Base Class Contest XXXXVII: Time Is On Our Side (Yes It Is) Voting Thread

[Alabenson]

Welcome to the voting thread for Base Class Contest XXXXVII: Time Is On Our Side (Yes It Is) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585635-Base-Class-Contest-XXXXVII-Time-Is-On-Our-Side-(Yes-It-Is)&p=23841512). Voting will consist of each voter giving a first, second, and third place vote for three separate base classes. Anyone can vote, and in fact, entrants must vote to qualify for victory.

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 10:00 PM (EST) on June 14th.



Base Class
Author
1st
2nd
3rd
Total Points


Zeitmeister (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23841512&postcount=3)
Alabenson
0
2
1
5


The Azure Sandweaver (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23841681&postcount=4), Invocations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23841687&postcount=5), 2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23903789&postcount=9)
Silva Stormrage
2
1
0
8


Time Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23846754&postcount=6), Invocations (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23847067&postcount=7)
Lanth Sor
0
0
0
0


Epoch Walker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23849514&postcount=8)
MoleMage
0
1
1
3


The Warper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23929978&postcount=10)
Road_Runner
2
0
2
8



Those who are about to vote, we salute you!

[Alabenson]

1st; The Azure Sandweaver; To be honest, this is probably one of my favorite entries that I've seen in any of these contests in a while. I'm a big fan of invoker-based classes in general, and this class has a lot going for it both with and without it's invocations. My main concerns with it would be some minor concerns with regards to the mechanics behind Sands of Time and questions as to whether the class has enough invocations on its list given it's large number of invocations known, but these are fairly minor gripes overall.

2nd; The Epoch Walker; The tipping points for me here were fluff and customization potential. The class could probably benefit from a bit more polish, but it does feel fairly complete as is.

3rd; The Warper; This class has a lot of very interesting ideas, but it definitely feels like it was rushed a bit. In particular, the list of Chrono Powers that it can choose from is very thin and the rate at which it gains class features feels a bit wonky (gaining all three Masteries one after another at 17-19 in particular feels off).

[Silva Stormrage]

1st: The Warper: Despite this class needing some tune up in terms of clarity, some mechanical tuneup (Flux feat that reduces damage to (Damage * .7) - wisdom modifier is not something I want to calculate during D&D) and some fluff clarity (Why is it wisdom based? It seems like a standard arcane time caster which is traditionally int or cha based). It still stands out for being a class I would play despite its current iteration's minor flaws. The abilities are unique, generally combo well with each other and none are particularly unbalancing. I enjoy classes with a lot of options and potential. One thing I would like to see is a lot more chrono powers and more fluff with the various abilities.

2nd: Zeitmeister It was a tossup between this and the Warper for 1st. I think the Zeitmeister is a much more well designed class, the abilities flow together and it has a solid chassis. It feels like a mix between the spell thief and the swiftblade. But it has some slight issues that made me pick the Warper over it. 1) It's too frontloaded for dipping which I don't particularly like. Any zen archery build can pick this up fairly easily for a massive boost in effectiveness. 2) Most of it's combat options are either full attack or rely on your enemies or allies to cast spells for you to duplicate. Tempus Ambulat works in combat but I struggle to find a way to use it which isn't just "Dump a whole bunch of poison down their throats" which has it's own issues. Overall despite being a more concise and well built class I think the Warper is a class I would rather play.

3rd: Epoch Walker This class was something of a disappointment for me. The fluff is amazing and I really wanted this class to shine but the individual epoch abilities are just not enough to carry the class. Maybe I am misreading the intent for this class but focusing on any individual epoch's ability will just lead to an underwhelming character. If you spend all 5 of your epoch improvements on Chaotic you end up at 20th level with a character who can cast

2 1st level spells 4/Day
1 3rd level spell 3/day
1 5th level spell 2/day
1 7th level spell 1/day


The Epoch Walker just doesn't have enough class features to supplement that minimum amount of spellcasting. You basically have to try and abuse spells with high material component costs like animate dead to make use of this incredibly limited spell selection and usability. And thats for one of the stronger Epochs. I honestly think an Epoch Walker could get every single epoch at 1st and upgrade all of them at 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th and end up as a not particularly overpowered character. I really like the fluff for this class but I really think the various Epoch abilities need to be improved for the class to function beyond the level of an Adept.

[MoleMage]

My 1st vote goes the Azure Sandweaver. I really like the idea of time as a manifest physical force implemented by this class (it is an excellent way to make them a flashy class). It's a lot to unpackage, but then most invocation-users are anyway.

My 2nd vote goes to the Zeitmeister. I like the idea of a character stealing time from their future self, and while my grasp of balance is clearly not up to snuff, I like the relatively straightforward implementations of this class's features.

My 3rd vote goes to the Warper. I like its theme and abilities, but some things could be cleaned up (Nowhere does it say how many augmentation points the class receives, for example).

[Demidos]

Time Warper 1st: I really like the fluff, and the mechanics are very interesting (if a little convoluted), but the range of abilities is very wide and allows for a wide range of thematic and interesting abilities.

Azure Sandshaper 2nd: Very nice balance, but the fluff of historians that disintegrate history just seems a little odd to me.

Zeitmeister 3rd: I'm not quite sure on the fluff and mechanics interaction -- while the mechanics seem relatively solid, some have some strange interactions (as you get higher level the drawback of borrowing future time from class levels in the future becomes less important). Also, the class doesn't seem to have a solid identity, as they get benefits to both melee and can re-cast spells, so I'm not quite clear on the role of the class in a group.

[Road_Runner]

(Ok yes I know my voting is late and doesn't need to be counted but I'll still vote anyway :P)


1. Azure Sandweaver. Like the flavor, and very well fleshed out. Only two nits are that I think the 50% chance to shunt attacks 1 round could get a little tedious to keep track of, especially if there are multiple attacks each round. Also the whole distortion effect seems weirdly specific. Going against this as a player it would not be fun to have your contingency be hard countered, and using this as the player it seems like it would be useful maybe once or never in a campaign. Also how would you know whether an enemy even has such an effect available? But overall lots of very cool abilities, like the class.

2. Zeitmaster - Cool class, like the abilities. Could have slightly stronger identity and more "stuff"? But simplicity is not bad, I know I suffer from overloading my classes.

3. Epoch walker - Neat class. My only complaint is that the abilities don't seems specifically time related, but a nice "build your own" class. The flavor is pretty good though.