History Main / SpellLevels

* In ''[[TabletopGame/{{PoniesAndParasprites}} Ponies and Parasprites]]'', Arcane skills are split into 'Magic' and 'Rituals'. Magic is inherent to Unicorns and doesn't follow a leveling system, growing as the Unicorn does. Rituals are divided based on their power: Common > Uncommon > Protected > Arcane > Lost.

* In ''{{TabletopGame/Rolemaster}}'' spells were arranged by level within spell lists. In order to cast a spell, a character's skill rank for that spell's spell list had to be greater than or equal to the spell's level.

** Besides the "Fire/Fira/Firaga" distinction, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyDimensions'' have spells sorted into tiers in a very ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-esque fashion. This is understandable, since the former borrows heavily from D&D, the middle two expand on the first's formula, and the latter is a throwback.

* Some ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games have tiers of spells that even have their own set of spell uses. It's a staple to have some more advanced spells under the naming format "[spell]", "[spell](a)ra", "[spell](a)ga", and "[spell](a)ja", though the English translations only began to use it since ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' (before, spells were simply named "[spell] 1", "[spell] 2", etc. due to limited characters). For example, the fire spells in FFX are Fire, Fira, and Firaga.

* ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' had all spells divided into five difficulty levels (Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master), and you could only learn higher-level spells after raising your skill in the corresponding magical school to a certain level.

** Besides the "Fire/Fira/Firaga" distinction, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyDimensions'' have spells sorted into tiers in a very ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-esque fashion. This is understandable, since the former borrows heavily from D&D, the middle two expand on the first's formula, and the latter is a throwback

** Besides the "Fire/Fira/Firaga" distinction, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV]], and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyDimensions]] have spells sorted into tiers in a very [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons]]-esque fashion. This is understandable, since the former borrows heavily from D&D, the middle two expand on the first's formula, and the latter is a throwback

* Some ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games have tiers of spells that even have their own set of spell uses. It's a staple to have some more advanced spells under the naming format "[spell]", "[spell](a)ra", "[spell](a)ga", and "[spell](a)ja", though the English translations only began to use it since ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' (before, spells were simply named "[spell] 1", "[spell] 2", etc. due to limited characters).

* While the system varies from game to game, ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' and particularly the ''Persona'' series have four main elements - agi for fire, bufu for ice, zio for lightning, and zan for wind - that get more powerful with prefixes or suffixes: e.g. Maragi hits all enemies with fire, Zionga is a stronger lightning attack, Mediarama heals all allies instead of just one for more health.

* The ''Videogame/FireEmblem'' series does this with both spells and weapons, by dividing them up into Weapon Levels dictating when a character is skilled to use stronger weapons. Ranks E-S or in some games E-SS. The typical progression for weapons is Iron, Steel, Silver. Magic was further standardized in ''RadiantDawn'' giving basic magic, 'El' magic, 'Arc' magic, a named long range attack, named high level, and then 'Rex' for the ultimate (e.g. Wind, Elwind, Arcwind, Blizzard, Tornado, Rexcalibur).

* In the ''VideoGame/HarryPotter and the PrisonerOfAzkaban'' games, most spells have a "Duos" or "Trio" variant that is stronger than the base version, which doesn't appear to be the case in the [[Literature/HarryPotter source material]].

* In the ''VideoGame/HarryPotter and the PrisonerOfAskaban'' games, most spells have a "Duos" or "Trio" variant that is stronger than the base version, which doesn't appear to be the case in the [[Literature/HarryPotter source material]].

* ''{{Grandia}}'' games have three tiers of magic, each with their own sets of magic points.
* In the ''{{Disgaea}}'' series, elemental spells and the heal spell have the more advanced levels given prefixes: "mega", "giga", "omega", "tera", and so on.

Compare {{Whatevermancy}}. A common component of VancianMagic. May be subject to RankInflation.

* While the system varies from game to game, ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' and particularly the ''Persona'' series have four main elements - agi for fire, bufu for ice, zio for lightning, and zan for wind - that get more powerful with prefixes or suffixes: e.g. maragi hits all enemies with fire, zionga is a stronger lightning attack, diarama heals all allies instead of just one.

