Jobs for an Urban Fantasy Sorcerer

[Randomguy]

A civil or infrastructure engineer that designs parks, playgrounds or highways in the shape of protective runes.

(This idea is inspired by the new playground in my town that looks like it's secretly a transmutation circle of some kind).

[factotum]

(This idea is inspired by the new playground in my town that looks like it's secretly a transmutation circle of some kind).

Reminds me of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's book "Good Omens", where the M25 (the London orbital motorway) was modified by one of the protagonists to form an ancient occult symbol...

[Pyromancer999]

The type of job you might want to give him could depend on whether or not you want him to be blue collar or white collar. For blue collar jobs, you could do repair man(fixes own hours, gets to move around, although granted may be too similar to junk shop for you) and electrican are the only two I can think of that may not have been mentioned.

For white collar, you could do things like:

• Contractor: Chooses own hours, fits into an adventurous schedule. An extension of this could be him being a contractor for magical entities, doing tasks and the like in exchange for money and/or magic power.
• I.T. Helpdesk/Computer Programmer/Other tech job- Purely for the contrast, given that it is not an uncommon job and technology and magic are normally considered opposites
• Accountant - I just think it's a neat job, plus 'Magical Accountant' is a title that amuses me

[smcmike]

Before picking a specific profession, I think you should be clear about what role you want his job to play in the story. There are a number of basic types:

- the drone. A job that pays the bills and gets in his way, there mostly to ground him and as contrast with his exciting nighttime activity. Not something he is actually interested in. An example: in the Lev Grossman books, a couple of different characters take these sort of jobs.

- the cover. A job that the character could quit, but maintains for mostly for social acceptability. May be fake, or may be trivialized by the characters powers. The IT guy who just uses magic or genius to fix everything and spends his time on his own projects. Chuck.

- the career. Something the character is actually quite dedicated to. this seems harder to pull off, unless the career is closely tied to the adventuring. This is the classic PI/coroner/professor type.

For drone work, I like the Uber driver idea. Easier to tie in than real office work, more dignified than working at McDonald's. Pizza delivery also gets him out and about and carries a strong wiff of loserdom (no offense to whoever).

He could also be a grad student in whatever field you find interesting to tie in, if he's in his young 20s.

[Anderlith]

Thank you guys for the suggestions so far, I'm still trying to decide.

I like the idea that he crafts a lot of magical gear to help on his adventures, & he sells trinkets, charms, potions & other minor magical items to occultists, hobbyists & minor magical talents in the supernatural world to pay the bills. I also like the idea of occult geometry but I don't know if he should have such a white collar job.

I guess his job is just a cover, he needs something to write on his taxes. That doesn't take too much of his time.

[nightwyrm]

22-24 y.o. and constantly broke? A graduate student.

[nyjastul69]

For some reason my first thought was an exterminator.

[Zrak]

22-24 y.o. and constantly broke? A graduate student.

"It's like Alias, but with a magical conspiracy. Unless the conspiracy in Alias also turned out to be magical. Then it's pretty much exactly Alias."

Is there a job where you pitch others' ideas to networks? Because I would love and be great at that job.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Fairly realistic. All the supernaturals hide themselves. Mortals in general don't know & anyone who tries to reveal it would be treated like a loony.

I never found that to be all that realistic. If people believe in homoeopathy they'll believe in magic. Personally I went for the 'magic UN option' because a proper alternate history seemed to make more sense than a masquerade scenario which is usually an excuse to simplify world building.

You seem to want this guy to be poor. I think he should have a in character reason for this otherwise he could easily have a well paying job. Why not him a psychiatrist or a new age guru. If there's a masquerade and a hidden supernatural world, it should have its own economics. Why can't he work as a magic user to people in the know? If you want him to be a certain way you have to come up with reasons why he doesn't choose roles that should logically exist and be better options rather than just make up excuses why those logical roles don't exist. He could just be a bad businessman who tried to make it big but failed.

