History Main / BlackAndWhiteMagic

Black And White Magic 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.

* In the sequel, ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'', [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Carlie/Charlotte]] and Angela fit the basic white mage / black mage archetypes, but Carlie can pick up limited attack magic if she takes the dark path while class-changing. Other possible white mages include Duran and Kevin, who can pick up healing magic on their light paths, while Hawk tends to be a direct damage-dealer regardless of class, even if his skills aren't quite "magic" and include some debuffs to go with them.

* 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.

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

* ''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.

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* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', before they lost her, Falin was Team Thorden's cleric and WhiteMage while Marcille was their offensive BlackMage. Marcille takes on duties as the team's healer after the first chapter and [[spoiler: Laios helps out later too.]]

* 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 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.

* ''OgreBattle'' is one case where this ''does'' overlap with BlackMagic and WhiteMagic. In that series, you need to have a low KarmaMeter to class change into the attack magic using Wizard or Sorceress, and a high KarmaMeter to change into the Cleric class.

** In ''VideoGame/{{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.

*** 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.

* 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.

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

* ''{{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.

* In DCUO, the Celestial power uses both Cursed and Blessed attacks. Cursed moves are black, Blessed are white. It's generally agreed that Cursed Celestial is better for DPS, while Blessed is better for the healing role.

** 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 ''{{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 caster could learn both types of magic, but in ''{{Might and Magic}} VII'' you had to choose either the light or dark path, which limited you to using only one of them.

* In the sequel, ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'', [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Carlie/Charlotte]] and Angela fit the basic white mage / black mage archetypes, but Carlie can pick up limited attack magic if she takes the dark path while class-changing. Other possible white mages include Duran and Kevin, who can pick up healing magic on their light paths, while Hawk tends to be a direct damage-dealer on his dark path, even if his ninjutsu skills aren't quite "magic" and include some debuffs to go with them.

** 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 Ultima. 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.

** In this case, the divide is extreme; the Cleric can't attack ''at all'' until promoting. On the flip side, Monks [[SpearCounterpart (the Cleric's male counterpart)]] 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).