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)

Spell list

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 a small amount of health	1: Ur 2: Sealed Cave	100 Gil, Canaan
1	Poisona	Field/support	Cures poison	-	100 Gil, Ur
1	Sight	Field	Shows the world map on the overworld	-	100 Gil, Ancients' Village
2	Mini	Field/support/attack	Causes or cures mini; instantly defeats enemies	Healing Copse	-
2	Toad	Field/support/attack	Causes or cures toad; instantly defeats enemies	Gurgan Gulch	-
2	Aero	Attack	Deals minor wind damage	Dragons Peak	700 Gil, Tozus
3	Cura (Cure2)	Field/support	Restores a medium amount of health points	Tozus (bookshelf)	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Blindna	Field/support	Cures blindness	-	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Teleport	Field	Teleports party to the world map if in a sub-area	-	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
4	Libra	Debuff	Shows enemy HP and weaknesses	-	3000 Gil, Gysahl
4	Confuse	Debuff	Causes confusion	Elven claw (Ancient Ruins)	3000 Gil, Gysahl
4	Silence	Debuff	Causes mute	-	3000 Gil, Gysahl
5	Curaga (Cure3)	Field/support	Restores a large amount of health points	-	5000 Gil, Saronia
5	Raise	Field/support	Revives dead party members with low health	-	5000 Gil, Saronia
5	Protect	Support	Raises defense against physical attacks	-	5000 Gil, Saronia
6	Stona	Field/support	Cures petrification	-	10000 Gil, Doga's house
6	Haste	Support	Raises speed (hits per turn)	-	10000 Gil, Doga's house
6	Aeroga (Aero2)	Attack	Deals high wind damage	-	10000 Gil, Doga's house
7	Curaja (Cure4)	Field/support	Restores all health points to one party member, or restores a large amount of HP to the whole party	-	20000 Gil, Doga's village
7	Esuna	Field/support	Cures all status ailments except death	-	20000 Gil, Doga's village
7	Reflect	Support	Creates a magic barrier that reflects spells back at the caster, doesn't work on all spells	-	20000 Gil, Doga's village
8	Arise (Raise2)	Field/support	Revives one party member with full HP	-	60000 Gil, Eureka
8	Tornado	Attack	Reduces one enemy's HP to critical status	-	60000 Gil, Eureka
8	Holy	Attack	Deals light damage	-	60000 Gil, Eureka

Spells analysis

Healing spells

These are the most important spells in order to survive through the game.

• L1/3/5/7 Cure/Cura/Curaga/Curaja: These four spells restore health; the higher the level, the more HP are restored; Curaja (Cure4) always fully restores HP to the maximum, unless used on more than one party member.
• L5/8 Raise/Arise: They restore a dead ally to life; Raise restores a minimal amount of HP, while Arise fully restores HP.
• L6 Stona: Petrification is similar to death, as the character cannot act in any way, but Raise and Arise won't work; the Stona spell is required to restore to life a petrified character.
• L1 Poisona: Cures the poison status.
• L3 Blindna: Cures the blindness status.
• L7 Esuna: Cures every status ailment, except petrification and death.

Field spells

Spells that are typically used outside battle.

• L1 Sight: It shows a map of the world; it cannot be used in dungeons.
• L2 Mini: It miniaturizes the heroes; this is necessary to crawl two dungeons; miniaturized characters have physical attack and defense reduced to 1, and can only fight using magic; The Devout and Sage can also effectively use this spell in battle: a miniaturized enemy is forced to leave the battle, resulting in instant-defeat.
• L2 Toad: It transforms the heroes in toads; this is necessary to access two dungeons; toad characters have physical attack and defense reduced to 1, and cannot even use magic; The Devout and Sage can also effectively use this spell in battle: a toad enemy is forced to leave the battle, resulting in instant-defeat.
• L3 Teleport: It teleports the heroes back to the entrance of the dungeon. The Devout and Sage can also effectively use this spell in battle: a teleported enemy is instantly defeated.

Support spells

Battle spells that target the heroes.

• L5 Protect: Increases physical defense of the target.
• L6 Haste: Increases physical attack of the target.
• L7 Reflect: If the targeted hero is attacked with magic, the spell will bounce back to the caster.

Debuff spells

Battle spells that target the enemy, but deal no damage. If the caster has low skill, they can miss.

• L4 Libra: It shows the attributes of the target enemy.
• L4 Silence: The target cannot use magic.
• L4 Confuse: The target is confused and will attack himself or a random monster.

Attack spells

Battle spells that deal damage to the enemies.

