Crafting questions...

Joker2240

So let me get this right that in order to actually mine or craft in FFXIV you have to be a disciple of hand? Meaning if you want to be lets say a Lancer you will be unable to mine or craft? 

I know this is a silly question and probably has been answered somewhere. I guess I am just lazy....

AIMonster

You switch classes/disciplines by changing your equipped weapon, so you aren't stuck being anything.  In this case you'd switch from a lance to a pickaxe to change to a Miner, mine, and then switch back to a Lancer if you want to do combat again.

GTwander

From what I understand, the class you are [at the time] is determined by your weapon, but some of the skills of that class roll over to others. So, equip a spear during combat; you're a lancer. Equip a pickaxe out of combat; you're a miner, and can then go mining. If you've done both high enough, you can probably convert the miner's +dmg vs metal creatures to your lancer palette, or maybe some lancer skills if you choose to go into combat with a pickaxe (which in all likelyhood will probably be a dumb idea, but maybe it could work well).