Villainous Competition XXXVIII: Spooks and Spectres

[AvatarVecna]

Thank you for the incredibly swift judgement, AvatarVecna!

No problem. This time I even opened all spoilers and did a Ctrl+F for "flaws" and there weren't any.

[H_H_F_F]

No problem. This time I even opened all spoilers and did a Ctrl+F for "flaws" and there weren't any.

Oooh, good idea. I should do that for the Crimson Scourge competition.

[jdizzlean]

sort of, but not really a dispute:

Thank you for judging, AvatarVecna! I'm really glad you enjoyed my build.

I was contemplating whether or not I should submit this dispute, because I haven't seen it done before, but the proximity between my score an Pollyanna's convinced me I should submit.

You gave Arelshine a lot of credit for having 0 base class levels. While I wish that was the case, it isn't. I couldn't pull off the prerequisites without a rogue level - and though it fits thematically and is the favored class of doppelgangers, it's still there. You probably missed it because it's wrapped up with 2 of their templates - it seemed like the best way at the time. Making the table less cluttered on the one hand, not having two rows with the same CR on the other, and also just making sense timeline-wise.

Given your metric, I think it might drop Arelshine by a full point, putting them below Pollyanna. I wouldn't have bothered shooting my own build in the foot otherwise, but I feel it would not be very good sportsmanship on my part to gloss over that mistake and run away with a gold medal that isn't mine.

No further disputes from me, and thanks again for judging!

[AvatarVecna]

Thank you for judging, AvatarVecna! I'm really glad you enjoyed my build.

I was contemplating whether or not I should submit this dispute, because I haven't seen it done before, but the proximity between my score an Pollyanna's convinced me I should submit.

You gave Arelshine a lot of credit for having 0 base class levels. While I wish that was the case, it isn't. I couldn't pull off the prerequisites without a rogue level - and though it fits thematically and is the favored class of doppelgangers, it's still there. You probably missed it because it's wrapped up with 2 of their templates - it seemed like the best way at the time. Making the table less cluttered on the one hand, not having two rows with the same CR on the other, and also just making sense timeline-wise.

Given your metric, I think it might drop Arelshine by a full point, putting them below Pollyanna. I wouldn't have bothered shooting my own build in the foot otherwise, but I feel it would not be very good sportsmanship on my part to gloss over that mistake and run away with a gold medal that isn't mine.

No further disputes from me, and thanks again for judging!

It's unorthodox, but I don't imagine anybody would complain. And this is one of the strengths of my approach to judging: it's easy to see how various people got scored on this vs that, and issue can be taken. For example, the first build had a single base class, and got +0.25 for it, while you "had" 0 base classes and got +0.5 for it. Your score will be adjusted down 0.25 to account for the difference, which isn't enough to change how the medals are distributed on its own. Maybe if Pollyanna makes some good points in her own favor, but for now you've still got gold even if you're not quite as far ahead now.

EDIT: I will need to account for Rogue in the Originality section as well, so we'll see how that goes. EDIT 2: Rogue is an obvious pick, but not quite on the same level as things like Human or Vecna-Blooded, for example.

[daremetoidareyo]

No disputes here. Thank you for judging AV

[Thurbane]

No disputes here. Thank you for judging AV

Ditto. Thanks Avatar.

[Batcathat]

Thank you for the incredibly swift judgement, AvatarVecna!

"The Swift Judgement of Avatar Vecna" really sounds like the title of a fantasy novel.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Oh, no disputes here.

Thanks for the blitz judgment!

[H_H_F_F]

So... Are the big reveal and the next round coming any time soon?

[AvatarVecna]

So... Are the big reveal and the next round coming any time soon?

Also asking this. 5 builds, one dispute, and three people saying "no disputes". Even if we've got a holdout, are we ready to move on?

[jdizzlean]

i'll get it up tonight or tmw. i have 18 pages of typed notes to review from the last week for a test on tuesday....

[jdizzlean]

Entry	Competitor	Description	Score 1	Total	Placing
[url=https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24809441&postcount=40]F'lautu Lance[/url]	daremetoidareyo		16.5	16.5	Bronze
Illithid Shadow	Doctor Despair		14.00	14.0	5th/HM
Draugorex	Thurbane		16.00	16.0	4th
Arelshine	H_H_F_F		17.75	17.75	Gold
[url=https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24809459&postcount=45]Pollyanna[/url]	PoeticallyPsyco		17.50	17.50	Silver

grats to all, and thanks AV for stepping in at the final hour.

next round will be up sometime tmw

[Thurbane]

Congrats everyone.

Once again my Achilles Heel has proven to be that I suck at writing lengthy backstory and motivation. I tend to keep it extremely brief because I'm not great at it.

It varies by judge, but often ends up biting me in the behind...

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Missed the gold by 0.25, d'oh! Ah, well, H_H_F_F's earned the victory. Funny that we both had a variant on 'monster doesn't know they're the monster, thinks someone/everyone else is instead'. Deep Cover as mechanical support for that idea was downright inspired, though!

Congrats everyone.

Once again my Achilles Heel has proven to be that I suck at writing lengthy backstory and motivation. I tend to keep it extremely brief because I'm not great at it.

It varies by judge, but often ends up biting me in the behind...

I liked that you actually pulled off an Epic Destiny. I was toying with Eternal Hero for my little nightmare, to key off her ability to duplicate once she gets enough temp. HP, but ultimately decided it wasn't as good a fit as Shadowmaster. For starters, you have to embrace some CR/HD cheese just to make it to 24 HD. It also makes her literally unkillable, when her story is supposed to end with her being tragically put down by her former friends (though actually, eternal imprisonment could work just as well). And while refluffing it slightly to be drawing from the souls she has trapped and consumed instead of past incarnations would have been cool, I think Shadowmaster giving her the ability to weave dream into reality was both more powerful and slightly more fitting.


Great round all around; looking forward to the next one!

[H_H_F_F]

Hey, my first gold in a GitP competition! Yay for me! Thanks for the compliments, PoeticallyPsyco.

Good round all around. I originally thought Polly would grab the gold, and Draugorex the HM, but I was hoping for silver.

Funny enough, I really thought I was screwed once AvatarVecna decided to judge (thanks again for that, by the way!) While I think he's an excellent judge, I think me and him have very different judging philosophies, especially when it comes to elegance and originality. Getting the gold was a welcomed surprise.

Well done, everyone! I don't feel I have much to say about Arelshine, as I already said everything within the entry, but I'd be glad to read how everyone else developed their ideas.

This was my first time in the villainous competition, and I really enjoyed the experience. Hope to see you all next round!

[daremetoidareyo]

I had a blast scrolling through levels of wizard spells to spew out of a backside on discord because despite being old, I’m still 11 when it comes to fart innuendo

[GrayDeath]

Thank you al, for udnerstanding.

That alone helps at least a,oittle bit, as I was treally trying to get back to judging again and again...and failing. And I am normally someone who keeps their promises come highwater or Quarantine....just not this time, sigh.

In case an exited Judge can still do it, my HM would go to Dragaurex, for the almost elegant way to pull off that many contradictions.
And cause its a Spiderman expy. Sue me ^^