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View Full Version : Contest D&D 5e Base Class Contest I Voting Thread



Requilac
2018-04-15, 11:06 AM
The voting period has begun.

Welcome playgrounders, here is the thread in which you vote for which homebrewed class entered in the current D&D 5e Base Class is the greatest. The voting period will take place between 1:00 am on JuneMay 23rd to 11:59 pm on JuneMay 30th Eastern Standard time. Votes made outside of that time range while not be included in the total score of each class. It is required that people who compete vote, and failure to comply will result in disqualification, but other people who did enter not may vote as well. If you wish to vote, then give a first, second and third place 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. A person who votes for their own class must change their vote before the voting period ends or be disqualified. It is suggested that you include the reasoning for your votes, but it is not necessary. Let us begin.

Submissions thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556338-D-amp-D-5e-Base-Class-Contest-I-Who-needs-Swords-OR-Sorcerery
Chat thread: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556340-D-amp-D-5e-Base-Class-Contest-I-Chat-Thread

Voting Points
Investigator (By the Messiah): 9,001
Inventor (By WarrentheHero): 19
Seeker (By Mourne): 10
Investigator (By Requilac): 9
Spirit Caller (By MoleMage): 7
Daredevil (By Jormengard): 6
Insurgent (By Ninjaprawn): 5
Marshal (By JNA productions): 3
Protean (By Pheonixphyre): 1

JNAProductions
2018-05-24, 12:12 PM
Protean gets a 4/10. It doesn't fit the theme especially well (it's pretty much dead-set on making attack rolls if it wants to contribute in combat) and feels a bit too powerful.

The Investigator is on Homebrewery, and Homebrewery screws up my ability to actually read the class. So, it gets a ?/10 for now. Requilac, can you provide a PDF or something that I can read?

Spiritcaller gets a 5/10. I still feel it doesn't fit the theme super well, but it's more balanced than Protean.

Primal Gourmand gets a 3/10. It's missing an archetype, which is a ding against it, and is also apparently a full caster without a spell list or casting stat. It seems to use slots to empower its features, not cast spells, which is neat... But overall the class feels pretty messy and finicky.

Daredevil gets a 7/10. It's got enough random things to it that an inventive player will not always feel the need to attack in combat, although it does feel a little... Random, for my tastes.

Marshal gets 11/10, best class ever, totally perfect in every way.

I can actually read the Inventor, so it gets an 8/10. I don't like how it starts with Studded Leather, but honestly, most PCs have that armor if they want by level two, three at the latest, so I'm hardly going to ding it that bad for it. Overall, though, a really neat class!

Insurgent gets a 6/10. It doesn't fit the theme super well, and I really, REALLY do not like the +2 versus favored enemies bit. But, it has a decent amount of fun goodies to it, so I ain't gonna rate it that bad.

Seeker gets a 4/10. Minor note-you have "Daredevil" written instead of "Seeker" for some of the HP and stuff. Overall, this class feels significantly too powerful. At higher levels, it gets to inflict "Save or lose" conditions with no saves on later turns, it gets a scaling bonus to AC that's just straight-up added to your existing AC, and just feels really too strong. It IS on theme, though, so... Bonus points for that.

Specialist gets a 3/10. It's not overpowered-it's the opposite. I fail to see how this contributes in most situations better than a Rogue, and it's MILES worse than a Rogue in combat. Out of combat, you do get, a few times, triple proficiency, but other than that... It's like Rogue, but a lot worse.

Trapper gets a 2/10. It's woefully incomplete. The traps, mostly, but they do not have end conditions, some of them are missing set-up times, etc. etc.

Adrenalineer gets a 2/10. It has two strong saves, for some reason, an unreliable recharge mechanic, and no archetypes. So... Not good.

Channeler gets a 5/10. I've gone over why in the chat thread.

OVERALL VOTES AND NOTES

Inventor gets my first place vote.
Daredevil gets my second place vote.
Insurgent my third place vote.

I cannot read the Investigator, so that may affect this.

