Jack of All Stats

It's-a Me, The Balanced One!

Jack of All Trades, master of none,
Often better than a Master of one.

—Traditional

A member of the Competitive Balance lineup who does not specialize, and explicitly so. Strong but not the The Strongest, Fast but not The Fastest. Good at everything, the best at nothing. His biggest strength is his lack of any glaring weaknesses, but he may have trouble dealing with characters whose skills are more extreme than his if they're allowed to press their advantages.

The Jack of All Stats is often a good character for beginners to use as they get the hang of the controls; this character lacks the extremes that might trip up a novice. It is also a solid choice for advanced players who do not want to worry about opponents preying on their weaknesses. Whether the character retains his usefulness as the player's skill grows depends on how much the game rewards versatility as opposed to pure power, but the Jack of All Stats is almost never the best character in any given game or a Game Breaker.

In games with multiple playable races, it is often the case that Humans Are Average and are therefore the Jack of All Stats race. A common thing is for humans to be a stat-wise compromise between the graceful, fragile elves and the bulky, slow dwarves.

See also Competitive Balance, PVP-Balanced, Always Someone Better, and Non-Elemental. Compare the Lightning Bruiser, who can do everything better, and Master of None, who does everything worse (basically the same as this trope except it works against the character). Often overlaps with the Standardized Leader. Compare The Red Mage.

Examples of Jack of All Stats include:

Anime and Manga

  • From Naruto we have Kakashi Hatake. He's practically the trademark of this...he's not the fastest shinobi (Naruto, Minato, and A comfortably outspeed him), the strongest (Naruto, Tsunade, A, and Gai outperform him here), the best with genjutsu (Itachi is better), the best at Taijutsu (Gai, A, and Tsunade are better), despite mastering 1000 ninjutsu due to his Sharingan he's not the best in any element or clone use, and he's not the smartest (Shikamaru and Shikaku are smarter, Minato goes without saying), but he's got a balance of all these skills to be one of Konoha's best Jonin, Hokage Candidate, AND third general of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
  • Erza from Fairy Tail is this, as her armors give her a very versatile arsenal. She's not a Master Of None, however...she can use each armor pretty efficiently, though most of them use swords rather than anything else (though she can also fight pretty well using her fists, so she doesn't necessarily have to worry about being disarmed).
    • Lucy Heartfilia is also this, though she's limited to how many summons she can use at a time. She's more capable of fighting without them once she gets her hands on Aquarius's water powers though. Then she becomes more like her friend Juvia.

Comic Books

  • Spider-Man is this to the super-heroes of the Marvel Universe. He's not the strongest, fastest or smartest, but his combination of strength, agility and Spider Sense has got him through fights with the Hulk.
  • Superman can be considered the Mario of DC's upper-tier heroes. There are smarter (Batman), faster (the Flash), more determined (Green Lantern), stronger (Sodom Yat, Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter), and even more compassionate (Wonder Woman) heroes than Superman, but the fact that he excels in all these areas is what makes him DC's greatest all-around superhero.
    • Captain Marvel is, point-for-point, an exact match in all abilities for Superman (minus not having Heat Vision and Freezing Breath), but completely lacks Supe's weaknesses (Kryptonite and Magic). So, while you have a case of having TWO Marios of the DCU, Superman still comes out as the leader of the DCU because of one very important quality: Superman has the charisma of a leader.
    • Batman loses out to members of the Batfamily in most of the areas he is supposed to be the master of [1] yet he's considerably more well-rounded than his peers (plus he taught most of them).
  • Wolverine is this in the X-Men. He's always one of the fastest, one of the strongest, one of the smartest, and one the most durable of its members no matter which team he's on.
  • Doctor Doom is the second best at a number of fields including Power Armor (Beaten by Tony Stark), Magic (Losing to Doctor Strange) and science (the inferior of his eternal rival Reeed Richards) with none of the victors particularly competent in any of the others. This makes him one of, if not the, world's most effective bad guys, but Doom, being the megalomaniac he is, can only see it as Second Place Is for Losers.

Film

  • Joe in Idiocracy. The Army Researcher's powerpoint shows that Joe's stats are so average he's exceptional in how average he is.

Literature

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

  • Westley in The Princess Bride, he beat all the best but every single time the best is stated to be at some form of disadvantage (using the wrong sword, specialized in fighting groups etc.). Second best at everything works, if you are never on even footing.
  • Corwin of Amber is this, mostly. He's strong, but not so strong as Gerard, a great swordsman, but not so great as Benedict, Familiar with Magic, but not so much as Brand or Bleys, Cunning, but not so cunning as Caine, and a great leader, but ultimately not so great as Random. This is contradicted in the Role Playing game, where it's pointed out that Corwin had the best Endurance: After his brother put his eyes out and threw him into the castle dungeon, he regenerated them through sheer willpower, drew a Trump on the wall, and walked out of the prison.

Live Action TV

  • In the Red Dwarf episode "Gunmen Of The Apocalypse", Bret Riverboat, Lister's character in the Western VR game Streets of Laredo is the Jack of All Stats, with stats of 100 across the board. Since the others just happen to have stats that reflect their real characters (Cat is The Riviera Kid, with a high Charm, but low Intelligence, for example), this may indicate that Every Man Lister is himself the Jack of All Stats.
    • It may also have represented Lister's mental status: his personal hygiene issues aside, he's the most content with who he is out of the main cast. Next to the Cat's vanity and Rimmer's insecurity, his only real delusion is the idea that he can play the guitar (he really, really can't).
  • Heisei-era Kamen Rider series tend to make the starring Riders Swiss Army Heroes, and their default forms are usually the most balanced ones.
    • Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider Hibiki, and Kamen Rider Kabuto all feature lots of Riders rather than lots of versions of a single Rider, but the title characters are still the most balanced ones of the ensemble.
    • Played with in Kamen Rider OOO due to his extensive Combo-Platter Powers. When compared to other Riders, his default TaToBa Combo form is comparable to other Jack-of-All-Stat Riders. However, it's a combination of powers from different categories, and any such combo comes off as a Master of None when compared to a matching set. It's the first full set he achieves, GataKiriBa Combo, that appears to be the true Jack of OOO's forms.


Mixed Martial Arts

  • Fedor Emelianenko. For nearly a decade he dominated the sport with Good grappling (but not great), good striking (but not great), and good speed, agility and athleticism. Although his lack of improvement in any area has caught up to him and is the main reason he is no longer dominant, he remains the best example of a complete mma fighter.
  • UFC light heavyweights Rashad Evans, Forest Griffin, and Rich Franklin. All three of them are former champions, so being a jack of all trades isn't necessarily bad.
  • Frank Shamrock is considered to be the first complete mma fighter, and thus the first mma jack of all trades.
  • Current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones is starting to be considered this. Though he initially was considered Unskilled but Strong, as he's easily the most athletic fighter in his division (possibly even the entire sport) but lacking in some areas.
  • UFC Welterweight Champon Georges St-Pierre. At least as far as the different mma skill areas go. However his athleticism, which is the main reason for his success, is above almost everyone at his weight class.
  • Many MMA fighters in general are considered to be this, especially by boxing fans and mma haters. While many do fall into this category, most have experience in just one discipline before cross training to become a complete mma fighter.