* Some ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games have tiers of spells that even have their own set of spell uses. It's a staple to have some more advanced spells under the naming format "[spell]", "[spell]a", "[spell]aga", and "[spell]aja", though the English translations only began to use it since ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' (before, spells were simply named "[spell] 1", "[spell] 2", etc. due to limited characters).

** 4th Edition did away with the concept, instead simply listing the minimum class level to gain a "power" in the description.
*** There are still instances of 'Lesser' and 'Greater' which were lesser and greater powered version of the spell, respectively.

* Kido in Manga/{{Bleach}} is ranked from 1-99, and the higher the level, the more difficult (and powerful) a kido is to perform.

* The ''Videogame/FireEmblem'' series does this with both spells and weapons, by dividing them up into Weapon Levels dictating when a character is skilled to use stronger weapons. Ranks E-S or in some games E-SS. The typical progression for weapons is Iron, Steel, Silver. Magic was further standardized in RadiantDawn giving basic magic, 'El' magic, 'Arc' magic, a named long range attack, named high level, and then 'Rex' for the ultimate (e.g. Wind, Elwind, Arcwind, Blizzard, Tornado, Rexcalibur).

A common component of VancianMagic. May be subject to RankInflation.

* ''VideoGame/GloryOfHeracles'' has three levels of spells in each set. For instance, the single heal spell is Pow, Powra and Powtes. For offensive spells, the effects changes the higher the level: the level I spell (the base) targets a single enemy, the level II spell targets a row of enemy, and the level III spell targets all enemies. Each spell also has three upgradable levels based on a minigame event in the touch screen, but that is extra and not really relevent to this trope.
* While the system varies from game to game, ''Franchies/ShinMegamiTensei'' and particularly the ''Persona'' series have four main elements - agi for fire, bufu for ice, zio for lightning, and zan for wind - that get more powerful with prefixes or suffixes: e.g. maragi hits all enemies with fire, zionga is a stronger lightning attack, diarama heals all allies instead of just one.

* The TropeCodifier is probably ''DungeonsAndDragons'', where both arcane (wizard) and divine (cleric) spells were split into nine and seven tiers, respectively, with characters of certain level getting only so many spells of certain levels to [[VancianMagic memorize]].

* In [[MOTHER1 the]] ''[[EarthBound Mother]]'' [[MOTHER3 series]], the tiers for PSI powers are given by the Greek letters alpha, beta, gamma, and omega.

* ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'' makes no distinction between physical and magical attacks with its "Pin" system, but each pin has an assigned "rank" which places some limits on how many can be equipped simultaneously. Namely, you can't equip more than one of the same A-rank pin (or more than one of ''any'' star-rank pin) at the same time.
* The Elements system ''ChronoCross'' assigns each element a level from 1 to 8 indicating what area of a character's element grid they can occupy. Most elements also have a 'margin' that allows them to be equipped higher or lower than the intended level (with matching effect on its actual power).
* The ''FireEmblem'' series does this with both spells and weapons, by dividing them up into Weapon Levels dictating when a character is skilled to use stronger weapons. Ranks E-S or in some games E-SS. The typical progression for weapons is Iron, Steel, Silver. Magic was further standardized in RadiantDawn giving basic magic, 'El' magic, 'Arc' magic, a named long range attack, named high level, and then 'Rex' for the ultimate (e.g. Wind, Elwind, Arcwind, Blizzard, Tornado, Rexcalibur).

* While the system varies from game to game, ''ShinMegamiTensei'' and particularly the ''Persona'' series have four main elements - agi for fire, bufu for ice, zio for lightning, and zan for wind - that get more powerful with prefixes or suffixes: e.g. maragi hits all enemies with fire, zionga is a stronger lightning attack, diarama heals all allies instead of just one.
* ''TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' had all spells divided into five difficulty levels (Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master), and you could only learn higher-level spells after raising your skill in the corresponding magical school to a certain level.

An attribute of FunctionalMagic, where each known spell is assigned to a category roughly reflecting its power. Particularly popular in {{RPG}}s, where it is used in conjunction with a CharacterLevel system to restrict the usage of powerful spells (as in, a level N mage can only use spells up to level M, etc.).

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