Why play human wizard?

[Lunduke is the Trump of tech]

According to dnd lore it takes on average 30 years for an intelligent person to become a competent wizard. That's basically half a human lifetime. So humans shouldn't really become wizards. It's just not worth it for how much work they have to put into it just be competent by the time they're old weak slow decaying men. For elves it's worth it since they live up to 1k years. Level cap should be higher for elves than humans come to think of it now. Humans should have a much smaller level cap.

This leads me to wonder about mortality as well, especially for human race which is strangely the most popular race for player main character. Like what's even the point of anything in the game? Studying your whole life to become a wizard, but why? You're just going to die anyway from age and it will have been for nothing. WHy should you care about if some evil dude is trying to start a war? Better just enjoy life YOLO style, become a chess master, drink ale with your buddies every evening etc, become a hunter with a bear pet and live happily in some small hut in the wilderness, trips to the city to sell pelts.

[Zaris]

In more or less every fantasy i read / saw it's mentioned most time that anyone from any race "studied / trained" their "whole life" for it. Which means elves with > 1000 years lifetime trained thousand of years. So this "problem" have many races.

On top of that the liches (= former powerful wizards trying to get more power and cheating death) must come from somewhere.

Btw. you don't to look at fantasy. Ask any real working man or woman. You need to learn constantly during your 35-45 years of work life in any profession which is complexer than cooking coffee.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

1: Why people become doctor's, psychastrists, generals, politicans, etc.
There is power to be gained in the arcane that makes you beter then the common vermin that wield an oversized toothpick.

2: A lot of people want to leave the world better for there ofspring.

3: Humans are special is because most humans want to see humans be special.
Not me.
I want to see them burn but i am a misanthrope.

4: Magic can extent your life well beyond human lifespan.
And that is before lichdom.

5: Gods are greedy sun of unholy reproduction that dont give divine magic to everyone and nature is even worse.
So arcane is the only way to get magic without begging your sugger daddy to please give spells.

6: When you are an adventuring wizard you go from level 1 wizard to level 20 in the span of atmost 2 years.
Leveling is fast.

[Yojo0o]

Several answers come to mind.

1. According to which lore, exactly? I've certainly never heard this. DnD lore tends to be very fluid, and can vary from table to table, setting to setting, era to era.

2. Assuming 30 years is an accurate average, just play as a prodigy. The player-characters of any DnD adventure are exemplary individuals anyway, by virtue of the fact that they've achieved at least level 1 and have room for growth. Baldur's Gate 1-2 take place over a span of weeks/months, possibly a couple of years, and see the characters grow from level 1 to level 30-40. The average 5e module only lasts a few days or weeks, but will see a character go from level 1 to 13-ish. These are abstractions, and we don't need to force them into a realistic bubble.

3. Wizardry is a great way to prolong your life if you get sufficiently good at it, so human practitioners may be especially driven.

[tkis]

Originally posted by Zaris:

In more or less every fantasy i read / saw it's mentioned most time that anyone from any race "studied / trained" their "whole life" for it. Which means elves with > 1000 years lifetime trained thousand of years. So this "problem" have many races.

On top of that the liches (= former powerful wizards trying to get more power and cheating death) must come from somewhere.

Btw. you don't to look at fantasy. Ask any real working man or woman. You need to learn constantly during your 35-45 years of work life in any profession which is complexer than cooking coffee.

I second that, no other reasonable way to lichedom other than the wizard route, its all about commitment, after that its just an unfaithful lieutenant, an eye and a hand for a demi prefix

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Zaris:

In more or less every fantasy i read / saw it's mentioned most time that anyone from any race "studied / trained" their "whole life" for it. Which means elves with > 1000 years lifetime trained thousand of years. So this "problem" have many races.

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

3. Wizardry is a great way to prolong your life if you get sufficiently good at it, so human practitioners may be especially driven.

This is the reason why humans are the strongest race in the forgotten realms.
There short lives and lack of natural weakness makes them driven to achieve as much in 50 years then an elf would in 500.
Often with disastereds consquence.

Think of it like this:
An elf has the time to triple check him spell before he tries.
A human doesnt have that time and go's fudge it: It is do or die time.
With death being the most common outcome.