Professional Wrestling

  • Chris Jericho has been said to have very evened attributes. He is an adept high-flyer, a decent brawler and well-versed in technical submissons. He has an average build (not too big, not too small) and average speed/agility. Throughout his career, he's been seen to have bested the best, and has been bested by the best.


Poetry

  • Earl Rognvaldr Kali, Viking poem

"I can play at Tafl,
Nine skills I know,
Rarely forget I the runes,
I know of books and smithing,
I know how to slide on skis,
Shoot and row, well enough;
Each of two arts I know,
Harp-playing and speaking poetry."

Tabletop Games

  • Dungeons & Dragons - Humans are The Jack of All Stats. See Humans Are Average. In D&D, the Elf is the Fragile Speedster and the Dwarf is the Mighty Glacier.
    • In Third Edition, a lot of feats and prestige classes are devoted to helping the base class abilities mesh better to be useful together. Anything from Arcane Strike, which allows a warrior/mage type to use magically augmented attacks, to Mystic Theurge and similar classes which allow a dual class spellcaster to retain enough potency to actually benefit from their diversity.
      • The Mystic Theurge is, somewhat ironically, the most balanced option between a Cleric and a Wizard. In order to qualify without using special feats or Prestige Class combinations (the Ur-Priest provides divine spellcasting of its own progression up to 9th level spells within ten levels, and is thus eligible for progression on the divine spellcasting side of the Mystic Theurge), a given character will need to lose a minimum of three caster levels (and thus spell level access) on both the arcane and divine side of the progression. Since the number of prestige classes that offer dual progression in this fashion is limited (and often more restricted), he will then need to choose between the highest spell level access on one side rather than the other, and lose some staying power on the process compared to a caster dedicated to one side or the other. In addition, it requires two high mental stats to use efficiently, balancing out its versatility. (It IS possible to obtain both 9th arcane and divine levels AND do so with a single casting stat, but not both at the same time.)
      • A Mystic Theurge can be a sorcerer/favored soul both of which use charisma as its casting stat so you don't need two mental stats.
    • The Factotum was introducted in Dungeonscape as a deliberate Jack of All Trades character class, with access to every skill, a decent base attack bonus, some spells, and, at higher levels, the ability to copy class features from other classes. The problem with multiclassing is often that either the abilities have no synergy or, perhaps more problematically, that everything comes from different ability scores (melee from Strength, ranged from Dexterity, magic from Intelligence or Wisdom, etc), which nobody can max out all of. They solved at least the latter problem for this class by tying almost everything to Intelligence.
    • Depending on which Domains they take, a 3rd Edition / 3.5 Cleric can serve as any role in the traditional Fighter, Mage, Thief party dynamic, as well as the fourth role of Healer, and probably fill them BETTER than the intended class - Clerics can be more effective combatants than a Fighter, Barbarian, or Paladin, better blasters/controllers than a Wizard, Sorcerer, or Druid, and better sneakers or point-men than a Ranger, Rogue, or Monk, and strictly better supporters than a Bard. It's been said, and all but proven, that a party of 4 Clerics with the right Alignments and Domains is infinitely more suited to any situation than a party of any other combination.
    • Some more 4th Edition examples: The Bard is now the only class with "unlimited" multi-classing. The "Essentials" Thief class receives the highest number of free skill trainings, with one more than the vanilla Rogue, and the so far unique ability to score a critical hit on skill checks for guaranteed success even with a low stat. There is a Paragon class named Jack of All Trades which is also skill focused. The Resourceful Magician Paragon class is a pure magic class, but combines some very different sorts of magic from base classes. The Half-Elf race are not quite equal to Humans in choice of dedicated career, but are better at being good at several things at the same time, and many of the game elements exclusive to Half-Elves contain the words "dilettante" and "dabbler." Where the Human has an option to further specialise in its own class with an extra class power, the Half-Elf has the option of an extra power from a different class.
    • Pathfinder, with its Fan Nickname of D&D 3.75, unsurprisingly also has humans as the Jack race. They gain a +2 bonus to one stat of the player's choice, making humans as viable as any race in their field. Half-elves and Half-orcs were modified to make them Jack races as well. Bards and Inquisitors are both Jack classes, with Bards receiving upgrades to make them much more useful than they were in D&D 2-3. Bards in D&D 1 worked in a completely different manner.
      • The Pathfinder Rogue class is very much a jack-of-all trades class, with a variety of special abilities which can grant it minor spellcasting, extra feats, etc.
  • Warhammer 40,000 has the Space Marines. Their 5th Edition Codex allows you to create almost any type of list you want. Want to head a small army of elite warriors? Take Terminators and Land Raiders. Want to lead a fully mechanized force? Put everything in Rhinos/Razorbacks. Like close combat? So do your Assault Marines. Prefer to shoot the enemy off the table? They have an app for that. Want to be a sneaky git? Take some Veterans and Infiltrate like a boss.
    • The Space Marines do have one advantage and one disadvantage relative to the other armies: even their most basic troops have great armor saves, but they have fewer soldiers per unit than most other armies, meaning they are almost always outnumbered by some margin.
    • As weapon choice goes, boltguns - firearms with rocket-assisted shells. It becomes more obvious in more detailed RPG (such as Deathwatch and Only War). Whether as personal weapons, heavy bolters in the nests or auxiliary weapons on vehicles, theme's the same. They are expensive, have fairly bulky and thus low in total capacity (and also expensive) ammunition and mediocre range. Not not as good at mowing down waves of badly armored meat as flamers, frag grenades or common firearms (a machinegun gets more shots per round, per magazine and total in kit); not as good against a single tough creature as flamer at short range and longlas or portable lascannon at long; not as good against Power Armour or vehicles as anti-armor missiles/grenades, plasma, melta or lascannon; not as good against aircraft as SAM or multi-laser... The upside? Bolt weapons are passable in all these roles, while weapons optimal for one common type of targets would be passable against one other and mostly useless against the rest. Machineguns will mostly scratch the paint on combat aircraft and SAM won't stop a mob of Orks or Tyranids, while pintle-mounted storm bolters give a chance against both.
      • ...which is why bolter is the signature weapon of Space Marines: they have to fight all sorts of enemies, sometimes won't know exactly what until they they face it, and aren't numerous enough to drag along every sort of specialized units - so while they have specialists, mastering the most versatile weapon around at least as a fallback option simply makes sense.
  • Rifts, much like D&D, has Humans as the Jack of All Stats. They are the only class who rolls the same number of die (3D6) for every attribute, and get no special skills or abilities to start off with. Pretty much their only advantages are that they have almost no O.C.C. restrictions (only O.C.C.s made for a specific race are unavailable for them), and that if they roll a 16, 17, or 18 on an attribute roll, they get to roll a bonus die.
  • In Blood Bowl, most races' linemen have the standard stat spread of 6 MV, 3 St, 3 Ag, 7-8 AV, and no inherent skills. On a 'individual models' level, Amazons are the closest to this trope as *all* their models have the above stat block (7 AV) and the dodge skill. Empire teams fulfil this on a team level, being good if not great at all strategies (running, throwing and blocking), but their individual models have some deviations from the baseline and they have a Big Guy (the ogre).
  • Star Fleet Battles has the Orion Pirates, who have ships that range from the unremarkable to the rather flimsy, but do have two potentially devastating advantages (if used correctly): They can double engine power (at the cost of engine damage), and they can switch out some of their weapons for whatever is best for the target at hand. They aren't really much good at anything (except raiding minimally armed freighters), but you can get away with being mediocre if you can be mediocre at something your enemy can't handle at all.

