Wizards and magic are an important part of the Warhammer World. Magic is everywhere, and permeates all living beings and inanimate things, and its power is there to use for good or ill. In battle it can make all the difference between victory and defeat. In the lands of Men mighty rulers and noble lords employ and support their own wizards to protect them and fight in battle on their behalf. The Emperor himself encourages the study of magic so that he may have powerful battle wizards to help fight his wars.
In Ulthuan in the far west, the High Mages of the Elves practice the most potent of all sorceries. Even Orcs and Goblins, low minded as they are, have Shamans who can blast the enemy with raw magic. Of all the intelligent races of the Old World only the Dwarfs have no wizards.
Their skills lie in the manufacture of fabulous magical artifacts and enscribing runes of power. Although they fight in battle wizards tend to wear little or no armour, as large amounts of metal upsets their magic harmonics and inhibits the use of their powers. Instead they are likely to be protected by powerful spells and magic items.
There are four levels of wizard: Wizard, Wizard Champion, Master Wizard, and Wizard Lord. As with heroes these four types are not intended to represent every possible variation in an individual's abilities. They are useful categories that enable us to match comparable wizards against each other.
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wizard | - | - | - | - | +1 | - | +1 | - | - |
| Wizard Champion | - | - | - | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | - | - |
| Master Wizard | - | - | - | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +1 | - |
| Wizard Lord | - | - | - | +1 | +1 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +1 |
For example, in the case of men the values are as shown below.
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Wizard | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Wizard Champion | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Master Wizard | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Wizard Lord | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 8 |
Wizards do not normally wear armour as it interferes with their ability to cast spells, disrupting the magic fields they draw upon for power. Many wizards wear decorative vambraces, wrist bands, and smaller pieces of armour, but this is insufficient to warrant a saving throw or to affect their ability to cast spells.
A wizard mounted as a cavalry model may ride a horse with barding armour without affecting his own ability to cast spells. Otherwise a wizard wearing armour may not cast spells, not even spells that are bound within a magic item. This does not stop the wizard using other magic items however. The exception to this rule is Chaos Armour, which is saturated with magic, and does not therefore prevent a Chaos Sorcerer casting spells.
The complete rules for wizards, spell casting, and many magic items are covered by the separate Warhammer Magic game. We have included a selection of magic items in with Warhammer, including four with different spells. Refer to the Magic section of the rulebook for a description of how these work.