Final Fantasy XII abilities

The abilities available in Final Fantasy XII are largely divided into four categories. The normal physical attack, Magicks & Technicks which contain six skillsets of normal skills that make up the bulk of abilities, Mist which cover special systems that use up Mist bars/MP, and Items which allow the player to use items from their inventory.

Attack
Attack allows a user to perform a physical attack. The damage dealt depends on the weapon they have equipped, as well as the basic elements involved in the damage formula such as an enemy's defences and a player's strengths. The Attack command is always available unless the player has the Disable status.

Magicks & Technicks
Magicks & Technicks covers the bulk of the skills in the game. The Magicks & Technicks sub-menu branches out into six further sub-menus with the lists of skills. Five of these sub-menus are Magick skillsets, while the final is a category of other miscellaneous abilities, usually physical in element.

Magicks & Technicks need to be obtained for any member of the party to use, and have a character obtain the relevant license to be able to use it. In the International Zodiac Job System version of the game, licenses for abilities in this category are divided between jobs, with some appearing in multiple however full sets only being available to one.

The Silence and Disable statuses prevent users from using skills in the Magick skillset, while only Disable prevents Technicks.

White Magicks
White Magicks is mainly comprised of abilities that heal party members and abilities that remove negative statuses. The Dispel and Dispelga abilities remove positive statuses from enemies, while Holy is a magically offensive attack of the Holy element.

In the International Zodiac Job System version, a number of Green Magicks skills from the original version are moved to White Magicks. These skills allow the user to cast beneficial statuses on their party. The Arcane Magicks skill, Confuse, was moved to White Magicks, and this inflicts a negative status, Confusion, on a foe. The full White Magicks set is available to the White Mage job class, with a number of others having access to a few depending on the licenses bought.

The original version has 18 White Magicks skills, while the International Zodiac Job System version has 25.

Black Magicks
Black Magicks is comprised of offensive magic spells, most being elemental in nature. Bio and Scourge deal non-elemental damage and attempt to inflict Sap.

In the International Zodiac Job System version, a number of Green Magicks skills from the original version are moved to Black Magicks. These are mostly offensive status skills, the abilities that inflict Silence, Blind, List of Final Fantasy XII Statuses, and Poison. The full Black Magicks set is available to the Black Mage job class, with a couple of others having access to a few depending on the licenses bought.

The original version has 18 Black Magicks skills, while the International Zodiac Job System version has 25.

Time Magicks
Time Magicks is comprised of spells that generally slow or fasten the actions of a target, or make an attempt to stop the actions of a target. Balance inflicts damage based on current and maximum HP of user, Float and Reflect gives the Float and Reflect statuses respectively, and Bleed inflicts Sap.

In the International Zodiac Job System version many of Arcane Magicks from the original version are moved to Time Magicks. Included in this are a couple of percentage-damaged spells and a couple of spells that inflict Invisible, and Berserk which inflicts Berserk. The full Time Magicks set is available to the Time Mage job class, with a couple of others access to a few depending on licenses bought.

The original version has 15 Time Magicks skills, while the International Zodiac Job System version has 20.

Green Magicks
Green Magicks is comprised of status-inflicting abilities, both positive and negative. In the International Zodiac Job System version the skillset is re-defined, instead of covering status-inflicting abilities it covers abilities that deal with HP, and in once case, MP. Only one ability, Oil remains from the original set, with most of the original set being divided into White Magicks and Black Magicks, and the new skills being sourced from Arcane Magicks. The skillset is far smaller in this version since there is no Mage specifically held to this class of Magick, with the entire set being available to the White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, and Red Mage job classes.

The original version has 15 Green Magicks skills, while the International Zodiac Job System version has six.

Arcane Magicks
Arcane Magicks is comprised of a range of attacks including direct-damage attacks, negative status attacks, and attacks which inflict the Dark element. The Bubble ability inflicts the Bubble which doubles the target's maximum and current HP.

In the International Zodiac Job System version, Arcane Magicks is significantly cut down. A number of skills originally classed as Arcane Magicks were moved to Time Magicks. In this version the skillset only includes spells with the Dark element, Death which inflicts instant death, and Ardor, an ex-Black Magicks skill that inflicts heavy Fire-elemental damage. Arcane Magicks skills are only available to the Red Mage job class.

The original version has 15 Arcane Magicks skills, while the International Zodiac Job System version has five.

Technicks
Technicks are a collection of non-Magical miscellaneous abilities. Each ability is generally unique in purpose. Unlike the other Magick skillsets, in the International Zodiac Job System version the Technicks skillset does not fully belong to any job but each job can obtain the licenses to a few of the abilities.

There are 24 Technicks skills in all versions of the game.

Mist
The Mist sub-menu contains two further sub-menus. These contain two unique systems of the game, both of which utilize Mist Charges. In each case, Summon and Quickening, abilities appear in three different ranks. The rank depends on how must Mist Charges it takes to use.

Dismiss
Dismiss is only available when a Summon is called into battle. The Dismiss command replaces the Mist command in the command menu, and using it will withdraw the summoned Esper from battle.

Gambits
The Gambits option on the menu allows the player to turn off the character-in-question's Gambits. The selected Gambits remain intact however they will not do anything and it leave it up to the player to choose their actions. This can also be done through the menu which is accessible at all times.

Items
The Items command allows a player to select an item from their inventory to use in battle.