FFXIV x D&D - Sorcerer Archetype: Black Mage

This is part of a series of posts I'm making in prep for a FFXIV x D&D sourcebook I'm writing. Other related articles are:

• Astrologian
• Bard
• Black Mage
• Dark Knight
• Dragoon
• Gunbreaker
• Machinist
• Monk
• Red Mage
• Scholar
• Summoner
• White Mage

Here's a copy of the unfinished product if you want to see it in a coherent form: https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1YXOxGNE

My FFXIV x D&D adventure preparation is well underway. I'll post details about the adventure itself once the players start going through it and I don't need to worry about spoilers. In the meantime, here's another one of my takes on a FFXIV job for D&D play.


Black Mage

This time, I'm tackling the Black Mage. For this class, I thought it would be better to make a subclass for it instead of a whole new class, since I felt like the FFXIV Black Mage isn't a broad enough of a concept to branch out into multiple subclasses without diluting the essence of the job.

While one would initially think that Wizard would be the correct class to base FFXIV's Black Mage off of, my argument is that Sorcerer is the better choice. Black Mages in XIV don't really base their power off of studies as much as they do from their aether within; We can see this in the Job Quests themselves when the group of Lalafell Thaumaturge sibling mentos have one brother that, as much as he tries to study the arts, just doesn't have the capacity practice the magickal arts. Therefore, we can infer that in order to be a Black Mage, you must be born with a certain aptitude for it; Also it doesn't hurt that the Sorcerer class design, mostly talking about Sorcerer Points and Metamagic here, merges better with the Black Mage playstyle.

Here are some of my thoughts behind the decision process of making these abilities:

• Manaward and Ley Lines
• Sorcerer's 1st level abilities mostly settle the tone of what the class is supposed to be, granting minor yet important abilities that set the tone for the subclass. Manaward allows the caster to take more hits than usual. Ley Lines gives them an ability to freely roam within a chosen space that they'll want to stay in throughout a battle.
• None of these abilities really tell of a Sorcerous Origin by themselves, but it could be argued that they enable their user to tap into their inner potential by allowing them to focus better- and the best way they can do that is by staying still in a battlefield. Knowing this, we can make sense of why a Black Mage would need to learn these abilities first.
• Enochian
• This ability then becomes the result of a Black Mage's training coming to fruition. In order to execute this ability, they can't move. Their previous abilities allows them to feasibly pull this off. The main reason for this ability is to give Black Mage's cantrips a bit of a boost without having to increase it necessarily.
• Aetherial Manipulation
• In the game, one would normally use this ability to get out of harm's way at the last minute, and this ability reflects that.
• Polyglot
• This ability should encompass everything a Black Mage has been working towards into a single, satisfying display of power. The idea was to give them a passive ability that helped them always, and then another ability that they could use to nuke their enemies, at the cost of them losing something. In retrospect, it might feel a little too limiting for the result, but at the time of writing it, I felt it was balanced against other 18th level Sorcerer subclass abilities. We'll see what the future tells!

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this subclass turned out. I'll probably come back and add some flavor to it so it's not so cold and crunchy. I'm pretty sure I can word some things a lot better, too. Next up, I'll be working on the Warrior.