Wizards and Magic

I was not happy with the original version of this post and have given it a re-write.

We have covered the place of the stock D&D races as well as some of the exotic ones in my default D&D world.  We also covered the place of Clerics and Druids, and what they say about the world as well. This time it is Wizards.  But first I think we need to talk about the nature of magic.

I don't get too in the weeds about what magic is or how it comes to be.  For me it is enough to say it is a fundamental force of the universe the characters inhabit.  As such it is accessible and manipulatable by the beings that occupy that universe.

Magic: Wizards are not the only ones who can use magic and "spell slots" are not the only way to make spells and magic happen.  While Clerics can use magic by virtue of their connection with their deity, Wizards have figured out how to use and shape magic directly.  Spells (as represented by spell slots) are those applications that can be accessed quickly and "easily".  An analogy may be found in fire; it is easier to harness fire with dry leaves than wet wood.  Magic can be accessed via more complicated rituals, some innate quality of a being, or some arrangement with a more powerful being, or even in accidental/uncontrolled ways.

Wizards: In my default world Wizards study esoteric formulae and take an analytical approach to magic.  They fill the role academics and keepers of knowledge in our sort-of medieval world (as opposed to the monks of the religious orders in the real world).

Instead of Abbeys filled with monks scribing knowledge as part of a religious pursuit on knowledge, they do so in the service of a Wizard or group of wizards.  Some may go on to become apprentice wizards, others simply sages, but most will likely stay scribes. While there are strong parallels to academia and research institution, only the largest cities have what one could consider Wizarding societies and schools.  (Though wizard school trope is too powerful to ignore these days).  

Wizards are the renaissance men of their world.  Many will take a position under a wealthy patron in order to further their studies. Instead of plumbing the mysteries of steam power or electricity, they toy with Elementals and charms.  This contributes to the extended medieval period seen in D&D worlds.  They are also the Mad Scientists.  Those who dabble in areas that are too dangerous for cities or polite society.  They will have their towers in far away places and a select few apprentices at their side.

Most characters will likely have learned from a local hedge-wizard.  Someone who could not find patronage, did not care for academia, or simply learned from the previous local wizard.  They are likely mid level at best, and their spells tend towards the basic and practical.

Spellbooks and Such: While the day to day game mechanics don't support the needs for shelves of books, cauldrons,  rituals, and copper tubing; these are the trappings of Wizards trying to unlock new shortcuts to shaping magic, in the form of spells and magic items. All of this study is documented in books.  Magical tomes don't just hold the spell itself, but explain theory, technique, history etc. about the spell.  The Wizard's spellbook is just the cliff notes reminder.  Sort of like how grandma's recipe card often doesn't list all the crucial details and techniques to prepare the food. That is why a Wizard will still have a library of tomes, its like a law reference library.

Other Spellcasters:  Classic D&D often had to sidestep the trope of the literate spellbook-using caster, with Shamen and Witches and the like, in order to allow monstrous magic users.  21st century D&D fully incorporates these "non-academic" spellcasters in the form or Sorcerers, Warlocks, changes to the Bard class and others. Classic spellbook using bards can easily be folded into the above milieu, having picked up a few spells from a hedgewizard or other source. 

Sorcerer's are likely seen as aberrations in all but the most enlightened Wizard communities.  A large enough wizard college may have a program for Sorcerers, sort of an Arcane Liberal Arts degree.

Warlocks are likely looked down on, people who neither earned, nor were born with their power, but instead "bought" it.