Freelancers are the starting job for new adventurers. They cast basic attack and support spells and can also attack moderately well.

Warriors are the first heavy-duty job one can achieve; they can't use magic, but they excel in taking and dealing damage. Their special skill, Advance, allows them to deal extra damage, but makes them more vulnerable to attack.

Monks wear light armor, but they pack a hefty physical punch to make up for their low armor. This job can counter-attack with Retaliate if hit by a physical attack, which also makes them take less damage similarly to guarding.

White Mages can use all but the last level of White Magic, which makes them useful healers for much of the game. They also have a few attack spells, which deal light and wind damage.

Black Mages are the magical opposites of White Mages. Their elemental and status-causing spells are great for exploiting elemental weaknesses or disabling an enemy.

Red Mages are great multi-taskers: they use both Black and White Magic AND they have good attack power. This makes them quite versatile.

Thieves are fast. They can steal items, usually common store items, from enemies, and use Flee to run away from battle without taking as much damage. In addition, Thieves can unlock doors and chests.

Knights are like advanced Warriors; however, their stats are a little better, and they can use Level 1 White Magic. However, part of the real value of the Knight is the tendency to defend others whose health is low.

Rangers use ranged weapons exclusively to attack. Their special skill, Barrage, allows them to fire on 4 enemies simultaneously.

Scholars, at first glance, seem similar to Red Mages. However, their attack is less, and they can Study enemies. Study is similar to Libra: It tells you the enemy's HP (though not for bosses) and their weaknesses. It also removes any beneficial magic on the monster. Scholars also have very little MP. To balance that, Scholars get twice as much damage from attack items.

Geomancers use the skill Terrain to produce a magic attack. The attack's targets and element depends on the terrain you're fighting on.

Vikings are by far the most physical job there is. They're best for the front row, due to power and defense. However, vikings are slow. They can replace other physical jobs, and take in damage because of Provoke. They have high HP.

Dragoons and Valkyries are a physical class with good armors, but their weapon selection is rather narrow. However, Jump increases their physical power by a large chunk, and allows them to evade attacks.

Dark Knights have poor defensive skill, but have excellent attack power, and possess two very important features. First, katanas do double damage against enemies that divide AND will prevent the division from even happening. Souleater does a large chunk of damage on all enemies for an HP cost.

Evokers are similar to both black and white mages combined, and have a lot of MP. His spells usually have two sides: a multi-target support/debuff effect ("white") and a single-target direct attack ("black").

Bards can use harps, which have added effects and use Intelligence, rather than Strength, to determine damage output. Not only that, but if a Bard is holding a harp, (s)he can use Sing.

Black Belts are powerhouses when it comes to raw physical attack power, but, like Monks have limited armor selection, sometimes giving them lowered defense and magic defense. Black Belts make up for this flaw with high strength, vitality, and moderate agility, and their special ability, Boost. Boost allows them to charge up power for your next attack and can be used successively to boost your next attack further, but can damage your character if you use it too many times in a row.

The Magus is the master of Black Magic. Magi can cast all Black Magic spells and have more MP for higher-level spells.

The Devout is the master of White Magic. Devouts can cast all White Magic spells and have more MP for higher-level.

The Summoner has higher attributes than the Evoker, but his magic is extremely monotonous. High-damage elemental attacks against all enemies.

The Ninja is a good physical fighter. Ninja are able to throw weapons for maximum damage at the cost of the item.

Sages are master wizards who can use every spell in the game, but with that comes lower MP. Their Summon spells are the same as Evoker's.