Witch Doctors in general deal in ritual magic and contracts. The spirits giving him the power of dragging directly from the arcane is kinda contradictory to what general lore indicates. I guess it depends what kind of Witch Doctor you went? What religion/faith/region of shamanism were you thinking.

I'd have to do more research but I was generally thinking of pulling from Papa Legba (basic voodoo), but again this just with my limited knowledge in the area

Voodoo is def not arcane purity

Vodun is all about the Loa and good or bad spirits. It would make zero sense to me to make it arcane based. You should focus on contracts and loa contracts if thats the case I feel.

Looks great! Will probably need to wait until tommorow to get a sheet up and going.

@Fizzy

Take your time. Deadline is two weeks from now.

The contract sounds the most logical, just gotta figure out how to pull it off

let me know if you need help. I researched quite a bit about the religion

The contract sounds the most logical, just gotta figure out how to pull it off

There is a trade off when making a contract with a loa, so it works well with the story. They can mount/possess followers. They're given offerings. You got this. There are other loa that I think would be easier to write with because of more inherent/focused strengths and weaknesses; Baron Samedi who talks to the dead or one of the ghedes, but Legba could give you information as well. I might just be biased because I favor the Baron Samedi and his crew.

I guess I need to reeducate myself with the loas lol

As a question, would it be possible to have my Witch doctor to have his magic slow his aging? The idea is that he made a deal with Samdei to prolong his life.

So if I wanted to create a dude that could summon weapons from tattos, what kind of magic we talkin about?
(I mean like a recharging amount of "light javelins", or a sword of fire and all that jazz.)

@Archangel89
Yeah. That is possible. But keep him within his fifties as the oldest. Otherwise he'd be jarringly powerful.

@Bourgeoisie eh. You are thinking of magic in video game/Anime terms. Making it into a power were you are going for cool offensive moves. Something i asked you all not to do. Think less "How can I make cool attacks" and more "what kind of practical reasons are there behind my guy choosing this school of magic.,

----

Since It seems the point wasn't fully put across and I had to explain it further several time now. The rule about not treating magic like a cool superpower is paramount to the tone of this rp. Magic isn't something you approach in "what can give me the coolest power". In fact, magic is such a big part of our charachters everything they do is influenced by it. But it isn't something they can go around being flashy about. Magic is as much rooted in mysticism as anything else. Battle Mages as such would make no sense. Why would you bring out a fire sword when a guy with a gun would just shoot you. Why are you walking around with only the ability to conjure fire, like some anime protagonist?

Ask yourself a few questions when choosing your magic, will use Johan and Varvera as examples.

How did the charachter come across the magic?: Johan wanted to know about his heritage, had a interest in the old world. Came across rune magic in more obscured books and was later on tought by someone else that knew magic. Him carving runes of power into himself made him connected to the arcane.

What usefulness does it bring? Johans runes and connection to Arcane Purity allows him to inscribe any number of spells and effects into things. it's versitile, its not overly showy and he can easily pass as just a regular bloke.

Can I possibly trace to actual, real world beliefs (Aka Nordic mythology, Summerian Myths, African Shaminism an the the like). If not, how can I can I make fit in with everything else? Varvera is Roma. She is part of a people with a long complicated history that includes both fortunetelling and mysticism. This has basis in real life practices. Noxius choose to spice it up by making the arcane part of it, supercharging her powers to the point where she can see threads of fate. The core remains in Roma culture and beliefs however.

@Hellis

So what if I went with like boons, like materializing lock picks that can break any mortal locks or a cap of invisibility?

So answering the questions:

How did the character come across the magic?: He was caught between a rock and a hard place. The police were on his tail and the gate in front of him was too high to climb and the lock to complex to pick. He never really prayed before, and he was sure as hell wasn't going to start know. Quickly pulling out his picks, the young man began the arduous process of picking the lock on the chain link door. Beside him, a pile of stones began to glow imperceptibly.

"Look what we have here." A voice whispered into his ear. The young man flinched and spun around, searching for the disembodied voice before hurriedly returning to his task. The sound of police sirens was getting closer, and he could feel his hands sweating and shaking.

