Decoy (ability)



Decoy is a recurring ability in the series.

Final Fantasy XII
Decoy is an Arcane Magick spell that grants the status effect Lure, which causes one ally to be the target of all foes. The spell costs 10 MP to cast and can be bought in Rabanastre, Eruyt Village, and Mt. Bur-Omisace for 2,500 gil. However, the license Arcane Magick 3 is required, which costs 40 LP. Strangely, the game treats Decoy as if it is casting a negative status effect upon the character, meaning the spell can miss and be resisted, in a similar manner to Berserk. Stop status will remove the Decoy status, also a stopped target is immune to this spell.

The problem with Decoy is that it does not increase the Enmity of the surrounding enemies towards the target, but simply attracts them temporarily. Meaning when the status Lure fades the enemies will immediately target player character with highest Enmity. Also the status lasts not long, only slightly longer than Reverse. Decoy's base success rate is 60%, but it is also affected by the caster's Magick Power and the target's Vitality, making it somehow unreliable in the middle of the battle.

In the International Zodiac Job System version, Decoy is a Green Magick. Its License is Green Magick 1. The spell can be used by the White Mage, Red Mage, Time Mage and Black Mage jobs, while Machinists must obtain the Esper Exodus license first.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Decoy Bit is an ability used by Filo. It grants decoys to all of Filo's group members, effectively lessening the damage taken from enemy attacks.

Final Fantasy XIV
Decoy is a level 2 ability used by the Archer. It allows its caster to dodge a single attack.

Trivia

 * In the manga version of Final Fantasy XII Balthier challenges Vaan to a game where Balthier catches a coin and Vaan must guess which hand it is in. Vaan loses and Balthier explains he won the coin flip using the magic spells Decoy and Vanish to distract Vaan, toss a fake coin while throwing the invisible real coin to Fran, and Vaan lost because he was too naive and didn't watch his surroundings.