As obvious as it may sound, I am quite curious to see how people nowadays RP this unique class. How do you RP out Resurrection? Does your character carry totem pouch(es)? Is your character in harmony with all four elementals or in a favoritism to a particular one?
What kind of life style your shaman goes through?
The thing I love about shamanism is that thereâs multiple ways your character can approach the elements depending on their race/personality.
Vulture only recently passed his first trial, so I wouldnât consider him a shaman quite yet⌠but I like thinking that heâs slowly growing into one. Heâs a hermit now, he wonders the dunes of Volâdun, meditating and trying to establish a connection with his ancestors. Itâs a very slow process and once heâs finished it will change the way he sees the world and how he interacts with others.
My shaman is in harmony with all four elements but feels a deeper connection to water as a devoted follower of Lukou - a troll loa, associated with water, healing, respite, fertility. This leans into her being played more as a healer than a damage dealer.
Because sheâs a troll Iâd combine it with a bargain struck with Bwonâsamdi as she is not in the habit of traversing the spirit plane.
She carries a staff, engraved with runes for each elements along each side. When youâd normally throw down your totem she slams her staff into the ground and activates the totemic runes. I usually only apply it as a way of empowering a spell or causing one specific effect, rather than have several totems active at once as the game play allows. The main reason for this is because I feel her powerâs more pure when only communing with one element at a time.
A life mostly focused on joy and balance and healing. Which has its challenges.
Rogmasha has thankfully never had to go down the resurrection road, but sheâs aware of it as a concept that particularly powerful shamans can use to bring people back from recent death/the brink.
She carries smaller fist-designed totems at her belt, and keeps bigger ones in her tent!
Harmony, though the way her road has gone lately, sheâs very much come to rely more on Water (for restoration) and Earth (for stability and guidance) than the other two.
Rogmashaâs very much inspired by the ascetic lifestyle that Drekâthar describes in Lord of the Clans:
âI am granted these things because I ask , with respect in my heart, and I am willing to offer something in return. I request only the barest needs for myself and my people. At times, I ask great things, but only when the cause is good and just and wholesome. In return, I thank these powers, knowing they are borrowed only, never bought. They come to me because they choose to, not because I demand it! These are not slaves, Thrall. They are powerful entities who come of their own free will, who are companions in my magic, not my servants.â
You Rp Like A Warcraft Iii Shaman
But Not Broken Draenei Are Pretty Lame And Werenât In Wc Iii
My shaman is indebted to an elemental spirit due to events early in her background, and has since worked on repaying that debt, essentially acting as the spiritâs servant. Itâs a reverse of the usual expectations, where the shaman is generally âin chargeâ but maintains a respectful relationship with the elements. My shaman is able to use the abilities granted her by the spirits, but not recklessly, for those abilities are granted to facilitate the repaying of the debt.
She is focused on wind (as the spirit is of Air) and water, mostly in the form of rain.
'tis are all interesting answers, but Iâve got one more question. I believe that it is really up to each one of who RP a Shaman. But when it comes to the spiritual world.
Does your shaman hear/witness the spirits? Does this happen in everyday life, at some occasion or perhaps during the ritual (Resurrection as an example)? Or only when shaman enters world of spirits?
Yes, kind of. I play this with inspiration from how Nobundo was contacted by the Elements in his short story - sometimes Rogmasha will notice certain flickers in a fireplaces, hear whispers on the wind or hear waves beating against the shore in a particular tone. Sometimes itâs more literal voices, like what happened towards the end of the story.
Thatâd be whenever the Spirits have something to say to her.
Yes, often. My shaman asks the spirits for permission every time she is to do something serious. She often listens to the sea for tidings from far-away lands, as well.
The spirits are highly unlikely to grant my character the kind of power necessary to perform one. Especially not before her debt is paid!
