Wizard

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The Wizard is a magical character class in many role-playing games and computer role-playing games. Wizards are spellcasters who wield powerful magic spells, but are often physically weak as a trade-off. They are primarily based on wizards from assorted fantasy literature. Other terms sometimes used to describe them include Conjurer, Magician, Magic User, Mage, Necromancer, Sorcerer, and Warlock. Wizards are a type of spell-caster.

Dungeons & Dragons

The Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper franchise has two base character classes that could be considered wizards:

Wizard

The wizard is a student of arcane magic who has studied it for years, practicing until able to command arcane magic with ease. The wizard must prepare spells every day, which when cast leave the wizard's mind. Wizards know many more spells than do sorcerers.

Sorcerer

The sorcerer is a natural arcanist, who usually claims dragon ancestry as the source of his magical power. The sorcerer knows a limited number of spells, but does not need to prepare them daily. The sorcerer is also able to cast more spells per day than can a wizard of comparable level.

Other

There are many other prestige classes related to the wizard concept, such as the Archmage and Mystic Theurge.

Fire Emblem

In the turn-based Fire Emblem game series, Mages are units who can cast spells to damage an enemy. Players can transform them into Sages. Mages and Sages generally have high magic/resistance growths and caps (the limit on how high a stat can become), as well as above average speed. However, they almost always have poor growths in defense which makes them vulnerable to magic-resistant melee units.

Final Fantasy series

The wizards of the Final Fantasy series are usually known as simply mages, often with an associated color. There are multiple types of mages:

• Black Mages, mages who practice offensive magic.
• Blue Mages, mages who copy enemy abilities.
• Red Mages, mages who are jack-of-all-trades.
• Summoners, mages who conjure up sacred beasts/deities.
• Time Mages, mages who manipulate time (and often space) itself.
• White Mages, mages who practice healing magic.

In the original Final Fantasy, the Black, Red, and White Mages would eventually be converted to more powerful Black, Red, and White Wizards, respectively. Additionally, in the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, "wizard" is synonymous for Black Mages. Also, in Final Fantasy Tactics, Black Mages were known as Wizards in the Playstation 1 version of the game.

World of Warcraft

Wizards in World of Warcraft, called mages, are spell-casting characters designed to deal damage, while also preventing monsters from dealing damage and providing utility for the rest of their party. The three types of magic mages in World of Warcraft can use are Fire, Frost, and Arcane. Fire is known for high damage output with little defense. Frost spells typically slow down a target and are capable of high burst damage and offer more defense than fire. Arcane magic offers more utility and damage increases to all three types of magic. In return for their ability to deal large amounts of ranged damage, mages are very poor at physical combat, they wear the weakest of all armor types (cloth), and they have no ability to heal themselves unless of course they use potions, or bandages (from the minor profession "first-aid").

Another form of wizard in the game is the Warlock, an evil spellcaster who uses Fire and Shadow magic against their enemies. Warlocks are also known for their ability to command demonic minions. Warlocks, depending on the player's style, specialize in Damage-over-time spells (Affliction), burst damage (Destruction), and the use of their minions (Demonology). Warlocks are able to regain mana at the cost of their own health, and drain health from their enemies.

Ragnarok Online

In the Ragnarok Online MMORPG, "Magicians" who acquire enough experience are given the choice of becoming a "Wizard". Wizards are powerful spellcasters and have access to a wide array of area of effect spells, including some of the most powerful ones, such as "Jupitel Thunder","Storm Gust","Meteor Storm" and "Lord of Vermilion", making them excellent damage dealers. However, they have very few hit points, very poor evasion capabilities and can only wear some of the weakest armour types available. As such, most of them require the support of a "Priest" and/or other party members. Wizards are also one of the staples of any large defense during a guildwar and a well equipped Wizard can also prove helpful on the offense.

Other games

• In The Bard's Tale, the wizard was only available as a class change from another magic-user class. The wizard class was the most advanced class level, with the character needing to master the third level of spells from at least two other magic-user classes.
• In The Elder Scrolls series, there are many character class templates that are related to the concept of wizards, such as "mage," "sorcerer," "battlemage," "necromancer," and "nightblade."
• In Lineage II, Mage is one of the character choices available to every race but dwarf, and Wizard is a class choice for the Human Mage's first class transfer.
• In MapleStory, Magician is one of the 1st jobs available for players, on their 2nd job advancement they are called Wizards, on the 3rd - Mages and on the 4th - Arch Mages, or can choose to gain religious powers in which case their 2nd job advancement is Cleric, the 3rd - Priest, and 4th - Bishop.
• In Sacred, a battlemage is the predefined wizard capable of using spells based on the four primary elements, fire, water, earth, wind.
• In RuneScape, a Mage or Wizard is an available character class that a person with a high magic level may wish to pick. Mage clothes, consisting of a wizard hat, tunic, cape, staff and legs are available for purchase cheap at many magic and clothes shops. Wizards also appear as NPCs on this game, usually following an element or god of some sort.
• In the parody game Kingdom of Loathing, wizards are available as "Pastamancers" (a play on Necromancers) and "Saucerors" (a play on Sorcerers). They are jointly known as the "Chef Magi."
• In Guild Wars, Elementalists fill the role as wizards, focusing on fire, air, water and earth spells.
• Diablo, Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction´and Diablo III all contain a form of wizard: in the first game, the sorcerer, in the second game and expansion, the sorceress and in the third game, the wizard. They are the best suited for wielding magic in their respective games.
• Warhammer Online presents the Bright Wizard, the master of the arcane fire known as Aqshy.
• Last Chaos features mage as a class that deals heavy damage usually from a distance and sorcerer as a kind of a magic-user class that can use elemental magic skills and summon elemental spirits to aid them in battle. ArchLord makes a similar distinction, with mages wielding ranged direct-damage attacks often targeting an area, and elementalists capable of single target attacks and the summoning of pets that buff, heal, debuff, or tank.
• In Nox, there are Wizard and Conjurer classes, both of which use magic to some extent. The Wizard has a variety of attack and utility spells including teleportation effects, Invisibility, and even Invulnerability. The Conjurer specialises in summoning creatures to fight for it, has more effective healing and protection spells, and uses bows and crossbows in combination with offensive spellcasting.
• In the video game The Lord of the Rings: Conquest players have a chance to play as a mage (a wizard-type character). The mage wields a staff and can shoot lightning, fire a shockwave when surrounded, fire a ball of fire that expands out, and perform melee attacks with their staff. There are three mage heroes in the game, who are Gandalf, Saruman, and the Mouth of Sauron.

See also

• Wizard