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<blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 8814263" data-attributes="member: 6988941">Your hated compound words are generally the best solution. The alternative is to pick an existing term and imbue it with new meaning that it never had before. The existing terms for magic users tend to either be general, but hitherto generally referring to some &quot;staff and robe&quot; wizardly figure (wizard, sorcerer, mage), or else refer to a specific magical practice that at least some people will recognize the connection to (enchanter, necromancer, etc.). I personally disliked the naming of the pathfinder &quot;Magus&quot; class, because it obviously was just them trying to imbue a general word with a radically new meaning, and were you to use &quot;Sorcerer&quot; or &quot;Wizard&quot; you'd get exactly the same issue, except worse because people have stronger ideas about what those are.If you must go down the &quot;existing single word&quot; route my vote is for &quot;Thaumaturge&quot;, as it is obscure, has a general meaning &quot;wonder worker&quot; that could cover wondrous feats of both magic and arms, and doesn't feel quite so closely connected to an archtypal wizard.A tried and true alternative to an English compound word when you need a new term in English is to coin a new Latin or Greek term, like &quot;machiamancer&quot; or &quot;ferruspex&quot;. But then you're just making compound words that are meaningless to those without a classical education.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Benjamin Olson, post: 8814263, member: 6988941"] Your hated compound words are generally the best solution. The alternative is to pick an existing term and imbue it with new meaning that it never had before. The existing terms for magic users tend to either be general, but hitherto generally referring to some "staff and robe" wizardly figure (wizard, sorcerer, mage), or else refer to a specific magical practice that at least some people will recognize the connection to (enchanter, necromancer, etc.). I personally disliked the naming of the pathfinder "Magus" class, because it obviously was just them trying to imbue a general word with a radically new meaning, and were you to use "Sorcerer" or "Wizard" you'd get exactly the same issue, except worse because people have stronger ideas about what those are. If you must go down the "existing single word" route my vote is for "Thaumaturge", as it is obscure, has a general meaning "wonder worker" that could cover wondrous feats of both magic and arms, and doesn't feel quite so closely connected to an archtypal wizard. A tried and true alternative to an English compound word when you need a new term in English is to coin a new Latin or Greek term, like "machiamancer" or "ferruspex". But then you're just making compound words that are meaningless to those without a classical education. [/QUOTE]

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