How does one make a believable Magician character concept?

[Alathriel]

I've been toying around with the idea of making a believable magician character for a 3rd age chronicle, but I just can't come up with a good concept. How many people here use magicians in their games, as either pcs or npcs? And if so, what types of roles do they play and how did they become magicians? Mainly I am looking into creating a magician who is a Man. Besides the Five Wizards (who were man in appearance), The Mouth of Sauron, and the Nine (before their corruption) there are few Men if any who are explained to be magic users. I'd just like to hear what others have done, and how they fit Decipher's magician order into Tolkien's world. The only thing I have ruled out is the character being an apprentice to one of the Five Wizards.. otherwise other options seem fine to me. Thanks!

[Ineti]

I had a Dúnadan magician PC in my campaign. Basically, the player played up the bookish aspects and downplayed the magic, so that most folk he ran into didn't have an inkling about the magic abilities. Then, when he needed to use them in a pinch, he did so but tried to be very subtle about it.

He only played for a couple sessions, but it worked out pretty well.

Magicians can be apprentices to some of the Five Wizards, but not in the traditional sense. Gandalf could give an up-and-comer a couple pointers if he runs into them during his travels, but wouldn't take on an apprentice as a long-term travelling companion.

I like the description in the core book that magicians are very rare. Keep that in mind. Any magician PC should be special and unique.

(Though I guess that could apply to any PC...)

[Lt. Dade]

Hi there,

Very often, in both the books and the films, when Gandalf is talked about by mundane folks, they refer to him as a conjurer or what have you. The way that he is referred to actually makes it sound to me like there are quite a few rumored magicians in Middle Earth. Of course, we can safely assume that a great many of those are either frauds or folks who possess just a limited selection of powers (like Beorn), but are not magicians in a game sense. On the other hand, they might possess the Magician order but not wear robes or carry staves at all. There must be smaller, other traditions of wizardry in Middle Earth; it's a wide and varied place.

One avenue which might get under-used, though, is the connection between the subtle power of ME, the spirit-beings which might be able to convey or bestow power, and the ability of spellcasting power to come from some sort understanding, rather than knowledge. Consider the wizard who has an innate understanding or influence over the magic of ME, rather than an academic authority.

Think of this as something similar to the manner in which Elves gain their power. Elrond might not be a wizard in the language of Tolkien the author, or in the language of the folk of ME, but he might still have magician abilities in the language of the game.

The characteristics of the wizard, the behavior and mannerisms which correspond to the fairy tale ideal of the wizard, are more important, I think, to capturing the feel of a magical character. This feeds into the final trick to presenting magician characters in any low-magic setting: don't explain it all. Let the character's history (even if it's a PC) be an interesting mystery that gets revealed bit by bit in anecdotes from NPCs and mutterings from the magician herself.

You'll invariably have to make some changes to the setting when you run a game in an established universe. The smallest change you can make, which is often the most enriching to your game, is a clever addition. I recommend anchoring a wizard character in Anglo-Saxon or Germanic myth if you can't find a satisfactory way to anchor it in Middle Earth. That's part of the fun, for me: following the process that the setting's original creator followed to create new additions to the world just for my own enjoyment.

word,
Will

[Alathriel]

Thank you Ineti and Will. Both of your posts were very helpful. I think if I examine some of the myths and history that inspired Tolkien I could see many examples of the roles a magician type character could have in Tolkien's world. I really like the idea of someone who naturally learned to grasp and understand magic, either through happenstance or maybe a family's teaching. Perhaps a character who is mysterious as Will suggested would make more sense than a Gondorian scholar who learned the ways of a magician. Maybe a druid type character, similar to Radagast, who learned of the natural world and the natural magic of middle-earth and serves as an advisor to a local community would be a more believable magician than a scholarly magician who studies tomes of magic. That's just my thoughts anyway, based solely on the fact that there were no conjurors of note in civilized areas that I remember reading about in Mannish societies in Middle-earth besides the Kings. To me it seems more believable that individuals who stumble onto magic in its varied forms or learn it naturally would be in Tolkien's world as opposed to orders and groups who study magic together in schools.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Alathriel
To me it seems more believable that individuals who stumble onto magic in its varied forms or learn it naturally would be in Tolkien's world as opposed to orders and groups who study magic together in schools.

That's cool. I don't see a order or school of magicians either, but I can see a bookish sort going to the library at Rivendell, poring through the ancient manuscripts and picking up some aspects of magic.

YMMV

[ben hur]

Originally posted by Ineti

I like the description in the core book that magicians are very rare. Keep that in mind. Any magician PC should be special and unique.

(Though I guess that could apply to any PC...)

Heh, yep. But I see what you mean; your Warrior of Gondor PC might have an almost exact duplicate somewhere, but your Magician is going to be one of a kind. His clothes, spells, habits, temperment, and history will show him for who he is.

[Manveru]

Magic is somewhat tied to race in ME.

Elves are naturally predisposed to innate magic abilities, especially ones that have been around long enough to get really 'Wise'.

Dwarves seem to only incorporate magic into their crafting. The stock rules don't necessarily cover this in detail, but you can dig out ways (i.e. using advancements to 'buy' magic 'spells' as 'powers', like the Crafting Spell).

Men are innately non-magical, they just aren't attuned to the underlying cosmic reality of ME like Elves and, to a lesser extent, Dwarves are. However, since the Numenoreans/Early Dunedain were able to at least enchant weapons with "spells of bane for the servants of Angmar" and raised such miracles as the tower of Orthanc (which would almost certainly seem to be 'enchanted' in its crafting), the best bet would seem to take a character of strong Dunedain descent (perhaps even a younger, non-inheriting child of the Elven blooded of Dol Amroth), make the a Loremaster intitially, maybe give them an Ally or Friends Edge amoung the 'Wise' (Istari, as suggested in the Core book, or MAYBE a wise Elf such as Elrond or (less likely) Galadriel).

I actually ran a short campaign set in Southern Gondor circa 2750, with one character who was descended of Noble blood, but left as a babe on the steps of the famed library of Pelargir (the oldest Numenorean settlement still occupied by the Faithful Dunedain of NW Endor). He took initial ranks as a Loremaster and then later caught the attention of Saruman (who at that time was still 'good' and did not yet reside in Isengard, but was still doing the work of the Istari amoung the Men of the South Kingdom) and began to 'work' for him.

Another suggestion is the way you play magic in ME. I tend to emphasize the subtle aspect of magic in ME, which to me, means that magic tends to operate more behind the scenes, affecting the circumstances indirectly rather than the main action of the story directly.

I highly recommend the attached file, it's got what I think are some useful thoughts on magic in ME.

HTH

[Mitchell]

Well, I'm using an elf who got stuck in a cave-in, for a LONG time. She's from a magically plentiful time, but got stuck in a cave-in due to an accident. A shift in the cave-in, and you can dig her out. She's a master of ancient lore.