I recently made a Troll Shaman cause I found some inspiration and interest in making a Witch Doctor, (recently enough till forums hasn’t registered the toon yet). But I am lacking in knowledge about them, the interest was borne of just standing outside looking in, thinking “hey that’s pretty cool.”
I found another thread that just asked about what class best to represent it, which all seemed to agree shaman as well (mostly).
So my questions are as follows.
Does anyone of knowledge or experience have some tips for tackling this.
Are they all about the cauldron, mixtures and such, or can I implement some elemental use as well? Through Loa, or could the actual elements be good?
A customization question / issue, I really like the Sandfury Skin colour, is it a stretch to say this is some result of a weird mixture or would that lock me in as Sandfury?
Some of the stuff here may seem obvious, not sure. I’m just terrible at going into new things, so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
If you’re not planning to do RP-PvP where your ability visuals matter, then it’s not a big deal. If you are, I would say shaman is probably a good pick. They have totems and hexes as a class ability. I picked an affliction warlock for my witch doctor because I imagined him to focus more his dealings on spirits and souls, therefore better suiting affliction’s aesthetic.
Witch doctors are alchemists, but they’re also spellcasters - hexes, curses and plagues but also blessings and boons. They make deals with various kinds of spirits (Loa, but also troll) and concoct nefarious brews. Your character might end up dealing with elemental spirits like they would any other spirit, with all the respective consequences of trying to exploit or otherwise control them.
I think it would kind of lock you in as a Sandfury, to be honest. The Sandfury adapted to their harsh desert environment over many years after the Sundering displaced them. And, to my knowledge, there’s no troll half-breeds either. You could, technically, say that your troll’s sandy skin tone is the unfortunate side effect of a concoction gone wrong - but I also think that would come over as snowflake-y, and most roleplayers would assume your character to be a Sandfury on sight either way.
Personally I started by looking at the wiki entry ( https://wow.gamepedia.com/Witch_doctor ) to see what kind of knowledge I might possibly require.
It all depends on if your character is allied with other non-troll races and which scenario he/she is in.
He already has the title of “doctor” in name. For me personally that always meant a witch doctor has vast knowledge, experience, understanding and is wise.
For example knowing that sometimes a potion isn’t always going to fix stuff, but instead just a nice talk about problems helps too. But when some orc ally wants a potion that makes his muscles grow 5x his size, then you should do that too.
Spiritual guidance, as well as mending, communicating to the spirits and Loa should be something you need to think about. One time I was just sitting about, doing nothing in a small hut, suddenly I got approached by a male troll that needed help to deliver his offerings to his Loa.
Witch Doctors are (in roleplay atleast, by what I saw) vastly underrepresented because it just requires a huuuuge lot of knowledge to portray it well.
You might as well click on the different NPCs listed in the Wiki and see what they can do. Helps too. This is just my personal take, so nothing set in stone. If you want your witch doctor to just be a regular troll making potions, then that is cool too.
I wouldn’t think it’s too far off. Elementals and such are pretty much on every corner of Azeroth present. So sure.
Disagree on these two points, because of this very famous witch doctor: https://wow.gamepedia.com/Zanzil_the_Outcast
Zanzil uses a Sandfury skin colour despite being a Gurubashi troll, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say this is because of some mixture, or an attempt to make his model more “weathered” looking.
I don’t see any inherent issue in using one in-game thing to represent another, especially when Blizzard didn’t give any lore about what the brown troll skin colour is meant to represent. Ultimately it’s down to you; though, I’d recommend clarifying in your race section of your TRP that your character is a Jungle Troll.
I really don’t see why not. To be fair, there is no ‘ultimate Rp guide’ on every single role in this game - let alone a proper guide in itself. Improvise. Make it your own. I’ve known other mages for example who each have their own interpretation of how Illusion magic works. My mage does not see it as a physical manifestation - but a spell. Illusion is not real after all. The clue is in the name. I have a Witch Doctor character and she also uses ritual sacrifice and blood magic.