Contest Pathfinder Grab Bag Competition Chat Thread II: New Thread smell included! [Archive] - Page 2

gr8artist

2013-09-18, 03:37 AM

Current month entry reviews...
I. The Liberal Arts Major
First off, I love it. It's humorous, interesting, and I like to wrap my mind around it. It's really unique, and quite a massive undertaking. Some points...
1. What impact does GEP have at each increase? What's the point of saying the character is a "sophomore" or "junior"?
2. The bonus feats. Is there a list, or is it just "any feat"?
3. Scholarships are good, right? They reduce the cost of tuition and audits, and you don't have to pay them back?
4. No literature love? What about studio art, or sculpture, or interpretive dance?You've got a lot of course trees, but I would love to see more variety. (Don't get me wrong, you did a superb job. I'm just a little butt-hurt that my major isn't available, or my girlfriend's for that matter.)
5. Suppose someone got rage from the Frat Life and Sports Scholarship trees (I think a minor would give you rage as a barb = 1/2, 5/8 level). What happens? Same with other course trees that let you get class features that you could also get with minors.
6. We need more ways to increase effective student level. So much is dependent on it. Maybe correspondence classes or something, allowing you to multiclass away for a while without a loss in SL's.
Lastly, the nitpicking/troubleshooting...
A. Game Theory seems intrinsically bad, unless you have the math minor that lets you sub 5d4 for a d20. Intended?
B. Music Theory should say "any Perform" instead of "Perform (any)".
C. Music Theory and Music Theater give extracts. A copy/paste error, I believe.
D. Physiology is vague with the number of times its usable. Is the number listed total per day, total per target, or number of targets per day?
E. I think, though I'm not sure, that the Sports Scholarship tree allows for zig-zagging or skipping. I don't think that, as it's worded right now, a scholar is forced to choose the same sport he chose previously. I think it's possible to choose Football at first, then Soccer second, then Baseball third, without needing to take the 1st or 2nd level courses again.
F. Theurge, Gish, and the other multi-class emulating booster minors are kinda weak. It's a major class feature, and gives maybe +1 or +2 to your effective level in each class. If I were you, instead of the 1/2 > 5/8 > 7/10 progression, I'd go with 1/3 > 1/2 > 2/3 or something. Start weaker, and give a reason for choosing the boosters.
All in all: I love it. I'll admit it's the most complicated class I've ever seen. But it looks like it'd be loads of fun and the kind of thing you can really get into. I love the humor and style; you've set the bar really high on this one.
II. The Boomzerker
First off, bravo. I love what you've done here, and I love the idea of playing Brick from Borderlands, punching things into oblivion while blinded by the smoke and ashes that erupt from your iron-clad knuckles. You sir, get a cookie.:smallsigh: (we don't have a smiley that looks like a cookie)
1. I like a rage that doesn't kill you when it ends, but instead kills you while you're in it. With no temp HP, there's no penalty to exiting rage, and no sudden death if you get calmed down.
2. Wouldn't fire damage bypass his DR? And the explosion bypasses his own DR because that's how it's least beneficial for him.
3. Is he hurt by Blast?
4. How would attacking a square work with Charging Blast, and why would you want to? I assume the increased radius on charging blast is only the first attack after a charge; don't forget that barbs can get pounce (or a similar ability).
6. Can we get firebomb early if we get a fractional version? 1d6/5 levels or somesuch? Pleeeaasseee?
7. Shell-Shocked applies to damage dealt to you, right?
8. Rocket jump should be available only while raging, right?
9. You should add in some cross-bred powers. Something for barbs with a level of alchemist, for example, or who take rage powers that give them elemental damage. We could use more variety than standard explosions with every attack. Perhaps some extra damage if I smash your face in while I'm holding a flask of something?
10. If I attack an opponent and miss, is he subject to the splash? If I hit an opponent, is he subject to the splash AND the explosion on contact?
All in all, one of the most fun things I've ever seen in homebrew. I would love to run one in a non-serious campaign. One of my favorites ever, just add in a little more and make it on par with the other entries in this competition.
III. The Bad Dude
First off, I like the humor and tone. You went with the obvious choice of an action star accomplishing the impossible, and you did it well. I doubt that many could have pulled it off with the same flavor and character you did.
1. Will save progression?
2. I feel saddened that the monk gets deprived of his main feature. Maybe the damage of a 15th level monk? Or just a bunch of extra damage.
3. When using the Ki reroll, do you get to know the result of your roll before deciding to reroll or not? If I roll a 12, do I have to guess if that's good enough or do I know?
4. 10 ki points is a lot for a class that you can't get into with a ki-using base class. Consider swapping rage rounds out for ki points and vice-versa.The conversion is probably 1:1, since the rage is more useful but the ki is harder to come by.
5. Secret of Radness seems really really good. Consider using it as a 5th or 10th level character of that class, instead of maximum level? Just think about how sad the 20 rog/2 fighter will feel when you suddenly gain 10d6 sneak attack. (alternatively, you pick only from prestige classes, and get max as that prestige class would)
6. Art of the Bran-Do is really good, but I'm sensing that that's just a quality of the contest and an epic level class. It's solid, I think.
7. Guile's Theme mentions the target of your skill check? That's a typo, I assume.
8. What if the DM or someone else is rolling for you? Does Awesome Incarnate still keep you safe? I would change it to "as a result of your own actions" instead of "your own roll".
All in all, it's fun, but it's really hard to judge since it's meant for epic play. I know we're bending the rules for power balance, but it seems you bent them a lot further than expected. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, you've got a fun, flavorful, humorous, and well-rounded entry. I like it.
IV. The Talisman of Terror
Umm... It's my entry, so I can't say anything. Any critique would be appreciated.
I have the sample creature/item up: the Phylactery of Atrocitus. It was weird, trying to figure out the rules for an intelligent item, and then applying a creature template to them. I like it, but I don't want to vote for myself... We need more entries.

It's a tough one this month.

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-09-18, 07:13 AM

Since we need another them to replace the Mad Man -

Formless - centered around insubstantial creatures or copy cats, shape shifters and illusions.

zhdarkstar

2013-09-18, 04:19 PM

Current month entry reviews...
I. The Liberal Arts Major
First off, I love it. It's humorous, interesting, and I like to wrap my mind around it. It's really unique, and quite a massive undertaking. Some points...
1. What impact does GEP have at each increase? What's the point of saying the character is a "sophomore" or "junior"?

Originally, all courses were going to be categorized by GEP status. As I started making the 101-level courses, it became apparent to me that it was going to be hard to come up with exclusive courses. As it stands, the only courses linked to your GEP status are the Sports Scholarship tree. It actually is more reflective of the college experience as you sometimes have freshmen and seniors taking the same class because of their differing academic priorities.

2. The bonus feats. Is there a list, or is it just "any feat"?

Any feat. It's supposed to be reflective of the indecisive nature of the class.

3. Scholarships are good, right? They reduce the cost of tuition and audits, and you don't have to pay them back?

Correct. Again something that is reflective of real life as Sports-based scholarships trump Merit-based scholarships.

4. No literature love? What about studio art, or sculpture, or interpretive dance?You've got a lot of course trees, but I would love to see more variety. (Don't get me wrong, you did a superb job. I'm just a little butt-hurt that my major isn't available, or my girlfriend's for that matter.)

I still have the rest of the month to add those in. Although sometimes I run into redundancy issues, hence why basketball and hockey were dropped because they was already covered in part by the other sports. I do have a minor planned for the Frat Life tree, and a possible bonus for going Lambda Lambda Lambda. The main thing I wanted to get done was the core mechanic of the class: being a mini multiclass/gestalt subsystem.

5. Suppose someone got rage from the Frat Life and Sports Scholarship trees (I think a minor would give you rage as a barb = 1/2, 5/8 level). What happens? Same with other course trees that let you get class features that you could also get with minors.

The way that minors work is that every class feature granted by the qualifying classes is replaced by the real class features as per the emulated level. As for the stacking you mentioned, the stacking rules of Change Major would also apply so you would actually end up with a nice rage feature. However, the ultimate trick to optimization will be revealed below, which is the raw unleaded awesome that fuels the class.

6. We need more ways to increase effective student level. So much is dependent on it. Maybe correspondence classes or something, allowing you to multiclass away for a while without a loss in SL's.

If "Those That Came Before" gets picked for next month, I shall be deploying a PrC known as the Teaching Assistant that will continue to boost StL. Other than that, I can't think of any effective way outside of Change Major. I might include a caveat on Change Major that allows you to gain the benefits of Graduation once you hit character level 20, even if your StL won't be at 20.

Lastly, the nitpicking/troubleshooting...
A. Game Theory seems intrinsically bad, unless you have the math minor that lets you sub 5d4 for a d20. Intended?

Game Theory is about changing the probability of the d% and the Math minor is supposed to take that to another level.

B. Music Theory should say "any Perform" instead of "Perform (any)".
C. Music Theory and Music Theater give extracts. A copy/paste error, I believe.
D. Physiology is vague with the number of times its usable. Is the number listed total per day, total per target, or number of targets per day?

Fixed and clarified.

E. I think, though I'm not sure, that the Sports Scholarship tree allows for zig-zagging or skipping. I don't think that, as it's worded right now, a scholar is forced to choose the same sport he chose previously. I think it's possible to choose Football at first, then Soccer second, then Baseball third, without needing to take the 1st or 2nd level courses again.

It's not possible, but I did add in a bit on SS(F) to define the chosen sport as "your sport played" though for the rest of the tree.

F. Theurge, Gish, and the other multi-class emulating booster minors are kinda weak. It's a major class feature, and gives maybe +1 or +2 to your effective level in each class. If I were you, instead of the 1/2 > 5/8 > 7/10 progression, I'd go with 1/3 > 1/2 > 2/3 or something. Start weaker, and give a reason for choosing the boosters.

The multiclass minors were tricky to come up with in terms of balance for emulated class level. The thing to remember is that the only class features not granted are those that are explicitly listed in the opening paragraph. That's means that you gain bonus feats according to emulated class level and is the reason why Fighter is always an option for Going Pro. The way the minors stack and build off each other is why Ranger and Paladin are treated more as caster classes rather than martial classes. You can get the most bang for your buck there.

So here's the optimization trick I talked about earlier: The Jock Recruit archetype can take enough courses via maxing out Extra Audit to end up with 7 minors and the following emulated class levels at Graduation: 12 Marital A/14 Martial B/14 Caster A/12 Caster B. 52 emulated class levels for 20 character levels.

All in all: I love it. I'll admit it's the most complicated class I've ever seen. But it looks like it'd be loads of fun and the kind of thing you can really get into. I love the humor and style; you've set the bar really high on this one.

Thank you so much for the kind words. This is a class that has been tossed around my mind ever since Liberal Arts was a suggested theme many many moons ago. When I saw Rule #1 this time around, I knew this was a good opportunity to give this class life. This was written mostly as an exercise in class-building for a possible full role-playing system based on my friend's book series (http://www.amazon.com/Kinetic-First-Alliance-Herro-Raymond/dp/1475950012).

So the LAM was built as a "skeleton" class by deconstructing the OGL classes by their some of their main class features and translating them into the thematically appropriate courses. I did have trouble coming up with something for the martial classes outside of sports. Sneak attack is the only thing I could find an appropriate course for, and it was mostly to give the alchemist minors different options for qualifying by taking archetypes into consideration during course design.

This is definitely a class that is meant more to be played with other LAM as there is potential for balance issues otherwise. Welcome to Badass Academy of Badass Studies!

malonkey1

2013-09-18, 06:27 PM

Current month entry reviews...
III. The Bad Dude
First off, I like the humor and tone. You went with the obvious choice of an action star accomplishing the impossible, and you did it well. I doubt that many could have pulled it off with the same flavor and character you did.

1. Will save progression?

Uh... Oops. Fixing.

2. I feel saddened that the monk gets deprived of his main feature. Maybe the damage of a 15th level monk? Or just a bunch of extra damage.

You make a good point. I would go so far as to cut it down to 10th-level unarmed strike, but stacking with Monk levels for it.

3. When using the Ki reroll, do you get to know the result of your roll before deciding to reroll or not? If I roll a 12, do I have to guess if that's good enough or do I know?

It should be after rolling, before revealing success/failure. I will clarify that.

4. 10 ki points is a lot for a class that you can't get into with a ki-using base class. Consider swapping rage rounds out for ki points and vice-versa. The conversion is probably 1:1, since the rage is more useful but the ki is harder to come by.

That's a good idea. I think I'll use that.

5. Secret of Radness seems really really good. Consider using it as a 5th or 10th level character of that class, instead of maximum level? Just think about how sad the 20 rog/2 fighter will feel when you suddenly gain 10d6 sneak attack. (alternatively, you pick only from prestige classes, and get max as that prestige class would)

Yeah, you have a point. I'll make the cap 10th-level.

6. Art of the Bran-Do is really good, but I'm sensing that that's just a quality of the contest and an epic level class. It's solid, I think.

