Basic Trope: A character possessing powerful mystical abilities is physically weak.
- Straight: Matthias Longbeard is a powerful sorcerer, but he's not so great in close combat.
- Exaggerated:
- Matthias controls vast amount of elemental forces, but can't run up a flight of stairs to save his life.
- Whenever Matthias, the master of reality itself, gets poked, he explodes.
- Downplayed:
- Matthias isn't physically weak, but he lacks training in martial arts.
- The entire cast consists of mages, and while Matthias is the most powerful spellcaster, his physical strength enhancing magic is weaker then that of his companions.
- In hand to hand combat Matthias is Unskilled, but Strong, which makes him a weaker compared to his Lightning Bruiser companions, who not only are strong but very skilled in hand to hand combat.
- Matthias has a number of defensive spells, but they all require conscious effort to use. In battle he can tank numerous attacks, but can still be killed by a single surprise attack.
- Justified:
- Matthias has been in the wizarding business for a while and age has caught up with him.
- Studying magic tends to involve spending countless hours in dusty libraries, so Matthias never got a chance to exercise.
- For whatever reason, wearing armor is counter-productive to wielding magic, so Matthias doesn't wear any. The result is this trope.
- Matthias is a lich, so his body is highly decayed.
- Matthias specializes in magic that gradually decays his body. His weakness is the result of using such magic.
- Matthias became too old or too injured to participate in physical combat but he still wishes to help his team, so he turned to studying magic instead.
- Matthias has always been physically feeble, which was a pretty big obstacle for somebody who wanted to be an adventurer. So he started studying magic in order to be capable of achieving his dreams.
- Inverted:
- Kung-Fu Wizard
- Magically Inept Fighter
- Magic Knight
- Matthias can use magic to render himself Nigh-Invulnerable.
- Matthias is great at defending himself, but lacks strong offensive spells.
- Subverted:
- In times of great need, Matthias can summon the ability to become a Kung-Fu Wizard.
- Matthias happens to have a pretty good defensive spell that keeps him alive.
- Matthias is as skinny as a stick, but he's also a black belt, which more than makes up for it.
- Physically speaking, Matthias is a total damage sponge with average to slightly above average combat skills, making him a Stone Wall, factor in his magic and he's a Mighty Glacier. Evulz, being Wrong Genre Savvy, pays dearly for this as his army is slaughtered for focusing exclusively on him.
- Double Subverted:
- Except after he uses these abilities, Matthias requires a 12-hour rest to regain full strength.
- Matthias's weakness is speed, so Evulz's Fragile Speedster mooks slowly chop away at Matthias, wearing him down, and forcing his teammates to rush in to prevent him from being taken out.
- Parodied:
- Matthias can control time and space, disintegrating enemies with a flick of his wrist. But if you so much as nudge him, he'll fall over in a crumpled heap.
- Matthias is squishy... as in he's so soft that he can be defeated like this.
- Zig Zagged:
- Matthias is as vulnerable or invincible as the plot demands — in one episode he can be injured only by special magic weapons and in the next he trips over a pebble and breaks his foot so his comrades must take on the next dungeon without him.
- Despite being a burly, square-jawed Hunk, Matthias almost never uses his strength in combat, preferring to use magic: he works out because he likes being muscular. That's not to say he can't throw a punch if cornered, though.
- Averted:
- Matthias uses buff spells to become stronger.
- Matthias regularly exercises at least an hour a day, so he's actually pretty fit for a wizard.
- Enforced: "This wizard character is too strong. We need to weaken him a bit."
- Lampshaded: "I'm guessing Matthias skipped gym class. A lot."
- Invoked:
- Matthias is told to stay in the back of the party's attack formation, keeping him out of the line of fire while giving him some range for his spells.
- The Powers That Be, when creating magic, made it so that great magical power decays the user's body so that no one magic user could grow too powerful.
- Exploited:
- Emperor Evulz recognizes Matthias' power. He orders his minions to focus their attacks on Matthias. Matthias is wiped out quickly as a result.
- Mage Killer
- Defied:
- Emperor Evulz recognizes Matthias' power. He orders his minions to focus their attacks on Matthias. Turns out it was all a Xanatos Gambit made up by Matthias: by focusing his henchmen on Matthias, the rest of the party can focus on him. The other way around would have taken longer, and while still doable, this way is more direct. Also, Matthias is plenty capable of holding his own in a massive melee with or without his magic, thank you very much.
- Matthias's mentor made him spend almost as much time exercising and practicing physical combat as he did learning magic, specifically so that he wouldn't die if he couldn't get to a spell fast enough.
- Matthias has learned magical means of protecting himself from physical harm. Sure, you could technically knock him out in one punch, but only after breaking through a shielding spell designed to withstand siege engines.
- Discussed: "It seems weird that this guy can fire lightning, but a backhand takes him down just like that."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Matthias is never seen in physical combat, but his comrades work very hard to keep enemies away from him in a fight.
- Every time the party gathers at some location, Matthias arrives last and is visibly winded.
- Deconstructed:
- Emperor Evulz recognizes Matthias' power. He orders his minions to focus their attacks on Matthias. Matthias wipes out much of the minions with his powerful magic, but he is eventually overpowered by the sheer numbers and beaten to death.
- Matthias encounters an enemy who wields Anti-Magic.
- Reconstructed: Matthias's physical fragility is why he always travels with a couple of Stone Wall brawlers.
- Played For Laughs:
- Matthias casts a powerful spell at a large group of enemies and kills all of them... except for one brute who the spell barely scratched. Matthias Screams Like a Little Girl and runs away.
- Fourth-Wall Observer Matthias spends an entire episode grinding levels to put more points into his defense stat. To great confusion and/or chagrin from his teammates.
- Played For Drama: Matthias finds himself alone and unable to use his magic. And the Mage Killer is on his way to finish the job.
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