The Wizard

The Wizard's portrait in-game.

 A master of magic blighted by chronic forgetfulness - Character description.

 The Wizard is a playable character in The Consuming Shadow.

Character Traits

The main con to The Wizard is that she has no melee attack. However, she starts with knowledge of all spells, and she doesn't suffer sanity loss from casting them. This makes the Pentagram Necklace useless (although if it still spawns when playing as The Wizard).

However, unlike all the other characters, using spells degrades the runes necessary to cast it.

The rune drawing visible in the Banishment Ritual chamber recharges all runes

It does not degrade runes to:

• close rifts,
• combat Cultists,
• cast on runes found on walls to gain Sanity,

however if the rune is degraded then it can't be used in these scenarios.

For the banishment ritual, the runes drawn in the middle of the final chamber will replenish all runes, allowing facing the invading Ancient. During the fight with the Ancient, runes will not degrade.

Each rune can be used five times before being unusable. Runes can be renewed by analyzing them drawn on walls, which will restore that rune to five uses, however finding these runes is random and can only be done in dungeons. This makes The Wizard a difficult character to play, as if the player has run out of bullets and the runes needed for the Mass Death and Circle of Death spells are depleted, with a lack of a melee attack, enemies cannot be killed. Some runes can appear very infrequently throughout a whole playthrough, i.e. once or twice, while other will appear 20-30 times.

The Wizard also has a unique constellation when using Birth Stars, in the form of the Alchemist. It provides bonus effect and duration to drugs. Each Birth Star placed at the exact center gives a +10% effect and duration to drugs (to a maximum of +100%).

Unlocking

In a "find three survivors" dungeon, there is a chance for one of the survivors to be "a woman in office attire". When the dungeon is completed she will meet you outside and give you the name of a town to go to with a pentagram necklace. Go to that town and complete the dungeon that you find, and you will get all the spells for that run and unlock the Wizard, whether you win or lose the overall game.

Tips for playing

• If the player has found a rune that they still have five uses for, they should leave it for later in case they do use it and come back to renew it. If the dungeon is explored, then the player should incant it for a chance to get some sanity back.
• If the player has found and used a rune in a room (either examining it or casting it), they can respawn another rune in that room by repeatedly leaving and re-entering that room. This can be useful for both restoring runes and sanity, depending on its use.
• If closing a rift requires a rune the wizard has depleted, try leaving and re-entering the room. This re-randomizes the rift's associated runes.

History

Little is known of The Wizard before the events of The Consuming Shadow. Her relationship with her spouse or significant other seems to be strained. Messages from them will routinely drain her sanity (though sometimes result in a small monetary gain instead).