History Main / BlackAndWhiteMagic

[[quoteright:345:[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_black_removebg.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:345:[[BlackMage To harm]] or [[WhiteMage to heal]]? [[JobSystem Take your pick.]] [[note]]But who says you can't [[TheRedMage do both]]?[[/note]]]]

* ''VideoGame/PerfectWorld'' has the Wizard (full on squishy) and the Cleric (healer, but also specializes in Metal magic).

** Only true in regards to stand-alone boss battles where spell resistance and lack of multi-effect spells meant that a Knight hitting 32 times or so was more effective than nuking the boss with Flare. Due to lack of attack spread by physical classes, the Black Mage was still useful in later dungeons because the high-level damage spells targeted the entire battlefield, allowing the player to clear every enemy at once, rather than whittling away at the enemies one by one.

* ''VideoGame/UltimaIII: Exodus'' divides its spells into Wizard and Cleric, and has several classes which can use one or both to various extents. It gets a bit strange since Wizard magic includes a spell that lets the caster use Cleric magic. Note also that this is the only game in the ''Ultima'' series which does this; all the others have only a single spell list which all spellcasting classes use.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Might and Magic}}'' series has both Dark and Light magic as classes of spells that spell casting characters can learn. Light magic is mostly for improving your stats, defenses, and healing, while Dark magic is full of very powerful damage spells. In most of the games, any qualifying caster could learn both types of magic, but in ''VideoGame/{{Might and Magic}} VII'' you had to choose either the light or dark path, which limited you to using only one of them, while ''VIII'' limited Dark magic to necromancers and Light magic to clerics. More broadly speaking, sorcerers/necromancers used Elemental magic, which slightly trended offensive, while clerics used Self magic, which slightly trended buffing/healing.

* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': This is the contrast between Valerie and Kaylana. In the former's case, she largely uses magic to kill or destroy (aside from a couple instances). Kaylana uses hers to heal others and also speak with animals or control them largely.

** However, Wizards have always been good as a support class, albeit not healing. In fact, in 4th and 5th edition Sorcerers are better at blasting, with Wizards specializing more in buffing, debuffing, and crowd control. Clerics are also tanks, and they may be good at dealing damage too, depending on the edition.

** In this case, the divide is extreme; Clerics and Priests can't attack ''at all'' until promoting. On the flip side, Monks (a male-only class associated with Light magic) cannot ''heal'' at all until they promote (except in ''Awakening'', where they're in the same boat as Clerics). In order attack ''and'' heal, they have to promote to a Sage ([[TheRedMage using staves and Anima magic]]), a Bishop ([[LightEmUp staves and Light magic]]) or (in ''Awakening'') a War Cleric/War Monk (AnAxeToGrind).

* ''VideoGame/WarCraftII'': Humans got White Magic in the form of Paladins. Their counterpart used Black Magic, but both also had offensive casters. In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', all races except the undead have an offensive caster and a defensive/healer, though the Nightelven Druid of the Claw could also transform into a bear, the heaviest ground unit on their side until the expansion. Said expansion also added a third spellcaster into the mix which specialized in AntiMagic.
** In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', pretty much all of the healer classes also have the ability to do damage, but special mention goes to the priest class, which comes off as the stereotypical "white mage" and is the only class with two healing specs, but also has access to some of the nastiest [[BlackMagic shadow spells]] in the game in their lone DPS spec.

** In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', pretty much all of the healer classes also have the ability to do damage, but special mention goes to the priest class, which comes off as the stereotypical "white mage", but also has access to some of the nastiest [[BlackMagic shadow spells]] in the game.

[[folder:MMORPGs]]

[[caption-width-right:345:[[BlackMage To harm]] or [[WhiteMage to heal]]? [[JobSystem Take your pick.]] [[note]]But who says you can't [[RedMage do both]]?[[/note]]]]

Not to be confused with BlackMagic and WhiteMagic, which are distinct tropes and don't usually overlap with this. If a character can do both, then he's TheRedMage. Characters who use black magic are {{Black Mage}}s, characters who use white magic are {{White Mage}}s.

** Funny enough, the original Black Mage wasn't just about hurting people, he also had a great selection of StatusEffect spells. Due to damage progression, his endgame role was to buff the physical attackers who could deal far more damage that way than the mage himself. Later games gave these spells to White Mages before budding all the status magic off into its own sub-category (Green Magic).

** In addition to Arcane and Divine casters, Fourth Edition also has Primal casters (which cover nature-based classes like the Druid). Furthermore, it's now possible to have Divine "Black Magic" users (such as the Invoker) or Arcane "healers" (like the new version of the Bard).

* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series uses this as well, starting with its third installment. It's unusual in that "clerics" not only specialize in healing but also wind magic.
** It's also unusual in that most Cleric-type characters in this series also tend to learn [[UselessUsefulSpell instant-kill spells that don't hit often enough]] in most cases to warrant using them often anyways.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ultima III}}: Exodus'' divides its spells into Wizard and Cleric, and has several classes which can use one or both to various extents. It gets a bit strange since Wizard magic includes a spell that lets the caster use Cleric magic. Note also that this is the only game in the ''Ultima'' series which does this; all the others have only a single spell list which all spellcasting classes use.

[[folder: MMORPGs ]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the Thaumaturge/Black Mage and Conjurer/White Mage. Black Mage is purely offensively oriented, with Fire, Ice, Thunder and Shadow spells making up their main repertoire. White Mage focuses almost exclusively on healing, buffing and cleansing negative effects, with wind and earth elemental spells to provide some minor offensive capability.

[[folder: Real Time Strategy ]]

[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]

** Only true in regards to stand-alone boss battles where spell resistance and lack of multi-effect spells meant that a Knight hitting 32 times or so was more effective than nuking the boss with Flare. Due to lack of attack spread by physical classes, the Black Mage was still useful in later dungeons because the high level damage spells targeted the entire battlefield, allowing the player to clear every enemy at once, rather then whittling away at the enemies one by one.
* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series uses this as well, starting with its third installment. It's unusual in that "clerics" not only specialize in healing, but also wind magic.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ultima III}}: Exodus'' divides its spells into Wizard and Cleric, and has several classes which can use one or both to various extents. It gets a bit strange, since Wizard magic includes a spell that lets the caster use Cleric magic. Note also that this is the only game in the ''Ultima'' series which does this; all the others have only a single spell list which all spellcasting classes use.

* The ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'' series has Nature Magic and Combat Magic. Nature Mages aren't completely limited to healing and buffing though - they can cast offensive Ice Magic spells (for freezing and slowing effects) and are pretty good at summoning creatures. However, in sheer destructive power they are no match for a skilled Combat Mage.

** While healing falls exclusively under priest spells, mages also do more than a bit of buffing and priests can do nuking with Divine Fire and other spells. At high levels, a priest can be more dangerous in combat than a mage, but this may be GameplayAndStorySegregation, because all the most crazy-powerful characters in the setting are magi.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

[[folder: Gamebooks]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', this is how you can spot the Church of Razmir as a ScamReligion: where every other priest in the setting uses White Magic, priests of Razmir use Black Magic since they aren't actually ''priests'', because Razmir is lying about being a god.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' clerics of [[CrystalDragonJesus S'allumer]] use white magic to heal and smite foes, particularly the undead. While necromancers use black magic to raise the dead and curse foes, but has a habit of backfiring every so often.

Okay, you're designing an RPG, and you've got your FighterMageThief, but something's missing. The magic adds a lot of strategic elements to the combat system, and you don't want to have just one magic user. You want to add more variety. But you can't just create a copy of the mage; it has to be [[SuperheroSpeciation different somehow]]. So how to make the two mages distinct? Simple. Have one [[SquishyWizard attack]] and the other [[TheMedic heal]]!

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' provides the canonical examples with the Thaumaturge/Black Mage and Conjurer/White Mage. Black Mage is purely offensively oriented, with Fire, Ice, Thunder and Shadow spells making up their main repertoire. White Mage focuses almost exclusively on healing, buffing and cleansing negative effects, with wind and earth elemental spells to provide some minor offensive capability.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' is the TropeNamer. Since the first game (and intermittently thereafter), it has divided its magic into "Black" and "White" categories, with black mages getting elemental attacks, white mages getting healing spells, and red mages got both at weaker levels. Later games have added other varieties of magic, such as SummonMagic and time magic, but every game with a class system (and many without) has had its Black Mage and White Mage.

** The early editions are most likely the TropeMaker and definitely the inspiration for ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', above. It has always had the Wizard class, which specializes in blasting spells, and the Cleric class, which specializes in healing spells. The third edition furthered this split, dividing all spellcasting classes into Arcane and Divine casters.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy'' is the TropeNamer. Since the first game (and intermittently thereafter), it has divided its magic into "Black" and "White" categories, with black mages getting elemental attacks, white mages getting healing spells, and red mages got both at weaker levels. Later games have added other varieties of magic, such as SummonMagic and time magic, but every game with a class system (and many without) has had its Black Mage and White Mage.

[[caption-width-right:345:[[BlackMage To harm]] or [[WhiteMage to heal]]? [[JobSystem Take your pick.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' provides the canonical examples with the Thaumaturge/Black Mage and Cleric/White Mage. Black Mage is purely offensively oriented, with Fire, Ice, Thunder and Shadow spells making up their main repertoire. White Mage focuses almost exclusively on healing, buffing and cleansing negative effects, with wind and earth elemental spells to provide some minor offensive capability.