Well, let's start with Black Magic as an example. Black Magic is powerful. We saw a Black Mage (Albeit wielding a Stardust rod, which is one of the most powerful mediums a black mage could hope to obtain) destroy a Reaper with a single flare. It did, however, take him a good amount of time to summon up that flare.
So it has it's pros and cons. If one is a talented enough Black Mage, they could decimate a person. The problem is that they have to stand still and channel that spell, and quite frankly if they're alone they wouldn't be able to cast many powerful spells if their opponent wasn't rooted or hindered in any way. As soon as some one was on them, they'd be more or less defenseless.
So a lot of a Black Mage's power stems from the company they keep. Otherwise, they might be on par with say.. ..a Monk, for example. Or a Dragoon, or anything else. They might have some stopping power behind their spells, but they wouldn't be nearly as strong if they were keeping light on their feet and wanted casting times to remain low.
Black Magic is casted through chanting, so having a quick tongue probably helps as well. It's why silence has always prevented casting, since it removes one's ability to speak. I like to think the Black Mage AF was sort of designed with this in mind, too. It covers the mouth, potentially obscuring it from your enemies view.
So it has it's pros and cons. If one is a talented enough Black Mage, they could decimate a person. The problem is that they have to stand still and channel that spell, and quite frankly if they're alone they wouldn't be able to cast many powerful spells if their opponent wasn't rooted or hindered in any way. As soon as some one was on them, they'd be more or less defenseless.
So a lot of a Black Mage's power stems from the company they keep. Otherwise, they might be on par with say.. ..a Monk, for example. Or a Dragoon, or anything else. They might have some stopping power behind their spells, but they wouldn't be nearly as strong if they were keeping light on their feet and wanted casting times to remain low.
Black Magic is casted through chanting, so having a quick tongue probably helps as well. It's why silence has always prevented casting, since it removes one's ability to speak. I like to think the Black Mage AF was sort of designed with this in mind, too. It covers the mouth, potentially obscuring it from your enemies view.
![[Image: 7Ho5y7x.png]](http://i.imgur.com/7Ho5y7x.png)
