Final Fantasy III/Magic

Many spells and skills exist in Final Fantasy III. The spells are divided into 3 categories: Black Magic, White Magic, and Summon Magic. This section also describes the effects of the Geomancer's Terrain skill and the Bard's Sing skill.

White Magic

These spells are mostly used to heal and protect your allies, though there are some attack spells among them.

White magic users:

• Wind crystal jobs: White mage (L1-7), Red mage (L1-4)
• Fire crystal jobs: Knight (DS only, L1), Scholar (DS only, L1-3), Ranger (NES only, L1-3)
• Water crystal jobs: Mystic knight (NES only, L1-3 field only)
• Earth crystal jobs: Devout (L1-8), Sage (L1-8)
• Secret job: Onion knight (DS only, L1-8)

In the table below, only the first shop is listed. Spells are usually available in later shops after the first one.

Lv.	Spell	Type	Effect	Free location	Price & shop
1	Cure	Field/support	Restores health points	1: Ur 2: Sealed Cave	100 Gil, Canaan
1	Poisona	Field/support	Cures "poison" status	-	100 Gil, Ur
1	Sight	Field	Shows the world map	-	100 Gil, Ancients' Village
2	Mini	Field/support/attack	Causes or cures "mini" status; instantly defeats enemies	Healing Copse	-
2	Toad	Field/support/attack	Causes or cures "toad" status; instantly defeats enemies	Gulgan Valley	-
2	Aero	Attack	Element: wind	Dragons Peak	700 Gil, Tozas
3	Cura (Cure2)	Field/support	Restores health points	Tozas (bookshelf)	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Blindna	Field/support	Cures "blindness" status	-	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Teleport	Field	Teleports party to the world map	-	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
4	Libra	Debuff	Shows enemy HP and weaknesses	-	3000 Gil, Gisahl
4	Confuse	Debuff	Causes "confuse" status	-	3000 Gil, Gisahl
4	Silence	Debuff	Causes "mute" status	-	3000 Gil, Gisahl
5	Curaga (Cure3)	Field/support	Restores health points	-	5000 Gil, Salonia
5	Raise	Field/support	Cures death	-	5000 Gil, Salonia
5	Protect	Support	Raises defense	-	5000 Gil, Salonia
6	Stona	Field/support	Cures "petrify" status	-	10000 Gil, Dorga's house
6	Haste	Support	Raises speed (hits per turn)	-	10000 Gil, Dorga's house
6	Aeroga (Aero2)	Attack	Element: wind	-	10000 Gil, Dorga's house
7	Curaja (Cure4)	Field/support	Restores health points	-	20000 Gil, Dorga's village
7	Esuna	Field/support	Cures all status ailments	-	20000 Gil, Dorga's village
7	Reflect	Support	Creates a magic barrier	-	20000 Gil, Dorga's village
8	Arise (Raise2)	Field/support	Cures death and health points	-	60000 Gil, Forbidden Land Eureka
8	Tornado (Aero3)	Attack	Element: wind	-	60000 Gil, Forbidden Land Eureka
8	Holy	Attack	Element: light	-	60000 Gil, Forbidden Land Eureka

Spells analysis

This section is a stub. Help us expand it, and you get a cookie.

Healing spells:

• L1/3/5/7 Cure/Cura/Curaga/Curaja
• L5/8 Raise/Arise
• L1 Poisona
• L3 Blindna
• L6 Stona
• L7 Esuna

Field spells:

• L1 Sight
• L2 Mini
• L2 Toad
• L3 Teleport

Support spells:

• L5 Protect
• L6 Haste
• L7 Reflect

Debuff spells:

• L4 Libra
• L4 Confuse
• L4 Silence

Attack spells:

• L2/6/8 Aero/Aeroga/Tornado
• L8 Holy

Black Magic

These spells are used to deal damage and to cause status effects.

