Mage

封印師 · Sealer — A guardian of balance who seals danger and confines power

The sealer specializes in sealing away powerful monsters, gods, curses, and forbidden powers. Their primary role is nullification, sealing, and purification rather than attack, making them indispensable when facing ultimate beings like demon kings or ancient gods. Drawing sealing inscriptions or using talismans and barriers to confine targets' power within a defined space. The Eastern martial arts and fantasy Taoist or onmyoji is the prototype, with Japanese manga and anime onmyoji (modeled on Abe no Seimei) being the most familiar image. They can also unleash sealed powers as their own weapons — a double-edged sword carrying the risk of being devoured by the sealed entity if sealing fails.

降靈術師 · Necromancer — A forbidden mage who controls death

The necromancer is a forbidden mage who summons the souls of the dead and controls corpses in battle. The name combines Greek 'nekros' (corpse) and 'manteia' (divination), originally meaning divination by consulting the dead, but medieval times merged it with black magic to become the evil practice of raising armies of the undead. Outlawed in most religions and nations, necromancy's power is unmatched as it allows unlimited reinforcements. D&D's Necromancer class, Diablo's Necromancer, and Warcraft's Lich King are modern fantasy archetypes, often depicted not as simple villains but as tragic figures exploring death's secrets.

術士 · Warlock — A cursed mage who has made a pact with a transcendent being

The warlock derives magical power through pacts with transcendent beings — demons, ancient gods, fey spirits. The key difference from regular mages is they receive abilities from a Patron rather than learning theory. They grow powerful quickly but pay a price: pieces of soul, lifespan, free will, or memories must be given to the Patron, with deviation from purpose causing loss of power or terrible fates. Officially introduced as a class in D&D 5th Edition, gaining popularity through faster growth and dark appeal compared to mages. Shakespeare's Macbeth witches, Marvel's Doctor Strange, and various English folk traditions exemplify warlock variants.

魔法師 · Mage / Wizard — A knowledge specialist who probes the principles of magic

The mage is an intellectual combat class researching magical principles and wielding their power. Casting powerful offensive, defensive, and support magic, mages are physically weak and cannot wear armor — requiring companion protection due to spell casting time. Using spellbooks, staves, and orbs as tools, they specialize in elemental magic (fire, ice, lightning), space-time manipulation, illusion, and various other schools. A core class in every fantasy work — Tolkien's Gandalf, Harry Potter's Hogwarts wizards, D&D's Wizard class — often portrayed at extremes: white-bearded sage or dark-robed sorcerer. The maxim 'time is mana' emphasizes the importance of study and training.

精靈師 · Elementalist — A mage who battles alongside nature's elemental spirits

The elementalist forms contracts with elemental spirits or directly wields elements themselves. Unlike summoners, they form equal partnerships with spirits, borrowing their power for extreme elemental magic (fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, light, dark). Usually specializing in one or a few elements, they maintain intimate relationships with multiple spirits of that element (from lesser to elemental kings). Featured in Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Korean fantasy novels, and other Eastern and Western works, especially popular in Korean fantasy where the 'female elementalist' character archetype is established. Paracelsus's four-element theory provides the scholarly foundation.

召喚士 · Summoner — A commander-type mage who calls forth beings to battle

The summoner calls beings from other dimensions or realms to fight alongside them — a commander-type mage. Rather than fighting directly, they're strategists who direct spirits, demons, angels, magical beasts, and summoned creatures into battle. Social skills, contract negotiation, and leadership matter more than for regular mages, with some dedicating their entire lives to bonding with powerful summons. Final Fantasy summoners (especially FF10's Yuna) are the most popular archetype, with variants in D&D's Conjurer, Diablo's Necromancer, and WoW's Warlock pet system. Even mythology features such figures, as Indra of Indian myth commands the Marut host.

幻術師 · Illusionist — A mage who erases the boundary between reality and illusion

The illusionist creates hallucinations and delusions to manipulate enemy perception. Rather than dealing direct damage, they specialize in indirect combat — making enemies attack themselves, hiding allies, or turning space itself into a maze. Magic acting directly on the brain is difficult to resist, with the truly masterful keeping enemies unaware they're under illusion at all. Eastern tradition features them as Taoist or yokai sorcery (the gumiho's illusions are iconic), while Western examples include D&D's Illusionist school and Warcraft's Mage. Contemporary works like Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Naruto's Sasuke and Kakashi feature them as compelling characters.

盧恩術師 · Runemaster — A mage who inscribes the laws of the world into ancient script

The runemaster inscribes magical energy onto weapons, armor, or environments using runic letters, creating permanent effects. Slower than traditional spellcasting but uniquely persistent — once carved, runes remain forever even after the caster's death. Norse Odin is the first runemaster, having hung from Yggdrasil (the world tree) for nine days to discover the secret of runes. Rune magic was historically practiced by Vikings and Germanic societies, with many runic inscriptions found on tombstones, swords, and amulets. Warcraft's Death Knight rune system and Diablo 2's Runeword system are prominent gaming implementations.

時間術師 · Chronomancer — The forbidden extreme of one who wields time itself as a weapon

The chronomancer manipulates the flow of time — an extremely rare magical class. Wielding slowdown, acceleration, rewind, and stop magic, theoretically the most powerful class, but time magic's side effects — paradoxes, parallel world fractures, self-erasure — are severe enough that most magic schools forbid or seal it. The name combines Greek 'chronos' (time) and 'manteia' (divination), originally meaning time divination. Late D&D editions' Chronomancer, FF's Time Mages, and Dissidia's Ulrien are prominent examples, with modern SF films like Looper and Tenet featuring time manipulators. A single chronomancer can change the outcome of war, making them objects of fear.

Golem · Artificial Creature — A being made from inanimate materials

An artificial creature of the Jewish mystical Kabbalistic tradition, built from clay, stone, or metal and brought to motion by sacred letters or formulae. The Hebrew word golem first appears in Psalm 139:16, where it names an unformed substance; the earliest direct technical account is in the Kabbalistic Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation, c. 200-500 CE), and the twelfth-century German Hasidei Ashkenaz pietist Eleazar of Worms wrote the first detailed creation ritual in his Hilkhot Yetzirah. The most famous case is the Golem of Prague, attributed to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel of Prague (1525-1609, known as the Maharal), who is said to have built a clay servant from the banks of the Vltava to defend his persecuted Jewish community; the legend was given its modern canonical form by Yudl Rosenberg's 1909 pseudepigraphic Niflaos Maharal. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Gustav Meyrink's Der Golem (Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915), Karel Capek's R.U.R. (Aventinum, 1921) which coined the word 'robot', and the four-type Dungeons & Dragons golem (Clay, Stone, Iron, Flesh; TSR, 1977) are all direct descendants of the same template.

Long flowing garment of scholars and wizards

The robe is an ankle-length outer garment with wide sleeves and a loose silhouette, historically the defining dress of scholars, clergy, judges, and physicians. Medieval academic robes are the direct ancestor of modern graduation gowns, and judicial robes persist in British courts to this day. In fantasy literature and games, the robe has become inseparable from the wizard archetype, often imbued with magical properties. Sleeve width and color carried meaning — black for scholars, red for cardinals, white for the pope.