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The Red Mage: Difference between revisions
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The "[[Fantasy Character Classes|player class]]" family tree is a large, branching kudzu with enough arms to print several dozen sourcebooks. One such branch is The Red Mage, a magician capable of casting spells from two different or even ''[[Mutually Exclusive Magic|mutually exclusive]]'' schools of magic. Much like a magical [[Jack of All Stats]], this cousin to the [[Magic Knight]] fuses two otherwise inimical capabilities and gains strength from both... while [[Master of None|mastering neither]], and perhaps even [[Power At a Price|gaining both their weaknesses!]]
Theatrics and [[Competitive Balance|balance]] issues aside, the true wonder and claim to fame of the Red Mage is that they are talented, open minded, and have trained in a way that allows them to understand and become able practitioners in two fundamentally different forms of magic. Think about it this way: they are the fantasy equivalent of a [[Renaissance Man]] or [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]], skilled multi-disciplinarians of already complex and taxing fields. While some mages [[Un-Equal Rites|scoff at different forms of magic]], the Red Mage takes the time to study them, and by learning them becomes truly versatile.
It's not often a single magic user can pull off a [[Yin-Yang Bomb]], after all.
The most common form of Red Mage combines [[White Mage]] and [[Black Mage]] with a hint of [[Glass Cannon]] / [[Squishy Wizard]]. In rare cases, they may also be as physically gifted as a [[Magic Knight]] or [[Combat Medic]]. However, the Red Mage isn't just a swordsperson who picks one school of magic to go with their blade, but just about any two (and sometimes more) schools of magic. Common pairings include: [[White Magic]] and [[Black Magic]], [[Light Is Not Good|Light]] and [[Dark Is Not Evil|Dark]], or [[Playing with Fire|Fire]] and [[An Ice Person|Ice]] (and occasionally another [[Elemental Powers|Elemental Power]]).
Contrast [[Crippling Overspecialization]]. See also [[Class and Level System]] and [[Splat]]. May suffer (and benefit) doubly from [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]. To avoid confusion, the Red Mage may well be a single class with access to spells from different classes, or the result of a magician who has studied in more than one magical tradition. Compare [[Hybrid Monster]] and [[Hybrid Overkill Avoidance]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* Rezo the Red Priest from [[Slayers]]. After failing to heal his eyes with white magic, he turns to shamanic magic, and eventually black magic. His attempts usually end up with him being possessed by a demon though.
* [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid|Rio Wesley]] has affinity with both [[Playing with Fire|fire]] and [[Shock and Awe|lightning]]. Normally, a mage can only have one type of affinity
* Kotomine Kirei in [[Fate/Zero]] 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 [[Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life]] than any disire to be an all-rounder.
* The Visoreds and Arrancar in ''[[Bleach]]'' are this.
* Motoharu Tsuchimikado from [[To Aru Majutsu no Index]] is an esper and talented magician.
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* {{spoiler|Richard}} from the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' novels has the ability to use both Additive Magic, which can create, and Subtractive Magic, which can destroy things, completely.
* The Grey Mages/Druids of the [[Saga of Recluce]] master both Order-magic and Chaos-magic, seeing them as two aspects of the universe's basic structure.
* The Order of the Red Robes from ''[[Dragonlance]]'' are almost but not quite this- they're the wizard order representing "Balance", but have their own spell specialties, such as illusion, rather than blending their brethren in the White and Black Orders' powers. Notably, [[Evil Sorcerer|Fistandantilus]] initially wore the Red so that he could draw power from both sides; when this didn't work out, he switched to Black.
* In the ''[[Dresden Files]]'', one of the requirements for being an [[Insistent Terminology|actual Wizard]] is having some ability to use every non-forbidden branch of magic. Obviously there exist other reasons, but people who are limited to a single talent, like summoners, are automatically barred, in the same was universities don't give out doctorates of chemistry to people who can only make explosions.
