D&D General I can't help it - every pure wizard I ever make has turned or will turn "evil" (even if only in my own mind).

[Faolyn]

Now imagine he started down that road seeking that power.

Well, maybe have wizards who aren't seeking power but rather, an easier, more useful, or more beautiful life.

 

[TheSword]

Well, maybe have wizards who aren't seeking power but rather, an easier, more useful, or more beautiful life.

Or the ability to keep watch over those not able to defend themselves.

Or bring to justice those wizards who think they’re above morality.

 

[James Gasik]

Perhaps the road to hell is truly paved with good intentions. "If people's loved ones die, I can replace them with Simulacrums!" eventually turns into "a nation of Simulacrums with me as their ruler would know no strife, no crime, no famine, no war, only peace!"

 

[Faolyn]

Perhaps the road to hell is truly paved with good intentions. "If people's loved ones die, I can replace them with Simulacrums!" eventually turns into "a nation of Simulacrums with me as their ruler would know no strife, no crime, no famine, no war, only peace!"

Those are really simplistic good intentions, and I can imagine that there are wizard/philosophers aplenty in a magical world.

 

[MoonSong]

Is there a reason the pursuit of magic as a tool is different for a wizard? There is nothing I see in the way magic is used that would indicate evil predisposition, any more than using a washing machine to clean your clothes is more evil than scrubbing them in the river.

A wizard is just as likely to see magic as a tool usable for good ends as any other class. Sorcerers, warlocks, bards etc still need to practice to acquire power. There is a good argument to say with the 5e development of automatically acquired spells at each level, a wizard acquired their magic similarly though practice and experimentation. In the same way that a phd student reasons out new thinking.

Wizards don’t steal, or consume other people’s knowledge to develop their own. Wizardly magic can actually be replicated and copied. It’s actually a very sociable form of development. Wizards improve through interaction with other wizards and their legacies. It’s why there are wizard guilds and the apprentice structure. Compared to the loners that are sorcerers and the enequal power dynamic of a warlock.

Because for a wizard, the path is a constant quest for more and more power (spells). All wizards choose to be wizards, which isn't an easy path. They then adventure for more spells, which come in the form of treasure (and this is true only for wizards), and their end path is even more spells. And if they keep adventuring, they will keep getting more and more spells. So the character chooses to become a wizard in order to have spells, which they need to constantly refresh to keep at hand, so they can adventure for even more spells, rise, repeat.

Contrast with other casters which reach a hard limit at the end. And divine characters and warlocks have another hard limit in the form of the deity/patron. Bards receive power to keep a tradition alive, clerics receive power to defend their deity's interests in the world, paladins so they can protect the weak, druids to protect nature... and so on. Sorcerers, sorcerers are different in that their power is the question and the adventuring is the answer. More a reality that starts the path than the goal of the road. Fighters and rogues are more approachable and down to earth by their very nature. Only monk comes close in having the quest for power built-in into the class.

 

[TheSword]

Because for a wizard, the path is a constant quest for more and more power (spells). All wizards choose to be wizards, which isn't an easy path. They then adventure for more spells, which come in the form of treasure (and this is true only for wizards), and their end path is even more spells. And if they keep adventuring, they will keep getting more and more spells. So the character chooses to become a wizard in order to have spells, which they need to constantly refresh to keep at hand, so they can adventure for even more spells, rise, repeat.

Contrast with other casters which reach a hard limit at the end. And divine characters and warlocks have another hard limit in the form of the deity/patron. Bards receive power to keep a tradition alive, clerics receive power to defend their deity's interests in the world, paladins so they can protect the weak, druids to protect nature... and so on. Sorcerers, sorcerers are different in that their power is the question and the adventuring is the answer. More a reality that starts the path than the goal of the road. Fighters and rogues are more approachable and down to earth by their very nature. Only monk comes close in having the quest for power built-in into the class.

For a fighter the path is a constant quest for more and more power (weapons/strength/speed/toughness). All fighters choose to be fighters which isn’t an easy path… etc etc.

To be fair wizards don’t need to quest for more and more spells, they can actually function very effectively with a couple of dozen which they just acquire through their own study.

If they want more they can go to a shop like any normal person and buy some more. Or seek out an expert in the field and offer to trade notes. Or even join a collegial fraternity of wizards to gossip on the latest developments, trade discoveries and use their excellent library. Something like the Watchful Brotherhood of Magists and Protectors in Waterdeep. (wow that’s an evil sounding name )

I don’t know where you get the idea that wizards have a greedy compulsion to seek out all spells. Most spells do similar things and the truly original ones are pretty ubiquitous anyway. Do we really need 10 ways to burn a person, or five different ways to fly? It might be a good trait for your wizard but it’s hardly universal.

Your final paragraphs apply stereotypes to classes that haven’t been in place since 1e. Very simple motivations and not specific to those characters at all. The Fighter might train to become strong enough to defend the weak, the monk may train to become able to defend a deities interests in the world.

A wizard might adventure because of any one of those motivations in your last paragraph and be very plausible.

 

[CreamCloud0]

This conversation seems very disingenuous to wizards and assumes that they all inherently seek out power for the sake of power (and will naturally be ‘corrupted’ by it) What about the wizards who have no interest in magic itself it’s just a handy means to their ends? The lone survivor who wants to break the curse on their hometown so they can go back to their mundane day to day? the historian who only has magic to protect themselves from and get through natural obstacles that block the way to that lost city? The bookworm who’s just curious about everything and magic is just their latest topic of study-the great arcane power is just a mildly beneficial footnote to them? the graduate who wasn’t really interested but who’s parents encouraged them to study because they were good at it and now has no other skills and a degree in their pocket that they might as well put to some use? The one who knows alot of problems in their life could be solved by throwing enough magic at it but never would be able to live with themselves afterwards if they did? The scientist who just wants to discover something completely new-to have their name put in the history books for some groundbreaking discovery? The one who totally could take over this country if they wanted to-but why would they, then they’d have to go about running things and there’d be people trying to upsurp them and it’d really cut into their time they spend whittling wooden goats, too much hassle.

The idea that any, every and all wizards will fall down this slippery slope the moment they get a little bit of power is dumb and implies they’re all weak willed chumps with no sense of morals or empathy for anyone else only interested in their own gain.

 

[MoonSong]

The idea that any, every and all wizards will fall down this slippery slope the moment they get a little bit of power is dumb and implies they’re all weak willed chumps with no sense of morals or empathy for anyone else only interested in their own gain.

Ok, I neglected to include a disclaimer. Absent character motivation, wizards are the only class that works in feedback loop that rewards power with more power and which is unchecked by either lore (warlock and divine classes) or inherent limitations (bard, sorcerer, and martials).

 

[CreamCloud0]

Ok, I neglected to include a disclaimer. Absent character motivation, wizards are the only class that works in feedback loop that rewards power with more power and which is unchecked by either lore (warlock and divine classes) or inherent limitations (bard, sorcerer, and martials).

While you found something to note about your own post from mine I’d just like to say mine was in no way written as any direct response to yours, just this thread topic itself.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

"Good" and "Evil" are for the other classes. "Wizard" is an alignment. Or to paraphrase Ash "Good, bad, I'm the man with the spells."