If Ranma 1/2 had magic users...

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Ranma 1/2 has a lot of magic floating around in it. This is an obvious, undeniable fact. What's equally undeniable is that nobody in the series actually uses magic. This is quite understandable; for one thing, Ranma 1/2 is rooted quite heavily in Supernatural Martial Arts, making mages somewhat redundant, for another, the presence of actual practicing wizards/magicians/sorcerers/whatevers would make the various magical items (not to mention the whole curses themselves) rather useless. But, nevertheless, the idea of what an actual practictioner of magic would look like in the Ranmaverse pops up.

I was browsing some of the Magic and Powers tropes at TVTropes, and I thought I'd ask my question here once I managed to work out just what it was I was curious about. If actual magic users did/could exist in the setting of Ranma 1/2, what "sort" of magic users (and, to a lesser extent, related magic tropes) would you reasonably expect/believe? Would you, say, consider Kung Fu Magi (that is, characters who use both ki-based martial arts and magic at the same time) and/or Magic Knights (wizards who use weapon fighting tricks/knowledge) believable or unbelievable? Would there be a place for the Squishy Wizard, or would magic demand physical capabilities- even being Full Contact Magic? Would spells be able to call creatures from other planes to do the mage's bidding, or is unleashing Spheres of Death the extent of a mage's capabilities?

Similarly, would you consider specific "origins" to be bound with specific types of magic user? For example, if the Joketsuzoku village had magic users, would you expect only Kung Fu Magi/Magic Knights, or only Squishy Wizards?

An unusual topic, I know, but I hope it isn't too offensive. There's no "right answer" here, this is just a matter of curiosity about matters of personal opinion and personal belief. Even those who believe that there's no place for magic in Ranma 1/2.

[Cheb]

I'd think they were mostly magical artificers and crafters, creating miscellaneous artifacts that could be used by anyone, including the actual fighters.
That could be the reason there are no visible "vizards" in the Ranmaverse. They aren't casting fireballs on site but crafting a fire-breathing staffs, and so on.
Considering the amount of magical crap floating around...

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

There are probably all the types of wizards, war-wizs, artificers, and kung fu sorcerers in the world. But being a successful magic user requires a certain amount of wisdom, and the last thing a wise man would do, is come within a country mile of Nerima's denizens.

I can see Gandalf, Allanon, Mustrum Ridcully and a few others gathering around a drystal and having a good chuckle, then switching over the Harry Potter, and lamenting what fools kids today are (Senior Malfoy, Snape and the rest, they are less than 100 years old after all, just kids).

[Tovath]

I can see a Squishy Wizard who is good at illusions being a problem for the Wreaking Crew.

[three headed dog]

I can see a Squishy Wizard who is good at illusions being a problem for the Wreaking Crew.

Not really, even in the anime (one of the movies) Ranma found away around the antagonists illusions and manga Ranma is generally more competent than his anime counterpart.

[Cheb]

These were assault illusions aiming to incapacitate the opponent. What would they do against the sneaking-type illusions that aimed at the vizard himself? (Improved Invisibility, Mirror Image, etc.)
I would be interested to see what the low-level "Spook" spell would do to Ranma.

[three headed dog]

The invisibility would not cause that big a problem. Ranma has a danger sense, fully capable of sensing threats he can not see or knows about yet (for example, Ryoga's sneak attack, could sense were Gosungunki was even though he was hiding under the floor, even could sense that Akane was going to give him bad food - sukura mochi). The most likely way he would counter invisibility would be to use his own stealth skills (he could sneak up on Cologne and the Umisenken has stealth techniques in it). It is also possible he has trained in blind fighting techniques or in the dark where you can not rely on sight instead have to use hearing or other senses (though I do not recall if this is shown anywhere in the manga or anime).

As for mirror image, couldn't Ranma just attack all of them at once, by possibly picking up rocks and tossing them, like how he flicked rocks knocking out every crow that was attacking Plum.

Spook though would be effective, though Ranma has temporarily overcome his fear of cats to complete an objective before (like the time the ghost cat kidnapped Shampoo), and it could backfire pretty bad if Ranma goes into the Neko-ken.

[Tovath]

What if the mage used illusion over a hole in the ground? That is he digs a hole and puts the illusion of normal ground or an enemy that needs to be fought over it. Danger sence is not going to help with that.

[Cheb]

The invisibility would not cause that big a problem. Ranma has a danger sense, fully capable of sensing threats

I meant when used for causing trouble, not fighting the guys directly. An experienced squishy wizard would be cautious enough do not attack them.
Listening to their conversations, gathering the blackmail material, laying magical traps, enchanting their daily use items, kidnapping Akane when Ranma isn't watching... Stuff like that is what I would use Improved Invisibility for.

Then, afaik, you could turn invisible and start summoning and summoning and summoning. I don't think any summoned creatures would be any good agains t Ranma, but these will irritate him greatly.
Then there is such a thing as Isaak's Missile Storm (the lesser and greater versions) - it's like a buffed up Magic Missile. Would be very hard to dodge it even for Ranma, as there is a lot of incoming projectiles, all of them homing. On the other hand, it does a blunt damage AFAIR, so it would be largely innefective.

