Magic Enhancement

A person or thing that has been enhanced in some way by magic or something like magic.

The who or what in question can have their physical, mental and magical attributes be enhanced from a minor to major degree. It has to be an attribute they had before though, as being able to suddenly breathe fire or do magic if you couldn't do it before doesn't count. Having a shield become indestructible or having a fire breathing dragon suddenly spitting super-hot plasma does. The enhancement(s) can either be permanent or temporary.

Most characters with Ki Manipulation abilities tend to have this as standard, although it's often also inverted, with the honing of mind and body to superhuman levels resulting in more standard magical abilities though Enlightenment Superpowers. The same also often applies to Supernatural Martial Arts.

Compare Status Buff, which is this applied to gameplay, and Amplifier Artifact, which is a magical item that enhances others (instead of being an item that is enhanced). Also compare Spell Blade, Meta Power, and its subtrope Super-Empowering.

Not to be confused with the Enhance Button, which does sometimes seem to have magical powers.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Agito and other characters with white hair in Origin: Spirits of the Past were enhanced using the energy of the forest, making them super strong and part plant. But the more they use their enhancements, the closer they get to turning into a tree.
• Bleach: Hakuda trains a shinigami's body to the physical limit to become a weapon capable of extremely powerful unarmed combat. Yoruichi and her student Soi Fon independently discovered Shunkou. Later, on Yoruichi's brother Yuushirou also masters it. When activated, this technique drives kidou into the arms and legs to boost the body's Hakuda performance beyond its physical limit. Yoruichi, Soi Fon and Yuushirou are the only ones known to possess this level of Hakuda ability.
• In Fairy Tail, during the Edolas Arc, it's revealed that the inhabitants of Edolas create magical items and weaponry by merging an enchanted "Lacrima" (a crystal full of magical energy) with said weapon, giving it magical powers. This method is also used by regular mages of Earthland, but they often prefer to use their own magic to power up vehicles and machines.
  • Wendy, Vjeeter, and Irene Belserion's magic allows them buff their allies and themselves, increasing their physical capabilities like strength and speed to far above their normal levels.
  • Kyouka's Curse is a particularly nasty version of this. If the people she casts her enhancement curse on have the right fortitude, they'll become stronger than they can imagine. If they aren't, they're turned into paper dolls. She can also increase her own power gradually and ad infinitum while in her Etherious Form.
  • The Second Generation Dragon Slayers such as Laxus, Cobra and God Serena are created this way, implanting the aforementioned Lacrima based on Dragon Slayer magic into a human body. It's eventually revealed the first Dragon Slayers were created this way courtesy of Irene Belserion enchanting Dragon Magic directly into the bodies of humans. This also ends up being deconstructed in that implanting distinctively non-human magic into humans caused all manner of problems as said humans started taking on draconian traits: unable to handle draconian senses, mentally being overwhelmed by their new instincts, and in the most extreme cases turning into dragons.
• In Hunter × Hunter, "Enhancement" is one of the six main types of Nen. Enhancers tend to be the physically strongest people around and are noted for not always having named techniques because, more often than not, they don't need them.
• In Dragon Ball Z, Babidi's mind control not only allows him to control you, but also increases your power.
• The Lyrical Nanoha franchise has an offensive magic type called "Magic-Enhanced Attacks", which enhance the caster's weapon for a brief duration (such as setting it on fire) to increase its penetrating power.
• The Amakawa Demon Slayer Family in Omamori Himari has this as their standard power, calling it Light Ferry. They can charge an ordinary stick to be as strong as a "Legendary Weapon".
• In Naruto, A's Lightning Armour, the Eight Gates technique, Sage Mode and Fox mode all greatly increase speed, strength and reflexes.
• This is the effect of Ako Izumi's Pactio in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, via her using a HUGE syringe to inject a Super Serum that increases your speed/strength/stamina.
  • Earlier, Nodoka learns and uses a reinforcement spell to rob Dynamis of his staff.
  • The Pactio system has a facility for buffing strength and defense by drawing upon the mage's power, but it hasn't seen use for a long time.
  • There are also spells that can enhance a mage's physical attributes in combat, aptly named Cantus Bellax, literally "Battle Song". There is an upgraded version called Melodia Bellax. Negi uses the former a lot on account of him being a Magic Swordsman.
• One Piece: Belo Betty of the Revolutionary Army has the power of the Pump-Pump Fruit, which allows her to power up those who hear her Rousing Speeches and Inspirational Insults.
• Reinforcement Magic is used by most mages in Black Clover to increase their strength and speed. All Magic Knights (except Asta) can use Mana Skin, a form of Reinforcement Magic that coats them in mana to protect them. Environments with strong and wild mana concentrations make it harder to use.
• In Tales of Wedding Rings, Granart eventually unlocks the power of fire magic, letting her put her body into overdrive to drastically increase her strength and speed for a time.
• Ayakashi Triangle: Matsuri's Inner Storm ability controls his spiritual energy within his body much the same way he normally controls wind, giving him brief bouts of superhuman strength and durability.

