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The Wizard is a magical character class in many role-playing games and computer role-playing games. Wizards 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.
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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, and when cast, the spell leaves the wizard's mind. They know many more spells than the sorcerer
Sorcerer
The sorcerer is a natural arcanist, who usually claims dragon ancestry as the source of their 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 a wizard of comparable level.
Other
In addition, there are many other prestige classes that are related to the wizard concept, such as the Archmage and Mystic Theurge.
Fire Emblem
In the turn-based game Fire Emblem series, Mages are units who can use tomes to cast spells to deal damage to an enemy. They transform into a Sage when the player has agreed to rank them up using a seal (or unless you're playing Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance in which they class change into sages without assistance once they pass level 20). In one particular game, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones there is a single character, Ewan, who is a Pupil. A Pupil is a class below a Mage, and is considered to be difficult to train.
Mages/Sages generally have high magic/resistance growths and caps (the limit on how high a stat can become), as well as above average speed which makes them solid magic-users. However, they almost always have poor growths in defense and HP which makes them vulnerable to magic-resistant melee units such as Pegasus/Falco(n) Knights, a characteristic shared by all magic-users in the franchise.
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(PVE), Frost(PVP), and Arcane( A not as common used spell type). 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, and they have no ability to heal themselves unless of course they use potions, or banages(from the minor proffession "first-aid").
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. There are 3 types of wizards or "builds" of wizards.
Dexterity Wizards - one of the greatest risks a wizard has to encounter is the amount of time it takes to make a spell. This build is proven to be very strong, with area of effect spells such as Lord of Vermilion and Storm Gust which requires a certain amount of time before it can be casted. Having a great deal of dexterity enables a spell caster to summon deadly skills in a short span of time, leaving the target sprawled on the floor before it can react.
Agility Intelligence Wizards - survivability over power and speed is what the AGI version of the wizards class favours since the mage doesn't have much HP (hitpoints) to take damage, increasing the agility, raises the amount of Flee Rate enabling to dodge more effectively. This type of build has a bigger chance of surviving during the times when a monster gets close to you.
Intelligence Wizards - Intelligence is the most important attribute a wizard needs, having a great amount of INT increases the damage of his magic attack, and the amount of SP he has. INT also determines the magic defence of your character. This build focuses on intelligence above all, delivering massive damage with his magical attacks. The INT Wizard build is the most popular build on Rune-Midgard due to sheer power, no character can deal as much damage as it.
Other games
- In 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.
- 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, and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction all contain a form of wizard: in the first game, the sorcerer and in the second game and expansion, the sorceress. 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 often 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.