Video Games

Mario

  • It seems that Mario is always the Jack of All Stats in every multiplayer game that he appears in, to the point that he was the former Trope Namer.
    • In Super Mario Bros. 2 (the Japanese version; also known as The Lost Levels), Mario manages to be the more nearly average out of two characters. Luigi can jump higher but is more difficult to control precisely, while Mario plays normally as in the previous game.
    • In Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA), Luigi can jump the highest, Toad is the fastest at picking up and carrying items, and the Princess can hover for short periods. However, they each possess a significant drawback as well; Luigi is again difficult to control precisely, Toad is a terrible jumper, and the Princess is exceptionally slow at picking up items. Mario, on the other hand, is the second best jumper after Luigi, the second best at picking up items after Toad, and his controls are very precise.
    • In Super Paper Mario Mario is the only one who can flip, so that most of the game has to be played through him, but still manages this. Bowser is bigger and stronger, Peach is floatier, and Luigi jumps higher. Again.
    • In the Super Smash Bros. series, Mario is the Jack of All Stats (as he often is in spin-off games). He has decent mobility, is neither heavy nor light, does mid-range damage, and has mid-range launch power.
    • The DS version of Super Mario 64 adds 3 new characters with different abilities. Yoshi can't punch and has his characteristic flutter jump, Wario is the Mighty Glacier, and Luigi jumps higher, again. Mario stays the same as always.
    • About the only game in which Mario is not a Jack of All Stats is Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64. He has a powerful drive (the most powerful out of the characters that can be initially used in multiplayer modes), but his drive has a strong draw and a high trajectory, making it likely to go off-course if the timing of the swing is not right (even more so if the wind is strong); also, if he uses a long-range club when hitting out of bad lies, such as bunkers, he must have the right timing or he will duff the ball.
    • He is also very specialized in Mario Golf Toadstool Tour as well. About the only significant change is shooting the ball in a completely straight line instead of a draw. He still has a high shot, he hits longer than before, he should still stick to short-range clubs when hitting out of bad lies, bad timing will send his ball pretty off-course, and he has a strong spin stat. The closest to a Jack of All Stats in this game (and in the other game as well somewhat) is Yoshi whose stats are exactly in the middle.
    • This is also tinkered with in the Mario & Luigi games. Since the player only has the brothers to play as, there is no 'middle of the road'. Mario has high attack and speed but lower defense while Luigi has higher defense/HP and luck but is slower and not as powerful. Depending on how a player allots extra points, though, it's possible to make either a Jack of All Stats.
    • The image at the top of this article is a screenshot of Mario in his standard kart in Mario Kart DS. Among all 36 karts available in the game, his kart's stats are the most balanced and closest to the middle.


Action Game

  • Killer7 offers seven playable elite assassins through which players can freely toggle. Their resident Jack is Dan Smith, whose balanced attack, speed, waver and critical skills usually make him the players' weapon of choice. Every other character either moves or reloads too slow, aims slightly off or is prone get one-hit killed. Dan has no weaknesses unless scripted otherwise.
  • Pick a Lord of the Rings action game, and chances are Aragorn's gonna be the Jack of All Stats.
  • Out of the three playable characters in Gungrave Overdose, Beyond the Grave is the Jack.


Beat Em Up

  • In Streets Of Rage 2, Blaze has two stars for all her stats. She is perfectly average. Axel also becomes one in the third game, though there's no real Mighty Glacier character, only a Fragile Speedster and a character that is just plain odd and relies on multiple hit techniques and range.
  • In the original Final Fight, Cody is not as quick as Guy nor as powerful as Haggar, maintaining instead a balance between speed and strength. His real specialty is his ability to stab enemies with a knife at close range without tossing it; the other two characters can only throw the knife at enemies.
  • Hawk and Mace (middle two) from Fighting Force are this, Hawk is slightly stronger than Mace and Mace is slightly faster than him. Contrasted with Mighty Glacier Smasher and Fragile Speedster Alana. They each get a unique sweeping kick attack.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games, Leonardo. Second highest in range (after Donatello), speed (Michelangelo) and strength (usually Raphael is the strongest, but Donatello held the position in the original NES game).
  • Arthur in Knights of the Round, smack dab in between Lancelot (Fragile Speedster) and Percival (Mighty Glacier).


Driving Game

  • Captain Falcon in F-Zero. In the later games, all four of the vehicles from the original F-Zero become only mildly differentiated Jacks of All Stats as the range between the Fragile Speedster and Mighty Glacier widens considerably to include dozens of new vehicles. An even better example is the super all-arounder Octoman.
  • Wipeout - In-between the raw speed of Qirex, the noob-friendliness of FEISAR and the high risk/high reward properties of Piranha, stands Auricom, occupying this place since 2097. In more recent games, this also includes the complete balance of Mirage with equal stats in all properties. Slightly averted in the Wipe Out HD Fury expansion pack.
  • In a curious case of the Jack of All Stats not being the character in the title of the game, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing's Jack of All Stats is both Billy Hatcher and Amy Rose, whose cars have pretty middle-of-the-road stats. Sonic himself has high acceleration, average top speed, low handling, and crazy-powerful turbo.
  • In the Sonic Drift games, Sonic is not the Jack of All Stats either—Sonic has a high top speed but bad acceleration. Tails is the Jack of All Stats; the the manual even states that Tails has no strengths nor weaknesses.
  • Star Wars Episode I Racer - Anakin Skywalker is closest to being The Jack of All Stats.
  • In Crash Team Racing, Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex are the Jacks Of All Stats for the Good Side and the Evil Side respectively.
  • Diddy Kong Racing plays it straight with Diddy, naturally. In the remake, Dixie joins him in this regard. Timber is also one.


Fighting Game

  • Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter are the most balanced and easiest characters in the series. It is the reason why they are the most picked for beginners. Although Ryu is a Mighty Glacier compared to Ken. Ken is a Fragile Speedster compared to Ryu
  • Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury
  • Demitri from Darkstalkers is considered to be a very well-rounded character.
  • Ky Kisuke from Guilty Gear is arguably the most balanced character, the reason why he's recommended to beginners and why many players find him boring to use.
  • Bang Shishigami from BlazBlue While ninjas normally specialize in speed, Bang is more of an all-around character than anything.
    • Jin Kisaragi is more of a Jack of All Stats than Bang due to the fact that he is easier for beginners to use. Being the Spiritual Successor to Ky, who is another Jack of All Stats, counts as well.
  • Heart from Arcana Heart
  • Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat
  • Just like Tails is this in Sonic Drift, he is also the Jack of All Stats for both Sonic Battle and Sonic the Fighters
  • In Godzilla: Unleashed both the 90s (Heisei) and 2000 (Millennium) versions of Godzilla are the most balanced characters in the game in regards to their stats. The only difference between the two versions of Godzilla, in the game, is that one has a higher speed and/or attack than the other. King Caesar and Kiryu have the same and slightly better stats than Godzilla 2000, respectively.
  • In X-Men Next Dimension, the very manual tells you that Cyclops is The Jack of All Stats of the game. Experience tells you that The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard, only this time explicitly so.
  • Virtual On series - Temjin is not the king of ranged firepower, melee, speed or durability but it is good enough in each category to make it one of the best mecha in the game.
  • In many WWE video games, John Cena is often portrayed as a mild Lightning Bruiser. But in Smack Down!: Here Comes the Pain, a game released during his upper mid-card phase, he possessed a 7.5 out of 10 in every attribute, even strength!