* The ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' gives us Jacen Solo, who thinks he can become this. It is ''totally'' subverted, as by the end of ''[[Legacy of the Force]]'', it's fairly obvious [[Dark Is Evil]].
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** The Mystic Theurge [[Prestige Class]] in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]] 3.5''. Very much the [[Master of None]], Multiple attribute dependent, no synergy (divine casters can cast in armor, arcane ones can not, Mystic Theurges can not wear armor if they want to use their arcane spells) and very poor action economy (you have double the spells of a cast 3 levels lower than you, you can still only cast one or rarely two per turn) last but not least, they are 3 exponential power levels below a single classed caster.
*** Yes, but that's only if you're looking at Wizard / Cleric type combinations. By looking for the right class (usually in add-on books) you can match up an Arcane spellcasting class with a Divine one, resulting in a Theurge that suffers from not a single one of the problems you mentioned. For example, the base class Wizard matches up with the Archivist class. Both are Intelligence-based,(looking for a Charisma-based Divine? Try Shugenja.) both are unarmored (and if you want an armored arcane? [[War Mage]].) both use familiars, and both maintain spellbooks, which grants you, essentially, access to ANY spell you could run across, as Wizards can (at DM's discretion) learn any arcane spell through study or transcription, and Archivists do the same with Divine. Still a [[Red Mage]], but the Mystic Theurge doesn't HAVE to have all the flaws listed above (just being two or three spell levels behind and having more spell slots than are reasonably useful in a day's worth of encounters).
*** The now defunct ''[[Fourth Wall Mail Slot|Twinking out with]] [[8-Bit Theater
** Other "theurge" prestige classes were published or posted as well -- the [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/cerebremancer.htm Cerebremancer] (arcane/psionic), the [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925b Psychic Theurge] (divine/psionic), and the [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20061010a&page=3 Ultimate Magus] (spontaneous arcane/prepared arcane) to name a few.
*** The Ultimate Magus is a particularly bad piece of irony, in that it's a class that spends a lot of time and focus into combining two ways of casting ''the exact same magic'' (arcane spells) into a single class that is ultimately worse at it than both the classes whose components it's made up from. Mystic Theurges can, with the right focus, get the ability to cast either 9th level arcane or divine spells. The Ultimate Magus cannot cast 9th level arcane spells with either of its two classes [http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872322/Preliminary_Ultimate_Magus_Handbook without Practiced Spellcaster].
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** In [[Dungeons and Dragons|4th edition]] it is possible to make this. The Artificer is a leader, the wizard is a controller... combine the two and you have the potential for +5 in melee and ranged attacks, AND healing (though more limited than the straight-up Artificer... does that class qualify alone?)
*** Hybrid or multiclass Swordmage/Artificer gets you even more stabbing, and the Swordmage bit lets you teleport everywhere imaginable whilst shielding your party from an enemy. Also works well with Wizard, but Defender/Leader is a good combination.
* [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] has a few of these if a given book has more than one set of spells, or said character can choose from all of the core Lores. Most obvious are the Grey Seers of the Skaven, who are privied to taking spells from both Lores in the Armybook, whereas the Warlock Enginseer can only select spells from the Lore of Ruin and the Plague Priest can only select spells from the Lore of Plague. Note that due to how you select spells (rolling a dice and consulting the chart) selecting from multiple books means that you have a smaller chance of landing on the spell you want, while concentrating on one book means that you'll not only gain more spells from the book, but also stand a higher chance of getting the stuff you want. The Game system innately penalizes players trying to go [[Red Mage]].
** Then there's Kairos Fateweaver, a Greater Daemon who can theoretically know spells from all eight Lores. At once. [[Multiple Head Case|Four lores per head]].
* Neo-Mages in [[Age of Aquarius]]. Normally a mage believes in some kind of spirits and derives his power from them, be it Goetic demons for [[Hermetic Magic]], Norse gods for Rune Magic, nature spirits for shamanism, etc. But you can believe in a [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] world and be able to use spells from all traditions. The drawback? You only get the most basic spells and abilities.
