History Main / LimitedMoveArsenal

The brain is a remarkable device. With training, it is capable of processing and accumulating a practically unlimited number of skills.

%% [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=240 Referenced]] in ''Webcomic/VGCats'' comic.
* In a Literature example, a person in the world of Nexxium, in the book ''Literature/{{Salvos}}'' can theoretically learn countless magical skills, but has to equip them to limited skill slots to use them, and if those slots are emptied, the skill that used to be in the slot is lost forever, more or less.
* The ''VideoGame/StarOcean'' games only allow a limited number of attack skills to be assigned to a character, but they can be changed mid-battle. Casters, on the other hand, can access their full repertoire from the menu, but in the third and fourth games, can also assign a limited number of spells to shortcuts where they can be used in combos for a damage boost.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Tales|Series}}'' games, starting with ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia Phantasia]]'', have the main character equip four skills to use in battle among the dozens of techniques they learn. With the Combo Command item, they can use any of these by inputting a series of fighting game-style commands. Some of the games have late-game items that can double the number of attacks you can equip at a time, with the second set being available by holding down a button.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', most moves/spells come in pairs and you can only know one of them at a time (for example, Genis's Thunder Blade and Spark Wave) depending on you exsphere configuration. (barring glitches).
* The first two ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games. You can only equip a limited amount of badges. You can increase the amount with level up bonuses. The first one had a cap of 30 badge points, while the second has a cap of 99.

* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' series:
** The first game forces anything that isn't swinging your weapon into the Right-Mouse-Button spell slot. Particularly annoying if you're playing a Sorcerer with a dozen spells to switch between. Carrying a staff with spell charges? That takes up the Spell slot too, even though you probably don't want to use it to hit people. You can hotkey up to 4 skills on the Funtion keys, but you still need to 'click' to actually use them.
** The second game is a bit more lenient, as you can map most non-Passive skills to both the Left-Mouse-Button and RMB. And can hotkey up to 16 skills (with the expansion).
** The third game by default only lets you map certain skills to LMB, RMB, and 1-4 keys, and you're limited to one skill per category. This can be disabled in the options Menu, leaving you with the freedom to bind any skill to any of your six buttons. With the only limitation being that certain skills can't be mapped on LMB.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', your skill inventory contains what you've learned of the average of 90 skills of your primary and secondary professions that you've bought, plus what you've captured of the ~25 elite skills for each profession, plus up to ~50 reputation-based PlayerVersusEnvironment only skills. And to make your choices larger, you can learn to change your secondary profession at will. You can equip: '''eight skills'''. Including only one elite and no more than three PlayerVersusEnvironment.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' expands this to 10 skills. Slots 1-5 are automatically set depending on which weapon/weapons you have equipped. Slot 6 is a heal spell (3-4 options). Slots 7-9 are regular skills that can be learned with skill points (20-25 options). Slot 10 is an elite skill that requires many more skill points to learn (3-4 options)
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter'' has 3 skills for each of 3 levels. Fewer on some weapons.
* ''VideoGame/EternalSonata'' initially limits you to having one active special move in light and one in shadow. Later, the limit is increased to two of both.
* In ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery'', battle skills are limited to two slots, even for the (friendly) AI characters who are not restricted by the lack of controller buttons. Magic spells are not limited.
* ''VideoGame/GodHand'' gives the player a limited number of slots for Gene's moves. It can be increased by purchasing Items from the shop.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry3DantesAwakening'' allows Dante to use one of six Styles, sets of secondary actions used with the Circle button, including extra moves with his melee weapons or guns, evasive maneuvers, the ability to parry attacks and release the built-up energy, summoning a phantom that a second player can control, or slowing down time for everything but himself. The problem is that only one of these Styles can be used at a time, and you can only switch Styles at a pedestal where you use Orbs to buy items. Also, you can only equip two guns and melee weapons out of the five or so each you get in the game at a time. [=DMC4=] and the Switch version of [=DMC3=] added the ability to switch Styles and the ability to swap between all weapons on the fly when playing as Dante.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dubloon}}'' lets each of your characters use only 4 spells in battle.
* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' and its sequels. While the particular mechanics were different in each game, you could only equip a limited number of skills at once, although each character could potentially learn every non-weapon skill and each skill related to weapons that they could equip.
* In ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'', characters have both moves unique to them and others that are available to all but can only be given to one character. As of ''4'', you can have a character forget a common move so another can learn it.

