jobs....and their affects on stats?

ok, so im new to the FFIII job system. I was expecting something like in tactics where you could choose to keep traits from previous jobs after changing... or maybe something like in XI where you have a subjob. Im a little frustrated with the way this job system is in III. However, i read on someone's Job FAQ that changing a character to a black belt job and then back to another job would raise their max HP. Does this mean that some stats are transferred when changing jobs? if this is true, is it only the job that was used immediately prior to changing, or is this a cumulative thing for all jobs taken on by a particular character? sorry for the long post, and thanks for the help.

hmm... well so what youre saying is that i can gain more hp per level as a blackbelt or monk (due to their increased VIT), and that those HP gains aren't lost when changing jobs? in other FF games, changing from a job with high HP to a job with low HP would just drop your HP to the appropriate level for the lower HP job. I just figured that changing to blackbelt would raise my HP only for as long as i was playing as a blackbelt... as far as leveling up in the job, i knew that much. what i dont understand is a job's ability to have an affect on the character AFTER ive changed to another job. It seems like from hearing you and the FAQ author that this is possible. HP is the only stat that can be affected by a past job in this way though, correct?

This message was merged with other messages by Child of Death and D (moderator)

yeah... im not really sure what that guy said since i didnt see it before it was deleted, but i did try to edit the post before reposting. Thanks so much for the clarification, mettaur. and i will be joining the forum.

Depends on what you mean by the perfect "stats".

Like I've mentioned before, you don't need to start leveling up as Blackbelts before character level 60. Trust me on this, I had my character (Arc) as a Black Mage and a Dragoon - both with pretty low HP gains per level - before changing him into a Blackbelt at character level 63. Then I leveled him up as Blackbelt from then on until character level 99. Final HP: 9999.

As for the perfect "stats", the only job that can have 99 on all 5 (STR, VIT, AGI, INT, MIND) stats is the Onion Knight at character level 99. All of the other jobs vary. Some may have 99 Vitality at character level 99, some may have 99 Defense at that level, while others may have both.

And this game features both character and job level. Job level contributes directly to how much damage your character deals. Character level contributes to the stats of your characters. Don't take it the wrong way though, job level also affects stats, but only in minute difference. If I'm not mistaken, about +1 to a certain stat per 10 job levels or something.

Also, there are TWO separate kinds of stats. The first one are the 5 that I've mentioned before, which correspond with the character's level. The second kind corresponds directly with your equipments, and they are ATK, DEF, MAGIC DEF. Note that they're completely independent from your character's level, although they're dependent on the first set of stats. ATK depends on STR, and DEF depends on VIT. MAGIC DEF depends on both INT and MIND.

Hope that helps.

Do you think it's still possible to achieve 9999 hp if my stats for my B.Belt are lvl 77, HP 6377, Vitality 85? I started going blackbelt at lvl 50. I SHOULD go to 9999 right?

And also, would a Knight with 87 Vitality, 5800ish hp, lvl 77 achieve 9999? The 87 is from 67 VIT + Save The Queen and Ultima Sword. I had him in ninja for 44 job lvls before I changed him

This formula I picked up from some guide still confuses me at one point.
HP Gain = Character's Level + Vitality + Bonus
Bonus = (Random # between 0 and 0.5) x Vitality

This 'Vitality' is from what? The job level vitality stat? So I should have my Black Belt job level at 99 when I level up with my characters? Or is it the mere fact that you should just level up with the Black Belt class active?

What I think I'm trying to get at is for someone to answer this scenario:
Both Guy A and Guy B are both leveling up to level 51. Both guys are currently in the Black Belt job class. Guy A has his Black Belt job class at level 1. Guy B has Black Belt job class at level 99. Does both Guy A and Guy B gain similar HP gain during the level up or does Guy B gain more because his Black Belt class is currently higher?

And if this Vitality stat is based on the job level and not the character level, is it avaciable to max out your job level first before you start leveling your character? So like you should have all your character while being level 7 have them all monks with job level at 99? OR am I missing the whole relation between character level and job level entirely?