Final Fantasy IV PS1 Character Guide

Tellah: Abilities and Level Progression

Tellah joins in the Water Cavern with stronger healing and a useful selection of offensive spells. Put him in the back row. He is a Sage, not a substitute front-line fighter.

His levels deserve a warning up front: more HP does not mean every stat improves. His Strength and Vitality really do drop in some of the recorded level-ups. Check equipment before blaming it for a change that came from the level itself.

Magic When He Joins

List	Spell	MP	Useful for
White	Cure2	9	Stronger healing than your early Cure1MagicA spell Rydia learns on her second level-up after joining; its displayed icon still needs identification..
White	Charm	10	Trying to confuse a target.
White	Blink	8	Protection from physical attacks.
White	EsunaMagicA 20-MP White Magic spell on Tellah's starting list.	20	Removing status problems.
White	Life1MagicAn 8-MP White Magic spell on Tellah's starting list that Rosa learns at Level 11.	8	Reviving a fallen ally.
White	Exit	10	Leaving a dungeon where permitted.
Black	Fire1MagicA 5-MP Black Magic spell on Tellah's starting list that Rydia learns while melting the ice at Mt. Hobs-West., Ice1MagicA spell Rydia learns on her first level-up after joining, announced beside an ice icon., Bolt1MagicA spell Rydia learns upon reaching Level 5; its list, icon, and MP cost remain to be captured.	5 each	Choosing an element that suits the enemy.
Black	Stop	15	Preventing a susceptible target from acting for a while.
Black	Psych	0	An MP-recovery option where it works.

He starts at Level 20 with 340 HP and 90 MP. Don’t expect ordinary leveling to build a huge MP pool: every recorded checkpoint through 31 still has a 90-MP maximum.

Equipment Before Buying Anything

Tellah starts with Staff and Leather body armor, leaving useful empty slots. The Water Cavern IronRingEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Rydia (both forms), Rosa, Yang, Palom, Porom, Edward, Tellah, FuSoYa. Def 2; Eva 0; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%. and hidden Feather are good immediate additions. Together they raised the checked Defense power from 5 to 9 and Mag Def from 1 to 6.

Replacing Staff with Rydia’s old Rod actually lowered displayed Attack 10→9. The reason to use a reusable rod is its Item effect, not an assumption that every rod is a physical upgrade.

Base Stats by Level

These are base primary stats, with equipment bonuses removed. HP and MP are the recorded maxima from this run, not guaranteed rolls. A dash means the base value is not established; missing levels are not interpolated. Attack, Defense and their multipliers are separate derived combat values.

Level	Max HP	Max MP	Str	Agil	Vit	Wis	Will
20	340	90	5	8	7	16	16
23	415	90	3	9	5	16	16
24	440	90	3	9	5	16	16
25	464	90	2	9	4	16	16
26	488	90	1	9	3	16	16
27	514	90	1	10	3	16	16
28	541	90	1	10	2	16	16
29	567	90	—	—	—	—	—
30	593	90	1	11	1	16	16

Gains between adjacent recorded levels

Reaching level	HP gain	MP gain	Primary-stat change
24	+25	0	Unchanged
25	+24	0	Str −1, Vit −1
26	+24	0	Str −1, Vit −1
27	+26	0	Agil +1
28	+27	0	Vit −1
29	+26	0	Incomplete comparison
30	+26	0	Incomplete comparison

Equipment Modifiers

Equipment bonuses are fixed; they do not increase with your level. Add these primary-stat modifiers to the base values above. Defense and evasion belong to the equipment/combat calculation, not the five primary stats. This is the relevant equipment selection, not an exhaustive catalog.

Equipment	Primary-stat modifier	Notes
Staff; Feather, Leather, GaiaGearEquipmentEquippable by Cecil (Paladin), Rydia (both forms), Rosa, Palom, Porom, Tellah, FuSoYa. Def 3; Eva 0; Mag Def 3; Mag Eva 3%. Protects against Petrify. and IronRingEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Rydia (both forms), Rosa, Yang, Palom, Porom, Edward, Tellah, FuSoYa. Def 2; Eva 0; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%.	None to the five primary stats	Early outfit.
Magus	+3 Wis, +3 Will	Headgear.
Thunder	+3 Wis	Stacks with Magus.
Wizard body	+5 Will	Later body-armor bonus, not growth.

