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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4574044" data-attributes="member: 15538">I disagree with ecluding him. He is a literary magician. From his example, we can talk about wizards in armor, what kinds of spells wizards use, and so forth.If you start by defining a wizard as "A guy who does not primarily hit with a sword, who uses non-divine magic," you are beginning with the D&D definition and then see who would be a D&D wizard. But the arcane/divine divide is less distinct in mythology and literature and the idea of arcane energy seems to come from Robert Howard, who viewed magic as imposing order on primal, fluctuating chaos. 19th centurty high magicians invoked the names of angels and depended on magical will, which would make them multi-classed shaman/psions in D&D. Merlin is a druid or a 1st edition AD&D bard. Even the wizards in Dragonlance are effectively divine casters, as the magic practiced by the Towers is a divine gift and spellcasting is described as touching the "minds of the gods."So in the context of this thread, Elric raises the issue, "Perhaps wizards should be armored, sword-wielding ritualists who draw their power from pacts with spirits," not "How would you create Elric in D&D 4e?" Similarly, the fact that Gandalf wields a sword suggests that barring wizards in D&D from using swords also has a weaker basis in literature. The fact that many magicians uses a divine source, such as Eddings' sorcerers, Krynn's wizards, Ars Magica's hermetics, and even Tolkien's Istari, suggests that that the divine/arcane divide specific to the D&D mythos, not a fairly universal trope.In effect, disregarding Elric would be discounting him specifically because he is a perfect example of what was asked for. He would also be a good example of, "Can anyone think of literary wizards who don't hurl fireballs or other blasts of energy?" He also works for multiclassed fighter/wizards, wizards from an aristocratic background, wizardry that necessarily involves trekking with evil forces, and probably other things as well.</blockquote>

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