PhoenixPhyre
2018-05-24, 01:41 PM
I don't quite have such voluminous notes, but I ranked the ones I read based on three criteria (all on a scale of 1-5):

Note: These are all subjective, feeling based rankings. The guiding questions were "could I see this class in one of my games? Would it fit in an appropriate world alongside the other classes?"

Theme: Did it have ways to contribute (either in combat or not) that didn't feel like spells?
Fluff: Did it have a strong identity? Could I see building one as something other than a bundle of mechanics? Was it creative?
Mechanics: Did the mechanics look like they'd play nicely together? Was the power-band about right (not a big focus, honestly)? Did it use the familiar mechanics of 5e, instead of feeling alien to the rest of the system? Was it clear what the options were?

So out of 15:
Investigator: 5 Theme, 4 Fluff, 2 Mechanics--it seemed to be quite lacking in the combat arena. Lots of flavor, not much oomph. And the writing was hard to follow and very option heavy. Total: 11/15

Spiritcaller: 4 Theme, 4 Fluff, 3 Mechanics. A solid effort, but a bit too magical for my taste for this theme. Total: 11/15.

Primal Gourmand: 2 Theme (too much like spells), 5 fluff (very creative), 3 Mechanics. Total: 10/15.

Daredevil: 5 Theme (a good match), 4 fluff, 2 Mechanics. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what was going on, how I was expected to play reading it. Total: 11/15

Marshal: 3 Theme, 2 Fluff (it was almost totally barren in that regard), 3 mechanics. 8/15. Edit: A re-read puts it at 5 Theme (good), 2 Fluff (I don't have a mental picture of what he's doing), and 2 Mechanics. Total 9/15.

Inventor: 4 Theme, 4 Fluff, 2 Mechanics. Very spell-like IMO. 10/15

Insurgent: 4 Theme, 4 Fluff, 3 Mechanics. 11/15

Seeker: 1 Theme (too spell-like), 3 fluff, 3 mechanics. 7/15

Channeler: 2 Theme (too spell-like), 4 fluff, 3 mechanics. 9/15

Overall ranking:

1st place: Investigator
2nd place: Spiritcaller
3rd place: Insurgent

gloryblaze
2018-05-24, 08:49 PM
1st place: Insurgent
2nd place: Inventor
3rd place: Marshal

Ninja_Prawn
2018-05-25, 01:41 AM
Hmm. There's not a lot to choose between these. Difficult to pick three.

1st has to be the Inventor. For me, it's got the best overall execution of all the entries here.
2nd I'm going to go with the Seeker. Some parts need a bit of work, but it's plenty interesting and most of the issues are easily fixed.
3rd will be the Daredevil. I'd suggest this class is a little too long and complicated, but the ideas behind it are very good.

Mourne
2018-05-25, 02:41 AM
1st – Inventor (12/15)
2nd – Daredevil (11/15)
3rd – Spiritcaller (subjective tie-breaker between the 10/15 crowd)

Points are given in three categories: theme, mechanics, and “feels”. Essentially, my opinion on how well the class adhered to the theme, how the mechanics appeared to function, and whether the class made me want to know more/plagiarize bits/offer at my own table.

I’d be happy to go more in depth in regards to my comments if anyone wishes. I regret not giving as more feedback/reviews during the contest period. I know I would have benefited greatly from feedback and I’m sure others would also – my resolution is to do better the next contest.

Protean – 2 / 3 / 3 (8/15). Many of the mutations are combat buffs and the class benefits from extra attack, not completely in line with the theme imo. The mechanics are well thought out and explained, though there is a lot of balancing to do. “Feels” wise, just not quite my thing.

Investigator – 4 / 2 / 3 (9/15). Adhered to the theme fairly well. I didn’t love the complexity of some of the mechanics or how they scaled to proficiency bonus (rather than a static class-specific bonus progression). Overall, the class didn’t feel very exciting though it wasn’t disappointing in any way.

