Poll of the Day > IYO: What's the difference between a mage warlock enchanter sorcerer etc?

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I go by D&D definitions unless you're talking about a specific setting that defines them differently. Mage isn't a D&D term in modern editions though. to me, that's just a generic term for magic-users of any kind.

a mage uses spells that they study from books

a warlock uses forbidden dark arts they gain from dark entities

an enchanter uses and creates items of arcane power

a sorcerer taps into and channels latent elements of reality

I see them as they were shown me in games.

Mage is an elementalist and a conjurer. They can summon elemental pets and slightly less powerful nukes as a Wizard/Sorcerer.

A Warlock is a dark elemental wizard. Where the Necromancer is the dark mage. A Warlock specializes in area of effect poison and disease direct damage and damage over time. They use acid blasts for high powered damage.

An Enchanter is a mind controller when it comes to battle. They can also enchant weapons, armor, and items. They are illusionists. They can make hidden doors and reveal them like divinationalists as well. Their direct damage is pure magic which can be wholly-resisted with the right shielding. Mages can conjure raw steel with their magic so it has effect beyond shielding.

Sorcerors are wizards, but they can branch off into potions and illusionary craft too. They can also be beefy armored warriors with a few magic tricks as well, but it helps for them to have the enchanted gear to draw power and focus from in order to manifest greater spells.

I would like to add a class called Blood Mage. Maybe a cooler name could be used. They would be like the queen in Bloodborne. And blood magic would be the strongest of all magics as well as the hardest to wield because it can kill the wielder easily or something like that. Maybe they'd have to master blood purifying and mixing. Maybe their bodies would be warped and deformed from the amalgam of blood in their bodies.

I watched an enactment of the 16th century book Daemonologie where King James lays out his spurious definitions of witchcraft and justifications for killing witches and wizards.

(seen here)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXVQCss9yyo

in it he does define magic user terms. these include Mage (Magie), Necromancer (Necromancie), Sorcerer (Sorcerie), and Witch(-craft).

I didn't quite grock it on first viewing, but going over the text, the definitions are something like this:

Mage and Necromancer are the same thing; Sorcerer (Sorcery) and Witch(craft) are the same thing.

Sorcerers/Witches are slaves to the devil, whereas Mages/Necromancers are his masters and commanders.

"Q: how can it be that any man can be his commanders? A: ...whereby he obliges himself in some trifles to them, that he may on the other part obtain the fruition of their body and soul."

(while this has a lot of historical relevance, it doesn't seem to apply very well to modern fantasy meanings of these terms.)

A mage seems the most generic but at the same time they only ever use elemental magic and thus specialize in them with their branches (like how a Blood Mage specializes in blood magic or a Necromancer specalizes in death magic and/or resurrection).

Warlock has a demonic sugar daddy to grant them powers in exchange for some kind of sacrifice or soul related bond.

Enchanters tend to use fae magic but not exclusively and tend to be in a support role hence their name.

Sorcerers use an innate magical talent and combine it with their natural instincts and intuition to use magic.

The opposite of sorcerers: wizards instead rely on a great amount of knowledge, study, and preparation to be able to use magic

Witches and alchemists are pretty much the same thing where they use potions and conjurations to able to cast and//or use magic.

Lokarin posted...

What's the difference between a mage warlock enchanter sorcerer etc?

Depends on the context.

As others have pointed out, in D&D it's mostly a question of how you learned magic. A sorcerer has innate power, a wizard studies, a warlock makes a bargain with dark gods. An enchanter is a specific type of wizard (one who uses enchantment magic), and a mage (or magic user) is just shorthand for any type of spellcaster.

In other games it can have other meanings - in Mage: the Ascension, for instance, a mage is someone who does True Magic while a sorcerer is someone who does Hedge Magic, and most other terms aren't really used (though someone might use wizard as a nickname for Hermetic mages or warlock for a Verbena or Nephandus).

In real life the terms are mostly interchangeable and mean the exact same thing. And mostly mean someone who does dark magic (even necromancer started out meaning that, not specifically someone who raises the dead). About the only real distinction is that warlock is often used for a male witch, or just someone who directly makes a pact with the Devil for magic. But the implication is that sorcerers, enchanters, wizards, necromancers, nigromancers, thaumaturgists, telergists, and most other classifications are all doing the same thing anyway.

About the only real exception is magician, which used to mean the same thing, but now has sort of morphed into only meaning people who do stage magic (ie, fake magic). Which is sort of where terms like illusionist and conjurer have gone as well.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

About the only real exception is magician, which used to mean the same thing, but now has sort of morphed into only meaning people who do stage magic (ie, fake magic). Which is sort of where terms like illusionist and conjurer have gone as well.

stage magic/"fake" magic is what "magic" always was.

the competing book to Daemonologie was "The Discoverie of Witchcraft" where it was explained how magic users were merely performing slight of hand tricks and not truly doing anything at all supernatural. it explains how some of these tricks worked and how the practitioners would describe their tricks in magical terms, despite them being completely mundane and not at all magical.

King James almost succeeded in burning all copies of this book, but it did survive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Discoverie_of_Witchcraft

Wizards are Maiar sent by the Valar to protect the world from the necromancer

I've never cared this much. I use them all interchangeably with the exception that a Warlock specifically means male and Witch means female.

11110111011 posted...

I've never cared this much. I use them all interchangeably with the exception that a Warlock specifically means male and Witch means female.

https://youtu.be/tx2UlW_T8Zk?t=190

VampireCoyote posted...

a mage uses spells that they study from books

a warlock uses forbidden dark arts they gain from dark entities

an enchanter uses and creates items of arcane power

a sorcerer taps into and channels latent elements of reality

Pretty much this but I consider Mage a catch all term for any primarily magic-using person.

PMarth2002 posted...

I go by D&D definitions unless you're talking about a specific setting that defines them differently.

11110111011 posted...

a Warlock specifically means male and Witch means female.

This is false, men can be witches and women can be warlocks, and they aren't the same thing.

Zareth posted...

This is false, men can be witches and women can be warlocks, and they aren't the same thing.

don't gatekeep an IYO topic, bruh :D

I mean IRL men were burnt as witches too, it's one thing that's actual fact >_>

Zareth posted...

I mean IRL men were burnt as witches too, it's one thing that's actual fact >_>

i quoted the wrong person cuz multiquote :D

Zareth posted...

This is false, men can be witches and women can be warlocks, and they aren't the same thing.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/warlock#Noun
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/witch#Etymology_1