What even a wizard fears

[AntiTrust]

My DM has a questionnaire all players have to fill out and I'm stuck on a question.

What do you fear (heights, falling, spiders, etc)?

I'm playing a chessmaster-esque wizard type. You know the trope, the planner, taking the long view of events. So I was wondering if the boards knew of any common wizard appropriate fears that maybe work well with the chessmaster personality.

[Alabenson]

Being caught unprepared would be my suggestion.

The one thing he fears is that which he failed to foresee and did not prepare for.

[Amidus Drexel]

Failure might be a good one.

Barring that, just make the wizard really paranoid. Nothing beats being afraid of everything. Meant both literally and figuratively, with all that that implies.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Why can't a wizard be afraid of heights or spiders? Would make the character more than just a cookie-cutter cliche... I mean, fear of failure or of unpreparedness fits the concept, yes, but why not go outside the concept, broaden it, turn him into a PERSON.

A wizard who fears to be caught unprepared is a wizard.

A wizard who ever since childhood has been afraid of sudden flashes of light because of a traumatic experience with a lightening bolt is a PERSON.

[erikun]

I have to agree with Gwyn: Why are you asking what a wizard fears, rather than what your character fears? The point of a character-questionaire is to decide on interesting aspects on your character, not produce a set of "correct" answers based on your class.

My one recommendation is to not have a fear that can trivially be eliminated with a single spell. That is, don't give the character a fear of heights when Feather Fall is readily available, or a fear of going cold with Endure Elements handy.

[Amidus Drexel]

I have to agree with Gwyn: Why are you asking what a wizard fears, rather than what your character fears? The point of a character-questionaire is to decide on interesting aspects on your character, not produce a set of "correct" answers based on your class.

My one recommendation is to not have a fear that can trivially be eliminated with a single spell. That is, don't give the character a fear of heights when Feather Fall is readily available, or a fear of going cold with Endure Elements handy.

Well, most of those kind of fears can be trivialized with spells. Claustrophobia, for example, is countered by disintegrate.

[Gildedragon]

A fear of death, poverty, judgement, or pain can all be powerful drivers for characters. Fear of strangers, or people in general could be interesting too.
A fear of 'savages' however you would like to define them is interesting if working in a group.
When considering your fears also think how you'd maintain group cohesion despite your fears.

[toapat]

for the Eidetic Wizard variant:

the fear of never being able to smoke another joint

[Slipperychicken]

Well, most of those kind of fears can be trivialized with spells. Claustrophobia, for example, is countered by disintegrate.

Thing is, those kinds of disorders are quite irrational. That is, an affected person may be scared whether or not the object of fear actually poses a serious threat. For example, someone with arachnophobia will still be scared of spiders, even if he knows they're harmless and has a can of insecticide on hand. Similarly, someone afraid of heights will be afraid even if the building he's standing on is sturdy and he has a parachute. And those who are afraid to leave their homes will avoid doing so even if they know the outside world is safe.

So having preparations against the object of fear doesn't actually dispel the fear. The character will still be extremely reluctant to enter any situation which engages his fear. It might even lead to the character taking irrational, unnecessary precautions against the object of his fear, like preparing Feather Fall seven times in a row in addition to Overland Flight, owning a feather token, and wearing a ring of feather fall.

Also, Disintegrate only gets you a 10x10ft cube. It's not sure to fend off claustrophobia. Especially since the phobia focuses strongly on restriction, and what might happen in such a space, like cave-ins, suffocation, etc. You can still (it would seem) get all that with a 10x10ft cube.

[Amidus Drexel]

Also, Disintegrate only gets you a 10x10ft cube. It's not sure to fend off claustrophobia. Especially since the phobia focuses strongly on restriction, and what might happen in such a space, like cave-ins, suffocation, etc. You can still (it would seem) get all that with a 10x10ft cube.

Well, prepare more than one, then.

(RE: everything else you said - Agreed)

[AntiTrust]

I have to agree with Gwyn: Why are you asking what a wizard fears, rather than what your character fears? The point of a character-questionaire is to decide on interesting aspects on your character, not produce a set of "correct" answers based on your class.

My one recommendation is to not have a fear that can trivially be eliminated with a single spell. That is, don't give the character a fear of heights when Feather Fall is readily available, or a fear of going cold with Endure Elements handy.

