List of 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 . Abilities . Attack . Attack allows a user to perform a physical attack . The damage dealt depends on the weapon the character has equipped , as well as the basic elements involved in the damage formula , such as an enemy ' s defenses 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 . 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 , Confuse , 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 , Sleep , 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 Battlemage 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 redefined , 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 Battlemage , and Red Battlemage 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 Battlemage 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 . Mist . The Mist sub - menu contains two further sub - menus . These contain two unique systems , 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 . Summon . The party member who has an Esper ' s license can summon it by expending a number of Mist Gauges . Summoning an Esper is similar to using a Quickening ; the Lv1 Espers take one gauge to summon , whereas the Lv3 Espers take all three . Summoning an Esper is instantaneous and when an Esper is summoned the two other party members disappear . An Esper ' s level is identical to its summoner ' s , yet Espers have fixed Attack , Defense and Magick Resist ( as if wearing the same " equipment " ) . Each summon lasts maximum of one minute and thirty seconds , and ends when either the summoner or the Esper dies , or the Esper uses its ultimate move . The ultimate attacks are area - effect attacks and target the enemy with the highest max HP . Espers ' attacks never deal hit combos or critical hits . Espers can cast magicks even without MP and are immune to almost all status ailments . Quickening . Quickenings are the " Limit Breaks " in " Final Fantasy XII " . They are divided into three levels , with each requiring more Mist Charges to use . Quickenings each require 50 LP to unlock on the License Board regardless of the Quickening ' s level . Using a Quickening takes no Charge Time . Normal gameplay stops as the character executes the attack . A timer appears along with a blue bar and button icons corresponding to any of the three current party members who know Quickenings and who are not incapacitated . The player must quickly press a shown button to have the next character execute another Quickening . This is called a " Quickening Chain " . The faster the player inputs the next command , the more time they will have to input another command during the next attack . When the chain ends , characters lose MP equal to however many Mist Charges they used in the chain , and any characters who used the Mist Charge command lose all their MP . In the " International Zodiac Job System " version , Quickenings no longer use MP , but have their own Mist Charge gauge . Dismiss . Dismiss is available when an Esper 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 but will not do anything and it leaves 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 .