What are some things that I can do to make playing a mage, sorcerer,

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>>55283582
Be more mystical. Focus not just on your powers but on the esoteric wisdom that granted them to you. Describe yourself as saying magic words [or outright make up invocations if they don't sound too cheesy], take rituals if the system has them so you can do the whole magic circles thing.

Infuse a lot of RP into your tools, such as magic hats, robes, wands, staffs, spellbooks, etc.

Figure out how magic works in your setting so you can play around with that a little. The details of the magic user and their magic is the big neglected thing, there's no mysticism or art to their Art, its just "Eh I have superpowers". Avoid this.

>>55283582
With someone like that, you really, really can't. He doesn't want to roleplay, he just wan't power. Nothing you can do would make him change his mind.

it's exceedingly simple to roleplay interestign things - gestures, speakign in alien tongue to cast spells, writing in books, freakign out over finding a library, collecting meaningless but cool spell components, etc. Simple, critical, wizard worthy things that have nothing at all to do with mechanics, and everything to do with roleplay.

If you try, he'll try and make everything mechanically relevant (c.f. 2hu in the PFG/4e threads) to gain MORE POWAH!

>>55283647
I think OP means there's a guy in his group who usually makes magic users and sucks at it, and he is now in a position to play one and wants to not suck at it.

>>55283647
Sorry if I worded that wrong, im pretty tied
I want to play a magical character, because I havent really before, I was just using That Guy as an example of how I don't want to play

>>55283629
also thanks for the suggestions

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>>55283674
Actually saying magic words can often come off as cheesy if you're playing IRL, so I'd instead just describe yourself as making them usually. Like

"Intoning a deep word of power, [My PC] lifts her hands forward, thumbs touching, as a gout of flame consumes the goblins"

Or

"[My PC] lifts her left hand into the air, two fingers raised and thumb extended, and begins to loudly chant in Celestial. Her voice echos before lightning leaps from her free hand onto the rampaging ogre."

Really anything that helps imply your Magic is an esoteric art or arcane science [alchemical potion making, star charts for determining the planets positions, long books of invocations, carefully crafted staves] is good.

Play anima.
Bully him with big chad martial dick while he screeches he can't spam tsunami.

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>>55283582
Thanks for making this thread, OP. I was having a similar problem, where I made a wizard character too, but decided against powergaming and made a sub-optimal build in terms of spells that I had, with the character being more of a scholar rather than a fighter (I sort of wanted to prove a point to a powergaming player in our party).
Actually roleplaying the character (and using the points I specced into knowledge skills for lore lessons from the DM) is fun so far, but anything that actually has to do with casting spells is just me stumbling around, wondering what to cast and just letting out a "I cast X on Y", which isn't very satisfying to me.

So thanks for the suggestions, faggots.

>>55283582
The Burning Wheel Codex has an essay on the subject of playing magical characters in it. If you can find it it's really worth a read, the general summary though is:

There are three important concepts when it comes to magical characters in fantasy fiction
>The Other
People with magic are aknowledged by the community but are fundamentally seperate from it. You should probably think about how your culture views mages, what social norms don't apply to them, what norms exist specifially for them. People with supernatural powers are going to be treated differently one way or another so think about how it affects your character's opinion of themselves and others.
>The Mistake
When people screw up it has consequences, when you fuck up with magic though, they're much worse. Let spells and rituals gone awry have lasting negative effects, in terms of NPC reactions, if someone with magical power is someone to be wary of, how do you suppose the community feels about one who's failed to properly control it.
>The Forbidden Place
Tying into the whole 'mages being part of but seperate from the community' the forbidden place is the idea of a place, real or metaphorical, which the community considers taboo. Naturally it's also a source of supernatural power. So think about what lines your character was taught never to cross, what are the risks and rewards of crossing it?

There's a lot more detail in the thing itself on different character archetypes and such but those are a good place to start.