If you want to be different you could make him someone with resources of his own. He could own a small company.

he sells trinkets, charms, potions & other minor magical items to occultists, hobbyists

If he has any charisma he could be selling this stuff to politicians and movie stars and be raking in the cash.

A civil or infrastructure engineer that designs parks, playgrounds or highways in the shape of protective runes.

(This idea is inspired by the new playground in my town that looks like it's secretly a transmutation circle of some kind).

Interior decorator. Secretly keeps mortals safe by warding their homes from threats beyond their understanding.

If you want him to travel around a state but not be especially famous then they're always local Cable news. Or he could have one of those crappy TV shows where he tries to photograph ghosts. There's a lot of jobs on a TV crew so you could make him any rank you wanted, he could be a Grip or cameraman if you don't want anyone recognising him. Maybe he maintains the masquerade by making fake footage to make people sceptical about real events. Maybe he deliberately sabotages his boss's attempts to prove the existence of the supernatural.

[pendell]

How about substitute teacher? It's a job that would allow him to exercise his geekiness, and since it's a daily job he can take off whenever he needs to.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Tentreto]

How about working in the front office of a small company, such as in a gym, or cinema-giving him the chance to both use his facility and view a crowd.
If he is a graduate, if this is legal in the US, he could be a busker, with some chosen craft.

[hamishspence]

How about substitute teacher? It's a job that would allow him to exercise his geekiness, and since it's a daily job he can take off whenever he needs to.

I remember Spiderman doing that in a novel - if it works for a superhero maybe it can work for a mage.

[Anderlith]

I never found that to be all that realistic. If people believe in homoeopathy they'll believe in magic. Personally I went for the 'magic UN option' because a proper alternate history seemed to make more sense than a masquerade scenario which is usually an excuse to simplify world building.

It's a numbers game. There simply not enough supernaturals to have enough exposure. Most governments are in the know however. There is a significant subculture but they are easily dismissed as new agey types or ghost chasers, etc.

You seem to want this guy to be poor. I think he should have a in character reason for this otherwise he could easily have a well paying job. Why not him a psychiatrist or a new age guru. If there's a masquerade and a hidden supernatural world, it should have its own economics. Why can't he work as a magic user to people in the know? If you want him to be a certain way you have to come up with reasons why he doesn't choose roles that should logically exist and be better options rather than just make up excuses why those logical roles don't exist. He could just be a bad businessman who tried to make it big but failed.

He will be working for the supernatural community, but why would they go extensively into creating another system of currency when an established currency is convenient? Favors or supernatural items notwithstanding.

If he has any charisma he could be selling this stuff to politicians and movie stars and be raking in the cash.
Interior decorator. Secretly keeps mortals safe by warding their homes from threats beyond their understanding.
If you want him to travel around a state but not be especially famous then they're always local Cable news. Or he could have one of those crappy TV shows where he tries to photograph ghosts. There's a lot of jobs on a TV crew so you could make him any rank you wanted, he could be a Grip or cameraman if you don't want anyone recognising him. Maybe he maintains the masquerade by making fake footage to make people sceptical about real events. Maybe he deliberately sabotages his boss's attempts to prove the existence of the supernatural.

Not a lot of Charisma, & only a passing head for business. He creates & sells things that are cheap & easy to produce magic-wise. These he sells to people who are already aware of the supernatural world at a decent price. He also sells fakes as souvenir type paraphernalia, at a considerably lower price to people who are new agey types.

Thank you all. I believe I have enough ideas to kick around & figure something out. Though please do keep suggesting. I may be posting more about other ideas in new theads as I develop this world.

[paddyfool]

He could be a RAT (Rope Access Technician). Being in high exposed places could be a lot less scary with protective enchantments on your gear, protection from elements, and last-ditch back-ups along the lines of featherfall. And being a technician fits with being an artificier. (Or maybe this might work better for a friend/ally/rival in the same world... perhaps one with nature-themed magic, what with many RATs being keen rock climbers)

Another thing that fits with being good at crafting magical gear would be if he was the penniless artist type. Perhaps especially if something about his use of sorcery makes other people feel uneasy around him, making it hard to sell his artwork. Also he'd be working to his own hours, and an artist's studio would work as a crafting location.

