So you want to name a gish class…

[Jack Daniel]

I'm working on a revision of one of my old game designs, and EN World has in the past been pretty great about helping me name character classes. But this one might prove a conundrum: when to comes to naming the archetypical warrior-mage, which term conjures the stronger image of a sword-swinging spellcaster in your mind — wizard or sorcerer? (Keeping in mind that I'll doubtless wind up using the other word for just the archetypical mage.)

On the one hand, a wizard with a sword is iconic — Gandalf. And a sorcerer without a sword — Mickey Mouse — is also iconic, at least for an apprentice sorcerer.

On the other hand, the notion that wizards eschew weapons and armor is pervasive in heroic fantasy. Whereas the term sorcerer nigh-instantly drives one's thoughts to pulp sword & sorcery, where a robed sorcerer with unnatural strength may yet cross swords with the likes of Conan or Kull or Elric (who is himself a sorcerer).

For purely aesthetic reasons, I'll be avoiding compound terms like "mage-knight" or "spell-blade." Other than that, I turn the topic over to the community. Sword-mage: what do?

 

[Blue Orange]

They've both pretty much become associated with arcane-spellcaster-in-robes-with-a-dagger, I think. The 'sorcerer' has a little more of a bad-boy image, the 'wizard' more of a wise-old-guy image. Going with the female versions, a 'sorceress' is seen as more of a standard magic-user, whereas 'wizardress' I've only seen in D&D.

I think Pathfinder uses 'magus'. Thesaurus.com gives me 'conjurer', 'enchanter', 'magician', and 'necromancer', all of which have been D&D level titles for magic-users at some point. There's also more purely divination-oriented words like 'astrologer', 'clairvoyant', 'diviner', 'fortuneteller', 'augur', and 'seer', as well as 'hypnotist'.

I'd go with 'warlock' (if you don't have that class) or 'magus' (this not having an orthodox meaning in D&D you can overlay it with whatever you like). IMHO, of course.

 

[DeviousQuail]

If I had to choose between the two I'd say sorcerer more than wizard. But if you want a new name for a gish and don't want to use a setting specific word then I'd go with adept or virtuoso. They have more general meanings but in your games those words could be more specific to magic warriors.

 

[Jack Daniel]

They've both pretty much become associated with arcane-spellcaster-in-robes-with-a-dagger, I think. The 'sorcerer' has a little more of a bad-boy image, the 'wizard' more of a wise-old-guy image. Going with the female versions, a 'sorceress' is seen as more of a standard magic-user, whereas 'wizardress' I've only seen in D&D.

In The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), Mombi the witch calls herself a "wizardess" because it would be illegal for her to call herself a witch — only a ruler of one of the four countries of Oz is allowed to hold the title, and Mombi used to be the Wicked Witch of the North, until she was defeated by Tattypoo, who then became the Good Witch of the North.

 

[Fifth Element]

But this one might prove a conundrum: when to comes to naming the archetypical warrior-mage

My position on this is that the fact we do not have a name for this concept indicates that it is not, in fact, archetypal. It's a trope of modern fantasy fiction to be sure. But Gandalf isn't a wizard with a sword, of course, he's a divine being. And if you want wizards in your game to be able to use swords, let them.

There are some characters in folklore who can fight and use magic, but it's not magic like D&D magic, all fireballs and flashy boom-booms. Characters like Gwydion. I tend to call them magicians, personally.

 

[Davies]

Paladin.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Your hated compound words are generally the best solution. The alternative is to pick an existing term and imbue it with new meaning that it never had before. The existing terms for magic users tend to either be general, but hitherto generally referring to some "staff and robe" wizardly figure (wizard, sorcerer, mage), or else refer to a specific magical practice that at least some people will recognize the connection to (enchanter, necromancer, etc.). I personally disliked the naming of the pathfinder "Magus" class, because it obviously was just them trying to imbue a general word with a radically new meaning, and were you to use "Sorcerer" or "Wizard" you'd get exactly the same issue, except worse because people have stronger ideas about what those are.

If you must go down the "existing single word" route my vote is for "Thaumaturge", as it is obscure, has a general meaning "wonder worker" that could cover wondrous feats of both magic and arms, and doesn't feel quite so closely connected to an archtypal wizard.

A tried and true alternative to an English compound word when you need a new term in English is to coin a new Latin or Greek term, like "machiamancer" or "ferruspex". But then you're just making compound words that are meaningless to those without a classical education.

 

[Aldarc]

Another option is to come at this from another angle. Instead of looking for synonyms for "mage," use another word - possibly in the warrior word bank - for your gish: e.g., warden, sentinel, templar, guardian, etc.

 

[Willie the Duck]

My position on this is that the fact we do not have a name for this concept indicates that it is not, in fact, archetypal. It's a trope of modern fantasy fiction to be sure. But Gandalf isn't a wizard with a sword, of course, he's a divine being. And if you want wizards in your game to be able to use swords, let them.

There are some characters in folklore who can fight and use magic, but it's not magic like D&D magic, all fireballs and flashy boom-booms. Characters like Gwydion. I tend to call them magicians, personally.

It's something of a D&D-ism in and of itself that a wizardly character wouldn't just use a sword. At least provided they needed one (in many stories, being a wielder of magic is all the power you need, or else it isn't but it is socially powerful enough that you have henchmen to do your fighting for you). This leads to my basic issue -- compound words are a pain, but they really are appropriate. A wizard who also fights (with non-wizard abilities) is a two-concept characterization.

 

[Yora]

A sorcerer could also be a great swordsmen. Elric and Kane are classic examples of such characters, and they are always called sorcerers.

You never really see that with characters called wizards.