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human
[Dungeons & Dragons/Pathfinder] Is there anything special about wizards and clerics?

Just like the title says; is there something special about these spell casters or can any layperson become one? 

Wizards are typically described as using their intelligence to study the underlying forces of magic, which allows them to prepare and cast spells. So could a peasant who has never seen anything more magical than a pitchfork, with enough time and resources, become a wizard? 


Clerics on the other hand receive their magic from their deity, who has the ability to revoke the cleric's powers if they deviate too far from their dogma. Could that same peasant begin worshipping a deity that aligns with her ideals and become a cleric of that deity? 

Of course sorcerers and oracles and the like are different. They have to be born into it.
gpt
Wizards: basically, yes. If a lay person devoted years of his/her life to intense study and contemplation, there's nothing stopping them from learning to cast spells. It's like learning quantum physics in our world: it's not easy, but theoretically anyone could do it. 

Clerics are a little more complicated - it's entirely up to the god. You could spend your whole life devoted to a deity and not receive any divine power, and meanwhile some random low-level acolyte is called to service and granted divine magic. Some gods tend to favor certain types of people, but they're not very predictable.