Good to hear

7. Guile's Theme mentions the target of your skill check? That's a typo, I assume.

Yup. Yup yup yup.

8. What if the DM or someone else is rolling for you? Does Awesome Incarnate still keep you safe? I would change it to "as a result of your own actions" instead of "your own roll".

Well, I suppose that could be done...It might be abusable, but I think we're past the Rubicon on that.

All in all, it's fun, but it's really hard to judge since it's meant for epic play. I know we're bending the rules for power balance, but it seems you bent them a lot further than expected. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, you've got a fun, flavorful, humorous, and well-rounded entry. I like it.

It's a tough one this month.

Thanks for the critique, and I'm glad you liked it. I guess I really got some inspiration this time round!

zhdarkstar

2013-09-18, 08:54 PM

I added a new course (School Mascot as scholarship/bonus to wild shape/eidolon/mount/animal companion), expanded an existing course (Genetics for druids), and added two more minors (Party Liaison and Gentleman & Scholar) for the frat life tree.

This additional emulated class level booster now puts the current max emu level at 16 in a triple class build of 12 A/14 B/16 C.

EDIT: Scratch that, I just realized that a Cha-caster build can go 12/16/16/12. All things considered, I'm okay with that. Lord Van Wilder was one of the most powerful Liberal Arts Majors of all time...

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-19, 05:29 PM

Sorry, had to deal with a Macroeconomics session from Hell this evening and I've left my professor quite the disgruntled email in his mail box.

Let me go take a look at the votes...

Edit:

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|6
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|4
Fire and Brimstone|The Lower Planes|1
If it has a Name it's Important!|Build-a-NPC|3
Rhythm Revolution|Combos and Rhythms|4
That's All Folks!|Cartoon Physics|2
Plato's Pride|Platonic Solids |2
Monster Master|Monster collection games|5
Now You See Me...|Performance Magic/Prestidigitation|5
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|5
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|4
Mix and Match|Fusing of old concepts into something new|4
Root of all evil|Money, greed and gambling|2
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|4
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|4

[/table]

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|0
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|0
Monster Master|Monster collection games|0
Now You See Me...|Performance Magic/Prestidigitation|0
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|0
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|0
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|0
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|0

[/table]

Pity to see the NPC one go, but we still have the MacGuffin and there's always December. Since we had a six way tie for the last four slots, I had to roll a d6 to determine who got dropped and Mix and Match and Rhythm Revolution were our unfortunate causalities.

You get 4 votes for this next round and it closes at 11:59 pm EST on the 21st!

malonkey1

2013-09-19, 08:31 PM

Mythic Journey
We Built This City
Those That Came Before
MacGuffin

zhdarkstar

2013-09-19, 08:41 PM

The Mythic Journey
Those That Came Before
Third Law
The Road Less Traveled

SamBurke

2013-09-19, 11:16 PM

-MacGuffin
-Third Law
-Now You See Me
-Mythic Journey

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-09-20, 06:51 AM

We Built this City
Monster Master
Now You See Me
MacGuffin

gr8artist

2013-09-20, 02:31 PM

We Built this City
Monster Master
Road Less Traveled
Those that Came Before

Edit: Regarding the LAM (http://static.fjcdn.com/large/pictures/4e/88/4e8884_4798444.jpg)and Game Theory ~
1d5 x 1d20 averages out to 3 x 10.5 or about 32. With the other ability to change d20 to 2d10 or 5d4, you get 3 x 11 or 3 x 12.5 which isn't much better. So, nothing really improves the math roll tree. It centralizes the d20 checks, but then the odds of getting anything good drastically drop when using the d20 (centralized or not) and multiplying it by 1d5 in place of a normal d100. For example, consider this; there are multiple ways to get low results (as you can roll low numbers on both dice), but few ways to get high results (which require decent numbers on the 20, and high numbers on the 5).
Also, College Algebra might as well say it gives a bonus equal to your Int - 10, without all the rolling. 1d100 x 1 will only fail like 10% of the time. And that's a level 2. As your level increases, it becomes almost impossible to not get max bonus. And Statistics blows everything away, multiplying the CA bonus by an average of 50.
I'm beginning to assume you meant 1-100% instead of 1-100 when you write d%. I was under the impression that d% was just shorthand for (1d10x10)+1d10, or the 1-100 dice. To indicate that you want a percentage, it should be 1d%/100, I think.
(Edit edit: checked wikipedia; d% is commonly used to indicate integers from 1 to 100, not percentages)

Ilorin Lorati

2013-09-20, 02:58 PM

The Mythic Journey
Now You See Me...
Those That Came Before
Third Law

zhdarkstar

2013-09-20, 09:33 PM

Edit: Regarding the LAM (http://static.fjcdn.com/large/pictures/4e/88/4e8884_4798444.jpg)and Game Theory ~
1d5 x 1d20 averages out to 3 x 10.5 or about 32. With the other ability to change d20 to 2d10 or 5d4, you get 3 x 11 or 3 x 12.5 which isn't much better. So, nothing really improves the math roll tree. It centralizes the d20 checks, but then the odds of getting anything good drastically drop when using the d20 (centralized or not) and multiplying it by 1d5 in place of a normal d100. For example, consider this; there are multiple ways to get low results (as you can roll low numbers on both dice), but few ways to get high results (which require decent numbers on the 20, and high numbers on the 5).
Also, College Algebra might as well say it gives a bonus equal to your Int - 10, without all the rolling. 1d100 x 1 will only fail like 10% of the time. And that's a level 2. As your level increases, it becomes almost impossible to not get max bonus. And Statistics blows everything away, multiplying the CA bonus by an average of 50.
I'm beginning to assume you meant 1-100% instead of 1-100 when you write d%. I was under the impression that d% was just shorthand for (1d10x10)+1d10, or the 1-100 dice. To indicate that you want a percentage, it should be 1d%/100, I think.
(Edit edit: checked wikipedia; d% is commonly used to indicate integers from 1 to 100, not percentages)

Fixed the notation errors to the correct format and added an extra bonus to the Math minor to take advantage of the centralized rolls.

EDIT: As for why it isn't just a simple X - Y bonus is that this ability is as much of a thematically appropriate joke as it is a bonus. I also added a far simpler to calculate but far less potent version for those who dumped Int.

DawnbringerSO

2013-09-21, 06:52 AM

Third Law
We built this city
MacGuffin
The road less travelled

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-21, 07:46 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|4
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|4
Monster Master|Monster collection games|2
Now You See Me...|Performance Magic/Prestidigitation|3
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|4
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|3
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|4
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|4

[/table]

Votes tallied to here.

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-22, 12:10 AM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|0
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|0
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|0
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|0

[/table]

And we're on the next round! Two votes this time and voting remains open till 11:59 pm EST on the 24th.

gr8artist

2013-09-22, 02:42 AM

We Built This City
The Road Less Travelled

zhdarkstar

2013-09-22, 07:12 AM

Those That Came Before
The Road Less Traveled

Razanir

2013-09-22, 08:33 AM

MacGuffin
We Built This City

malonkey1

2013-09-22, 08:34 AM

Those That Came Before
MacGuffin

Ilorin Lorati

2013-09-22, 11:51 AM

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
Those That Came Before

SamBurke

2013-09-23, 09:43 AM

McGuffin
Those that Came Before

Thunderfist12

2013-09-23, 12:59 PM

We Built This City
Road Less Traveled

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-09-23, 02:52 PM

We Built This City
MacGuffin

SassyQuatch

2013-09-23, 03:40 PM

We Built This City
The Road Less Travelled

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-23, 07:21 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|6
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|4
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|4
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|4

[/table]

Votes tallied to here.

Edit:

I also finally got a chance (and the memory) to close the last voting thread. :smallredface:

Congratulations to those who placed and hopefully I'll find some time this week to do the trophies (this week is crazy busy).

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-24, 08:46 AM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|0
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|0

[/table]

The Dice Gods decideth that past round!

We are now down to the final voting folks, with one vote each! I'll close this at 11:59 p.m. on the 26th and declare our winner!

malonkey1

2013-09-24, 09:45 AM

Those that Came Before

Razanir

2013-09-24, 10:59 AM

We Built This City

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-09-24, 12:12 PM

:smallfrown::smallsigh: We built this city

3WhiteFox3

2013-09-24, 12:48 PM

We built this city.

SamBurke

2013-09-24, 01:07 PM

Those that Came Before

SassyQuatch

2013-09-24, 01:39 PM

We Built This City

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-25, 09:46 AM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|4
Those That Came Before|Based on previous entries|2

[/table]

Votes tallied to here.

And sorry Wombat; there's always December.

zhdarkstar

2013-09-25, 04:30 PM

Those That Came Before

gr8artist

2013-09-26, 02:08 PM

I can't really decide. I would lean toward "those that came before", but my girlfriend would like "we built this city" (I'm trying to get her into this contest).
I'll vote for Those That Came Before, and let her vote as she may.

also, any opinions on the Talisman of Terror, or the sample item I made?

Ilorin Lorati

2013-09-27, 12:17 AM

Those That Came Before

Thunderfist12

2013-09-27, 02:14 PM

We Built This City

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-28, 07:37 PM

Looks like Those that Came Before is our new theme. :smallbiggrin:

caledscratcher

2013-09-30, 01:33 AM

SamBurke

2013-09-30, 11:37 AM

Looks like Those that Came Before is our new theme. :smallbiggrin:

Can't wait to see the rules on it... I'm a little fuzzy on what's legal.

gr8artist

2013-09-30, 05:24 PM

Tanuki Tales

2013-09-30, 05:27 PM

Hey, I don't see it mentioned in the rules, but is it alright to make an archetype for the base class you submitted and put it in a second post? Further, is it acceptable to include feats that complement the class? I know it's one entry/participant, I just wondered if it would count as the same entry or as a separate one.

I believe that I've let this happen before; I think Milo and Sam have both did entries in that vein.

Edit:

And I feel bad for being so busy this month, taking a look at the contest as it is right now. We've got three incomplete entries, two of which are from folks I know can make awesome stuff. :smallfrown:

DawnbringerSO

2013-09-30, 07:06 PM

I only just managed to enter mine right at the last minute

xammux

2013-10-01, 01:23 AM

I just entered a complete entry, technically about an hour after the end date. I apologize that it is so late but I just had the idea about five days ago and have been working like mad around my schedule to get it finished. At this point I had to post it even if it's disqualified just because of the work I put into it. Some parts I'm rather unhappy with, particularly the capstone, but overall it does basically what I wanted it to. Feel free to look at it and ask me questions/critique my work.

A couple questions on the next theme, would multiple archetypes for a single class work as a single entry or would it count as multiple entries? The conversation thus far seems to support that idea but I want to be sure just in case. Also, could one do a complete overhaul/improvement of something they have done before or would that be considered using previously posted work?

gr8artist

2013-10-01, 01:45 PM

Reviews: Get 'em before the thread is closed.

Badass
1. Bully mentions the Cad. Copy paste error there.
2. Humiliate seems a little weak. The effect is marginally better than a normal intimidate check, and it eats up armor training? No thanks.
3. Frightful Presence is good in theory, but not so much in execution. Why would someone make a will save against the BA? It only serves to make them more susceptible to Frightful Presence in the future. And casters, the ones that will predominantly be catching BA's in hostile AoE's won't be making attack and damage rolls anyway.
4. Cruelty is nice, but it needs a name that wouldn't get confused with Antipaladins.
All in all: Not bad. It's an interesting change, but seems a little bland compared to what we're allowed to get away with in this month's competition. If you have the time to make some improvements, I'd recommend it.