Joining combat profile

RHand Staff and body Leather give Attack 1 × 10, Accuracy 50%, Defense 1 × 5, Evasion 30%, Mag Def 1 × 1, Mag Eva 5%. EXP 54,873 and Next 8,320 put Level 21 at 63,193 total EXP.

Removing Staff lowers Attack power 10→6. Removing Leather lowers Defense 5→3 and Mag Def 1→0. Those are equipment contributions, not level growth.

Restored magic, later stats and the Meteo limitation (Mt. Ordeals spoilers)

What Changes at Mt. Ordeals?

Tellah’s expanded spell selection comes from the story, not from earning all those spells one level at a time. His reunion menu initially has the old selection; after the summit event it becomes much broader.

MeteoMagicTellah learns this after Cecil's summit trial. Its 99-MP cost exceeds his 90 maximum MP. costs 99 MP. His recorded maximum is 90. Knowing the spell and having enough MP to cast it normally are different things. Don’t spend hours grinding in the expectation that the next ordinary level will solve that mismatch.

Restored White Magic

Spells	MP
Cure1MagicA spell Rydia learns on her second level-up after joining; its displayed icon still needs identification. / Cure2 / Cure3MagicWhite Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 18 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Cure4MagicWhite Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 40 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run.	3 / 9 / 18 / 40
Life1MagicAn 8-MP White Magic spell on Tellah's starting list that Rosa learns at Level 11. / Life2MagicWhite Magic costing 52 MP, seen in Tellah's post-trial menu and learned by Rosa at Level 45. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run.	8 / 52
Hold / Mute / Charm / Blink	5 / 6 / 10 / 8
Armor / Shell	9 / 10
Slow / Haste / BerskMagicWhite Magic confirmed in Porom's Level 18 menu, costing 18 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Wall	14 / 25 / 18 / 30
EsunaMagicA 20-MP White Magic spell on Tellah's starting list. / Mini	20 / 6
Scan / Sight / Exit / Float	1 / 2 / 10 / 8
DspelMagicWhite Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 12 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run.	12

Restored Black Magic

Spells	MP
Fire1MagicA 5-MP Black Magic spell on Tellah's starting list that Rydia learns while melting the ice at Mt. Hobs-West. / Ice1MagicA spell Rydia learns on her first level-up after joining, announced beside an ice icon. / Bolt1MagicA spell Rydia learns upon reaching Level 5; its list, icon, and MP cost remain to be captured.	5 each
Fire2MagicBlack Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 15 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Ice2MagicBlack Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 15 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Bolt2MagicBlack Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 15 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run.	15 each
Fire3MagicBlack Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 30 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Ice3MagicBlack Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 30 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Bolt3MagicBlack Magic in Tellah's post-trial menu, costing 30 MP. Its effect has not yet been tested on this run.	30 each
Toad / Piggy / Warp / Venom	7 / 1 / 4 / 2
BioMagic20-MP Black Magic learned by Palom at Level 19. Its combat effect has not yet been tested on this run. / Wind / Sleep / Stone	20 / 25 / 12 / 15
Stop / Drain / Psych / MeteoMagicTellah learns this after Cecil's summit trial. Its 99-MP cost exceeds his 90 maximum MP.	15 / 18 / 0 / 99

These are the verified post-event menu entries. Dimmed field-menu text does not mean the spell is unavailable in battle.

Equipment Advice

Magus and Thunder give a combined +6 Wis and +3 Will. Those bonuses have already been removed from the base table; do not subtract them again. Level 29’s primary fields remain unknown, so the 28→30 Vitality change cannot be assigned to one specific level. Item→Thunder is reusable and saves MP, although its spread damage was modest against a mixed group.

Before advancing the Tower of Zot story after its bosses, move useful equipment into inventory if you want to keep it available. Check the actual slots rather than assuming he’s still wearing an older outfit.