Geomancer (Tactics)

A warrior who uses Geomancy to control powers lying dormant in the natural terrain.

Description

Geomancer is a job in Final Fantasy Tactics. It is a balanced physical job but more defensive than most. Geomancer has the action ability Geomancy to bend the earth itself to attack and inflict an ailment to the targets within a certain range. Geomancer costs 2,870 JP to master.

In the War of the Lions, leveling Geomancer to level 2 along with separate level requirements for Archer and Thief will unlock Ninja; leveling to level 5 along with separate level requirements for Squire, Chemist, Summoner, Dragoon, and Orator unlocks Mime; while leveling it to level 5 along with Dragoon will unlock Dancer for females. Leveling to level 8 along with separate level requirements for Knight, Black Mage, Dragoon, Ninja, and Samurai, as well as getting 20 kills with the unit (defeated units must turn into chests or crystals to count), will unlock Dark Knight. The job level unlock requirements tend to be a little lower in the PlayStation version.

Stats[]

Abilities[]

Geomancy[]

Geomancer job command. Attacks with mystical powers drawn from the earth itself.

Description

Geomancy is the Geomancer's command ability. Every tile in the battlefield is designated a specific type of terrain to determine which Geomancy ability will be used. If the user has not learned the Geomancy ability of the tile that they are standing on, the command Geomancy will be unavailable (but Nature's Wrath can still use it). The damage dealt by Geomancy is low, but they can inflict status effects.

The formula of the power of all Geomancy abilities are the same:

${\displaystyle \text{Magickal Attack} \times (\text{Physical Attack} / 2 + 1)}$

The chances of statuses with each attack is 25%.

Zodiac compatibility and elemental affinity affect the resultant damage, but Faith stat is irrelevant. This makes female units slightly better Geomancy users than males because females tend to have higher magickal AT scores. The advantages of Geomancy include 100% hit-rate, no charge time, no MP cost, 1 grid further casting range than most magick spells, and a chance of inflicting a status ailment.

The Geomancy effect does not engulf its caster even if they are within the effect area. Tanglevine and Will-o'-the-Wisp are the most commonly available terrain when fighting outdoors/indoors. However, most of the others are very situational and only work on a handful of maps, such as Zeklaus Desert for Sandstorm, Ziekden Fortress for Snowstorm, or late game Mount Bervenia being the only one for Magma Surge (and movement by Lava Walking).

Despite the support ability Attack Boost being learned from Geomancer class, it does not boost the power of Geomancy abilities. Instead, Arcane Strength learned from Black Mage can slightly increase its power.

Reaction abilities[]

Support abilities[]

Attack Boost raises physical attack damage by 33%.

Movement abilities[]

With Ignore Terrain, moving through clear water does not decrease movement range. It does not eliminate penalty when moving through swamps during a storm, or protect against the poison effect of Poisonous Fens. Lava Walking only has an effect on Mount Bervenia.

Terrain tiles[]

Terrain plays an important role in for Geomancer's abilities. The player can learn the type of terrain and its required Geomancy ability of the particular terrain when pressing after cancelling from the unit's command menu.

The only place to find the terrain "Road" is on the map called Main Street of Lesalia. Since the map cannot be accessed normally, the tile has been dummied out. Standing on the Road tile and selecting Geomancy will attack with the Sinkhole ability. The "Ice" tile is dummied out completely, and is not found on any map.

Gameplay[]

The Geomancer is a unique melee and magick hybrid fighter that can use different types of abilities depending on the terrain the user is on. It has balanced attributes akin to the Knight, but with slightly lower physical attack in favor of magick attack. Geomancy abilities have high range, are instant, cost no MP, and can inflict debilitating effects on their victims, but also have lower damage output than pure magick skillsets. The Geomancer is one of the only jobs with access to water damage.

The Geomancer gets the most out of its skills by investing in abilities and equipment that improve its attributes. Its own Attack Boost support ability is great for it, as well as the Black Mage's Arcane Strength (which also benefits Nature's Wrath, Speechcraft, or Iaido).

The Geomancer can equip the Squire's Fundaments as a secondary job command to use Focus to slowly increase its damage output through the fight, though Shout with Ramza Beoulve or Luso Clemens is a good late-game upgrade.

Geomancy bypasses Faith/Atheist status, which also helps low faith Luso and Marach Galthena, especially when JP-farming by common Tanglevine terrain (most fights are outdoors on grassland) for low damage and possible Stop to prolong a battle.

Attack Boost also has versatility with axes (Geomancer does not need the Squire's Equip Axe), non-elemental guns, bows, crossbows, innate Brawler of a Monk, Jump, and Holy Sword. It also allows shields to be equipped (except when wielding axes), unlike Doublehand (which only works with polearms for normal attacks), which cannot be used with any of the aforementioned equipment/abilities (and Dual Wield would only work with Brawler with either being innate, from that list). At only 400 JP, Attack Boost also costs a fraction of these other support abilities without needing time-consuming job level unlocks, such as Vehemence, which also lowers defense, or incompatibility issues for certain physical attacks.

The Geomancer is outclassed by both magick and physical classes, since its damage output is lacking for both. Its Geomancy can be bit more effective when used by the Samurai who boasts slightly better physical and magickal attributes. However, the Samurai cannot equip a Runeblade, Aegis Shield, and an Attack- or Magick Attack-boosting hat, which may allow the Geomancer to do more damage with its abilities than a Samurai, while also being faster with a magick/speed-boosting Lambent Hat. The equipment available to a Geomancer is a strong asset that should not be overlooked.

Other appearances[]

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]

Ability Cards

Sinkhole (R).

Wind Blast (R).

Sinkhole (R+).

Wind Blast (R+).

Contortion (SR).

Torrent (SR).

Contortion (SR+).

Torrent (SR+).

Magma Surge (SSR).

Legend Cards

Will-o'-the-Wisp (SR).

Will-o'-the-Wisp (SR+).

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Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]

Geomancer appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Water-elemental Backup and Forward cards.

Geomancer [1-138C] Chapter series card.

Geomancer [1-139C] Chapter series card.

Geomancer [1-168C] Opus series card.

Geomancer [1-169C] Opus series card.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]

Knights of the Crystals[]

Geomancer appears as a card in the Ivalice Special Arena has a limited-time special arena with eighteen floors.

Male card.

Female card.

Gallery[]

Male Geomancer.

Female Geomancer.

Male Geomancer Character Card.

Female Geomancer Character Card.

Male Geomancer portrait.

Female Geomancer portrait.

Torrent.

Tanglevine.

Contortion.

Tremor.

Wind Slash.

Will-o'-the-Wisp.

Quicksand.

Sandstorm.

Snowstorm.

Wind Blast.

Magma Surge.

Lava Walking.

Etymology[]

[view · edit · purge]Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand. Geomancy is derived from the roots geo- (Earth) and -mancy (prophecy). Geomancy was one of the original ways to translate Feng Shui, since it predicts things by the elements similar to astrology with the stars.

Its Japanese name, Fūsui or Fūsuishi (風水士), refers to the Chinese feng shui. [view · edit · purge]Feng shui is the Chinese studying of the direction, geography and/or weather to calculate the individual's fortune who resides or works in that place. Bells are used in the craft as instruments to dispel negative energy and stimulate positive energy.

Notes[]

Citations[]