Making a mage out of Shampoo

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

If this topic should have gone in Fic Research, I'm sorry for messing up. In a Ranma 1/2 fanfic planned out (though actually writing won't happen for a while yet), my co-author and I are basically planning to put Ranma, Ukyo and Shampoo into a D&D style world. As part of the story, each member of the trio will be studying the ways of a particular character class from 4th edition and, by weird coincidence, we eventually decided to make them an all-Arcane group. While we've settled on Ukyo as a Wizard and Ranma as a Swordmage, I'm not entirely certain what to make of Shampoo. Originally, we were going with Fey Pact Warlock, but first I had doubts about the pact, and then I saw the preview for the Sorcerer at the Wizards website. Seeing as how the PHB2 will most likely be out before we're ready to actually post the story, making her a sorcerer isn't a problem. And, then again, perhaps the Artificer might be an interesting twist for her character. Don't really think it'd work, but just thought I'd make mention of it.

So, I came here to ask people's opinion on which type of magus to make Shampoo grow into over the story's course. Here are the basic details for the classes mentioned to help people decide and to give info to those who haven't heard of 4e D&D yet.

Sorcerer: Sorcerers are "innate" magi; their power is literally in the blood, whether it comes from mystical lineage or exposure to raw magical energy that 'rubbed off' on the mage. Some of the example origins for the power include surviving Chaos Phage (a disease where a shard of pure chaos energy is implanted into the victim), being born at a point where planes of reality converge, and being bathed in the blood of a dragon. Because their power is innate rather than studied, Sorcerer power is very wild and random, raw destructive energy channelled through their bodies and shaped by their wills.

Artificer: Artificers are "techno-magi"; they study the interaction between magical energy and physical objects, granting them the ability to infuse magic into objects to bestow temporary enchantments or to create 'technoarcana constructs'- gadgets assembled and granted power by the arcane and scientific manipulations of the Artificer.

Warlock: Warlocks are "pact magi"; their magic stems from an alliance with a mystical entity of some type. Of course, the exact details of this 'pact' vary from individual to individual. Some draw magical power from their patron, ala the wizards of Slayers. Others are simply taught how to wield magic in the same way that their patron does innately, this coloring their own efforts. Some bartered for this power and knowledge, trading favors or services or goods for it. Others forced or tricked their "patron" to divulge its secrets. And yet others were bestowed with the power against their will, or even their knowledge, either to serve some inscrutable goal or simply because their patron thought it would be amusing. There are 4 types of Pact, detailed below; Dark, Fey, Infernal and Star.

Dark- malevolent spirits of darkness, poison, madness and spite are the source of this type of Warlock pact. Cruel and vicious, the spells of this warlock focus on Necrotic, Poison and Psychic damage, as well as blighting their victims in all manner of cruel ways. Certain Dark spells can be granted greater power by fuelling them with life-force siphoned from the Warlock's allies.

Fey- Fey pacts, naturally, are issued from the Faeries of the Feywild. Drawing upon their natural energies, Fey'locks specialise in Psychic damage, in the form of illusions, enchantments and other such mindscrewing magics, as well as glamors, curses and nature effects.

Infernal- bestowed by the demons of Hell, the Infernal pact is the most damage orientated of the pacts, drawing upon the fundamental nature of hell. Fire damage is the primary focus of Hell'locks, but other attacks -including spiritual assaults- are also in their arsenal, and all are brutal.

Star- Star pacts are tied to cosmic horrors associated with fate and destiny as well as the celestial vaults. Drawing upon the luminescent stars, the cold darkness between, and the madness concealed beneath, Star'locks wield Cold, Psychic and Radiant damage, and are capable of manipulating and distorting space and fate with equal ease.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

So, does no one have any votes or comments or anything like that?

[Spokavriel]

I voted artificer and saw no reason to comment. Although I could more easily see her as an apothecary. After she no longer has her Ranma obsession. Lets just say with your descriptions it was the only one that seemed to be close to fitting in any way to me.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Alright, I'll bite: just what's wrong with my descriptions? I tried to be as simple and factual as I could, so if I screwed up somehow, please let me know so I can try to fix them.

[Spokavriel]

There is nothing wrong with them. That is just the only one that fits her to me. Could you please tell me how I implied there was something wrong with them?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Sorry, it was your choice of the words "let's just say"- that phrase usually implies that the person it's addressed to said or did something rather stupid. Mostly, though, it was my paranoia, and I'm sorry if I came off as confrontational- I just assumed that I'd done a stupid job with the descriptions and I was hoping you could point out the flaws in them so I could fix them and render them more coherent.

[Spokavriel]

In this case it means 'In place of a big production pointing out all the reasons why and why not' I only see it being used the way you said after an argument where someone is trying to propose what they see as the middle ground. Similar to the Lets just agree to disagree.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

We'll chalk it up to differences in language and my paranoia and move on then. I was basically just scouting for more votes anyway.

[Crescent Pulsar]

I'll have to say fey. That seems the most ideal, to me. That, and I'm biased toward faeries.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Truth be told, we were originally going to go for Fey pact as well. I mean, when you get down to it, they're really rather like Shampoo, (or is it the other way around?) aren't they? Deceptive, amoral, playful, manipulative, kindly, ruthless, beautiful, vicious, whimsical, cruel... doesn't that sound a lot like Shampoo? Then again, if you lean towards a harsher interpretation of her character, then doesn't the Dark pact just scream her?

And out of curiosity, why is the Artificer the most popular choice? I mean, it's not like she mucks around with magic items and potions all that much in canon, now does she? The one "potion" I recall her using was that hypnotic mushroom shu mai, and the only Amazon magic item that popped up was the Reversal Jewel, and she had no idea that was magical. Alright, there's also the Love Pill Bracelet, but Happosai was the one who stole and unearthed that, and still that's only two cases.

[Crescent Pulsar]

In the end those all fall under the manipulation of the mind, which, I believe, the fey are notorious/infamous for.