Magic Stone (Final Fantasy IX)

Magic stones are turquoise stones from Final Fantasy IX that permit the player characters to use their support abilities. They are specifically used as part of the game mechanics, and can never be used in any other way.

A specific number of stones must be equipped to a support ability in order for it to be functional in battles. Since the supply of magic stones for each character is always limited, and each support ability has a different cost of magic stones, the support abilities can never be equipped all at once. The stones can never be collected as usable items in the game outside of the main menu, and serve no other purpose than to limit the amount of support abilities equipped. Nevertheless, the maximum number of the stones gradually rise accordingly with the character's level, allowing the player to eventually use more than before.

Beside the name of each support ability is a round slot; a magic stone being inside the slot indicates it is currently equipped to the character; likewise, an empty slot shows the reverse. If all the magic stones have been equipped, then all the unequipped support abilities become grayed out and cannot be selected until enough magic stones have been unequipped. The main menu keeps track of the remaining and maximum number of magic stones for each character.