• L2/6 Aero/Aeroga: Wind-elemental attacks.
• L8 Tornado: Reduces the enemy health to less than 10 HP, but does not kill them.
• L8 Holy: Holy-elemental attack.

Black Magic

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

Black magic users:

• Wind crystal: Black mage (L1-7), Red mage (L1-4)
• Fire crystal: Scholar (L1-4) (DS only)
• Water crystal: n/a
• Earth crystal: Magus (L1-8), Sage (L1-8)
• Secret: Onion knight (L1-8) (DS only)

Spell list

Lv.	Spell	Type	Effect	Free location	Price and shop
1	Sleep	Debuff	Puts enemies to sleep	Altar Cave	100 Gil, Kazus
1	Blizzard	Attack	Deals minor ice damage	Sasune castle	100 Gil, Kazus
1	Fire	Attack	Deals minor fire damage	-	100 Gil, Kazus
2	Blind	Debuff	Blinds enemies	Canaan	700 Gil, Canaan
2	Thunder	Attack	Deals minor lightning damage	-	700 Gil, Canaan
2	Poison	Attack	Non-elemental attack, poisons enemies	-	700 Gil, Canaan
3	Fira (Fire2)	Attack	Deals moderate fire damage	Viking Base	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Blizzara (Blizzard2)	Attack	Deals moderate ice damage	Viking Base	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
3	Thundara (Thunder2)	Attack	Deals moderate lightning damage	Viking Base	1500 Gil, Ancients' Village
4	Shade	Debuff	Paralyzes enemies	-	3000 Gil, Gyshal
4	Break	Attack	Inflicts gradual petrification	-	3000 Gil, Gyshal
4	Blizzaga (Blizzard3)	Attack	Deals major ice damage	-	3000 Gil, Gyshal
5	Erase	Debuff	Removes all buffs	-	5000 Gil, Saronia
5	Thundaga (Thunder3)	Attack	Deals major lightning damage	-	5000 Gil, Saronia
5	Raze	Attack	Instant-defeat if enemy level is lower than the caster's	-	5000 Gil, Saronia
6	Warp	Field/attack	Moves back some floors in dungeons; instantly defeats enemies	-	10000 Gil, Doga's Manor
6	Firaga (Fire3)	Attack	Deals major fire damage	-	10000 Gil, Doga's Manor
6	Bio (Poison2)	Attack	Non-elemental attack, inflicts "poison" status	-	10000 Gil, Doga's Manor
7	Breakga (Break2)	Attack	Petrifies enemies, defeating them instantly	-	20000 Gil, Doga's Village
7	Drain	Attack	Drains the target's HP and gives it to the caster	-	20000 Gil, Doga's Village
7	Quake	Attack	Deals major earth damage to all enemies	-	20000 Gil, Doga's Village
8	Death	Attack	Instantly defeats one enemy	-	60000 Gil, Eureka
8	Flare	Attack	Deals massive damage to one enemy	-	60000 Gil, Eureka
8	Meteor	Attack	Deals massive damage to all enemies	-	60000 Gil, Eureka

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-defeat, petrify).

L	Summon	Evoker's special	Evoker's attack	Summoner's attack	Element
1	Escape / Chocobo	Party escapes from battle (Chocobo Dash) or no effect (Stumble)	-	Attack all (Chocobo Kick)	-
2	Icen / Shiva	Casts Sleep on all enemies (Mesmerize)	Attack one (Icy Stare)	Attack all (Diamond Dust)	Ice
3	Spark / Ramuh	Casts Shade on all enemies (Mind Blast)	Attack one (Thunderstorm)	Attack all (Judgement Bolt)	Thunder
4	Heatra / Ifrit	Casts Cure on party (Healing Light)	Attack one (Hellfire)	Attack all (Inferno)	Fire
5	Hyper / Titan	-	Attack one (Clobber) or Attack one (Stomp)	Attack all (Earthen Fury)	Earth
6	Catastro / Odin	Casts Reflect on party (Protective Light)	Attack all (Slash)	Inst. defeat all (Zantetsu-ken)	-
7	Leviath / Leviathan	-	Attack all (Cyclone) or Inst. defeat all (Demon eye)	Attack all (Tidal Wave)	Wind Water
8	Bahamur / Bahamut	Casts Haste on party (Aura)	Inst. defeat one (Rend)	Attack all (Mega Flare)	-

