do you make a special distinction for each one?
Are they gender specific terms for someone who practices magic?
Does it make any sense for D&D to spread out the magic classes by titles the way physical classes have rangers, paladins, etc.
Discuss all magic classes and how you want them to be specialized such as Summoners, etc.
Sorcerers - Magic in the blood
Wizards - Learnt the magic
Warlock - Link with the evil/devils
Witches - Mainly female (can be male) that uses old school magic: hexes, curses etc
I want DnD to do a Summoner Class though.
I want D&D to be good.
Fair point.
What's a d20 game with a good summoner class?
Sorcerer - Typical worker of magic. Deals with all kinds of spirits, from the high to the low, but mostly just the in between.
Wizard - Mythological figures with supernatural powers that travel around giving aid and advice (or misery and misdirection) to those who cross their path. Probably not real, but that's they about dragons.
Warlock - Evil worker of magic. Deals with evil spirits and does evil things.
Witches - Non-academic sorcerer. Knows the old tricks and the old names, and does things the way they've been done for hundreds of years. Typically female, can be male.
You never heard of evil sorcerers? Evil wizards, evil witches?
I like where you're going but designating warlocks as the only evildoing magicians doesn't seem to fly.
It's a setting thing. I don't play D&D, so they're not classes. Just common parlance among the people.
Clerics? Shamans anybody?
Sorcerers - have a large knowledge of various magical artifacts and rely on those rather than use of spellcraft.
Wizard - traditional figures of learning and study, who learn many spells that have been recorded through the ages and put much importance on the proper order of things.
Warlock - Relies on summoned creatures, demons, and spirits to work his magic for him.
Witches - Rely on natural power or skill with magic, usually because of a supernatural ancestry.
I don't. In my setting the differences are purely cultural--the one and only difference are warlocks that "cheat" magic access by making pacts with demons. It rarely works out in the long run for them, but hey.
I assume, let's say, DnD "full casters" and "arcane"
Wizards: scholarly like harry potter but without division with common people. Like Disney's Merlin
Sorcerers: Born with power in the blood, if not because of ancestors at least congenital (like x-men).
Witches: pact, not necessarily with the devil, the learning is half imbued power half teacher/student relationship with such powers (so midway sorcerer and wizard, but different sources
Warlock: actually a fighter, think about 3.5 DnD hexblade.
Pathfinder Unchained's Summoner is pretty nice.
>sorceror
Spontaneous caster. Manipulates the weave of reality via force of will.
>wizard
Learned caster. Manipulates the weave of reality via rote spells.
>Warlock
Male witch
>Witch
Eldritch conduit. Uses a pact with creatures from beyond our reality to cause them to manipulate the weave for her.
In my games we use semi-homebrew generic classes, so the traditional class titles don't mean what they mean in traditional D&D. So "Wizard" is a respectful term for a skillful spellcaster, meaning "one who is wise". Sorcerers and warlocks are spellcasters taught by evil spirits and fiends. "Witches" are those spellcasters that "bewitch" (i.e. mind-affecting spellcasters).
In my games, magic characters all use the same basic mechanics, and are differentiated by the spells they cast. A spellcaster can only mall groupings of spells (smaller than a traditional D&D school), so there are healing mages and fire mages and shadow mages and so on.
Sorcerers - the adventuring type of magician. Likes using magical weapons and artifacts in combat. Is more physical and hands on than the other types of magicians.
Magician + Adventuring archeologist = sorcerer
Wizard - old academic type of magicians who have access to libraries of magic knowledge or are in charge of taking care of young magicians under their mentorship. Can be in charge of a school or just one apprentice. Physically, the most frail of all magicians but can be one of the most powerful of magicians through their abilities. Must be at least 50 years old to qualify.
Magician + Professor + Experience = Wizard
Warlock - the most "evil" of the magicians. They are active participants in the criminal factions of the unholy underworld and derive their magic through devil's pacts or as a servant to a demon lord. They always use dark magic. Whereas Sorcerers occasionally makes deals with the shady folks and sometimes dabble in dark magic should it suit their needs. Wizards are reluctant to work with fiends unless they have no other choice and are most loyal to holy magic. Warlocks completely jump right in to the darkness. They are THE dark magicians.
Dark Knight + magician = Warlock
Witch - mostly female. These magicians are the chefs of the magic world who are extremely adamant on using the finest of natural ingredients. Witches who care about what they do, brew effective potions and elixirs for any ailments. Those that prefer holy magic will usually work in the medical field, those that prefer dark magic will make curses and those that have no preference tend to make potions for the entertainment of the masses, that is to get rich through business. Witches tend to be creatures of comfort and like staying and working at home. When in combat, their magic is passive aggressive and they are better suited for spy work. See Circe vs. Odysseus' men.
Magician + chef = witch
>Sorceror
Possessed of special blood that is looked favourably upon by eldritch deities, who gift them a modicum of power
>Wizard
Studious academics who pilfer ruins for magic artefacts, parroting magic words they find in old books, etc.
>Witches and Warlocks
Just a title for unsanctioned versions of the above: wizards are generally tied to universities and scholomances. Most sorcerors are witches/warlocks but not all witches/warlocks are sorcerors.
Nah, I think it's all wankery that came out of 3.x trying to sell everyone a different kind of peanut butter.
Magic users are the only class that can completely change their abilities every time they prepare spells. It's always struck me as hokey to divide them up even further.
I could see offering some kind of mechanical bonus for someone to take a limited spell list (ala 2e specialist wizards) but that's about it.
I can see magicians easily becoming the most OP character when you give them beast summoning, healing magic, ranged offensive nuke magic, status effects magic all in one class.
Literally all synonymous and interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.
Alternate spell lists (aka schools of magic) could handle that well enough. And there's better ways to keep spells from getting spammed as a win button.
I know the sorcerer was branched off as a separate class in 3.0 to offer a different kind of spell economy (cast more of the same spell over and over instead of having a variety) but that kind of fiddly stuff bores me.
Who does the magic class distribution better?
>D&D: druids, wizards, sorcerers, warlocks
>JRPGs: white mage, black mage, red mage
Frostgrave
>needing anything other than summon magic
Wizard is a general term. Witch is a term used by the ignorant, interchangeably for mages they don't like, mages who are secretive, female or elven. Witch is actually an Eladrin word for a cleric of a particular fey religion. Warlocks gain magic through pacts with higher beings (demons, devils, fey, even more powerful wizards). Sorcerers are dumb.
Clerics are dicksuckers.
Shamans may or may not be magical users too. They can be smothtalkers, have secret/forbidden knowledge about spirits and such, but can't really do anything by themselves.