History Main / ReducedManaCost

* The Sage class in the VideoGame/DragonQuest games often has this as a feature.
** In VideoGame/DragonQuestIX, the ultimate Sage skill reduces all spellcosts by 25%, no matter the current class. The Twocus Pocus ability lets you cast a spell twice for no extra cost (and it counts towards the combo system), the Mage's LimitBreak lets him cast spells for 0 MP for a while, and applies it to the whole party if the Sage has a LimitBreak active as well.

** In VideoGame/DragonQuestIX, the ultimate Sage skill reduces all spellcosts by 25%, no matter the current class. The TwocusPocus ability lets you cast a spell twice for no extra cost (and it counts towards the combo system), the Mage's LimitBreak lets him cast spells for 0 MP for a while, and applies it to the whole party if the Sage has a LimitBreak active as well.

* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': [[PlaceOfPower Hallows]] have enough ambient magic in the area to automatically provide one point of mana towards every spell that's cast within them.
* Numerous examples exist in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', ranging from completely useless to potentially gamebreaking.

** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has enchantments that reduce Magicka cost for specific schools. With the right perks and some alchemy abuse, it is possible to make a set of equipment that reduces the Magicka cost for, say, Destruction to ''zero''. Thus allowing you to throw fireballs and other lethal spells as much as you like.

Compare CooldownManipulation.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' allows you to reduce energy costs by up to 75% by through a combination of the mods Streamline,Fleeting Expertise(at the expense of power duration) and arcane helmets on certain frames.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', lacking traditional MP, has other ways to accomplish this. ''VIII'' has the "Expend2x1" and "Expend3x1" that allow you to cast two or three times at the expense of one spell stock. ''XIII'' has various weapon modifications that charge your ATB rate, effectively allowing you to cast faster.

* The Energy Balancer and its analogues in the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' series is essentially a technological version of this, allowing Mega Man to fire Special Weapons for half the cost. The Head Parts in ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'' goes one better, allowing X to fire infinite Special Weapon shots, as long as they’re not a ChargedAttack.

* ''Videogame/HobkaiImpact3rd:'' [[SocketedEquipment socketing your]] [[PowerTattoo Stigma]] with a certain material will give it various extra traits, one of them being the reduction of SP cost (whether for weapon skills or Ultimate skills). Note that you still need to reach the required amount of SP to be able to use said skills, just that when you do use them, you'll use less SP than normal.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has enchantments that reduce magicka cost for specific schools. With the right perks and some alchemy abuse, it is possible to make a set of equipment that reduces the magicka cost for, say, Destruction to ''zero''. Thus allowing you to throw fireballs and other lethal spells as much as you like.
** This was also present in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', where magic costs decreased as your level in the associated skill increased. At skill level 100, spells only cost 20% of their base cost. Unlike Skyrim, magic costs could not be decreased to zero, as boosting most skills over 100 doesn't have further effects. Since Oblivion has SpellCrafting, this limit is necessary for some semblance of balance.

* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has both this and the inversion listed in the trope description. Active skills come in the form of Virtue Gems that are socketed into your equipment. Active skills can be linked to support gems that add extra effects (for example, extra melee damage against bleeding enemies or causing projectile skills to chain to other enemies) but increase the cost. The Reduced Mana support gem reduces mana costs by a percentage, while certain item properties can apply a flat reduction.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has many status buffs and passive traits that reduce or remove the MP cost for certain spells, such as the White Mage’s “Thin Air”[[note]]all spells cost no MP for the duration[[/note]] or the Astrologian’s “Lightspeed”[[note]]The MP cost for all spells is halved and their casting times are reduced[[/note]]. The Black Mage inverts this with its Astral Fire stance, which doubles the cost—and power—of its fire spells.

** Subverted in the Avatar of Jarlsberg challenge path, where such effects will not only reduce spell cost, but also spell ''power'' (i.e., the fewer MP the spell costs, the weaker it is). This was, shall we say, not very popular with the player base, so Jick's plans to introduce it as a game-wide mechanic were put on hold.