My character IS a wizard, so on some level they are one in the same. However I do see your overall point that I should look to other elements of my character to help shape a fear. That being said a fear that incorporates being a wizard and what that entails is something I'm trying to figure out.

[Fhaolan]

Any character can have pretty much any irrational fear, so that doesn't really help you with the question.

Here's another thought. It could be a previously rational fear. Something that shouldn't affect him now, but does because he can't let go of the fear. For example, maybe the town he grew up in had a fey-type goblin infestation. You know the type, goblins creeping up house walls to steal children and the like. So now whenever he deals with goblins, he goes irrational about it because all he sees is eyes glowing the dark, scrabbling of claws on plaster walls, and high pitched giggles as one of his siblings is stolen away while he does nothing, frozen in fear... but now he has FIREBALL BURN EVERYTHING AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

[KillianHawkeye]

You could always go the route of being afraid of your own power.

You have all this magic, but you're reluctant to use it because once you get used to solving a problem with magic, it becomes all to easy to go too far. Soon you'll think you can solve ALL life's problems with magic, until eventually you're mind controlling your own allies "for their own good" and you've erased the memories of your loved ones to make them forget your mistakes and shortcomings so many times that they're starting to become hollow and vacant.

Basically Willow in the 5th and 6th seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[Teron]

I think it would be fun for a chessmaster type character to have an irrational fear that can affect his plans. For instance, if outsiders scare him, he might refuse to work with them, try to get his party to deal with them while he does something else, and employ excessive firepower or defensive spells when he has to fight them. If someone ask why he did it that way, he'll usually have a good reason... and he might even believe it. People are good at rationalising what they want to be the right choice.

[erikun]

My character IS a wizard, so on some level they are one in the same. However I do see your overall point that I should look to other elements of my character to help shape a fear. That being said a fear that incorporates being a wizard and what that entails is something I'm trying to figure out.

Well then, take a look at the character and see what he might be afraid of.

Is there something that made him become a wizard, that his fear might have influenced his path? Was he afraid orc tribes, and so became a wizard to destroy them? Was he afraid of poverty, and thought wizarding would keep it from happening? Was he afraid of the dark, and wanted to rely on magical light to keep it always on?

Is there something that he realized after becoming a wizard that made him afraid? Perhaps he is afraid of outsiders, or the evil planes, after coming to understand what they are. Perhaps, after learning the power of words and knowledge, he has become paranoid about always learning what every written message means. Perhaps he has developed a fear of becoming charmed or mind-controlled, after seeing how easily others can perform it.

[SgtCarnage92]

Dragons: who wouldn't be, but make it a pathological fear, plus they have a tendency to be over-sized flies in the proverbial ointment.

Losing Control: fear of mind control magics because he has an understanding of just what they can do.

Axes: wizards are squishy.

Being Surprised: Could explain the long world-view.

Porcupines

[Anxe]

I have nightmares about bears, fires, and going over a cliff in my car. Maybe your wizard does too? Or maybe he fears the minions of the shadow goddess that constantly hunt him whenever he goes into civilized areas.

Closest example to your character type I'm aware of in my favorite media is Rayek from Elfquest. The Original Quest comics, 3 and 4, focus on the important stuff. Rayek feared failure. He had to be the best at all things and when he loses to Cutter he flees his village into the desert.

[Deophaun]

Do you have a familiar? You think it's just using you for its own nefarious ends. That cat will probably kill you once it has what it wants. Damn, is it looking at you? Does it know that you know? This is bad, this is very... no, it just has a hairball. Phew...

Your guidance counselor said you'd make a good transmuter. Of course, you didn't object at the time. Transmuters command respect, after all, and there's always gold for someone who can toss around a few fabricate spells. It's just, well, after your last alter self, you aren't quite sure everything is back to where it should be. And now the party wants you to polymorph into a what? If the spell goes wrong, maybe you'll have a hand stuck like that forever. Then you wouldn't be able to dispel it to make you normal again, and the town guard will think you're a monster, and you've seen what they do to monsters! They hire people like you to kill them! No, no. No no no no no no no. The party will just have to find some other way to pass someone off as a chull. You aren't going to be responsible for that mess.

[Hopeless]

1) Fear of losing their spellbook, after all how many times do you walk in the rain, fall into a pond, pool, river or ocean and avoid getting your spellbook and scrolls wet?
Can you imagine how much it will cost to replace your spellbook and scrolls let alone facing the fact you have nothing to memorise spells from?

