Final Fantasy/Red magic

While there are Red Mages & Wizards, there is no such thing as Red magic. Red Magicians can use both White and Black magic, though many of the higher level spells are unlearnable by them. While they can learn more spells at each level than the other magic users, they still only have three slots available for each level.

Available spells

Red Wizards can learn 22/32 Black magic spells, and 8 of the 10 they can't are either instant death or stop spells that tend not to work anyway. The only really useful spell that they lose is Nuke, but the improved physical strength of the Red Wizard over the Black Wizard generally makes up for it. The other useful spell that Red Wizards can't learn, Steel, is not a big lose since you can find items that mimic the effect. Red Mages will have to wait until after the class change to learn level 3 elemental spells, though Black Mages can learn them immediately.

While Red Wizards can learn most Black magic spells, they can only learn 18/32 White magic spells. Only five of these (Fear, NulAll, Dispel, and the first two Heals) are not exceptionally useful. The remaining nine (Cure4, Heal3, Life2, the four Dia spells, Holy, and Stona) are all useful, especially late in the game. Fire spells can help make up for the lack of Dia spells, however using a Fire spells means one less Cure spell. Additionally, the Red Mage cannot learn Life1, so you will have to wait until after the class change to be able to revive via magic.

(W) denotes spells that can only be learned by the Red Wizard - the rest can be learned by both the Mage and the Wizard.

Level 1

• Level 1: Cure1, Shld1, Blink (W)
• Level 1: Fire1, Bolt1, Focus1, Sleep1

Level 2

• Level 2: Lamp, Silence, NulBolt, Invs1
• Level 2: Ice1, Slow, Fog, Steel

Level 3

• Level 3: Cure2, NulFire
• Level 3: Fire2, Bolt2, Bind, Focus2

Level 4

• Level 4: Esuna, NulIce, Vox (W)
• Level 4: Ice2, Haste, Sleep2, Muddle

Level 5

• Level 5: Cure3, Life1 (W)
• Level 5: Fire3, Warp1 (W), Poison (W), Slow2

Level 6

• Level 6: Warp2 (W), Shld2 (W), Invs2 (W)
• Level 6: Bolt3 (W)

Level 7

• Level 7: NulMgc
• Level 7: Ice3 (W)

Recommendations

Obviously, what spells a Red Mage/Wizard should get depends on what other magic users are in your party (see the Party recommendation page for more). For the purposes of this section, Ninjas and Knights do not count as magic users since a)the spells they can learn are fairly trivial, and b)they will be spending most of their time attacking. The party configurations discussed in detail are:

• Red Mage, White Mage, two non-magic users
• Red Mage, Black Mage, two non-magic users
• Two Red Mages, two non-magic users
• One Red Mages, three non-magic users

* denotes the bare minimum spells to get

1 Red Mage, 1 White Mage

• Level 1: Cure1*, Fire1*, Bolt1*

Not a hard choice since you need the elementals and the more curing you can do through magic the better, especially in the beginning when items are still expensive. After the class change, you may want to drop Cure1 since it won't heal enough to make a difference in most cases, and pick up Blink instead.

• Level 2: NulBolt*, Ice1*, Steel*

These three will always be useful, the other five never will be. Another easy selection.

• Level 3: Focus2, Fire2*, Bolt2*

Now is when you have to start choosing between more than three useful spells. Cure2, NulFire, Fire2, Bolt2, and Focus2 are all very useful spells. Definitely get Fire2 and Bolt2 since your White Mage cannot learn them. Get NulFire only if the White Mage isn't learning it, and if the White Mage's Cure2 alone isn't cutting it get a second copy for the Red Mage, otherwise get Focus2.

• Level 4: Esuna, Ice2*, Haste*

Get Ice2 and Haste - they will serve you well until the end of the game. Esuna is good since it takes the burnden of de-poisoning your party off of the White Mage, but you should get NulIce instead if the White Mage doesn't learn it.

