Blessing that wards against physical attacks, granting Protect to distant units. Vertical range is improved compared to the Protect spell.
The Ivalice Chronicles' description
Protectja, also known as Protect 2, is a White Magicks ability in Final Fantasy Tactics, learned by the white mage job. It charges a spell that grants the Protect status to units within the effect radius, reducing the damage taken from physical attacks. The action ability must be learned by expending JP earned for the white mage job.
Other abilities that grant Protect include the bard's Nameless Song, the samurai's Kiyomori Iaido, as well Aegis, from Alma Beoulve's cleric and Ovelia Atkascha's princess jobs.
Certain equipment, such as the sortilége and the save the queen, grant the Auto-Protect status, a permanent buff that will always grant the unit the Protect effect.
The white magick Wall grants both Protect and Shell to a single unit.
Obtained[]
Protectja costs 600 JP in the North American version of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PlayStation, and 500 JP in the original Japanese version, as well in all versions of The War of the Lions and The Ivalice Chronicles, to be spent on the white mage job. Once the unit has learned it, it is available for other jobs as long as they have the White Magicks skillset equipped.
Protectja has a 10% chance of being randomly learned mid-battle if cast on a white mage who has not learned the spell yet. The spell cannot be passed on when a unit becomes a crystal.
Mechanics[]
Shining light, shield from all directions! Protect 2!
Upon casting
A white mage using Protectja to apply protect on their ally.
Protectja costs 24 MP with a charge time of 15 speed, with a cross-shaped effect range that can affect up to five units. The status lasts for 32 clock ticks. Magick has a chance to hit (including healing and supportive magicks) based on the caster's faith and the target's faith. Protectja's chance of success is based on the following formula:
This means that the higher both the caster and the target's faith stats, the higher the chances of the Protectja spell to take effect.
The Protect status does not directly reduce damage from attacks, but subtracts the attacker's physical attack power by ⅓ in the damage formula. If the attack is done with a weapon that uses magickal attack or speed, then Protect instead reduces that stat for the attack. In addition, physical attacks that have stat-dependent success rates will face a penalty such that revised stat = [stat * 2/3] when targeting a Protected unit; consequently, Protect can lower either the success rate or the damage of physical attacks.
Protect can be removed with other abilities, such as the mystic's Harmony or the templar's Dispel.
The unit can still attempt to cast magick even without the required MP, however, it will fail upon activating.
Protectja cannot be reflected, and will be nullified against a unit with zero faith or under the Atheist status; however the status effect will still provide damage reduction to the unit if they were granted protect before becoming affected by Atheist, having their faith reduced to zero, or wearing an equipment that grants the Auto-Protect effect. Protectja cannot be cast by the arithmetician job command, Arithmeticks.
When casting magick, the player can choose whether to target the unit or the tile. Targeting the unit will result in the magick being cast directly at the character, meaning that if they move, the spell will still affect them. Targeting the tile will result in the spell only affecting the selected map tile; if there are no units within the spell radius, the cast will fail.
Use[]
The damage-reduction effect of the Protect status keeps the buff relevant through the entire game.
The major difference between the Protect and Protectja is that the latter has an increased height of effect at the expense of increased MP cost, slower cast speed, and lower success chance. Both Protect and Protectja grant the same status effect. Therefore, in most situations, casting Protect is more effective unless units are positioned on tiles with significant height differences.
Since Protectja cannot be reflected, it can be cast on units under the status, or wearing equipment such as the mirror mail.
The samurai's Kiyomori Iaido can outshine the Protectja spell, as it is an instant ability that also grants Shell. However, katanas have a chance to break when executing the Iaido, resulting in it being permanently lost, and the user unable to cast it again unless they have more than one Kiyomori in their inventory.
Behind the scenes[]
In the PlayStation version, a white mage casting Protectja may chant: "Shining light, shield from all directions! Protect 2!" Spellcasting chants are not used in The War of the Lions version, but return in The Ivalice Chronicles with new localization.