The Magician knows a little about a lot of different types of magic. He can cast nearly any spell - if he can obtain the right color magic. He must make the best use of the color magic he finds in the game, for he lacks the paired Magic chits necessary to enchant tiles. Obviously, he values Enchanted cards above all else. When he picks his starting spells, he must be very careful to pick spells that he can cast with the chits he has available.

Chits

Stats

Weight/Vulnerability: Light

Spells: 3 Spells (Type II, Type III, Type IV, Type V, Type VI, Type VII or Type VIII)

Starting Gold Value: 10

Special: Magical Paraphernalia (extra Alert phase), Knowledge (subtract one from Reading Runes rolls)

Start: Inn

Ally: none

Friendly: Company, Rogues

Unfriendly: Soldiers, Patrol, Crone

Enemy: none

Strategy

The Magician is a very hard character to play, especially when not using the Enhanced Magic or Automatic Enchanting optional rules. He has only one Magic chit of any type, which means that even if he gets access to the appropriate Colour magic, he can only cast a spell once in any turn, unlike the Sorceror, who can conceivably cast three Fiery Blasts in a row.

Artifacts and Spell Books are essential for the Magician, as they allow him to cast spells without using his valuable chits. But first he has to find them, which is no sure thing. Then he has to read them, which is also no sure thing. Then he still has to get access to Colour magic, which is also no sure thing.

It could be said that the Magician is one of the hardest characters to play, and I wouldn't disagree. He needs to choose a mix of spells at the beginning of the game that he can cast with the chits he has available. Remedy is a very good choice, as he will need to Read Runes a lot to awaken spells, and will perforce receive Curses. Remedy will use his Type II chit (for Grey magic) and his Type VII chit (for the spell). After casting it, he will need to rest and re-enchant his chits in order to cast it again, which means that he can remove only one curse per turn. If inflicted by multiple curses, remove them in this order: Ill Health, Wither, Eyemist, Squeak, Ashes, Disgust.

In general, the Magician should choose Type VI, Type VII and Type VIII spells, as he can use these spells while enchanting his Type II, III, IV and V chits to provide colour. However, there are a few lower-order spells which require colour magic that is provided by a different type of chit. Prophecy requires a II chit and Purple (IV). Talk to Wise Bird requires a II chit and Gold (III). Curse requires a V chit and Grey (II). Unfortunately this does not permit the Magician to use any of the attack spells (which are all IV/Purple except for the mediocre Stones Fly which is II/Grey).

The Magician cannot normally enchant tiles. But he may be able to team up with a character who can. A Witch King or a Sorceror could provide the colour magic that the Magician needs. However, consider using Melt Into Mist. This would make your VI chit unavailable for use on other spells, but it would allow you to escape combat at any time. The problem with this is that if you do wander into an enchanted tile, you will be transmorphized and unable to search. Peace With Nature is another permanent spell that ties up a chit for good, but it helps to avoid a lot of combat when provided with Gold magic.

Using Enchant Artifact is a bit of a risk. You can really only use it in enchanted tiles, since the spell itself requires colour before you can use the artifact to cast the spell you have put into it. Then the spell you have put into it itself requires colour. For this reason it may be best to put only Purple spells like Fiery Blast into artifacts, since you are unlikely to be using them outside of an enchanted tile anyway.

Return to the beginning...