History Main / MasterOfOneMagic

* ''TabletopGameDungeonsAndDragons'' introduced the concept of "Specialist Wizards" in ''TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsSecondEdition'', which invoke but play with this trope in various ways.

* Specialist wizards in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' gain increased proficiency in one of the eight schools of magic, but permanently lose access to two different schools. So a specialist wizard is a "jack of ''most'' trades, master of one". There are also the [[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms Red Wizards of Thay]], who get even more dedicated power with their specialist school but lose access to a third school.

** Lina herself is top of the field at black and chaos magic, and is actually the only practitioner of chaos magic in the world and intends to stay that way. This is not a result of her greediness, but of her moral character; since the only two chaos spells she's invented are the Ragna Blade, which exhausts her within seconds of being cast, and the Giga Slave, which will ''destroy the world if she loses control for an instant''. She's somewhat less competent in shamanic magic and inept in white magic. Zelgadiss is the master of shamanism.

** In Occult Adventures we get the Kineticist class, embodies this in regards to the use of one of seven elements: aether, air, earth, fire, plant, void, and water. One can eventually do two elements, but the second will almost always be weaker, and it comes with the opportunity cost of taking your element UpToEleven, i.e. intensifying your fire blasts so they glow blue and hit like a pyromaniac's guilty dream.

* ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'':
** Charles Xavier is recognized by everyone, friend and foe, to be ''the'' premier mortal telepath in the entire Nine Realms. Even after he is technically surpassed for raw power by Jean, [[spoiler: Maddie]], and possibly Harry, his skills are unmatched: it is widely agreed that he's still capable of taking any of them to the cleaners if it came to a fight. He's also capable of, amongst other feats, telepathically slaughtering demons by the dozen and projecting an image all the way to Asgard (albeit only after Loki showed him the way, so to speak). The only time he ever has trouble in a telepathic duel is with [[spoiler: Dracula]] in the second book, a PhysicalGod and VampireMonarch who's been practising for several centuries. He's also the only person (bar Doctor Strange) who scares [[spoiler: Sinister]], a powerful telepath in his own right [[TranquilFury (calmly threatening to peel the other man's mind like an orange might have had something to do with it)]]. Also bear in mind that Strange scares literally everyone else, and heavy hitters, up to and including Magneto, Wanda Maximoff, and ''Odin'' have bones to pick with [[spoiler: Sinister]]. Having built Cerebro to enhance and focus his skills, he is very much not to be messed with.
** Wanda Maximoff zig-zags this trope. While she's a RedMage (in more than one sense, since she's [[{{Pun}} the Scarlet Witch)]], she's also a natural master of chaos magic, an area in which even her mentor, [[TheArchmage Doctor Strange, and Loki, God of Magic,]] defer to her.
** While there are probably those out there who, through sheer experience, are better than he is, Harry Thorson (like his namesake, Harry Dresden, but more so) is noted as being extremely good at [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]], partly thanks to natural talent and intuition, partly thanks to practise, and partly, it is repeatedly suggested, through [[spoiler: having a fragment of the Phoenix within him]]. However, it is noted that this is something of a mixed blessing, since if anything, he's over-specialised, and has to make something of an effort to learn other forms of magic so he doesn't get too predictable.
** Harry Dresden is noted as being one of the best magical trackers on the planet, as a side-effect of his skills at thaumaturgy. He's privately sceptical of this but notes that he ''does'' have an advantage on practitioners centuries his senior in that he practises all the time and is thus much more used to dealing with the obstacles of the modern world.

** Tobas of Telven from ''With a Single Spell'' spent months learning ''Thrindle's Combustion'' (a spell which uses a pinch of brimstone to ignite anything flammable no matter how wet it is or what the conditions around it are and makes existing fires explode with incredible force) because his master was a crabby old man who reluctant to teach him anything else. After all that practice, though he's got it down cold, and it proves remarkably useful (a well-timed casting puts paid to a fire-breathing dragon, for example). He does learn other spells later, though.

