What's the difference between mage, sage, wizard, sorcery, types of magic

[Reality vs Adventure]

I keep getting confused. What are the differences in a mage, sage, wizard, sorcery, priest, and any other magic users? What are the different types of magic? Is it just arcane and divine? 

[killamch89]

This topic is so broad that I'm not sure where to begin. Priest generally use holy and divine magic, Sages are healers, Wizards and sorcerers are skilled version of mages. Mages refers to magic users in general. As for the different kinds of magic - elemental magic such as fire, lightning, ice etc. Then you have forbidden magic types such as dark magic, necromancy, blood magic and then there's rare magic types such as divine magic. 

[The Blackangel]

Often the title of the magic user is a clue to whether they're good or evil. A wizard is usually more toward the good side, while a sorcerer is usually termed so because it's more of an evil magic user.

[Reality vs Adventure]

2 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

Often the title of the magic user is a clue to whether they're good or evil. A wizard is usually more toward the good side, while a sorcerer is usually termed so because it's more of an evil magic user.

How come I never come across a female wizard? They are always a sorceress or a sage. So there are female wizards too right? 

[The Blackangel]

They're rare, but yes there are female wizards. For example, in Legacy Of The Wizard on NES, Meyna is strictly a magic user, and uses her magic for good which makes her a wizard (wizardess?). If you go through the Final Fantasy series, there's also female wizards there. There are also a lot of NPC's in games that are female wizards. The most obvious example is Zelda. Edea and Rinoa in FF8 are both wizards. They're called sorceress' in the game, but they're not evil, so I would call them wizard.

[Jakeyjake]

Depends on the game.

Wizards and sorcerers are defined and differentiated only in DnD that I know of.  Most everywhere else, mage, wizard, and sorcerer are used interchangeably.  In nearly every context they are used, they are pure magic users creating something out of nothing such as elemental based magic.  I don't see sages often used in gaming, but they aren't as purely magical.  They often use some weird ingredients, can be nature-related, and don't use magic as a way of direct confrontation.  Priests are just healers almost everywhere.  

There are way too many different versions of schools of magic/disciplines to even go into.  Depends on universe.

Edited October 18, 2020 by Jakeyjake

[Reality vs Adventure]

19 minutes ago, Jakeyjake said:

There are way too many different versions of schools of magic/disciplines to even go into.  Depends on universe.

Yeah, that's what was getting me confused as the different universe uses different terms. 

 

[killamch89]

On 10/11/2020 at 6:33 AM, The Blackangel said:

Often the title of the magic user is a clue to whether they're good or evil. A wizard is usually more toward the good side, while a sorcerer is usually termed so because it's more of an evil magic user.

Actually, evil mages are known as Warlocks. Sorcerers are the more powerful versions of mages but their skill primary comes from innate ability to wield magic whereas wizards gain their magical ability from studying and research. However they do tend to overlap a lot.

On 10/18/2020 at 11:41 AM, Jakeyjake said:

There are way too many different versions of schools of magic/disciplines to even go into.  Depends on universe.

Same thing I said earlier.

[The Blackangel]

7 minutes ago, killamch89 said:

Actually, evil mages are known as Warlocks.

That’s a stereotype. The term “warlock” comes from the words waer loga which means “oath breaker”. Calling an evil mage a warlock is like calling anyone with a shaved head a neo-nazi.

[killamch89]

36 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

That’s a stereotype. The term “warlock” comes from the words waer loga which means “oath breaker”. Calling an evil mage a warlock is like calling anyone with a shaved head a neo-nazi.

Yeah you right. It's dependent on the universe.