Kung Fu Wizard: Difference between revisions

See also [[Magic Knight]], where the wizard is trained in weapon-based combat rather than martial arts, [[Supernatural Martial Arts]], where the kung fu is ''itself'' magic, and [[Full Contact Magic]], where the wizard doesn't actually know kung fu, but still needs to move around a lot to use magic. May be augmented via [[Meditation Powerup]].

 

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' series, many characters such as Sima Yi, Pang Tong, Zhang Jiao, etc. are literally [[Squishy Wizard|squishy wizards]] who back up their magical attacks with martial arts prowess.

* ''[[Final Fantasy V (Video Game)|Final Fantasy V]]'' gives a monk magic commands for a very underbalanced version. You could also give the "Barehanded" ability to mages, allowing them to deal heavy damage with both attacks and magic.

** [[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).

** 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''.

** Having been trained as a martial artist before becoming an Adept, it's reasonable to assume [[Anime Chinese Girl|Feizhi]] grew up into one of these after ''[[Golden Sun (Video Game)|Golden Sun]]''.

** Ivan's sister Hama trains the people of Xian in kung-fu, and Ivan and the aforementioned Feizhi in Psynergy, so this can be assumed of her, too.

* Himika the red spirit in ''[[Eien no Aselia]]'' is unique for her class time because rather than being a squishy wizard, she's a straight up brawler who does best in melee. While she ''can'' work as a caster, her effectiveness declines quickly due to dropping Mind values.

* Byakuren Hijiri from [[Touhou]] is said to be an example - while she is a proficient wielder of both holy and arcane magic, her specialty is said to be powerful [[Status Buff|body-manipulation]] she casts on herself to augment her physical prowess. Even in the games, where she is limited by the strict [[Wizard Duel|rules]] [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum|of spellcard duels]] and the realities of the [[Bullet Hell|genre]], she shows a bit of this with her spellcard "Superhuman", which allows her to zip around the screen about as fast as [[Fragile Speedster|Aya]]. Helps that she's a monk [[All Monks Know Kung Fu|of the Kung Fu variety]].

[[Category:Wizards and Witches]]

[[Category:Kung Fu Wizard]]