** Tobas of Telven from ''With a Single Spell'', spent months learning ''Thrindle's Combustion'' (a spell which uses a pinch of brimstone to ignite anything flammable and makes existing fires powerfully explode) because his master was a crabby old man who reluctant to teach him anything else. After all that practice, though he's got it down cold, and it proves remarkably useful. He does learn other spells later, though.

* Megumin from ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'' seems to be becoming one of these, if she is not one already. Her chosen spell is Explosion and she refuses to learn any others, preferring instead to maximise the power of her Explosion magic. Unfortunately though, due to being young and low levelled, she doesn't have the [[RequiredSecondaryPowers reserves of mana]] needed to use it more than once a day.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] establishes and enforces the Coven system, in which all magic users are required to join one of the nine covens. This, in turn, [[CripplingOverspecialization prevents them from using any type of magic ''besides'' the one used by their coven]]. Each of these covens is then represented by their most powerful member known as a [[TheArchmage Coven Head]], and all Coven Heads are part of the Emperor's Coven, the only coven where witches are allowed to become [[MasterOfAll Masters of All]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has plenty of characters of this sort. Indeed, since the vast majority of wizards in the game are only allowed to use a single spell lore at once (though most have several to choose from), specialisation is the rule and breadth of magic the exception. As such any wizard with the "Loremaster" special rule would qualify for this trope, as the rule means that they know all the spells from the Lore of Magic they specialise in (usually seven), rather than the 1-4 most normal wizards get. Notable Loremasters include Balthasar Gelt (Lore of Metal), Mannfred von Carstein (Lore of the Vampires and Lore of Death), High Priest Khatep (Lore of Nehekhara), Tetto'Ekko (Lore of the Heavens), and Vilitch the Curseling (Lore of Tzeentch). Other very powerful wizards who only use a single lore of magic - such as Arkhan the Black (Lore of Death) would also fit. Special mention should be made of Kairos Fateweaver (Lore of Tzeentch) and High Loremaster Teclis (High Magic), who both have the equivalent of the Loremaster rule for their own discipline, but don't really fit the trope because they can choose to be generalists and take spells from all eight of the colour magic lores (in Kairos's case as well as his Tzeentch spells, in Teclis's case instead of his High Magic ones). The in-universe explanation for this is that the winds of magic are too powerful/abstract for human minds to use without sacrificing sanity or physical integrity (which Chaos worshippers naturally don't care about), so they're normally restricted to one; elves don't have this limitation and in fact are the only beings besides the lizardman Slann to be capable of using High Magic (which involves making use of all winds).

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has plenty of characters of this sort. Indeed, since the vast majority of wizards in the game are only allowed to use a single spell lore at once (though most have several to choose from), specialisation is the rule and breadth of magic the exception. As such any wizard with the "Loremaster" special rule would qualify for this trope, as the rule means that they know all the spells from the Lore of Magic they specialise in (usually seven), rather than the 1-4 most normal wizards get. Notable Loremasters include Balthasar Gelt (Lore of Metal), Mannfred von Carstein (Lore of the Vampires and Lore of Death), High Priest Khatep (Lore of Nehekhara), Tetto'Ekko (Lore of the Heavens), and Vilitch the Curseling (Lore of Tzeentch). Other very powerful wizards who only use a single lore of magic - such as Arkhan the Black (Lore of Death) would also fit. Special mention should be made of Kairos Fateweaver (Lore of Tzeentch) and High Loremaster Teclis (High Magic), who both have the equivalent of the Loremaster rule for their own discipline, but don't really fit the trope because they can choose to be generalists and take spells from all eight of the colour magic lores (in Kairos's case as well as his Tzeentch spells, in Teclis's case instead of his High Magic ones).