First Person Shooter

  • Master Chief from the Halo series fits this trope perfectly in the story. Whilst some of the SPARTAN II's are faster or stronger than he is, Master Chief has a much more balanced skill set, being good at everything rather than filling one specific niche. He's also the bravest and is a natural leader, noted by Dr. Halsey (the architect of the SPARTAN program) to be the best of them all. Cortana says he has something no one ever saw but her; luck.
  • Rise of the Triad had five characters you could play the game with, one being fast but squishy, another being a tank but slower... Taradino Cassatt was The Jack of All Stats, as he was average in everything.
  • In Metroid Prime: Hunters, Samus herself becomes the Jack of All Stats. She's the only Hunter without a unique weapon (aside from the fact that her missiles can home), and her alt form's abilities are average.
  • The Soldier of Team Fortress 2, in spite of Valve's intent to avert this trope, is considered to be very well-rounded. He's designed for leading the offensive, but he's also vital for filling gaps while on defense. He has slightly below-average speed, slightly above-average health, and deals good damage at almost any range. His rocket launcher, the easiest weapon in the game to use, is designed for direct attacks at medium range, but its accuracy and explosive power allows him to improvise harassing at long range or saturation bombing until dedicated Snipers/Demomen can regroup.
    • That doesn't mean he doesn't require skill to be played well, though.
    • A Pyro with a shotgun is an average speed, average health class with the most commonly appearing stock weapon (four classes out of nine use it, with the next most common weapon only appearing in two out of nine loadouts), reaching to medium range and doing moderate damage. Obviously not what the class was designed for, but remarkable in that it manages to actually define an 'average threat' in a Cast of Snowflakes.


Four X

  • The UN Peacekeeper faction in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri has no explicit advantages or disadvantages due to ideology as opposed to the other factions. Turns out, this actually can come in handy as they are extremely adaptable. Also, they are the least crazy. They have some subtle modifiers: they have an efficiency penalty (being modeled on the United Nations, they're a bit too fond of legalistic bureaucracy), can't be a police state, have happy citizens, can cram more people into small places and get extra votes at meetings. Nice abilities, small drawback (only one or two depending on whether or not you intend to be a ruthless conquering dictator). They're less obvious than any of the other factions' modifiers. The expansions factions are even less average.
  • In Master of Magic, the Orcs are the Jack of All Stats. Of the 14 races in the game, they are the only ones who can build every possible city improvement, they have no inherent bonuses or penalties that come with using them, and they have no exceptionally powerful military units (but no pathetically weak units either).
  • In Sword of the Stars, the Humans and Tarka come closest to being The Jack of All Stats. Humanity has the 'average' values in things like population growth, research rate and ship toughness, but their strategic star drive is unusual - highest numerical speed but often forces a roundabout route that a skilled player may be able to take advantage of. The Tarka, meanwhile, has the hyperdrive, the most straight-forward FTL drive, but are of a more industrial bent and their ships edge more towards Glass Cannon than humanity.


MMORPGs

  • The druid in World of Warcraft is a variation on this. This class can transform into a range of exotic creatures, becoming a stealthy assassin as a cat, a tank protecting the rest of the group as a bear, a powerful nuking spellcaster as an owl...thing, or walking tree as a healer. Each form can perform roughly as well as the class it mimics, so it's not exactly Master of None, but generally with fewer "utility" abilities. A cat druid might have the raw DPS of a rogue but will not be able to keep opponents crowd controlled or constantly stunned as well as a rogue, a walking tree druid will have the raw healing power of a priest but lacks some key "panic buttons", and so on.
  • The Mocchi species in Monster Rancher is generally an entire breed of Jacks of All Stats—their stats are typically well-balanced, and they make a good beginner's monster. Due to the nature of the game, this may not always be to their advantage.
  • In City of Heroes, the Scrapper is probably the truest Jack of All Stats around; it falls neatly between the Blasters and the Tankers. For some mysterious reason, this results in 'Scrapperlock', which varies in severity from axe-craziness to omnicidal mania, depending on the player and whether or not the targets in question have pissed them off.

All of the villain archetypes in City of Villains fall into this to some degree in that they overlap with each other while many of the hero archetypes are overly specialized (aside from the Scrapper). While the hero archetypes tend to prioritize either defense or offense, all villain archetypes were designed with a emphasis on offense and then differing types of defense to back it up.

Most of the time though, the Jack of All Stats has traditionally been the Epic Archetypes. Peacebringers and Warshades in human form mix Attack (both ranged and melee), Defense, and Utility in fairly even amounts, and can become psuedo-Tankers or Blasters through special shape shifting powers. They even become more powerful depending on team makeup. (Peacebringers fill in weaknesses, while Warshades accentuate strengths.) Spiders and Widows have a mix of Melee and Ranged attacks (with the exact ratio depending on your career path), and have the ability to buff their allies to astronomical levels just by being there. A few Spiders and Widows can Cap a team's stats without even trying.

  • The Druid class in EverQuest was the Jack of All Stats among caster classes. The class was pretty good at fundamentals such as healing, buffing, and DPS, but not the best in any of these. Likewise they had some more specific masteries over movement and damage-over-time spells, but even in these the class was typically not the best. What Druids lost in specialization they gained in convenience at having such a variety of abilities.

The Human race in general in all Everquest games have completely average racial stats. They are intentionally the race by which all other races are compared to in terms of stats. In Everquest 2, they also happen to be the one race who has the most influence in the survivability of the other races in Norrath as well..

  • In EVE Online, the Minmatar "Typhoon" battleship is billed via the in-universe description as being versatile and fit to deal with most situations. In-game, it's a trashcan with a mix of slots (but still awesome).
  • In Dynasty Warriors Online, each weapon has different stat upgrade rates. There are a few weapons like this. Iron Halberd (Lu Bu) has surprisingly balanced stat growth for being the Weapon of Choice of the series's Dragon and, without modification, can dish out damage and take it quite well. The other weapons fitting this trope are Zhou Yu's Iron Sword (possibly the most balanced of the three, give or take a random stat bonus) and Zhuge Liang's Feather Fan (an unimpressive but useful support weapon with a PhD in beam spam and a minor in AoE). Those are the only weapons that you can get and build any growth from.


