Squishy Wizard Action Main Character

A Squishy Wizard being The Hero.

I have watched enough fiction to know that they arent a common type for heroes. But how you can manage one of them without making them either too broken or too weak.

I always wanted read a Shonen series where the MC is the Squishy Wizard who can be taken down easily, hit hards but falls easily.

Have them be a Lovable Coward or Cowardly Lion who's entirely aware of their limitations? It would be an interesting approach. Maybe they could fight by blitzing their opponents and denying any opportunity for a counterattack. And show at some point what happens when the blitz strategy DOESN'T work.

edited 24th May '18 6:35:34 PM by TroperOnAStickV2

That definition of Cowardly Lion who's aware of his own weakness is more of less the perfect definition of his character.

And yeah, his usual tactic is dodging and avoiding attacks. And when that fails...ouch.

Examples? He fell unconscious after receiving a kick from The Big Bad. A single kick, when everyone else showed being able to gave her a decent melee fight

Use Combat Pragmatism(search it up on TV Tropes).

The character doesn't have to know any particularly powerful spell, just have him/her actually use his/her brains.

If an enemy is too hard to kill directly, then kill him/her indirectly. Shoving boulders(or just big rocks) down a hill, poisoning the food supply, knocking down infrastructure. And if theirs a summoner, kill the summoner instead of gunning for the minion.

Stuff like that. Just have him/her exploit any possible weakness that his/her enemy may present to him/her. If the enemy is bleeding, send an air bubble up his/her vein. If the enemy is holding a sword, electrify the sword(metal is conductive last I recall). If the enemy is charging at you, than use earth magic to spontaneously to create a minor sink in the earth in order to trip them.

If the protag is too OP, then create a situation where he can't be saved with just his/her brains. Maybe he/she is being swarmed by muscle heads. Maybe he/she is running low on mana. Maybe he/she is facing off against an enemy who is just as smart if not smarter than him/her. Maybe he/she is facing an enemy who's much stronger in terms of magic.

Just find some way to have your character make the most out of what's given to him/her.

(Edited due to grammar.)

edited 25th May '18 8:25:21 PM by Hermes

The protagonist would probably also go for a stealth-based combat, using invisibility magic, enchanted daggers and ranged weapons in order to take advantage of being a living Glass Cannon, delivering the killing blows without getting caught, thus allowing them to be immensely powerful without being too powerful.

Of course, you can also put in several situation where the protagonist gets caught and having to flee instead of fighting back, or even actually getting wounded, ranging from a scratch to losing several limbs to make them as vulnerable as the rest of the casts.

edited 17th Jun '18 10:12:49 PM by Mhazard

Good idea. I want make him being someone whose style is basically hit and resist with his Energy Shield until he can just go wild and bomb his enemies to death.

Or use electricity. Or just burn them. What is available to him.

Have you ever played or heard of the Dark Souls games?

It may seem like an odd question but I do have a point, so please bear with me.

In case you haven't, they're a series of videogames that are considered extremely hard and challenging but fair. A sufficiently skilled player may defeat the final boss of any given game without levelling, without armour, without being hit at all, etc.

Now, if you ever see one of these players play the game, either via youtube or twitch of maybe by being yourself, you'd notice they can't just stand there and take whatever the monster throws at them, they've got to play smart and use everything at their advantage. They use spells to remain hidden from enemies, exploit enemy weaknesses, learn how to parry and then follow up with a powerful counterattack when the enemy is staggered, not to mention they've got a pretty good understanding of their own weaknesses, their enemies' strengths and the layout of the terrain. In short, they use their wits AND everything at their disposal to overcome their enemies.

So back to your character, they may be able to defeat any enemy with just one spell but before they can do that, they'll have to play and use everything they can find to gain an advantage. To gain more time to finish their spell, to avoid enemy attacks, and even learning some tricks and misdirection (i.e. lying) to get out of situations they know they can't handle.

Depending on the tone of your work, you could use comedic elements to show how your characters can outwit their enemies.

For example, she's faced by four thugs demanding money from her and she knows she can't use her magic to fry them, so instead she pretends to cry to make them stop or attract sympathy from people who could help her.

Also, the character may be allowed to be broken if the lead up is really interesting. Think of most shonen and how we almost always know they're gonna succeed. So that's not the interesting part, the best part is seeing how they're gonna win. Likewise, the end battle won't be what we'll like the most about your story but how your character was able to succeed despite her shortcomings.

edited 25th Jun '18 9:58:16 PM by HugoG

Is a he tho.

And yeah, he is usually forced to use his spells in creative ways. Like, eventually manage to realize a Psychic version of Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs (something that is actually weird to do in the setting).