* You can only have 20 skills on any given character or item in ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''. To learn more, you need to have a Witch remove older ones beforehand.

* You were limited to 64 skills per character in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII''. Not only that, but you could only have one copy of a skill on one person at a time, and you had to use a rather rare item (which could thankfully be farmed) to transfer skills.
* The ''VideoGame/SDGundamGGeneration'' series limited mecha to four attacks until ''G Generation Spirits'', which upped the number to six.
* ''VisualNovel/AseliaTheEternalTheSpiritOfEternitySword'' limits each character to three attack skills, three defense skills, and three support skills, each with a limited number of uses between resting. Characters almost always fight in trios, splitting up the roles of attacker, defender and supporter, so that each character only activates one of their skills per encounter.
* In ''VideoGame/LastScenario'', each character that joins your party can initially equip only 2 spellcards, but key tablets that can be found can unlock their three other slots, allowing up to 10 spells.
* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', there are five colors of magic, and each one represents a philosophy or ideology and thus specializes in particular things. While it is possible to run a deck with all five colors, the result is CoolButInefficient, as the colors of mana you have on table will rarely match the color of the spells you have in hand. Until you get used to the {{metagame}}, it's much wiser to run decks of two colors or even one.
** Almost any CCG without a maximum limit to deck size will be technically averting this, though. The laws of statistics encourage you towards this trope, but however poor a strategic choice it may be to do so there's nothing actually illegal about throwing a thousand or so unique cards into a single deck.
* Invoker from ''VideoGame/Dota2'' is an incredibly versatile hero thanks to his ability to combine his standard abilities into new ones, possessing a whopping 11 active skills, surpassing the 4 skills that almost every other hero has. However, he can only store two at a time, and is restricted from invoking new abilities whenever he wants due to cooldown and mana cost. While this restriction diminishes as he gains levels, [[DifficultButAwesome having and invoking the right spells at the right time]] and remembering the combination for his spell is key to playing Invoker successfully.
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' heroes can only have four battle skills and four campfire respite skills available at any given time. You can only swap them outside of combat or camping. The only exception is the Abomination, who has two sets of battle skills that he can switch between via [[StanceSystem transformation]].
* Each party member in ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'' can only use 7 of all the skills they learn, with the eighth slot reserved for an ability that recharges them (and also likely [[DefendCommand reduces incoming damage until the next turn]]).
* ''VideoGame/MutantYearZeroRoadToEden:'' Characters develop mutant powers throughout the game. At any one time they can only have one Major, one Minor and one Passive mutation active, but you can choose which ones are active any time that you are not in combat.
* ''VideoGame/ArmoryAndMachine'' initially gives you only one skill slot to use in battle. You can unlock the other five by using keys obtained from defeating bosses, giving you up to a maximum of 6 skills. You are capable of [[PowersAsPrograms equipping different skills to each slot for use in combat]].
* In a non-video game example, ''Fanfic/FromMuddyWaters'' has Izuku and his Quirk, [[PowerParasite All For One]]. He has dozens of Quirks at his disposal, but he can only equip up to three different Quirks at a time and is further limited by his insistence on only using physical Quirks to hide the true nature of his powers. He can get around this limit by stacking multiple copies of the same Quirk, allowing him to greatly increase that one Quirk's effectiveness.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': In 5th edition, spellcasters have a limited amount of spells they can prepare every day, with clerics and druids able to reset their spell list every day. This is separate from the number of spell slots, which is the number of spells they can cast in a day.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'', where spells learned as part of one class actually stay learned no matter what class you change to after. This ends up being a perfect illustration of the "too easy" justification for not doing this, as you can end up (after lots of grinding) with physical powerhouses who keep healing and reviving each other, or with mages who can simply punch and kick enemies to death.
** Downplayed in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'': You don't keep spells when changing classes, but you do keep lesser abilities and stat boosts from the class' skill tree.
* ''VideoGame/ZanZarahTheHiddenPortal'': Each fairy can be equipped with two active offensive and two passive StatusBuff spells. You can only change the equipped spells outside of combat.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nexomon}}'': Each Nexomon can learn a large pool of skills, but only four of those skills can be assigned for use in battle at any given time. Learned skills can be toggled on or off outside of combat.

