Sage

The Sage (セージ) is the usual promotion of the Mage class in several Fire Emblem titles, and also the promotion of Shamans and Bards in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, as well as an optional promotion of Monks and the Priests in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Combat
In most Fire Emblem games sages can wield Staves in addition to Anima Magic, though in The Sacred Stones, Sages also gained the ability to wield Light Magic.

It is interesting to note that in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, mages had the choice of either knives or staves upon promotion, with all Pre-Promoted sages having chosen the former. This marks the second occurrence of a magic-wielding class gaining a non-magical weapon upon promotion (the first being the Mage Knight of FE4, using swords), though the latter option is ostensibly more useful, in that it adds healing powers that draw upon the unit's magical power, whereas the former are not especially useful in the hands of sages, who will most often have low strength growths. Although it does offer a chance for a mage to attack units with high resistance with something other than magic.

In Shadow Dragon and Shin Monshō no Nazo WiFi battles, Sages are used mainly for their utility value. No sage is able to kill a combat unit one-on-one, such they are mostly used for their staves. In particular, staves like Fortify and Warp provide a team with a large tactical advantage.

The actual value of having a sage on a squad is debatable. A sage on a team introduces a weakness in overall composition in that the sage can be killed in a one-on-one encounter, but cannot kill others in one-on-one combat. Long range tomes like Swarm give the sage good finishing moves, and high versatility. The predominant reason sages appear on a squad is because they do not drain stat increasing items needed to make a squad of five powerful units. Normally, a team of five combat units would need to spread the boosts thinner and would have little need for magic boosts. However, a team of four combat units and a sage will be able to distribute their limited boosts to the combat units by especially focusing magical growths onto the stage.

Additionally, the map can affect how useful a sage may be. Map 6 in particular places a great emphasis on sages where most other maps do not.

Variations
In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the Sage class is split into five different classes. Fire Sages, Wind Sages, and Thunder Sages are able to use all three forms of anima magic, though their promoted forms are only able to acquire a ranking of SS in mastery with their preferred form of magic.

Additionally, the Light Sage, a class exclusive to protagonist Micaiah, wields Light Magic and Staves. Meanwhile the Dark Sage Pelleas wields both Dark and Thunder magic.

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 15
 * Mag: 30
 * Skl: 27
 * Spd: 30
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 18
 * Res: 27

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 20
 * Mag: 20
 * Skl: 20
 * Spd: 20
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 20
 * Res: 20

Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

 * HP: 60
 * Mag: 28(M) 30(F)
 * Skl: 30(M) 28(F)
 * Spd: 26
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 21
 * Res: 25

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 15
 * Mag: 30
 * Skl: 28
 * Spd: 28
 * Lck: 40
 * Def: 20
 * Res: 28

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~

 * HP: 60
 * Str: 20
 * Mag: 30
 * Skl: 28
 * Spd: 25
 * Lck: 30
 * Def: 20
 * Res: 25
 * Magic: A, Staff: A

Fire Emblem: Awakening

 * HP: 80
 * Str: 30
 * Mag: 46
 * Skl: 43
 * Spd: 42
 * Lck: 45
 * Def: 31
 * Res: 40

Gaiden

 * Nomah: The elderly magic user who watched over Celica at the Novis Monastery, and trained Boey, Mae, and Jenny.
 * Possible Promotion of: Boey, Luthier, Robin, Cliff, Grey, and Atlas

Genealogy of the Holy War

 * Arvis - Duke of Velthomer and later Emperor of Grannvale
 * Ced - Lewyn & Ferry's son
 * Hawk - Ced's replacement.
 * Ishtar - Princess of Freege and lover of Arvis's son Julius
 * Promotion of: Lewyn and Julia

Thracia 776

 * Ced - Lewyn's and Ferry's son and the prince of Silesse.
 * Possible Promotion of: Asvel, Homer, Linoan, and Sara

Binding Blade

 * Ohtz - boss of Chapter 14x
 * Brunya - one of Bern's three Wyvern Generals
 * Guinivere - Zephiel's younger, illegitimate sister
 * Promotion of: Lugh, Lilina, Hugh

Rekka no Ken

 * Aion - boss of Chapter 18x along with Kishuna, the "Owl" of the Black Fang
 * Ephidel - one of Nergal's morphs
 * Pent - Count Reglay, a nobleman from Etruria, husband of Louise, and father to Clarine and Klein
 * Sonia - one of Nergal's morphs who is the wife of Brendan Reed, but only married to gain control of the Black Fang
 * Limstella - allegedly Nergal's best morph
 * Promotion of: Erk and Nino

The Sacred Stones

 * Pablo - the leader of the revolt in Carcino and one of the two bosses of Chapter 10 in Eirika's route.
 * Saleh - Ewan's magic tutor from Caer Pelyn
 * Possible promotion of: Lute, Ewan, Moulder, and Artur

Path of Radiance

 * Calill - a self-proclaimed world class sage
 * Bastian - a nobleman from Crimea and one of Elincia's advisors
 * Balmer - one of General Petrine's men and the boss of Chapter 7
 * Kayachey - boss of Chapter 18
 * Heddwyn - boss of Chapter 28
 * Promotion for: Soren, Ilyana, and Tormod

Shadow Dragon
Note: All Sages were Bishops in the original
 * Wendell - a sage from Khadein and the teacher Merric and Ellerean
 * Gotoh - a Divine Dragon known as the White Sage and the teacher of Miloah and Gharnef
 * Promotion for: Merric, Linde

Shin Monshō no Nazo ~Hikari to Kage no Eiyū~

 * Katarina- one of Eremiya's assassins, but is duisguised as a Mage during the Prologue.
 * Promotion for: Yubello and Ellerean

Awakening

 * Emmeryn - the Exalt of Ylisse and the older sister of Chrom and Lissa.
 * Excellus - Walhart's tactician and one of the bosses of Chapter 20.
 * Ovis - One of the Deadlords fought in Chapter 22.
 * Possible promotion for: Lissa, Miriel, Ricken, Brady, and Laurent.

Trivia

 * In Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, the morphs Sonia and Limstella, while formally classed as sages, have higher stat caps with respect to defense and resistance, both of which can reach a maximum of 30, compared with the usual 21 and 25, respectively, acquired by Nino, the only playable female sage acquired in the course of the game.

Gallery
Sabio