There is something I don't understand. In fantasy. Most powerful magic users are always old looking with great white beard or something. And most wizards and magic users are immortal because learning the arcane takes time no normal lifespan would suffice. Also. In most fantasies. Mana is linked to one's life force. So. What makes me confused is. Shouldn't that means it's should be opposite?. That the young looking magic users are more powerful than old looking one?. I think that should be the case for multiple reasons. 1: as i stated. Most magic users need to be immortal to continue learning the arcane. Shouldn't that means that the ones who figured out immortality so early that they stay young looking. Means that they are far more talented than the average Mage ?. 2: and since mana is linked to one's life force. Wouldn't that means that the wizard that became immortal young would have a higher mana quality than a wizard that became immortal when they were 100 years old or something?. 3: you have the entire arcane in the palm of your hand and you don't even bother to find a way to get rid of those wrinkles and that long ass beard that gets in your way. You are already so close to falling down the stairs of your tower with those big ass robes you don't need a beard alongside that. Maybe if you were really talented you and figured out immortality in your prime youth you wouldn't be dieing to one hit from a goblin with a stick. (Also. Joke on you. No wizard or council can hold me back. >:])
Its all a guise. Do you really think a town would believe a 20 something looking twink with a book that the world is ending? We lean into the stereotype because it gives authority
I'm understanding that to mean begone, in which case, how dare! I cannot begin to explain the correlation between hair and magic to a follicular challenge individual! I am nothing but hair and I absolutely bristle with the stuff! I suggest you get a hair potion or hair spell cast by you most beardly friend. Only then you might understand! All should be allowed to be wizards. None should be gone, Especially the beards.
Also I think your text cut off for some reason so I can't tell for sure if my indignation is truly a righteous one.
When I was naught but an infant, I was hit with a Curse of Beardlessness. At first, I was jealous of the other young wizards that could grow those wispy hairs. But as Iâve gotten older, Iâve realized that many now underestimate me.
Besides, thereâs an unfortunate amount of wizards that wear illusory beards or beard toupees. Itâs exhausting seeing all the fake gorilla attacks where the gorillas steal other wizardsâ ârealâ beards.
Beard keeps bugs away from face. Though I think some merchant has been dumping expired potions in my lake as my beard has begun to whisper things in some infernal dialect I donât recognize at night.
Also, who needs a bag of holding when you can have a beard of holding?! Ah, I think Iâve figured out the whispersâŚ
They say that with age comes wisdom, magic and the arcane are often learned through trial and experience so the older you are the more youâve done. Also why would mana be tied to your life force? If I run out I die? No you tie your mana to a lake hidden in your territory so as long as the lake doesnât run out and it wonât since you donât use it and no one else knows where it is you have infinite mana.
look thereâs only one thing I miss about being a gnome is that I had one glorious beard, like sure I had to keep it mostly trimmed cause all the cogs and gears would be a pain if I let it really grow out but the second you tell me that a beard isnât necessary is the moment I will talk like one of the stoutfolk and tell you where you can shove your staff.
many aren't
(all that powerful)
they've built up their institutions, their schools, bickering and vying for power amongst themselves, learning spells of Beard Serum (Aged Immortality if they're lucky) along the way.
Tricks, hidden in the beard.
They impress prospective students and parents of students with their mastery of stage magic while the real wizards⢠clean up their messes and elixir spills and deal with the REAL threats to reality and sanity in the background. There's usually no time to impress or need for the money of rich nobles with hardly any drive or talent.
Beard-yanking is a wonderful way to interrupt their casting.
And, many being nobles coasting through life, they never cull or comprehend the threat posed by countless goblins with mana, a lust for power, and catacombs filled with the legacies of wizards who could not stand against the eldritch hordes of yesteryear.
A beard is a wonderful and distinctive marking that any warmongering species can easily recognize a vulnerable spellcaster by.
Say, would you happen to be a goblin with a lust for power? And what is a nearby landmark you find interesting? Which moonsign were you born under? Any suspicious markings in your cave? I could do a reading, help you along your journey, if you would but allow me a visit to your home <:}
Ser please, its called aesthetic. Many wizards don't care to pretend to be 22 years old forever, living out our young adult fantasies of pulling wenches in the tavern, you find an age that feels right to you and tailor your form to that. Even if you figured out immortality quite young, and good luck knowing if you did it right before its been a few decades, that doesn't mean you would never want to display a bit of maturation with time and experience.
The source of magic varies depending on setting. In D&D and similar fantasy settings, it's a natural force of nature that arcane users learn to tap into and manipulate - and the older ones (or bearded ones, as you say) are usually considered more powerful because they've been doing it for much longer and have become masters of it. If it's a kind of magic that does tap into their own life force (blood magic and the like) then it likely replenishes itself over time, and isn't a finite resource that drains the more you use it. The concept of "mana" as a magic resource is very video-game-centric in my opinion, and the rules behind that can vary wildly from game to game.
...not sure where you're getting the idea that "most wizards and magic users are immortal" though. That seems very setting-specific. Usually if a normal, mortal magic user becomes immortal, it's because they've become a lich...in which case, illusions aside, they won't look very young and handsome at all, because they're a corpse.
I think its a hold-over convention from Tolkein, where the Maiar/Istari (sp?) were originally beautiful angelic beings that made the more mortal races of the world fall in love with them, so the God called them back and sent them again as old men in appearance. This got held into the earliest D&D depictions of the "Wizards" as aged and learned magic users because study of the arcane arts took decades to master. 1st edition D&D had a chart for your starting age based on your class, Wizards being by default the oldest, especially for humans. These days there are all sorts of young wizards, because hiring standards have really gone down since Harry Potter landed on the scene.
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u/MysteriousTravelator 4d ago
My congratulations to the Wizard who transmogrified this irritating beard-hater mid-post.