Spiritcaller – 4 / 1 / 5 (10/15). Mostly true to theme! Good job! The mechanics aren’t too bad with the exception that many of them were based on interacting with/targetting “spirits” which are not a creature type in 5E – this is a huge design flaw. The “pet” itself is a spirit, though this doesn’t seem to impart any special flavor or ability beyond being able to see spirits. I LOVE how this class feels though, and can certainly see stealing the framework and modifying for use at my table.

Primal Gourmand - 2 / 2 / 2 (6/15). Very combat oriented. Mechanics seem somewhat clunky and/or complex (and is open to exploit from the “bag of rats” issue). Maybe a little gruesome for my taste.

Daredevil - 5 / 3 / 3 (11/15). On theme, very much so. The class may be a tad too complex in regards to mechanics and may struggle to find a niche within a more traditional group. There’s certainly a lot of potential here, another class that I might “borrow” and tinker with.

Marshal - 2 / 2 / 3 (7/15). A heavy dose of melee ability. I think the mechanics suffer from too many stacking static bonuses + inspiration die, expertise feels tacked on, and the overall power level is too high. I do like the class concept though it feels like a hyper-Paladin with a splash of Battlemaster and Bard thrown in (maybe intended).

Inventor – 5 / 3 / 4 (12/15). Matched the theme well, a very versatile class that is clearly not within the combat or magic spheres. While the mechanics are good and well explained, I think the class could suffer from having to track essentially three extra pools of points (scrap, invention, ingenuity). There’s also a lot of checks to be made and inventions to be tracked – a plus for someone who likes minutia. I could definitely see using this class with some personal tweaks.

Insurgent – 2 / 2 / 3 (7/15). Mostly on theme but it ended up “feeling” like a melee based class, especially with the Extra Attack feature. The mechanics weren’t bad per se, but certainly were very niche and would make the class less useful unless in a specific type of campaign designed to support it. More versatility would be helpful (and broaden the appeal). For some reason, the class just did not excite me (though the use of HPs as a power source is appealing).

Specialist – 4 / 2 / 3 (9/15). Hews fairly close to the theme. Mechanically, you can definitely see the DNA of the rogue with a few twists. I think the power curve may trend high (especially Talented). I wanted to like this class more, but was not able to find anything that made it stand out to me.

Trapper – 3 / 3 / 3 (9/15). I feel the class is on theme but for some reason it doesn’t feel like it meets the theme… how’s that for a contradiction? Mechanically, I was just not sure how traps were actually to be used within combat. If an enemy can see you set a trap, why would they trigger it? I think there’s a place for a class that deals in traps; I’d like to see more polish on this class before I’d say it’s the one to fill that void.

Adrenalineer – 2 / 3 / 5 (10/15). This class is essentially all about combat and is designed to be in the thick of things. I think the mechanics are pretty straight forward though I worry that there’s probably multiple ways to exploit adrenaline surges (e.g. “force” opportunity attacks that are mitigated by temp HP) – maybe intended. This class does feel fun to me and I can’t but help of thinking of how different paths could be built.

Channeler – 3 / 3 / 4 (10/15). Definitely a lot of elements of spellcasting present (or at least the feel – albeit reflavored as runes). I had to read through this a few ties to get a feel for how the rune queue worked… it seems clunky (at first) but it does work. Nothing too broken here but nothing that feels “new”. I did like the feel of this class (maybe due to how it was themed similarly to mine) and plan on seeing if I can use some of the rune features to revise/build upon my Seeker class.

MoleMage
2018-05-25, 07:56 AM
1st Place: I'm going to go with the Inventor, despite my reservations about bookkeeping. I'd probably drop the scrap mechanic at my table still, but it's got so much detail and it makes me happy.
2nd Place: The Seeker brings a new, unique mechanic to the field that doesn't feel like just casting spells (to me at least), and has a consistent feel throughout.
3rd Place: The Investigator. Moving Improved Analysis to 2nd level helped a lot, but what really sold me was Unconventional Actions.

Honorable mention to the Daredevil, the Marshal, and the Protean. You all made it into my final round of decisions, but the competition was stiff here.

If anyone wants more details about how I felt, feel free to ask.