Titan Toppler

Why does a Titan Toppler adventure? Why don't you just ask why the sky is blue, or why the good die young or some other inane question? What else would a brutally powerful warrior do with giant weapons and world rending strength? - This made my day. Thank you.
1. Titan Toppling. If I am small, can I use a large dagger to trip medium and large sized creatures with? Does the bonus to tripping large creatures apply when I consider myself to be larger than I am, and equal in size to the creature I'm tripping? (Human w/ large longsword tripping a large creature is considered large. Does he lose the TT bonus?)
2. Effortless effort is so broken, but by the time it would get problematic, you'd have BoH's anyway. Does this increase the size and weight of single items they can carry, maximum load and all? If I'm small, with +3 changes, then I'm considered huge, which drastically multiplies my capacity. I could likely carry a large sized mermaid, and would look quite ridiculous (http://th09.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/344/3/2/lol_comic_1_by_lukebm-d5nos7c.png) while doing so.
3. I like Weapon Deflection. I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't be a thing.
4. More DR than a barbarian? and an ending strength higher than rage? You are treading on scary ground, good sir. Consider making it +1 adjustments... I always find it weird that ability score increases seem to only come in even number increments.
5. Weapon technique is awesome. He needs to be able to change his decision, or learn additional benefits as he levels. Please?
6. IUD at 5th level is a bit too early for me. You've got a bunch of good stuff here, feel free to postpone IUD till later. Also, bold it.
7. Grip of Giants... This allows a small character (3 feet tall) to wield huge sized 2-handers (approx 16 feet) in two hands at 18th level :smallbiggrin:. What about other abilities that increase effective wielding size, like the Titan Mauler barbarian? Do they stack?
8. Mix the two 7th level abilities together into one, for simplicity.
9. Unstoppable hits does some weird things if you're not using the largest weapon available to you. Consider making it constant as long as they're wielding any weapon of size X or larger. (-2 AC for large, -4 for huge, -6 for gargantuan, etc.) Because currently, using a huge weapon instead of a gargantuan one means you don't get any armor pen, which is stupid because you had armor pen with huge weapons before.
10. Mechanically, ignoring a portion of AC might as well be phrased as a bonus to attack rolls, which sounds a whole lot less cool. Consider letting it bypass DR, or deal some small damage to armor and shields struck. So, after hitting the enemy so many times, their armor might get sundered.
11. Weapon sweep just takes a giant steaming dump all over Titan's Reach and Grip Shift. It increases the range, and allows you to hit everyone, without worrying about the pockets that are too close to be hit. Also, consider just giving them whirlwind attack as a bonus feat. Or delaying this for a few levels. Your class is very front-loaded.
12. I don't know of many players who bother to keep track of tight spaces like those described in Carve Through Obstacles.
13. Enhanced aspect allows me to give my scythe an 18-20 crit range, or my falchion a x4 crit. Was that intended? Because if so, I'm running a keen, 15-20 x4 falchion on this guy, like a boss.
14. I love the capstone for flavor. And, it's not overpowered, since a wizard could do it more than once per day.
All in all: I like it. I think it needs some small tweaking, but it's definitely a fun start.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-01, 03:12 PM

I've got stuff to do, so I'm going to overlook any discrepancies until I get the new thread posted and officially close the last one.

*cough*

Now no one heard me say that.

malonkey1

2013-10-01, 03:58 PM

...Silence

*cough*

Now no one heard me say that.

Heard you say what?

SamBurke

2013-10-01, 05:37 PM

Heard you say what?
Buttering him up, are we?

caledscratcher

2013-10-01, 07:11 PM

Review: The Aegis Mechanic

1. What type of shield do they get? Do they still have the armor check penalty from their 1 lb shield? What about spell failure?
2. The 2nd/every 4th level and the 4th/every 4th level bonuses stack, as currently written. So, at level 1 it's +0 self/+0 ally, at level 2 it's +2/+2, at level 4 it's +2/+3, at level 6 it's +4/+5, at level 8 it's +4/+6, etc. It protects the ally better than yourself. Is that intended?
3. You have two abilities that, when combined, grant 1.5 x class level to perception, with an additional +4 over every 5 levels. Seems redundant. Total perception growth is +0/+3/+4/+8/+11/+13/+14/+16/+19/+23 over the first 10 levels, and +46 at level 20. Why not just make it 2x class level and call it good?
4. Would wearing adamantine armor give the mechanic 3 extra points of DR to give to her team-mates with "your body is just like mine"? I don't see any reason why not.
5. Nothing about mechanics other than the collapsing shield. And, frankly, seems rather passive. Everything they have is awareness, DR, AC, and sharing defense bonuses with allies.
All in all, it's an interesting class, just needs more stuff to be able to do in a battle. And you need to work on a few of the mechanical bonuses.

1. Any kind of shield they desire, I probably should've put that in. It functions exactly as the normal shield, except for the weight.
2. They're supposed to be more supportive, so it's intentional.
3. Well, they'd apply in different circumstances separately, so I figured I'd make it a bit more than class level for each, in its final state.
4. That's absolutely fine.
5. They are rather passive, but they do have bonuses in other fields for their every-three-levels methods of steel.
Total: Yeah, I knew I'd have to spruce it up eventually. Unfortunately, I fell asleep right after school yesterday, so that didn't happen before the deadline. I know I probably won't win, I'm just proud that I managed to succeed on finishing it at all, given that I started 9 hours before posting it.

xammux

2013-10-02, 08:05 AM

Thanks a lot for your super quick and useful review gr8artist! Below is my overly wordy responses to your review.

Why does a Titan Toppler adventure? Why don't you just ask why the sky is blue, or why the good die young or some other inane question? What else would a brutally powerful warrior do with giant weapons and world rending strength?

- This made my day. Thank you.

Me making your day made mine, and you wrote an awesome review, so we're even.

1. Titan Toppling. If I am small, can I use a large dagger to trip medium and large sized creatures with? Does the bonus to tripping large creatures apply when I consider myself to be larger than I am, and equal in size to the creature I'm tripping? (Human w/ large longsword tripping a large creature is considered large. Does he lose the TT bonus?)

When I refer to the weapon size category, realize that a light weapon (like a dagger) is two size categories lower that the creature size designed to wield it. A one-handed weapon is relatively one size category smaller and a two-handed weapon is roughly equal in size. The size of the weapon is what i refer to in any of these abilities. So a dagger designed for a large creature is small sized and would not increase your ability to trip anyone. overall the class was designed to exalt the biggest weapons someone can wield rather than to wield daggers what would look like regular if poorly designed swords

As for your second question the answer is that as long as your current size category in general is smaller than your opponent, you get the TT bonus. So in your example your character would indeed retain his TT bonus while still getting the size bonus. If he then had the mage cast enlarge person on him, he would lose the TT bonus against the large opponent. It isn't really toppling a titan if you're picking on someone your own size is it?

Any tips on how to change the wording to clarify these issues?

2. Effortless effort is so broken, but by the time it would get problematic, you'd have BoH's anyway. Does this increase the size and weight of single items they can carry, maximum load and all? If I'm small, with +3 changes, then I'm considered huge, which drastically multiplies my capacity. I could likely carry a large sized mermaid, and would look quite ridiculous while doing so.

Bags of holding are exactly why I didn't think this ability was truly overpowered. The entire reason I created this ability was for the idea of carrying around truly absurd things and impressing/confusing/scaring the heck out of random people.

3. I like Weapon Deflection. I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't be a thing.

Thank you, I thought it was very thematically appropriate considering how one usually sees giant weapons used.

4. More DR than a barbarian? and an ending strength higher than rage? You are treading on scary ground, good sir. Consider making it +1 adjustments... I always find it weird that ability score increases seem to only come in even number increments.

I honestly don't think the DR is really an issue as it's only a little better, the invulnerable rager and using the increased DR and other certain rage powers blow it out of the water.

As to the strength increase being bigger than rage, barbarians get greater rage at 11th that increases their strength and con bonus to +6 and mighty rage at 20th that increases it to +8. On top of that, there's also the con bonus and will save bonus to consider. That's not even considering the terrifying stuff from rage powers and rage cycling. Overall I don't think the strength bonus is particularly overpowered considering.

Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, but for now it will remain as is. If I overhaul the class, this will be one of the first abilities replaced or refined anyway as it's kind of generic.

5. Weapon technique is awesome. He needs to be able to change his decision, or learn additional benefits as he levels. Please?

As originally in my notes, I had him gaining this thing twice, with Enhanced Aspect as the third level of this, and also had plans for a sort of "retraining" to switch aspects but ran out of time and wasn't quite sure where to put it. I'll see what I can do.

6. IUD at 5th level is a bit too early for me. You've got a bunch of good stuff here, feel free to postpone IUD till later. Also, bold it.

Thank you for catching this, I put this in the wrong place. It's supposed to be at 10th according to my notes. Probably also why I forgot to bold it.

7. Grip of Giants... This allows a small character (3 feet tall) to wield huge sized 2-handers (approx 16 feet) in two hands at 18th level . What about other abilities that increase effective wielding size, like the Titan Mauler barbarian? Do they stack?

That first part is absolutely correct, absurdity like that is the whole point of this class.

I don't know about errata, but as written the Titan Mauler archetype does not allow you to wield larger than normal weapons as this class does, though that was clearly the intent of the ability.

If your GM allows the archetype ability to work as intended then it stacks only when the size penalty for an oversized weapon (-2) is completely negated by the Titan Mauler ability (e.g. a Titan Toppler 6/Titan Mauler 6 would be capable of wielding weapons two size categories above their own, but a Titan Toppler 6/Titan Mauler 5 would still be restricted to weapons only one size category bigger, at least in regard to the benefit of grip of giants.)

8. Mix the two 7th level abilities together into one, for simplicity.

You're right on this, the only reason they aren't is because Grip Shift came as a later expansion to Titan's Reach that I wrote on a separate document and only added last minute.

9. Unstoppable hits does some weird things if you're not using the largest weapon available to you. Consider making it constant as long as they're wielding any weapon of size X or larger. (-2 AC for large, -4 for huge, -6 for gargantuan, etc.) Because currently, using a huge weapon instead of a gargantuan one means you don't get any armor pen, which is stupid because you had armor pen with huge weapons before.

Your suggestion is basically what I was trying for, I think I shall make it like that instead, it is stupid now that I think about it.

10. Mechanically, ignoring a portion of AC might as well be phrased as a bonus to attack rolls, which sounds a whole lot less cool. Consider letting it bypass DR, or deal some small damage to armor and shields struck. So, after hitting the enemy so many times, their armor might get sundered.

Realize that it really isn't the same as just adding to attack rolls because some opponents, particularly monks, may not have an armor/shield/natural armor bonus to subtract from, and thus the ability is not increasing your ability to hit them at all. I thought of adding a DR bypassing effect instead, but some DR is described as healing instantly and the Titan Toppler already gets a lot of damage to go through DR because of the over sized weapons. I thought of of adding powerful auto sundering effects to this class because they make sense, but most players would very quickly come to hate it as you are basically breaking money, so I didn't do that either.

11. Weapon sweep just takes a giant steaming dump all over Titan's Reach and Grip Shift. It increases the range, and allows you to hit everyone, without worrying about the pockets that are too close to be hit. Also, consider just giving them whirlwind attack as a bonus feat. Or delaying this for a few levels. Your class is very front-loaded.

You are right again, I think I'll just make it like whirlwind attack, noting that it is effected by Titan's Reach/Grip Shift reach changes and thus working with them instead of overpowering them.

As to the class being front-loaded, some of the abilities I had in mind for higher levels got thrown out because they didn't make sense thematically and others got left out because of complexity and time constraints. I don't know how much time I'll have to really work on this class for now.

12. I don't know of many players who bother to keep track of tight spaces like those described in Carve Through Obstacles.

I only included it because my main DM for a three year period was a psychotic rules lawyer who wouldn't even let the fighter swing his greatsword in some dungeon corridors. It is fine for the purpose of at least giving some credence for their ability to do so while being "balanced" enough to hopefully satisfy any rules lawyer, as well as hopefully adding a little awesome for the concept. You are right though, most really won't keep track of that, so it's just a kind of add on.

13. Enhanced aspect allows me to give my scythe an 18-20 crit range, or my falchion a x4 crit. Was that intended? Because if so, I'm running a keen, 15-20 x4 falchion on this guy, like a boss.

That is what was intended, with the background of it being to encourage exactly what you are describing, weapon use of something other than the greatsword, greataxe, lucerne hammer and earthbreaker. I agree that it is extremely powerful, but it's a 16th level ability and wizards and clerics get 9th level spells 1 level after, so I don't really know how balanced or unbalanced it is. Is there any way you would suggest balancing it.

14. I love the capstone for flavor. And, it's not overpowered, since a wizard could do it more than once per day.

Yeah, I never thought it was unbalanced, I just don't feel it necessarily encompasses the true epicness I wanted, like something is missing.

All in all: I like it. I think it needs some small tweaking, but it's definitely a fun start.

I'm not sure how much I can implement in time but if I can get the go ahead for the What Came Before theme, I have an awesome idea for a complete overhaul of this class that would would give it way more options in the nature of different types of Titan Toppler, kind of like how the ranger has different combat styles while still keeping the option to play it basically as it is now. This would also make the class more in line with the staple of Pathfinder classes, versatility. I haven't really hammered out the idea yet but I think it would be awesome.

gr8artist

2013-10-02, 01:06 PM

Glad to help, guys. :)

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-02, 03:03 PM

Well, the last contest is closed, the voting thread is up and the new one has been posted!

Edit:

@Zhdarkstar: Making a PrC for your last entry? :smallwink:

DawnbringerSO

2013-10-02, 04:04 PM

[QUOTE=gr8artist;16135449]Reviews: Get 'em before the thread is closed.

Badass
1. Bully mentions the Cad. Copy paste error there.
2. Humiliate seems a little weak. The effect is marginally better than a normal intimidate check, and it eats up armor training? No thanks.
3. Frightful Presence is good in theory, but not so much in execution. Why would someone make a will save against the BA? It only serves to make them more susceptible to Frightful Presence in the future. And casters, the ones that will predominantly be catching BA's in hostile AoE's won't be making attack and damage rolls anyway.
4. Cruelty is nice, but it needs a name that wouldn't get confused with Antipaladins.
All in all: Not bad. It's an interesting change, but seems a little bland compared to what we're allowed to get away with in this month's competition. If you have the time to make some improvements, I'd recommend it.

