Witch Doctors. What they can, and what they can't do.

[Corporal]

This is how I usually play my witch doctor. Of course not all witch doctors raise the dead because that is Dark Voodoo and it is forbidden in the Darkspear society, while some evil ones such as the Gurubashi disrespect the Loa Samedi, loa of the dead, they ressurect fallen ones. Zalazane did that because he didn't want to do what the Horde ordered the Darkspear, to cancel all cannibalism and Dark Voodoo.
These are the spells I usually play my Darkspear witch doctor. I don't really follow them but I make up spells based on the core class.


Sorry if the quality is not good.
Either way, yes, the witch doctors are capable of ressurecting dead as undead unter their will. The good ones however only ressurect a fallen ally.

[Spiky]

Keep in mind that being a 'fon means anything but getting respect. You're an outcast, chosen or not. Fon is not something you pick to become a neutrality in troll society. If anything, it's the opposite.

LATE-EDIT: Would a witch doctor be able to speak to the spirits freely? I know I've already seen a someone use this IC. Will the spirits tell him, for example, where his enemies are, or the sorts?

Witchdoctors (Trolls specifically) speak with the Loa -> Spirits, and the Loa are way more mischeavious than the spirits. They require an equal amount of sacrifice for the information you seek. And they might even speak in riddles. When they speak they'd be demanding, your sacrifice determines how pleased they would be with you. Sacrifice can be anything, from burning incense to the killing and sacrificial rites of offering humans or beasts to them.

[Kira13]

Corporal, thank you so very much! That list is awesome.


I've always known for 'fon to mean 'loner', which pretty much means he's got no connection to his ex clan whatsoever. Thus, Jozz, as a witch doctor, would not get into the Special Profile section because of 'nobility' or monetary value. Just as there're exiles, and self-exiles. It wouldn't make a troll hated if he, himself, chose to left the tribe.

As for the loa, yes, I do know that they'd more likely speak in riddles and request a sacrifice. But as for spirits, they could be very well talking to shamans or other classes that can see them, like the witch doctor. Hence, I believe speaking with (normal) spirits would be no problem.

[Piroska]

It wouldn't make a troll hated if he, himself, chose to left the tribe.

I'm going to argue against this point. Choosing to isolate oneself from a group -- particularly one from which that individual was once a member -- causes many complications. These people often are ostracized or reviled, often for a variety of reasons: people may perceive that the individual thinks that he is better than others, or that he is strange, or just doesn't fit into the culture. Remember, most people -- in this world and the in-game world -- tend to fear things that are different and an individual that flagrantly and publicly chooses to be different is perhaps the most reviled.

This is especially true when you're looking at troll tribes, many of which are the result of family groups that have banded together. Jungle trolls in particular are very focused in this regard; as reiterated by the Jungle Troll wiki article, "[m]ost regulations focus on maintaining the honor of the individual, the family, the tribe, and the troll species as a whole." The individual is only a small part of that. Furthermore, banishment is considered one of the most severe punishments that can rendered upon an individual; dismemberment or scarring (and sometimes even death!) are considered more acceptable and less severe punishments than being cast out from the tribe.

All that leads me to conclude that choosing not to associate with a tribe or group should result in more complications than less. It may be a way to avoid submitting a special profile because of the power that would be wielded by a tribe's witch doctor, but it's important to be realistic when considering what impacts the decision would render.


Edit: Mind you, I'd embrace the fact that it causes complications because it allows greater potential in roleplay. Your character may have to find a way to redeem himself, especially since the pride of the individual is sometimes intertwined with the role/standing of the individual within the tribe. Furthermore, your character may have to work that much harder in order to gain the respect and trust of fellow trolls, who may be put off by the fact that your character bears the pejorative "fon." There's a lot of roleplay that can result from having this situation rather than assuming that your character is unaffected by his choice.

[Kira13]

No, I kind of role play Jozz as being a self-exiled, a wanderer of sorts, that forsake his witch doctor 'nobility abilities' to wander the lands of Azeroth once more. That'd kinda be like he's still part of his tribe, but he visits it less often -almost never, nowadays-
As for that, I do agree with it, but I feel the emphasis should be on "most cases of isolation cause many complications"

[Piroska]

I'd agree, except by bearing the pejorative "fon" it goes beyond simply choosing to isolate your character from trollish society. It's a term that indicates that an individual is ostracized, reviled, and is little more than a pariah. That's a clear sign to every troll out there that something about your character is off and should immediately cause friction. It's not typically a term that an individual would adopt but rather one that is given to the troll, most likely in order to disparage that troll or punish him.

Please note that I am not trying to be argumentative. I am hoping to distinguish the discrepancy between what you believe the term to mean and what impact it's going to have your roleplay. An alternative to make it more acceptable would be to have your character choose to embrace the fact that he is a pariah and then wear it as a badge of pride.

It's like Tyrion Lannister of the excellent The Game of Thrones novels says to Jon Snow:

Let me give you some advice bastard. Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.

Which also an excellent way to flesh out a character!

[Grakor456]

I thought I replied to this already...ah well.

Jozz is a shaman OOC, but a witch doctor IC. They are a combination between shadow priests and shamans, actually, but neither one, nor the other. Witch doctors have no control over the elements -just lighting, as I've been told- and do not use the light or shadow like a priest would. They are much more different. Thus, their spells are way different.

This is a misunderstanding.

Troll mysticism encompasses many varying ideas and styles of magic, which is why they have access to so many different spellcasters. However, witchdoctors are, and have always been, just a specific "style" of shaman. Keep in mind that the main classes of WoW are not rigid, and are intended to be diverse to encompass many broad and related ideas. The shaman class in WoW is a combination of shaman, witchdoctor, spiritwalker, shadow hunter, and farseer. This was even given a lore explanation by way of the old Horde races essentially exchanging ideas and concepts with one another, essentially merging their respective views of shamanism into the class we see today.

The ideas of shadow magic, hexing, etc. were split off into the troll's interpretations of the priest and warlock classes, and shouldn't be confused with the witchdoctor.

On that same note...

*snip*

Keep in mind, that stuff has been pulled from the *first* edition of the Warcraft RPG. Not only were the pen and paper games declared non-canon, but that version of the witchdoctor isn't even the most current in the pen and paper system.

IIRC, the current witchdoctor in pen and paper has the exact same spell list as the shaman, save for a couple different class abilities and that they use most of their magic in the form of potions like the apothecary.