What Relm Arrowny can tell us about Pictomancer in FFXIV

Relm Arrowny may not have been the most significant party member in Final Fantasy 6, but she’s quickly become a major topic of conversation with the reveal of the Pictomancer job in Final Fantasy XIV. While we know precious little about this new painter mage in Square Enix’s biggest MMORPG, Relm may give us some valuable insight into what Pictomancer can do in the meantime.

Everything we know about Pictomancer in FFXIV

During the keynote speech in Tokyo, we were shown the video above and given a brief summary of what to expect from Pictomancer. While we weren’t told any specifics about abilities or the Job’s lore, here’s what we were told:

• It’s a ranged magical DPS class.
• The weapon for Pictomancer will be, predictably, a brush.
• It unlocks at level 80 in Gridania.
• Krile will become a Pictomancer.
• It works in the medium of ‘Mixed Aether’, wielding a specialised brush to render their imaginings reality.
• While Pictomancer is not going to be a full support class, it will have many buffs to benefit the party.
• They will not be able to resurrect fallen party members.

Pictomancer probably won’t duplicate enemies this time

Additionally, Yoshi P did officially acknowledge the link between Pictomancer and Relm from Final Fantasy 6. He said that while the inspiration is obviously there, they’ve greatly expanded upon Relm’s abilities and skills.

Furthermore, the german translation for the job’s title will now be “Piktomant” rather than “Duplikant” as it was in FFVI. Though Duplikant fit Relm’s ability to copy her enemies, the name will not fit the upcoming version of the Job. 

Relm Arrowny’s abilities in Final Fantasy 6

Relm’s special skill in FFVI was ‘Sketch’, which allowed her to brings drawings of her enemies to life in order to attack. When using this skill, a sprite of the enemy would appear over her head before vanishing – very similar to the Moogle which appears in the FFXIV Pictomancer video. 

Each sketched enemy could use one of two moves, with one being notably rarer than the other. Rather than reflecting Relm’s stats, the attack would reflect the stats of the enemy it was drawn from.

It’s interesting to note that in FFVI, Relm can equip a relic called Fake Moustache, which allows her to take control of the enemy, rather than create a duplicate of it to fight for her. There is already an equippable Fake Moustache item within the game, so I’m hoping that Pictomancer’s level Relic Weapon isn’t going to involve the addition of falsified facial hair. 

Relm’s Desperation Attack, which is likened to a Limit Break in FFXIV, was called ‘Star Prism’. This would inflict instant death on its target, which would obviously be pretty overpowered in FFXIV. Still, we could see a nod to this ability name in either the Pictomancer’s limit break or their core rotation.

Theories about Pictomancer in FFXIV

Naturally, the FFXIV community is rife with speculation about Pictomancer’s lore and battle mechanics. Everything below is completely unconfirmed, but current theories involve the following:

• Pictomancer may be able to manipulate terrain or atmospheric conditions.
• While Pictomancer probably won’t directly interact with its enemies, it likely can draw creatures and bring them to life. We can see this with the Moogle in the Pictomancer preview video, as well as the butterflies and Spriggan that Krile draws in the official Dawntrail trailer.
• Different colors on the palette may reflect different elements. From the showcase video, we can see that yellow is stone, red is fire, purple is lightning and white appears to draw a landscape which turns into an ice attack.
• The Job Gauge for Pictomancer could be a palette, and mixing colors together could be a battle mechanic.
• Higher level or damage attacks may include something similar to Star Prism.