Part 126: Characters - Leonora

Name: Leonora
Job: Epopt Trainee -> Epopt

Description:

Leonora starts off as a trainee aspiring to become an Epopt, one of the eight governing bodies that run the nation of Troia. Since a young age, she's admired and respected the Epopts and cherished the kindness she'd received in Troia. When one of the Epopts steps down due to illness, the Epopts decide to have Leonora train to fulfill that eighth spot.

It turns out that the person to train her, rather than a white mage as is tradition among the Epopts, is none other than the black mage Palom. Under his guidance and constant insults, she quickly masters the basics of black magic. Though she is nervous around Palom, Leonora comtains her mainposure, and eventually grows confident in her abilities.

Though seemingly meek, Leonora is a woman of great inner strength. Palom's relentless mocking of her reaches her unfazed, yet the minute Palom insults the Epopts, Leonora is willing to stand up and defend something she respects deeply.

Through this and the events that befall Troia when Baron searches for the Earth Crystal, Leonora develops a bond with Palom both as master/pupil and later as equals in magic prowess. Of course, is Leonora's true goal really to become an Epopt, or is she perhaps still enthralled by the tales of magical exploits that Palom used to tell her so many years ago, causing her to yearn for the mastery of both schools of magic?

Abilities:

White Magic:

Starts With:

Cure
Raise
Teleport
Esuna

L5 Libra
L8 Sight
L11 Hold
L12 Cura
L13 Slow
L17 Protect
L19 Silence
L23 Berserk
L25 Shell
L32 Mini
L35 Confuse
L38 Blink
L40 Float
L42 Dispel
L45 Curaga
L51 Haste
L54 Reflect
L57 Curaja
L62 Arise
L70 Holy

Black Magic:

Event Magic:

Fire
Blizzard
Thunder

L15 Poison
L22 Sleep
L30 Stop
L36 Drain
L39 Osmose
L41 Fira
L44 Blizzara
L47 Thundara
L78 Firaga
L80 Blizzaga
L82 Thundaga
L85 Flare

Equipment: Staves, Rods, Bows
Best Stats: Spirit, Intellect

Tactics:

The good news is that, unlike previous sages, Leonora's MP actually increases with levels, so you'll actually get to use her magic. She's one of the three characters in the series who has access to both Black and White Magic (excluding child Rydia), but in Leonora's case she's actually more of a White Mage whose special ability is casting Black Magic.

The main disadvantage with using Leonora is that she learns magic much more slowly than other mages, despite having access to both schools. For instance, Leonora learns Curaga at the same level that Rosa learns Curaja. Also, though she learns all White Magic, there are a quite a few Black Magic spells Leonora won't learn, including valuable ones such as Bio and Meteor. So you really have to grind in order for Leonora to really be effective in the end-game.

Still, Leonora's advantage is the sheer versatility of having both schools of magic. She gets access to a ton of status effects, and she can always pitch in on hitting an elemental weakness once she gains the -ra spells (have fun grinding for the -ga spells!). Still, Leonora's Intellect isn't the greatest, even being surpassed by Strength for a good part of the game. Leonora's mainly a White Mage, which her high Spirit and greater spell access indicates.

Overall, Leonora really is a jack-of-all-trades in a magic sense. Her magic won't be up to par to everyone else's at the same level, but she could fulfill a pretty solid role for a party with four physical attackers, alternate between healing and attacking during certain battles, or fill other niches. She's not one of the best mages, but she does an adequate job at fulfilling both roles simultaneously.