Comic Books

• Wonder Woman (1987): Struggling actor Bill Baker received magical muscle enhancements as payment for "playing the part" of several villains Artemis faced before she realized she was being played.

Fan Works

• Enter the Dragon: Magic can be directed into spells, but by default, its presence tends to enhance the natural function of things. Madam Pomfrey thus becomes quite concerned about what will happen when Harry, whose draconic form is immensely magical, reaches puberty, and advises teaching him Occlumency so as to improve his emotional control.
• I Woke Up As a Dungeon, Now What?: The most basic power of humans in this setting is the ability to use Mana to enhance their personal physical abilities and make their gear more effective. Even a raw recruit like Gwen is a bit stronger, faster, and tougher than pure biology would indicate, and a veteran like Ulfric has skin like steel and can hit hard enough to pulverize a normal person with a simple punch.
• The Mountain and the Wolf:
  • Theon Greyjoy survives the battle of Winterfell by virtue of the Wolf's sorcerer casting a spell that transforms him into a Chaos champion. It even restores his genitals.
  • Several captains of Euron's fleet are seen sporting mutations to show their conversion to the worship of Chaos.
• The Palaververse: In Treasures, Daring has an enchanted dragon plushie as part of her alarm clock. It emits light to wake her up, when the alarm goes off.
• Past Sins: From "A Secret Between Friends", Twilight reveals that she can do at least small enchantments, such as Nyx's eye-disguising glasses:
  Twilight: These aren’t correctional glasses. It took a lot of research, but I’ve finally found an illusion spell that I can use to enchant the glasses to disguise Nyx’s eyes. It makes them look… well… more common. After all,

