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View Full Version : Base Class Challenge XIX Voting Thread



Temotei
2013-10-17, 12:41 AM
Welcome to the voting thread for Base Class Challenge XIX, Inner Might (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301714)! Voting will consist of each voter giving a first, second, and third place vote for three separate base classes. Anyone can vote.

A first place vote is worth three points, a second place vote is worth two points, and a third place vote is worth one point. You may not vote for your own class.

You are encouraged to include reason with your votes, though this is not absolutely required.

The class that ends up with the most points wins the challenge contest. Voting starts now and will continue until 23:59 (Central Standard Time USA/Canada) on November 1st.

1st Place: Jinnblood, by Zaydos
2nd Place: Planar Sommelier, by D-naras
3rd Place: Raveler, by FireInTheSky

{table=head]Base Class|Author|1st|2nd|3rd|Total Points
Jinnblood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15964176&postcount=5) (Invocations I (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15964185&postcount=6)) (Invocations II and Other (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15964575&postcount=7))|Zaydos|4|2|0|16
Transelemental Scholar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15966260&postcount=8) (Invocations and Meta-Elemental Planes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15966649&postcount=9))|malonkey1|0|0|1|1
Twilight Magus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15990115&postcount=17) (Recitations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15990119&postcount=18))|Silva Stormrage|0|1|1|3
Planar Sommelier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16073261&postcount=26)|D-naras|1|3|0|9
Quasi-Warrior (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16076650&postcount=27)|Beelzebub1111|0|0|0|0
Gammon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16113568&postcount=28)|Kazyan|0|0|0|0
Planar Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16166042&postcount=29) (Formulas I (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16166059&postcount=30)) (Formulas II and Buio (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16166077&postcount=31))|Network|1|0|2|5
Champion of the Winds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16213522&postcount=33)|ArcturusV|0|0|2|2
Raveler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16224100&postcount=34)|FireInTheSky|1|1|1|6[/table]

Unfortunately, the steam punk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15963343&postcount=3), gate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15963761&postcount=4), planar infused (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15977566&postcount=10), kalpa (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15986780&postcount=13), kombatant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15989725&postcount=15), planar sentinel (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15996561&postcount=19), conductor (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16011293&postcount=22), channeler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16030918&postcount=23), elemental champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16060170&postcount=24), blink raider (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16063628&postcount=25), and witch-hunter kshatriya (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16174650&postcount=32) are ineligible for voting.

Beelzebub1111
2013-10-17, 11:44 AM
Before I vote I would like to explain my process for deciding. I made my calls in a similar manner to a chopped judge:

1st) Incorporation of Ingredient: The class must have the main ingredient as the focus. If you make a dish out of pantry ingredients and then throw the required stuff on the plate at the last minute, or bury the ingredient under so many things that you can't tell it's there, you can bet it's not going to win.

2nd) Taste: Basically, the class has to make me want to play it. Make it fun, make it fluid, keep synergy with the abilities. How can a dish win if it isn't even palatable.

3rd) Creativity: So you have your ingredients on the plate but how were they applied? Were they used in a unique way, or did you just grill them and put them on the plate?

4th) Presentation: a class should be presented in a way that's apealing to the eye. While it isn't as important as the other categories, it can still make a decisive choice

that being said my votes go as follows:
1st) Planar sommiler: This class just looks too damn fun. It's a creative and unique look at how one could use the inner planes to their advantage, it takes the flavor of the planes and applies it it a fun and interesting way. And why should monks be the only class to get booze abilities?

2nd) Jinnblood: It's worth mentioning that this class totally dove into the theme and worked it in as best they can. The only thing that held it from ranking higher was that it could have been streamlined and balanced a little better.

3rd) Raveler: While this class seems awesome and fun and detailed and well constructed, I felt that it focused more on the doomsday clock than the inner planes themselves. Like you had the class idea (which is a great and beautifully presented one) then tried to make that fit in with the theme.

Temotei
2013-10-17, 12:44 PM
1st) Quasi-warrior: I know this seems like a vanity vote, but I would have revoked the entry if it didn't meet my own standards

*Ahem.*


You may not vote for your own class.

The change was made a while back because of it becoming necessary to vote for your own class to be competitive when you were tied or nearly tied with someone, because favorites could be played if you weren't winning, and because some people never voted for themselves despite there being no rule to stop them from doing so, so their chances were lessened. In the spirit of healthy competition, voting for yourself was taken away as an option.

For now, I'll just move each class you've voted for a place up from its current place (special mention becoming 3rd, 3rd to 2nd, 2nd to 1st).

Beelzebub1111
2013-10-17, 01:01 PM
Ah shoot, I misread that. Stupid tiny phone screen.

Edit: Fixed.

Pesimismrocks
2013-10-17, 05:23 PM
1. Raveler
2.Jin blooded
3. Champion of the winds

Temotei
2013-10-18, 11:09 PM
Votes tallied. Forgot to say.

Zaydos
2013-10-20, 12:09 AM
1st Planar Mage: It was fun to build and didn't have anything particularly game breaking at least by level 8 or that I noted looking through it. It does have an awkward formula progression and generally needs a few more formula of each level to provide different options, but the casting system was new, interesting, different, and shows promise.

2nd Planar Sommelier: It was a blast to think of ways to use it, a fun joke class, and could easily be adapted into a working invoker-summoner. A little on the drab side in options (disintegrate + summons being its best ones) but still fun.

