Base Class Challenge XVIII Voting Thread

[Temotei]

Welcome to the voting thread for Base Class Challenge XVIII, Crazy Hobos Everywhere! 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 September 4th.

1st Place: Panphobic, by sirpercival
2nd Place: Black Blood Vanguard, by Silva Stormrage
3rd Place: Psychotherapist, by ben-zayb

{table=head]Base Class|Author|1st|2nd|3rd|Total Points
Insanity Monk|BelGareth|0|0|1|1
Panphobic (Phobias)|sirpercival|5|2|4|23
Remover of Disturbances|malonkey1|0|2|1|5
Clown|Kazyan|2|0|3|9
Psychotherapist (Chirurgeries)|ben-zayb|2|4|2|16
Seeker of the Eternal|Quellian-dyrae|1|1|3|8
Apostle of Madness|Network|2|2|2|12
Whisper Mage (Derangements)|BlasphemousSlug|0|0|1|1
Black Blood Vanguard (Incantations I, Incantations II)|Silva Stormrage|6|1|0|20
Fury|Cheesy74|2|1|1|9
Arborist (Optional Feature and Flowers)|Xhosant|0|0|2|2
Delirium Blade (Attacks)|GuyFawkes|0|6|0|12
Psychocarnate|sengmeng|0|1|0|2[/table]

Unfortunately, the insanimagos (other) is ineligible for voting. But it's a new record! Only one! And it was because of surgery! Be happy, Playgrounders!

[BelGareth]

Wow, only one? thats awesome!

My votes:

1st - Psychotherapist by ben-zayb
2nd - Delirium Blade by GuyFawkes
3rd - Panphobic by sirpercival

[Network]

My votes :

1st - Psychothereapist by ben-zayb. The class is original and balanced. Thumb up.

2nd - Black Blood Vanguard by Silva Stormrage. We have a couple of fighting class in the contest, but the Black Blood Vanguard is one of the most original.

3rd - Arborist by Xhosant. Because using flowers to make people insane is not something we see too often, though it has a lot of dead levels.

[malonkey1]

1. Panphobic: Interesting, robust class features, and it fits the theme extremely well. I'd love to see a Terrified Berzerker Barbarian cross-PrC for it. "Dear god, SPIDERS! DROWN IN MY SWEAT AND YOUR BLOOD!!!"
2. Psychotherapist: If I were to do a psionic Invoker, this'd be how I'd do it. I also want to go roll up a Nurse Ratched character with this class, centered around the electroconvulsion invocation.
3. Apostle of Madness: It's got a really interesting casting mechanic, combining psionics and spellcasting like that, and I feel like the Far Realms are generally a bit undernourished.

[Cheesy74]

Damn, the turnout for this was fantastic.


1. Black Blood Vanguard - Holy crap. The work that went into this was incredible, and it turned out great. I've also got a thing for battlefield control, and this class has it in spades.
2. Remover of Disturbances - Not a fan of the name, but I love the aberration-hunter flavor of it and the Energy Spark mechanics seem like a lot of fun.
3. Psychotherapist - I'm shocked more people didn't go with a psionic flavor here. This class handles the flavor with some serious grace and seems fun to play.

[Steward]

1st Place: Black Blood Vanguard -- probably has the most visually arresting descriptions of class abilities of the classes presented, and has a versatile array of useful powers.

2nd Place: Apostle of Madness -- enjoyable Far Realm flavor and a diverse set of abilities including good support for divinations

3rd Place: Clown -- just a fun read and it really captures the 'creepy/insane jester' trope very well.

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

[FireInTheSky]

1st: Panphobic by sirpercival
2nd: Delirium Blade by GuyFawkes
3rd: Apostle of Madness by Network

[inuyasha]

Yeah, sorryI couldn't complete my entry, recovery is going well, I might be able to compete this time., I just got out of casts yesterday, im in knee braces now, yay.

1. Black blood vanguard

2. Psychocarnate

1. Psychotherapist

Ps I got major leg surgery and im 18 days post op

[ben-zayb]

1st: Panphobic - awesome execution in both mechanics and flavor by exploring Fear, to the point where I was inspired to join the contest
2nd: Delirium Blade - crazy fun and straightforward mechanics that fills its role nicely; out of all entries this is the one I'd like to try the most in a PbP
3rd: Arborist - solid concept and interesting mechanics/playstyle that meshes well with the madness theme

@inuyasha i wish you a speedy recovery!

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

Yeah, sorryI couldn't complete my entry, recovery is going well, I might be able to compete this time., I just got out of casts yesterday, im in knee braces now, yay.

Not okay.

Glad to hear it went well.

[Gadzooks27]

1- Apostle of Madness; I love this tribute to Lovecraft and the use of the Far Realms, and I find that it's one of the most well-balanced homebrews on this entire Playground, let alone in this contest. This was written with great care to theme, and you actually get a feel of the class as you read on. I originally didn't know what to think of the sanity point system, and it is my natural instinct to run away from new concepts like that which tend to be unbalanced and impractical. I also didn't like the idea of combining spells and psionics for obvious reasons. That being said, the sanity system was easy to learn and it provided an excellent foundation for the stability of this exceedingly flavorful class. 4 out of 5.

