In Final Fantasy XI, wielding forces of the unseen to cause utter devastation to their foes the Black Mage is the most powerful damage dealing class. The Black Mage takes considerable patience to build and even more intuitiveness and skill on the part of the player than most other job classes. Players have to memorize weaknesses among monster families, time Magic Bursts for Skill chains, manage their MP effectively, and much more. If you think you have what it takes and are looking for a little more background information about black mages then read on!
   In this game, every job is race dependant. No race is necessarily exempt from performing a job. There are those races that do excel at it. Let's briefly go over them and see how your future career as a Black Mage may unfold. There are five races such as Galka, Mithra, Tarutaru, Elvaan, and Hume.
Galka may seem like a decent choice at first for survivability reasons, boosting the highest natural HP and Vitality in this game. But on the opposite side Galka's have a terrible intelligence rating. Intelligence being the stat used to determine magic accuracy and to a smaller extent magic damage dealt to an enemy. When you need to do high amounts of spike damage, the Galka just doesn't have to power to pull it off. That added to the fact they have the lowest natural MP in the game as well should quickly deter you from thinking they are a race of choice.
Mithra have reasonable HP but low defense and vitality. Coming in at third place in terms of MP and intelligence the race of Mithra is what some consider being the last pick for any Mage related jobs. This is not to say they can't perform the job, it will just take considerable skill and very good equipment to outshine any of your peers.
Tarutatu are a small child like race who have the lowest, strength, HP and defense. But what they lack in melee stats they make up for in Mage stats with flying colors. The Tarutaru race easily is for dealing magical damage with the highest intelligence and MP in the game. Though, this magical adeptness must be kept under control in order to keep you live.
   Elvaan race is more a melee class, much the same as the Galka. Possessing the highest strength and second highest HP in the game they are much more suited for the role of damage dealing than any mage work, especially when black mage is considered. Coming in next to last on intelligence and MP only a very skilled and well geared player can utilize Elvaan in a Mage job without hurting more than they help.
Hume is the average all around race. Second highest intelligence and MP this race comes in at second on the "Best race for mage jobs" countdown. With a little bit of good gear and some skill Humes make average to above average Black Mages that have just a touch more HP to survive if they get hit one too many times