Literature

• Cradle Series: Enforcer techniques are used to cycle madra to enhance the entire body, an individual body part (such as a punch) or a weapon. While anyone can cycle madra to get at least some improvement to strength and speed, true practiced techniques are more effective and more efficient.
• In Dave Duncan's A Man of His Word series and its sequel A Handful of Men, anyone who possesses a single word of power has their own natural talents enhanced to supernatural levels. More words mean more power, but knowing 5 words makes one a demigod, who either becomes a god or eventually burns alive.
• The Hunters the main faction of The Angaran Chronicles are all this after they go through their Ritual they are capable of performing superhuman feats such as dodging bullets, running at ludicrous speeds as well as the enhanced constitution and healing rate. If they survive it which only 1 in 5 do, of course, the details of what the Ritual is is revealed in the novella The Ritual
• Deryni: In 'High Deryni'', the Gwyneddian forces receive reports of strange noises coming from the Torenthi camp at night. Morgan and Duncan join Kelson, Nigel, and a couple of scouts to observe, and Morgan uses his powers to extend his hearing. All agree they hear sounds of construction: sawing, chopping, hammering.
• In The Dresden Files:
  • Harry wears a magically reinforced black leather duster that can repel almost any physical attack. Others do similar enhancements to robes and other clothes.
  • Wardens of the White Council have a unique Anti-Magic Enhancement on their swords to banish any spell or magical enhancement their enemy has in effect.
• In The Familiar of Zero, there are several examples. A golem (already a magic item) is further enhanced by a magic force field that makes it nearly indestructible. A magic sword that is able to absorb magic has "dispel magic" cast on it (normally you'd expect dispel magic to weaken a magic item) and becomes more able to cut through things protected by magic. An airplane with "gust of wind" cast on it takes off in a shorter distance.
• In Harry Potter, various spells and potions can be used to grant the characters temporary increases in what we would consider various stats. Most obvious among them being the Supersensory Charm (granting super senses for the duration of the spells effect) and the Felix Felicis potion (granting increased luck for a set period of time). Other, less well-known or useful ones exist, and the fandom delights in inventing more for the purposes of their stories.
• High School Dx D:
  • Issei's Empathic Weapon "Boosted Gear" is a gauntlet/suit of armour capable of doubling his strength every 10 seconds, later unlocking the additional powers of Transfer (imbues the Boosts into another person or object) and Penetrate (makes an attack pass through barriers). By contrast his rival Vali's "Divine Dividing" can steal and absorb half an opponent's strength every 10 seconds, and its advanced power is Reflect (a barrier that blocks any attack).
  • Most high-ranking devils possess "Evil Pieces" - a set of chess pieces which they can insert into creatures to transform them into more devils (minus the King piece, which is represented by the set's owner). As part of the process, the new devils also gain benefits related to the piece used - either enhanced strength (Rook), speed (Knight), magic (Bishop), all three (Queen) or the ability to temporarily promote into a different piece (Pawn). Issei, a Pawn, later manages to develop an "illegal move" which applies his promotion to the Boosted Gear's armour instead of himself, reshaping it into specialised forms.
• In The Iron Teeth magical elixirs are used to turn people into Vessels. This grants them super strength and other abilities, but not everyone survives taking the elixir. They must also continue to drink more elixir in order to fuel their powers.
• All magic in the Knight and Rogue Series enhances a things properties, though it sometimes also adds and extra ability (such as rabbits being able to turn invisible.)
• In Mistborn's primary magic system, Allomancy, ingesting and "burning" tin and pewter cause this effect, enhancing the Allomancer's senses and physical abilities, respectively. Duralumin (an alloy of aluminum) takes it a step farther, enhancing other Allomancy. The other allomantic metals don't count; they provide powers such as Emotion Control and Combat Clairvoyance that the Allomancer simply wouldn't have otherwise.
  • The secondary magic system, Feruchemy, has an interesting variant where aspects of the Feruchemist, such as strength, physical or mental speed or body heat can be stored in metal, temporarily weakening themselves, in order to create a power reserve that can be tapped later when it's needed.
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: The magic on Gwen's quiver which makes it a Bottomless Magazine but for arrows, as chosen by Helen, the girl that plays Gwen:
  "I picked a magic arrow-holdering thing," Helen added.
  "A quiver."
  "Yeah, that was it. Thanks, Uncle. It never runs out of arrows."
• Saintess Summons Skeletons: Ihuarah is an animist, meaning that his magic allows him to imbue a degree of life into mundane objects, greatly expanding on some natural characteristic that they have. He can take a feather and give himself wings, or throw a grass blade that will strike like a sword.
• Whateley Universe: From Absinthe 2 The Absinthe of Malice (Part 1): Fixx's power:
  “[The scientists] think my warper thing is really just an extension of my devisor power, or vice versa. All I can do with it is amplify the properties of things, so that they’re better at what they already do. You know, make glue stickier, metal stronger, and stuff like that. Still, that’s pretty useful when I’m fixing or building something.”
• In The Witcher, human children who show potential as monster hunters undergo rigorous training before being given the Trial of Grasses, a series of mutagenic herbs and mushrooms that will either kill them or grant them unnatural powers, turning them into Witchers.
• In the Xanth novels, Ivy has the magic talent of Enhancement, and it is considered Sorceress-level magic because it is so versatile. For example, she used it as self-defense once by enhancing an enemy's throwing strength for a moment so that it would overshoot its aim when throwing something at her.

