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Nerdarchy > Nerd Culture  > Famous WIzards of Distinction  > Famous Wizards of Distinction — Tenser

Famous Wizards of Distinction — Tenser

Famous Wizards of Distinction -- Otiluke
Famous Wizards of Distinction -- Drawmij

Greetings my fellow Nerdarchists. In the weeks and months to come I am going to highlight famous wizards of distinction by delving into the backgrounds and spells of magic-users . I have already completed articles on Leomund, the nerdy prepper and Otiluke the Siege Alchemist. Now I am turning my thoughts towards Tenser. Why Tenser? Why now? Well I chose him by accessing my on board bio-computer with search parameters of “whomever I feel like.” It spit back Tenser for an answer. Without any input to the contrary I’ll focus on famous wizards of distinction from RPGs but that does not mean I am excluding the backgrounds and spells of magic users from books, movies, and comics. Give me a compelling example of wizardry and I’ll write it up.

Tenser D&D magic users

The Circle of Eight (formed from the earlier Citadel of Eight) is a fictional group of wizards in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

Backgrounds and Spells of Magic Users — Tenser

Tenser’s name is an anagram of Gary Gygax’s son name, Ernest. Tenser is described as average height, with brown hair and a hawk nose. He hearts blue and wears it all the time. He is goodly and polite like a paladin but he would also hold an evildoer at sword point.

From reading up on him I get the feeling he would talk at length about how everyone should turn towards good acts while refreshments are being served in a parlor. Then later on the road, if you don’t listen to reason, he slaps the evil out of you with his Conan inducing power spells.

He has some magic users for buddies like Jallarzi Sallavarian and Cymria, and Agath of Thrunch. Jallarzi is the first female and youngest magic user to join the boys club that is the Circle of Eight. Jallarzi may be discussed at a later date. And now back to Tenser.

Tenser’s major hangout is the Fortress of Unknown Depths. It is on the southern shore of the Nyr Dyv, a lake filled with terrible things, which is the perfect spot for a magic users hideout. Tenser was a member of the Citadel of Eight and later he joined the Circle of Eight. He replaced Leomund, who had better things to do. Later both Tenser and Otiluke were betrayed and killed through Rary’s plans and they were thought to be dead forever.

This was not so for Tenser because he had a grand contingency plan involving hiding a clone on the moon. Too bad he didn’t tell Otiluke to do likewise. I believe it to be as hard for a person from Greyhawk to hide someone on the moon as it is for one of us to do it. This is almost tin foil hat level paranoia. But since it actually ended up saving his bacon I’ll call it wise.

Tenser is known to have authored the following works in the world of Greyhawk:

  • The Evolution of the Arcane Will Power
  • The Magical Properties of Gemstones
  • The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers
  • The Occult Properties of Gemstones
  • The Theory of the Invisible Forces

While his attitude is of a lawful good extremist his spells speak of a man more of the lawful badass variety. Like a one man biker gang for goodness and truth, Tenser’s spells are mostly built towards spotting evil doers, chasing them and then beating them down — one man army style.

His sight augmenting spells are as follows:

  • Tenser’s Eye of the Eagle
  • Tenser’s Eye of the Tiger

He also created demolition and weapon augmenting spells such as:

  • Tenser’s Flaming Blade
  • Tenser’s Hunting Hawk
  • Tenser’s Staff of Smiting
  • Tenser’s Destructive Resonance

And last but not least. His one-man army spells

  • Tenser’s Brawl
  • Tenser’s Steady Aim
  • Tenser’s Deadly Strike
  • Tenser’s Giant Strength
  • Tenser’s Master of Arms
  • Tenser’s Primal Fury
  • Tenser’s Running Warrior
  • Tenser’s Fortunes of War

TenserIt is hard to believe the first spell of Tenser’s I heard about was Tenser’s floating disc, a utility spell. It really doesn’t fit into the theme with the rest of his one-man army spells until you consider the following.

After clearing a dungeon on his own with his spell powered Conan physique he needs some help carrying all of the treasure.

It is hard to carry all of the loot out by yourself without a helpful floating disc hovering beside you.

Hooray for 100% cut of the loot!

Are there some famous wizards you want to hear about next time?

Then all you must do is tell me which wizard you want to read about. If he or she is one of the famous wizards of distinction then please comment below and let me know who you want to read about next.

To read about some more famous wizards, their backgrounds, and spells of magic users click here for Leomund, the nerdy prepper or here for Otiluke the Siege Alchemist.

 

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Nathan Riggins

I would say my manner, skill sets, and subject knowledge are incongruous but they all seem to find a home under the umbrella term of nerd. I have a passion for studying science, religion, art, games, crafting, wine/beer-crafting, sustainable living, and green chemistry. I really enjoy gaming with friends and writing about my experiences as a nerd.

1 Comment

  • nyr924
    June 4, 2017 at 1:27 am

    Great Article Nate! How about one on Melf?

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