Wizard

Wizards are the masters of arcane magic, and very powerful magic users overall. They are the most effective class at learning and casting arcane spells, and seem to get more PP and find more spellbooks than other classes. Due to their talents in magic—which can deal with most enemies relatively risk free (with enough persistence)—they are considered by common consensus to be one of the easiest classes to win the game with. They have good class powers that especially help them with their spellcasting, and start with good skills like Healing, Herbalism and Alchemy.

Whilst Wizards are potentially one of the most powerful classes in the game, they might be difficult to keep alive during the early parts of the game. They are one of the physically weakest and most frail classes in the game (along with Mindcrafter), and start with little armor to protect them early in the game. They are guaranteed to start with at least one offensive spellbook and a few magical items to compensate for this, though. They are weaker in melee than other classes—not only do they usually have poor strength scores compared to other classes, but they require twice as many marks as most other classes to advance in skill levels for all types of weapons (and shields). Of course, their problems with melee combat are irrelevant for those wishing to play Wizards that will only use spells and not physical force to win battles.

When considering race-class combinations, there are two general ways to play a Wizard—either as pure casters that are extremely powerful with magic, or as average melee fighters that are able to learn a bit of magic to survive some difficult fights. Elves have great magical talents and thus can make extremely powerful Wizards, though Elven Wizards are considerably frail and at particular risk of traps etc. in the early game. Drakelings, Dwarves and Ratlings can be sturdy Wizards with a decent chance of learning spells, whilst Trollish and Orcish Wizards can be decent fighters which at least have more hope of learning and using spells than other classes. Gnomes stand out as a "happy medium" due to their great magical talents and decent Toughness, and as of 1.2.0 are one of the race-class combinations suggested by the game for new players[1].

Basic information[]

Manual description[]

Wizards are masters of the 'art'. They wield great magical powers and are able to create fireballs, lightning strikes and magical protection spells. Their great magical powers are balanced by their mediocre fighting abilities. Most mages spend their lives studying books and conducting arcane experiments in hidden laboratories and thus have next to no time to practice their physical skills.

Base/typical stats[]

The base stats for grown up male Wizards are tabulated below; female characters will have approximately -1 Strength and +1 Dex, and young characters have slightly less Strength, Learning and Willpower. These stats were generated using the method described on the Talk:Archer page; except with star sign factored in. Variations of +/- 5 to each stat will usually exist; or even more if the question system is not skipped.

As might be expected, Wizards have superior mental and magical stats over (most) other classes, whilst having generally mediocre Strength and Toughness scores.

Race	St	Le	Wi	Dx	To	Ch	Ap	Ma	Pe
Human	11	18	15	13	12	13	11	16	12
Troll	20	8	12	10	22	8	6	10	8
High Elf	11	20	14	20	10	13	15	21	17
Gray Elf	11	20	15	18	8	10	20	24	17
Dark Elf	10	15	18	20	11	9	13	26	16
Dwarf	13	17	17	12	16	12	10	16	13
Gnome	10	17	14	16	13	16	11	22	13
Hurthling	7	15	15	20	14	16	11	13	12
Orc	15	12	15	13	16	10	8	10	10
Drakeling	14	15	18	12	16	13	9	16	11
Mist elf	9	23	15	18	8	10	24	29	19
Ratling	11	15	15	17	16	9	5	16	16

Starting skills[]

Skill	Typical Value	Typical Modifier	Available Ingame?
Alchemy	36 (depends on Learning)	4d5	No
Concentration	42 (depends on Willpower)	4d5	No
Healing	18 (depends on Learning)	3d5	Yes
Herbalism	35	4d5	Yes
Literacy	100	2d4	Yes
Stealth	25	3d4	Yes
Ventriloquism	30	3d3	No

Crowning gifts[]

The robes or either of the rings are very desirable for Wizards, especially seeing as they tend to be more frail than most other classes. Wizards, unfortunately, have a 1 in 3 chance of receiving a staff instead when crowned, which often makes a poor substitute for wielding a shield for defense.

HP, PP, to-hit growth by level[]

HP: Very low
PP: Very high
Melee to-hit: Low
Ranged to-hit: Very low

Special abilities[]

Class abilities[]

Wizards are more likely to find spellbooks as loot than (most) other classes.
The Library has particular benefits for Wizards: a Wizard may find a spellbook of every type there, including a spellbook of Wish.
Heir gift: A wand of fire with 30 charges.
On the negative side, Wizards require twice as many weapon marks to advance weapon and shield skill levels as most other classes.

Class powers[]

Level 6: Costs of using spells are reduced to 90% of their base cost.
Level 12: Costs of spells are reduced to 80% of base cost.
Level 18: Costs of spells are reduced to 60% of base cost.
Level 25: Gradually increases spell knowledge of a randomly chosen spell. Each time the Wizard levels up again, a new spell will be chosen.
Level 32: Can recharge wands. A wand can only be recharged with this power once. Attempting to make the total number of charges too high results in negative consequences ranging from Mana drain to massive amounts of damage; see the section below for details.
Level 40: Can uncurse items at the cost of one Mana point. If crowned, the cursed item is blessed instead.
Level 50: Receives some knowledge of all spells except Wish.

Wand recharging[]

The consequences of wand recharging are based on the desired total number of charges. The more charges a wand already has, the fewer it will be possible to add. Each wand has a limit to how far it can be charged with this power. Attempting to charge a wand costs 50 PP per charge, but there is no negative consequence if the PC has insufficient PP to pay this.

Total charges	Result
1 to limit	Safe
limit + 1 to 2 x limit	-1 Mana
2 x limit + 1 to 3 x limit	-(charges - limit) Mana
3 x limit + 1 and higher	Massive damage

Wands of death, destruction, earthquakes, and wishing cannot be recharged with this power.

Wand	Limit
acid	4
ball lightning	7
bunny summoning	8
cold	4
digging	5
door creation	8
far slaying	10
fire	4
fireballs	4
gold detection	7
Grond	5
item detection	7
knocking	10
light	12
lightning	4
magic missiles	8
monster creation	8
monster detection	7
paralyzation	6
poison	10
stunning	8
teleportation	4
trap creation	10
trap detection	7
webbing	12
wonder	6

Starting gear[]

All Wizards start the game with

a robe
a quarterstaff or dagger (the dagger will be mithril for mist elves)
two spellbooks (one of which will always be an offensive spell, or Fire Bolt if PC is born on month of Salamander)
two rings
a wand
two or three potions
one or two scrolls
either an extra spellbook, scroll, or wand
torches, flint and steel and tinderbox (except for dark elves)
some gold

Race specific gear[]

Human	Troll	High elf	Grey elf	Dark elf
Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or leather boots Loaf of elven bread	Sandals or leather boots Spider bread
Dwarf	Gnome	Hurthling	Orc	Drakeling
Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Gnomish boots Iron ration	Cursed Ring Cooking set Iron rations	Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration
Mist elf	Ratling
Gloves Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration