Disclaimer
Before we move on...
I will start with a disclaimer.. I am not fond of the zodiac job system. I don't like it really, that's why I decided to insist on playing this game and really pour my mind on this job system thing, even though I prefer the legacy License board from the PS2 version of the game.
Disclaimer over.
Considerations
I still occasionally see a post on what job to pick for what character, and, I'm not a fan of, and neither am going to, tell you what to do. But I'll explain to you what my thought process was for the jobs I picked for my party on my actual playthrough. Whether you follow in my footsteps or decide to do something different, it's up to you and I'm just happy to help.
Let's start with:
CHARACTERS BASE STATS:
These stats were taken from the character at level 55, with no gear on, no license board perks or anything. It's important we understand that. Only the relevant stats will be considered
VAAN
HP 2.800
Strength 53
Magick power 50
Vitality 44
Speed 31
BALTHIER
HP 2.721
Strength 52
Magick power 43
Vitality 43
Speed 32
FRAN
HP 2.608
Strength 49
Magick power 47
Vitality 46
Speed 30
BASCH
HP 2.829
Strength 54
Magick power 44
Vitality 35
Speed 29
ASHE
HP 2.601
Strength 50
Magick power 54
Vitality 41
Speed 30
PENELO
HP 2.529
Strength 47
Magick power 51
Vitality 43
Speed 30
Now, before we move on, I'm gonna ask a couple of rhetorical questions just to make my intentions clearer: If you were to pick one of them to be the tank of the party, you would pick the one with the highest amount of HP, right? The same would be for your spellcaster, you would choose the one with the highest Magick power, correct? Moving on... But to drive the point home....
Here Are Some TOP 3s
Top 3 Strength: 1 Basch, 2 Vaan, 3 Balthier.
Top 3 Magick: 1 Ashe, 2 Penelo, 3 Vaan.
Top 3 Vitality: 1 Fran, 2 Vaan, 3 Penelo.
Top 3 Speed: 1 Balthier, 2 Vaan, 3 Fran/Ashe/Penelo
Top 3 HP: 1 Basch, 2 Vaan, 3 Balthier.It's a Top 3 since parties consist of 3 members, so there's no point in doing a top 5.
But now that we got this info, we can move on.
JOBS
Now here is a summary of what each job entails, if anything, hopefully you'll find this section useful.
P.S.: LB stands for License Board. What you can find most interesting there, and "Occasional" are those licenses floating in the void, separated from the body of the license board, accessible only through Quickening, Summon, or a second LB. + HP is always the sum total. HB stands for Hand Bombs.
RED BATTLEMAGE
Weapon: Mace
Equip: Mystic Armor, Shields.
LB: +570 HP
12 Magick lore
White, Green, Black, Arcane and Time Magick
Occasional Greatsword (Ultima Blade, Ragnarok), Heavy Armor, +665 HPMACHINIST
Weapon: Gun, Measure
Equip: Light Armor
LB: +1.360HP, Remedy lore
Occasional Green, Time Magick, Makara, HB3, Magick loreUHLAN
Weapon: Spear
Equip: Heavy Armor
LB: 11 Battle lore, 4 Magick lore, +1.710 HP
Occasional Black Magick, Battle lore, Magick lore, abilitiesWHITE MAGE
Weapon: Rods
Equip: Mystic Armor
LB: 15 Magick lore, White, Green Magick
Occasional +540 HP, Greatswords 1 & 2, Daggers 5, Battle loreSHIKARI
Weapon: Daggers
Equip: Light Armor, Shields
LB: +2.100 HP, 5 Magick lore, 6 Battle lore
Occasional Ninja Sword, Guns 5 & 6, White Magick, abilitiesBUSHI
Weapon: Katana
Equip: Mystic Armor
LB: +1.330 HP, 6 Battle lore, 12 Magick lore
Occasional Battle lore, Sword, +1.240 HPBLACK MAGE
Weapon: Staves
Equip: Mystic Armor
LB: Black, Green Magic, 15 Magick lore
Occasional +1.120 HP, Heavy Armor, Makara, HB 2 & 3, TelekinesisARCHER
Weapon: Bows
Equip: Light Armor
LB: +1.360 HP, Remedy lore 1, 2 & 3
Occasional Magick lore, White Magick, abilities, Heavy Armor, +435 HPFOEBREAKER
Weapon: Axes & Hammers, HB
Equip: Heavy Armor, Shields