Thanks!

1. Fixed.

2. I've changed it to temporary wisdom damage to reflect making stupid decisions by being humiliated.

3. I think I've fixed that problem by having a caster act as if he has spell resistance if they fail the save. And on the contrary, if they use something like fireball, their damage roll is reduced. And heck, evards black tentacles loses much of its power.

4. How is serious cruelty for you? :P

5. Thanks a lot. It might seem a little bland, but I couldn't think of anything for the duration of the entire contest, and I only thought of that the day before it ended. So not a bad days work, I'd say.

zhdarkstar

2013-10-02, 05:55 PM

Well, the last contest is closed, the voting thread is up and the new one has been posted!

Edit:

@Zhdarkstar: Making a PrC for your last entry? :smallwink:

I said I was going to if Those That Came Before won... :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: And the core class mechanics are about 90% complete. Just need to come up with a buffet of fringe benefits. Let me know what you guys think about the variable approach of tying HD/BAB/Saves/Skills to the emulated prestige class instead of a flat progression regardless of emulated prestige class.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-05, 07:07 PM

And the link I missed is now on the first post. :smalltongue:

You know, I can't wait for the day that we have enough material for a campaign to be run solely with entries. :smallbiggrin:

Edit:

The archive has also been updated to before the last two contests. @.@

Ilorin Lorati

2013-10-06, 04:52 PM

You know, I can't wait for the day that we have enough material for a campaign to be run solely with entries. :smallbiggrin:

I'm pretty sure that there are enough base classes and PrCs to do at least player content entirely from here.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-06, 07:16 PM

I'm pretty sure that there are enough base classes and PrCs to do at least player content entirely from here.

But do we have enough races and monsters for a completely unique ecology?

DawnbringerSO

2013-10-07, 06:37 AM

But do we have enough races and monsters for a completely unique ecology?

Well we have a lot of races, and I am going to be submitting another.

As for monsters, people don't usually make monsters.

In which case, I propose that next month, the contest should be to design a set (at least 3+) of creatures based around a particular theme. Doesn't matter what theme, any theme of the creators choice, but all the creatures must be related in some way.

malonkey1

2013-10-07, 08:48 AM

Well we have a lot of races, and I am going to be submitting another.

As for monsters, people don't usually make monsters.

In which case, I propose that next month, the contest should be to design a set (at least 3+) of creatures based around a particular theme. Doesn't matter what theme, any theme of the creators choice, but all the creatures must be related in some way.

That sounds like it should be a completely separate contest.

gr8artist

2013-10-07, 09:40 AM

Next month is Dr. Who, don't forget.
I might try and make a monster for this month's competition. Archetypes and prestige classes seem a little too easy.
Can we use someone else's submission as the idea, instead of our own?

SamBurke

2013-10-07, 09:42 AM

Ilorin Lorati

2013-10-07, 09:51 AM

That should be legal, right?

It would have to be if there were to be new people this month.

SamBurke

2013-10-07, 11:13 AM

It would have to be if there were to be new people this month.

That's a great point, actually. Which one were you going to add to, out of curiosity?

malonkey1

2013-10-07, 12:55 PM

I still have dibs on Cybermen. I was thinking of making it a template instead of a standalone monster. An inherited template, obviously.

Razanir

2013-10-07, 01:06 PM

I have an idea for next month... A prestige class themed around the Doctor's companions.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-07, 01:06 PM

That sounds like it should be a completely separate contest.

Why?

We've done something like that before for "A Day in the Life". And we were just voting on a month to be about making an NPC or making an entire quest line around a Macguffin.

The whole point of this contest is to be fluid and to be about Pathfinder material in general. This usually takes the form of allowing all types of material to be submitted alongside each other, but if enough people want to do a contest concerning something like "a theme is selected and you make three monsters around it", then we'll do it.

Next month is Dr. Who, don't forget.
I might try and make a monster for this month's competition. Archetypes and prestige classes seem a little too easy.
Can we use someone else's submission as the idea, instead of our own?

That...was the idea for this month. :smallconfused:

As long as you give proper credit and remove/submitted a new entry if asked to by the original homebrewer, there's nothing standing in your way.

Edit:

Also, if you haven't voted yet guys, please do so.

Razanir

2013-10-07, 07:21 PM

Balance question as I prepare for next month's contest: How reasonable would it be to give sending as an at-will SLA? (At about CL 7-8)

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-07, 07:27 PM

Balance question as I prepare for next month's contest: How reasonable would it be to give sending as an at-will SLA? (At about CL 7-8)

Sounds fine to me.

Razanir

2013-10-07, 10:41 PM

Sounds fine to me.

Okay.

Oh, and no one needs to feel bad next month if they reference the same stuff as me. My PrC will have a lot of fun references. Including, but not limited to, the superphone, the squareness gun, and the Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-08, 08:27 PM

So...what's everyone's plans for their entries this month?

malonkey1

2013-10-08, 08:50 PM

So...what's everyone's plans for their entries this month?

To be honest, I'm skipping this one. The past entries really didn't inspire me much.

Razanir

2013-10-08, 08:59 PM

So...what's everyone's plans for their entries this month?

Yeah... I'm mostly working ahead on next month's entry. I might whip up an archetype or alternate class for the Liberal Arts Major, though. Say hello to the Science Major :smalltongue:

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-08, 09:29 PM

Why did you guys vote for this theme if you didn't actually want it.... :smallsigh:

Milo v3

2013-10-08, 09:35 PM

Finally posting the Kindred, and making it a monster rather than race so this has a few more monsters.

Hopefully life wont screw up again so I can actually finish an extry :smalltongue:

malonkey1

2013-10-08, 09:47 PM

Why did you guys vote for this theme if you didn't actually want it.... :smallsigh:

Because the ones I actually wanted were voted out.

zhdarkstar

2013-10-09, 12:11 AM

Yeah... I'm mostly working ahead on next month's entry. I might whip up an archetype or alternate class for the Liberal Arts Major, though. Say hello to the Science Major :smalltongue:

You have my full blessing and gratitude to do so. The LAM was born completely out of a joke, and yet I'm so glad that you guys have thoroughly enjoyed the end result. Since I'm not much of a Whovian, I'm probably going to spend some of November coming up with courses to patch other homebrew base classes into the course/minor system--with authors' permissions, of course. I apply the same principles to expansion of the class as those of the South Harmon Institute of Technology from Accepted: we teach what you want to learn. All you have to do is write the name of the course you want to take on the whiteboard... :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: I already know exactly which homebrew class is the first one to get the treatment. I don't care if it's entirely predictable based on my previous work. Coming up with a Sentai tie-in is just so thematically appropriate that I would be doing the LAM a disservice by not including one.

malonkey1

2013-10-09, 08:21 AM

You have my full blessing and gratitude to do so. The LAM was born completely out of a joke, and yet I'm so glad that you guys have thoroughly enjoyed the end result. Since I'm not much of a Whovian, I'm probably going to spend some of November coming up with courses to patch other homebrew base classes into the course/minor system--with authors' permissions, of course. I apply the same principles to expansion of the class as those of the South Harmon Institute of Technology from Accepted: we teach what you want to learn. All you have to do is write the name of the course you want to take on the whiteboard... :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: I already know exactly which homebrew class is the first one to get the treatment. I don't care if it's entirely predictable based on my previous work. Coming up with a Sentai tie-in is just so thematically appropriate that I would be doing the LAM a disservice by not including one.

You also have my full permission to use the Arcane Engineer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291410) if you like.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-11, 12:41 PM

Have I ever mentioned how much I love all you guys and this thread and this subforum in general?

It seems to be the only drama free zone on this whole site. :smallsigh:

zhdarkstar

2013-10-11, 05:37 PM

Have I ever mentioned how much I love all you guys and this thread and this subforum in general?

It seems to be the only drama free zone on this whole site. :smallsigh:

I wouldn't know because I don't post on any other part of the site. :smalltongue:

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-11, 06:25 PM

I wouldn't know because I don't post on any other part of the site. :smalltongue:

Lucky man. :smallwink:

Two tidbits for everyone:

1. If you haven't voted yet on last month's contest, then please do so while you still can.

2. If anyone is interested, I'm hosting a "Vote up a World" thread in the World building subforum. We still need suggestions for the tone the world will have and then we start voting on that.

SamBurke

2013-10-12, 08:45 PM

Out for a week due to IRL. Will get something up soonish, I hope.

Stake A Vamp

2013-10-16, 04:18 PM

Two things.
1.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love all you guys and this thread and this subforum in general?

It seems to be the only drama free zone on this whole site. :smallsigh:
I'm sorry you feel that way, (not about loving us, about the other sub-forums having too much drama) i have found that this is generally one of the best sites for acceptance (I mean, look at Reddit, you can't go half post without stepping in a massive pile of misogyny and hatred, i like it better here.) and while the dramatics can sometimes get a bit... much. (I.E. do not look like you are considering thinking about saying monk may be an okay class, or that you should let paladins off the hook for small stuff like looking the other way while his teammates steal from evil things) but overall, it's nice here. (I like parentheses!:smallbiggrin:)

2. is it to late for another entry, this time less... blah (dragon-fire champion, not my biggest success)

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-16, 07:00 PM

Out for a week due to IRL. Will get something up soonish, I hope.

Hope things are alright. :smallfrown:

Two things.
1.

I'm sorry you feel that way, (not about loving us, about the other sub-forums having too much drama) i have found that this is generally one of the best sites for acceptance (I mean, look at Reddit, you can't go half post without stepping in a massive pile of misogyny and hatred, i like it better here.) and while the dramatics can sometimes get a bit... much. (I.E. do not look like you are considering thinking about saying monk may be an okay class, or that you should let paladins off the hook for small stuff like looking the other way while his teammates steal from evil things) but overall, it's nice here. (I like parentheses!:smallbiggrin:)

This is something we can discuss through PMs further if you wish, but take this from someone who's been here for almost four years: You probably haven't seen the worst this site has to offer yet. And not all the drama and mental headaches are from the users.

2. is it to late for another entry, this time less... blah (dragon-fire champion, not my biggest success)

Nope, not too late; you still have almost half a month. And I really blame myself in part for your entry not doing too well. I saw there were things that could be polished and improved upon, but I didn't voice all this in a timely enough matter. I failed you in that regard Stake and I apologize for it.

SamBurke

2013-10-16, 07:28 PM

Things are all chill... It's just I somehow made myself afraid? Dunno. The ideas I have aren't as cool as the stuff for the False Prophet... but I did promise a second-half to it.

zhdarkstar

2013-10-16, 07:54 PM

Things are all chill... It's just I somehow made myself afraid? Dunno. The ideas I have aren't as cool as the stuff for the False Prophet... but I did promise a second-half to it.

I know those feelings. The LAM was such a large undertaking for me that I felt slightly overwhelmed coming up with the Teaching Assistant. I still haven't finished it yet as it's hard coming up with fringe benefits that would complement most emulated PrCs.

Stake A Vamp

2013-10-16, 08:56 PM

Hope things are alright. :smallfrown:

This is something we can discuss through PMs further if you wish, but take this from someone who's been here for almost four years: You probably haven't seen the worst this site has to offer yet. And not all the drama and mental headaches are from the users.

Nope, not too late; you still have almost half a month. And I really blame myself in part for your entry not doing too well. I saw there were things that could be polished and improved upon, but I didn't voice all this in a timely enough matter. I failed you in that regard Stake and I apologize for it.

oi! don't you go taking the blame for that foul brew. several people all pointed out the flaws and inadequacy's, i simply failed to listen, or in the case of the one "patch" i made, fixed them inadequately.
i swear upon a devils trap, a sonic screwdriver, and the starship voyager (sorry, I was in a reference-y mood) that my next brew shall be made of better stuff

anyone want a buffing/healer hope based class to be the counterpart to the fear-monger from fear itself?

3WhiteFox3

2013-10-16, 09:35 PM

oi! don't you go taking the blame for that foul brew. several people all pointed out the flaws and inadequacy's, i simply failed to listen, or in the case of the one "patch" i made, fixed them inadequately.
i swear upon a devils trap, a sonic screwdriver, and the starship voyager (sorry, I was in a reference-y mood) that my next brew shall be made of better stuff

anyone want a buffing/healer hope based class to be the counterpart to the fear-monger from fear itself?

I love hope-based fiction, so I'll vote yay.

Milo v3

2013-10-17, 01:24 AM

This is something we can discuss through PMs further if you wish, but take this from someone who's been here for almost four years: You probably haven't seen the worst this site has to offer yet. And not all the drama and mental headaches are from the users.

As a guy who used to frequent DanDwiki I can say the non-user headaches and drama here are nothing.

And this place's community is pretty nice overall, when I was going through stuff a fair amount of homebrewers were ridiculously supportive (more supportive then the people in real life by the end of it) and asking if I was okay. :smallsmile:

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-17, 08:28 AM

As a guy who used to frequent DanDwiki I can say the non-user headaches and drama here are nothing.

