Alchemist

Whether secreted away in a smoky basement laboratory or gleefully experimenting in a well-respected school of magic, the alchemist is often regarded as being just as unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous as the concoctions he brews. While some creators of alchemical items content themselves with sedentary lives as merchants, providing tindertwigs and smokesticks, the true alchemist answers a deeper calling. Rather than cast magic like a spellcaster, the alchemist captures his own magic potential within liquids and extracts he creates, infusing his chemicals with virulent power to grant him impressive skill with poisons, explosives, and all manner of self-transformative magic.

The alchemist's reputation is not softened by his exuberance (some would say dangerous recklessness) in perfecting his magical extracts and potion-like creations, infusing these substances with magic siphoned from his aura and using his own body as experimental stock. Nor is it mollified by the alchemist's almost gleeful passion for building explosive bombs and discovering strange new poisons and methods for their use. These traits, while making him a liability and risk for most civilized organizations and institutions of higher learning, seem to fit quite well with most adventuring groups.

Alchemists in Azeroth work with herbs and other things to create potions, salves, draughts, and many other things. They even work with some minerals. Alchemists are normally regular, heroic citizens in the game. However, there are alchemists who do stuff behind the scenes in the computer MMO game that can be totally represented by this class.

Writer's Note
Alchemists play an integral part in the World of Azeroth. There is citizen Alchemy and then there is Heroic Alchemy -- if you think brewing potions that return humanity to humanoid wolves, or brewing potions that create giant sized monstrous orcs, or brewing a new plague is heroic.

Citizen Alchemy is expressed through just taking the Craft Alchemy skill and a number of feats to represent your character's progress in Alchemy (something that never has been tested). Heroic Alchemy is to be able to do the wierd, crazy stuff behind the scenes.