* Zigzagged in ''Manga/BlackClover''. Most mages are capable of using only one element, and all known exceptions are instances of experimented mages, hybrids, and powerful devil hosts. TheProtagonist Asta can only use AntiMagic, Magna can only use [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]], Julian can only use [[TimeMaster time magic]], etc. However, they quickly learn how to use their magic types to do many different things, with the most skilled mages able to do

* This seems to be the norm in ''Manga/FairyTail''. Most mages focus on one school of magic, but are very good at averting CripplingOverspecialization in one way or another. in the main cast alone:
** Natsu uses [[FullContactMagic full contact]] [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]] that emulates the power of a dragon, and he's very good at out-thinking defenses that would otherwise be a problem for him.
** Lucy uses SummonMagic to call on a diverse assortment of celestial spirits, each with their own style of magic.
** Gray can make any inanimate object using [[AnIcePerson solid ice]], which gives him a huge number of options.
** Erza's magic lets her change weapons and armor instantly, and there's something in her HyperspaceArsenal for [[CrazyPrepared just about everything]].

* Zigzagged in ''Manga/BlackClover''. Most mages are capable of using only one element, and all known exceptions are instances of experimented mages, hybrids, and powerful devil hosts. TheProtagonist Asta can only use AntiMagic, Magna can only use [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]], Julian can only use [[TimeMaster time magic]], etc. However, they quickly learn how to use their magic types to do many different things, with the most skilled mages able to do [[SwissArmySuperpower near anything they want]] with their designated types.
* Megumin from ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'' seems to be becoming one of these, if she is not one already. Her chosen spell is Explosion and she refuses to learn any others, preferring instead to maximise the power of her Explosion magic. Unfortunately though, due to being young and low levelled, she doesn't have the [[RequiredSecondaryPowers reserves of mana]] needed to use it more than once a day.

* Megumin from ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'' seems to be becoming one of these, if she is not one already. Her chosen spell is Explosion and she refuses to learn any others, preferring instead to maximise the power of her Explosion magic.

* ''Literature/CodexAlera'': Everyone (well, [[MuggleBornOfMages almost everyone]]) in Aleran society has elemental powers, though most people have access to at least a couple and the nobility have them all, with single-element crafters generally considered fairly lowly. However, there are certain single-element crafters who show that they can do a ''lot'' with what they've got -- [[WeakButSkilled Amara]] and [[MamaBear Isana]] with their wind- and watercrafting are the most prominent examples.

** From the same book as the Kineticist we have-
** The Occultist, who can be considered guilty of this in two ways: one, being restricted to and an absolute prodigy with the use of magical artifacts and items, and two, potentially being able to hone one implement school of magic to the exclusion of almost all others.
** The Mesmerist, which is functionally like a Bard that focuses on MindManipulation.
** The Medium, which is functionally like a Summoner who utilizes a powerful spirit instead of an Eidolon.

* ''Literature/CodexAlera'':
** Everyone (well, [[MissedTheCall almost everyone]]) in Aleran society has Elemental powers, though most people have access to at least a couple and the nobility have them all, with single-element crafters generally considered fairly lowly. However, there are certain single-element crafters who show that they can do a ''lot'' with what they've got- [[MamaBear Isana]] with her watercrafting is the most obvious example.

** Ernest Armand Tinwhistle better known as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Binder]] is a "one-trick hack" who can summon up some FacelessGoons. [[TheMinionMaster By the dozen in under a minute.]] And while nothing next to most of the supernatural baddies readers have seen, [[WeHaveReserves their sheer numbers]] make Binder the head of his own personal army capable of standing off forces technically far superior to himself and being a general nuisance enough to earn a good living as a mercenary. Just as long as nobody [[WeaksauceWeakness draws a circle]] around his lads that is - though, as he hints in ''Literature/SkinGame'', if he's prepared for someone to 'start playing circle games', he can work around it (precisely how is unspecified).

** This trope is deconstructed in regards to [[MeaningfulName Hannah Ascher]], who's very good at PlayingWithFire but sucks at pretty much everything else. While she is very, ''very'' good with fire, quite a bit better than Harry (who's certainly no slouch with pyromancy himself), she has little combat versatility, and is no real match for a more experienced combatant, as shown when she and Harry finally get into it. Even with all her skill and [[spoiler:Lasciel and all her knowledge of Harry's tricks and spells]] on her side, [[spoiler: Harry puts her down with relative ease and spends most of the fight begging her not to force him to kill her. She doesn't listen.]]

