Arcane Magic (Dungeons & Dragons)

Arcane Magic is the most prominent type of magic in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. In most cases, it is simply described as using the magic energy inherent in the world and the universe in order to manipulate reality through spells.

Arcane magic has been in the game of D&D since the beginning, but has undergone many changes and developments throughout the different editions of the game. Narrative and mechanical differences exists between different editions, so different editions can give different perceptions.

Wizard
Wizard is the primary class to use arcane magic. Wizards learn their craft through years of practice and bookish study. The nature of their abilities is a form of "Vancian magic". The knowledge a wizard needs to cast a particular spell is recorded in their spellbook, a personal book of spells. The wizard studies the knowledge of each spell they want to use until they have memorized it. Once they cast the spell, the knowledge of the spell is lost from their mind, and they have to study the recorded knowledge in their spellbook in order to make use of the spell again. A wizard can only cast a certain number of spells per day, but they can choose which spells they want to prepare for the day, so with a little foresight and planning, they can handle almost any situation.

Wizards cast their spells by using their acquired magical knowledge (augmented by their intelligence) 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 versatile arsenal of power. Many wizards see themselves not only as spell casters but also as philosophers, inventors, and scientists, studying a system of natural laws that are for the most part unknown and undiscovered. Once the 3rd edition introduced skills to D&D, wizards' best skills became those that involved either magic or other scholarly or applied knowledge such as history, nature, and geography.

1st Edition
The Wizard was originally known as the Magic-User class, which was inspired by the spell-casting magicians common in folklore and 1970s modern fantasy literature, particularly as portrayed in Jack Vance's The Dying Earth short stories, and John Bellairs's novel The Face in the Frost. Gandalf and Saruman from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and Merlin of King Arthur fame also influenced this class. The Magic-User was one of the standard character classes available in the original Player's Handbook. The Magic-User was physically weak and vulnerable, but compensated for this with the potential to develop powerful spellcasting abilities. In practice a mid- to high-level Magic-User was a combination intelligence gatherer and walking artillery, gathering information about possible dangers not yet seen and augmenting the physical combat abilities of the other classes with potentially devastating long range and area attacks. The term "Magic-User" was invented for the original Dungeons & Dragons rules developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in order to avoid cultural connotations of terms such as "wizard" or "warlock".

2nd Edition
The second edition of AD&D discarded the term "Magic-User" in favor of "Mage", though it was still a standard character class. The second edition Player's Handbook gives a few examples of mages from legend and myth: Merlin, Circe and Medea.

In this edition, the mage became an all-purpose wizard who could cast any wizardly spell, including many only available to the illusionist alternative class in the first edition. The wizard spell list was unified, and illusionists became one of many specialist wizard types who focussed on a specific "school" of magic. The other specialists were abjurers, conjurers, diviners, enchanters, invokers, necromancers and transmuters. As a trade-off for various bonuses with magic from their chosen school, specialists became unable to cast spells from one or more "opposition" schools. Aside from school restrictions, all wizards could cast spells from up to 9th level, assuming they had the required intelligence.

The Complete Wizard's Handbook was published in 1990, written by Rick Swan. It detailed the schools of magic (illusion, necromancy etc.) and the careers a wizard might have (such as alchemist or treasure-hunter), added new spells to the wizard list, and introduced rules for spell research, adjudicating illusions, and casting spells in unusual conditions. The book also introduced wizard "kits": character packages with role-playing hooks linked to game benefits and limitations. Examples of wizard kits include the Academician, the Anagokok, the Amazon Sorceress and the Witch.

The Tome of Magic (1991) introduced elementalists, specialist wizards who focussed on spells related to one of the classical elements of air, earth, fire or water, and wild magic, which promised greater power at the cost of a built-in chance of backfire and other side effects.

3rd Edition
The third edition renamed the mage to "Wizard". The term "magic user" is rarely used in the current edition of the game, and when it is used it is usually a synonym for an arcane spellcaster or for an arcane spellcasting character class. A similar paradigm of spell schools was retained for the 3rd edition of D&D as well. The edition removed the restrictions on race/class combinations, making it possible to create a greater variety of characters, including wizard characters.

4th Edition
The wizard is available as a character class in the game's fourth edition. The wizard utilizes the Arcane power source and is a Controller, which means the wizard focuses on multi-target damage spells, as well as debuffing foes and altering the battlefield's terrain.

The traditional schools of magic from earlier editions were initially absent, though many spells from earlier editions that had belonged to those schools were included from the beginning (just without the schools as part of the game mechanics). For example, the True Seeing spell was available as a utility spell, but not specified as a Divination spell. Some spells had keywords that were conceptionally related to the schools, like Conjuration or Summoning. Instead, wizard characters were mostly different in which spell they choose, and their choice of Implement Mastery, a class feature that gave them a bonus from casting spells through a specific implement, such as a staff, wand, orb, etc.