• Level 5: Cure3*, Life1*, Fire3*

It should probably go without saying that you should get Cure3 and Fire3. The hard choice is between Life1 and Warp1 (neither of which can be learned until after the class change). Between the two White Magic users, you should definatly get at least one copy of Life1. Warp1 is really only useful for the Terra Cave, and you can't learn it until afterwards anyway, but Life1 will always be useful.

• Level 6: Warp2, Shld2/Invs2, Bolt3*

Warp2 is the other reason you shouldn't sacrifice Life1 for Warp1 - this spell is better and there are less good spells to learn from. Your White Mage should definitely learn the other three Level 6 White Magic spells. Bolt3 is a basic necessity, and go with either Shld2 or Invs2 - both of which are very good.

• Level 7: NulMgc, Ice3*

You can only learn these two, so get both. Or just Ice3.

1 Red Mage, 1 Black Mage

• Level 1: Cure1*, Fire1*, Bolt1*

Doubling up on elemental spells can't hurt since there are a lot of enemies that go down much quicker with magic than physical attacks in the beginning. It goes without saying that you need Cure1, though you might want to replace it with Blink late in the game when the amount of HP it restores becomes trivial.

• Level 2: NulBolt*, Ice1*, Steel*

Any easy choice since the other five are ineffective against most enemies that you would need to use them on and the Dark status rarely makes a noticable difference in your accuracy.

• Level 3: Cure2*, NulFire*, Fire2*

Four very useful spells to choose from, however since your Black Mage should be learning both Fire2 and Bolt2, you can still get all of them. Two Fire2s is better than two Bolt2s since the undead are weak against fire, which will make up for your inability to get Dia2.

• Level 4: Esuna*, NulIce*, Haste*

Esuna and NulIce are the only "must-haves" of Level 4 White Magic. Ice2 is nice to have, but really only useful in the volcano, and your Black Mage will be learning it anyway. Haste (more specifically, having two members able to cast Haste per round) is incredibly useful and will make your physical attackers ridiculously powerful.

• Level 5: Cure3*, Life1*, Fire3

Cure3 will be the strongest cure spell you can learn, so get it. Likewise, Life1 is the strongest (actually, the only) revival magic you can get, so by all means, get it. None of the Black Magic is really necessary, though you might want to pick up Fire3 since you can't get Dia3. Don't bother with Warp1 since you can just get Warp2.

• Level 6: Warp2, Shld2*, Invs2*

Bolt3 isn't exceptionally useful in this case since a)your Black Mage has it, and b)by the time the Red Wizard can get it, you'll have the Gauntlets which cast Bolt2 for free. All three of the White Magic spells are very useful, especially Shld2 and Invs2 when you're fighting Chaos.

• Level 7: NulMgc, Ice3

Only two choices, so get them if you want. Neither are particularly useful since Protect Rings have the same function as NulMgc and your Black Wizard should get Ice3. A couple of battles where you'll wish you had Cure4 and you'll realize why it is recommended that you always bring a White Mage along.

2 Red Mages

• Level 1
  • Mage 1: Cure1*, Shld1, Fire1*
  • Mage 2: Cure1*, Bolt1*, Focus1

This is the best-of-all-worlds setup. You double the number of cure casters, are able to cast two elemental spells per rounds, and manage to get both useful status-spells. After the class change you can drop Cure1 and pick up Blink for both Wizards. A similar but more offensive setup would be two Fire1 casters and one Cure1 caster - get Fire1 instead of Bolt1 since a lot more enemies are weak against fire than are against bolt.

• Level 2
  • Mage 1: NulBolt*, Ice1*, Steel*
  • Mage 2: Invs1, Ice1*, Steel*

Only four of the spells here are particularly useful, and you really only need one person to cast NulBolt.

