Black Magic

Black Magic is one of the three main types of Magic in the series. It focuses mostly on spells that deal direct damage, although some strategic magic is often included as well.

In the series where the Job system is employed, Black Magic is the specialty of the Black Mage Jobs; other Jobs that can use Black Magic include Red Mage and Ninja.

Most of the spells have upgraded forms. These forms are usually named using the original spell name and adding the letters aga, ara or aja, depending on the installment. (i.e the upgraded version of Cure is Curaga) in the Spanish versions of the games, there is no "aga/ara/aja" in the spell name, so a + or ++ is used instead. for example the upgraded version of Thunder (Electro in Spanish) in the Spanish version is called Electro+ and the upgraded version of this spell is Electro++.

In final fantasy XIII the spell level not only increases the damage caused by the spell but also the range, so using a level 2 spell will hit all the enemies within its range while using a level 1 spell with only hit the initial target.

Recurring

 * Aero - Often appears on its own. However Aero had many upgrades available such as Aeroga and the Tornado spell. Also inflicts Wind-elemental damage. This appeared as Blue Magic in Final Fantasy V, with all the three levels. Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy XII also had "Aeroga", a powered-up Aero spell, while in Final Fantasy VII, some enemies can cast Aero3. In Final Fantasy XII, the Esper Chaos uses Aeroja during his boss battle. Aero is listed as White Magic in Final Fantasy III, its first appearance in the series.
 * Aura - This spell differs from game to game, either adding Regen and Auto-Life to a character, adding elements to physical attacks, by boosting the party's Strength, or even allowing the party member to use Limit Breaks more often.
 * Bio - Deals damage (either non-elemental or Poison-elemental) to one or more opponents and inflicts the Poison status. In games with the Poison element, this is effective against most humans, while most undead absorb it. In Final Fantasy XI, the spell gives the usual damage-over-time effect as well as lowering the recipient's Attack statistic; there are three levels of the spell.
 * Blind - This spell reduces one or all opponent's Accuracy by half, making them miss more often with physical attacks.
 * Blizzard - Deal Ice-elemental damage to one or more opponents. This is usually effective against Fire enemies, Earth enemies, and lizards. This spell is also translated as "Ice" for spatial reasons.
 * Break - This spell petrifies a target. It has two tiers of levels.
 * Curse - In Final Fantasy II, this spell decreases the target's stats, making the target weaker and easier to defeat . In Final Fantasy XIII, it is a Saboteur spell that increases the chance of an opponent's ability being interrupted (Learned by Sazh, Snow, and Fang).
 * Death - This spell instantly kills a target. It does not work on undead enemies.
 * Drain - This spell drains HP from an enemy and gives it to the caster. It inverts against the undead. In Final Fantasy XI, Dark Knights get access to Drain II, wherein if the user already has full HP, all damage absorbed becomes added to their current max HP, temporarily raising it.
 * Fire - Deal Fire-elemental damage to one or more opponents. This is usually effective against Ice-elemental enemies, the undead, large mammals, and plants.
 * Flare - This spell usually deals heavy non-elemental damage to an opponent, but it has been Fire-elemental on occasion. This spell has been translated as "Nuke" in games that place character-length restrictions on spell names. In Final Fantasy XI, Flare is the Ancient magic spell representing the Fire element, again with two tiers.
 * Flood - This spell deals Water-elemental damage to all enemies. In Final Fantasy XI, Flood is the Ancient magic for the Water element, again having two levels of power.
 * Freeze - This spell inflicts Ice-elemental damage to one opponent, and sometimes inflicts either Freeze (the status) or Stop, depending on the game. In Final Fantasy XI, Freeze is, again, the Ancient magic spell representing the Ice element, with two tiers.
 * Hold - This spell inflicts Paralyze on an opponent. In Final Fantasy III, Shade has a 30% chance of inflicting Paralyze.
 * Meteor - This spell deals non-elemental damage to all opponents, hitting several times for lower amounts. This spell sometimes plays a major role in the plot. In this case, the spell is named Comet. In Final Fantasy VII, there is an upgrade of the spell called Comet2. In Ring of Fates, an upgraded version of Meteor exists called Meteorga.
 * Osmose - Also known as Aspir, this spell drains MP from an enemy and gives it to the caster. Like Drain, it inverts against the undead.
 * Poison - This spell inflicts minor Poison-elemental damage and the Poison status to one or all opponents.
 * Quake - Quake differs greatly from game to game. In the original Final Fantasy it appeared as an Instant Death spell against all enemies, which aerial monsters and a whole lot of others were immune to. In the later games this appeared as an Earth-elemental spell that can be way too easily evaded by casting Float. In Final Fantasy XI, Quake is the ancient magic representing the Earth element, one of six powerful, MP and time-intensive spells in a Black Mage's arsenal; there are two levels of the spell. In Final Fantasy XII, the Esper Hashmal uses Quakeja during his boss battle, which can inflict Petrify.
 * Rasp- Similar to Osmose, but this spell simply blows away a portion of an enemy's MP. In Final Fantasy VII, Barret's Limit Break uses this spell, reducing an enemy's MP. In Final Fantasy XI, Rasp is another damage-over-time spell, akin to Bio, which is affiliated with the Earth element and, as such, lowers the recipient's Dexterity stat (the attribute affiliated with the Lightning element, to which Earth is strong).
 * Scathe - This spell inflicts heavy non-elemental damage to all enemies.
 * Scourge - This spell usually inflicts heavy non-elemental damage to all enemies and can either inflicts Sap or Poison depending on the game.
 * Shock - This spell inflicts damage (either non-elemental or Lightning) to one or all enemies. In Final Fantasy XI, the spell deals damage-over-time with the Lightning element, and lowers the recipient's Mind statistic (as Lightning has elemental advantage over the Water element in the game, to which Mind is affiliated).
 * Sleep - This spell puts one or all opponents to Sleep.
 * Stone - Usually the weakest Earth-elemental spell for a Black Mage, this spell inflicts a small amount of Earth element damage to an opponent. It has only two levels. In Final Fantasy XI it is the first spell a Black Mage learns, and has various forms ranging all the way to Stonega IV (used only by enemies). In Final Fantasy VI, it is instead a form of Blue Magic (being one of Strago's Lores - his initial one, in fact).
 * Stun - This spell prevents the target from taking any actions, and has a shorter duration period than Stop. In Final Fantasy XI, Stun is the Black Magic spell with the shortest casting time in the game, and is an important tool in the endgame community to prevent the devastating attacks of some of the game's most powerful foes.
 * Thunder - Deal Lightning-elemental damage to one or more opponents. This is usually effective against Water enemies and metallic enemies. This spell is also translated as "Bolt" due to character limitations in some games.
 * Toad - This spell turns a character into a Toad. Alternately, characters with the Toad status, when hit by the spell, will change back to normal.
 * Ultima - This spell usually deals non-elemental barrier piercing damage to all opponents. In Final Fantasy II, it was a White Magic spell, while it was classed, along with Meteor, as Forbidden Magic in Final Fantasy VIII. In Final Fantasy Tactics, you can only learn it Blue Mage-style: being hit by the spell. Only one upgraded version of Ultima exists, known as Ultiga.
 * Warp - This spell usually teleports the party one floor back, out of a dungeon, or kills all enemies, depending on the game. In Final Fantasy XI, Warp II can be used to send other party members to their home points, and not just the user; additional, similar transportation spells include Escape, Tractor, Retrace, the Recall spells, and the Teleport spells.
 * Water - Appears as a solo Water-elemental spell. Final Fantasy X was the first to introduce full Water spells with the -a/-ga suffixes, though the boss Kraken from Final Fantasy IX had access to the Waterga spell whereas players did not. In Final Fantasy XII, the Esper Famfrit uses Waterja during his boss battle, which can inflict Silence. Watera and Waterga are also used by enemies.