3rd Twilight Magus: I like the idea, I like most of the mechanics, and while there are enough abilities I didn't particularly like (incorporeal undead summon with no duration limit or range limit at lv 3 is basically an I win button for combat at that level as 90+% of enemies lack any means to damage it) but with one or two exceptions (the ghosts) it was fine.

Honorable Mention: Champion of the Winds: Only one with a single element focus, a nice elemental paladin. Almost enough to edge into 3rd or 2nd, but ultimately not quite enough to make it there.

Temotei
2013-10-20, 11:20 PM
Votes tallied.

Temotei
2013-10-23, 05:07 PM
We've got just over a week left. Keep the votes coming. :smallsmile:

Lich-Druid-Bear
2013-10-23, 11:02 PM
This is entirely based on my perceptions of the flavor, and not particularly on any reasonable criteria

1st place: Jinnblood
Elementals hold a special place in my heart. Naturally, the same goes for their mortal spawn

2nd place: Raveler
siphoning annihilation away from an apocalypse machine to use as a weapon, -AND- a time theme makes this amazing in my book

3rd place: Planar Mage
elemental magic wooooo

Temotei
2013-10-24, 10:10 AM
Votes tallied.

Silva Stormrage
2013-11-01, 12:56 PM
1st: Jinnblood
2nd: Planar Sommelier
3rd: Transelemental Scholar

D-naras
2013-11-01, 02:54 PM
1st Jinblood, 2nd Twilight Magus, 3rd Champion of the Winds

birbthulhu
2013-11-01, 03:15 PM
So I was told that this was a thing about which I should have thoughts.

1: Jinnblood
It feels nicely balanced, has a nice variety of invocations, and has some ability to get around the perpetual problem of having more things that I want than I can have.
And I got to figure out how to one-shot a Balor with it. Twice. Huzzah.

2: Planar Sommelier
This is silly. D-naras, you are silly for making this. It is also extremely entertaining and appears to be functional as well. While not all the options are spectacular, most still offer either utility or splendid fun. Yes, I will happily take Enervation and Disintegrate as SLAs.
I'm not sure the Positive/Negative Energy Plane samples are completely balanced, but the overall idea seems decent. And it's 1 a day for both abilities.

3: Planar Mage
I was not going to put in a vote for this originally, since its options are fairly restricted, but my impression is that the formula list is perhaps not entirely, finally complete? If it is, it could use expanding.
That said, it also seems rather functional, even if it is lacking options overall. In as much as they are present, the formulas seem thematic, workable, and not hideously broken, so huzzah. Planecasting adds a bit of bookkeeping, but that's not really a pro or con to it innately. And it regenerates power over time, so yay for not having a 15-minute work day.

I won't touch on all of them, but there are a couple things I want to note here and there.

Champion of the Winds: It has abilities, but it doesn't feel like it really has options; maybe could expand that. Beyond that, better editing would help; what do Air, Water, and Earth resistance mean? I would think you perhaps meant resistance to their typically associated energy types, or maybe even abilities with the relevant descriptors, but as is, I don't think those actually do anything.

Gammon: You introduced a new race, plane, and energy type on top of the class. While I liked some of the ideas from the cursory glance I gave it, I feel like you're reaching rather beyond the scope of the contest.

Quasi-Warrior: So I kind of like the concept, but apparently the class likes Fire and is lukewarm at best toward Air. The disparity from 8th to 14th is really just kind of frustrating. 8th is fun not-quite-SLA time! Fire gets a half-strength Moment of Prescience (SL 8), except that the roll can be modified after you get the result. Air gets a strictly worse version of Invisibility (SL 2).

10 basically gives Fire not-quite-lockdown with an AoO for everything. Air gets extra damage if it only takes one attack. I guess it might be better if it could apply it to a full attack routine once every 1d4+1 rounds, maybe? Really, Air is setting you up for a crit-fishing build (free keen for everything!), why are you going to trade attacks that could get exploding damage for slightly more damage?

12 gives Fire immediate action short-range teleportation with a miss chance; not a perfect defense, but useful. Air gets restricted DR that is negated with a +1 bow. I wonder if level appropriate enemies can afford +1 bows yet...

And then at 14th, when everyone else is getting fun resistances or immunities, Air gets to... not breathe. Does that even do anything but prevent suffocation, drowning and maybe inhaled poisons, which are probably fairly niche problems?

On the flip side, the other elements seem fairly decent, except maybe level 2's dust devil. You charge someone, and then laugh at their 50% miss chance.

Raveler: This also feels like it's overreaching a bit thematically; might be better if it wasn't hooked up to an Inner Plane theme.

Transelemental Scholar: So I did not look at this as closely as I perhaps should have, but it felt like a Warlock with worse BAB and offense shoved entirely into its Invocations, limiting its already restricted options even more. I also find the proposed meta-elemental planes dubious thematically. That said, I like the overall idea conceptually.

Twilight Magus: I really do like this class's idea and most of its mechanics, but there are a few sticking points. First, as has been mentioned, the Incorporeal I-Win button at level three. There are the capstone abilities, which are, roughly, "I die" and "you die". I'm also unsure of the template-acquisition, but I haven't looked at it closely. Conceptually nice, but I'm not sure it's as good as it could be mechanically.

Wait no that was touching on all the other classes wasn't it. I am a horrible liar. Endless shame.

Temotei
2013-11-02, 08:26 PM
Votes tallied and voting closed. Sorry for the late post, guys. My brother's birthday was today and last night I played D&D into the wee hours.