The Scholar

[NosAnalogD]

I was hoping this job would allow for magic but unlike its DS counterpart this one seems more in line with the original game...Except for the alchemy skill. Is this nothing more than the double potency ability added to the 3D version or is something more going on here. My first thought was something similar to the Mix ability for the Chemists in FFV because of the way different items are highlighted in the selection menu. Anyone care to explain?
I have a feeling the Scholar will only be useful for the Hein battle unfortunately.

[SC_Nikki]

It just denotes that item usage is doubly effective. But I've been using a scholar for some time since Hein, and they're pretty good! Save all your battle items for them, Zeus' Wrath, Antarctic Wind, Bomb Fragment and so on. They really do insane damage against the right enemies (like Kraken and even Goldor).

[NosAnalogD]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a mixture of the original and 3D version. I'll try using the job for a while as it will make the party setup pretty interesting especially if I try to use him more as a primary healer.

[Korut]

Resurrecting this post just to mention that scholar has more usefulness on it than it seems (at least after the 1st patch):
- Alchemy increases the "multiply" factor as the job level increases. Don't know how fast this improves, but I realized the first bump it when my scholar was job around level 25.
- Items used in the main menu with a scholar present will be used at the scholar's alchemy potency
So, with a Scholar in the group of job level around 25, a simple potion used from the main menu items would be healing for at least 125 HP

[Zsrai]

Don't forget to put your Scholar in the front row with two books; they actually hit like a truck for quite some time (but are very, VERY squishy, especially as their armor ages out without a replacement). Also, lowest HP growth in the game, which can be damaging long term if you use them for a long time.

Originally posted by NosAnalogD:

I have a feeling the Scholar will only be useful for the Hein battle unfortunately.

Yeah, that's the only part they are really good for. There are a handful of jobs in FF3 that just suck, or are redundant with others, which is too bad IMO. Red Mages are bad past level 10, Warrior is pointless when you can just use a Monk or Red Mage and swap to Knight early on, etc. They have some good ideas but the implementation is meh. And this is after the PR stat rebalancing.

FF5 really made every job (except maybe Red Mage) useful throughout the whole game in some way.

[GatoMancer]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

Red Mages are bad past level 10,

Apparently you dont know the power of using the spell casting canes which only Red Mage and White mage Can use for a long time. The canes' strength also grows more powerful as you level up. I've basically not used direct casting of black spells except in boss fights cause of this. The infinite spell casting of this is massively useful all round.
Lv 35+ still rockin the Red Mage from the start.

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by GatoMancer:

Originally posted by Zsrai:

Red Mages are bad past level 10,

Apparently you dont know the power of using the spell casting canes which only Red Mage and White mage Can use for a long time. The canes' strength also grows more powerful as you level up. I've basically not used direct casting of black spells except in boss fights cause of this. The infinite spell casting of this is massively useful all round.
Lv 35+ still rockin the Red Mage from the start.

I do, since I use them on WHM and Devout and they are pitiful. RDM has the same base INT as a Devout so don't even do more damage with them. A BLM or Magus casting Blizzaga instead of using a Rune Staff for it was easily 3 or 4 times the damage for me. Blizzara from a BLM/Magus was hitting harder than Blizzaga from the Rune Staff.