FFXIV x D&D - Wizard Archetype: Scholar

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/SJbK-u2ICV

Scholar

The Scholar is one of FFXIV's healing jobs. Their method of healing involves planning, preparation, and prevention. In comparison to their more direct healer counterparts, the scholar has a wide toolkit of ways to keep their party up, often in roundabout ways.

It wasn't too difficult to pick the Wizard as the class to base this archetype upon. After all, it's the only pure spellcaster that uses intelligence as their spellcasting ability modifier. Wizard spells will give the Scholar many options to help and protect their fellow adventurers in and out of combat, with spells such as Magic Weapon and Leomund's Tiny Hut.

I had to be careful, however. Wizards are not commonly known as healers. Knowing that WotC has yet to release a healing Wizard when all other non-healing spellcasters had a healing subclass, I started looking for any reasons that the written class itself might provide, and I found it in the level 18 ability: Spell Mastery.

Spell Mastery grabs one 1st and one 2nd level spell and essentially lets you cast them at will. This immediately spoils any attempts at simply giving the Scholar an expanded spell list with Cure Wounds on it, because having Cure Wounds at will trivializes spending hit dice at a short rest.

Therefore, in order to make a healing Wizard, they would have to be able to use Cure Wounds in a different manner...

Originally, Aetherflow was going to be Scholar's Metamagic, usable only for certain healing spells. However, once the realization that the Wizard couldn't just have Cure Wounds dawned, Aetherflow then turned into a resource with which to cast "demi-spells". Through these demi-spells, or Aetherflow Maneuvers, they are able to cast heals with a resource similar to spell slots.

Emergency Tactics allows Scholars to "sacrifice" their spell slots and use them for healing instead. In a tough fight, they'll find their bonus actions occupied as they convert slots in order to heal their allies.

Originally, the Nymian Fairy was going to be a variant familiar, having no spells of it's own and instead healing with spells that you transferred through it. However, after seeing how critical it was going to be for the Scholar's toolkit, I realized the Scholar really couldn't afford the fairy having hit points, and therefore being capable of dying. It would suck that they'd spend aetherflow stacks on this thing, only for it to die a turn later from a stray fireball. Now the fairy is essentially a Spiritual Weapon that heals instead.


Deployment Tactics, partly a remnant of my idea of making this a healing metamagic subclass, this feature allows you to spread a spell's use to one more target than Twinned Spell can.  My logic behind Deployment Tactics being balanced is that, while Twinned Spell works on any spell that targets one creature, and so it can be used offensively, Deployment Tactics can only be used on lower level spells that targets allies. This is a very limited selection of spells, some of which already let you select more targets if you spend higher level spell slots; If anything, this ability allows you to save one high (i.e. 3rd, 4th or 5th) level spell slot and use the subclass's resource instead.