Black magic users:

• Wind crystal: Black mage, Red mage
• Fire crystal: Scholar (DS only)
• Water crystal: n/a
• Earth crystal: Magus, Sage
• Secret: Onion knight (DS only)

Lv.	Spell	Type	Effect	Free location	Price and shop
1	Sleep	Debuff	Causes "sleep" status	Altar Cave	100 Gil, Kazus
1	Fire	Attack	Element: fire	-	100 Gil, Kazus
1	Blizzard	Attack	Element: ice	-	100 Gil, Kazus
2	Blind	Debuff	Causes "blind" status	Canaan	700 Gil, Canaan
2	Thunder	Attack	Element: lightning	-	700 Gil, Canaan
2	Poison	Attack	Non-elemental attack, inflicts "poison" status	-	700 Gil, Canaan
3	Fira (Fire2)	Attack	Element: fire	Viking Base	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Blizzara (Blizzard2)	Attack	Element: ice	Viking Base	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Thundara (Thunder2)	Attack	Element: lightning	Viking Base	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
4	Shade	Debuff	Causes "paralysis" status	-	3000 Gil, Gisahl
4	Break	Attack	Instant-defeat (gradual petrify)	-	3000 Gil, Gisahl
4	Blizzaga (Blizzard3)	Attack	Element: ice	-	3000 Gil, Gisahl
5	Erase	Debuff	Removes status upgrades	-	5000 Gil, Salonia
5	Thundaga (Thunder3)	Attack	Element: lightning	-	5000 Gil, Salonia
5	Raze	Attack	Instant-defeat if enemy level is lower than caster's	-	5000 Gil, Salonia
6	Warp	Field/attack	Moves back some floors in dungeons; instantly defeats enemies	-	10000 Gil, Dorga's House
6	Firaga (Fire3)	Attack	Element: fire	-	10000 Gil, Dorga's House
6	Bio (Poison2)	Attack	Non-elemental attack, inflicts "poison" status	-	10000 Gil, Dorga's House
7	Breakga (Break2)	Attack	Instant-defeat (petrify)	-	20000 Gil, Dorga's Village
7	Drain	Attack	Non-elemental; restores caster's HP	-	20000 Gil, Dorga's Village
7	Quake	Attack	Element: earth	-	20000 Gil, Dorga's Village
8	Death	Attack	Instant-defeat	-	60000 Gil, Eureka Land
8	Flare	Attack	Non-elemental attack	-	60000 Gil, Eureka Land
8	Meteor	Attack	Non-elemental attack	-	60000 Gil, Eureka Land

Spells analysis

This section is a stub. Help us expand it, and you get a cookie.

Field spells:

• L6 Warp

Debuff spells:

• L1 Sleep
• L2 Blind
• L4 Shade (paralysis)
• L5 Erase (erases enemy status upgrades)

Attack spells:

• L1/3/4 Blizzard/Blizzara/Blizzaga (element: ice)
• L1/3/6 Fire/Fira/Firaga (element: fire)
• L2/3/5 Thunder/Thundara/Thundaga (element: lightning)
• L2/6 Poison/Bio (inflict "poison" status)
• L4/7 Break/Breakga (petrify)
• L5/8 Raze/Death (instant-death)
• L7 Quake (element: earth)
• L7 Drain (restores HP to caster)
• L8 Flare (non-elemental, targets one)
• L8 Meteor (non-elemental, targets all)

Summon Magic

Summon magic users:

• Water crystal: Evoker
• Earth crystal: Summoner, Sage

There are two types of Summon Magic: a type with two effects that occur randomly, and a type with one fixed effect. The former is used by Evokers, and the latter is used by Summoners. Sages can use the two-effect summons in the DS version, but in the NES version they used the fixed effect ones instead.

Unless specified otherwise, Evoker attacks target one enemy only, while Summoner attacks (and Evoker indirect effects) target all enemies. Unlike other debuff spells, the Evoker's debuff effects have 100% accuracy, missing only if the enemies are immune to the specific status ailment (sleep, stop, instant-kill, petrify).

Lv.	Summon	Evoker: indirect	Evoker: attack	Summoner: attack
1	Escape / Chocobo	Chocobo Dash Party runs from battle Stumble Usually has no effect	n/a	Chocobo Kick Damage proportional to the level difference between caster and enemies (all)
2	Icen / Shiva	Mesmerize Casts sleep on enemies	Icy Stare Ice damage (1)	Diamond dust Ice damage (all)
3	Spark / Ramuh	Mind Blast Casts stop on enemies	Thunderstorm Lightning damage (1)	Judgement Bolt Lightning damage (all)
4	Heatra / Ifrit	Healing Light Restores HP to party	Hellfire Fire damage (1)	Inferno Fire damage (all)
5	Hyper / Titan	n/a	Clobber Stomp Both deal earth damage (1)	Earthen Fury Earth damage (all)
6	Catastro / Odin	Protective Light Casts Reflect on party	Slash Attacks all enemies	Zantetsuken Instant kill (all)
7	Leviath / Leviathan	n/a	Demon Eye Casts petrify (instant kill) on all Cyclone Wind damage to all enemies	Tidal Wave Water damage (all)
8	Bahamur / Bahamut	Aura Casts Haste on party	Rend Instant kill (1)	Mega Flare Non-elemental damage (all)

