Final Fantasy V Job Classes

Red Mage

Vital Statistics

"Versatile mages, versed in both black and white magic."

Job Description

The Red Mage seems a jack-of-all-trades, but it is actually the greatest mage as long as you give it higher-level spells and the Magic Power that comes with it. The Red Mage may be able to equip Swords, but without Shields, Heavy Armor or decent Stamina, you'll want to play him as a pure caster. As a caster, he lacks the Magic Power to be truly effective. His ability to wield Rods and Staves makes him a worthwhile recipient of a spell list which boosts his Magic Power to great levels, though. A Red Mage with !Summon has all the strengths of a Summoner, but more Stamina and up to eighteen additional utility spells.

The Red Mage does not learn any spell of a higher level than level 3, meaning that after the first third of the game, the Red Mage falls behind in power even more harshly without multiclassing. Keep his offense up to date with something like !Summon and he'll play as the greatest caster ever, but since you get no short-term reward for leveling as one, it's likely you'll abandon him in favor of upgrading to the more impressive spell sets of other casters or learning other abilities.

Job Ability Summary

The !Red spell-list levels twice as slowly but gets you both White and Black spells to cast. This is great in the first world, and being able to throw around status ailments in addition to Raise is still a great boon to any caster even when the damaging and healing spells fall behind in power. !Red 3 is a great ability to have during the first world.

!Dualcast is what makes mages great. This is such a bonus that people often don't have any idea what to do with the Red Mage and still suffer through 999 ABP just to get the ability for their Summoners. !Dualcast is undeniably awesome, though learning the ability need not be a chore. Assign either the !Summon or !Black command, boost the element(s) and you're as good as any Black Mage or Summoner itself.

Transfer to Freelancer

Stat gains across the board, technically, but they're overshadowed by other Jobs. !Dualcast is key to the magical mayhem that can be unlocked end-game, so get it.