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- Magic-User redirects here. See spellcaster for magic users, or below for the old Dungeons & Dragons character class.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the wizard is one of the base character classes. A wizard is an arcane magic user, and weak in mêlée combat. Wizards spend several years studying magic.
Wizard spell preparation and casting
A wizard may cast spells depending on his experience and intelligence. Many wizards see themselves not only as spell casters but as philosophers, inventors, and scientists, studying a system of natural laws that are for the most part unknown and undiscovered. There may be a temporal limit in spell casting and this could be the reason why wizards can only cast a certain number of spells of various degrees in one day.
Resting: Wizards need to rest prior to spell casting. This may be in the form of sleep or meditation. If a wizard refuses to sleep and goes on a spell casting binge, which is not entirely impossible, but rare due to temporal allowances, he will grow weary - possibly delusional - and may experience many negative health effects.
Preparing: In order to prepare the actual spell or spells, a wizard needs a comfortable and quiet area to study the spell out of his spellbook. The spell is read, spoken, or memorized up until the trigger. This is the easiest and most efficient way to cast arcane magic as a wizard because it means the wizard needs only to perform the trigger element of the spell when the need arises to cast it. Many wizards are excellent problem solvers and some may have super abilities such as foresight that allow them to make accurate choices on which spells to memorize before the day begins. This can be the main weakness of the wizard, as he cannot cast an arcane spell that he has not prepared.
Casting: When the need calls for a certain spell to be cast, the wizard will allow his thoughts to retreat back into his consciousness in order to obtain it. It often appears that wizards are in trances while they are casting, which has some truth to it, but they are not so much entranced that they cannot recognize the outside situations.
When he finds the spell he wants, the wizard will then carry out the trigger sequence. This is the common view of a wizard casting, a bunch of weird words, a tossing of pixie dust, and a quirky hand movement. In actuality every part of the sequence must be exact or else the wizard may miscast, misfire, cast a entirely different spells, or cast nothing at all.
For example to trigger the spell Ignite Wood, a wizard would need to first speak the final words of the spell and then spread shavings of brimstone and sulphuric ash reagents onto the desired piece of wood to ignite.
School specialization
Wizards may specialize in one of eight schools of magic. Specialist wizards choose their specialty at 1st level, at the same time giving up two schools of magic (unless they choose to be diviners, in which case they only give up one school). Specialist wizards cast extra spells at a higher level of mastery from their chosen school, but no spells from the schools they give up.
The eight schools of magic are:
- Abjuration: spells of protection, blocking, and banishing. Specialists are called abjurers.
- Conjuration: spells that bring creatures or materials. Specialists are called conjurers.
- Divination: spells that reveal information. Specialists are called diviners.
- Enchantment: spells that magically imbue the target or give the caster power over the target. Specialists are called enchanters.
- Evocation: spells that manipulate energy or create something from nothing. Specialists are called evokers.
- Illusion: spells that alter perception or create false images. Specialists are called illusionists.
- Necromancy: spells that manipulate life or life force. Specialists are called necromancers.
- Transmutation: spells that transform the target. Specialists are called transmuters.
Spells that do not fall into these schools are called universal spells. These spells are available to all wizards.
Magic-User
In the early version of the game, magic-user was one of the base character classes. It was one of the three original classes, the other two being Fighting Man (renamed Fighter in later editions) and Cleric. The Magic-User was renamed to "mage" and then "wizard" in later editions.
The Magic-User represented the wizards or sorcerers common in modern fantasy literature. The Magic-User was physically weak and vulnerable, but was compensated with the potential to develop powerful spellcasting abilities. In practice a mid- to high-level Magic-User was a combination intelligence gatherer and walking artillery, gathering information about possible dangers not yet seen and augmenting the physical combat abilities of the other classes with potentially devastating long range and area attacks.
An awkward term, "Magic-User" was invented for the original Dungeons & Dragons rules developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (in order to avoid cultural connotations of terms such as "wizard" or "warlock"). It continued to be used in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules and in the simplified Dungeons & Dragons rules set. The second edition of AD&D discarded the term in favor of "mage". The third edition of the game (dropping the word Advanced and now just called Dungeons & Dragons) renamed the mage to "Wizard". The term "magic user" is rarely used in the current edition of the game, and when it is used it is usually a synonym for an arcane spellcaster or for an arcane spellcasting character class.
"Wizard (Dungeons & Dragons)"