• Level 3
  • Mage 1: Cure2*, Fire2*, Bolt2*
  • Mage 2: Cure2* NulFire*, Fire2

Get two Cure2, period. Again, you only need one person casting the Nul spell. Note that it is the other mage than the one who learns NulBolt - this is so you can get two shields up in one round. Duplicate Fire2 since you will be facing hoards of undead soon after you get these spells, and you don't have anyone to cast Dia spells.

• Level 4
  • Mage 1: Esuna*, Ice2*, Haste*
  • Mage 2: NulIce*, Ice2*, Haste*

Haste is one of the most useful spells in the game, so the more people you can have cast it at once, the better. It doesn't really matter which mage gets NulIce, as long as one doesn't have all three.

• Level 5
  • Mage 1: Cure3*, Life1*, Fire3*
  • Mage 2: Cure3*, Life1*, Fire3*

Three spells so useful that you should duplicate them. Poison and Slow2 are fairly ineffective, and you can get a better version of Warp with Level 6.

• Level 6
  • Mage 1: Warp2, Shld2*, Bolt3*
  • Mage 2: Shld2, Invs2*, Bolt3*

This setup duplicates the two most important spells - Bolt3 and Shld2. If you don't want Warp2, then replace it with a second copy of Invs2.

• Level 7
  • Mage 1: NulMgc, Ice3*
  • Mage 2: NulMgc, Ice3*

Only two spells to choose from, though only Ice3 is really necessary.

1 Red only

• Level 1: Cure1*, Fire1*, Bolt1*

The basic necessities for early in the game. After the class change you can replace Cure1 with Blink since it tends to be more useful at that point.

• Level 2: NulBolt*, Ice1*, Steel*

Three very useful spells; NulBolt and Steel will serve you well even up to the fight with Chaos.

• Level 3: Cure2*, NulFire*/Bolt2*, Fire2*

And now you learn why it isn't recommended to only go with one Red Mage. Four of the spells are very useful, but you can only pick three. You are actually better off getting NulFire instead of Bolt2 for several reasons. First, there are a lot of fire based enemies in the game and this will protect you. Second, there aren't a lot of enemies weak against Bolt, so you can just use Fire2 if you are just trying to target everything at ones. Third, you will get the Gauntlets, which cast Bolt2 for free. If you [will] have a Knight in the party you can have him learn NulFire and have the Red Mage/Wizard learn Bolt2. You really shouldn't give up Cure2 or Fire2 ever.

• Level 4: NulIce*, Ice2*, Haste*

These spells are very important throughout the game, though the lack of Esuna will become annoying in the Marsh Cave. You'll need to stock up on Antidotes for whenever you're in Elf country since so many enemies can poison you. NulIce isn't needed in the Cave, so you can get Esuna initially and then drop it afterwards, though this will cost you quite a bit.

• Level 5: Cure3*, Life1*, Fire3*

Cure3 is the strongest Cure you can get, so definitely get it. Since you can't get Cure4, you'll probably need reviving a bit, so get Life1 (you can't get Life2).

• Level 6: Shld2*, Invs2*, Bolt3*

Shld2 and Invs2 are stackable stat boosters, so you will want them for every boss fight. Bolt3 is quite effective, especially when going after the Water Crystal. While convenient, you don't need Warp2 since most dungeons are either short enough to walk out of, or you warp out when done.

• Level 7: NulMgc, Ice3*

Ice3 is the only one you really need, though you certainly have room for NulMgc.

Other setups

For parties with three or four Red Mages, or one of each Mage, you have enough slots available to get every good spell that you can at least once, so there is not much to decide. Double up on the important spells such as the elementals, cures, and life. A good idea is to have each Mage learn a different Nul-elemental spell so you can get the entire party shielded in one round instead of three.

For parties of two Red Mages and either a White or a Black Mage, use the same configuration as a two Red Mage, two non-magical setup. For parties with two Red Mages, a White, and a Black have one Red Mage use the configuration for 1 Red/1 Black, and the other use the configuration for 1 Red/1 White.