My Life As A Gamer: Comparing Mage Archetypes Across Media

Below is a comprehensive user-created guide to playing a Red Mage in Final Fantasy XIV.

Its counterpart in D&D is the classic Gish archetype--the Fighter/Magic-User hybrid--and since I have it handy I'll post the AD&D1e rules for F/MU multi-classes.

Fighter-Magic-user: Obviously, this combination allows execellent armor protection, the use of weaponry, and spells. Hit points are good on the age (5.5+2.5=8, 8/2=4 hit points per double-classed level). Elves and half-elves may be fighter/magic-users.

(Side note: For Men, it's far more bothersome, but doable if a campaign lasts long enough and the character meets high requirements. See the PHB for the full details.)

What that means in practice is that the (Half-)Elf can cast spells as per the standard rules for Magic-Users while using weapons as a Fighter. Armor use has some issues, which is why Elven Chain Mail became a thing (D&D's knockoff of Mithril mail armor). This is not exactly the same as what the Red Mage does, but it is clearly the antecedant of that Job.

Other D&D editions have similar rules for this, some more complex than others, but none so complex (thankfully) what Red Mage involves.

I am pointing this out because some people have to see with their own eyes the difference in media. Tabletop RPGs and boardgames cannot ever be a fraction of the complexity, especially for the end-user, that videogames readily permit. Attempting, as some publishers have, to emulate that complexity limits their commercial appeal by overloading the user with information during actual play. (e.g. Spycraft, and the number of times I've had gameplay slow to a crawl due to players forgetting their abilities and having to look them up; Fantasyraft took that same complexity and used it for a D&D-style game.)

The one factor that people routinely overlook about the older games is that they are simpler, and simple games are far easier for players--for users--to comprehend and apply at the table to practical effect. Tabletop games cannot hide complexity behind a pretty screen of graphics, or offload them into an automated toolset; users have to manually operate those controls, even in virtual environments, and there is a real limit to what users can tolerate- and it shows in what games maintain players over time.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

AD&D1e had a good idea, and the OSR carries that wisdom forward. It's why that scene is the only one that matters, because--as a class--they get it. Save the "must alternate X and Y to keep Z up and running on the boss" for videogames.