Shadowhunters

[Shane]

Thinking of rolling a Shadowhunter so thought I might clear some things first -

1) Could someone give some description of the training they go through?
2) On what basis are students chosen?
3) I read this on the CotH Wiki " .........May choose one favored Loa.....", so is it like in Shamanism where a newbie practitioner is visited by spirits of fire,water,etc?
4) Are Shadowhunters loners or do they act like leaders for their clan? Can they be evil?
5) At what age do Shadowhunters master their art?
6) They used weaponry such as bows, crossbows or melee ones?
7) Can they be possessed by the loa?
8 What level of interaction do they have with the loa?

[Walrus]

I think this will answer most of your questions.

However, to become a Shadow Hunter or any other prestige class at the moment one must attain permission from a GM and I think the rule is that you can only train a pre-existing character. Making a character purely for a Prestige Title is frowned upon I believe.

Hope that helped!

[Shane]

I think this will answer most of your questions.

Actually all those questions arose after reading the WoWWiki :mrgreen:

I think the rule is that you can only train a pre-existing character. Making a character purely for a Prestige Title is frowned upon I believe.

Uuh seeing that Shadowhunters are trained from childhood I don't think that would be possible, anyway I can write about his training and early life on the In-character subforum.

[Shane]

Uum don't wanna double post but I can't begin work on my profile without clearing this. I looked around the net and didn't find any new info on them, so if someone would be kind enough to help me out........

[Kaghuros]

Prestige Titles are first and foremost a tool for advancing a character you've already played for a while and already have a feel for. The intent was to give people a new way to develop an old character if they felt like it, and as a way of getting Prestige titles out into the community. We held off on allowing people to make characters who already had a title because we don't know if they will be played instead of abandoned eventually if no one knows whether they're fun or not, and often we can't trust the player to play the character well no matter how long they've been here.

[Shane]

I understand, but the thing is I wanted my char to be of a different jungle tribe than the Darkspears, and it would be weird if he roamed around in Kalimador before he became a Shadowhunter. Anyway, I get your point and will first make a normal character and if that one goes well, think about making him a Shadowhunter.

I'd still like my questions answered though :mrgreen:

[Nostra]

3) I read this on the CotH Wiki " .........May choose one favored Loa.....", so is it like in Shamanism where a newbie practitioner is visited by spirits of fire,water,etc?

No, the Shadowhunters worship all the different Loa spirits (though some might omit a few if they are not part of their own tribe's pantheon), but may choose one that they devote themselves to more specifically, that's how I've gathered it at least. Keep in mind though that this was something written for CotH when we used the old Prestige Class system, so I'm not sure if it is canon or was made up to limit the Shadowhunters' powers. But I'm sure you can easily find out with a little research.

4) Are Shadowhunters loners or do they act like leaders for their clan? Can they be evil?

According to the RPG books, if I remember correctly, their traditional role is as a guardian, deeply respected by the rest of the tribe but often kept on the fringe of society by necessity. In modern days, the RPG books says, some, and I assume it is generally Darkspear hunters they refer to, have taken up wandering and thus left their tribes behind as they explore the world for whatever reason, most likely they do it on behalf of their tribe though.

Can they be evil? Depends, they are practioneers of what most would probably call dark arts, voodoo, calling of ancient spirits that in most cases tend to be rather bloodthirsty etc, if anyone within the Darkspears is a tradionalist it is likely to be Shadowhunters, that includes ritual cannibalism and other traditions the Orcs has forbidden. With that I'd expect many Shadowhunters to harbour a lot of resentment against the Horde for "weakening" the Darkspears and such. There is leeway though, Rokhan is a Darkspear Shadowhunter that seems to be in support of the Horde, seeing how Vol'jin also is for the Horde there's allways the possibilty to have your character be a pro-Horde type.

For actual pure-dark-ultra Evil, I don't think so, the Shadowhunters are dedicated to protect their tribes at all costs using a varity of means, the fact that Trolls are a bunch of haters and have reason for animosity against virtually every race in Warcraft of course gives a lot of room for "evil" acts, but looking at it from the Trolls perspective I'd say the Shadowhunters number among their greatest heroes.

5) At what age do Shadowhunters master their art?

Seeing how they are heavy on combat but with strands of Voodoo and Loa worship I'd say pretty old, but that the older they get more Voodoo craft they'd be able to use, maybe turning more to seem like a Witch-doctor than a Shadowhunter. I can't really give any exact years, but if they do have to start training from childhood I'd assume that they need to learn some pretty advanced stuff, which strengthens the point about them not being "real" Shadowhunters at pretty late stage, I guess of the top of my head would be 30, maybe even older.

6) They used weaponry such as bows, crossbows or melee ones?

The weapon that seems to be the most dominant is the "fel glaive", quoting WoWWiki they say:
"Roughly spoken, shadow hunters are former headhunters who have gone deeply into the arts of voodoo and Loa. However, they have not forgotten their hunting skills, which makes a shadow hunter very dangerous in combat. They can stand far away from their enemies while throwing weapons at rapid speed, track down enemies with ease, and also heal themselves and allies. Of all trolls, shadow hunters are the most feared. The traditional shadow hunter weapon is a fel glaive, a long double sword (with a blade set on either end of the handle) which looks a bit different from a moon glaive."

From this we can deduce that, as former hunters, they can use any weapon a hunter can, with Trolls I'd assume that's dominately javelins, throwing axes, nets and other such stuff. It also seems disprove your claim that a Shadowhunter would need to be trained from childhood, and that it is an "art" that can be taken up at a later stage in life, where did you read about the "need to train from childhood" part?

7) Can they be possessed by the loa?

I'd think anyone can be possessed by the Loa, as seen in the Zul'Aman raid where Hex Lord Malacrass has bound the essence of several animal Loas to four Amani warriors. I do not think it is something we'd like to see it here on the server though, a bit too OP judging by how it turned those guys in raid bosses, hehe.

What level of interaction do they have with the loa?

Not more than any priest of other religions, I think, probably more ritualized since that has allways seemed how Trolls roll. But no direct speaking with X or Y Loa, if that is what you wanted.

Questions one and two I can't really answer, you'll have to do the reasearch there yourself.

I'd like to reinforce what Kaghuros has already said, the Prestige titles are there to advance (not in the sense of power, but plot and character) already existing characters that people have been playing and are certain they will continue playing, we don't want people to claim a title and then never continue the storyline with them. And as I mentioned above it seems as if a Shadowhunter doesn't need to be trained from birth, so I'd suggest that you simply forget about this business and instead roll a Troll hunter character, roleplay him/her and see if it is something you like, when the character is established and if it is viable for him, then I you can start planning for Prestige title training and such.

Edit: People posting before me so I changed a lil' stuff and added a bit!

[Shane]

Thanks a lot for helping out guys and like I said before, I will first roll out a normal character and then after trying it out, think of for the prestige class.

[DaveM]

As long as the subject's open - The essential quality of the Shadowhunter seems to be getting close to the Loa.

Could, then, (spiritual) Warriors or (Loa) shadow Priests also become shadow hunters? (Only hunter and shaman are listed as allowed in the CotH wiki)

[Nostra]

I would assume so, yes, I certainly see no reason to why they couldn't. The difference between a warrior and hunter isn't big, and priests dedicated to the Loa would already good base to build on, though they would probably not be as skilled when it comes to combat.