A critical mistake about black belts/masters

Many people believe that the Black Belt/Master is a horrible class because they cannot equip any armor without their Absorb rating going down to one. This is a big deal because of the Ribbon and possibly the Proring. The Ribbon protects against special attacks. With one equiped the various dragons at the end of the game only do a fourth of their special attack's damage. Prorings protect against instant death spells and petrifying. Many people are wrong. It's true that if they only equip a Ribbon or only a Proring their Absorb drops to one. There's a way around this. If a Master equips a Golden Bracelet or an Opal Bracelet it will raise their Absorb rating while only dropping their Evade rating by one point. After one is equiped the Ribbon and the Proring will both increase their Absorb while only dropping their Evade by one point each. It may also be true with Black Belts but I only found out after the class change so I can't go back to check. It's definately possible to equip a Black Belt with a Gold Bracelet and a Proring before the class change, but unless you skip changing entirely you will be a Master before getting a Ribbon.

I can't check with the Origins or Dawn of Souls, but it worked in the NES version.

Black Belts simply don't suck. They don't necessarily need the Ribbon either, as I believe there aren't enough for all four party members anyway: Just make him the one that goes without if it's really that much of a problem. But yeah, you found a way round it, so that's cool.

DoS isn't so unforgiving: By the time I'm done, the Ribbon's his only equipment, as everything else does drop his stats somewhat, but he's still good at taking a smack.

i played ff origins and had a master...id say it was prolly my best character. lvl 50 and had 999 hp and with haste did like 2k damage each hit. the magic resistance was decent too.

My Monk always owned in FF I. Yes, he does lack armor, but the strength he has had made up for it. I never leave him out of my parties(or the Black Mage for that matter)