And this place's community is pretty nice overall, when I was going through stuff a fair amount of homebrewers were ridiculously supportive (more supportive then the people in real life by the end of it) and asking if I was okay. :smallsmile:

Milo...trying to use anecdotal evidence to say I'm mistaken with my anecdotal evidence that is specifically the exception to my platform that I've already mentioned doesn't actually sound like you're entirely disagreeing with my premise. :smallbiggrin:

Again though, this is PM stuff.

SamBurke

2013-10-17, 08:32 AM

What I find ironic is how we've made drama... out of the point of whether or not this forum has drama. :smallsigh:

In other news, my outline is complete, and it looks better than I thought. Not world-shaking, but at least not dumb.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-17, 08:42 AM

What I find ironic is how we've made drama... out of the point of whether or not this forum has drama. :smallsigh:

I think of it as more friendly discourse than actual drama. There's no animosity present in this line of discussion. :smallwink:

In other news, my outline is complete, and it looks better than I thought. Not world-shaking, but at least not dumb.

Sam, you always give us good stuff, so don't sweat it. :smallbiggrin:

gr8artist

2013-10-19, 10:50 PM

So, I know I've been absent for quite some time here. I voted for this theme, and have yet to make a submission.
Looking back over the entries I'm familiar with, only a few things jump out.
1. A creature/template called the "Hollowed" which has had most of its body replaced by Seru. It would function like a swarm, kinda, or a hive-mind... more a group of lesser entities than a single creature.
2. A creature template category called the "Punished"... or something to that effect. Ghosts with special abilities based on their method of execution... The gallows ghost would be one type; there would also be burned-at-the-stake, swimming-with-the-fishes, and buried-alive varieties... (air, fire, water, earth... hue hue hue.)
The ghost templates would be fun, but it's quite a bit of work and I'm thoroughly distracted right now. If I can't pick up anymore shifts this week, I'll try and have a submission up by the end of the week.
I'll review other entries as soon as my own is completed.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-21, 10:38 AM

And I just noticed the deadline for the last voting thread has whirled by. :smallsigh:

I'm sorry guys, I'm in the middle of a family emergency and my mind is all over the place. I've got some college responsibilities I need to see done today, but when they're done I'll work on the trophies.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-27, 03:54 PM

SamBurke

2013-10-27, 05:37 PM

Ok, so my college work and responsibilities took longer than I had envisioned. :smallsigh:

I'm jumping on those trophies as we speak. Keep in mind though that there is approximately five days left in this month's competition....and we only have a single complete entry. :smallfrown:

Yeah. This month's entry went from "Yay, I have all my ideas!" to "I... only have a bunch of random notes..." really fast. We'll see... Still gonna try. If worst comes to worst, I'll crank out a fast Handyman monster stat-up, instead of a second class.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-28, 09:44 AM

Time for run downs everyone!

Grammar and Such
The first sentence of this race's fluff is a fragment and not a sentence proper.
Under "Relations", I do not believe that "mediocre" is necessarily the right adjective to use; minor or something similar seems more appropriate.
Also under "Relations", I think you meant, "elves are moderately", not "elves and moderately annoying".
Under "Naturally Psionic" in the racial features section you have a copy/paste error. You use "Dromite" instead of Ehmoptrus.
Under your subrace section, I think you meant "thousand years later", not "thousand years latter".

Notes
A race of psionic, sentient bombardier beetle-men is a pretty neat concept to see and mechanically I think you pulled this off very well. One of the biggest things I'll point out is that you hardly mention anywhere that they physically resemble said beetle, which made these guys hard to picture visually until I got down to the racial traits.
I feel like the fluff could be expanded upon. Explaining more how they became trapped in the city and how that changed them, going into more detail about how their relationship with the Kobolds changed, as well as explaining their psychology some more.
Caustic Bombardment is....kind of a bad ability. Why would you exchange Force damage for inferior damage typing like Fire or Acid? The actual amount of damage doesn't change, which makes the gain from this ability hard to see in my opinion.

Well...I'd love to do some more run downs...but no one else is done. :smallfrown:

So that's all for now!

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-10-28, 09:55 AM

:smallfrown: It's times like these I wish I had had a less crazy month to do things.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-28, 09:57 AM

:smallfrown: It's times like these I wish I had had a less crazy month to do things.

I hear ya.

October has turned into one of those months where nothing has gone the way I wanted, schedule wise. :smallsigh:

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-10-28, 09:58 AM

I hear ya.

October has turned into one of those months where nothing has gone the way I wanted, schedule wise. :smallsigh:

It was a crappy month at the beginning, where everything went wrong for me. And now at the end, everything is resolving - similar to a novella, I guess. :smallsmile:

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-28, 10:01 AM

It was a crappy month at the beginning, where everything went wrong for me. And now at the end, everything is resolving - similar to a novella, I guess. :smallsmile:

Well, glad to hear things are going better for you. :smallsmile:

I've got so much homework to do this week; since I had no time last week to do anything. :smallsigh:

gr8artist

2013-10-28, 05:12 PM

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-28, 05:25 PM

My apologies for the delay. I got a new game, Terraria, which consumed a lot more of my time than it should have. Then my comp got some weird glitches, and I've been trying defrags and system restores for the last week to get it right. It would seem that as the veil weakens, the spirit of Steve Jobs is wreaking havoc with my PC. :smallbiggrin:

That's why you should buy PC mate. :smallwink:

But I hear you on games; Pokecrack is my life now ever since the 12th.

Anyway, my submission is up ~ The Suffering Spectre.
It's kind of a weird template, with multiple sub-tymplates depending on the specific method of execution. I currently have the main template (the base framework they all share) as well as the first two sub-templates, the Beheaded and the Blistered.
I think it's enough for a complete entry, the other sub-templates (Drowned, Entombed, Hanged) will come later but aren't necessary for the entry to work.

Reviews would be appreciated, it's actually turning out to be more interesting (and challenging) than I'd originally expected. Ideas for additional sub-templates would also be neat, though I think I'll stay away from the Crucified, and anything else too controversial.

Looking forward to reviewing it when I get a chance. Crucifixion isn't really that controversial; they had that as a punishment long before him and I believe for a while after him. Though I can probably come up with a ton of sub templates for you, given time.

Electrocuted, Poisoned and Impaled come to mind off the top of my head.

Obviously, it's based on my old Gallows Ghost creature template. For my sample, I'm thinking of doing Rasputin (sp?) because he was executed about 7 times, and who wouldn't want to fight his ghost?

He's actually an enemy in the Reign of Winter path. My personal suggestion would be to do something completely off the wall and odd for your template ghost. I personally always love example monsters that are unique and strange.

gr8artist

2013-10-29, 12:16 AM

Well, the template is intended for intelligent creatures, so getting something really exotic in there might be challenging. I mean, who would ever think to drown a dragon?
Although, I could see someone who couldn't kill a certain creature through mundane methods going out of their way to execute it in an unexpected manner... like when they dumped Megatron's body into the ocean to make doubly sure he never came back.
The trick is finding a creature that would synergize well with the spectre's abilities, which cuts out a large portion of classes and creatures. Though... I think I can come up with something. Suggestions are welcome, of course.
Also, I can't believe I didn't think of electrocution. True, it's a modern method, but I worked on death row for 3 years... You'd think I'd remember the chair.
Poison would work too, and be pretty easy, but Vladimir style impaling might be tricky. I wouldn't want to mimic the effects and flavor of the Beheaded, just changing all the "slashing" to "piercing".
I'm debating a Martyred type, as well as a Sacrificed type... but I'm not sure what to do to make them interesting, that's not just redundant undead bullcrap.

Edit: I have the primary 5 sub-types completed... I just need a sample creature for the entry to be complete. I've got a couple ideas, but for some reason I keep coming around to a beheaded minotaur. I just can't think of a good reason that a minotaur would be put to trial and sentenced to execution. Some kind of monstrous humanoid, anyway, although a beheaded hydra would have me cracking up.

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-10-29, 07:28 AM

Edit: I have the primary 5 sub-types completed... I just need a sample creature for the entry to be complete. I've got a couple ideas, but for some reason I keep coming around to a beheaded minotaur. I just can't think of a good reason that a minotaur would be put to trial and sentenced to execution. Some kind of monstrous humanoid, anyway, although a beheaded hydra would have me cracking up.

Beheaded hydra, drowned mermaid, a hanged choker....you could have some fun.

I vote for a Burned Troll, since that's typically how one would be killed. :smallamused:

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-29, 07:59 AM

I vote for a Burned Troll, since that's typically how one would be killed. :smallamused:

I second this motion!

DawnbringerSO

2013-10-29, 08:05 AM

How about a beheaded medusa?

SamBurke

2013-10-29, 09:25 AM

I think a Beheaded Minotaur is actually cooler... I just like the picture.

malonkey1

2013-10-29, 11:27 AM

Would it be possible to have a Soul-trapped template (Cause of "Death" being having your soul stolen)?

Milo v3

2013-10-29, 07:23 PM

From the Capital punishment page of Wikipedia:

Current methods
Decapitation
Electrocution
Firing squad
Gas chamber
Hanging
Lethal injection
Stoning

Past methods
Blowing from a gun
Boiling
Breaking wheel
Burning
Crucifixion
Crushing
Disembowelment
Dismemberment
Drawing and quartering
Elephant
Flaying
Garrote
Immurement
Impalement
Mazzatello
Premature burial
Sawing
Scaphism
Slow slicing
Suffocation in ash

gr8artist

2013-10-29, 09:57 PM

Thanks for all the responses. There were some interesting and humorous ideas in there.
Beheaded Hydras and Medusas wouldn't work particularly well, as their staple abilities wouldn't function. They make sense, except that they wouldn't be "executed"... they would be "slain". That's the issue I keep coming around to. I made the template for creatures sentenced to execution, specifically, which means that only creatures which would be tried and convicted qualify.
The beheaded minotaur also has a tactical advantage in his local terrain. The twisting tunnels of a labyrinth allow him to corner panicked creatures more easily, granting him effortless coup-de-gras attempts. His ghostly ability to shortcut through the maze means that escape is hopeless and futile.

Can I do a pair of spectres as my "sample creature"? I'm thinking something like Bonnie and Clyde, sentenced to death in different ways on the same day. One hanged and one buried, or one burned and one drowned.

Also, I'm debating a beheaded nobleman 3/ranger 10 with a direwolf companion. Been reading the Game of Thrones books recently. :smallbiggrin:

Regarding the list of execution methods, I see some interesting methods in there, and many I don't even know. Stoning, Firing Squad, Dismemberment/Drawn and Quartered, Disembowelment, Flaying, and Impalement would all work. Perhaps the Sacrificed and the Soul-trapped could become the Accursed, those slain by dark magic and vile rituals.

Edit: Ok, so I'm looking through some of the Bestiaries, pulling out anything that comes to mind. Here's a list of my current ideas ~
Bonnie & Clyde (two criminals killed in different ways, working together)
Beheaded Bogeyman (Particularly nasty fey, CR 10 with quickened phantasmal killer... this thing would be terrifying.)
Blistered Dryad (Her tree torched by an evil lord when she tried to defend her forest against ravagers.)
Quickling (Fast little fey, executed for thievery, I love these guys)
Entombed Medusa (her victims broken into rubble and used to bury her alive)
Beheaded Minotaur (After being trapped within the Labyrinth for decades, a new king decides to end the creature's life, and sends his executioner into the tunnels)
I'll probably do the Entombed Medusa, though some of the others look like fun, too.

SamBurke

2013-10-30, 06:54 PM

YESYESYEYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!

I finished something! I've cobbled together my longest "short" creation ever: it took 4 Pages in Word, but it's finished.

I PRESENT:

The Handyman, fearful master of all Columbia!

Please critique at your pleasure. :smallbiggrin:

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-30, 07:07 PM

Milo v3

2013-10-30, 08:12 PM

Yay :smallbiggrin:
Kindred are done. Seriously worried I wouldn't have time to complete it cause of the mental stuff and exams. Definitely not one of my better homebrews but I'm so happy I was making something again.

SamBurke

2013-10-31, 08:37 AM

Can I get a promise from you guys that if I give another week for XX, that there will be three complete entries? It's the 30th, tomorrow is the last day and I don't like not having enough entries for a voting thread. :smallfrown:

And Sam, I'll give a full run down tomorrow, but my preliminary read through makes me feel that Heart Vial is too abusable (and thus this thing isn't really CR 15) and that Vigor Resistance should just be SR that also applies to Vigors.

Yeah, it's basically SR. I was just trying to make it more interesting than straight up "SR" because the Handyman does technically have a lot of resistance to it in the games.

I put in Heart Vial because I was worried that with ludicrously high Touch/Flatfooted AC, in addition to a lot of attacks, it might tend too high. Plus, that is the only place to really damage the big boys in-game. How would you recommend changing, and what CR do you think it is?

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-31, 02:29 PM

Yeah, it's basically SR. I was just trying to make it more interesting than straight up "SR" because the Handyman does technically have a lot of resistance to it in the games.

