Hot take: Gandalf and Belgarath are not wizards; they're actually clerics.
Thoughts? @nerdimmersion @dungeon_dudes @matthewmercer @Dan_Dillon_1
— Corey Sobrane (@Archimedes75) May 19, 2020
Depends on what angle you’re coming at it. They’re so different from what D&D describes/does, you can’t 1:1 them like people like to try and do, at least in their own context.
Gandalf is a Maiar. Belgarath is that world’s thing that is called a sorcerer. Then if you want to translate them into D&D terms, it again depends on your goal. Are you taking inspiration from the idea? For a PC or NPC?
Gandalf: NPC is an archmage. PC… boy that's just loaded. What are you trying to portray? The idea? Or the specific execution?
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 19, 2020
Belgarath: This one is much easier, he’s a sorcerer. D&D does that. Innate magic that’s often intuitive. D&D’s codified spells don’t mesh as well with how sorcerers in that series work, they’re way more fluid and dynamic. Mage: the Awakening/Ascension magic fits much better. Circling back to Gandalf: He's a wizard. If you want to play a PC in a D&D game that has Gandalf energy, you play wizard. He's magical, knowledgeable, and powerful, D&D just has a very different lens through which to view that as a whole.
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 19, 2020
Gandalf is a Wizard. If a new player tells me “I want to be a magical wizard, like Gandalf and Merlin” — I’m going to point them to the Wizard class, and they’ll be thrilled by it. 🙏
— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) May 19, 2020
I would put Belgarath as a cleric. Taught and trained by Aldur. His abilities are shaped by very precise thoughts. He is a disciple of a major Deity in the world.