Of course, if you wanted a non-penniless job for a villain/mentor who's a dark mirror (also skilled at crafting and magic, but much more financially successful and respectable), how about the best dentist in the city? Leaving people with smiles that stay eerily white for life... and carrying a pocketful of old, foul teeth he's pulled and ensorcelled with nasty enchantments :D

[ThinkMinty]

Private detective's a classic. When taking a mundane case, he can use magic to cheat and breeze through that noise in half an hour, spend the rest of the day hittin' on waitresses. Then sometimes the case takes a turn towards the extraordinary, so you've got infinite plot hooks.

Or you've got the antiques collector/acquirer. Sell 'em via internets.

There's also being a bouncer. There's a certain humor in seeing a scrawny guy use a little magic trick to throw a guy who's built like a dumptruck on his ass.

You've also got bartender, as a means of getting him near enough drunk people to acquire plot hooks.

That, or have 'em teach high school. You've got a ton of YA plot hookery there, and that is a growin' reading demo, right there.

[Anderlith]

I'm sorry but I think I put in my OP that, P.I., Bartender, & antique collector have been way over used in Urban Fantasy & I wanted to stay away from it. Bouncer would be interesting for an arc or something.

[ThinkMinty]

I'm sorry but I think I put in my OP that, P.I., Bartender, & antique collector have been way over used in Urban Fantasy & I wanted to stay away from it. Bouncer would be interesting for an arc or something.

They're overused because they work. It's Urban Fantasy, unless you want it to mean "fantasy in a city" rather than "Fantasy set in our reality, ostensibly" then it's got a lot of limits you need to write around.

...

You know what's a great idea, though?

Magical Repo Man. He's the magical underbelly's (the secret magic world that normal people never know about) guy who has to go around and repossess magical **** that someone couldn't pay for, or stole, etc.

Another fun one would be (again, for plot hooks), being a process server. It doesn't pay so great, so if this dude runs up expenses (spell components ain't cheap sometimes), he'd be a broke-ass mothertrucker with some frequency.

[Closet_Skeleton]

They're overused because they work.

They're over-used because they sell.

If you say 'he's like this other genre that has respect, but with magic' then that's more appealing than 'he's a random job combined with another random job' which sounds like a lame comedy.

Actual story quality and marketability are not the same thing and for creative writing its fine to ignore marketability until you actually start wanting to make a living.

[ThinkMinty]

They're over-used because they sell.

Yes, which is proof that they work, in terms of reaching readers. Critical acclaim is...well, not exactly something genre fiction gets much of unless certain people like it (and when they do, it's probably either so good they have to, or it it's being as pretentious as they are); literary circles and Very Serious People are very snotty about this kind of thing.

If you say 'he's like this other genre that has respect, but with magic' then that's more appealing than 'he's a random job combined with another random job' which sounds like a lame comedy.

Why yes, it is more appealing when the premise is coherent, regardless of how much magic there is or isn't in a story. This is why readers and critics still point out plot holes in works where the laws of physics are more like suggestions than absolutes.

Actual story quality and marketability are not the same thing and for creative writing its fine to ignore marketability until you actually start wanting to make a living.

I am acutely aware that quality and marketability are two different things, the last few years in commercial fiction have made this abundantly clear; on the plus side, something that's horrible art can still have a net-positive impact on society, though, so it's not all tripe and bullcrap. I assumed this was for a writing project with that goal in mind, hence the suggestion to put the audience first. Plus this is what I do, so my thought process does take that kind of thing into account. "Done before" means you can always try to do it better, after all.