Platform Game

  • In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles Sonic becomes the Jack of All Stats. Tails can fly, Knuckles can glide and climb walls, but Sonic is more well rounded, plus he can make energy shields do neat tricks like give him a second jump.

Sonic does have one major advantage over the other two: When unshielded, Sonic is the only character who can hit spiked enemies from any angle, using his 1 second extended range attack. Players with good timing can completely ignore the intended weak points of each boss, particularly turning the Goddamned Boss of Carnival Night Act 2 into a ten second beat-down.

  • The wooden ball form in Ballance ballances, er, balances the two extremes of the paper and the stone form: it's light enough to be easily maneouverable, but heavy enough to manipulate some lighter mechanisms and move most obstacles quite easily.


Puzzle Game

  • Planet Geolyte in Meteos, with average stats in everything and the easiest set of colors to work with. Naturally, this planet is the Earth analogue, whose appearance, inhabitants, civilizations, and cultures resemble those of Earth. In a truly rare instance, Geolyte is also arguably a Game Breaker in Meteos Wars: Designed for beginners, it's very easy to clear blocks off the field. It's so easy, a sufficiently skilled player can cause bonuses to stack and loop around each other to entirely overwhelm opponents.
  • Arle in Puyo Puyo. When later games started differentiating types of Puyos between characters, Arle was assigned the most basic set by virtue of being the first protagonist of the series: All of Arle's Puyos fall 2 at a time. (All other characters can have 3 or 4 fall at a time.) This makes her the slowest character but the most consistent and thus easiest to practice chaining with.
  • Wheels, the main character, in Tetrisphere. His Speed (speed that the cursor moves) and Strength (speed at which one drags pieces) is right in the middle. In modes without a choice of character, you are Wheels by default.


Real Time Strategy

  • In the Dawn of War video game series, and also to a much greater extreme in the tabletop strategy game progenitor, Warhammer 40,000, the Space Marine race is the most balanced race of all, and many players consider playing Space Marines as both a rite of passage for newbies, who want a safe army to learn to play with, and a tactical crutch for veterans, who should know enough tricks of the trade to play one of the more specialized races.
    • On the other hand, the games avert Humans Are Average through the Imperial Guard, whose infantry units generally lean towards a ranged-Cannon Fodder style and really need support.
    • Since they are so balanced, they're a great equalizer when the skill levels of the players involved are vastly different.
    • In Warhammer Fantasy, The Empire generally fills the position of being well-rounded and rather versatile. Lizardmen are also sometimes described this way.
      • The Empire and Lizardmen are well-rounded and versatile as an ARMY, in that they can be selected and played in a variety of ways. Space marines are fairly rigid in basic army structure, but all of their units are so versatile that they are very forgiving to play.
  • In the Galaxy Angel gameverse, Lucky Star and Brave Heart are rather balanced Angel Wings, but to hammer this point home, their special abilities are lacking. Milfeulle's special attack, as befitting her infamous luck, is a generic Beam-O-War that tends to either hit straight-on or miss completely, and Kazuya's is, basically, to combine Brave Heart with another ship.
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 gives us The Empire of the Rising Sun. Unlike Guerilla / Technical Allies and Spammer / Brute Force Soviets, the Empire has many versatile mecha units, well-armored tanks, various infantry, the best navy of the game and overall good expansion abilities to back them up. Do note Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is gimmick-heavy so you still need to use their abilities often to win.
  • Age of Empires II: The Celts. No wonder they're the civilisation used in the learning campaign.


Role Playing Game

  • Each Luminous Arc game has at least two characters.
    • Alph, Cecille and Vanessa. Making three of them very verstile in battle.
    • In the second game, Roland, Althea and Fatima have high stat in every department, good AO and movement, and are neither a Glass Cannon nor a Squishy Wizard!
    • In third game, only two fit the bill: Heine and Anogia.
  • Depending on the version of Dungeons & Dragons, humans will either get no bonuses or penalties, bonuses that can be applied to any area desired, access to a wider variety of classes, or abilities that are useful to any character. As a result they can be decent at any class, but rarely excel at any of them. D&D video games tend to follow suit.
  • Gladius - The Medium class was one of the four classes (along with Light, Heavy and Animal) and fits the The Jack of All Stats definition to a tee. They had a rock-paper-scissors advantage over Lights.
  • In Golden Sun, Isaac (and to a lesser degree Felix, due to the less rigid roles the sequel's party members have) in his default classes is a decent healer, good attacker/meatshield, and good with offensive magic, while Mia, Garet, and Ivan are best restricted to doing just one of those in their default class.
  • The main character Maxim in Lufia II. He has average physical and magical stats, when compared to other characters.
  • Dark Elves in the Elder Scrolls games get bonuses to assorted skills with nothing common between them, making them Jacks of All Stats. Humans tend to specialise more in physical skills, with the exception of Bretons, who are more into defensive magic.

Spellswords are described as the Jack of All Stats among classes. Dark Elves make the best Spellswords according to canonical lore, and game mechanics support it with a good balance of their skills, making them the best suited from the earliest levels.

Since race/class merely makes certain skills level faster than the rest rather than determines which skills are available, many player characters of all races wind up as this—if a warrior casts some spells or sneaks around a bit, he can get pretty good at the mage and/or thief type skills too. Can go into Lightning Bruiser territory if the player employs efficient leveling.

  • Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic is generally a Fragile Speedster in crossover games, but in Sonic Battle he becomes a fighting style Jack of All Stats, and in Sonic Chronicles he becomes the RPG kind of Jack of All Stats, except for that he's the fastest character.
  • Although Dragon Quest games often make the main character The Jack of All Stats, the second game instead does this with the second member of the party. The main character in that game specializes in fighting physically (he is unable to use magic) while the third specializes in magic. The second member fights with a mix of both.
  • The Jack of All Stats of EarthBound is not (quite) the main character Ness, but Poo, who has a mix of Ness's strength and healing PSI plus one big attack, and Paula's elemental and status-effecting PSI.

Ninten, Ness's equivalent in the original Mother, is The Jack of All Stats of that game, having both Ana's healing PSI (but not her attack PSI) and Teddy's physical might. Which just goes to show how relative this trope is.

  • Roxas is undeniably the Jack of All Stats in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. A solid but average 5/10 in literally every stat makes him one of the easiest characters, and one of the most versatile, but not one of the strongest. Xion shares his stats (and weapon) exactly. And for good reason, since she's a replica of Sora.

Unlockable character Sora has 5 out of 10 in every stat as well. But Sora has much stronger weapons and combos. The combo finisher of Dream Sword (Zantetzuken) alone outdamages Lexaeus's. Which is necessary, given that you pretty much need One Hundred Percent Completion to unlock him.

