Line #70 Main/BlackAndWhiteMagic


1	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_black_magic.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[BlackMage To harm]] or [[WhiteMage to heal]]? [[JobSystem Take your pick.]] [[note]]But who says you can't [[TheRedMage do both]]?[[/note]]]]
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4	Okay, you're designing an RPG, and you've got your FighterMageThief, but something's missing. The magic adds a lot of strategic elements to the combat system, and you don't want to have just one magic user. You want to add more variety. But you can't just create a copy of the mage; it has to be [[SuperheroSpeciation different somehow]]. So how to make the two mages distinct? Simple. Have one [[BlackMage attack]] and the other [[WhiteMage heal]]!
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6	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.
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8	Not to be confused with BlackMagic and WhiteMagic, which are distinct tropes and don't usually overlap with this. If a character can do both, then he's TheRedMage. Characters who use offensive magic are {{Black Mage}}s, characters who use defensive & healing magic are {{White Mage}}s.
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10	!!Examples:
11	[[foldercontrol]]
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13	[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]
14	* ''VideoGame/PerfectWorld'' has the Wizard (full-on squishy) and the Cleric (healer, but also specializes in Metal magic).
15	** The newer Psychic class actually has spells called Black Voodoo (increases attack but decreases defense) and White Voodoo (increases defense but decreases attack).
16	* In ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'', 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.
17	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the Thaumaturge/Black Mage and Conjurer/White Mage. Black Mage is purely offensively oriented, with Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Shadow spells making up their main repertoire. White Mage focuses almost exclusively on healing, buffing, and cleansing negative effects, with wind and earth elemental spells to provide some minor offensive capability.
18	[[/folder]]
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20	[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
21	* ''VideoGame/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.
22	* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
23	** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIITidesOfDarkness'': Humans get White Magic in the form of Paladins. Their counterpart uses Black Magic, but both also have offensive casters.
24	** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'': All races except the undead have an offensive caster and a defensive/healer, though the Nightelven Druid of the Claw could also transform into a bear, the heaviest ground unit on their side until the expansion. Said expansion also added a third spellcaster into the mix which specialized in AntiMagic.
25	** ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': 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" and is the only class with two healing specs, but also has access to some of the nastiest [[BlackMagic shadow spells]] in the game in their lone DPS spec.
26	[[/folder]]
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28	[[folder:Role-Playing Game]]
29	* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' uses this a lot. 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.
30	** Funny enough, the original Black Mage wasn't just about hurting people, he could also cause many StatusEffects. Due to damage progression, his endgame role was to buff the physical attackers who could deal far more damage that way than the mage himself. Later games gave these spells to White Mages before budding all the status magic off into its own sub-category (Green Magic).
31	** 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 Flare. Due to the 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 than whittling away at the enemies one by one.
32	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
33	** The series uses this as well, starting with its third installment. It's unusual in that "clerics" not only specialize in healing but also wind magic. It's also unusual in that most Cleric-type characters in this series also tend to learn [[UselessUsefulSpell instant-kill spells that don't hit often enough]] in most cases to warrant using them often anyways.
34	** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', Mages wield destructive, offensive spells and Priests curative and state-raising magic. Sages get both.
35	* ''VideoGame/UltimaIII: 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 that all spellcasting classes use.
36	* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' has two varieties of spellcasting equipment: books, which act as weapons, and staves, which generate healing and support effects.
37	** In this case, the divide is extreme; Clerics and Priests can't attack ''at all'' until promoting. On the flip side, Monks (a male-only class associated with Light magic) 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 (axes).
38	** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses Three Houses]]'' does away with the Tome and Staff system in favor of learning spells (similar to the system in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia]]'') as they increase their skill ranks in Reason and Faith, and characters can use both [[JobSystem as long as they are in a magic-using class]], but being in the class associated with specific magic-types increases the spells' bonuses and number of uses. Reason is tied to Black Magic, which is mostly offensive elemental magic. Also tied to Reason is Dark Magic, which is offensive magic that is technically separate from Black Magic and few characters naturally learn these spells outside of the Dark Mage class line. Faith is tied to White Magic, which is mostly healing and support magic, but comes with a few offensive spells depending on the character (the most basic one being [[LifeDrain Nosferatu]], which was a Dark Magic tome spell in previous games).