A crack, shit, a broken pick. The pressures mounting as he pulls out another pick, which breaks almost immediately. Now he's on his last pick when the voice returns.

"Poor thief, on your last one," the voice seems to purr, "Would you like some assistance?"

Suddenly, a pair of ephemeral arms surrounded his own and began to pick the lock faster than the young man thought possible. With a click, the door slowly swung open and he ran through it, locking it behind him.

In the back of his mind, he could hear the voice again, "If you ever need help little thief, just call..."

It wasn't until he was safe and alone that he noticed the pair of glowing caduceus on the back of his hands.

What usefulness does it bring? The tattoos act as a conduit to Hermes, his sponsor. The tattoos on his hands summon a set of unbreakable lock picks that can open any mortal lock instantly. The two tattoos on his throat and neck distort his voice and masks his face from cameras or vision. The pair on his ankles summon a pair of winged sandals that give the ability to levitate.

Can I possibly trace to actual, real world beliefs (Aka Nordic mythology, Summerian Myths, African Shaminism an the the like). If not, how can I can I make fit in with everything else? Greek Myths

Ohh. That makes sense. I say go with it. Excited to see how you spin it!

@Hellis

Yeah, like my idea was to make a magic character that relies totally on his magic, so his stuff is more low key augments to his abilities. This also makes him really salty when he sees other magic users doing extreme bull shit magic.

@Hellis

So what if I went with like boons, like materializing lock picks that can break any mortal locks or a cap of invisibility?

So answering the questions:

How did the character come across the magic?: He was caught between a rock and a hard place. The police were on his tail and the gate in front of him was too high to climb and the lock to complex to pick. He never really prayed before, and he was sure as hell wasn't going to start know. Quickly pulling out his picks, the young man began the arduous process of picking the lock on the chain link door. Beside him, a pile of stones began to glow imperceptibly.

"Look what we have here." A voice whispered into his ear. The young man flinched and spun around, searching for the disembodied voice before hurriedly returning to his task. The sound of police sirens was getting closer, and he could feel his hands sweating and shaking.

A crack, shit, a broken pick. The pressures mounting as he pulls out another pick, which breaks almost immediately. Now he's on his last pick when the voice returns.

"Poor thief, on your last one," the voice seems to purr, "Would you like some assistance?"

Suddenly, a pair of ephemeral arms surrounded his own and began to pick the lock faster than the young man thought possible. With a click, the door slowly swung open and he ran through it, locking it behind him.

In the back of his mind, he could hear the voice again, "If you ever need help little thief, just call..."

It wasn't until he was safe and alone that he noticed the pair of glowing caduceus on the back of his hands.

What usefulness does it bring? The tattoos act as a conduit to Hermes, his sponsor. The tattoos on his hands summon a set of unbreakable lock picks that can open any mortal lock instantly. The two tattoos on his throat and neck distort his voice and masks his face from cameras or vision. The pair on his ankles summon a pair of winged sandals that give the ability to levitate.

Can I possibly trace to actual, real world beliefs (Aka Nordic mythology, Summerian Myths, African Shaminism an the the like). If not, how can I can I make fit in with everything else? Greek Myths

Something that might help with ideas that this reminds me of is Hand of Glory. I think someone did a rendition where it helped them pick locks but they also took on some of the attributes of whomever owned the hand. It would be something of a contract.

I'm that same vain I was contemplating on my guy being stuck with dual personalitys, the one hand being his normal studious self (being a professor of anthropology and the like) and the other being manifestation of Samdei or one of the other loa...any thoughts?

A professor of anthology would probably do better at ritual magic. It goes with a studious nature to have collected knowledge and be able to use it, possibly uncovering an old grimoire.

Loa possession is a real thing in vodou, voodoo, vodun beliefs. There's some interesting reading on it. It's called being mounted. You could go for someone studious, but they would also be a pretty sincere follower of whoever their mount is, unless maybe they were "tricked" during another ceremony.

Nothing to see here.

I think maybe you need to read the rules.