RDM as a SubJob

[SkullCat]

I'm rather curious as to how on a whole RedMage works as a SubJob. The pros and cons of having it as a subjob. Why their skills would benefit such-and-such better than a different class 'if you want to so this route' that sort of thing.

[GakiYarou]

so am i, i'm thinking of havin it as my subjob and having my main job as a samurai that way i get some magic and melee going (no matter what though im gonna be a samurai mmm samurais rock)

[Gurada]

I think it would be useful mostly only to high level jobs in used as a sub because of dispell and Covert and Refresh. Of course, by the time you were to get a job in the 80's a level 80+ RDM would probably already have a high level spell of that form(Dispell and Refresh) But I can see how Covert would be useful to many mages mains, but just subbing it for one ability isn't a good idea.

[Maxim]

If they raise the level cap to 80, a Mage/RDM will be able to use Convert, and trust me, subbing red mage for just that one ability is definitely worth it. If the player has full HP, he'll be able to regain all of it in an instant with Convert. On top of that, Convert is a 10 minute ability so you'll be able to use it quite often.

Red mages also get special magic skills that only they can use. These are the En-Thunder, En-Stone, En-Blizzard, En-Fire, En-etc skills, and what they do induce a weapon with elemental properties (much like what the Magic Knight did in FFV). You get the first elemental spell at 16, and I've heard of Dark Knights subbing Red Mage so they can use these elemental spells. DRKs have a decent amount of INT, and on top of that they have high attack so these elemental bonuses are pretty nice for fighting pure elemental monsters that are weak against certain types of magic. Most Dark Knights will want to sub WAR or THF though, since this is the best way to get the most attack and dexterity.

At level 15 Red Mages get the passive Fast Cast ability that allows them to cast magic faster. A level 30 Black Mage or White Mage subbing Red Mage will get the extra casting time bonus (although they won't get as much MP as a real BLM/WHM or WHM/BLM, which is really important).

For the most part though, melees shouldn't sub red mage since there are much better alternatives. RDMs get spells much later than the real mages as well. A level 50 BLM/WHM will be able to cast Raise, but a level 50 BLM/RDM won't be able to cast it, and Raise is a very important spell at high levels such as 50. But as it is now, Red Mages don't have enough low leveled abilties that will make them worth the trouble subbing since the level cap is 65.