Evoker's spells analysis

• Support/attack spells:
  • L1 Chocobo (escape): only useful in miniaturized dungeons (e.g. Cave of the Magic Circle), where it's hard to win all battles with magic alone.
  • L4 Ifrit (heal): more useful in the deeper levels of dungeons, when the party suffered damage after fightning many battles.
  • L6 Odin (reflect): only useful against spellcasting enemies and bosses.
  • L8 Bahamut (haste): cast this spell at leisure, but not against bosses, because they are immune to istant-death attacks.

• Debuff/attack spells:
  • L2 Shiva (sleep)
  • L3 Ramuh (paralysis)
    • These spells should be used early in the dungeons, to make battles easy during early exploration of the surroundings. Remember that physical attacks can wake up the enemies, i.e. remove "sleep" and "paralysis", so choose well your targets!

• Attack-only spells:
  • L5 Titan: best left for battles against bosses, that are usually immune to status ailments.
  • L7 Leviathan: useful against large groups of enemies, but not against bosses (immune to instant-death and petrification)

There's no need to analyze the Summoner's spells, because all of them are attack spells that target all enemies.

Terrain

The Terrain skill is useable only by Geomancers. It harnesses the power of the earth to cause different elemental damage. The determining factor of what effect is caused is the environment the skill is used in. This skill does not consume MP.

A (+) by the skill name indicates a high chance of being cast. A (-) indicates a low chance of being cast. Note that Wind Slash, Ice Storm, or Ice Pillar occur frequently in all environments.

Environment	Effect	Element	Targets
Desert	Cave-in (+)	earth	one enemy
Desert	Earthquake	earth	all enemies
Forest	Wind Slash (+)	wind	one enemy
Forest	Ice Storm (+)	ice	all enemies
Forest	Shadowflare (-)	non-elemental	one enemy
Lava cave	Magma (+)	fire	all enemies
Cave	Whirlpool	instant death	all enemies
Cave	Ice Pillar	ice	one enemy
Cave	Shadowflare (-)	non-elemental	one enemy
Airship	Wind Slash (+)	wind	one enemy
Airship	Ice Storm (+)	ice	all enemies
Airship	Shadowflare (-)	non-elemental	one enemy
Underwater	Whirlpool	instant death	all enemies
Underwater	Ice Pillar	ice	one enemy
Dungeon	Black Hole	instant death	one enemy
Dungeon	Flame Burst	fire	one enemy

Sing

The Sing skill is useable only by Bards. Using different harps can have different effects on the songs sung. Note that the strength of the effect increases with job level.

Note that the effects of Minne, Minuet, and Elegy only last for 2 rounds of battle.

Harp	Song	Effect
Madhura Harp	Minne	Support: increase physical defense power of the party.
Loki Harp	Minuet	Support: increase physical attack power of the party.
Lamia Harp	Requiem	Attack: damage all opponents.
Dream Harp	Paeon	Healing: heals the party a little.
Apollo Harp	Elegy	Support: decrease the amount of damage the party takes from any attack.

In the NES version, the Sing ability simply attacks the enemies, with no added effect. Instead, the NES bard has two more skills, as shown in the table below. Because the effects of Cheer and Scare are small but cumulative, it would be a good strategy if the Bard uses continuously the same command during a battle.

Skill (NES)	Effect	Strategy
Sing	Attack: replaces "fight" command; two harps have debuff effect.	Keep singing will eventually debuff all enemies.
Cheer	Support: increases speed and physical strength of all allies; effect is cumulative.	Keep cheering the allies in a boss battle will eventually boost the attack of front-row jobs quite a lot.
Scare	Debuff: lowers the level of all enemies, eventually making them flee; stronger enemies are immune.	Keep scaring a group of annoying monsters will make the fight faster.