* Every ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game, including most of the spin-offs, limits each of your Pokémon to four moves at a time. Whenever one of them already has four moves and is preparing to learn another, you have to choose which move your Pokémon should forget, or just cancel learning the move. Unfortunately, in early games, you were pretty much out of luck if you realized you didn't like your Pokémon's moveset after the fact. Gen III (''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'') would introduce the "Move Reminder" as a late-game NPC that will help you out if you pay them with Heart Scales, while Gen 8 would finally make the NPC [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield show up early on and be free-to-use]], before deciding to just make it [[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus a standard menu option outside of battle]]. "Four Move Slot Syndrome" is the term used by competitive players when a Pokémon has an enormous selection of useful moves for support and/or type coverage, but this trope forces the player to sacrifice one part of its kit. It was [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Ruby_and_Sapphire_beta#Limitations considered during the development]] of ''Ruby and Sapphire'' to increase the number of moves, but the limit was maintained for the purpose of competitive balance.[[note]]The more moves a Pokémon has available, the more roles [[ConfusionFu it can potentially fulfill]], but the four-move limit prevents any one 'mon from being too versatile in combat. It also adds another layer of depth, as with a large enough movepool, two Pokémon of the same species and level can function differently from each other, keeping the opponent guessing on how to deal with it with it being too overwhelming (as under this system, even the most versatile Pokémon can be expected to have only three or four popular movesets rather than twenty).[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' limits each character's magic spells to a certain number.

* ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' for humans limits the human character to a set number of spells/skills and support abilities, and you can only have one of any given ability between all of them.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'' limits each character's magic spells to a certain number.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2''. Each job has a set ability, and you can set a second ability (either items or another job's set ability), a reactive ability, and a passive ability. Alchemists can equip both Items ''and'' a second job set, though the Items are locked in place and can't be exchanged for a third job set.
* ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'', with separate pools for combat maneuvers and special attacks.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' heroes can only have four battle skills and four campfire respite skills available at any given time. You can only swap them outside of combat or camping.

* Every ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game, including most of the spin-offs, limits each of your Pokémon to four moves at a time. Whenever one of them already has four moves and is preparing to learn another, you have to choose which move your Pokémon should forget, or just cancel learning the move; over the series' history, the difficulty in altering a Mon's moveset upon realizing you don't like it has ranged from "[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue tough luck, buddy]]" to "[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus customize anytime at your leisure]]". "Four Move Slot Syndrome" is the term used by competitive players when a Pokémon has an enormous selection of useful moves for support and/or type coverage, but this trope forces the player to sacrifice one part of its kit. It was [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Ruby_and_Sapphire_beta#Limitations considered during the development]] of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' to increase the number of moves, but the limit was maintained for the purpose of competitive balance.[[note]]The more moves a Pokémon has available, the more roles [[ConfusionFu it can potentially fulfill]], but the four-move limit prevents any one 'mon from being too versatile in combat. It also adds another layer of depth, as with a large enough movepool, two Pokémon of the same species and level can function differently from each other, keeping the opponent guessing on how to deal with it with it being too overwhelming (as under this system, even the most versatile Pokémon can be expected to have only three or four popular movesets rather than twenty).[[/note]]

* Every ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game, including most of the spin-offs, limits each of your Pokémon to four moves at a time. Whenever one of them already has four moves and is preparing to learn another, you have to choose which move your Pokémon should forget, or just cancel learning the move; over the series' history, the difficulty in altering a Mon's moveset upon realizing you don't like it has ranged from "[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue tough luck, buddy]]" to "[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus customize anywhere at your leisure]]". "Four Move Slot Syndrome" is the term used by competitive players when a Pokémon has an enormous selection of useful moves for support and/or type coverage, but this trope forces the player to sacrifice one part of its kit. It was [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pokémon_Ruby_and_Sapphire_beta#Limitations considered during the development]] of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' to increase the number of moves, but the limit was maintained for the purpose of competitive balance.[[note]]The more moves a Pokémon has available, the more roles [[ConfusionFu it can potentially fulfill]], but the four-move limit prevents any one 'mon from being too versatile in combat. It also adds another layer of depth, as with a large enough movepool, two Pokémon of the same species and level can function differently from each other, keeping the opponent guessing on how to deal with it with it being too overwhelming (as under this system, even the most versatile Pokémon can be expected to have only three or four popular movesets rather than twenty).[[/note]]