Arcane Infusion

Wizards always push themselves too far. They compete academically with anything that moves, insisting on demonstrating their intellectual superior over everyone around them. Their intelligence is a glittering brooch that must be seen by everyone.

Naturally, this sort of mentality causes many a wizard to burn out. Academia creates a sort of stress that could be bottled and weaponised, only to be banned by conventions around the world for its cruelty. Yet, a wizard does it to themselves, pushing and pushing beyond the limits of the human condition.

Inevitably they turn to external solutions, and this particular mixture has pushed many a mage past academic burnout just long enough to get by. Somehow it makes magic flow easier, spells cast stronger than before, and the wizard is capable of feats they might never have achieved before.

They also tell themselves that it lets them get by on only two hours of sleep a night. It does not and it all catches up with them in the end. Wizard burnout can be disturbingly literal.