Tabletop Games

• The heart and soul of (the) Exalted. Every single one of them started out as Puny Creationlings, and their Exaltions enhances them to (varying degrees of) god-like ability. They also get more powerful Ki Manipulation/Functional Magic, if they had some form of it before.
• In Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, the Gods of Chaos give daemonic gifts to their servants that may enhance them to superhuman ability (or just increase their abilities for the Chaos Space Marines).
  • They may also give you an extra leg or three, or an eyeball in your mouth, or whatever else they feel like. Such is the way of Chaos...
  • The Fantasy spell Call to Glory lets you replace a Marauder with an Exalted Hero of Chaos, a much stronger unit. Some players consider that they can cancel the spell to return the unit to normal, denying the enemy a kill.
• Dungeons & Dragons:
  • Probably the most common form of magic item in most settings are enhanced objects, like a "shield +1" or a "sword +2 vs undead". They give a bonus to their wielder to hit if a weapon, to block a parry if a shield, etc. This is not limited to combat stats but those are the ones most people tend to remember/prefer.
  • There are also enhancement spells, which increase the effect of other spells.
  • Depending on the edition, there are also numerous spells, potions, and wearable magic items that can temporarily improve acharachters physical and mental ability scores. Depending on the edition, this might either set the target's ability score to a fixed number or it may instead provide a numeric boost (such as +2 or +4). The Wish spell can also be used to provide a permanent boost.
• In Godbound, one of the most common passive effects of possessing a Word is enhancing your natural abilities to superhuman levels. In addition, the Excellence of the Word universal gift (that means it's not tied to any Word in particular) drives any attribute to the human limit.
• GURPS 4th Edition introduces the idea that some superpowers are magical in origin, and gives some basic mechanics for characters who have them. (However, as of yet, it still doesn't include rules in any of its settings for how these powers are acquired in the first place.)
• Shadowrun has physical and mystical Adepts, awakened metahumans who naturally channel magic into their body to enhance their capabilities. Examples include supernatural strength, hearing outside of the metahuman range, wallrunning or reduced aging.

Video Games

• Titan Quest: Anything in the Yellow Color Coded Item Tier, is a magical version of something in the White, a.k.a "common" tier below it.

Visual Novels

• Reinforcement Magic from the Fate series, which allows magi to sharpen blades, harden armors, or in the case of a higher level mastery, augment a living being with physical strength, speed and durability.
  • Caster used a spell to strengthen Soichiro Kuzuki's body, making him tough enough to block Saber's sword barehanded. However, the rest of his combat abilities that make him able to be a match even for a Heroic Spirit are completely natural.
  • Saber uses the Mana Burst skill to become superhumanly fast and strong despite having the body of a teenaged girl. This also means her stats are strongly tied to her magus partner: The more Prana she can draw upon through their bond, the stronger she can hypothetically become.
  • Rin beats Caster in a fist fight by boosting her physical abilities weith magic.
• Mage Blade is a transmutation spell in Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane that sharpens an object for one minute, making it more effective at penetrating armor. It's the only spell Celeste knows at the beginning, but it's very handy for the mercenary life.

Web Animation

• Power Star has the Power Stars, which when absorbed in small numbers, simply upgrades the melee potential of those who absorb them and their speed in battle. Subverted with all of them being absorbed at once since it is stated by Devil Mario that doing so allows the user to destroy the universe at will.

Webcomics

• In El Goonish Shive, one's magic can have the ability to increase physical strength passively or increase strength, size and speed through a spell.
• Fate/Gamers Only: Da Vinci finds after some studying that Rikku unconsciously uses magic to increase her cognitive abilities. Rikku later finds out and tries to experiment with her abilities to discover that her thoughts and nervous system speed up while her body remains the same... and any pain she feels is enhanced as shown by a bullet grazing her cheek and the pain being enough for her to collapse.
• Kill Six Billion Demons: Simply possessing a Magus Key allows Demiurges to channel its power to enhance their own bodies. In Seeker of Thrones and King of Swords, Allison shows feats like Super-Speed and being so strong daggers shatter against her eyeball, and she's only a neophyte. The Seven are so accustomed to their Keys that they are Nigh-Invulnerable — Solomon David tanks a detonation that reduces an arena twice the size of the Colosseum to a burnt-out husk and his clothes aren't even scuffed, and Jagganoth's Key-granted One Winged Angel Form is so strong the air pressure from his blows knocks down trees hundreds of miles away.

Web Original

• In the New Vindicators universe, chi powers are very real, although very few people can master them. Among other things, people can manipulate their chi through Qiqong or a similar practice to make themselves stronger, tougher, or faster (in Mutants&Masterminds terms, this means increasing physical abilities), among other things.
• In Savage Divinity the reinforcement skill strengthens muscles with chi, and with enough concentration and energy can exponentially increase strength. Taken to an extreme a user of reinforcement can over strengthen their muscles with chi, this create can create a devastating blow far beyond the normal limit at the cost of the muscle tearing itself and the limb apart.

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