So I have a huge dilemma since WoW has no playable, arcane based battle mages and I kind of in need of one for story building. So, my question is: which one would be better for a melee class RP that uses arcane besides being skilled in CQC?
Bit of a backstory for the character I have in mind:
She’s a skilled fighter (swords, polearm, axes and shields) she was trained to be a Sentinel from her mother’s side, she has affinity towards magic from her father’s side (who was later banished). So, she was trained well, suppressed her magical abilities (she later on started to study besides practice being illegal). Fast forward a few thousands year later she has an escort quest with some of her peers and they were attacked by wandering demons and satyrs. Using the forbidden arcane arts she saves few of them while being left behind and this is where I have the dilemma.
If I would go with the demon hunter line, she wouldn’t go through the same process as the actual Illidari, instead she would be some sort of “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” trying to live in symbiosis with the beast within while still being able to practice the arcane arts and being able to feed the demon within by hunting other demons or criminals with wanted dead posters.
If I would go with the death knight line, she wouldn’t be dead, but the fight would have a toll on her. She would become a wanderer roaming the lands, helping others while from one side being shunned for using the arcane arts, from the other being praised for saving the others.
All in all, both concepts are kind of the same, yet not really. I simply can not decide for the sanity of my brain which one to go with. I really like plate mogs, but it feels very clunky for an agile fighter, on the other hand demon hunters aren’t really using any kind of arcane stuff while frost dk-s do.
It would be hard to find transmogs for either, as the armor sets of both of those classes are all very thematic to the actual theme of the class. Beyond that point of difficulty, I think that Death Knight is infinitely better to portray a battle mage that just casts arcane magic, as you can use stuff for frost magic in it, while demon hunter is exclusively fel and shadow.
I have seen a fair few people use a Death Knight character to portray battle-magi of one variety or another.
If it came down to that or a Demon Hunter, it’s definitely the class I too would suggest. They glowing eyes can, with a bit of suspension of disbelief, be explained as the mage diving deep into that aspect of the arcane, whereas blazing green eyes is almost exclusively a sign of demonic magic - thus the greater suspension of disbelief required.
Things like antimagic zone, antimagic shell, blinding sleet and remorseless winter could really help the visual parts for a battle-mage.
DKs also wear plate, which means you have access to both light and dark themed mogs of warriors and paladins apart from the class sets (Again excluding off set pieces from Legion for example)
If I were to choose, DK would be my personal choice on the matter!
Would you consider a rogue for that sweet invisibility and teleportation?
Although it could be a bit more of a challenge to portray it in PvE, I would urge you also consider a warrior for the RP aspect. Next to some cool skills like thunderclapping your enemies and applying some more magically-inclined glyphs, there is an abundance of trinkets/toys/consumables that will allow you to achieve pretty much anything. From arcane barriers, invisibility again, channelling fire and ice. An illusion?! (What are you hiding?!) There’s levitation, water walking, astral projection. Little orbs that woosh around your body that make you look very mysterious.
The latter would require some research and potentially some farming in the end, but I feel that we have plenty of means to portray spells of all sorts nowadays.
Edit:
OH! And don’t forget pets! There are floating books, quills, candles and all manner of potential familiars.
Edit 2:
Did I mention that warriors can dual-wield a staff and a shield/swords/etc?
Then as someone above suggested, warrior might serve better. You can use all weapons and mogs as a warrior, combined with the titan grip ability to have a sword and staff as your equipment
There’s a small list of craftable ‘spells’ made with Inscription - I use the Shadow Bolt A LOT in my roleplay, but there’s a Lava Bolt-like one too, a wind spell and a water spell, and I recall there being some kind of Arcane thingy too. Best of all, it works cross-faction!
I resonate with this to my core. “Use your imagination” is all well and good, but is it really that bad to work towards more visual effects in roleplay? I’ll answer that for everyone: no, it isn’t.
I tried it and unfortunately it’s not for me, too bulky. I might be just whining at this point, but warrior is way too chunky with the 2H weapons in each hand. DK feels like a more fitting actually, and she doesn’t have the weird voice like the NPCs, so I’m grateful for that!
If you do decide to settle on the death knight I would recommend you consider the option of having your character as-is, but as an actual death knight. That being, you know, dead.
It would allow you to combine her tactical prowess and mastery of the arcane with the relentlessness of the runic magic that they tend to be bound to. And she would be shunned by her people not just for the arcane, which in turn would be another good reason to wander the world.
Correct. It just won’t be ideal if you want to run around in content looking like that too - since fury ceases working at 1h + 2h weapons together.
But a really neat alternative is to have a 1h sword and a fist weapon that’s as tiny as possible with a nice little glowy enhancement. Makes you really look like sword and spell kinda individual
