D&D General How Old Are Your Wizards?
CreamCloud0
One day, I hope to actually play DnD.
is 'old enough to know better' a valid answer?
Paul Farquhar
Legend
I think you need to take the age of the player into account in something like this (and this forum skews to adult wizards). I tend to play characters a similar age to myself, for the same reason I tend to play characters a similar gender to myself. It's easier.
FitzTheRuke
Legend
IDK... you're talking about 11 years. Not to mention, 11 years that cross his 40's to his 50's (or equivalent). I've seen real people go from younger to older looking than those two pictures over that same timeframe.
Other Wizards only take you seriously if you wear frumpy robes, glasses, a silly hat, and have gray hair. So even the younger ones do it?
Baron Opal II
Hero
Heh, that could be a thing.
One wizards learn second level spells, and are obviously not apprentices, the local custom is to dye one's hair grey to lend some gravitas. Not that it is anything more than a fashion statement.
For the OP question, 25+. The learning and apprenticeship is long, leading to characters about a decade older than their roguish peers.
I'm not particularly against young Wizards, though the first time I encountered one in D&D I was surprised. There was a Spelljammer adventure written by Ed Greenwood I believe (I can't remember what book it's in, it's called "The Sacred Firefall") where you encounter some truly insane cultists who want to destroy their crystal sphere using a spelljamming ship loaded to the gills with explosives. There's a sacrifice on board, a 10 year old girl who is a 1st level Wizard.
"Wait, she's a Wizard at TEN?! She must be some kind of genius prodigy!".
We got a new player the next session, while we were still in Wildspace, and the DM was like "well, I could let you take on one of the NPC's as your character", and she chose the Wizard. Going off of memory, she had really great stats, but a ridiculously low Strength, like a 5, and a fairly mediocre Wisdom.
The character was a blast, as she levelled quickly following us around, and had the advantage of a higher level Fighter/Mage mentor, but she would react to things like a kid would for the most part, and absolutely refused to use fire magic (thanks to her experiences with the goofy fire cult). Since then, I haven't really cared how old Wizard players are.
Though, in all fairness, if that had been a 3e or later adventure, the NPC would have probably been a Sorcerer.
"Wait, she's a Wizard at TEN?! She must be some kind of genius prodigy!".
We got a new player the next session, while we were still in Wildspace, and the DM was like "well, I could let you take on one of the NPC's as your character", and she chose the Wizard. Going off of memory, she had really great stats, but a ridiculously low Strength, like a 5, and a fairly mediocre Wisdom.
The character was a blast, as she levelled quickly following us around, and had the advantage of a higher level Fighter/Mage mentor, but she would react to things like a kid would for the most part, and absolutely refused to use fire magic (thanks to her experiences with the goofy fire cult). Since then, I haven't really cared how old Wizard players are.
Though, in all fairness, if that had been a 3e or later adventure, the NPC would have probably been a Sorcerer.
rmcoen
Adventurer
TL;DR = "Normals" (NPCs) are in their late 20s or 30s by Wizard 1, and maybe 5th by 60. PCs can be 18ish, and live bright short lives...
My 5e campaign is around a bunch of "late teenagers", with a "grizzled veteran" warrior. They all started at 1st level, with different backstories. The veteran was a retired Marine, healing after the injury that got him discharged. The youngest, 16, is of course the spellcaster - but he is a warlock who had failed out of wizard training (and no idea where his powers come from). The second oldest just turned 20, the bard, who has been "wasting his potential" performing in a dive bar near the river. In this world, "normal" people hit 2nd or 3rd level in their career; exceptional people hit 4th, and legendary hit 5th. PCs quickly become "mythic"!
Magic in the world has been growing for the last 400 years. Initially only Mageborn (sorcerers) could wield magic. Then "talented" people could learn, after 40-60 years of study, meditation, and practice. Then "talented" people could pull off 1st level spells (i.e. Wizard 1 or 2) in "only" 20 years. Next, "anyone off the street" could become a wizard (in 40ish years), while talented people could graduate to Wizard 1 in about 10 years. At campaign start, talented people can become Wizards in about 10-15 years (i.e. about age 18-24). [Sorcerers meanwhile hit level 1 at puberty, whether they want to or not... Mageborn is more of a PF2e archetype now, adding 1 level of Sorcerer ability to your character every 2 class levels, even if you choose Wizard or Sorcerer.] So if you wield arcane magic, you are a graduate of the Towers - a Wizard, with PCs being younger than "normals" - or you are a Mageborn noble with the blood of ancients. Warlocks are anathema - charlatans at best, cheaters and devil-worshippers... or "Blood thieves" at worst. People who covet magic, but aren't Mageborn, and are unable or unwilling to put in the work to become a Wizard (or can't pay for it, yay feudalistic capitalism.), and look for a shortcut.
My 5e campaign is around a bunch of "late teenagers", with a "grizzled veteran" warrior. They all started at 1st level, with different backstories. The veteran was a retired Marine, healing after the injury that got him discharged. The youngest, 16, is of course the spellcaster - but he is a warlock who had failed out of wizard training (and no idea where his powers come from). The second oldest just turned 20, the bard, who has been "wasting his potential" performing in a dive bar near the river. In this world, "normal" people hit 2nd or 3rd level in their career; exceptional people hit 4th, and legendary hit 5th. PCs quickly become "mythic"!
Magic in the world has been growing for the last 400 years. Initially only Mageborn (sorcerers) could wield magic. Then "talented" people could learn, after 40-60 years of study, meditation, and practice. Then "talented" people could pull off 1st level spells (i.e. Wizard 1 or 2) in "only" 20 years. Next, "anyone off the street" could become a wizard (in 40ish years), while talented people could graduate to Wizard 1 in about 10 years. At campaign start, talented people can become Wizards in about 10-15 years (i.e. about age 18-24). [Sorcerers meanwhile hit level 1 at puberty, whether they want to or not... Mageborn is more of a PF2e archetype now, adding 1 level of Sorcerer ability to your character every 2 class levels, even if you choose Wizard or Sorcerer.] So if you wield arcane magic, you are a graduate of the Towers - a Wizard, with PCs being younger than "normals" - or you are a Mageborn noble with the blood of ancients. Warlocks are anathema - charlatans at best, cheaters and devil-worshippers... or "Blood thieves" at worst. People who covet magic, but aren't Mageborn, and are unable or unwilling to put in the work to become a Wizard (or can't pay for it, yay feudalistic capitalism.), and look for a shortcut.
Stormonu
Legend
I’d like to point out that in the 1E DMG, starting age for a human magic-user was 28 + 2d8 years (illusionists were 30 + 1d6 years).
An old character of mine…
An old character of mine…
Back in 2E (around ‘89), I played a Necromancer witch named Kalli (Bloodblade) who was 13, but had been magically aged to 20. A side effect of the magical trauma she had been through (she had been meant as a host for a demon - essentially a Warlock before the class existed) was her random ’tantrums’, akin to a mix of wild magic crossed with emotional bouts and a touch of epilepsy. I had a lot of fun with portraying that character back in the day, but looking back it’s probably not a character I could get away with playing in this day and age. She was a character that presented a lot of situational and role playing challenges (that I didn’t always manage to live up to portraying well), but that made her interesting and one of my more personally memorable characters.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Why was this is a limited time poll? Wait a second, are wizards real and there was some sort of time limit? DID I MISS MY STUPID OWL WITH THAT STUPID LETTER?