In issue 58 of my Dungeons & Dragons zine, d12 Monthly, I give a newer version of the magic-user class.
It’s not at all dissimilar to the B/X magic-user you know (although there are some changes), but given there are only four classes in the issue (where all other classes can be based off), I thought it worthwhile explaining a little more about why I created it all this way, and why I kept the term magic-user, while changing the thieve and fighter.
You can get the Issue 58 from the usual places.
The Issue’s Purpose
Before jumping into the magic-user, I wanted to take a step back and look at why I chose to have only four classes.
Over the life of D&D, even in the early years, there has been a tendency for class bloat – new classes for specific purposes have crept into the rulebooks from Dragon (and other) magazines, which has lead to a lot of choice, but a much more complex system of class benefits and what role those classes take on within the party.
This is why I paired the game back to four strong classes: the warrior, the priest, the rogue, and the magic-user.
From these four classes, any character can be created.
The Magic-User
The magic-user wasn’t as affected by this class bloat as much as the fighter was, but there were signs – the illusionist class being one of them.
But, if we look back at the three little brown books (the very first edition of Dungeons & Dragons in print), they clearly had in mind that the fighter could be anything the player wanted – a barbarian, a knight, a mercenary – and they acted as a template of sorts, that the player and playing the game would define more clearly.
The magic-user did have a few spin-off classes, but nothing like our fighter.
And these were my thoughts as I created the zine – allowing the magic-user to define themselves rather than having half-a-dozen different classes.
Magic-users have a great in-built mechanism for this, that fighters don’t have: spells.
There is no need to create specialist wizards when you can just be a little selected of the spells you learn as you level up.
Yes, there are issues with this as you may not get access to all the spells you want immediately, but playing a magic-user is a long-term game, and you can still define yourself by the spells you do know.
Specialist Wizards
This started in D&D 2nd edition, and carried over into the more modern versions of the game, but there is no real need for specialist magic-users.
Simply call your magic-user an illusionist and choose spells that define that role. And the good thing is, you don’t have to miss out on any other spells due to your “specialisation”.
Pushing It Further – Kits
If you or a player has an idea for a character, then kits can come in handy.
They can be taken at character generation or up until 3rd level, and help define a character with more flavour and, well, character.
If they player wanted a sword-wielding sword mage who powered their blade with magic, then the GM and/or player could come up with a Kit that covers this.
And the GM could incorporate this “Spell-Blade” Kit into their campaign, creating a nation or region where these magic-users come from.
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