  • In the Geneforge series, creations of the Fire Shaping school are generally Jacks of All Stats. They have more health than the squishier Magic Shaping creations but less than those of Battle Shaping. All have both a potent Breath Weapon and a decent melee attack.
    • Interestingly averted with player characters; over the course of the series, the available types expanded to every combination of Competitive Balance except for the Jack of All Stats.
  • Persona series
    • In Persona 4, while the main character can technically be this due to the fact that he possesses multiple personas, it's his Number Two Yosuke that really functions as this trope since his abilities are a combination of strong Magic, good physicals and a useful buff with a decent but rapidly outclassed heal.
    • In Persona 3, Akihiko plays this role, with heals, debuffs, a strong physical attack with Fist Master, and strong lightning spells. That is if he isn't a quite literal Lightning Bruiser; due to the fact that his single-target physicals are the best of the eight party members, his support skills are tied with Stone Wall/Mighty Glacier Aigis for best, his magic is exceeded only by Glass Cannon Mitsuru and Fragile Speedster Koromaru, and his healing is tied with Mitsuru for third.
      • Metis fits the role better. She has no weaknesses or resistances, and has an assortment of strong physical, ice and wind skills. Her only downfall is her lack of decent support skills.
  • In Shadow Hearts, Yuri tends to be this role, although similar to Druids in World of Warcraft he has to shapeshift to gain these roles. In the first game, Halley really fits this role because he is like these all in one. However, he doesn't have the variety of Yuri, and his special attacks require a lot of MP. Yuri's final form is also like this, too but it's hidden for a reason.
    • Yuri is a bit of an outlier in that his shapeshifts are so good at their individual specialties that he winds up being less of a Master of None and more of a Master of All—just not all at once. He's either the strongest physical attacker or very close to it before bothering to transform, and his offensive forms are just ridiculous. His healing forms in Covenant are as good as anyone else before Blanca learns Arc, and Sandalphon in the original game beats Alice at her own purpose by a longshot while retaining offensive power.
    • Shania in From the New World has the same gimmick, albeit less...broken, which lets her teammates shine a bit better while she boosts whatever aspect you need.
  • Pokémon - Many Pokémon have the same (or nearly the same) value for all their stats. They can have above or below average stats, but they're not strong or weak, slow or fast...
    • Applies especially to Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, Land Forme Shaymin and Victini, who have base 100 in all stats. Arceus itself has 120 in every stat. And then there are Pokémon like Glalie and Phione, which have 80 all around.
    • Lots of Generation I Pokémon fit this trope to a T, not only having base stats across the board that all hover around 80 or 90, but also learning a wide variety of offensive and defensive attacks. Nidoking and Nidoqueen are the best examples of this; they both can learn a wide number of special and physical attacks (enough to cover about 13 of the 17 types in the game, and two of those were useless offensively), and have the stats to use the moves reasonably well. Though a bit more specialized move-wise, the starting Pokémon from Generations I and II also qualify.
    • Seismitoad in Generation V is very middle of the road, with a decent typing but a somewhat lack of moves, and almost all of its stats are close together.
  • The Shining Fighter in the Custom Robo series is the Jack of All Stats; average speed, effective in both land and air, you can basically equip this guy with about any weapons and he'll be effective. Fighters can actually be specialists depending on the other parts equipped; they just don't directly lend themselves to a particular strategy.
  • Clavats in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles games that let you pick your race. They have moderate to good stats in everything, with no glaring weaknesses or strengths. Conversely, Selkies have quick charge attacks and longer range; Yukes have the fastest spell casting and can become intangable (but with low defense when not defending); and Lilties, the Cute Bruiser race in an already Puni Plush series, have the highest normal attack of the 4 races. Clavats have above average defense and moderately fast spell casting, but nothing special compared to the other 3, specialized tribes.
  • In Mass Effect 2, the Sentinel class. With access to both tech and biotic powers, but not the strongest of either, and decent but not exceptional combat ability (at least provided you picked a good ammo power as your bonus), Sentinels fare about equally well in all situations. They are also the only class with countermeasures for every kind of enemy protection (shields, barriers and armor) right out the gate. It gets even more versatile in Mass Effect 3, where every class can use all the weapons now, but only the Soldier gets damage bonuses with them all, and the weight system means that carrying too many will cause your cooldowns for powers to suffer. However, the Sentinel has mid-tier weight capacity (lower than the Soldier but higher than the Adept or Engineer), and Tech Armor makes helps durability greatly. In addition to this, the Sentinel has gained the very powerful Lift Grenades, and his tech powers are now even more capable of mezzing enemies and stripping their defenses (Cryo Blast hits through defenses and Overload, in addition to doing more damage against shields, can be evolved to knock down and paralyze enemies) whereas his biotic powers can now cause rapid biotic explosions with the Warp/Throw combo. So now it's equally viable to have Sentinel build that paralyzes, stuns, and cripples enemies with tech powers so their teammates can take them out, pelts enemies with rapidfire biotic explosions while ignoring tech armor and good weapons, goes out and blasts everything with high-tier guns and grenades while shrugging off damage, or more likely, a combination of all of the above
    • Miranda fulfills this role as well, being a Sentinel herself minus the Tech Armor. She's decent with weapons, has fairly good tech abilities, and is a competent biotics user. Her passive ability doesn't just boost her own stats, but adds a small bonus to the health and weapon damage of the entire squad.
  • Most Final Fantasy games have a Jack of All Stats, often the lead character. This character is typically near but not quite at the top of the heap in fighting ability and somewhere in the middle of the pack in magical ability, and any special abilities they have will be fairly general-purpose and not push them to the top of either of these categories. (Examples include Cloud in Final Fantasy VII and Vaan in Final Fantasy XII, and for somewhat more magic-oriented female variants, Celes and Terra in Final Fantasy VI. Lightning, from Final Fantasy XIII, also counts, having fairly high stats in all areas, allowing her to use any role effectively.)
    • In Final Fantasy I, the Red Mage class definitely fits the bill. They can equip quite a few different weapons, but not as many as the dedicated fighters. They can cast both white and black magic spells, but they don't get as many magic points as the dedicated wizards. Their statistics fall right about in the middle of the pack.
      • This also makes the Red Mage by far the best character for a Solo Character Run. The Red Mage's access to both kinds of magic and lots of good weapons is a huge advantage that no other class shares.
    • Final Fantasy X has Kimahri, who is completely in the middle of the road in terms of stats. However, his path on the Sphere Grid is noticeably shorter than any other character's, meaning he can cross into other characters' paths, giving him a little bit of everything and making him a very versatile and useful character if raised properly.
    • On the other hand, Wakka also has fairly balanced stats, decent in about every category and with a much longer grid. What sets him apart are his unusual tricks that allow him to inflict status and his long-range attacks. If a character just needs stat-buffing in general, send them to Wakka's grid.
  • Knights of the Old Republic had three different Jedi classes: the Guardian, who focuses on lightsabers and combat; the Consular, who focuses on negotiation and Force powers; and the Sentinel, who seeks a balance between the two.
    • The Sentinel was actually, theoretically not supposed to fill the role of this trope. The Sentinel specialized in skills, which were almost pointless, since skill checks were few and far between and even when they occurred weren't very important to pass. They were closer to Master of None as a result since their physical combat was only marginally better than Consulars and their force powers marginally better than Guardians.
  • Another example can be found in the game Phantasy Star IV for Sega Genesis. In it, the main character, Chaz, becomes the Jack of All Stats by the end of the game (and even by the middle) - he generally has the second best stats (By Lv. 99 he's reaching a value of the high 80s in every stat), second best healing abilities (NARES etc.), second best offensive abilities (NATHU) (unless you make him learn MEGID), various miscellaneous abilities (HINAS, RYUKA) etc. He's without a doubt the best and most powerful solo character in the game, although probably not the most useful.
    • Chaz' physicals (especially near the end) are far too strong to be a Jack of All Stats. The true Jack of All Stats in the game is Kyra, who can do almost everything, from healing to physical attacks to buffing, to debuffing to magically attacking to some degree, but never quite as well as the more specialized characters.
  • One more example is the Mage/Arcane Warrior Class in Dragon Age Origins. Depending upon the equipment possessed by the aforementioned character, he/she becomes able to use melee (sword/axe etc.) as well as ranged (staff projectile) attacks, which can be quite powerful (depending on the possession of the 'Combat Magic' spell, as well as the 'Magic' statistic). They can switch from jumping into melee, to ranged sniping, to spellcasting.
  • In Freedom Force, the Minuteman fits this trope, which is probably why he's the first character you get in the first game. He's not as strong as Supercollider, not as tough as Microwave, not particularly fast, and he can't fly. However, his basic mix of abilities makes him useful in almost any situation, making him more versatile than most characters.
  • The Tales (series) tends to go down the "Magic Knight" route when it comes to its Jacks of All Stats. In Symphonia, Kratos and Zelos have movesets that borrow from Lloyd and Genis but don't exceed either of them statistically.

Cheria tends to be the Jack of All Stats too, although she is a bit more slanted towards healing and magic than Hubert is. As a result; she has low physical attack (But has a very flexible attack range) and more heals but is more slanted towards working in a group, but because she's so flexible, she and Hubert are among the best characters to solo with in the game. (Next to Sophie who can also heal, and Asbel who is just so powerful he dominates everyone by style-spamming.)

  • Inazuma Eleven has Handa, whose stats are thoroughly average across the board and will remain roughly equal to each other as he levels up (unless you train a specific stat, of course). His short bio even points out the fact that he's a jack-of-all-trades.
    • The third game has Toramaru, who initially says his position is "anything but goalkeeper." His stats are also fairly even across the board, except his Kick stat is slightly higher and also grows a bit faster as he levels up. However, the story eventually reveals that he's actually a very talented forward, but he hides his talent because he's shy and afraid his teammates will think he's hogging the action. After he overcomes his shyness, he subverts this trope and starts to specialize as a forward, and the remainder of his hissatsu techniques are all shoot techniques.
  • In Fable 2, the player character is this. The game's plot involves recruiting the three Heroes of Strength, Skill (marksmanship/agility/speed/etc.) and Will (Magic), who are implied to be the master of each discipline. However, your character is a rare exception who can learn all three disciplines, and given that he/she is descended from a near-demigod who could do the same, so by the end of the game, you can surpass the other three Heroes and master each discipline, shedding your Jack of All Stats status and becoming the most powerful person alive.
  • Frog in Chrono Trigger has a fairly good balance of Physical attack power and skills, water magic, and healing abilities.
    • Scias from Breath of Fire 4 is very similar to Frog; Both are swordsman with a water theme (Frog's spells harness 'ordinary' water, while Scias uses Ice), and like Frog, Scias' skills are a fairly good mix of healing, water-based attack spells, and sword techniques.
  • One option in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning when assigning skill points is to spread them out evenly between the Might, Finesse, and Sorcery skill trees. This eventually unlocks the Universalist destiny ("Destinies" in this game act like character classes, but can be changed at any time if the player has the requisite skill points in the applicable disciplines). The Universalist doesn't get the flashier special abilities given to other Destinies, but gets 20% bonuses to all attack and defense types, has skill point requirements for armor greatly reduced, and gains access to every weapon-mastery skill.
  • Medieval II: Total War has the Holy Roman Empire faction, and its strength is "strong all-around".
  • Riki from Xenoblade Chronicles. He has the highest HP, third highest ether, third highest agility, and fourth highest strength out of the seven member cast, while his defenses can be equal to the others. He also has an art that can temporarily boost a random one of his stats by a huge degree, making it vastly exceed that of any other character for the duration (With the exception of strength, where Reyn can still beat him). This coupled with a potent heal and wide variety of offensive and supportive arts make him extremely useful in any team formation.


Shoot Em Up

  • In any Star FOX Game where the characters have different stats, such as Star FOX Assault or Star FOX Command, Fox will have the most well rounded abilities


Simulation Game

  • The DLC Gryphus Emblem F-22 in Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation literally breathes this trope. So much, that on the stat chart it looks like a perfect hexagon. The MiG-29 has also tended to be like this: a decent dogfighter with passable but nothing-to-look-at air-to-ground special weapons, eclipsed in both fields by the specialised birds, and once you get the proper Lightning Bruisers in your inventory there's little point in using the Fulcrum any more.
  • Pretty much all of the various Star Wars space sims give the iconic X-Wing Jack of All Stats status: the Y-Wing is tougher, the A-Wing faster and the B-Wing packs more guns, but the X-Wing gets adaptability and with it the top billing.
  • The GTF Apollo, GTF Myrmidon, and GTF Perseus (billed as a Fragile Speedster in the fluff, but a very powerful all-rounder in the game itself) in the the Free Space series. The GTF Apollo is perhaps the most iconic expression, being extremely easy to fly and suitable for almost any type of mission that does not involve bombing, but not as powerful in any one area as the specialized ships. The Perseus leans more towards Lightning Bruiser, being excellent in virtually all aspects, while the Myrmidon is more of a Master of None, crippled by its bad maneuverability, huge target profile, and incompatibility with the Harpoon, which is by far the best missile in the game.
  • Kikuchi Makoto in The Idolmaster. Although proud of her dancing skills her skills are actually very average. For those unable to play the game, check out this video here. You can see how average she is at 1:53.


Sports Game


Turn Based Strategy

  • Advance Wars has Andy, which has no effect on his troops, be it positive or negative, as well as a repair power that is useful for all units. In the reboot Days of Ruin, the closest is possibly Carter/Forsythe, who has no CO power and a universally useful (and friggin' huge) CO aura, or Isabella/Catleia, who also has a universal (and pretty fair-sized) CO aura and a universally useful CO power (+2 movement to all direct combat units, +2 range to all indirects).
  • Eliwood from Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken has more evenly balanced growths than Hector or Lyn with the exception of slightly higher luck growth.
    • Across the series, the cavalier and mercenary classes are fairly like this, and several of the former are often given to the player fairly early in the story. (It's upgrade is also the traditional class of "Jeigans.")
      • Speaking of mercenaries, there is the "Ogma" archetype, which is a sword-wielding mercenary unit that starts out with balanced stats and above average/balanced stat growth and they usually come in early or middle of the storyline. They can promote into the Hero class, where they can use axes along with swords and balanced stat caps. Due to this, they are considered to be one of the best units to use in many Fire Emblem games by many fans. Several exmples of the "Ogma" include: the namer of the archetype Ogma (FE1/11), Dieck and Oujay (FE6), Raven (FE7), and Gerik (FE8).
      • Anima Magic in FE6/FE7/FE8 was more well balanced in comparison to the light and accurate but weak Light Magic and the strong but heavy and inaccurate Dark Magic.
      • Replace "Anima" with "lances" and "Light and Dark" with "swords and axes", and you've got the standard weapon triangle as well.
    • Depending on your play style, Eliwood's lack of any great strength can become a liability. (Hence the nickname Eliwuss).
      • It's mitigated later in the story by his class-up, which comes with a horse, so he's at least got the biggest movement range of the three lords.
  • In Lords of Magic, the Big Bad Balkoth is the Jack of All Stats, since he's a combination of the three classes of Lord, with the physical stats of a Fighter, the spellcasting abilities of a Mage, and the ranged attack of a Thief.
  • Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 has the human race as the Jack of All Stats. With no outstanding strengths or weaknesses and having a big pool of jobs to choose from, they are very flexible to have in any strategy.
  • The Heroes of Might and Magic series generally treats the Human faction (Castle, Life, Haven etc) as balanced, not overly brutal with the troops or magic spells handed out in the Guild buildings. Then again, they're the ones with access to the Archangels.


