Iron chef-like thread ideas

[Rukelnikov]

Its been a while since I've last seen these kind of threads, so I'm thinking what could be an interesting format to do them. My basic premises would include:


Having unpopular or underused features be the special ingredient.
Evaluating characters from a viability at the table POV (how fun it'd be to play or have in a party).

There'd be some things to decide though, like character creation rules, magic item availability and how to present the characters.

For character creation I'd go for "Pick your stats", since the evaluation is not supposed to be just about efficiency and some ideas are killed by point buy, I think having stats be whatever you need is ok, and also to step away a bit from the more traditional kind of builds we are used to seeing on this forum. I'd also go with free feat at level 1 unless you get one from background already.

Similarly with magic items, I'd go with having what you consider to be reasonable for the character level in question.

As for how to present the characters I was thinking builds for levels 3, 7 and 11.

3 because level 1 seems very constraining, and usually levels 1 and 2 flyby fast. And then 7 because 5 is too close to 3.

A couple ideas I have for special ingredients:


Storm Herald's Auras
Tortle's Shell Defense (not the base 17 AC but the get inside your shell part)
Simic Hybrid's Acid Spit
Sun Soul Monks

If anyone is interested in these kinds of threads, I'd like to hear opinions on how would you like the "rules" to be, and any ideas you may have for them.

[Kane0]

Id be keen on participating in a few of these if nothing else, id say go with some sort of elevated stat array maybe, like 15, 15, 13, 13, 11, 11 plus the feat? Other ingredients could be Con attacks/casting, specific feats, 'must be mounted' and so on.

Edit: i'd add level 15 to your spread too, and maybe some sort of gimmick where you roll random magic items but they're for the next poster or something?

[Psyren]

Tentatively interested, though I'd also like a revival of just a general non-competitive build showcase thread too. I suppose I can go do that one though...

Stat array I don't mind too much as long as it's consistent. Personally if you can make the build effective with normal PB or standard array that should be worth extra points in my book, feels more "elegant."

[animorte]

Tentatively interested, though I'd also like a revival of just a general non-competitive build showcase thread too. I suppose I can go do that one though...

Stat array I don't mind too much as long as it's consistent. Personally if you can make the build effective with normal PB or standard array that should be worth extra points in my book, feels more "elegant."
I agree with both of these points, especially the point-buy and standard array, as the builds would feel more plausible/playable.

It'd also be interesting to see extreme multi-classing vs minimal-no multi-classing. It takes a lot of creativity to make something work within certain guidelines, not just the one "iron chef" topic.

[Dork_Forge]

Build threads are fun, I'd just suggest that the rules be as uniform and 'grounded' as possible so that people could actually take the builds and go use them.

[Psyren]

Build threads are fun, I'd just suggest that the rules be as uniform and 'grounded' as possible so that people could actually take the builds and go use them.


I agree with both of these points, especially the point-buy and standard array, as the builds would feel more plausible/playable.

Yeah, these are my biggest points in favor of standard chargen. Most tables can guarantee 27 PB or standard array, but more than that reduces the practical audience of a build by a lot.

Anyway, I think I'll go revive a non-competition build thread with some random ideas I had jostling around!


It'd also be interesting to see extreme multi-classing vs minimal-no multi-classing. It takes a lot of creativity to make something work within certain guidelines, not just the one "iron chef" topic.

For a competition I'd suggest some kind of "elegance" metric that rewards the latter over the former. That would discourage extreme multiclassing without outright prohibiting it. At the end of the day, 5e is a lot less modular than 3.5/PF so I'd expect straight-classed builds to be rare.

[animorte]

For a competition I'd suggest some kind of "elegance" metric that rewards the latter over the former. That would discourage extreme multiclassing without outright prohibiting it. At the end of the day, 5e is a lot less modular than 3.5/PF so I'd expect straight-classed builds to be rare.
That's fair. Lots of one-level dips, if nothing else.


Anyway, I think I'll go revive a non-competition build thread with some random ideas I had jostling around!
Looking forward to it!