MP question

[Polnareff]

So I just started playing FF3 again (via a rom) and this time I have two mages in my party, a red mage and a white mage, along with a fighter and a blackbelt (I'm on the part right before Jinn but I'm leveling up).

When I equipped the Ice spell on my Red Mage it said I was allowed to cast it seven times. But that doesn't seem like nearly enough if I were to reach the end of the game with the party I have now. And none of the FAQs I've seen have explained the magic system in detail (I even checked the front page and found nothing on MP). So my questions are:

1. Does the amount of times you can cast a particular spell go up?
2. If so, then how does it happen? Is it via level up, skill points, or something else?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Points per magic level go up as a character's overall Level increases. Just like in FFI.

[Sefie1999AD]

Yes, your MPs for each spell level go up when you gain more levels, and you'll also learn new spell levels on your way. For example, at the beginning of the game, you only have MP for level 1 spells (IIRC), but later in the game, you'll have MP for even level 8 spells.

But that doesn't seem like nearly enough if I were to reach the end of the game with the party I have now.

Don't worry, you'll have plenty of MP by the time you reach the end of the game. For now, you won't be able to cast spells that many times, but you can always restore your MP in an inn (or a recovery spring, or use Elixirs).

One thing you may want to remember is that some classes (such as Fighter, Monk etc) have 0 MP since they can't cast any spells. If you're using a class like that and then change the character to a magic-using class, the character will still have 0 MP after class change, so you'll need to restore that character's MP before you're able to use magic with that character.

[Captain Maxx Power]

Once you get the Sage, MP problems will seem like a thing of the past.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

You get the Sage at the very end of the game, though.

[Sefie1999AD]

I think even classes like Shaman, Warlock and the Summoner will get you rid of your MP problems.