** An extra on the author's website tells the tale of Kaltin the Fool. Born aligned to fire, he attempted to master water as well and succeeded...for about two seconds. After that, the conflict between the two elements essentially caused him to explode.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Hogwarts professors are skilled in magic in general, but each has a specialty that they are best at. The prime example is Gilderoy Lockhart, who unlike the other professors isn't any good at other kinds of magic (nor what he's supposed to teach). He is, however, extremely good at memory charms, and uses this skill to make people forget their own heroic deeds and take credit for them.
** Harry himself is this trope, as he is decidedly average-to-poor in every aspect of magic, except for defensive spells, in which he is a virtual child prodigy, mastering skills like the Patronus charm many years before it's even possible for most wizards. His reputation as such, especially when they keep him alive in many life-threatening incidents, has his classmates turning to him to teach them Defense Against Dark Arts when the corrupt Ministry of Magic prevents Hogwarts from teaching the proper curriculum in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''.

* In Creator/ChinaMeiville's work ''Literature/IronCouncil'' Judah Low is the foremost expert in [[ImprovisedGolems golemetry]], animating non-living material with magic. He learned from a group of native nonhumans called stiltspears while he was working as a surveyor for a train track being planned. While the stiltspears treated the practice as childish play, the principles lead Judah to animate a startling variety of materials, including gunpowder, corpses, light, darkness and eventually replicating the use the adult stiltspears turn the practice to in hunting, but on a huge scale by using some of the local magi-tech to power the creation of a [[spoiler: Time golem, traping the titular iron council forever and derailing everyone's plans in an anticlimax]]

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', each of the orders of the [[MagicKnight Knights Radiant]] has access to two forms of magic called Surges, plus a 'resonance' that combines both. Their enemies the Fused, in contrast, work differently - each order (or 'Brand') of Fused can use only one Surge, but between their specialization and the fact that they're all thousands of years, most Fused are very, ''very'' good with their single Surge, to a level Radiants rarely attain.

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', each of the orders of the [[MagicKnight Knights Radiant]] has access to two forms of magic called Surges, plus a 'resonance' that combines both. Their enemies the Fused, in contrast, work differently - each order (or 'Brand') of Fused can use only one Surge, but between their specialization and the fact that they're all thousands of years old mean that the Fused are very, ''very'' good with their single Surge, to a level Radiants rarely attain.

* In Creator/SergeyLukyanenko and Creator/NickPerumov's ''Literature/WrongTimeForDragons'', all members of [[ElementalMagic Elemental clans]] can only control their particular element. It's not clear if anyone has ever tried to learn to control another element. Presumably, this is not looked upon favorably, as learning someone else's magic means you're not honing your skills in your area. So, Ritor may be the best Air mage in the Middle World, but he knows nothing about Earth, Water, or Fire magic. Ditto for Torn (Water), Anjey (Earth), and Navajo (Fire). The same is true for any members of any of the [[AnimalMotifs Totem clans]]. Totem magic is largely limited to enhancing physical combat qualities, although the status of a first-rank Totem mage is, technically, equal to that of a first-rank Elemental mage. When a third-rank Water mage forgets this and treats Loy Iver (the leader of the Cat Clan and a first-rank Totem mage herself) as someone of lower stature, she quickly reminds him by temporarily putting him under her control with some Cat magic. Averted with Victor, who is supposed to become the master of all four Elemental magics in order to become TheDragonslayer. However, it's implied that his mastery will disappear after his task is fulfilled (Ritor was once a Dragonslayer himself).

** Ernest Armand Tinwhistle better known as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Binder]] is a "one-trick hack" who can summon up some FacelessGoons. [[TheMinionMaster By the dozen in under a minute.]] And while nothing next to most of the supernatural baddies readers have seen, [[WeHaveReserves their sheer numbers]] make Binder the head of his own personal army capable of standing off forces technically far superior to himself and being a general nuisance enough to earn a good living as a mercenary. Just as long as nobody [[WeaksauceWeakness draws a circle]] around his lads that is - though, as he hints in ''Skin Game'', if he's prepared for someone to 'start playing circle games', he can work around it (precisely how is unspecified).

