History Main / TheRedMage

* The ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series has [=Cleric/Mage=] multiclasses, playable by gnomes and half-elves. Two {{NPC}}s, Quayle in the first game and Aerie in the second game, are of this type. As multiclasses they can use both cleric and mage spells, but since their XP is divided in two (half to each class) each class will usually be 2-3 levels below the single-class clerics and mages in the party (at least until ''Throne of Bhaal'', where the AbsurdlyHighLevelCap means [[MagikarpPower Aerie becomes essentially a max-level cleric and a max-level mage for the price of one character slot]]).

** The Dread Necromancer is a single player class that blends some of the abilities of divine and arcane casters with a twist all its own and manages to be a Red Mage with CripplingOverspecialization. Its spell list includes spells from both the cleric and wizard spell lists (with a focus on [[BlackMagic necromancy, death, destruction, evil, and fear]]), but is much shorter than usual and cannot be changed from day to day.

* Knights Radiant in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' are ''all'' Red Mages. Each of the ten orders has a different combination of two of the ten surges, plus a narrower unique surge that is a combination of their abilities. This is in contrast to their EvilCounterpart, the Fused. Fused are a MasterOfOneMagic, and have only none total powers (the surge of Adhesion originates from [[GodIsDead Valor]], their sworn enemy).

* In the ''Literature/LightbringerSeries'', magic is based on the spectrum of light. Most drafters (magic users) have access to a single color. A small number of drafters have two, and even fewer have three or more of the eleven possible colors. Having at least three different colors is rare enough that drafters are referred to as "monochrome," "bichrome," or "polychrome." Multichromatic drafters tend to have access to colors right next to each other in the visible light spectrum (or just beyond it, in the cases of chi(X-rays), superviolet(ultraviolet), subred(infrared), and peryl(microwaves); these come with the RequiredSecondaryPowers of being able to restrict or dilate the pupils to normally inhuman degrees). Each color has its own unique powers and a corresponding [[HardLight luxin]] with unique properties. The end result is that certain forms of magic wind up associated with each other, but rare bichrome and polychrome drafters can combine elements normally thought to be diametrically opposed, like flammable red and sturdy blue.

** The Sentinel class sees the least representation on Shepard's squad. Only Kaidan and Miranda join permanently in any game. A third, Nyreen, is a GuestStarPartyMember that only appears in a {{DLC}}.

** The Hydrosophist and Summoning skills both contain a mix of healing, buffing, and direct damage. Hydrosophist also includes the unique crowd control debuffs of Chilled and Frozen, with Frozen being one of the few ways to make a target skip their entire turn. For its part, Summoning gets soft crowd control via the Incarnate (which can be infused with another skill to gain a knock down ability, that being the other debuffs that skips the target's turn) and totems that deal damage based on the surface they're summoned on. Most of these can inflict a debuffs associated with their damage type.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Red Mages from the ''Stormblood'' expansion are {{Magic Knight}}s who fight with magic and rapiers. However, since the game holds tight to the trinity of [[DamagerHealerTank tank/heal/DPS]], instead of serving as a MasterOfNone with spells from their individual jobs, they instead [[YinYangBomb marry both schools of magic to use them in entirely different capacities]] than Black and White mages can, while also combining the attributes of a ranged DPS class with those of a melee-based one (peppering spells on an enemy to fill up their balance gauge, then rushing in and expending that power to boost the damage of a quick series of rapier slashes and stabs, before leaping back out of melee range). This makes them a versatile DPS class [[CombatMedic that can also heal people]] at higher levels, with their Dualcast skill making them one of the most effective sources of resurrection. At higher levels, they obtain [[FantasticNuke Flare]] and [[HolyHandGrenade Holy]], two of the highest level spells from black and white magic. While the game allows them to pull out great power comparable to their counterparts, they have to undergo far more preparations such as building up the balance gauge first. And once used up, they have refill it as opposed to Black Mages who can use such powerful spells more consistently.

* In ''LightNovel/TheMageWillMasterMagicEfficientlyInHisSecondLife'', Zeff's specialty is that he switches between multiple magic styles rather than becoming a MasterOfOneMagic like in his last life.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Red Mages from the ''Stormblood'' expansion are {{Magic Knight}}s who fight with magic and rapiers. However, since the game holds tight to the trinity of [[DamagerHealerTank tank/heal/DPS]], instead of serving as a MasterOfNone with spells from their individual jobs, they instead [[YinYangBomb marry both schools of magic to use them in entirely different capacities]] than Black and White mages can, while also combining the attributes of a ranged DPS class with those of a melee-based one (peppering spells on an enemy to fill up their balance gauge, then rushing in and expending that power to boost the damage of a quick series of rapier slashes and stabs, before leaping back out of melee range). This makes them a versatile DPS class [[CombatMedic that can also heal people]] at higher levels, with their Dualcast skill making them one of the most effective sources of resurrection.

** In the ''Final Fantasy'' games that have Blue Mages as a job class, they have abilities with similarly a wide range of effects to red mages. The key difference is that blue mages must [[PowerCopying learn their abilities from enemies]].

