D&D General How Old Are Your Wizards?

[James Gasik]

The common fantasy trope of a Wizard (even a 1st level one!) being an old man wearing a robe and a big hat has been with D&D ever since the beginning. However, as time has gone by, the requirement for a new Wizard to be aged has been eroded by players, DM's, authors, and other fantasy influences. Even without these requirements, the iconic Wizard picture in the 5e Wizard is an older man.

So I'm curious what category people feel their Wizards should be in, ranging from:

Child Wizards (Tim Hunter from Books of Magic, Hermione Granger from Harry Potter)
Adolescent Wizards (Pug from Magician: Apprentice, Skeeve from Myth Adventures, Garion from the Belgariad)
Adult Wizards (John Constantine from Hellblazer, Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files, Medea from Jason and the Argonauts*, Schmendrick from The Last Unicorn)
Old Wizards (Merlin from the Matter of England, Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien's works, Abernathy from the Landover series, The Baba Yaga from Slavic folklore**)

*the original "hot sorceress", most likely, a trope that's just as ingrained as the "old man in robes".
**not to be confused with John Wick!

Please refrain from arguments about who is or isn't actually a Wizard, but is instead a Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Avatar, or what have you!

 

[BookTenTiger]

In D&D I've had every age of wizard! I think all the tropes are fun, from young wizards figuring out magic and the world, to old sage wizards meddling with the fabric of the universe.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I've played a couple of wizards who were elderly retired academics, justifying them starting at lvl1 by decades with little practical spellcasting.

 

[Morrus]

Do they all have to be the same age?

 

[greg kaye]

They are all aged 53 and 6 .5 days, old for a human and young for an elf.

 

[MarkB]

Any of those options work fine for me. 1st level is basically an apprentice or recent graduate wizard, plenty of examples of those being young in fantasy media. And once you've established one of those in the game as a PC, there's every chance that they'll go on to be a high-level master wizard before they see their next birthday, quite possibly without ever happening across so much as another tome or tutor in the interim.

 

[Oofta]

It just depends. I will say that there is more of a tendency for old wizards, and I don't remember ever seeing an old first level fighter.

But I've seen, and played, all ages. Thing is though if you want to play that PC that spent a peaceful life as, say, a scholar that us forced into adventuring wizard is one of the few options. Warlock might work too but making a deal with a devil seems more like the brash mistake of youth.

 

[delericho]

As with all adventurers, they're mostly young adults. The problem with living a life of constant danger is that it is seldom long.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Well, Emma is starting high school next year! And we just signed up little Johnny for Little League. They do grow up so fast!

 

[jmartkdr2]

Mine default to the "graduate student" range, so somewhere in their 20's. At least for low-level adventurer wizards - old wizards exist of course but would presumably be higher level and not likely to travel into the wilderness. That's a job for people without bad backs.

 

[CreamCloud0]

adolescent, somewhere in their twenties or late teens, typically spent a good chunk of their early life in schooling or research and are just now taking their fledgling steps as an actual adventurer

 

[MoonSong]

Please refrain from arguments about who is or isn't actually a Wizard, but is instead a Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Avatar, or what have you!

But it is kind of relevant? Is the question about spellcasters in general or Wizard in particular? In the first case I'd think it is teen/young or relatively younger adult. In the latter, it skews older, like middle aged at least. These seem like very different kinds of fantasy.

 

[Stormonu]

Ranges from young adult (ala Raistlan) to Old (ala Gandalf, Ringlerun). Generally in my homebrew Wizardry require training and even when apprenticeship starts at 8-years-old, beyond cantrips it takes a few years to even master a 1st level spell - normally not sooner than a 13-year-old, but rare exceptions do occur. Other casters (Sorcerers, Warlocks) may have innate abilities that can arise at birth, adolescence or whatnot.

 

[Clint_L]

Whatever age makes sense in the current story.

 

[TwoSix]

Every old wizard was a child wizard once.

 

[greg kaye]

Every old wizard was a child wizard once.

 

[Vaalingrade]

'Class' wizard: any age. Young children are taught things like prestidigitation as part of the equivalent to scouts.

'Profession' wizard: 40+ due to education requirements.

 

[James Gasik]

But it is kind of relevant? Is the question about spellcasters in general or Wizard in particular? In the first case I'd think it is teen/young or relatively younger adult. In the latter, it skews older, like middle aged at least. These seem like very different kinds of fantasy.

When I'm talking about the trope in general, I'm using "wizard" generally as "traditional non-armored arcane caster" since we haven't always had the other classes, or if we did, not necessarily in their current form. It's not that I really mind someone wanting to say "my warlocks are young, my wizards are old", but I was more thinking of my examples, lol. I've been in too many "Gandalf is a celestial being/Merlin is a Cambion Warlock" debates than is healthy.

 

[Mort]

Every old wizard was a child wizard once.

Plus magic seems to age wizards a bit fast:

1927:

1938:

While this is obviously the movie team not paying attention (or maybe not caring) re: chronology. I kind of like the concept of the wizard hitting the "old person" look quickly and then staying there. So most just remember wizards as Old because that's what they see for the majority.

 

[Stormonu]

I do like the idea of magic "burning out" the mortal frame to be an interesting idea.

It would be an irony that those seeking out magic that makes them long-lived or immortal have shorter lifespans in the first place due to their contact with magic.