39	* ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has two spellcasting party members: the Girl, who uses healing and support effects, and the Sprite, who uses attack magic.
40	* In ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', 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 Hawkeye 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.
41	* ''VideoGame/BahamutLagoon''. Not surprising, as it began life as a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' spinoff.
42	* Lucca and Marle from ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' have this dynamic even before learning magic. Lucca starts with the Flame Toss technique, which involves throwing a line of flames at an enemy, and Marle has the Aura technique which restores HP.
43	* 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 qualifying 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, while ''VIII'' limited Dark magic to necromancers and Light magic to clerics. More broadly speaking, sorcerers/necromancers used Elemental magic, which slightly trended offensive, while clerics used Self magic, which slightly trended buffing/healing.
44	* The ''VideoGame/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.
45	* The ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' series has magic split into mage spells and priest spells, which are exactly what they sound like.
46	** While healing falls exclusively under priest spells, mages also do more than a bit of buffing and priests can do nuking with Divine Fire and other spells. At high levels, a priest can be more dangerous in combat than a mage, but this may be GameplayAndStorySegregation because all the most crazy-powerful characters in the setting are magi.
47	* ''VideoGame/MasterOfTheMonsterLair'': Kate and Owen use them, respectively. The shopkeeper calls them "naughty and nice" magic.
48	[[/folder]]
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50	!!Non-video game examples
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52	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
53	* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', before they lost her, Falin was Team Touden'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.]]
54	* ''Manga/DragonQuestTheAdventureOfDai'': {{Zigzagged}}. The party is founded by Dai ([[MagicKnight Hero]]) and Popp ([[BlackMage Mage]]) and soon adds Maam as their [[WhiteMage Priest]]. However Maam is something of a JackOfAllTrades who has Warrior training and a [[MageMarksman magic gun]] that can be loaded with spells to increase their range and power, making her technically their strongest magical attacker (if Popp loads her gun with Mage spells ahead of time). After her gun breaks, Maam shifts to focusing more on [[BareFistedMonk hand-to-hand combat]] with healing secondary, while [[BigGood Princess Leona]] joins the group as a more dedicated WhiteMagicianGirl... but Leona is a [[TheRedMage Sage]] who ''can'' cast offensive spells, even if she's not as good at it as Popp. Then eventually ''Popp'' [[NextTierPowerup becomes a Sage too]], with his immense {{Mana}} making him likely the best healer in the group, though he usually prefers to conserve it for blasting.
55	[[/folder]]
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57	[[folder:Gamebooks]]
58	* 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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61	[[folder:Literature]]
62	* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': This is the contrast between Valerie and Kaylana. In the former's case, she largely uses magic to kill or destroy (aside from a couple of instances). Kaylana uses hers to heal others and also speak with animals or control them largely.
63	* In ''Literature/TheDarkProfitSaga'' Mages are split into Solamancy, a combination of life magic with fire and water elementalism, and Noctamancy, the magic of death, air, and earth. Which means that the party healer can also be the fireball-slinger (unfortunately the protagonist party's Solamancer only knows fire spells). Omnimancers can use both but channeling the two conflicting energies can easily drive them insane or kill them if they're not careful about balance.
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66	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
67	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
68	** The early editions used this a lot and were definitely the inspiration for ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', above. It has always had the Wizard class, which specializes in blasting spells, and the Cleric class, which specializes in healing spells. The third edition furthered this split, dividing all spellcasting classes into Arcane and Divine casters.
69	** In addition to all this, the Divine casters themselves can be split into white and black magic. Evil-Aligned characters can take inflict spells instead of heal, which hurt people and heal undead.
70	** However, Wizards have always been good as a support class, albeit not healing. In fact, in the 4th and 5th editions, 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.
71	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', this is how you can spot the Church of Razmir as a ScamReligion: where every other priest in the setting uses White Magic, priests of Razmir use Black Magic since they aren't actually ''priests'' because Razmir is lying about being a god.
72	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' clerics of [[CrystalDragonJesus S'allumer]] use white magic to heal and smite foes, particularly the undead. While necromancers use black magic to raise the dead and curse foes but has a habit of backfiring every so often.
73	[[/folder]]

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