[OOC][Info]Nothing Better Than This Wiki

[robkelk]

The way I have them set up at the moment, magical girls transform to use magic while mages don't. (Thus, Rei Hino is both.) Mages also intentionally use magic rather than using it incidentally in attacks.

It's a fuzzy distinction - for example, Nanoha transforms Raising Heart from pendant to staff.

Edit: Wikipedia uses the name "transforming heroine" for what All The Tropes calls "Magical Girl Warrior". That's a big part of the distinction.