I'm not sure if the WitchDoctors would be considered wizards, thus meaning they don't fit into a school of magic. That'd be like asking what sort of medicine do they specialize in since they're doctors.

But it poses an odd question. If a WitchDoctor, who isn't a wizard, could possibly also be a Wizard and be trained in a certain school of magic. Not to mention, where do their powers come from.

I think that, in the spiral, there's a lot of realms that have been left to be explained and many magics we haven't learned of, and, as sly as the Swashbucklers are, I think the WitchDoctors have a couple of secrets up their sleeves.

1AthenaGirl1

Very interesting topic! Just to spur it on a bit more , I liked the lore found in Madame Vadima's Rogue's Gallery: https://www.pirate101.com/free_game/madame_vadima

I've looked at the Witchdoctor's magic in terms of being the polar opposite of balance magic; it takes bits from each school but deal them in a form of chaos rather than order. Death is hands-down the primary source, dealing with spirits, undead, and using health-stealing spells. Fire and storm are shown in some of a Witchdoctor's basic attacks, calling forth meteorites or channeling lightning from their staff, along with fire's influence in certain hexes that deal damage over time. Ice is shown in one spell, widow's touch, that essentially freezes their enemies and reduces their movement. Myth could be represented by the fact that Witchdoctors are the only class that can summon minions. Life is a difficult one to find, the only real traces of it are in the Privateer's healing spells. Shadow might have some influence in hoodoo, but I find it unlikely due to its notoriously high risk for backlash, and the astral schools are represented by all the class's buffing spells.

As far as the correlation with Witchdoctor magic and Wizard magic; it's said in Vadima's bio that she was expelled for research into black magic. It could be that hoodoo is a more primitive form of magic compared to the advanced spells of the Wizards, or maybe hoodoo is a different faction that focuses more dealing damage directly from the caster rather than through the summoning of magical creatures. Either way, it was probably banned in the wizarding community because it dealt with hexes, which can be possibly irreversible and can bring nasty results.