It should be safe to say that two shamans do not have the same experience with the Elements. They are after all - unlike arcane - a living kind of magic, with entities behind it that have their own social structures and cultures; they have their own will and their own ambitions. Therefore, a shaman should concern himself or herself with constantly maintaining a strong relationship with the Elements, so that that shaman will never have to doubt that the Elements will heed their call in their hour of need. This includes not disrespecting the Elements or taking their power for granted - such as summoning Fire to light your pipe. A shamanâs duties outside battle and rituals therefore consist of doing deeds and practices that grant them more and more favor, in a constant accumulation of trust-building. As a side note, I believe the Elements are less likely to favor shamans that are deceivers and oathbreakers.
Different types of shamans may also attract different kinds of spirits, and therefore it wouldnât be uncommon that a shaman holds a particular element in a higher regard.
All of the above is of course just my take on it.
What is important in regards to how I roleplay Naoru is that currently he has lost his touch with the Elements and is still trying to reignite his touch with them. So far, he has only re-earned the favor of Earth.
I have always considered ressurections the defibrilator of the fantasy world: A sudden, great burst of healing magic cabable of reviving a very recently deceased, while their body still has a spark of life. I would consider it the highest point of a healerâs career and definitely not something you should count on achieving often.
With Naoruâs weakest element being Water - the element of healing, it rarely responds to him outside dire needs, and therefore he could never achieve this act, especially not in his current state.
Naoru used to have a massive totem strapped to his back which he would plant on the ground and use as a conduit to amplify his elemental power. Donât know where that ended up.
Naoru is (usually) very much bonded to the element of Air, or more specifically Storm, because of his boisterous and often erratic nature. He keeps this behaviour tempered with an attunement to the stabilizing and stoic element of Earth in order to find balance. He will therefore stick to either Earth or Storm in almost any situation and only make use of Fire and Water when there is a specific purpose for these elements.
Naoru is very much an elementalist, which by my own definition means he focuses on the Elemental spirits before the ancestral ones. He is, you could say, a shaman focused on the more real and physical manifestations of shamanism. This makes him rather inept at summoning the spirits of the dead, for example. Only in places of deep sentimental value to him will Naoru have a chance of speaking to the spirits beyond - and only those that are close to him.
ALL THAT LIVES, TO DUST.
RISE MOUNTAINS.
Be a good Shaman and make Tectus proud today.
Broch here Doesnât carry Totems as he has a rune for each of the elements tattooed On to his arms.
Broch Being a dwarf and a miner by trade has a strong connection to Earth, But having spent many years as a healer in the military he also has a pretty strong connection to Water too.
Broch again being a dwarf believes there his ancestors and so he listens to there guidance a lot.
I donât, Brochâs a seriously old grumpy bugger, He is not that important of a shaman to be able to use Resurrection.
Jamathuwa here is a weird one. Heâs a batrider who got struck by lightning and hit his head ages ago and now frequently has âvisionsâ of a serpent made of clouds and lightning in the sky. He is basically the only follower of a loa whose existence is debatable. So naturally his powers mostly come from air and water that he draws from this loa (allegedly). So itâs unclear whether he is a normal shaman or a witchdoctor.
cycle of the worst shaman here and iâll answer questions at the same time.
To put it short Shaman > Necrolyte > Shaman >Somewhat of a Lich (but the shaman thing is only for the power roleplay so take it with a pouch of salt)
Not at all, but i do carry various milled herbs, a carving knife, tomes and rune scrolls⌠carrying totems around is unpractical, and rituals are more then using totems.
An inscribed Ankh that works pretty much like the phalectry.
Rather then adhering the elements i take the path of spiritualism, someone afterall has to tend to the ancestors and make sure no foul forces looks at a certain lich that resides on the boards comes to defile the dead.
Other then that i somewhat tend to all elements for example the spirits enjoy the warmth of fire etc. etc.
One of perpetually performing rituals.
You will be guiding spirits around, dampening the restless and warding the spirits from various forces of the world.
But this shaman concept was meant for tomfoolery from the get go.
Things you want to take in consideration for your character areâŚ
How do you RP out Resurrection?
I call it from a different plane or try to beg the spirits to guide it back to the body of the fallen. Personally, I donât think you need to be an experienced shaman to trade with the spirits - the price just might be higher. I trade with blood or favors. It is a broad topic, for there are many different ways a person can die. I donât consider it power gaming if the body is still warm and in one piece. The real pain is patching all the wounds up, but that is what we got the water element for - I just summon a small, playful water spirit and ask him for help, while channeling the goodness to the broken body. Ress and healz are my personal favorites shaman plays because itâs not as simple as when you play a priest and just smack the light on everything.