I put in Heart Vial because I was worried that with ludicrously high Touch/Flatfooted AC, in addition to a lot of attacks, it might tend too high. Plus, that is the only place to really damage the big boys in-game. How would you recommend changing, and what CR do you think it is?

I'd say change the Heart Vial to give a debilitating debuff if a critical hit is successful. It's just pretty easy to hit AC 27 at level 15 with only a -6 penalty.

For example:

18 in Strength at level 1, with a +2 race and a full BaB class.
Add +1 to Strength at 4th, 8th, and 12th, adding in either a +4 spell or something else for a total strength bonus of +8 and an attack bonus of +15 from the class. That's +23 before anything else and is an 85% chance to hit.
A -6 penalty only drops this to a 55% chance and this is again with no other real buffs to attack bonus, such as feats, weapon enhancements or other benefits.

As for what CR it'd actually be with those stats, you'd have to do analysis of what could survive a few rounds with it and only hit an AC of 33 50% of the time or less.

SamBurke

2013-10-31, 04:11 PM

How about that for one turn after you hit the Heart Vial (with the called shot), you and all allies may make critical hits as normal? I could also increase the penalty, if necessary.

DawnbringerSO

2013-10-31, 05:08 PM

SamBurke

2013-10-31, 05:52 PM

By my count, we have four complete entries, plus Dawnbringer, who's about to pull of some last minute epic, if I read correctly.

That makes a full contest, right?

DawnbringerSO

2013-10-31, 06:49 PM

By my count, we have four complete entries, plus Dawnbringer, who's about to pull of some last minute epic, if I read correctly.

That makes a full contest, right?

Something came up today. But I should hopefully be finished tomorrow or the next day, which is why I was really happy tanuki said about extending.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-31, 08:59 PM

I'll extend it, since I know we'll have enough entries.

And is the Handyman immune to critical hits?

SamBurke

2013-10-31, 10:21 PM

I'll extend it, since I know we'll have enough entries.

And is the Handyman immune to critical hits?

That should be under Special Defenses. The reasoning behind this was straight-up realism. In the game, you cannot ever score bonus damage, other than hitting the heart vial.

Tanuki Tales

2013-10-31, 11:08 PM

That should be under Special Defenses. The reasoning behind this was straight-up realism. In the game, you cannot ever score bonus damage, other than hitting the heart vial.

I just did a quick read and haven't had the chance to fully read it. Honestly don't know if I will get a chance, with all the homework I need to do. @.@

SamBurke

2013-11-01, 09:57 AM

I just did a quick read and haven't had the chance to fully read it. Honestly don't know if I will get a chance, with all the homework I need to do. @.@

Real life can be an ass sometimes. I totally understand!

I'm just hoping ZHDarkstar can finish his Teaching Assistant...

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-02, 11:27 AM

Alright, new contest is up folks, but don't forget that the last one is open till the 8th (if you still have an entry to complete or still want to submit something).

I'll update everything else when the 8th comes and goes.

caledscratcher

2013-11-02, 08:49 PM

Okay, I already have my entry started, but I have a question with regards to future contests: would it be possible to make a Mythic Path for an entry, or even to augment the main entry? Because I really like mythic and have wanted an excuse to make a path for a while... Heck, if it's permitted to make one to augment the main entry, I might make one for my entry to the current contest, as I've got an idea of how to make it, haha.

gr8artist

2013-11-03, 09:00 AM

I got called in for some overtime the last few days, and ever time I've been home, my laptop hasn't been able to connect to the internet. I need to reset the router, but my room-mates are watching a stream of the Japanese P4-A competition right now, so I'm kinda SOL. I'm on my GF's comp for 20 minutes while she's asleep, before driving off to work, so no time today.
Anyway, I say all that to say thanks for the extension; I'll submit a sample creature (Entombed Medusa) as early as possible.

Edit: The Teaching Assistant is done, I thought. He's got space saved for more stuff, overflow and the like, but the class is done. The seemingly blank spaces in the class table are because the class takes the statistics of the class it emulates.

Razanir

2013-11-03, 01:23 PM

I already have a fun entry idea for Madman in a Magic Box. The Companion PrC. Although I'm considering making it one of those classes where you pick a new ability from a list every level. Thoughts?

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-04, 09:49 AM

Ok my Viashino is essentially done apart from the fluff. I will be adding the fluff later on today, and if I think of anything else before the 8th I may add onto it.

gr8artist

2013-11-04, 11:20 PM

Ok, my entry is done and the sample creature is up.

I think I'll do Sontarans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sontaran) (race) for the Dr. Who contest. Tough little Homonculi with armor and weapon proficiencies, + Str and Con, - Cha. The trouble will be their weak spot... I don't know how much it's worth, race-point wise, and I'm not sure if it should be a "facing" mechanic or a "flanking" mechanic. Opinions?

Razanir

2013-11-05, 09:27 AM

SamBurke

2013-11-05, 09:30 AM

Perhaps have them take extra damage on critical hits and/or sneak attacks?

But it's an instant unconcious effect...

Perhaps if they're flanked, someone can make a called shot, with a chance to knock them out? Or, all criticals knock them out, when flanking, or...?

malonkey1

2013-11-05, 12:18 PM

Well, I am going to make Cybermen. I think I'll make it a template for any humanoid (Since as of Nightmare in Silver (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Nightmare_in_Silver), they can latch into non-humans, such as the Doctor.)

Razanir

2013-11-05, 10:41 PM

But it's an instant unconcious effect...

Perhaps if they're flanked, someone can make a called shot, with a chance to knock them out? Or, all criticals knock them out, when flanking, or...?

At any rate, I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. The Sontarans are one of my favorite alien races on the show.

Milo v3

2013-11-06, 12:38 AM

Was next months theme chosen yet?
I may as well start on that now, since I don't like Doctor Who.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-06, 09:21 AM

Was next months theme chosen yet?
I may as well start on that now, since I don't like Doctor Who.

No. I'm waiting for XX to formally close before starting the decision process for that.

Milo v3

2013-11-06, 09:45 AM

No. I'm waiting for XX to formally close before starting the decision process for that.

Damn... I'll just have to wait then...

SamBurke

2013-11-06, 10:07 AM

Damn... I'll just have to wait then...

I feel your pain, bro. I dunno if I'll do anything... unless... perhaps a magic item... :nale:

caledscratcher

2013-11-06, 07:21 PM

Okay, I already have my entry started, but I have a question with regards to future contests: would it be possible to make a Mythic Path for an entry, or even to supplement the main entry?

My sincerest apologies for quoting myself, just figured that since I'd gotten no response that.. yeah.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-08, 10:53 AM

Well, last day for XX. I'm glad to see that all the entries have been apparently completed by the extended deadline. :smallsmile:

@Caled: Are the Mythic rules up on either SRD yet?

@Everyone: And it's time to start deciding on December's theme!

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...|Build-a-Villain[/table]

I've thrown in a twist on the one I suggested last time.

SamBurke

2013-11-08, 11:38 AM

Mythic Journey and Ancient Spirits of Evil (blah blah blah I'm too lazy to type it out exactly) are my two votes.

malonkey1

2013-11-08, 11:38 AM

Has the thread for the Doctor-Who-Themed contest been put up yet?

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-08, 11:41 AM

Has the thread for the Doctor-Who-Themed contest been put up yet?

Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312390) you go!

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-08, 11:56 AM

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-08, 12:00 PM

We can still suggest our own themes right?

Yep! We just have the first 5 of 16 already out for us, so we don't have to keep thinking up new ones each time.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-08, 12:11 PM

Mythic Journey and Ancient Spirits of Evil (blah blah blah I'm too lazy to type it out exactly) are my two votes.

We're getting the 16 themes together Sam, not voting. :smalltongue:

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-08, 12:20 PM

How about -

Missing a Common Sense - Create a creature or class that has to do with not having one of the 5 senses. This could be a blind creature, or a class that cuts out its tongue, or like a template something that can't feel, and the benefits for having it.

SamBurke

2013-11-08, 12:29 PM

Oh, my derp.

That said, I don't think I can come up with something better than what Wombat just did... That's sort of brilliant. But hey, I'll try!

Monster's University: A learned monster, or at least a refined one. Perhaps a class showing their acquiring of tactics, or a university that's all about learning the traits of monsters, etc.

Weapuns of Mass Punstruction: An item or a class that does a lot of building, renovating, or destruction. An engineering class, or a trap-building monster, etc, etc, etc.

Also, I apologies for the second idea. I just couldn't help myself. :smallredface:

caledscratcher

2013-11-08, 02:52 PM

Mythic is up on d20pfsrd, yes. Just wasn't fully sure if it would be permitted, given the lack of template.

Saying Goodbye: Make something based around what immediately precedes death.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-08, 02:58 PM

Mythic is up on d20pfsrd, yes. Just wasn't fully sure if it would be permitted, given the lack of template.

Does it need a template? I mean, feats and abilities aren't valid entry types, so creating a Mythic monster or a class based off the mythic rules shouldn't require anything special.

Speaking of, has anyone gotten Bestiary 4 yet? I just got to Drakainia and eeesh! Echidna ported into Pathfinder is awesome, but the sheer squick factor of her is bone chilling.

Razanir

2013-11-08, 03:02 PM

Reserved my reply. Now I just need to flesh out the PrC.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-08, 03:30 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...|Build-a-Villain
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses
Monster's University|Learned monsters and monster learning
Weapuns of Mass Punstruction|Construction, building, renovation or destruction
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death[/table]

caledscratcher

2013-11-08, 03:46 PM

Got two more ideas, if that's alright.

Running Out of Ink: Something based on trial-and-error.

P.S. I Hate You: Something based on hatred and anger.

Milo v3

2013-11-08, 06:06 PM

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream: Dreams, Nightmares, etc.

Broken Hearts (Needs a better name): Love, relationships, etc.

Seasons Past: Halloween, Christmas, Valentines Day, etc. Sorta like the Christmas competition we had a while back.
How obvious is it I just woke up to texts from the girl I like?

malonkey1

2013-11-08, 07:03 PM

Wacky Adventures: Full-on, deliciously-silly, Adventure Time-style weirdness.

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-08, 07:14 PM

Third Law and

Monster Combo: A set of monsters designed around a specific theme.

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-08, 07:56 PM

Hey, I know that _____! - Inspired by things from pop culture

Left turn at Albuquerque - Ideas implemented into the wrong genre

Does it need a template? I mean, feats and abilities aren't valid entry types, so creating a Mythic monster or a class based off the mythic rules shouldn't require anything special.

Making a whole new path would probably need a template of some sort, since it's not written like a class but it's taken like one.

3WhiteFox3

2013-11-08, 09:18 PM

ThanksHalloKwanzHanukMas - Take two or more holidays and mash'em together.

More Holidays in December. - One holiday from this list. (http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/december.htm)

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-08, 09:41 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|0
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|0
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|0
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|0
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...|Build-a-Villain|0
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|0
Monster's University|Learned monsters and monster learning|0
Weapuns of Mass Punstruction|Construction, building, renovation or destruction|0
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|0
P.S. I Hate You|Hatred and Anger|0
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|0
Seasons Past|Holidays|0
Wacky Adventures|Adventure Time wierdness|0
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|0
Monster Combo|Themed monsters|0
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|0
[/table]

And we've gotten 16! You know how this goes folks, first time round you get 8 votes and none of them can be for the same entry. Voting will close at 11:59 pm EST on the 10th!

Making a whole new path would probably need a template of some sort, since it's not written like a class but it's taken like one.

Huh, the SRD didn't make them look like that.

Milo v3

2013-11-08, 11:26 PM

1. The Mythic Journey
2. Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...
3. Monster's University
4. Saying Goodbye
5. All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream
6. Seasons Past
7. Third Law
8. Monster Combo

caledscratcher

2013-11-09, 08:03 AM

1. We Built This City
2. Missing a Common Sense
3. Monster's University
4. Saying Goodbye
5. P.S. I Hate You
6. Seasons Past
7. Wacky Adventures
8. Hey, I Know That ____!

malonkey1

2013-11-09, 09:01 AM

We Built This City
MacGuffin
The Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense
Saying Goodbye
Seasons Past
Wacky Adventures
Hey, I Know That _____!

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-09, 01:41 PM

Huh, the SRD didn't make them look like that.

They're taken alongside the standard classes and have their own progression; thus, you could have Wizard 10/Archmage 5, Cleric 4/Champion 1, so on and so forth.

There could be an argument for them just being a group of abilities that you choose from a list, though.

Anyways, here's my votes:

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
The Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense
Saying Goodbye
P.S. I Hate You
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream
Third Law
Hey, I know that _____!

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-09, 02:21 PM

They're taken alongside the standard classes and have their own progression; thus, you could have Wizard 10/Archmage 5, Cleric 4/Champion 1, so on and so forth.

There could be an argument for them just being a group of abilities that you choose from a list, though.

Wait, they take up actual class levels?

malonkey1

2013-11-09, 02:32 PM

Wait, they take up actual class levels?

