In the World
Arcane magic came to humanity from Quel'Thalas by way of Arathor, taught by high elves paying a debt, and its great institution was the Kirin Tor of Dalaran.
Dalaran was pulled down four years ago. Archimonde destroyed it during The Third War and what remains is a crater under a purple dome. The survivors are scattered — exiles teaching in back rooms in Stormwind City and Ironforge, arguing about who has the authority to certify anyone. Forsaken mages remember the same curriculum from the other side of dying.
Troll mages exist and are almost entirely self-taught, which the surviving Kirin Tor consider impossible and which the trolls consider none of their business.
At Level 1
You are a student whose academy no longer exists, holding notes from a teacher who may or may not still be alive. Nobody will certify you. Nobody is left who can.
Specializations
| WoW Spec | 2024 Subclass | Fit | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | Wizard — Evoker | ✅ Direct | Pyroblast, Fireball, Scorch — 5e gives you all three by name, and Sculpt Spells solves friendly fire. |
| Arcane | Wizard — Evoker | 🔄 Shared | Same subclass as Fire, force-weighted spellbook. Arcane Blast and Arcane Missiles are raw force. Loses the mana-management identity, which 5e's slot system cannot express. |
| Frost | Wizard — Abjurer | 🟡 Close | Arcane Ward is Ice Barrier and Mana Shield. But Frost's control — slows, roots, Frost Nova — comes from spell selection rather than the subclass, so the build is mostly your prepared list. |
Alternate builds
- Frost, damage-first — Wizard (Evoker) with cold spells. Simpler, hits harder, loses the barrier fantasy.
- Arcane, as innate talent — Sorcerer (Spellfire Sorcery, Heroes of Faerûn). Power drawn straight from the Weave with no academy behind it. The best build for a troll or a self-taught human.
- A battlemage — Wizard (Bladesinger, Heroes of Faerûn). Not a WoW spec, but it is the Quel'Thalas spellblade tradition and it fits a high elf perfectly.
- Arcane, as a diviner — Wizard (Diviner). Nothing in WoW matches it, but Kirin Tor scrying is very much a thing and it plays beautifully in an investigation campaign.
Species Pairings
- Human — a Dalaran refugee, or a Stormwind apprentice taught by one
- Gnome — you approach spellwork as engineering, document everything, and are baffled that others don't
- Forsaken — you remember being a Kirin Tor apprentice. You remember the whole thing.
- Troll — self-taught and unaffiliated, which most mages consider impossible
Playing One Here
Your teacher is the hook. Alive, dead, or missing — pick one at session zero and the campaign will find them.
Why someone opens the book
None of these depend on your species — pick one, or collide two.
- You were talented and somebody noticed — a Kirin Tor recruiter, a hedge-wizard, a court that needed a spare. Talent is not consent, and you were eleven.
- Dalaran fell and you were not in it — out on an errand, expelled, or too junior to matter. What is left is a violet dome nothing passes through, and Kirin Tor survivors teaching in back rooms in Stormwind and Ironforge, not one of whom can certify anyone. Your education has no ending available.
- You wanted to understand, not to win — the arcane is the one discipline on Azeroth that admits what it does not know. Everything else calls that heresy.
- It is leverage — you were powerless in a specific way, at a specific time, and swore never again. This was the fastest route out.
- Somebody has to be able to answer them — warlocks, the Shadow Council, whatever the Twilight's Hammer is doing in the quiet places. You are the counter-argument.
- You inherited it — a book, a staff, a tower, a debt. It came with a teacher's name written in the front and you have never met them.