*** With enough LevelGrinding, everyone can learn all skills including magic by traversing entire Sphere Grid, which you're pretty much obliged to do if you decide to face the hardest [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]]. The only exception to this is summoning, which is reserved to Yuna. You can also use specialized spheres that can activate skills as long as someone in your party has them learned, meaning with correct spheres you can teach Yuna Black Magic skills that Lulu has activated and vice versa. Plus, Yuna is this by default already, as she is WhiteMagicianGirl ''and'' a Summoner.

-->'''--Music/{{Brentalfloss}}''', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUVI5ukXcRI "The Ballad of the Mages"]]''

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Motoharu Tsuchimikado is a talented magician who later became an esper. However, espers are unable to use magic without bursting their blood vessels (which can be fatal), which is why he's the only esper-magician hybrid around -- the others died. His Level 0 esper ability slightly mitigates this as it reconnects damaged blood vessels, but it doesn't always work, so he very rarely uses magic. Motoharu [[FightsLikeANormal usually uses martial arts and guns as a result]].

* ''LightNovel/FateZero'': Kirei Kotomine is shown to have trained in nearly every discipline of magic, switching when he's ''just'' below the point of mastery. Though this was more a result of him DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife than any desire to be an all-rounder.

* ''Literature/MistbornTheFinalEmpire'':

* With enough experience, any character may pick up a general grounding in any combination of martial abilities and schools of magic, though this often renders high-powered spells or equipment available to specialists unusable until very late in the game.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has several; Rydia, Tellah, and [=FuSoYa=] can all use both white and black magic, though neither [[CrutchCharacter Tellah]] and [[EleventhHourRanger [=FuSoYa=]]] stick around long. While Rydia loses her white magic early on, she still counts after she returns, as she is able to cast spells from two different schools of magic: Black magic and Summon magic.

* Hedge Wizards in ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'' start with a spellbook that contains spells from multiple schools (helping them avoid CripplingOverspecialization), but at the expense of being able to specialize in a single school early on (leaving them [[MasterOfNone ill-equipped to deal with enemies their grab bag of spells can't handle]]). They also have a little less intelligence than other mage backgrounds at the start.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has several, though none stick around for very long. Rydia, Tellah, and [=FuSoYa=] all can use white and black magic, although Rydia loses her white magic early on. Rydia still counts after she returns, as she is able to cast spells from two different schools of magic: Black magic and Summon magic.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'': Terra is also a good candidate: Red outfit, can naturally learn both healing and attack magic, has access to the best equipment of the game. In her case, she is not a [[MasterOfNone Jack of all trades]] but a PersonOfMassDestruction. Celes is also a candidate (she has access to all the same equipment as Terra, and is the only other character to learn magic naturally), but with less raw power (while Terra's unique ability is a powerful but time-limited SuperMode, Celes can [[EnergyAbsorption absorb magic]] once per turn).

** Several of the [[PlayerCharacter PCs]] from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' combined several of the classical FF jobs. Freya Crescent, although outwardly a Dragoon, also had MP-based spell-like abilities, something that other games' Dragoons rarely had. She could heal friends and hurt enemies with these abilities, but not as effectively as the actual Black or White mages, could wear heavy armor, and didn't fight quite as well as the Knight. She wears a red coat reminiscent of a Red Mage's cloak--and even a nice hat.

*** Kimahri is set up to be this, crossed with [[PowerCopying Blue Magic]] overdrive skills. He starts off at the centre of the Sphere Grid in all configurations and can function well in pretty much any role (although not as well as the designated character). His Strategy Wiki entry even describes him as a character who can either become a jack of all trades or a useless blue bag of empty stats and abilities. Whether players actually follow this Red Mage route, though, is a matter of individual choice; it's completely possible to have him follow one character's progression path and confine him to a single class. Indeed, with the flexible nature of the sphere grid, especially the Expert Sphere Grid, it's 100% possible to deliberately configure all characters to be Red Mages.
*** With enough LevelGrinding everyone can learn all skills including magic by traversing entire Sphere Grid, which you're pretty much obliged to do if you decide to face the hardest [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]]. The only exception to this is summoning, which is reserved to Yuna. You can also use specialized spheres that can activate skills as long as someone in your party has them learned, meaning with correct spheres you can teach Yuna Black Magic skills that Lulu has activated and vice versa. Plus, Yuna is this by default already, as she is WhiteMagicianGirl ''and'' a Summoner.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has both the literal Red Mage and the Scholar. The former tries and largely fails to play up the MagicKnight aspects of the class but makes up for it by making it good at StatusEffects. The latter is essentially the spiritual successor to the Sage plus metamagic. Often missed due to StopHavingFunGuys being very common. The Red Mage spends a large chunk of levels as the most effective tank in the game. The combination of Phalanx, Stoneskin, Refresh, Spikes, and enfeebling spells makes them nearly invulnerable, even against leveling mobs until you reach about level 50 where the effectiveness of mobs starts growing exponentially instead of linearly and specialization becomes a must.