* The ''VideoGame/KisekiSeries'' has the EP Cut Quartz, which reduces the EP cost of Arts. Starting in the Erebonia Arc there is also a random turn bonus that grants 100% EP reduction for a single turn, plus some ways to munchkin the casters so that casting an attack spell can potentially return more EP than it cost. There is also a Master Quartz that doubles the EP cost of Arts in exchange for a damage multiplier.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the Overcure ability for White Mages and Conjurers where upon casting Cure II, there's a small chance that the next cast of Cure III will have its MP cost cut in half.

* While ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' lacks a straight example of this trope, as everyone would be required to have one and therefore no one could afford one, some pieces of mage gear have a degree of the Conserve MP trait, which confers a small chance of halving the MP spent on a spell.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the Overcure ability for White Mages and Conjurers where upon casting Cure II, there's a small chance that the next cast of Cure III will have its MP cost cut in half.

* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' has the Emerald Ring and Fairy Ring, which reduce TP costs by one-third and one-half respectively. Some games also have the Risky Ring, which reduces TP costs to one, but has the drawback of making you take doubled damage.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has not only the Silver Stud, which cuts MP cost by half, but the Gold Stud, which cuts it to 25%. Advanced magic is incredibly powerful but balanced by its extremely high MP cost, making Golden Studs a complete GameBreaker thanks to the Black Omen, from which you can farm enough to supply your entire roster. Luminare won't outright kill most enemies, but two uses will, and three uses will make ''bosses'' cringe.
* Lots of items in [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]: The Budget Charm, the Thrift Charm, the Tight Belt, the Economy Ring and the Cheap Ring. Inverted with the Luxury Patch and Heroic Patch, which raise SP cost in return for added power for the attacks as does the Heroic Ring. Some even auto restore the amount once per turn.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' has an accessory that cuts Flower Point costs in half.
* Conserve Power from ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''.
** Several powers will reduce endurance cost, or grant so much endurance recovery that you can spam costly powers without tiring out ([[GameBreaker Speed Boost]], I choose you!) Electric attacks have a chance of restoring the endurance you used back, essentially giving you an attack at no cost.
** The level 20 power in the Fitness power pool (which is available to everyone) adds a bonus to endurance restoration. Properly slotting it, and combining it with an endurance reduction ability, means the only thing stopping you from spamming your strongest powers is the cooldown on the powers themselves. And since there's a corresponding power to reduce cooldown times...
* ''VideoGame/JaysJourney'' has the Gold Hairpin. Like in Final Fantasy, (which it's probably a ShoutOut to) it halves MP cost.
* The [[VideoGame/Disgaea2CursedMemories second]] and [[VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice third]] ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' games play this straight and invert it. The all-female Mage class can cast spells with less SP than any other character in the game, while the all-male Skulls require 50% more SP to use their spells, but they hit harder. Then again, considering how ridiculous the stats can get, it's pretty much impossible to run out of SP in the endgame, no matter how many level 100 spells and skills you spam.
* Sufficient skill with a spell ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' lets you cut its cost by a point of energy every few levels. With enough skill a casting may cost nothing at all.

* Inverted in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the curse of Lucifron makes every ability cost double its initial cost, and even works on the Death Knight class which uses "Runes", which wasn't invented when Lucifron was made.
** Discipline Priests have a straight example with Power Infusion, reducing mana costs of the target.The amount of talents available to classes with similiar effects are too numerous to mention.

* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic 5'', heroes can learn a skill "Arcane Training" to permanently cut the mana cost of all his spells by 20% and then another one, "Erratic Mana", to randomly cut the cost of each cast cast by up to 50% more.
** Mage units also reduce the costs of their masters spells by 25% and the Week of Might and Magic halves mana costs for everyone.
* The "Pressure" ability from the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series is an inversion of sorts - the ability doubles the PP consumption for any Pokemon engaged against the ability's user.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has a few of these, including a recurring in-game holiday. Most of them will only stack to -3 MP per casting. A few do ignore that limit, including the aforementioned holiday, so you could theoretically get a reduction of 9 MP off every skill you cast, or 14 if you're a Pastamancer. This would be a GameBreaker if the most useful non-combat skills weren't also limited to a certain number of uses per day.
** Subverted in the Avatar of Jarlsberg challenge path, where such effects will not only reduce spell cost, but also spell ''power'' (i.e., the fewer MP the spell costs, the weaker it is). This was, shall we say, not very popular with the player base, so Jick's plans to introduce it as a game-wide mechanic were put on hold.
* A Psionic in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd edition could purchase a Torc of Power Preservation to get this effect. While the actual amount of PP (mana) preserved was only 1 point, it could easily extend your pool of mana immensely (as you can manifest numerous powers each day in the mid-to-high levels). There are feats and prestige classes that have similar effects (major examples include the Anarchic Initiate [[PrestigeClass PrC]] and the Midnight Augmentation feat). And the Wilder base class has one of these built in (but it has... issues).
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' has the Power Recirculator, which reduces augmentation energy use by 10%-60% for a piddling 10 units/minute.
* The equivalent in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' third edition, a few [[TookALevelInBadass prestige classes]] reduce or nullify the cost of "metamagic", i.e. a way to make your spells stronger. The effect is that you can make all your spells stronger at no added cost; this is very much a GameBreaker... which is presumably why most such cost reducers had a 'to a minimum of +1' clause.

