What is a Wizard?

[Anderlith]

Wizard means wise man, but it's come to describe magic user of some kind in recent decades. In Harry Potter, wizards are a bloodline of people able to cast magic primarily through wands, & prefabricated spells, memorized ritual motions to cast them. In the Dresdenverse, wizards are a bloodline (almost a separate species) & cast magic through willpower, having only so much magic they can cast at a given time. Dresdenverse Wizards also have The Sight, an ability to see magical energies. These are just too, popular versions of Wizards in books, there are far more than that in fantasy books, & more than that in myth & lore.

So for discussion, what is a wizard, to you?

[Morty]

You just answered that question - a "wizard" can be all those things you mentioned and much more. It's just a word that has a very wide range of meaning.

[Anderlith]

The word "wizard" has been attached to many descriptions. So I was asking the playground, what is there definition of "wizard".

[Malak'ai]

Someone who has actively studied magic, no matter what form.

This could include the crotchety old hermit that lives in the abandoned tower, the flamboyant entertainer down the local pub or the sneaky, master thief who uses a few "tricks" to get past security.

[Grinner]

A walking cannon.

I've taken to using the terms adept and occultist to refer to any magic-user of more sensible magnitudes of power. They're only slightly awkward to use and give me some relief from the associations I've developed for the term wizard, courtesy of D&D.

[Edge of Dreams]

I flip-flop between two modes.

In mode A, Wizard, Mage, Sorcerer, Caster, and Witch all mean the same thing - a person who casts magic spells. That's it. Any more specific definition or differentiation between them will be setting-specific.

In mode B, a wizard, to me, is someone who has gained the ability to cast spells by studying and understanding how magic works (as opposed to innate ability, getting magic from a god, etc.), in an at least somewhat rational, logical, or academic manner.

[Raimun]

One thing is common for most wizards I've seen or read about: Magical powers via studying.

That's apart from things such as completely natural talent or divine favor.

That, or people with magical powers who call themselves wizards.

[NecroRebel]

A Wizard is someone who has unusual magical powers, especially if they acquired those powers by study and training.

The word "unusual" is there for a reason; a dragon with magical powers in a world where all dragons had magical powers would not be a wizard unless that dragon possessed magical powers above and beyond that of a normal dragon. Similarly, elves in many worlds have magical abilities that few humans do, but would not normally be called wizards, but a human capable of replicating those feats very well might be a wizard.

Also, if magic can be inborn but could also be gained via study and training, someone with inborn magical powers but who had never really intentionally developed them would usually not be called a wizard, but someone who studied magic often would, regardless of whether or not they had inborn magic as well.

Again, though the most important things about wizards are that A) they are people, and B) they have magical powers that most people do not.

[Sacrieur]

The same thing they were in LotR: lesser gods.

[GolemsVoice]

To me, a wizard is a person who casts spells. Simple as that. Sure, you might break it down further, calling people wizards and others sorcerors, and in that case, I'd make the wizard the guy who is more scientific or academical about magic, but in the end, a wizard is a spellcaster, often different from clerics, because he doesn't get his powers from the gods.

If you talk about how I PREFER my wizards, I'm certailny a high-magic guy, with cool robes, staff and a generally fancy attire, as oposed to the old robe with stars on it and a pointy hat.
Mystical symbols on the robe? Yes! Intricately woven garments? Yeah! Fancy hat? Oh please!

[Zale]

Someone who solves problems by exploiting loopholes in the mystical laws of the universe.

[Vitruviansquid]

A wizard is a dude who uses magic.

[Slipperychicken]

Job title for a male who does magic. Interchangeable with Magician, Sorcerer, Warlock, Conjurer, Enchanter, Shaman.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Wizards, to me, are what D&D would call Sorcerers. Their power is innate, intrinsic to their very being. Merlin was the son of a mortal woman and an Incubus. Gandalf was an Angelic Being. Did Gandalf need to pick up a few extra credits at Unseen University? Did Merlin attend Eton College? Nope.

Harry Potter and all those who have to study magic with books and the like are magicians to me. Mere pretenders. I always assumed Sorcerer was code for "Evil Wizard". Haven't a clue what a Warlock is, but since I grew up with Lords of Magic, my definition of Mage would be "scholarly magic-user, limited to a few spells".

But that's just me.

[demigodus]

To me a wizard is someone who gains magical power through knowledge, and possesses a good bit of intelligence.

[Acanous]

A walking Flying, invisible cannon smart Thermobaric explosive.

Wizards are people who can tell the laws of physics to shut up and sit down... and Physics LISTENS.

...because it knows what's GOOD for it.

[vasharanpaladin]

A plot device.