So, if you're looking for unexplored-yet-still-viable territory, here's a few you can try:

#1. Vulnerability assessor. These guys break into places to stress-test their security systems, which is pretty cool. This would give the sorcerer a similar skillset to a phantom thief, but with the added benefit of being nominally law-abiding. To make him broke, you'll need to give him expenses, expensive habits, or have him have trouble getting jobs due to his bad reputation (which as a sorcerer in a Masque'd world, is not hard to acquire).

#2. Phantom thief. Everyone loves a scoundrel, especially one who's exceptionally skilled. Who he's stealing from this week (and why) make for excellent plot shenanigans, and hijinks will ensue rather frequently. If you're looking for a hard break from the genre-staple occult detective, this is the other side of that coin.

#3. Process server. I haven't seen this in Urban Fantasy before, but there's a process serving wizard in Order of the Stick (spoilers for the mid-late 600's, marked just to be sure), so you've got just enough precedent. A process server's pay isn't that great, and their job is essentially tricking people into receiving documents they do not want to receive. This is, for some reason, always hilariously entertaining in fiction. I blame schadenfreude.

#4. Low-ranking soldier (in the non-magical army/navy, to be specific about it). These guys get paid pretty badly (and are frequently hit with predatory lending practices, even), so if you're looking for broke, you've got broke. As long as he isn't some kind of war criminal, he'll be very sympathetic (if he is, he'll still be, but to the wrong audience); and he'll be a pottymouth who can hold his own in a fight without casting a spell, to boot.

So there ya go, there's four more job suggestions.

[Rockphed]

#4. Low-ranking soldier (in the non-magical army/navy, to be specific about it). These guys get paid pretty badly (and are frequently hit with predatory lending practices, even), so if you're looking for broke, you've got broke. As long as he isn't some kind of war criminal, he'll be very sympathetic (if he is, he'll still be, but to the wrong audience); and he'll be a pottymouth who can hold his own in a fight without casting a spell, to boot.

So there ya go, there's four more job suggestions.

While soldiers are not terribly well paid, they also normally have very well defined schedules which don't leave much room for running around having magical adventures. Then again, there have been lots of fiction written about soldiers running around having magical adventures [i]without any magic whatsoever[/url], so having magical adventures with magic might pass muster. Then again, having a character actually in a military requires a lot more thought put in to how the character's life works, and often results in some sort of commentary about military life.

This works better if they are a recently discharged low ranking soldier. There are several ways to go about getting out of the military, some sympathetic, some not, that leave the character without the ability to make buckets of money. Although there is currently a movement to actively hire former military, at times the exact opposite has been the norm. Also, depending on exactly why the character left the military, those reasons might be used to keep them out of jobs. I can see "Was given a psychiatric discharge after running screaming through the compound screaming about gremlins eating his tools" turning a hiring manager off to a potential hire, no matter how sane said hire seems. Alternatively, "comic mischief continued until private [character name] screamed something about flaming beetles infesting the visiting dignitary's beard. One bucket of water later he was granted a psychiatric discharge."

Hmmm, that sounds like an interesting discussion. What is the most ridiculous thing a character can get away with doing that displays their awareness of magic that will be written off as "he's just gone a little loopy?"

[ThinkMinty]

Hmmm, that sounds like an interesting discussion. What is the most ridiculous thing a character can get away with doing that displays their awareness of magic that will be written off as "he's just gone a little loopy?"

According to fantastic masquerade logic, pretty much anything that doesn't quite unmasque the campaign/story setting gets you written off as a fruit loop.

Possibilities are endless.

[paddyfool]

More jobs with a dash of suitability to someone who crafts things:

Mechanic

Builder

Baker

Chef

Stage technician / special effects guy (obvious magic synergy is obvious...)

Carpenter

Farmer (not very urban, usually)

Blacksmith (catering to Ren faire / mediaeval battlefield reenactment types etc)

[Rockphed]

Farmer (not very urban, usually)

The city of Detroit begs to differ. Then again, the city of Detroit isn't very urban anymore.

[factotum]

Builder

Baker

Candlestick maker?

[GloatingSwine]

Y'know, I like the cab driver suggestion.