Game Specific
The following spells normally only appear in one game in the series:
 * Saber - Exclusive to Final Fantasy. This spell increases the Attack power and accuracy of a target, but a Black Wizard may only cast it on himself.
 * Temper - Exclusive to Final Fantasy. This spell increases Attack power to a lesser extent than Saber, but may be cast on any character.
 * Focus - Exclusive to Final Fantasy. Includes two levels. The spell lowers the target's Evasion stat.
 * Sleepra - Exclusive to Final Fantasy. Inflicts Sleep on one or more opponents with a higher success rate than Sleep.
 * Destroy - Exclusive to Final Fantasy II in the 20th Anniversary version. This spell kills all enemies as well as all of the caster's allies, and leaves the caster with 1 HP and 0 MP after casting.
 * Raze - Exclusive to Final Fantasy III. This spell instantly kills all weak enemies in the battle.
 * Kill - Exclusive to Final Fantasy III. This spell instantly kills a target with a much higher hit rate than Death.
 * Erase - Exclusive to Final Fantasy III. This spell removes all beneficial magic from the target. Essentially a Black Magic version of Dispel.
 * Pig - Exclusive to Final Fantasy IV and its sequel. This spell turns a character into a Pig, and changes them back if they are already a Pig.
 * Doomsday - Exclusive to Final Fantasy IX. This spell inflicts heavy Shadow-elemental damage to all enemies and allies in the battle.
 * Ardor - Exclusive to Final Fantasy XII. This spell inflicts massive Fire-elemental damage to all enemies.
 * Toxify - Exclusive to Final Fantasy XII. This spell inflicts heavy Poison-elemental damage as well as the Poison status to all enemies.
 * Ruin - Exclusive to Final Fantasy XIII. It deals magic damage to one target, while it's upgraded version Ruinga deals magic damage to multiple enemies.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, in Final Fantasy IV, if the player casts either Fire or Bio, the DS will say "Bio" or "Fire", depending on which spell is cast.