As part of the 4th edition's Essential line, a new sub-class of the Wizard, the Mage, was introduced. While mages have access to all the same Wizard powers (spells), instead of implement mastery, the mage focussed on a primary and secondary school of magic, which were reintroduced in the Essentials line of supplements. At the Mage's introduction, there were options for three of the classic schools of magic, Enchantment, Evocation and Illusion. A later supplment book, Heroes of Shadow, which introduced the new Shadow power source, added options for the Mage to specialize in the schools of Necromancy and Nethermancy (a school focussed on spells that manipulates shadows and shadow energy, such as creating shadow constructs), which both blended the use of the Arcane and Shadow power sources in their powers (spells). An article in the Dragon Magazine added another option for the Mage, the Pyromancy school of magic, which focussed on fire related spells and features.

Apart from the Mage, the Wizard class recieved three additonal sub-classes during the lifetime of the 4th editon; the Bladesinger, the Witch, and the Sha'ir.

5th Edition
The wizard has been included as a character class in the 5th edition Player's Handbook. Players must choose an Arcane Tradition for their wizard character at second level, each of which represents one of the eight schools of magic: abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy and transmutation. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide supplement adds a ninth Arcane Tradition, exclusive to elves and half-elves, called bladesinging. In Xanathar's Guide to Everything, one additional arcane tradition, War Magic, was added. This subclass focuses on empowering spells and enhancing a wizard's defense to prepare them for war. The Unearthed Arcana web articles for playtest material have released additional, still unofficial, school options.
 * The classic 8 Schools of Magic in D&D
 * School of Bladesinging
 * School of Invention (UA)
 * School of Lore Mastery (UA)
 * School of Onomancy (UA)
 * School of Theurgy (UA)
 * School of War Magic

3rd Edition
The sorcerer class was introduced in third edition as being separate from the wizard class, having more in common with contemporary fantasy fiction than the Vancian spell system that had inspired the game since its first edition. While wizards earn their arcane magic through study and discipline, sorcerers are born with their powers which they instinctively learn to use, normally during adolescence. Sorcerers and wizards often disagree; wizards tend to think of sorcerers as sloppy and undisciplined, while sorcerers can consider wizards obsessive and distant.

Compared to wizards, sorcerers' instinctive grasp of magic has more flexibility within the moment but less versatility overall. That is, they do not need to prepare specific spells in advance, but each sorcerer also acquires a much smaller number of spells, since they do not use spellbooks and cannot simply copy new spells from others' writing. Conversely, they do not worry about carrying spell books and having them stolen. Other effects of the sorcerers' intuitive approach are that they can cast more spells per day, but qualify for more powerful spells slightly more slowly than wizards. Since sorcerers can only have a limited number of spells at their arsenal, most tend to specialize in the offensive magic that an adventurer will use most. In 3rd edition, sorcerer and wizards share the same list of spells the may learn, with no difference between the classes in function (though different classes and characters may acquire different types of feats or features that modify spell behaviour for that character).

4th Edition
The Sorcerer was presented as a core class from the start, defined as an arcane striker. Unlike other editions of the game, the Sorcerer class used its own list of spells. Conceptually, the sorcerers powers were presented as more unrefined and improvised in comparison to a wizard's powers, depicting sorcerers overflowing with raw energy that they released as spells in a barely controlled manner. The Sorcerer class core feature was Spell Source, which reflected the origin of their inherent arcane powers:
 * Cosmic magic originate from the cycles of the sun, the moon and the stars.
 * Dragon magic orignate from having a draconic connection, such as having a dragon ancestor or having been part of some arcane experiment with dragon parts.
 * Storm magic originate from the raw energy and magic of storms.
 * Wild magic originate from a connection to the chaotic energies of the Elemental Chaos, perhaps created as a consequence of being exposed to chaotic energies or surviving attacks from creatures of chaos.

5th Edition
Sorcerers carry a magical birthright conferred upon them by an exotic bloodline, some otherworldly influence, or exposure to unknown cosmic forces. No one chooses sorcery; the power chooses the sorcerer.
 * Aberrant Mind (UA)
 * Clockwork Soul (UA)
 * Draconic Bloodline
 * Divine Soul
 * Giant Soul (UA)
 * Phoenix Sorcery
 * Pyromancy (Kaladesh)
 * Runechild (HB)
 * Sea Sorcery (UA)
 * Shadow Magic
 * Stone Sorcery (UA)
 * Storm Sorcery
 * Wild Magic

4th edition
Warlocks are arcane spellcasters who gained their original abilites by making a Pact with a Patron (a non-divine supernatural entity or power). The pact defines details about some of a warlock's powers, though all warlocks possess the ability to use Eldritch Blast, Warlock's Curse and a pact boon. In order of product introduction, the possible pacts are:

5th Edition
The main feature of the Warlock class remains the Pact in 5th edition, though the options are slightly redefined. Playtest material, not yet part of offical rules, include:
 * Kraken (UA)
 * Lurker in the Deep (UA)
 * Noble Genie (UA)
 * Raven Queen (UA)
 * Seeker (UA)

Schools of Magic
Since early editions, arcane magic could be divided into schools of magic, sub-categories of arcane magic defined by the effects and uses of their spells. These are Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, Transmutation. Most spells belongs to one of the eight schools of magic. There is an additonal "school", Universal, that contains all spells that do not fall under any of the other schools. Many editions of D&D allow for a Wizard to specialize in one of the schools, typically giving them advantages with that school while providing a disadvantage in the opposing school (Universal spells can not be chosen for specialization).