2- Panphobic; It's not very practical by the way of multi-classing, but at least it has sneak-attack. That said, The greatest annoyance with this class is that it has no dead levels and a lot of obnoxiously titled class features. However, since the phobia uses are situational and quite often only become hindrances to the panphobic
, the number of class features does not particularly qualify the class as overpowered. Instead, they really help to define the class's true nature. This is a very good thing since the phobias provide you with so many options! It causes the player to think not about which phobias would serve him to bring greater glory, but which phobia would aid them in stealthily assassinating his enemies. It could use more flavorful text, but mechanically the panphobic is a beautiful specimen, at least as a rough draft. 3.5 out of 5.

3-Clown; Starting with the bad- The writing needs a ton of revision and the flavor isn't captured as well as it could be. On the whole, there are certain aspects of this class that are downright impractical, and it's extremely detrimental to anyone who ever wants to multi-class or prestige. All the same, I enjoyed reading it. Easy on the eyes and full of fun surprises. I'd put more emphasis on the pies and seltzer. Love the fillings. The thing you want to keep in mind is the game outside of your class; add some real feats or class features. Still, I do appreciate what you've done with the class in terms of simplicity and fun. 2 out of 5.

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

[sirpercival]

2- Panphobic[/COLOR][/B]; It's not very practical by the way of multi-classing, but at least it has sneak-attack. That said, The greatest annoyance with this class is that it has no dead levels and a lot of obnoxiously titled class features. However, since the phobia uses are situational and quite often only become hindrances to the panphobic, the number of class features does not particularly qualify the class as overpowered. Instead, they really help to define the class's true nature. This is a very good thing since the phobias provide you with so many options! It causes the player to think not about which phobias would serve him to bring greater glory, but which phobia would aid them in stealthily assassinating his enemies. It could use more flavorful text, but mechanically the panphobic is a beautiful specimen, at least as a rough draft. 3.5 out of 5.

I find this review very interesting, given that you place value very differently than a lot of 'brewers (not a bad thing, just unusual).

Anyway, here's mah votes:

1. Clown by Kazyan. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this class, but either way I thought it was great. The fluff hidden in there is fantastic -- I love the way you sew the suit out of the skins of your foes, like a cross between John Wayne Gasey and Buffalo Bill. Anyway, great job.

2. Delirium Blade by GuyFawkes. I really like the way this class is put together, that's really all I can say. It's more unique than some of the other entries that blended together for me.

3. Seeker of the Eternal by QD. First, let me say that I know I ow you a PEACH, and will gladly repay in the next contest (just overwhelmed by RL things). Anyway, I found you took the mechanics of this in an unexpended direction for the fluff... very nice!

[Bickerstaff]

My votes!

(1st) Black Blood Vanguard - Woooow. Just wow. The flavor, the incantations, the execution . . . this class is very well done, and well balanced.

(2nd) Psychotherapist - I love the feel of this class. Those Chirurgeries are amazing; well done, sir.

(3rd) Fury - I love to play characters that can "Hulk out" and go to town, and I really like the Simmering Rage feature.

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

[GuyFawkes]

1. Seeker of the Eternal
2. Panphobic
3. Insanity Monk

[NinjaGirl32]

I've been cruising these forums as a ghost for the longest time. But I just HAD to get in on this contest and vote!

Let me just say that I LOVE Lovecraft, so there won't be any redundancy in
my voting entries.
1- Apostle of Madness. Because Wow that's a cool blend of magic and psionics, and my friend's over my shoulder telling me it works mechanically and he's gonna "beta-test" it's effectiveness in an adventure in the morning.
2- Seeker of the Eternal. My same friend doesn't like the look of this class, but to a certain degree, I don't care lol. Not as cool as the AoM, but same flavor counts for a lot to me.
3- Panphobic- it's so cool that your fear gives you power! Also you have to be quiet and hide from things. It's what you were BORN FOR!

[Temotei]

I've been cruising these forums as a ghost for the longest time. But I just HAD to get in on this contest and vote!

Good to hear. Welcome to the boards.

Votes tallied.

[Road_Runner]

1. Black Blood Vanguard
2. Delirium Blade
3. Panphobic

[Silva Stormrage]

Okay man this was a close one for me.

1st: Fury: I really enjoy hard to kill classes. Classes that endure even if several people are trying to take it down. The ability to customize which path you took also makes each fury different to a degree which further improves the class for me. Finally, and this is what probably made the class superior in my opinion than the Delirium Blade was that it was SIMPLE. Many of the homebrews (Mine included ) often go with working new systems, abilities, and complicated abilities. A fury is straightforward in its design and succeeds in making that design playable. And as a DM that is crucial, if I had to use any of the classes in a campaign the fury is probably my top choice.