No, they are separate from class levels, although they work similarly to classes, and are tracked similarly. I was unaware of the ability to multi-path, though.

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-09, 02:45 PM

No, they are separate from class levels, although they work similarly to classes, and are tracked similarly. I was unaware of the ability to multi-path, though.

I'm obviously explaining it poorly. Yes, there's an option to have multiple paths, but it takes a feat: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/mythic/mythic-feats/dual-path-mythic

My point is that it's tracked by an analogue to levels (in this case, tiers)

Razanir

2013-11-09, 04:19 PM

They're taken alongside the standard classes and have their own progression; thus, you could have Wizard 10/Archmage 5, Cleric 4/Champion 1, so on and so forth.

My point is that it's tracked by an analogue to levels (in this case, tiers)

Tracked analogously to levels, but they don't actually take up levels. So I'd actually propose notating them like gestalt, since that option doesn't exist in PF (I don't think). This does bring up a good point, though. How DO you notate Mythic tiers?

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-09, 08:53 PM

Tracked analogously to levels, but they don't actually take up levels. So I'd actually propose notating them like gestalt, since that option doesn't exist in PF (I don't think). This does bring up a good point, though. How DO you notate Mythic tiers?

Gestalt is just as usable in PF as it was in 3.x, but you're right - it's probably better to notate them with // like gestalt.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-09, 09:14 PM

Well, Pathfinder denotes them next to CR, as you can see in the Bestiary 4. It goes "CR X/MR Y", but seeing as this doesn't apply to character sheets, I honestly don't know if anything but // is appropriate. It begs the question about Mythic Gestalt games though.

Edit:

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|3
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|0
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|1
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|3
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...|Build-a-Villain|1
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|3
Monster's University|Learned monsters and monster learning|2
Weapuns of Mass Punstruction|Construction, building, renovation or destruction|0
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|4
P.S. I Hate You|Hatred and Anger|2
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|2
Seasons Past|Holidays|3
Wacky Adventures|Adventure Time weirdness|2
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|2
Monster Combo|Themed monsters|1
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|3
[/table]

Votes tallied to here.

Razanir

2013-11-09, 10:34 PM

MacGuffin
Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense
Monsters University
All that we see...
Seasons Past
Third Law
Hey, I Know That ____!

3WhiteFox3

2013-11-09, 10:49 PM

Seasons Past
Third Law
The Mythic Journey
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
Hey, I know that _____!
Saying Goodbye
MacGuffin
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...

Milo v3

2013-11-09, 10:56 PM

Just in-case "we built this city" is the next months competition, could someone explain to me specifically which sorta stuff would count as rock music for this. Does punk rock count?

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-09, 11:21 PM

Just in-case "we built this city" is the next months competition, could someone explain to me specifically which sorta stuff would count as rock music for this. Does punk rock count?

I was assuming that the spirit was more classic rock, but I'm going to say any rock.

Milo v3

2013-11-09, 11:37 PM

I was assuming that the spirit was more classic rock, but I'm going to say any rock.

Akay thanks for the clarification :smallsmile:

SassyQuatch

2013-11-10, 12:19 AM

1. We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
2. Monster's University
3. P.S. I Hate You
4. Third Law
5. Missing a Common Sense
6. Saying Goodbye
7. The road less traveled
8. All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream

caledscratcher

2013-11-10, 02:26 AM

I was assuming that the spirit was more classic rock, but I'm going to say any rock.

If punk rock is permitted, would ska punk (i.e. punk rock + brass similarly be allowed? Because that may or may not be a bit of what I was banking on.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-10, 10:25 AM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|5
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|1
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|3
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|5
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...|Build-a-Villain|2
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|5
Monster's University|Learned monsters and monster learning|4
Weapuns of Mass Punstruction|Construction, building, renovation or destruction|0
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|6
P.S. I Hate You|Hatred and Anger|3
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|4
Seasons Past|Holidays|5
Wacky Adventures|Adventure Time weirdness|2
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|5
Monster Combo|Themed monsters|1
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|5
[/table]

Tallied to here.

If punk rock is permitted, would ska punk (i.e. punk rock + brass similarly be allowed? Because that may or may not be a bit of what I was banking on.

If Ska Punk is a kind of Punk Rock, then yes, it'd be allowed.

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-10, 12:02 PM

Third Law
Monster Combo
PS. I hate you.
The Road Less Travelled
Ancient Spirits of Evil
Weapuns of Mass Punstruction
Wacky Adventures
All that we see

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-11, 07:41 AM

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
MacGuffin
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...
Missing a Common Sense
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream
Seasons Past
Third Law
Monster Combo

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-11, 10:30 AM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|6
The road less traveled|Drugs, alcohol and addiction|2
MacGuffin|Creation of Plot-centric item and plot that revolves around it|4
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|5
Ancient Spirits of Evil, Transform this Decayed Form...|Build-a-Villain|4
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|6
Monster's University|Learned monsters and monster learning|4
Weapuns of Mass Punstruction|Construction, building, renovation or destruction|1
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|6
P.S. I Hate You|Hatred and Anger|4
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|6
Seasons Past|Holidays|6
Wacky Adventures|Adventure Time weirdness|3
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|7
Monster Combo|Themed monsters|3
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|5
[/table]

Tallied to here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|0
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|0
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|0
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|0
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|0
Seasons Past|Holidays|0
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|0
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|0
[/table]

Alright, you know the deal. 4 votes and it remains open till 11:59 pm EST on the 13th.

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-11, 10:38 AM

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
Missing a Common Sense
Saying Goodbye
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-11, 12:05 PM

Oof, this is actually a hard one.

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
Saying Goodbye
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream
Third Law

Razanir

2013-11-11, 03:32 PM

Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense
All that we see...
Hey, I know that _____!

caledscratcher

2013-11-11, 03:52 PM

We built this city
Saying goodbye
Missing a common sense
Seasons Past

SassyQuatch

2013-11-11, 05:16 PM

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
Missing a Common Sense
Third Law
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream

malonkey1

2013-11-11, 06:35 PM

We Built This City
MacGuffin
The Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense

gr8artist

2013-11-11, 07:02 PM

We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)
The Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense
Saying Goodbye

And regarding this month's entry, I'm still debating how to do the weakness. The Sontarans have a weak spot in the back of their neck, and I opinions on how best to reflect that.
Flanking is easiest, but would apply the weakness to both flanking enemies. I would need to include a clause about the Sontaran picking which enemy gets the benefits, and how often he could decide, etc... Ends up getting clumsy and complicated.
Facing would be easier, using a 60 ft. cone to determine his area of vulnerability like a Beholder determines its anti-magic zone. But that doesn't allow him to keep an opponent in front of him; quick enemies will just walk around him and get the weakspot even when he's not distracted and doing nothing other than trying to face them. Stupid turn-based system.
Called shots would work, but there would have to be a clause stating that only opponents behind him could attempt the shot, and that puts us back at square one.
Critical hits don't really work for making the shot, but might apply for the effects of it.
Opinions/Suggestions?

Milo v3

2013-11-11, 07:29 PM

The Mythic Journey
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream
Seasons Past
Third Law

3WhiteFox3

2013-11-11, 07:34 PM

1. The Mythic Journey
2. Saying Goodbye
3. Third Law
4. We Built This City

malonkey1

2013-11-11, 08:24 PM

And regarding this month's entry, I'm still debating how to do the weakness. The Sontarans have a weak spot in the back of their neck, and I opinions on how best to reflect that.
Flanking is easiest, but would apply the weakness to both flanking enemies. I would need to include a clause about the Sontaran picking which enemy gets the benefits, and how often he could decide, etc... Ends up getting clumsy and complicated.
Facing would be easier, using a 60 ft. cone to determine his area of vulnerability like a Beholder determines its anti-magic zone. But that doesn't allow him to keep an opponent in front of him; quick enemies will just walk around him and get the weakspot even when he's not distracted and doing nothing other than trying to face them. Stupid turn-based system.
Called shots would work, but there would have to be a clause stating that only opponents behind him could attempt the shot, and that puts us back at square one.
Critical hits don't really work for making the shot, but might apply for the effects of it.
Opinions/Suggestions?

IMO, I'd say increase critical threat range for attacks made against it by some amount, and offer a bonus to confirm crits against it. Perhaps tie it to flanking.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-11, 08:29 PM

Remember, also, that Flanking doesn't mean you're standing behind someone. It just means you can draw a line through an enemy's square that connects with another ally on the opposite side.

gr8artist

2013-11-12, 12:42 AM

That's the problem. Flanking is the easiest mechanic, but has the poorest application for this weakness. But theoretically, the Sontaran would be facing one of the flanking characters, with his back turned on the other. Although, facing north with one to the east and one to the west would be possible, though illogical.
I guess facing is the best plan, but how do I reflect his ability to turn and face new opponents? Perhaps I could say that he chooses a new facing whenever he makes an attack, or once per round as an immediate action, or once per round for free at the end of his turn...

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-12, 12:52 AM

Perhaps give the guy a bonus to one enemy at a time, and whoever's flanking with that target gets the chance to hit the weak point? Still not perfect (Some may just never use the ability, some abilities give you the option to flank with someone that isn't across from you, etc), but better than a simple flank weakness.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-12, 04:02 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|7
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|5
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|6
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|5
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|5
Seasons Past|Holidays|2
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|4
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|1
[/table]

Votes Tallied to here.

@Malonkey: Macguffin didn't make it to this round, sorry, so you still have one vote to cast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let me take a swing at this:

Probic Vent (Ex)
A Sontaran does not need to eat, absorbing all necessary energy from the world around him through a hole located on the back of his neck. Approximately three inches in diameter, the probic vent is a glaring flaw in a Sontaran's otherwise sturdy frame. A creature who is located behind a Sontaran may make a called shot (taking a -6 penalty to the attack roll) in an attempt to hit the probic vent. If successful, the Sontaran takes damage as normal and is stunned for one round. A called shot or cou de grace to the probic vent that results in a confirmed critical hit requires a Sontaran to make a DC 15 Fortitude save or die instantly. This is in addition to the normal Fortitude save required by a cou de grace and the DC increases by 1 for every five damage dealt by the critical hit. A Sontaran that would otherwise be immune to critical hits (such as from a class feature or from a template) is still vulnerable via their probic vent.

gr8artist

2013-11-12, 11:39 PM

That looks awesome, but it still doesn't give a mechanic for determining "behind"

Milo v3

2013-11-13, 01:41 AM

A rule from this month's competition that influenced my choices.
1. You will be creating an original Archetype or Base Class or Monster or Prestige Class or Race or Template that is based around an entry from one of the 19 previous themes that this contest has hosted thus far. This could be an archetype for a base class, a prestige class for an archetype or base class, a base class that is a compliment or nemesis to another base class or whatever inspires you. You must give credit to whatever entry (and its creator) that you use to design your own entry.[
I'm not sure what entry the Handyman, Viashino, and Kindred are based on, though I deduced that the Handyman is likely built as an adversary to the False Prophet from "Gamer's Gambit" (I think that was the competition). I wish I'd noticed these things sooner, so they could be addressed. My apologies
Kindred, a race specifically mentioned in the details of the Sainesti race from "Have a Holly, Jolly Brewmas!"

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-13, 09:59 AM

That looks awesome, but it still doesn't give a mechanic for determining "behind"

Well, I think that's as close as you'll get with something like this without being far too wordy. Pathfinder doesn't have rules for facing, that's 4th edition's hat.

SamBurke

2013-11-13, 07:28 PM

Third Law (Because this is the fourth time we've done it, doggone!)
Missing a Common Sense
Mythic Journey
Saying Goodbye

EDIT: Apologies for not saying this in the post, but the Handyman is one of the largest (heh heh:smallbiggrin:) enemies in Bioshock:Infinite, which is what the False Prophet was based on. Since it was the most memorable enemy (like the Big Daddies in B:1 and B:2), I figured it'd be a good fit.

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-14, 07:18 AM

Third law
Hey, I know that
Seasons past
Missing a common sense

Damnit man. My internet is not working so I have to do this with my phone

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-18, 02:17 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|7
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|6
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|8
Saying Goodbye|Entries based upon what immediately precedes death|6
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream|Dreams, Nightmares, etc.|5
Seasons Past|Holidays|3
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|6
Hey, I know that _____!|Pop culture themed entries|2
[/table]

Votes Tallied to here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|0
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|0
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|0
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|0
[/table]

So we're down to four! Per usual, you get two votes and voting will remain open until 11:59 pm EST on the 20th.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry for not getting this up a few days ago, I've been swamped with homework and other junk.

Some reminders:
If you haven't voted yet for last month's winners, please do so.
There is less than two weeks in this month's competition and we so far only have two complete entries.

