Wizard

The wizard, also known as a mage (especially by elves), is a powerful spellcasting class. What wizards lack in combat prowess and armor (they may only wear light garments if they are to cast spells) they make up with a broad range of magical spells and abilities.

Familiars
A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a sorcerer or wizard.

Spell Preparation and Casting
Wizards cast their spells by using their acquired magical knowledge and experience. In particular, they learn most new spells by seeking out magical writings and copying them into their spellbooks, a method that allows them, unlike sorcerers, to master any number of permissible spells once they find them, assembling a broad and versitile arsenal of power. Many wizards see themselves not only as spell casters but as philosophers, inventors, and scientists, studying a system of natural laws that are for the most part unknown and undiscovered.


 * Resting: Wizards need to rest prior to spell casting. This may be in the form of sleep or meditation. A wizard who refuses to sleep and then goes on a spell casting binge (which is not entirely impossible, but rare due to temporal allowances) will grow weary - possibly delusional - and may experience many negative health effects.


 * Preparing: In order to prepare spells from their spellbooks, wizards need comfortable quiet areas to study. The spell is read, spoken, or memorized up until the trigger. This is the easiest and most efficient way to cast arcane magic as a wizard because it means the wizard needs only to perform the trigger element of the spell when the need arises to cast it. A weakness of wizards is that they cannot cast an arcane spell that they have not prepared, so they are extremely vulnerable if caught in a situation they did not expect. To minimize this, wizards often develop their problem-solving ability to anticipate which spells may be most useful, and some may enhance this with abilities such as foresight.


 * Casting: When the need calls for a certain spell to be cast, wizards will allow their thoughts to retreat back into their consciousness in order to obtain it, and it often appears that wizards are in trances while they are casting. While there is some credence to that, they are not so much entranced that they cannot recognize situations outside their subconscious. When they find the spell they want, wizards will then complete the trigger sequence.

This is the common view of a wizard casting: voicing several strange words, utilizing some arcane component(such as tossing pixie dust into the air) and perhaps making some sort of quirky hand movement. In actuality every part of the sequence must be exact or else the wizard may miscast, misfire, cast an entirely different spell, or cast nothing at all.

School Specialization
Wizards may specialize in one or more of eight schools of magic, choosing their specialty at 1st level.

Wizards in the Realms

 * Elminster. When people think of specific wizards in the Realms, often, their first thought is 'Elminster'.
 * Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun. The High mage of the most industrious city in the Realms.
 * The Red Wizards of Thay. A nefarious group of powerful mages, known as much for their expansionistic wars and practice of slavery as their distinctive red robes.
 * Halaster. 'The Mad Mage' who created the vast dungeon known as Undermountain.