2nd: Delirium Blade: As I said this one is incredibly close with the fury. The Delirium Blade is probably more original than the Fury, it can probably do more things differently as well. But the fact that all the Delirium Blades know the exact same attacks with no room for customization and that the Delirium Blades somewhat complicated attack pattern and resource recovery made me pick the Fury first.

3rd: Seeker of the Eternal: The fluff for this is amazing, the idea that the class requires you to literally kill the person you once were for the eternal makes the fluff one of the coolest in this contest IMO.

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

[Xhosant]

1: Black Blood Vanguard. Even a lesser execution would win me for the flavor alone. My only regret is that the DR isn't /bludgeoning, halved when you don't get DEX AC

2: Fury. Simple of use, powerfull (if a little too hard to put down) and generally well-runded and tidy.

3: Seeker of the Eternal. Primarily because you succeeded where I failed, although some of the mechanical powers are a little loosely compliant with the theme.

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

[InstinctsKill]

1st: Panphobic - sirpercival
2nd: Psychotherapist - ben-zayb
3rd: Clown - Kazyan

[Temotei]

Votes tally-hoed.

[Tavar]

:Aragorn: There will come a day when I don't give first place to a sirpercival class. But it will not be this Day! :Aragorn:

1: Panphobic, by sirPercival: a truly excellent conclusion to an excellent run. While introducing a new system, the system itself is simple to understand, and self contained, which is always a plus.


2: The Apostle of Madness, by Network. Normally I'm extremely suspect of systems that allow spells under a power point system, but this one seems relatively balanced, at least due to it's limited spell list. The abilities are also evocative, and yet easily worked into most settings. The conversion notes of PrC'ing is extremely nice as well.

3: Whisper Mage, BlasphemousSlug. A class suited for villians, without actually over-specializing, and one that's still usable by less ethical characters. Very nice. The limited spell list, and overall few abilities make the class feel a bit sparse, though.



Other Stuff:
Remover of Disturbances- is noteworthy for looking pretty well designed. My main complaint is that it seems so specialized to fight Undead/Aberrations. While such specialization does have it's place, I tend to view it as a negative in a Base class(even if it's setting specific, well, I tend to view that as a slight negative). The fact that it has, eventually, infinite high level healing and some other extremely powerful tricks are also minor knocks against it.

Seeker of the Eternal- A good NPC class, but it's design leaves it with limited usability. Feels like it's a bit of an over-built PRC. Also, the lack of a role listing is a bit annoying. No, villian isn't a role, not for a class(which ties into it being too specific for my tastes).

Black Blood Vanguard -A nice idea, but the amount of bookkeeping the system creates is rather daunting. The fact that Madness tokens make it easier to get more madness tokens, which leads to perma-confusion and death....yeah, there's some nice stuff there, but it just seems a bit too powerful, and a bit clunky as well.

[Temotei]

Votes tallied.

[Zaydos]

1st: The Fury All together it looks like a balanced class, hard to take down but not too hard (if it takes the Vigor route they can shrug off 2 claw attacks from a pit fiend if they made 4 successful attacks but the rest will hit and hurt, and this assumes no PA from the pit fiend; if they take the Endurance route they will shrug off a little more if they can PA for 20 and hit an enemy which is unlikely; if they take the Pandemonium well the Pandemonium route is better than the others). I'd actually allow it in a game, though I'd disallow the Pandemonium path, other than that it looks fun and I'm book marking it.

2nd: Pychotherapist While technically tied for 2nd favorite a vote for this one has a larger impact on things so it wins the tie. It has a problem with full attack lobotomy + Will save or lose effects especially with the ability to channel lobotomy through weapons and needs something done about that, but other than that it's mostly usable and having made notes could figure out what might be a usable compromise with a player.

3rd: Remover of Disturbances While I had a few problems with certain aspects, I'd allow this class (though certain invocations I might not). It has 2 major problems, though, it can completely mitigate Aberrations and Undead and it is completely unable to meaningfully contribute offensively otherwise.

Honorable Mentions:
Insanity Monk: I give you 4th place. It wasn't my thing and it needs some work (as written its unarmed strike damage doesn't scale, so you need to take Superior Unarmed Strike which I forgot existed while going over it, and flurry and Martial Maneuvers are either anti-synergistic [strikes] or oh god [Time Stands Still, some boosts] and the +4 attacks at no penalty from flurry is probably too many).

Delirium Blade: The basic idea of deliriums were neat, but the madness/fear abilities ultimately detracted from the class and the primary ability needs a lot more work to make into a finished product (such as it taking 25 Delirium Points to use some of the Mastery of Insanity powers).

Seeker of the Eternal and Whisper Mage: Not good for PCs, but I might use them for an enemy or two at some point.

[Quellian-dyrae]

1st: Clown.
2nd: Remover of Disturbances.
3rd: Panphobic.