlets other than the Arcanists' Guild to learn about Arcanima, disregarding job-related stuff, as it is not a class you see as often outside of that context as the aforementioned Gladiators, Lancers or Archers, or even Conjurers and Thaumaturges in regards to magic classes — but then I remembered we do have Sharlayan arcanists such as pre-Shadowbringer Urianger and Alphinaud, the latter especially focusing on healing, and despite some abilities sharing a name there are no mentions of a link to Nymian Scholars.

 

While a bit more specific than conjury or thaumaturgy, the concept of geometry to cast precise spells could still arise in different parts of the world and in different ways. And even disregarding that, I suppose all it would take is a single character thinking outside of the box to try and use a common set of tools - in this case a grimoire with a geometrical motifs written in enchanted ink - in a new way, which would also fit into my character's desire for innovation...

 

Well, if it is feasible then I'll be glad to develop this concept further for the off-chance I do get to roleplay with someone. But I'm still open to criticisms or suggestions to improve on the concept!