A big part you dont see in games:
Wizard dying to his own spell.
Despite that being a big reason of why magic is so dangerous.
1 slip up and boom.
Your demon food.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Originally posted by Zaris:

In more or less every fantasy i read / saw it's mentioned most time that anyone from any race "studied / trained" their "whole life" for it. Which means elves with > 1000 years lifetime trained thousand of years. So this "problem" have many races.

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

And I can go Descend into Avernus and wind up level 13 in the course of a week, so why am I suddenly a more learned wizard than the average elf?

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

You spend 120 years just growing up.
An other hunderd of so probley just doing things at a relaxing pace.
Adventurs level a lot faster because dangerous combat increases experiance.
Most humans who dont go dungeon deving dont become level 20 wizards.
Elves on the other hand have hunderds of them.

[Yojo0o]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

You spend 120 years just growing up.
An other hunderd of so probley just doing things at a relaxing pace.
Adventurs level a lot faster because dangerous combat increases experiance.
Most humans who dont go dungeon giving dont become level 20 wizards.
Elves on the other hand have hunderds of them.

Unless you're the protagonist of BG1-2, in which case you're a 20-year-old infant.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

And I can go Descend into Avernus and wind up level 13 in the course of a week, so why am I suddenly a more learned wizard than the average elf?

Because being in combat:
It is learn fast or die.

A wizard in a lab:
Check, Double check, Tripple check.
Success.
A wizard on that battlefield: If i hurl my fireball with a magic delay i could kill 3 times the amount of goblins.
I wish i had time to test it safely but goblins are here soon so.
Screw it.
*cast delay fireball*

Keep in mind mid to high level player fights things most gaurds would die to.

[Aldain]

Originally posted by Quillithe:

Originally posted by Zaris:

In more or less every fantasy i read / saw it's mentioned most time that anyone from any race "studied / trained" their "whole life" for it. Which means elves with > 1000 years lifetime trained thousand of years. So this "problem" have many races.

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

I don't think Elves are dumb, I think their comically long life spans make them prime procrastinators.

"I'll do it tomorrow" is all the easier to say when you can live for near countless years.

[Lunduke is the Trump of tech]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

You spend 120 years just growing up.
An other hunderd of so probley just doing things at a relaxing pace.
Adventurs level a lot faster because dangerous combat increases experiance.
Most humans who dont go dungeon deving dont become level 20 wizards.
Elves on the other hand have hunderds of them.

Not dark elves. They are sent to their academies as soon as they're adults (like 18 year old I guess). That's also where I got the number of 30 years to become a competent wizard from.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by Yojo0o:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

You spend 120 years just growing up.
An other hunderd of so probley just doing things at a relaxing pace.
Adventurs level a lot faster because dangerous combat increases experiance.
Most humans who dont go dungeon giving dont become level 20 wizards.
Elves on the other hand have hunderds of them.

Unless you're the protagonist of BG1-2, in which case you're a 20-year-old infant.

Yeah Elves psyhical mature as humans(I hate that but details)
Elven Culture doesnt consider you an adult until 120.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by When the music ends...:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

You spend 120 years just growing up.
An other hunderd of so probley just doing things at a relaxing pace.
Adventurs level a lot faster because dangerous combat increases experiance.
Most humans who dont go dungeon deving dont become level 20 wizards.
Elves on the other hand have hunderds of them.

Not dark elves. They are sent to their academies as soon as they're adults (like 18 year old I guess). That's also where I got the number of 30 years to become a competent wizard from.

True but drow sociaty also has a lot of backstabbing.
Grow up fast, Avoid being killed, That kinda makes you move faster.
High Elves and wood Elves got easy lives.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Aldain:

Originally posted by Quillithe:

This always raises some serious questions about how dumb elves are. My 100 year old elf knows the same amount about magic and the world as some 20 year old human? Must be a slow learner.

I don't think Elves are dumb, I think their comically long life spans make them prime procrastinators.

"I'll do it tomorrow" is all the easier to say when you can live for near countless years.

"I'll study for the herbalism test tomorrow, it's not for another 4 years anyway"