Visual Novel

  • Archer of Fate/stay night. Able to create lesser copies of Noble Phantasms for melee or spamming and imitating the skills of their owners, in addition to a natural talent for archery, he is capable of defense and all ranges of combat, but doesn't specialize in any particular one like the other Servants.


Webcomics


Western Animation

  • Lion-O from Thundercats is the second strongest (after Panthro) second fastest (after Cheetara) and the second most noble (after Tygra).
  • Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. He can control all 4 elements, but he is not the best any any of them, except of course air, since he is the last one alive.
    • To be clear though, he is still a child and new to all 3 other forms of bending (the entire series taking place over about 3/4 of a year). Once he has had more time to practice and master them, it is expected that he will in fact be a master of all 4 and capable of outshining individuals from any school in their own specialty. While Toph and Katara both demonstrate mastery of their own schools which may edge out the inexperienced Aang at times, they have both been practicing those skills all their lives (also, Toph is explicitly an earth-bending prodigy while Katara is stated to be the most determined and hard-working student her water-bending master ever encountered).
      • It has to be mentioned that Aang is a borderline case at best, since he is also the most powerful bender alive. Even without the Avatar State.


Mythology

  • Lugh, a hero of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth, was specifically noted as being a Jack of All Stats. He goes to the court of Nuada, King of the De Danann, but is stopped at the door and told that anyone who enters the court must bring a certain skill to the aid of the King. Lugh lists of a broad variety of skills, asking the doorguard whether anyone at the court has mastered them, and each time the guard answers yes. Finally Lugh asks whether or not the Court has anyone who can do all of the things he mentioned. They let him in, and give him the name Ildánach, which means "man of many arts."


Real Life

  • James Franco. He is admirably attempting to pursue every career possible despite not particularly excelling in any of them.
  • For doctors, anyone who practices solely Internal Medicine is the Jack of All Stats. Instead of moving beyond their Internal Medicine residency and going on to specialize via fellowship, Internists treat particular patients and have a very comprehensive, competent knowledge of most areas of medicine, and will refer a patient to a specialist when their expertise is required.
  • Engineers are generally this. While one might think technical knowledge is the most important, a running knowledge of physics, math, computers and programming, law, writing, economics, and business and interpersonal skills are required in any engineering field. Just because your degree says one thing doesn't mean you can't do anything.
  • This is how Jackie Chan describes his performance at the Chinese Drama Academy in Hong Kong in his autobiography, "I Am Jackie Chan."
  • Velociraptor and its relatives, the Dromaeosaurs, were Jacks of All Stats. Recent studies have shown that they weren't particularly speedy animals, but they were still fast enough (Check out Raptor Attack for the full details). They were pretty strong for their size and quite intelligent. Overall, they were very well-rounded dinosaurs that were able to take on animals nearly twice their size, like Protoceratops.
  • In WW 2, T-34 was this among the tanks: cheap, easy to maintain and repair, quite fast, quite durable, quite powerful. And at the beginning of the war, it was outright Lightning Bruiser.
    • It still was by the end of it, in it's modified T-34/85 form.
      • Which is also what made it so great: It was such a Jack of All Stats that it provided a great ground for different types. Almost all Russian armor made during World War II was based around the T-34, as it was easily modified and as such maintained.
  • Assault rifles are this. They lack the portability of a submachinegun, the ammunition capacity and rate of fire of a machinegun, and the accuracy of a sniper rifle, but are the best compromise between all three weapons.
    • They also lack the range and full striking power of a full-power rifle, but this is actually an advantage as modern combat doesn't need the additional range or striking power from every soldier and the cartridges being lighter and shorter as a result allows either more ammunition or more other supplies and equipment to be carried by the soldier. The lower power also makes the recoil easier to control when firing a burst.
  • Medieval English archers. Not only having the legendary longbow, many were also well armoured - mail shirt, gambeson or brigandine jack - and they were fully prepared to take part in the melee after they had exhausted their arrows instead of running away. Many carried two-handed swords for melee weapons. Being lighter than true men-at-arms, they often performed the outflanking manouevres and other tasks requiring mobility.
  • WW 2 destroyers, particularly the American Fletcher-class. Fast enough to keep up with carriers and outrun cruisers, with enough dakka to fend off aircraft, enough guns to take out PT boats, depth charges to hunt submarines and armed with torpedoes that can sink even battleships. The Battle off Samar, the US Navy's Crowning Moment of Awesome, was fought by destroyers performing a Heroic Sacrifice to drive off a superior force.
    • In the later battle, a fair amount of damage was done to the Japanese by the aircraft from the escort carriers, which were arguably on the opposite end of the scale, slow, unarmoured, undergunned, and carried only a couple of squadrons each.
    • The same was true of Japanese destroyers, which also had the advantage of bigger, longer-ranged torpedoes than the American destroyers. Prior to the introduction of radar, Japanese destroyers with their "Long Lance" torpedoes were the bane of American heavy cruisers during night battles.
  • If you look at the musical instruments by terms of their capability to build harmonies, melodies and rhythmic patterns, guitar is certainly this.
  • Linebackers tend to be this in all levels of football. They have to be strong but aren't the strongest (linemen), fast but aren't the fastest (wide receivers and defensive backs) and smart but aren't the smartest (quarterbacks).
  • Mazda cars, which enjoy a widespread but lukewarm popularity because they aren't the best at anything, except being second best at everything.
  • Buckshot falls between the many weak projectiles of birdshot and single strong projectile of a slug, giving it good accuracy and stopping power that makes it the most common load.
  • Hollow point bullets are designed to break up upon hitting a target so they better incapacitate a target (it also makes them the standard for police and civilian use as it reduces the chance of hitting a bystander after penetration), but this same property makes them less effective against body armor or cover. Armor piercing bullets, naturally, do what they're designed to do against armor and cover but also go through flesh, lowering their average lethality. Standard jacketed ammo falls between these two.
  1. ↑ Dick Grayson (Most Agile), Jason Todd (Best Tactician), Tim Drake (Best Detective), Barbara Gordon (Best information gatherer), Cassandra Cain (Best Fighter), Stephanie Steph (Best People Person)
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