Ivellius
2018-05-25, 01:19 PM
My votes with a bit of explanation:

1st Place: The Investigator, for feeling on theme and providing a fairly distinct take at a "mundane" class. This is one I'd probably drop into a game without too much question (I'm usually a DM).
2nd Place: The Inventor. I think it needs some simplification, but it meets the contest requirements quite well and is a missing design niche within the game.
3rd Place: The Daredevil. The "tricks" work pretty well for me, and I think it's a more unique take on a "lucky" concept that mostly justifies the class. I do have reservations about class options and just overall feel: should this really be a distinct class?

Honorable mention to the Seeker and Spiritcaller, as both look like a really good class but felt too magical to me. I also really liked the Insurgent, but it's quite the martial class.

Requilac
2018-05-26, 04:00 PM
Protean: I love the inherent eldritch spookiness of this class and think it is an elegantly made class, but too many of the mutations offer only ribbon benefits at best and a Protean would probably be using the mutation granted by their sub-class every round. A little too much of a one trick pony for a class which has a theme of chaos and adaption.

Investigator: I can't believe it, this is the best class ever made. It is superior to everything that WotC has made so far. Its brilliant, with a wonderful theme and perfect mechanics. Great job Requilac you are the world's best homebrewer.

Spirit-Caller: The theme is great and I was almost going to create something similar to this when I made the competition. The mechanics are excellently balanced too. Maybe I am just being influenced by the fact that I thoroughly reviewed the spirit-caller, but over-all this is the best class here.

Primal Gourmand: It's an interesting concept, but I can't understand the mechanics. There are so many formatting and gramatical errors here that I can't actually tell with any certainty how this class works. Sorry Lanth, nothing personal.

Daredevil: This is quite honestly the cockroach of classes. You are annoyingly hard to kill so you can stay around and not do much of anything. And for some reason daredevils also get an annoying amount of proficiencies and bonuses to checks. I am not very fond off it.

Marshal: Umm, what? What is going on here? The auras state all the effects they are creating, but I have no idea what those effects do. I don't believe I undertstand what the class is even doing.

The Inventor: This is by far the most complex class I have ever seen made. There are a ton of features, most of which have pretty complex rules regarding it. Its mechanics seem fine, but I am so overwhelmed by what I see that I am not sure.

Insurgent: I adore the theme and the idea behind the mechanics here. It is worded and formatted perfectly too, which is a surprisingly hard thing to come across. My only problem is that it relies way too much on weapon attacks.

Seeker: This is without a doubt the best homebrew base class I have ever seen. There are a few small errors in grammar or the like, but those pale in comparison to its clear descriptions, balanced mechanics and wonderful theme. This is how I want to build my classes like. Excellent job Mourne.

Specialist: A re-work of an already existing class so it is better at exploration instead of combat. Rogues where already great at out of combat things as is. It seems like you made a class to fix a problem which never existed in the first place.

Trapper: This is really underpowered. And it is almost completely reliant on you being on the defensive and being capable and having enough time to set the traps. I can't see it working out well.

Adrenalineer: Definetely interesting and unique, but it also has no archetypes and is very underpowered. This has a lot of potential to it, but the class itself is sadly underwhelming.

Chaneller: Hmm, once again, interesting idea but its actual execution is a little lacking. It is a class which is not powerful enough. And it also casts a lot of spells, which kind of defeats the purpose of this competition's theme.

So here would be my votes in order from greatest to least.
1) Seeker
2) Spirit Caller
3) Protean

Honorable mention goes to the Insurgent. Where this competition of a different theme, I would have voted for your class in the 3rd position.

WarrentheHero
2018-05-27, 02:33 AM
1st Seeker
2nd Marshal
3rd Spirit Caller

Jama7301
2018-05-30, 02:50 PM
Inventor 1st
Investigator 2nd
Spirit Caller 3rd

That third place spot was hotly contested by so many people, and I ended up changing it a few times before finally settling with my gut call. You all did great!

Requilac
2018-05-30, 11:34 PM
The voting period has ended and the competition is now over.