Also, since we're approaching the end of this year and the second anniversary of this contest is only four months away, I wanted to open the floor for any feedback and suggestions concerning the contest.

gr8artist

2013-11-18, 03:28 PM

Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-18, 03:38 PM

Missing a common sense
We built this City

malonkey1

2013-11-18, 03:57 PM

We Built This City
Third Law

Razanir

2013-11-18, 04:07 PM

Mythic Journey
Missing a Common Sense

SassyQuatch

2013-11-18, 05:54 PM

We Built this City
Missing a Common Sense

SamBurke

2013-11-18, 06:27 PM

Third Law
Missing a Sense.

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-18, 08:02 PM

Third Law
We Built this City

3WhiteFox3

2013-11-18, 10:17 PM

Third Law
Mythic Journey

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-18, 10:42 PM

Geez, at this rate everyone in the forums may have voted by midnight. P:

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-19, 06:18 AM

Third Law
Missing a common sense

Milo v3

2013-11-19, 06:58 PM

Third Law
Mythic Journey

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-19, 07:21 PM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
We Built This City (On Rock and Roll)|Rock songs|4
The Mythic Journey|Mythic characters and High Fantasy|4
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|6
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|6
[/table]

Tallied to here.

caledscratcher

2013-11-19, 07:38 PM

We Built This City
Abstain

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-20, 04:27 AM

We Built This City
Abstain

You're not allowed to abstain.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-20, 10:53 AM

You're not allowed to abstain.

I've never had any such rule to my recollection for this thread.

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-20, 11:41 AM

Actually, let me search through the first page....aha! One conversation taught us a few things in the early voting period:

I'm giving all three of my votes to Mutagenic Madness.

Well, you can't do that for 1.

Let us know we couldn't vote for one thing multiple times in the same round. Then later....

You sir are a blessing and a saint. Sorry to cause such a ruckus, and I'll cast only one vote for Mutagenic Madness. I think that brings it to the final voting round?

And what are your other two votes? It can matter.

I hope Deviston comes back soon. Otherwise I might just have to roll to determine his other two votes.

Showed me that since every vote matters, each voting submission needs to be fully complete, because abstaining messes with the count. This has happened a few times, but this example is the one I found the fastest.

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-20, 01:26 PM

Yeah otherwise I would just put my vote in third law all the time and not anything else

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-20, 02:29 PM

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-20, 02:34 PM

Well, hitting quote was a waste of my time, since nothing I wanted to reply to was actually saved in the quoting process. :smallsigh:

The first quoted instance is not a stance against abstaining, it's just a disallowment of multiple votes being cast for one single.

I need the context for the contest that those other two quotes come from. If it was a case where we were having a close deadlock on voting, then those two votes could have, in fact, mattered and that it would have been necessary to roll for them.

It was a deadlock, yes. But I've been under that impression since then, and I think there once was another occurance, but who knows. It's your call, so if we are allowed to abstain, good to know. I think it kind of deconstucts the voting process, myself.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-20, 02:43 PM

It was a deadlock, yes. But I've been under that impression since then, and I think there once was another occurance, but who knows. It's your call, so if we are allowed to abstain, good to know. I think it kind of deconstucts the voting process, myself.

I'll leave this up to you all. I'm of the mind that abstaining is fine, but if we need to break a tie and there are abstains, they have to be "called in".

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-20, 05:53 PM

I'll leave this up to you all. I'm of the mind that abstaining is fine, but if we need to break a tie and there are abstains, they have to be "called in".

I think that the ability to abstain could massively throw off the balance of the voting mechanisms we use; worst case scenario, everyone starts voting for their single favorite with the understanding that if they voted for the whole number they were "supposed to," that they could in fact end up knocking their choice off the top X.

If that's acceptable, I'm fine with it.

gr8artist

2013-11-21, 01:02 AM

I agree that partial votes are a little weird. Personally, I'd lean toward the rule that you have to use all your votes.

We did have a situation where players were allowed to "dump" votes. Lets say they wanted option A.
A had 5, B had 5, C had 4, D had 4
E had 1, F had 2, G had 2, H had 1
They'd cast one of their 4 for A, and put the other 3 in E, F, or G.
That's the most relevant thing I can remember.

On a side note, have we considered making it a rule that you can't vote for yourself in a competition? A couple of us don't like to self-vote, but it's weird if there's not a standard.

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-21, 06:23 AM

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-21, 07:02 AM

I'll leave this up to you all. I'm of the mind that abstaining is fine, but if we need to break a tie and there are abstains, they have to be "called in".

I'm not. It throws out the entire point of voting in the first place.

If you're going to allow abstaining, then from now on all my votes will be third law and monster combo (with third law taking preference) and the rest ab-****ing-stain.

Oh and I change my previous vote to third law and abstain.

How does that strike you for a ridiculous rule?

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-21, 04:19 PM

I'm not. It throws out the entire point of voting in the first place.

If you're going to allow abstaining, then from now on all my votes will be third law and monster combo (with third law taking preference) and the rest ab-****ing-stain.

Oh and I change my previous vote to third law and abstain.

How does that strike you for a ridiculous rule?

You strike me as acting entirely outside the realm of acceptable behavior here Dawn. And, to be honest, I've never been much of a fan of your choice in tone in the past. You always strike me as being unnecessarily aggressive and confrontational in several situations and that you bring a negativity to the thread(s) that was otherwise not present.

Edit:

@gr8artist: It was brought up once or twice before, but we never got more then one or two people having an issue with it, so it's been tabled and forgotten both times.

Edit Edit:

Aaaanyways, here's the final round for the theme:

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|0
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|0
[/table]

You guys know the drill. And here's to Third Law potentially finally winning! :smallbiggrin:

malonkey1

2013-11-21, 08:01 PM

Third Law.

Milo v3

2013-11-21, 08:29 PM

Third Law

Also, people seriously need to chill out :smalltongue:

DawnbringerSO

2013-11-22, 06:22 AM

You strike me as acting entirely outside the realm of acceptable behavior here Dawn. And, to be honest, I've never been much of a fan of your choice in tone in the past. You always strike me as being unnecessarily aggressive and confrontational in several situations and that you bring a negativity to the thread(s) that was otherwise not present.

I apologize. I'm sorry. Won't happen again.

Third Law.

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-22, 07:29 AM

Common Sense

Ilorin Lorati

2013-11-22, 09:40 AM

Third Law. 8D

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-22, 10:15 AM

{table=head]Proposed Name|Theme|Votes
Missing a Common Sense|Entries lack one of the five senses|1
Third Law|Magitech and technology in general|4
[/table]

Tallied to here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, I'm seeing an agreement against allowing abstaining, but I want to see a final decision made on the allowance of voting for your own submission. And since we're tabling rule confirmations and rule creations, is there any other business that wants to be heard?

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-22, 10:17 AM

So, I'm seeing an agreement against allowing abstaining, but I want to see a final decision made on the allowance of voting for your own submission. And since we're tabling rule confirmations and rule creations, is there any other business that wants to be heard?

I think voting for your own stuff should be allowed if you regularly vote already, but I'm also fine with it not being allowed.

3WhiteFox3

2013-11-22, 10:56 AM

Third Law and I vote against allowing abstaining.

SassyQuatch

2013-11-22, 11:11 AM

Missing a Common Sense

Abstaining bad.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-22, 11:19 AM

We already agreed that abstaining is bad. :smalltongue:

We're now discussing voting for your own entries and opening the floor to anything else that anyone feels pertinent for discussion.

SamBurke

2013-11-22, 11:48 AM

Third Law. Yay! It might win this time!

I feel like giving it first is certainly wrong, though I'd be fine with giving it Second or Third.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-22, 12:00 PM

Third Law. Yay! It might win this time!

I feel like giving it first is certainly wrong, though I'd be fine with giving it Second or Third.

It'd have to be an all or nothing thing though.

@Everyone: Also keep in mind there's only about 8 days left in the competition. Please make sure you post your Doctor Who entries in time!

TheWombatOfDoom

2013-11-22, 12:07 PM

@Everyone: Also keep in mind there's only about 8 days left in the competition. Please make sure you post your Doctor Who entries in time! (and space!)

SamBurke

2013-11-22, 12:09 PM

(and space!)

Awwwwwwww yeah! I see what you did there!

gr8artist

2013-11-22, 06:55 PM

Missing a Common Sense.

Abstaining theme votes is bad.

Voting for yourself in a competition is bad.

... I think that's all the subjects we're voting on.
I'll try and do my entry tonight... but League just had a nice big patch, and it's calling my name.

Edit: Also, vote for the last competition's winners. Someone spoke in the thread but didn't vote.
Also, Tanta, why don't you vote? I'd be ok with you taking away the "judge's choice" award and making a full 5 votes yourself.
You're officiating, but for the most part everyone follows the rules. So you're really just the guy going through the trouble of making the threads and tracking the dates.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-22, 07:06 PM

Also, Tanta, why don't you vote? I'd be ok with you taking away the "judge's choice" award and making a full 5 votes yourself.
You're officiating, but for the most part everyone follows the rules. So you're really just the guy going through the trouble of making the threads and tracking the dates.

The simple answer to that question is that a contest like this needs an impartial judge. By remaining impartial and simply casting tie breaker votes, the agency of this contest is more in the hands of the playground than in any way in my hands. Yes, I give out a trophy that I specifically choose myself, but it's to the side of the 1st through 4th paradigm and doesn't invalidate or influence those decisions in any way. And that flies kosher with the Mods and they've been very vocal about it in the past with other community projects and contests.

SassyQuatch

2013-11-22, 08:41 PM

We already agreed that abstaining is bad. :smalltongue:
But I didn't get to be opinionated. I want to be opinionated too. :smallfrown:

We're now discussing voting for your own entries and opening the floor to anything else that anyone feels pertinent for discussion.
I would rather there be no voting for one's own creation.

Tanuki Tales

2013-11-23, 05:04 PM

So, I know we have two, maybe three people against voting for your own submission. But I need at least five folks agreeing on something before I'll put it into motion

@Sassy: Well, far be it from me to take away your right to be opinionated! :smallbiggrin:

Time for some run downs, on the day of the anniversary!

Grammar and Such
You forgot a period in the last sentence of Push with Pace.

Notes
This is definitely an interesting concept that I don't think anyone would have seen coming. And I don't think anyone expected something based off the first companion to die in the history of Who.
I hope to see this class completed in time so I can give a full run-down, but I'll comment where I can for now.
This is a personal hang up of mine as a homebrewer, but I personally never see any reason to give a class as little skill points as 2+Int. It just seems like too few to give to anyone except an Int based class and even then only Int SAD classes can really work well with it.
Runner's Casting is gained at too low a level to not be broken. I'm not sure what spells they get exactly, but getting a free Quicken spell to any spell is pretty big.
Sprint-By Fix-Up doesn't mention what cure spell it exactly grants.
Push with the Pace is just poorly designed. A free five foot step will allow you to start building this ability up, but it's really useless until probably enough rounds have gone by for combat to be over and then it becomes brokenly good since it has no established cap. Mind you, this only goes from broken bad to broken good if combined with a cure spell that doesn't have a caster level cap. Otherwise, this ability is just flat useless once you've hit your level cap naturally. It really only shines (as in not broken one way or the other) with spells like Mass Cure Serious Wounds.
Momentous Strike is another "combo move" class feature, but it's like Push with the Pace. A stack-able +2 untyped damage bonus is nice, but this doesn't come online till level 11 and would take several round you might not have for it to really shine. And then you need to charge to even get the benefit of it.
Can't Slow Me Down is just too little, too late. That ability is not worth a 16th level ability and can be replicated by just playing a Dwarf.
Flying Fighter is just plain bad. Flight has been the movement mode king for 12 whole levels before this guy decided to show up and then you need to make an arbitrary Acrobatics check to use it.
You have a dead level at 19th; dead levels are bad.
All in all, I see that your heart was in the right place with this concept. You wanted to make movement speed matter in combat by attaching fun effects for using it tactically. But some of these effects are given out at the wrong levels, are poorly designed or are just lemons. You can definitely polish this class to shine though.

Grammar and Such
Nothing of note.

Notes
You simply can't have a Doctor Who themed contest without seeing some of his iconic foes fleshed out. :smallbiggrin:
I honestly see no justification for this template being +4 CR to be honest. I'd wager +2 CR at the most, with +1 CR at the least, but certainly no higher than +3 CR and that's being overly cautious for what little the template gives.
Were these based on the original Mondasian Cybermen, the Cybus Industry Cybermen or the unconfirmed hybrid Cybermen that came about because the Cybus Industry Cybermen were flung through space and time, polluting the time line? I want to say the Mondasian because of the gold dust weakness, but I wish to be sure.
Can you explain your sample creature? I found the Troop subtype, but no explanation for a CR of 18.

And that's all the entries complete enough for me to critique at the moment.

@Gr8: I look forward to seeing your entry finished, but you do know that this contest does not adhere to, nor requires the race creation guide lines presented in the Advanced Race Guide, correct?

@TETanglebrooke: I always love to see a new face and it's great to see the Daleks statted up, but I think you should search the net concerning a creature from the Monster Manual II called the Adamantine Clockwork Horror and read the critiques on that specific monster. Also, infinite range is not actually a thing.