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**** They can, with the pupil system.
* Job based ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' titles; in addition to [[Trope Namer|the actual Red Mage]] (which can learn non-exclusive white and black magic up to level 7, but doesn't get the best spells like Dia, Warp and Exit, but makes up for it with heavy armor and powerful weaponry, plus the spells in question can be cast from items in the GBA/PSP remake for no MP cost.), you can normally make a White Mage that has a ''Black Mage'' commands (or vice versa). You also have the option that is more effective than the Red Mage or Black Mage/White Mage in the Summoner who has both healing and offensive summons in ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'', ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]'', and the original ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]''. In ''Tactics A2'' the Seer job is introduced, getting second rank magic (''The'' Red Mage only gets first rank) in healing and the 3 attack elements (For bonus points, it is best used as a secondary job for [[Magic Knight]] jobs, as it allows attacks and magic to be used at the same time).
** ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' has Rydia, who, as a young girl, is effectively a Red Mage with moderate white and black magic.
** ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' also have the Sage class, which can cast both White and Black magic at maximum efficiency. This is usually balanced by giving them less MP or magical power than a pure White or Black Mage, and none of the [[Magic Knight|physical combat ability]] of the actual Red Mage.
*** And in Final Fantasy III (at least, in the DS remake), you can have Magi, who can use all types of magic. Including the most devastating ones in the game.
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*** Some have also considered [[Big Bad|Kuja]] a Red Mage for his ability to use both the highest level black and white magic spells, along with a few of his own exclusive ones.
*** The class is also namechecked with a random, otherwise anonymous NPC you can talk to who is identified only as "Red Mage."
** [[Final Fantasy VI|Terra]] is also a good candidate: Red outfit, can naturally learn healing and attack magic, has access to the best equipment of the game. In her case, she is not a [[Master of None|Jack of all trades]] but a [[Person of Mass Destruction]]. 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 (whereas Terra's unique ability is a powerful but time-limited [[Super Mode]], Celes can [[Energy Absorption|absorb magic]] once per turn).
* Despite being a Wicked Pretentious SOLDIER, Genesis from [[Crisis Core]] is also very much like a Red Mage. Aside from actually being dressed in Red, having a fancy dress sense, he also uses a Sword that gets enchanted by Magic and likes to spam Fire Spells whenever he gets the opportunity. It's said his skills in magic along the sword is what led him to being a SOLDIER First Class.
* Sazh Katzroy from ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' could qualify. He gains access to useful buffs far earlier than the rest of your party in addition to attack magic, and also majors in the Commando skill, which specializes in physical attacks.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Parodied by Red Mage, from ''[[8-Bit Theater
** To be fair, he did show [[Interspecies Romance|some]] [[Squick|talent]] with [[Running Gag|Animal]] [[Nightmare Fuel|Husbandry]]...
* Tsukiko is a villainous example from ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', being a Mystic Theurge who has mastered both arcane and divine magic (and used both to further her necromancy). Her ability to see both sides of the picture has recently led her to some insights into the nature of Team Evil's plan.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The titular Avatar of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' is a [[Messianic Archetype|reincarnated mystical keeper of peace]] (basically the local superhero) who is most well known for being able to learn and use all four of the normally mutually exclusive [[Elemental Powers]] of the settings. They usually demonstrate great talent with their original element (as the title suggests, [[The Hero]] Aang is the [[Last of His Kind]]) and have to learn the other elements one by one, which is the main driving plot of the series.
* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Twilight Sparkle]] knows spells that have a variety of effects. These include (but are not nearly limited to) [[Mind Over Matter|powerful telekinesis]], [[Teleport Spam|teleportation]], cloud-walking, flight, altering the dietary habits of other creatures, [[People Puppets|total control of another's body]], and item enchantment.
** Technically, if there's a spell for it, she can learn it, and if there isn't, she can ''create'' it. Most unicorns get spells related to whatever their inherent talent is, but Twilight's inherent talent is ''magic itself''.
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