"Jobs" with different Materia setups
(Why the hell does this thread have a winking icon?)
I'm pretty sure almost everyone that's played this game has tried this at some point, but normally now when I play this game I make each character into a specific "Job" similar to the older games in order to make it more interesting and force some limitations on myself in terms of power. Well, until I finally make someone a Blue Mage anyway, whereby I'm then tempted to ban them from my party because Enemy Skill makes the game too easy, but there's another active thread about that.
ANYWAY.
So I've come up with a fair few jobs for this game's Materia system and was hoping people could make some other suggestions beyond my usual lot that can actually last a fair amount of the game and be useful. Or you can read this thread and be all "Oh I haven't tried this idea yet. Imma go replay it this way." Obviously your suggestions don't have to follow this exact format, I'm just being anal. So here goes.
Time Mage: (As some of you know, my all-time favourite class. I get very narked off with some of the neglect this one faces throughout the franchise.)
Main:
Time-All
Gravity-All
Comet
Exit
Optional:
Restore-All (for Regen; in FF5 it was Time and so I still regard it as such even now)
Earth (FF8 classed Quake as Time Magic)
Seal-All (simulates that Mute spell from FF5 somewhat)
W-Magic (simulates Quick)
W-Item (also simulates Quick)
Double Cut (you get the idea)
Quadra Magic-Comet (makes Comet2 even nastier)
White Mage: (Fairly self-explanatory. It can be a little hard to make a White Mage that has crap attack power in this game though so it can be a bit unrealistic.)
Main:
Restore-All
Revive
Heal
Seal
Transform
Mystify
Barrier
Destruct (for DeBarrier and DeSpell)
Full Cure
Optional:
All (to any of the above)
Added Effect (on the armour with one of the statuses)
Shield (though it's so late in the game and isn't really all that useful by the time you get it)
Sense
Magic Plus
MP Plus
Final Attack-Revive
Black Mage: (Yeah. I guess I went there.)
Main:
Lightning
Fire
Ice
Earth
Poison
Destruct (for Death, though FF3 did also class Dispel as a Black spell)
Contain
Ultima
Optional:
W-Magic
Magic Counter on your favourite
Sneak Attack-Ultima :D
Added Effect-Contain (on a weapon for Petrify, Confuse and Stop)
Mystify (for Toad; some games class it as a Black spell)
Gravity (some games class these as Black)
Magic Plus
MP Plus
An Enemy Skill Materia with only Magic Hammer on it (simulates Osmose)
HP/MP Absorb (most likely on Ultima; simulates Drain or Osmose)
Elemental (on either weapon or armour)
Quadra Magic (oh-so fun)
Summoner: (For me this is never not Vincent due to his Limit Break playing a lot like one of these. In all likelihood by the time he's run out of summons or MP earlier on in the game his limit gauge will be charged.)
Main:
As many Summon Materia as you can fit. By the time you meet him this should be all six of them, and with any luck he'll gain slots faster than you gain summons.
Optional:
MP Plus
HP<->MP (more useful than you'd think; he's always in the back row and you can also use...)
Elemental (on either weapon or armour)
Added Effect-Hades/Odin/Choco-Mog (either on weapon or armour)
Final Attack-Phoenix (yeah baby!)
As a side note I always make Aeris a sage (any of the above Magic or Summon Materia plus whatever Support I feel like) since she's only in the party for the first disc and is an exceptionally good magic user. Basically she becomes Tellah. Excellent.
Thief/Ninja: (Making a character just one of these makes them a bit useless most of the time so it's best for the sake of giving incentive to keep the character in the party to combine the two)
Main:
Steal
Throw
Morph (basically Poach)
Double Cut (simulates dual-wield)
Pre-Emptive
Gil Plus
Optional:
Long Range
Enemy Away
Blue Mage: (I usually put this on a character I'm unlikely to use to balance out the sheer brokenness of Enemy Skill in this game. In other words, Cait Sith.)
Main:
Enemy Skill
Sense (well you get two of them and some Blue Mages come with this ability so...)
Optional:
HP Plus
MP Plus
Tamer/Mimic: (Combined with the Mimic to make sure it's useful in more than like eight battles.)
Main:
Manipulate
Mime
Optional:
Mystify (gives it something to play around with)
Transform (ditto)
Seal (")
EXP Plus (I kinda liken this to a Gambler sort of class for some reason. No idea why.)
Gil Plus (Same again.)
Monk/Knight/Archer hybrid: (This one takes a really long time to get good but is worth it later on. It's another case of just one of the classes alone not being represented well enough)
Main:
Cover
Counter Attack (as many as you can get!)
Double Cut (simulates Rapid Fire somewhat, more so when it gains 4xCut)
Slash-All (simulates Rapid Fire somewhat, also becomes that instead death-to-all ability from FF5 that the Samurai gets... forgot its name. Damn. Obviously you don't want both this AND Double Cut; this overrides it.)
HP Plus (lots of them)
Deathblow
Luck Plus (more critical hits)
Optional:
Long Range
W-Item (some of FF9's melee fighters could learn Chemist; this somewhat simulates it)
Speed Plus (might as well, eh?)
Enemy Lure
Berserker: On my last No Materia run I made Tifa this (minus the Materia of course) with the Premium Heart equipped and a full limit meter. It was awesome.
Main:
Equip the Fury Ring accessory and never remove it. This is absolutely mandatory.
Optional: (Be sure to put these on the weapon; that Gigas Armlet prevents Materia growth.)
Equip the Gigas Armlet for +30 Strength. You win one from Demon's Gate and they can also be stolen from the Gigas on the first visit to the northern crater.
Counter Attack (I forget whether or not this activates under Berserk. If it doesn't then forget it.)
Long Range
Speed Plus
Enemy Lure
HP Plus