Evoker's spells analysis

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

Environment	Effect	Targets	Element
Fire Molten Cave	40% Magma 38% Flame burst 20% (Wind slash) 02% (Shadowflare)	Attack all Attack 1 Attack 1 Attack 1	Fire Fire Wind Non-elemental
Wind Forest, plains, airship	50% Wind slash 48% Ice storm 02% (Shadowflare)	Attack 1 Attack all Attack 1	Wind Ice & Water Non-elemental
Water Underwater, river	38% Whirlpool 40% Ice pillar 20% (Wind slash) 02% (Shadowflare)	Instant-defeat all Attack 1 Attack 1 Attack 1	Ice & Water Ice & Water Wind Non-elemental
Earth Desert	40% Earthquake 38% Cave-in 20% (Wind slash) 02% (Shadowflare)	Attack all Attack 1 Attack 1 Attack 1	Earth Earth Wind Non-elemental
Non-elemental Swamp	40% Black hole 40% Shadowflare 20% (Wind Slash)	Instant-defeat 1 Attack 1 Attack 1	Non-elemental Non-elemental Wind

Each dungeon can be associated to one of the five elements at the top of the next table. The second row lists the main terrain attacks associated with each element. Note that the Geomancer job is obtained after the only Fire Dungeon in the game. In the World of Darkness the Geomancer's Terrain is different again: 25% Earthquake, 25% Flameburst, 25% Ice Pillar, 25% Windslash.

Fire	Wind	Water	Earth	Non-Elemental
Magma Flame burst	Wind slash Ice storm	Whirlpool Ice pillar	Earthquake Cave-in	Black hole Shadowflare
Fire terrains	Wind terrains	Water terrains	Earth terrains	Non-elemental terrains
-	Forests Plains Onboard airships	Sea bottom Rivers	Deserts Mountains	Swamps
Molten cave	Castle Sasune towers Dragon's Peak Tower of Owen Castle Hein Goldor Manor Dragon Spire Bahamut's nest Crystal Tower	Nepto Shrine Tower of Owen (base) Subterranean Lake Cave of Tides Amur Sewers Sunken Cave Temple of Time Saronia Catacombs Falgabard Waterfall Lake Dohr  ??? Dungeon	Altar Cave Sealed Cave Mythril Mine Tozus Tunnel Cave of the Magic Circle Ancient Ruins Falgabard cave Bahamut's Lair Cave of Shadows Doga's Grotto Ancients' Maze	Forbidden Eureka

In the NES version, there is a chance that the Terrain ability backfires and hits the Geomancer himself. It happens if the Terrain technique misses all possible targets.

In the table below, the names in brackets are the corresponding or most similar effects from the DS remake.

Environment	Effect	Targets	Chance of backfire	Element
Sea	Watersprout (Whirlpool)	Attack all enemies	1 - very low	Lightning
Plains	Earthquake ("Ice Storm"?)	Attack all enemies	1 - very low	Wind
Mountain, dungeon	Landslide (Earthquake)	Attack all enemies	1 - very low	Earth
Forest, dungeon	Wind Slash (Wind Slash)	Attack one enemy	2	Wind
Onboard airship	Tornado ("Shadowflare"?)	Attack one enemy	2	Non-elemental
Desert	Quicksand (Cave-in)	Instant-defeat one	3 - high	Earth
River	Whirlpool ("Ice Pillar"?)	Instant-defeat one	3 - high	Lightning
Swamp	Sinkhole (Black hole)	Instant-defeat one	3 - high	Non-elemental
(anywhere)	Backfire	Geomancer!	n/a	n/a

The following table shows the Terrain effect for each dungeon:

Earth	Water	Wind	Non-elemental
Earthquake	Whirlpool	Wind Slash	Sinkhole
Plains	Seas & sea bottom	Forests	Swamps
Altar Cave Ur Mithril mines Castle Sasune Sealed Cave Tozus tunnel Tower of Owen Molten Cave Dragon spire (top floor) Doga's cave (floor 1) Crystal Tower boss World of Darkness bosses Saronia Catacombs boss Falgabard	Temple of Time Sunken Cave Saronia catacombs	Amur sewers Goldor manor Saronia Dragon Spire Cave of Magic Circle Ancient Ruins Cave of Shadows Ancients' Maze Crystal Tower World of Darkness Eureka	Doga's cave (floor 1)
Earth	Water	Wind	Non-elemental
Landslide	Rapids	Tornado	Quicksand
Mountains	Rivers	Canyons	Deserts
Doga's cave (floor 3)	Cave of Tides Lake Dohr	Doga's cave (floor 2) Bahamut's Lair	-

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.