The Wizard Archtype

[DanotheSlender]

For a wizard i like Kulgan from the raymond Feist Magician novels. Pug was more of a sorcerer who once he truely came into his power was damn near a god. Kulgan was a wise studious man with a deep understanding of many subjects, not just arcana. So he couldn't tear mountains from the ground and set them in the air like Pug/Milamber could, Pug still relied on him for advice.

D&D wizards really fall short of most fantasy writers imaginings of wizards, until they are at least 10-15th level anyway. Just so you know I'm an old school 1st and 2nd ed. player who as a DM let all caster types have near unlimited cantrip use without sacrificing a spell slot..just so they were more magical!

What i always wanted in the game, to make it match up with fantasy liturature better, is a spell point/mana/magicka system. You never have to re memorize your spells, and you can cast until you run out of energy. I worked on one for a long time and found some success but it was only implemented in one game session i ran for my friends to get them to help work out the kinks.

 

[Herobizkit]

I don't know if this wil help, but I have always liked going against conventions. Wizards with pointy hats, robes and sticks seem to be the trend,

Take Willow (from the movie 'Willow' feat. Val Kilmer, though I guess Buffy's Willow counts too). A short D&D halfling (though TECHnically a Human Dwarf - confused yet?) is tired of being a simple farmer and wants to be a sorcerer. The actual town Elder knows magic, and as far as the movie shows, he's the only one but looking for an apprentice. Willow goes out into the world, meets faeries and sorcereresses and brownies and stabs a troll with a sowrd and uses a wand (eventually). THAT's a GREAT story that goes against "old man with a beard who talks funny."

Raistlin Majere (of Dragonlance fame) and the whole Wizardly Orders described therein - THAT's not common for wizardry either. Go back even further and you have The Principalities of Glantri (Basic D&D Gazetteer) where the whole country was ruled and governed by wizards. Awesome.

Lately, I've been enamored with Dwarven wizards. One of my friends ran a (then 3.5) NPC Dwarven Diviner as a village scribe and lore-keeper. I've made a (Pathfinder) Dwarven Magus for an upcoming PbP here on EnWorld which I think is going to be wonderful, as I have also made him a sailor and a collector of Lore and Languages.

For me, gaming time isn't so available. Being the Wizard who waves his awesome magic staff and casting amazing womders... generally never happens because high level is nigh unheard of... and Wizards require far too much bookkeeping (pun intended) for me to enjoy. I prefer sorcerers and warlocks to Wizards... though 4th edition actually turned me back on to them for their simplicity by comparison.

Still makin' Dwarves though.

 

[Stormonu]

Personally, the big influences I've had over the years for the wizard archetype are:

Gandalf: For the longest time, this was the archtype of the wizard in my mind. Though with the latest Peter Jackson film, he seems more of a charlatan than a real wizard. Gandalf seems only to use magic when the mundane fails him. He certainly does not use it for every little thing (well, except perhaps, to light a pipe, and that may be more a use of Nenya (?), the fire ring he possesses).

Merlin (from the movie Excalibur): This version (and others incarnations of Merlin I've seen) is interesting in that he seems almost more of a genie than a mage. It's as if he can't use magic until he gets someone's permission or command to use it, and there is a cost to using it - the cost of which he often tries to defer to others. Likewise, his magic is that of subtle persuasion and deception; he is certainly not a blaster mage.

Ulrich (from Dragonslayer): Definately a powerful wizard with clear uses of Magic Jar, Hold Portal, Control Weather and strangely enough, Implosion.

Raistlin turned the archtype on it's ear for me; previously mages had been *elderly*, helpful sages. Raistlin was still fragile, but young and selfish.

Another archtype that changed my outlook on wizards was the Harry Potter series. Previously, I had always seen magic as a jealously guarded resource that was used with care and great danger to its wielder. Harry's world made magic easy to use (hey, we're talking 8-9 year olds casting stuff) and rather ubiquitous - in a good way.

 

[chaochou]

I don't think of Gandalf as a wizard. He's a divine presence - an Angel - as far as I'm concerned. Merlin is similarly supernatural.

I liked the wizards in Fritz Lieber, Sheelba and Ninguable. Wierd, disfigured, inscrutable outcasts with otherworldy insights and inhuman agenda.

The best fictional character I've read which matches the idea of a PC protaganist wizard is Harry Dresden.