Does your character carry totem pouch(es)?
Yes. Always. She wears them as amulets so that no one would steal them that easily. A pouch would suffice. Its cool to make every totem look different and have different properties and feel. They should be deeply personal trinkets - make them reflect your character! 
Is your character in harmony with all four elementals or in a favoritism to a particular one?
I think that every shaman should know how to use each element with a stronger focus on one, or two. Using just one of the elements sounds like a big nerf. It should depend on his/her experience. My character is mostly attuned to wind and water.
What kind of life style your shaman goes through?
Does your shaman hear/witness the spirits?
Aev is a mender of minds, as she calls herself. I always loved the Far Sight spell, which from rpg perspective comes from the divination school. She is focusing on helping people and spirits find their way in life, their purpose, while also tending to ones that suffer from all kinds of mental illnesses or curses. Spiritualism is a great twist for shammies. Embrace being creepy.
Also if you look for a IC teacher give me a shout 
Well, i have 2 IC shamans
First my orc, he is OOCly a rogue though with shamanistic mog, wolfhead, etc.
He calls upon the spirits of the elements, just like the famous battlecry âSTORM, EARTH AND FIRE, HEAR MY CALLâ With it, he can wind walk, winds shrouding him and stealthing, similiar to orc blademasters, also being a seer, he can sense the nobility of someoneâs heart, as we see Drekâthar in both MU and AU can sense such. Also has farsight, and some knowledge of future. He would sometimes communicate with ancestors, and usually does that in nagrand, oshuâgun.
My dwarf, whom is a Wildhammer, is a storm boi, he has a great connection to the wind, making a very soft, calming breeze around him, his steps having less sound, and close connection to the skies, as any Wildhammer does.
He being a wise elder and veteran, is different from usual dwarves, he is kind, calm and does not drink -THAT- much, although i say he drank a lot when he was younger haha.
He also is somehow a grandpa-like figure, as would fit elder dwarves. He is a lover of nature, a bit close to druids, as he believes in the great wolf, goldrinn, well he can turn into ghost wolf. Also is a herbalist which increases the bond with nature.
He talks about the land also, the earth, as Azeroth is in pain, etc.
Ahe believes that everyoneâs ancestors are watching them, either watching over or watching over their deeds.
Though i am not the most experienced shaman RPer and still learning things ![:smiley:](https://d1bg94bbsh66ji.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")
But I can say i love it and itâs great
Not really. My shaman only has one totem so far, and itâs too large to carry around on your belt, so he just stores it in a raptorâs bag.
My shaman was once a water weaving prodigy. But since then, heâs lost his connection with the Loa and thus lost the power.
Recently however, several elemental spirits started calling out to him, recognizing that his talent would go to waste, so they told him how he could regain his power, should he change his rather arrogant and bitter ways.
So now heâs doing his best to help others and regain the favour of the water spirit, and later he will focus on the other elements. It will be a long time before he gains enough of their trust to call on them.
Wake up, work hard on his garden, clean up the nature around his hut, heal the occasionally injured.
Yes. His brothers-in-arms (who he couldnât save from dying) came to haunt him once and he had to convince them it wasnât his fault.
As for the elemental spirits, yes. From time to time, they call onto him, giving him advice on how to act, live, etc.
Mostly during his dreams which he enhances using different herb mixtures.
Going to speak for my Tidesage character here (not this one Iâm replying on), not exactly a Shaman but slowly going to become more like one once she has more outside experience.
My tidesage is a skilled healer and she is capable of bringing a recently deceased spirit back to itâs body thanks to her experience and tidesage duties, but itâs quite heavily taxing on her, and not something she can do in a row.
My tidesage carries reagents for some spells and rituals, but otherwise doesnât carry any totems or the like.