** This trope is deconstructed in regards to [[MeaningfulName Hannah Ascher]], who's very good at PlayingWithFire but sucks at pretty much everything else. While she is very, ''very'' good with fire, quite a bit better than Harry (who's certainly no slouch with pyromancy himself), she has little combat versatility, and is no real match for a more experienced combatant, as shown when she and Harry finally get into it. Even with all her skill and [[spoiler: Lasciel and all her knowledge of Harry's tricks and spells]] on her side, [[spoiler: Harry puts her down with relative ease and spends most of the fight begging her not to force him to kill her. She doesn't listen.]]

** Harry himself is this trope, as he is decidedly average-to-poor in every aspect of magic, except for defensive spells, in which he is a virtual child prodigy, mastering skills like the Patronus charm many years before it's even possible for most wizards. His reputation as such, especially when they keep him alive in many life-threatening incidents, has his classmates turning to him to teach them Defense Against Dark Arts when the corrupt Ministry of Magic prevents Hogwarts from teaching the proper curriculum.

If there's any magic-user organization that specializes in one type of magic, you can expect the Master of One Magic to be the [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking head of the group]]. They're often subject to CripplingOverspecialization, especially if they [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer only rely on the magic they excel at]] when they can generalize their abilities. Also keep in mind that "magic" [[MagicByAnyOtherName doesn't always have to go by that name]] when adding examples. EnlightenmentSuperpowers, KiManipulation, PsychicPowers and the like can be counted as well.

Compare TheArchmage, a powerful and learned wizard, which a Master of One Magic often is. Also compare TheRedMage, who isn't a master of any one field but has a nearly unparalleled versatility. PoorPredictableRock is when someone is dedicated to a single element in a ElementalRockPaperScissors universe. Contrast MasterOfAll.

** Natsu uses [[FullContactMagic full contact]] [[PlayingWithFire fire magic]] that emulates the power of a dragon, and he's very good at outhinking defenses that would otherwise be a problem for him.

* Louise François [=LeBlanc=] de la Vallière of ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'' fame seems to be the poster girl for this. In the [=ZnT=] world, mages have elemental alignments that can be stacked (a single-element mage is a Point Mage, one who can use two elements is a Line Mage, three elements give a Triangle Mage and so on). Louise is constantly mocked for her absolute inability at producing a single spell of any element... Until it's discovered she's aligned to the legendary [[GameBreaker Void]] element, and she's ridiculously and '''''scarily''''' skilled in using its Explosion spell.

-->'''Velvet Remedy:''' Your special gift isn't being limited to only one spell, it's being able to use that spell better then any pony in the last 200 years.

** Harry Dresden is noted as being one of the best magical trackers on the planet, as a side-effect of his skills at thaumaturgy. He's privately sceptical of this, but notes that he ''does'' have an advantage on practitioners centuries his senior in that he practises all the time and is thus much more used to dealing with the obstacles of the modern world.

** Ernest Armand Tinwhistle better known as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Binder]] is a "one trick hack" who can summon up some FacelessGoons. [[TheMinionMaster By the dozen in under a minute.]] And while nothing next to most of the supernatural baddies readers have seen, [[WeHaveReserves their sheer numbers]] make Binder the head of his own personal army capable of standing off forces technically far superior to himself and being a general nuisance enough to earn a good living as a mercenary. Just as long as nobody [[WeaksauceWeakness draws a circle]] around his lads that is - though as he hints in ''Skin Game'', if he's prepared for someone to 'start playing circle games', he can work around it (precisely how is unspecified).
** Mortimer Lindquist is an Ectomancer, who specializes in magic related to ghosts and spirits. He's even better at it than most wizards, and can do things like borrowing combat skills from them. We later find out he's served as almost a second Wizard of Chicago preventing all manner of ghostly threats from hurting anyone.