2) Ever since being caught by that mimic posing as a book you've been left with a serious fear that there's another one around the corner... your fellow PCs say you're being ridiculous but you know how your dm thinks... its only a matter of time and the next time you pick up a scroll do you really want to be turned into a blue skinned halfling again...

[snikrept]

How about a specific phobia of a wizard spell or class of spells that you refuse to cast. Could explain why you picked the school specialization you picked, if you've got one.

ex. "I won't cast Evocations because created magical energy is too dangerous; once as a kid I set a mage-fire by accident and burned down the family barn."
or "I won't cast Enchantments because an evil mage once dominated my father when he couldn't pay his debt and made him do terrible things to us kids."
or "I won't cast Conjurations because a demon summoned by the local hedge wizard got loose in my town when I was a kid and I had nightmares for years about it."
or "I won't cast Transmutations because when I was an apprentice I made a catastrophic failure of a minor transmute spell, which redirected onto my arm and.. that's how I got this (huge ugly scar)."

[Cerlis]

Well, most of those kind of fears can be trivialized with spells. Claustrophobia, for example, is countered by disintegrate.

exactly. I think the best road is he is a batman wizard because he has real and common fears.

The point of finding out your characters fears is to give them weaknesses.

And what better than someone who is afraid of the dark (and gets nerve racked whenever they have to go through a cave without light) or who is afraid of spiders and will use the quickest way to destroy them ( fingers of frost or such). Hell i could imagine his spells backfiring on him more. He feels claustrophobic in a crowd and so casts invisibility to get through it more easily. but no one can see him so he gets pressed together more making the situation worse.

If anything some who has real, imagined, understandable, and unreasonable fears is more likely to become a wizard than anything else. Because spells are a crutch they use to deal with their problems.

Spoiler

Show

So having preparations against the object of fear doesn't actually dispel the fear. The character will still be extremely reluctant to enter any situation which engages his fear. It might even lead to the character taking irrational, unnecessary precautions against the object of his fear, like preparing Feather Fall seven times in a row in addition to Overland Flight, owning a feather token, and wearing a ring of feather fall.

see now that sounds like a fun character. I'd party with him.

L.O.L at the wizards facing a giant spider and the wizard passes out...
Fighter: "Check his pockets, maybe he has a scroll that can help"
Bard: "Well we got a scroll of Smite Spider. A scroll of Smite Really Big Spider.....And i can't make it out but I think all it says is 'Oh God Kill It With Fire'"

[An00bis]

Afraid of whatever it is his Familiar eats/hunts? Like, if he has a spider, he could be afraid of bugs?

EDIT Or the other way around? Again, he could have a spider and he would be afraid of bees, hornets, etc? Maybe his biggest fear is over his Familiar?

I like Familiars. They should totally be treated like your best friend. Like your dog, or something.

[Jay R]

Being caught in melee, of course. It eliminates most of his abilities, and is too chaotic, thus destroying his carefully laid chessmaster plans.

[Sleepy Shade]

You could make so that you can't remember the the event that spawned your fears.
For example your character since his 11 birthday (which he cant remember) has had fear of beards, bald people and the color green.

[Amidus Drexel]

The point of finding out your characters fears is to give them weaknesses.

L.O.L at the wizards facing a giant spider and the wizard passes out...
Fighter: "Check his pockets, maybe he has a scroll that can help"
Bard: "Well we got a scroll of Smite Spider. A scroll of Smite Really Big Spider.....And i can't make it out but I think all it says is 'Oh God Kill It With Fire'"

Agreed.

Hilarious!

[DMVerdandi]

INSOMNIA

[Flickerdart]

INSOMNIA

Sleep, Symbol of Sleep, Deep Slumber...

The worst fear of a wizard is when his party runs out of toilet paper.

[Emmerask]

Well the spell does not specify if the magical slumber is actually restful sleep so insomnia could still take effect.

[Amidus Drexel]

Well the spell does not specify if the magical slumber is actually restful sleep so insomnia could still take effect.

Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, not a lack of restful sleep.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

I would recomend against having a fear like "losing your spellbook" just in case the DM intends to play out everyone's fears then you've signed on for no save DM fiat spellbook loss. You could have a perfectly normal fear and have a violent reaction to your fear.

A wizard that passes out when spiders attack is silly, a wizard that shrieks from shock and casts fireball on a CR 1 monstrous spider has depth.