[Anderlith]

Alrighty, looks like most people agree that a wizard is someone who uses knowledge to cast magic.

Now, if they are a plain vanilla human(oid), who uses learned knowledge to cast & structure a spell...
how do they access "magic"? Does magic come from the cosmos? Or is there a realm of energy that they draw from? Is it mortal will given form? (if so, how does this separate them from those with innate magic?)
Do they use a focus item or implement to channel energies?(wands, staves, athame ect.)

[Grinner]

Some games go into it. Others don't.

In my experience, it's usually some kind of nebulous ambient energy, or the result of demonic intervention.

Or nebulous demonic energy!

[vasharanpaladin]

The. Plot.

[NecroRebel]

Now, if they are a plain vanilla human(oid), who uses learned knowledge to cast & structure a spell...
how do they access "magic"? Does magic come from the cosmos? Or is there a realm of energy that they draw from? Is it mortal will given form?

Yes, or possibly no.

Any of these things, or none of them, may be true; that's a major part of what separates many fantasy settings from one another. Some settings don't answer the question, and others even leave the question an explicit unknown.

(if so, how does this separate them from those with innate magic?)

Is learning how to use magic as difficult as learning to walk, or learning astrophysics? If it's as difficult as walking for some people and more difficult for others, those people for whom it is easy probably aren't wizards, but those for whom it is more difficult are. It's not just "can you use magic easily," though, but also how much effort you put into learning it. Some people walk more efficiently than others, after all.

Do they use a focus item or implement to channel energies?(wands, staves, athame ect.)

Possibly, possibly not. Another question is, "must they use a focus item or implement to channel energies?" The Wheel of Time series' channelers (mages) have various items available that they can use to enhance their abilities, but can do without just as easily, while the Harry Potter series' wizards cannot do magic without them, at least early in their training.

A wizard's traditional raiment typically does include a wand or staff along with the robe and pointy hat, but while somebody with a wand or staff, star-decorated robe, and pointy-topped wide-brimmed hat who can use magic is almost certainly a wizard, a wizard needn't be garbed like that.

[Anderlith]

This would be within the suedo-generic fantasy world of D&D, & upon your opinion/definition of a wizard

[vartan]

A miserable little pile of secrets.

[Anderlith]

A miserable little pile of secrets.

I was waiting on that one ;). +1 internetz

[Joe the Rat]

My take:

A Wizard is a sage who knows magic. Wizards are wise - or at least they know a lot of stuff. Their magic is a matter of arcane secrets gleaned from eldritch tomes, or taught to them by great and terrible powers. They may mull libraries, conduct fuming experiments, treaty with all manner of entities, or walk the world to learn its secrets, but the core of it is knowledge.

Wizards cast spells. They don't just toss magic, but draw it through incantations and words of power. They may be great receptacles of power, able to hold energies enough to reduce a normal man to cinders, or maybe even carry great power from strange lineages or astrological conjunctions, but they need the spell - the knowledge - to be able to shape it into something.

Be the one commoners and kings turn to for advice. Hold the keys to a thousand quests, waiting for opportunity. Know when and where a single snake can stop a war. Turn the sun back in the sky. Raise the dead, and lay them to rest again. Until you can do half of that, you're not a wizard yet. You're a Magic-User.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

Honestly, regardless of how the Wizard gets his/her/it's power (innate or learned), I always see them requiring at least some sort of Focus like a staff, and some Words of Power, like a Truenamer.

Yeah. The best Wizard fluff includes Truenaming and Staff-wielding. Gandalf's "Your Staff is Broken" line is utterly amazing when you realize that he used Words alone to destroy the source of another Wizard's power. Wizards like that don't really cast Magic. They cast Reality.

Also, Magic is the Force. Usually.

[J-H]

Someone who is never late. He always arrives exactly when he means to.

[Jay R]

Wizard means wise man, but it's come to describe magic user of some kind in recent decades.

Those "recent decades" were in the late 1500s.

So for discussion, what is a wizard, to you?

A practitioner of magic, just as it is to everybody else since the Renaissance.

[LauraClrk]

Person with amazing magic skills and accomplishments.You can say a conjurer or juggler.

[Craft (Cheese)]

I dunno, I think wizards have one more element that everyone else here seems to have missed: They're wanderers. The archetypal wizard, to me, is someone who goes around from place to place, spreading wonder and excitement (and more often than not a little bit of trouble) wherever they go.

The other type of wizard, the Physical God who locks themselves in a tower and researches new spells all day, is good for a DM Ex Machina or to stroke the quintessential nerd-ego, but they're not nearly as fun to play (or to write about, for that matter).