LB: +1.710 HP, 11 Battle lore
Occasional Magick lore, +390 HP, Battle lore, AbilitiesTIME BATTLEMAGE
Weapon: Crossbow
Equip: Heavy Armor
LB: Time, Green Magick, 9 Battle lore, 9 Magick lore
Occasional +650 HP, Battle lore, White Magick, abilitiesMONK
Weapon: Poles
Equip: Light Armor
LB: +2.600 HP
Occasional White magick, abilitiesKNIGHT
Weapon: Swords
Equip: Heavy Armor, Shields
LB: 9 Battle lore, +1.360HP
Occasional abilities, Battle lore, White Magick, telekinesis
Hopefully you'll find this small section useful, or at least better than having to sift through the license boards in the game in order to decide which to pick.
Moving on...
DAMAGE TYPES
Now for this part of the guide, I will simply link the damage formula wiki page[finalfantasy.fandom.com] in case you are interested in knowing in detail how the damage works, but for simplicity sake, I simply ask some questions:
What uses Strength? Swords, greatswords, spears, rods, crossbows do.
What uses Magick power? Katana, staves, Maces* do.
What uses Vitality? Axes & Hammers, hand bombs do.
What uses Speed? Daggers, Ninja swords, bows do.
Now with all this information, we can start putting together which job goes to whom and what party can we make with our guys.
PARTY NECESSITIES
Even though we are very close to figuring out the best jobs for our characters, we still need to ask one last question: What do we need to have in our party, preferably at all times?
Well, we need a tank, a healer, a support, and if possible a ranged unit.
Now here starts the problem because we need 4 things and the party can accommodate only 3 members... Well, technically the ranged unit is optional since it can be substituted by an offensive spellcaster... it would just be nice to have a ranged unit.
And also, thankfully, characters can have 2 jobs, just like Americans...
So the optimal party would consist of a tank, a healer, and a support. Tank and healer are pretty straightforward, just the support is a bit of a question mark, what kind of support? That will depend on you (Depending on the kind of support you pick (spellcaster), you undo the whole need for a ranged unit, even though a ranged unit is a support itself)
I'm droning on already...
Finally Linking The Stuff... Some Examples
Now that we got our top 3s, the jobs well laid out, the damage types are known and the party necessities are laid out as well, we can start making some inferences.
Per example, for Tanking jobs, we could pick Uhlan, and Knight, and Monk as well, depending on preference. And the characters that could fit best as tanks (Vaan doesn't count because he could be anything), we would have Basch and Balthier.
Balthier doubling as an Archer to have a ranged unit for backup, since he got the best Speed stat, he would be the best fit for Archer.
Penelo could be a Bushi, or a Red Battlemage, however that doesn't mean she should since she got the least HP out of all of them. You can compensate with the LB HP buff but a Penelo Bushi would be weaker than an Ashe Bushi, or a Vaan Bushi (Maybe not in damage output with a Mace as a Red Battlemage because Maces don't use strength in their damage formula, only magick power, but overall she would still be weak).
For support we could have people with Magick power, Vaan as versatile as ♥♥♥, could be a DPS and a support, a Bushi a Red Battlemage, he could even be a Mage, although it would be a waste of his potential focusing only on his Magick Power.
Hopefully this was enough to help you a bit choose your party's jobs and what not, and in case you are curious, I'll upload a screenshot of my party.
Cheers.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3376406088
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