Mages before adventuring

[Conquistador]

Background musing    after reading the recent AAR with the spiders - what do Mages do before they start adventuring but after apprenticeship?

I see Thieves  as working menial "cover" jobs and practicing the entry level skills on those around them (criminals are forever in all cultures.)   

Clerics (including monks) serve temples and or people/worshippers since not all clerics adventure.    

Fighters guard people/places, act as paramilitary police, work as muscle/bouncers.   

Bards entertain...   

Mages... do what?  Tell fortunes? 

Gracias,

Glenn

[Bossco101]

I would imagine they do the all the grotty jobs the master mages don't want to do. Preparing spell componets, cleaning and tidying the lab, carrying the spell books, running errands.

Perhaps even putting on little magic shows at the local market as entertainment and a way of earning a few copper pieces.

Or spend all day in the pub!

[Red Orc]

I think the adventuring bit is what they do in between 'Apprentice Wizard' and 'Master Wizard', probably.

I imagine that the career path goes 'Sorceror's Apprentice' (hang around your Master's Arcane Tower getting the spells wrong and generally being rescued, see Micky Mouse, Alv from the 'Forge in the Forest' books, Ged in 'Wizard of Earthsea', the junior Wizards at the Unseen University etc) >> Journeyman Wizard (adventuring and doing magic, see Rincewind, Ged in 'The Tombs of Atuan') >> Archmage (or Archchancellor), where you get to hang and research stuff in your own Tower or other place of Arcane Learning (see Mistrum Ridcully, Saruman, Ged at the beginning of 'The Farthest Shore' etc).

I somehow doubt that adventuring is something old wizards would do if they had any say in the matter (Gandalf excepted).

[B. Basiliscus]

I imagine they would attend some sort of "arcane university", "magical college", or "mages guild" to study and gain a better grasp on their powers and the myths and legends of the world they live in, then strike out for the adventuring lifestyle..

[Sangennaru]

i think you hit the point:

nowadays i'm starting a campaign as player, and i'm a low level mage.
I was pretty bored by the young apprendices, i wanted to be a old mage, even if weak. But there is no way doing it!

so my choice was to interprete a fool powerful mage, who has beaten by anoter more-powerful-mage, and lost his memory and his powers. during the game he simply regain parts of his powers.. and his memories.
Lots of sidequest ready for my poor master!

I think it is a good way to giving sense to a so fast level up.

[YPU]

I think it also depends on what you imagine mages doing. Fighters are soldiers of any sort, clerics provide much needed healing and spiritual guidance. etz.

But what do mages do in general? Are they like artists, trying to understand the art for arts sake? looking at others and refining their own skills?

[Plynkes]

In the real world (not that anyone is interested in that), what mages did for a living was this kind of nonsense:

"The Sun leaves your sign next weekend, whilst Mercury does so midweek. Just as Mercury slips into Scorpio you may well find your favourite wife has contracted leprosy. Thursday is a good day to go shopping, and on Friday your kingdom will be overrun by the Assyrians and you will be horribly killed."

Though they did it for kings and mighty potentates, rather than in the newspapers or on premium-rate phone lines. In their spare time they followed stars hoping to find baby Messiahs in mangers (everyone has to have a hobby, I suppose).


Though I think even in fantasy worlds the job of advisor and magician to the ruler (probably starting out with some local, lower level ruler like a baron or an Earl) is the kind of job they would be going for. What ruler wouldn't want someone who could do magic advising and helping them? And what wizard wouldn't want a cushy government job? Artists need patrons, after all. All those weird ingredients and expensive bits of kit in a wizard's tower aren't going to pay for themselves.


Oh, and those who were no bloody good at being a mage would go and be supply teachers at Hogwarts and/or try to kill Harry, depending upon alignment.

[Christian]

Hehehe...

Well, I just started out a mage in a similar vein to Sangennaru's: he was discovered by other PCs in an old grotty dugeon without any clothes on, he was about 90 years old, with a long white beard covering his privates. He also has a toad familiar.

Turns out, he isn't really 90 years old, but hi advanced ageing is the resuktof a backfired Eternal Life spell (he is a Necromancer). His toad familiar is his assistant (but after reading this I think I will go with it being his apprentice) who botched the spell in the first place.

Never really put much thought into the OP, but I'll be using that to flesh out his back story! Good post.

[YPU]

I guess that in order to say what mages do "normally" you need know what they CAN do. So it depends on setting class spell selection SYSTEM etz.

[Red Orc]

But in general, assuming a pre-mass-literate society, Mages would be clerks, messengers, diplomats, librarians for the wealthy, and teachers.

After all, they know geography, mineralogy, herblore, history and folklore, music, astronomy... some of them may know more practical stuff like gem-making and smithcraft. Or maybe they could do pyrotechnics at the village son-et-lumiere.