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Kung Fu Wizard: Difference between revisions
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*** Funnily enough, both this and her [[Training From Hell]] were explained in an [[Omake]] to have originated with her seeking an alchemist teacher who {{spoiler|turned out to be the ''brother'' of the (deceased) man she was looking for, and he actually gave her a hand-to-hand combat training course}}.
* [[Justified Trope|Justified]] with Hei in ''[[Darker Than Black]]'' -- the reason he's both a powerful Contractor and amazing martial artist (besides the fact he's [[All Chinese Know Kung Fu|Chinese]]) is that he started out as a [[Badass Normal]] and had to be strong enough to take on Contractors.<br />Additionally, while he has [[Shock and Awe|the ability to discharge electricity]], he has to either be able to touch his target or have some sort of connection that will conduct electricity. (In other words, no lightning bolts) And "something that conducts electricity" includes the [[Weapon of Choice|knives and choke wires]] he used anyway.
* The very nature of combat in the [[Nasuverse]] demands that you have to be this trope if you want ''any'' of your hard-learnt spells to hit ''anything.'' Tohsaka Rin of [[Fate/stay night]] and Kokuto Azaka of ''[[Kara no Kyoukai:]]'' are equal parts deadly as magicians ''and'' warriors in their respective universes.
** Of note though is that while they are fairly skilled in martial arts, they stand no chance in close combat with the more straightforward fighter-type characters. For example, Rin's athleticism helps her move around but her physical fighting abilities are completely worthless against anyone but Caster, who is very much the [[Squishy Wizard]].
* Louie of ''[[Rune Soldier Louie]]''. Despite being the hero, he's terrible at both magic and swordsmanship, even though he was raised by the head of the mages guild, attended the mage academy for most of his life, and has trained in swordsmanship considerably with Genie. His only saving grace is that he is a very skilled brawler.
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* Briar Moss, in Tamora Pierce's [[Circle of Magic]] series, wasn't exactly trained in martial arts, but he knows how to fight anyway from his life as a street rat.
* In [[The Dresden Files]], Harry (while not a full-blown Kung Fu Wizard) ''does'' take occasional lessons from Murphy. This combined with his great height (and thus reach), sprinter's build, long staff and willingness to fight dirty makes him pretty badass with what little martial art he knows.
* Though the eponymous magic-users of ''[[Mistborn]]'' don't draw their magic ''from'' their fighting skills, said magic allows sufficient strengthening and controlling of body and mind to invoke the spirit of this trope, and per [[Word of God]] creating elaborate, martial arts-inspired fights was one of the author's goals in creating and using this power.
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** Even if multiclassed or gestalt spellcasters aren't your thing, you can still make a single-classed spellcaster with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, such as a grapplemancer-build wizard (Octopus familiar, ''enlarge'' spells), a Cleric (with ''magic weapon''/''greater magic weapon'' piled on a pair of gauntlets, and optionally the War domain), or a Druid (and ''magic fang''/''greater magic fang'', although your Tiger's Claw technique may be quickly replaced with turning into an actual Tiger).
* ''[[Pathfinder]]'' has the same basic options in this area as ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' above, with different feats and prestige classes. In particular, a series of feats exists which allow a character to cast a specific spell/magical ability after hitting with an unarmed strike.
* In ''[[Exalted]]'', virtually any sorcerer character will be either this or a [[Magic Knight]]. It's technically ''possible'' to make a [[Squishy Wizard]], but since the game world assumes a certain amount of combat ability for all characters, you're just making life difficult for yourself if you do, and the core rules themselves warn against this. And that's not even going into the various [[Supernatural Martial Arts|Supernatural Martial]] [[Martial Arts and Crafts|Arts And Crafts]]...
* Anyone who can use magic in ''Hong Kong Action Theatre'' is probably going to be this, thanks to every character being proficient in both [[Gun Fu]] and some form of Kung Fu as well.
* [[Dark Heresy]] mostly keeps its Psykers fairly [[Squishy Wizard|squishy]], making it harder for them to improve physical stats or learn combat skills. But then there's the Templar Calix career option, which lets you turn your wimpy freak into a mind-raping ninja assassin, dual-wielding psionically charged swords and specialising in hand-to-hand combat.
* The Adamantine Arrow in ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' assumes this sort of person, being the security experts of the Awakened. The Perfected Adept takes it a step further.
* The Akashic Brothers in ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'' are this trope all over. They represent the tradition of bringing about enlightenment through the harmonizing of the body and mind. A side effect of this is that pretty much every single Akashic knows how to perform amazing stunts and kick serious ass, before they even whip out their reality warping powers.
* Enlightened martial artists from ''[[Deadlands]]'' have the ability to tap into the energies of the Hunting Grounds, enabling them to leap tall buildings in a single bound and pluck bullets from the air, among other things.
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* ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' the [[Big Bad]] Vayne surprisingly fights this way beating you with his [[Bare-Fisted Monk|bare hands]], throwing [[Ki Attacks]], unblockable [[Last-Disc Magic]] and [[Storm of Blades|a horde of magical swords]] at you.
* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' gives us {{spoiler|Cid Raines}} fighting with high speed martial arts and high powered [[Non-Elemental|Ruin]] spells.
** [[Final Fantasy XIII|Lightning]] can fulfill this trope as well when set as a [[Black Mage|Ravager]], do to her utilizing various elemental sword strikes, while she is clearly a very proficient martial artist via various cut scenes and in actual in-game combat. In fact, she ties Vanille as the second most powerful mage/wizard/whatever in the party, and for martial strength is second only to Fang (who is the strongest out of all the party members).
* An example of a [[Combat Medic]] meets the [[Kung Fu Magic]] are the monks and master monks in the Shining franchise. ''[[Shining Force]]'' gives us Gong, a monk who knows how to cast healing spells and can stand his own in combat. Then in ''Shining Force 2'', monks can be made even more powerful to near [[Game Breaker]] levels. Sarah and Karna gain the Blast spell, so they can not only sends someone packing with their fists but can also inflict a little magic damage. The [[R Emake]] of ''[[Shining Force]]'' also allows Gong to attack with a wave of energy.
* [[The Legend of Zelda|Ganondorf]] is frequently described as a "master wizard," but in the games themselves this power seems to be relegated specifically to [[Kamehame Hadoken|fireballs]], [[Super Smash Bros.|punching and kicking people to death while using dark energy to power up]], swordplay, or [[Animorphism|turning into a beast]] to bite and claw victims.
** Most of Ganon's magic isn't related to combat: he uses fireballs/energy blasts, he occasionally flies, but that's about it. He is very well-versed in large-scale barrier magic, summoning Phantoms, and cursing entire societies (freezing Zora's Domain seems to be a favorite).
** Zelda. As a princess, she can [[Super Smash Bros.|deliver powerful magical blows]]; while as a ninja... [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|You get the idea]].
** Vaati. In ''Minish Cap'', he wins a sword fighting contest of people from around the world. In Japan, it was martial arts.
* Dhaos from ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' is primarily a spellcaster, but will readily dish out a bare-handed beatdown to anyone who gets too close to him with his Tetra Assault arte. He gets an extremely powerful upgraded version of it called Million Assault in ''Tales Of VS''.
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