It has several advantages for the modern urban hero.

As a cab driver he will have a greater than usual knowledge of the geography of his city, which can extend into the weirder aspects of it because of the magic. A good urban hero has some kind of connection to his city beyond the trivial, and being someone who has driven the length and breadth of it is good for that (that could even be an aspect of the magic, having travelled the ground).

Also, cab drivers meet everyone. Everyone needs to get about the place so everyone needs a cab now and again. That means that he can have contact with people who need a bit of magic, or even the magical denizens of the city. That gives you a network of contacts (regulars or people who he has helped after they ended up in just the right taxi).

He has an excuse to be wherever he needs to be, wherever the Plot needs to begin there too is a fare, or a drop off.

Cab drivers aren't noted for being rich, so you have the tension between his magical and mundane job. Also he has a car he relies on for his mundane income that he can't sacrifice but that he probably needs to use in his magical activities, giving you bonus stakes.

And, bonus, he has transport.

[Adlan]

I kinda feel whatever he was doing magically, he'd use a cover close to that in the mundane world.

If he's an Artificer, he might be an aspiring jewellery designer, trying to get stores to buy his products and lamenting that his e-bay feedback was negative when a gremlin bound it self to some one his works. Or a Mechanic as others have suggested, working whatever jobs his business cards and print adds can send his way (not many).

When you said young and broke I instantly thought Busker. A great one if you want to have him travel from city to city.


I do like the idea of a magical cabbie though. He takes both normal and magical fares, but one day… the magic sends him to pick up someone who knows nothing of the magical world.

[factotum]

I kinda feel whatever he was doing magically, he'd use a cover close to that in the mundane world.

The only problem with that idea is that he'd presumably be really, really good at his cover job because he has magic to help him, which a normal jeweller or whatever does not...and that would make him stand out from the crowd, which is the *last* thing he wants to happen. He doesn't want other jewellers start asking questions like, "How is this guy so good?".

[Adlan]

The only problem with that idea is that he'd presumably be really, really good at his cover job because he has magic to help him, which a normal jeweller or whatever does not...and that would make him stand out from the crowd, which is the *last* thing he wants to happen. He doesn't want other jewellers start asking questions like, "How is this guy so good?".

He's so good, shame he's so flakey. He won an award, and missed the presentation ceremony.

Yeah, I heard he's on drugs. One day I saw him talking to a wall, brilliant mind, but you know what they say about brilliant artists…

He does good work, but you can't count on him.


He's good, but the market is small or less profitable (maybe he only works semi previous stones, or fixes watches) so he can have the good word of mouth to show up and get some work, but because his life makes him unreliable, he can't capitalise on his skills.

[Rockphed]

He's so good, shame he's so flakey. He won an award, and missed the presentation ceremony.

Yeah, I heard he's on drugs. One day I saw him talking to a wall, brilliant mind, but you know what they say about brilliant artists…

He does good work, but you can't count on him.


He's good, but the market is small or less profitable (maybe he only works semi previous stones, or fixes watches) so he can have the good word of mouth to show up and get some work, but because his life makes him unreliable, he can't capitalise on his skills.

Also, the raw material for Jewelry are precious metals and precious stones. Yes, there is money to be made selling cheap jewelry made of semi-precious stones and base metals, but mostly that is made by factory level productions. Having the materials to work the good stuff is expensive. If he is also doing magical work on the side (which might or might not pay very well) he is going to be choosing between making rent on his store-front, making rent on his apartment, and eating anything more expensive than ramen quite often.

Furthermore, just because you have a jewelry and watch repair shop doesn't mean it gets very much custom. When we went to resize my wife's ring we swung by a one man operation in a dingy corner of the mall. Then we went to one of the jewelry stores that had a big sign and lots of glam. We went with the glam even though it cost a few more dollars because we trusted the name on the big sign to return it to us with only the modifications we requested. We had no reason to trust the one man operation in a dingy corner of the mall with an heirloom just to save a couple dollars.