If Gandalf was a specialist mage....
Draekin
Member Posts: 40
What would he be? What do you guys think? I'm going with Abjurer.
For reference:
Abjurer
Conjurer
Diviner
Enchanter
Illusionist
Invoker
Necromancer
Transmuter
For reference:
Abjurer
Conjurer
Diviner
Enchanter
Illusionist
Invoker
Necromancer
Transmuter
2
Comments
He is namely not human, and is in fact Immortal as one of the Maiar. Thus, one cannot really explain him along the lines of "what Class would Gandalf be (re: specialist Wizard) but more along the lines of what Race (along the lines of a Solar or Lesser God).
He is better explained with abilities and not class.
And a badass beard.
It always devolves into a flame war, or close to it, as there are a lot of strong feelings surrounding Tolkien on a forum like this.
With that having been said, He always seemed like a generalist wizard to me. He was a student of all knowledge (that being his "Magic") and wouldn't constrain himself except where the arts of The Dark Lord were concerned. And even then, he had to know enough to be able to read the language of Mordor, so he at least studied it. And he didn't specialize either.
I do agree with @meagloth in that you can't really translate Tolkien's characters into traditional D&D. They just don't translate well. But then most literary fantasy characters don't translate because the writers will throw in skills and personality facets in aid of the story that simply can not fit into the box of a class.
Edit: The above is about the characters in the books. The movies took things in a different direction entirely. But that's Hollywood for ya. Not that they are bad? Far from it. Merely that they are different in several key ways.
Overpowered.
Most spells are illusory in nature.
Beard.
Strong name beginning with a G.
Affinity with small folk.
Gandalf is clearly a lvl 40 Gnome Illusionist carrying somekinda moonblade fashioned by elves...
1. Some un-designated Magic on Weathertop.
2. The illusion of horses in the water outside of Rivendell
3. Light on the end of his staff in Moria.
4. Setting fire to Aragorn's sword and legolas's bow outside Fangorn.
5. Burning/intimidating Wyrmtongue in Theoden's palace.
A case could be made for the following in addition:
1. Opening the doors of Moria, although that was merely activating the magic already there.
2. Talking with the eagles, although that may or may not have been magic. It could merely be linguistics.
3. His fireworks, especially the dragon over Bywater. But again, this could be mechanical rather than magical.
I might have missed one or two things, but that is about it as far as the books are concerned. Thankfully Peter Jackson loved the original enough to keep pretty close (in the Lord of the Rings anyway) to the source material.
To add to the discussion/train-wreck-waiting-to-happen, Illusionist is the only one that makes sense, if only because Necromancy is the banned school. It seems like the only school that Gandalf would refuse to learn a single spell from, if learning spells was a thing in LoTR.
And just to add extra weight to the Gnome conspiracy theory... READ THIS!
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gnomes
Okay... Not the Maiar, exactly... But...
Weapon proficiencies would be houseruled in (this is the house of Tolkien), and his familiar is an upgraded palfrey mixed with divine stock.
If there was a campaign I really regret never having been able to run, it was my Armageddon campaign. My three players were devils starting at Erinyes rank and facing a fast track promotion status if they managed to hijack a campaign world from the powers of both LG & CE. I think we barely got to 11th level (effectively) prior to the split.
Elminster was heavily inspired by Gandalf. His original ADnD pictures depicted him in the classic robes, long beard, pointy hat and a pipe. Just like Gandalf.
And Elminster also is a decent fighter and carries a sword with him.
Gandalf is concerned with the balance of nature, uses a sword (I know it's not a scimitar), and those flaming pine cones are closer to the flaming sphere spell than any AD&D wizard spell.
Aright that's probably enough:)
Jan
Gan - dalf
Jan
OMG!
The conspiracy is coming together.
Gandalf is based on Jan Jansen... They just threw Elminster in there to throws us off the scent!
Well this Gnome wasn't born yesterday buster!
I think we can pretty much close this thread up now...
Gandalf is actually a cousin of Jan Jansen, a Gnome illusionist, who was extraordinarily good at walking on stilts... He would often wear a pointy hat to increase his height and other chicanery to keep his illusion in one piece...
However all of us should have been more suspicious from the fact, no one, NO ONE has ever seen Gandalf's knees...
I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! GANDALF IS A GNOME! Solid hard facts right there! No one can disprove the Gnome theory without seeing Gandalf's knees in the flesh!