As for mirror image, couldn't Ranma just attack all of them at once, by possibly picking up rocks and tossing them, like how he

Yeah, that would be a nasty surprise

[Anchoku]

What if Ranma 1/2 had magic users? If you consider the magical oddities in the series, most likely normal people would quickly sack them.

Most of the magical crap in Ranma 1/2 is strange or defective. I have to ask myself, what were the people like who actually made that crap? For some reason, I keep thinking of Cherry, from Urusei Yatsura.

[LawOhki]

What if Ranma 1/2 had magic users? If you consider the magical oddities in the series, most likely normal people would quickly sack them.

Most of the magical crap in Ranma 1/2 is strange or defective. I have to ask myself, what were the people like who actually made that crap? For some reason, I keep thinking of Cherry, from Urusei Yatsura.

Defective? Vast majority of magic in Ranma does exactly what it says it will do without exception. Any kind of magic user in Ranma is basically invincible since there is no known counters.

Japanese spring of drowned man? Monk just walked by and snapped his fingers and bam there was a spring that turned foxes into men.

Fishing rod that makes anyone instantly fall in love with the one who used it? 500 yen please. (Or whatever cheap price it was)

[StarEyed]

Defective? Vast majority of magic in Ranma does exactly what it says it will do without exception

True. The problems usually arise when the cast attempt to use the items.

Personally I can see, given the number of magical items about, that atrificer type mages would probably be most common. It would also make a clear contrast to the martial artists - one art of immediate use but limited mostly to use in fighting, the other more varied but requiring time and preparation.

[Anchoku]

Please describe those magial items that don't sound defective in some way.

Maybe my memory is slightly defective upon returning from the bar, tonight, but Ranma 1/2 had...
Love charm - fishing rod / pun leaving a fish-shaped birth mark that needs to be "caught" with the rod for a cure
Time travel - mirror you have to cry on to make it work
Wishing - dorky sword (who wishes upon a sword?)
Cure for over-sensitivity to heat - once per 100 years pill
Polymorphing spell - cluster of "spring of dunked whatever"
Polymorph spell lock - bucket and ladle usually used in purification
Polymorph spell lock unlock - mystical tea kettle hidden in a mountain shaped like a tea kettle that no one else figured out
Temporary polymorph spell - dried water packet
Temporary polymorph cure - waterproof soap
Mind control - noodle the victim into a giant egg
Terrible weapons - staff of heat and staff of cold that just happen to counteract each other
Source of evil curse - giant bath tub filled by giant faucets
Enemy disguise - make duplicate of Akane
Super strength potion - grows beard on women
Super skill and strength suit - has large "off button" right on the front
Cure for baldness - magical hair soup that causes pre-mature balding by burning out folicles
Temporary cure for cure for baldness - wear the magical hair soup in your hair
Cure for cure for baldness - Cure for baldness expires

[LawOhki]

Please describe those magial items that don't sound defective in some way.

Maybe my memory is slightly defective upon returning from the bar, tonight, but Ranma 1/2 had...
Love charm - fishing rod / pun leaving a fish-shaped birth mark that needs to be "caught" with the rod for a cure
Wishing - dorky sword (who wishes upon a sword?)
Polymorphing spell - cluster of "spring of dunked whatever"
Polymorph spell lock - bucket and ladle usually used in purification
Polymorph spell lock unlock - mystical tea kettle hidden in a mountain shaped like a tea kettle that no one else figured out
Temporary polymorph spell - dried water packet
Temporary polymorph cure - waterproof soap
Mind control - noodle the victim into a giant egg
Terrible weapons - staff of heat and staff of cold that just happen to counteract each other

I removed duplicates and non-magical items, as well as the nanban mirror since it's from the anime. There maybe a language barrier. For something to be defective, means that it doesn't work in the way described. Such as if you had a car, and instead of running correctly, the engine blows up. All the things listed work as described, even the nanban mirror works just fine for traveling through time, you just can't change anything.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

What makes you say that you can't change the past with the Nanban Mirror? Yes, the basic details -Happosai stole all the valuables he could carry and ran off from the Joketsuzoku after a disasterous breakup with Cologne- remained the same, but the characters didn't try to change the past that much (Ranma explicitly warned them off of it when Akane and Shampoo tried to make Happosai and Cologne's young counterparts get together) and we have no idea of the precise details that caused them to break up in the 'original' timestream. Yes, that episode had Happosai and Cologne break up more or less because of Old!Happosai and Ranma, but there's no proof either way that it was some kind of stable time loop.

Had to get that off my chest, but I agree with you that Anchoku seems to be miscomprehending "defective". If a magic item is defective, it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. The magic items from canon do work the way they're supposed to, it's just that many of them work in rather hokey ways. There's a difference between being functional and being sensible.