Unsurprisingly my Tidesage is in harmony with the Element of Water/The Tidemother, though she is also in harmony with the Element of Air. Sheâs capable of calling upon the Elements of Earth and Fire but has little experience doing so, and cannot do so as proficiency as Air and Water. In time when she has more experience out in the world seeing the Shamanistic cultures of other races, she may begin to practice more with all four Elements instead of just two.
Although the forums are buggy and itâs showing me as Mondoe, this character is actually Betti and sheâs what most Goblins like to call and shamans hate to call an 'Environmental Engineerâ.
Itâs a fun take on shamanism pioneered by Goblins and Betti follows it near religiously. Itâs based on not really twisting the elements or dark shamanism but dealing with and harnessing them for the greater good and personal greed. Betti tends to make deals with elementals in order to gain her powers and almost coerces them, using intellect to bend the world into her own image and of course for her own convenience instead of being all about dedicating herself to the elements and protecting them. Unlike most shamans who revere and commune, she appeals to their more fickle and selfish sides.
Resurrection and healing - Betti canât resurrect people aside from trying to use jumper cables on them but when she heals she tends to use her contract with a water elemental to aid her along aside from pre-meditating her cures and collecting the restorative waters and such before she uses them to help people. In combat itâs different and thatâs where totems come in.
Totems - Betti wonât carry around a totem unless itâs an important totem, usually she remotely controls elementium grounding drills which are basically the Goblin totems you see in game. They basically pop up out of the ground and create geysers of elemental energy in their wake which they temper and harness to channel their energy into betti and her allies or enemies with all sorts of little devices like bellows and fans.
The Elements - As a Goblin Betti prefers fire and earth as the elements which she swears by because fire elementals enjoy the destructive nature of a Goblin and earth can be easily harnessed through the use of geomancy, though she intends to have a tenuous contract with an air elemental eventually as she secured with a water elemental last week.
Lifestyle - You may think that being an environmental engineer is the easy way out of being a shaman and communing with the spirits and the elements regularly but itâs not. It may be able to yield better results and cuts out the middle man which many shamans are thwarted by but the results she gets are less consistent and thereâs more capacity for things to go very wrong when she fails. Therefore she spends a lot of time pre-meditating and finding new ways of harnessing the elements. Constantly having to juggle the various contracts which she upholds with the elementals which aid her and spending countless hours at a workbench building totems and harnessing tools. Overall thereâs a level of risk and reward, and she has to balance exploiting the elements with actually aiding and caring about them enough to save herself from being indebted to them and becoming a servant of one of many elementals which would love another being to do their bidding for them.
Half the reason Iâve mained this character for so long (OK a year is long for me, I know itâs not really) is the amount of depth and detail Iâm getting out of shamanism in rp.
Resurrection and Healing: Rukkha is currently on a quest to learn resurrection to any degree of success. Her theory- which is somewhat my own headcanon, but Iâm also okay with her being wrong, so I donât mind people disagreeing- as that you need to have both the personâs body and their spirit present and whole. Therefore, two healers would be best, one to patch up the patientâs physical form, and the other to guide their departed spirit back to their body.
Totems: She carries one totem, which takes the form of an elemental ocean core set into a shield, with a spike at the base for sticking in the ground. I chose this concept for her since sheâs Warsong, and everything she does tends to have a warrior-like aesthetic, despite the spiritual context. It also makes for the option for creativity in how sheâs using it in battle, using it as an actual shield or using it to manipulate the elements.
Is your character in harmony with all four elements or in a favoritism to a particular one? I like the idea that the personality of each shaman at least in part dictates their relationship to the elements. Rukkha has a strong connection to Fire, its destructive nature correlates with her short temper and her struggles with orcish battle-fury. Her desire to be more than a death machine is what lead her to manually build a connection to Water, and train as a healer. She considers it her primary element. Her bonds to Earth and Air are less powerful, as she is too flighty and impulsive to communicate as well with solid, stable Earth, but not detached, calm or aloof enough for Air.
What kind of life style your shaman goes through? This orc sticks very closely to a code of not using the elements for petty matters. As Naoru said above, asking the Fire spirits to light your pipe is a grave insult. While not being above a brawl behind the Tail, youâd never see her using the elements in such a scuffle, either.