#25 – J. Robert Oppenheimer – Black Mage

Physicist, political activist, and father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer has become a kind of modern Faust figure. Though he participated in the construction of the most destructive weapon ever used in war, Mr. Oppenheimer felt that the proliferation of nuclear weapons could be prevented by the United Nations; in fact, he believed that he could control where his invention went next, and who used it. As many inventors have found, there simply is no way to put the genie back in the bottle.

Black Mages tend to be the go-to damage class in RPGs, using elemental affinities and raw strength of stats to nuke enemies from afar. In general, the Black Mage can be seen as an equivalent to the Sorceror or Wizard, but much more straightforward in its approach to dealing damage. Given the way Mr. Oppenheimer’s research was applied, and his own ecclectic and often unsubtle means of expressing himself, I felt a Black Mage would be appropriate for him.

Category: 2011, Fantasy