History Main / BlackAndWhiteMagic

** In this case, the divide is extreme; the Cleric can't attack ''at all'' until promoting. He or she has to promote into either TheRedMage (Sage) or War Cleric-War Monk (AnAxeToGrind).

* ''{{WarCraft}}'': In the second game, Humans got White Magic in the form of Paladins. Their counterpart used Black Magic, but both also had offensive casters. In Warcraft III, 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.

!!Non-video game examples

* In the ''Literature/LoneWolf'' books, there is left-handed magic, practiced by the good wizards of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star. which generally focuses on healing, protection, transportation, diplomacy, and detection, and right-handed magic, practiced by the Nadziranim, evil wizards in service to the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Darklords of Helgedad]], which tends to focus on destruction and the infliction of destruction. That being said, left-handed magic does have at least one offensive spell of destruction, Lightning Hand, which enables the caster to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin shoot a lightning-bolt out of his hand]]. There are also other varieties of magic, such as Magi-Magic, practiced by the good Elder Magi of Dessi, as well as the Shianti magic, as practiced by Grey Star, to say nothing of the more supernatural powers of the Kai.

[[quoteright:119:[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackwhitemage2.jpg]]]]

[[AC:{{MMORPG}}s]]

[[AC:{{Real Time Strategy}}]]

** In ''{{World of WarCraft}}'', 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.

[[AC:{{Role Playing Game}}]]

[[AC:{{Tabletop Games}}]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is 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.

** In addition to all this, the Divine casters themselves can be split into white and black magic. Evil-Aligned characters can take inflict spells instead of heal, which hurt people and heal undead.
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<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

!!Examples

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

BlackAndWhiteMagic is a common way of having more than one magician character or class while having them remain distinct. One of the mages specializes in offensive magic which causes damage, negative status, or otherwise harms the enemy, while the other specializes in defensive magic to cure their allies, remove negative status, or increase their own stats. They are often referred to as "wizard" and "cleric" (or some variation) respectively.

* ''SecretOfMana'' has two spellcasting party members: the Girl, who uses healing and support effects, and the Sprite, who uses attack magic.

* The ''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.

** 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.

* ''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.

* ''VideoGame/BahamutLagoon''. Not surprising, as it began life as a ''FinalFantasy'' spinoff.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is most likely the TropeMaker and definitely the inspiration for ''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.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' is most likely the TropeMaker and definitely the inspiration for ''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.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

[[quoteright:119:[[FinalFantasyTacticsA2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackwhitemage2.jpg]]]]

* Lucca and Marle from ''ChronoTrigger'' have this dynamic even before learning magic. Lucca starts with the Flame Toss technique, which involves throwing a line of flames at an enemy, and Marle has the Aura technique which restores HP.

* ''BahamutLagoon''. Not surprising, as it began life as a ''FinalFantasy'' spinoff.

[[caption-width-right:119:[[BlackMage To harm]] or [[TheMedic to heal]]? [[AnAdventurerIsYou Take your pick.]]]]

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 [[GlassCannon attack]] and the other [[TheMedic heal]]!

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 TheMedic.

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.

Not to be confused with BlackMage and WhiteMagic, which are distinct tropes and don't usually overlap with this. If a character can do both, then he's TheRedMage.

[[caption-width-right:119:[[TheDarkSide To harm]] or [[TheMedic to heal]]? [[AnAdventurerIsYou Take your pick.]]]]

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.

[[AC:MMORPGs]]

** 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 or other classes.

[[FinalFantasyTacticsA2 http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackwhitemage2.jpg]]
[[caption-width:119:[[TheDarkSide To harm]] or [[TheMedic to heal]]? [[AnAdventurerIsYou Take your pick.]]]]

[[caption-width:119:To harm or to heal? Take your pick.]]

* ''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.
** 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 or other classes.
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' is most likely the TropeMaker and definitely the inspiration for ''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.
** 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).
* PerfectWorld has the Wizard (full on squishy) and the Cleric (healer, but also specializes in Metal magic).

* The ''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.
* ''{{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.

* ''FireEmblem'' has two varieties of spellcasting equipment: books, which act as weapons, and staves, which generate healing and support effects.
* ''SecretOfMana'' has two spellcasting party members: the Girl, who uses healing and support effects, and the Sprite, who uses attack magic.
* ''BahamutLagoon''. Not surprising, as it began life as a ''FinalFantasy'' spinoff.
* Lucca and Marle from ''ChronoTrigger'' have this dynamic even before learning magic. Lucca starts with the Flame Toss technique, which involves throwing a line of flames at an enemy, and Marle has the Aura technique which restores HP.

** In {{World of WarCraft}}, 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.

* The {{Avernum}} series has magic split into mage spells and priest spells, which are exactly what they sound like.