Characteristics of conan-esque sorcerers?

[Accelerator]

So I've been reading conan, which got me thinking:

What makes a sorcerer, one fit for sword and sorcery:

1. Its probably the bad guys
2. Lots of summoning
3. Scrying
4. Non-convenient.

[Seppl]

- Very soft rules. Magic can do, what the plot requires it to do.
- None or few simple cantrips. Magic has Earth-shattering effects. Spells are complex rituals that require lots of time, often multiple casters, and exotic ingredients. Is this what you meant by 'non-convenient'?
- Magic power rarely comes from the caster but is granted by supernatural beings (Demons!) or powerful artifacts.

Those last two points are often a plot hook, as the sorcerer often strives to acquire a greater source of power for use in an even greater spell and the hero needs to stop them.

[Yora]

For combat, they rely heavily on alchemy and magic items. Combat spells are very rare.

[Telonius]

5. Has not read the Evil Overlord list.
6. Must have a goatee (if male). Must be either young and gorgeous or old and horrible (if female).
7. Fashion sense must heavily favor black or dark-colored clothing.
8. Must be comfortable with kidnapping and sacrificing unwilling female victims.
9. Housing must be a minimum of 500 years old, and cannot be up to code. Ruins preferable.

[Accelerator]

Just realized something. How do you put things in spoilers?

[Razade]

Just realized something. How do you put things in spoilers?

Either slap a [spoiler] and then a [ /spoiler] (no space between [ and /] or highlight the text you'd like to spoil and use the Spoil button on the dashboard. You can find it on the bottom row, far right. It's the last button.


As to the actual thread topic.

10. Snakes. Lots of snakes.

[Leewei]

Sorcerers, even those nominally aligned with Conan, pretty much all dealt with otherworldly beings. The worst of the lot were servants of world-eaters. If you're thinking Cthulhu cultists or the sort, you're very close. Early Conan stories borrowed liberally (and even built upon) the Lovecraft stories.

The line gets pretty blurry between sorcerers and priests. The sorcerers in these works often worship the elder gods or demons they deal with. Mako's character in Conan the Barbarian kind of fell into this pattern as well - he grew to worship Conan, after his fashion.

[Yora]

The line gets pretty blurry between sorcerers and priests.

There's not really a difference. Nor between demons and gods.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Magic is an ardous task but can accomplish terrible things. Especially if time and effort is put into it. Its often quite evil because strong magic requires the sacrifice of others or the natural world so a 'good' sorcerer is either someone who doesn't have strong sorcery and meeds to be watched closely or they are someone who is slowly growing in power and ramping up the awful things they are doing.

They also tend to be very knowledgeable because, as Yora mentioned, they don't really have sorcery that can be used on the fly most of the time. Instead they rely on alchemical draughts/bombs/poisons/etc., 'mentalism' like hypnotism and such, trickery, and bewitched, trained, or summoned beasts/monsters/demons for protection.

Summoning is also common because summoning itself in Conan can be distressingly simple but CONTROLLING what one has summoned is usually much more difficult if its possible at all. Its also why most sorcerers will attempt to summon something as some last desperate act to save themselves. They'll make crappy deals or agree to payments that may kill them later to survive NOW which make it easier to 'control' something summoned. So why summon? Because its less dangerous to the sorcerer to have summoned muscle use sorcery or do dangerous things than the sorcerer themselves. Imagine a spell in D&D like...major creation, obviously very useful...but it cost part of your soul/sanity to use and there is NO way to get it back. Now...do you cast it yourself and loss a piece of yourself each time you do or do you summon something capable of casting the same sorcery and deal with the real but manageable cost of summoning instead?

They often rarely work together. Sorcereous knowledge is not commonplace and one's own achievements, works, and yes 'spells' are often limited to that sorcerer (even if it has similar effects to another sorcerer's works) and their apprentices and no one else. Which makes for a very cutthroat world because every sorcerer you meet might be planning to stab you in the back to claim all your hard work. Some exceptions exist, sure, like the Black Circle, but they are exceptions and much stronger because of it and just as paranoid and hateful towards those who don't belong to their group.

Last thing to keep in mind is that sorcery, true sorcery, is a perversion of the natural world. Its abhorrent and unnatural which is why its so dangerous to use but can accomplish such awesome things. The people who regurarly use it are rarely capable of keeping that corruption from seeping into their own bodies and souls.

There is a reason why people fear and distrust sorcerers in the Hyborian age and the 'exceptions' to that rule could probably be counted on two hands with fingers to spare.

[comicshorse]

Summoning is also common because summoning itself in Conan can be distressingly simple but CONTROLLING what one has summoned is usually much more difficult if its possible at all.

"Do not call up that which you cannot put down ". Words of wisdom for Sorcerers throughout the ages

[Yora]

I actually can't remember. Was that from Conan or from Charles Dexter Ward?

[comicshorse]

I actually can't remember. Was that from Conan or from Charles Dexter Ward?

Charles Dexter Ward

[Scarlet Knight]

Conan would have said: " By Crom! There is nothing you can call up which I cannot put down!"

[Traab]

Subtle power that still threatens the world somehow. James earl jones darn near took over the world with his dreamy eyes, pouty lips, and an odd desire to randomly turn into a snake, even if it rarely ever helped. I dont recall him ever really hurling around fireballs. The best magical attack he had was turning a poisonous snake into an arrow long enough to shoot someone with it. I cant recall if it was conan or red sonja but there was some sort of wizard type who hid himself with illusions and used a strange type of voodoo to scrape a knife on some metal surface and cut his target. That was pretty much his best trick. Actually, pretty sure that was red sonja, iirc he kept teleporting the evil queen around the throne room every time sonja got the upper hand in their duel. So yeah, dude was a lot more in your face with his magic than the average conan sorcerer.

[Mordar]

I'm working through the Random House definitive Robert Howard stories (I read all of the "novels" ages ago, and many of the non-Howard works, but it is *REALLY* worthwhile to grab these three books - The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, The Bloody Crown of Conan and The Conquering Sword of Conan) so I feel more compelled than usual to weigh in.

The first requirement is being tied to a long passed age. Many/most of the sorcerous adversaries that aren't Stygian (and even one of was) are found in lost cities, ancient strongholds or far flung places were they have somehow cheated death for ages.

The next requirement is ambitious goals, either of world-spanning domination or of things "man was not meant to know". As mentioned above, there is a Lovecraftian feel to some of the sorcery in Conan, and that was unquestionably related to the relationship between RE Howard and HP Lovecraft.

The third requirement is rarity. Even though Conan comes across quite a few of these types they are still vanishingly rare. Even more so after he encounters them.

The fourth requirement is arcana. There are no blaster wizards or CoDzillas here...magic is almost always enacted by ritual and great knowledge. Those few that can cast "spells" are expending great personal power to do so and frequently pay the price for such wanton use of magic.

...probably more to come...but for now, ancient, "touched", rare and mysterious kind of sum them up.

- M