** This trope is deconstructed in regards to [[MeaningfulName Hannah Ascher]], who's very good at PlayingWithFire but sucks at pretty much everything else. While she is very, ''very'' good with fire, quite a bit better than Harry (who's certainly no slouch with pyromancy himself), she has little combat versatility, and is no real match for a more experienced combatant, as shown when she and Harry finally get into it. Even with all her skill and [[spoiler: Lasciel and all her knowledge of Harry's tricks and spells]] on her side, [[spoiler: Harry puts her down with relative ease, and spends most of the fight begging her not to force him to kill her. She doesn't listen.]]

** An extra on the author's website tells the tale of Kaltin the Fool. Born aligned to fire, he attempted to master water as well, and succeeded...for about two seconds. After that, the conflict between the two elements essentially caused him to explode.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Hogwarts professors are skilled in magic in general, but each have a specialty that they are best at. The prime example is Gilderoy Lockhart, who unlike the other professors isn't any good at other kinds of magic (nor what he's supposed to teach). He is, however, extremely good at memory charms, and uses this skill to make people forget their own heroic deeds and take credit for them.

* In Creator/ChinaMeiville's work ''Literature/IronCouncil'' Judah Low is the formost expert in [[ImprovisedGolems golemetry]], animating non-living material with magic. He learned from a group of native nonhumans called stiltspears while he was working as a surveyor for a train track being planned. While the stiltspears treated the practice as childish play, the principles lead Judah to animate a startling variety of materials, including gunpowder, corpses, light, darkness and eventually replicating the use the adult stiltspears turn the practice to in hunting, but on a huge scale by using some of the local magi-tech to power the creation of a [[spoiler: Time golem, traping the titular iron council forever and derailing everyone's plans in an anticlimax]]

** The Summoner class focuses heavily on summoning. They actually lose out on gaining some high-level summoning spells (their spellcasting only goes 1th to 6th level rather than 1th to 9th like wizards, clerics and the like) as spells, but on the other hand they get the big ones of those as spell-like abilities instead, get to cast other summoning spells as lower-level spells ''and'' get a permanent customizable summon called an Eidolon.
** In Occult Adventures we get the Kineticist class, embodies this in regards to the use of one of seven elements: aether, air, earth, fire, plant, void, and water. One can eventually do two elements, but the second will almost always be weaker, and it it comes with the opportunity cost of taking your element UpToEleven, i.e. intensifying your fire blasts so they glow blue and hit like a pyromaniac's guilty dream.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' has plenty of characters of this sort. Indeed, since the vast majority of wizards in the game are only allowed to use a single spell lore at once (though most have several to choose from), specialisation is the rule and breadth of magic the exception. As such any wizard with the "Loremaster" special rule would qualify for this trope, as the rule means that they know all the spells from the Lore of Magic they specialise in (usually seven), rather than the 1-4 most normal wizards get. Notable Loremasters include Balthasar Gelt (Lore of Metal), Mannfred von Carstein (Lore of the Vampires and Lore of Death), High Priest Khatep (Lore of Nehekhara), Tetto'Ekko (Lore of the Heavens) and Vilitch the Curseling (Lore of Tzeentch). Other very powerful wizards who only use a single lore of magic - such as Arkhan the Black (Lore of Death) would also fit. Special mention should be made of Kairos Fateweaver (Lore of Tzeentch) and High Loremaster Teclis (High Magic), who both have the equivalent of the Loremaster rule for their own discipline, but don't really fit the trope because they can choose to be generalists and take spells from all eight of the colour magic lores (in Kairos's case as well as his Tzeentch spells, in Teclis's case instead of his High Magic ones).

* Elementalists in ''Videogame/GuildWars'' can use Fire, Water, Air or Earth magic, but because of the limit in skill slots and skill points it's best if the player specializes in only one element (often Fire, which does the most damage to multiple enemies). This does not hold true in its sequel, ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', where the most powerful Elementalists will switch their attunements in combat for a given situation, usually to make use of their combo fields.