* In ''VideoGame/RuneFactory3'', the Fluffy Scarf accessory cuts Rune Point use to zero for most activities.
* ''TabletopGame/RoleMaster'' and ''TabletopGame/{{MERP}}'' invert this by having items that either allow you to cast X spells per day at zero cost, or multiply your available mana pool by a factor of 2, 3 or even more - naturally this can easily lead to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards at higher levels.
* Early ''Dungeons and Dragons'' while using VancianMagic had a few magic items allowing additional spells or levels of spells to be cast per day.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has the item 'Tear of the Goddess', which has the peculiar property of increasing your maximum mana pool by 4 every time you spend mana. The weird element is how the game understands Maximum Mana increases to include both sides of the Mana stat, meaning that you go from 150/200 to 154/204. The Tear of the Goddess' bonus mana from this effect caps at 750, but for some strange reason, it will continue "refunding" 4 mana every time you use mana, effectively cutting the cost of of your abilities.
** This can have particular comical effect with champions whose mana costs are low, or with periodic mana costs for toggled abilites such as Singed's Poison Trail ability. It drains 13 Mana per second, and then refunds you 4 mana every time it drains 13, meaning it actually costs 9 per second. Ezreal's Mystic Shot ability also has an interesting effect; the Manamune, an upgrade of the Tear of the Goddess, also grants the Mana bonus every time an auto attack hits. Ezreal's Mystic Shot counts AS an autoattack, so it refunds twice the mana due to casting and then hitting.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has enchantments that reduce magicka cost for specific schools. With the right perks and some alchemy abuse, it is possible to make a set of equipment that reduces the magicka cost for, say, Destruction to ''zero''. Thus allowing you to throw fireballs and other lethal spells as much as you like.
* The Sage class in the VideoGame/DragonQuest games often has this as a feature.
** In VideoGame/DragonQuestIX, the ultimate Sage skill reduces all spellcosts by 25%, no matter the current class. The TwocusPocus ability lets you cast a spell twice for no extra cost (and it counts towards the combo system), the Mage's LimitBreak lets him cast spells for 0 MP for a while, and applies it to the whole party if the Sage has a LimitBreak active as well.

* ''VideoGame/PathOfExile'' has both this and the inversion listed in the trope description. Active skills come in the form of Virtue Gems that are socketed into your equipment. Active skills can be linked to support gems that add extra effects (for example, extra melee damage against bleeding enemies or causing projectile skills to chain to other enemies) but increase the cost. The Reduced Mana support gem reduces mana costs by a percentage, while certain item properties can apply a flat reduction.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'''s implementation of this trope is the major reason why [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards the Sorcery skill tree is so overpowered]]. With the right equipment (that is easy to acquire via the mage faction quests), Destinies and a specific Sorcery skill, it is possible to achieve more than 85% mana cost reduction. Since magic powers are balanced purely through casting cost, not their cooldowns (which are all pretty negligible), one can soon spam the most powerful magics more or less ad infinitum.

* ''RoleMaster'' and ''{{MERP}}'' invert this by having items that either allow you to cast X spells per day at zero cost, or multiply your available mana pool by a factor of 2, 3 or even more - naturally this can easily lead to LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards at higher levels.

* Inverted in ''WorldOfWarcraft'', the curse of Lucifron makes every ability cost double its initial cost, and even works on the Death Knight class which uses "Runes", which wasn't invented when Lucifron was made.