D&D 5e Subclass Contest II Voting Thread

[MoleMage]

Second contest clocked in with 12 entries just like the first one, but unfortunately the Voidtouched Sorcerous Origin was disqualified for being shared outside of the contest, leaving 11 entries to vote on.

Simple rules. Vote for your number 1, number 2, and number 3 picks. You can't vote for yourself. A number 1 vote is worth 3 points, a number 2 is worth 2, and a number 3 is worth one.

Also enter your top two picks for the next theme from those randomly pulled from the list of future themes. The winner will be our next theme, while the runner-up will be guaranteed to be in the voting next cycle. A number one pick is worth 2 points, and a number two pick is worth 1.

Entry	Creator	1st	2nd	3rd
Warlock: The Void Patron	Blackbando	0	1	1
Sorcerer: Mirrorkin Origin	Ninja_Prawn	6	1	1
Monk: The Way of the Tempest	gloryblaze	2	0	0
Paladin: Oath of the Searing Stars	Ivellius	0	0	2
Barbarian: Path of the Center	Thanatos 51-50	1	3	3
Multiple: Variant Multiclass Warlock	Jormengand	0	0	1
Barbarian: Path of the Alien	Fire Tarrasque	0	0	0
Wizard: Xenomancer	sengmeng	1	1	1
Druid: Circle of the Far Stars	WarrentheHero	0	0	1
Cleric: Silence Domain	MoleMage	0	2	1
Bard: College of Constellations	Fnissalot	1	3	0

Classes unrepresented in contest 2: Fighter, Ranger, Rogue. Classes unrepresented in any contest thus far: Ranger.

Theme	Description	1st	2nd
Hold the Line	Subclasses specializing in stationary combat	3	1
Subsystems Online	Subclasses which add new game mechanics	0	2
So You Don't Have To	Supportive subclasses (spending your resources in place of allies')	3	5
I Read This In a Book, Once!	Subclasses inspired by popular culture	3	2
It is Written	Prophecy and destiny	1	0

Please contain your theme votes to these five themes. If the one you wanted to vote for isn't here, blame google's random number generator and hold out for next time. Feel free to make new theme suggestions still, I will add them to the overall list and they will have a chance of being rolled for next month's contest.

This thread will stay open for two weeks (until the end of the day August 13). The following day (August 14) I will recheck all vote counts and declare a winner, then post the next contest thread. Good luck everyone!

[Thanatos 51-50]

May as well vote first?

3rd Place Vote: Sorcerer: Mirrorkin
2nd Place Vote: Cleric: Silence
1st Place Vote: Bard: Constellations

Theme Votes:
2nd Place: So, you don't have to...
1st Place: Hold The Line

[Morphic tide]

My votes (even though I'm not an entrant):

1st: Xenomancer, by Sengmeng, as it offers a Wizard that divorces itself from some of the harshest endurance constraints in 5th edition, while permitting some abnormal character setups with multicasses thanks to the Body Sculptor feature. For example, melee spellcasting setups can actually be made to work, as every spell becomes a buff and a minor heal. In general, it works for both a conventional spellcaster and a melee build, which I like, and it reduces healing needs as any scratch damage accrued is recovered with spells cast.

2nd: Path of the Center, by Thanatos 51-50, as it's a somewhat useful alternative to Spirit Barbarian in the tanking department, but not by reducing damage taken. Instead, it serves the duel purpose of a controller and a tank by forcing enemies out of position to attack allies. You can also play it as a largely-raw Barbarian that happens to be virtually inescapable, instead of playing the advanced positioning game with a Rogue to slam loads of Opportunity Attacks, and thus loads of extra Sneak Attack damage, onto enemies in general reach.

3rd: Void Patron, by Blackbando, as it, like the Xenomancer and Path of the Center, works with multiple playstyles off a single decently coherent set of mechanics. Like the Xenomancer, it gets extra benefits from casting spells. Unlike the Xenomancer, it's evasion-focused, rather than transformation, but that evasion is useful for both a Bladelock and a blaster. The invisibility still works for both, offering Advantage-via-Invisibility for Bladelock and a lower chance to be hit for the blaster, while Null Shield reduces the impact of being hit by a spell after using the teleport. More useful to a Bladelock, who expects damage and may be within allied AoEs. Then Black Hole comes in and gives what's practically a 9th-level spell that allows a Bladelock to make an area of denial and gives a blaster the ideal tool to gather enemies for an AoE detonation.

Next Contest:

1st: So You Don't Have to
2nd: Subsystems Online

[WarrentheHero]

1st place: Circle of the Far Starts by Me
1st place: Sorcerer: Mirrorkin by Ninja_Prawn
2nd place: Wizard: Xenomancer by sengmeng
3rd place: Paladin: Oath of Searing Stars by Ivellius
Honorary mention to Gloryblaze's Monk: Way of the Tempest; I like the class but I don't think the Air Plane is "Beyond" enough for what the contest was aiming for.

Theme votes are
1st place: Hold the Line
2nd place: So You Don't Have To

[Ivellius]

Let's format this in the most confusing dramatic way possible!

In 3rd place, I have Thanatos 51-50's Path of the Center. The creativity won me over--I wouldn't have thought of an idea like this, and I like the mechanics of the different abilities included other than Gift of the Center. It's a neat "control" option for barbarians that they don't quite have.

In 2nd place, I have Molemage's Silence Domain. I think a few of the spell choices are suspect, but it's pretty distinct from the existing cleric domains and feels useful to me without being too powerful or overtly about combat. It gives you different ways to solve problems and feels pretty otherworldly.

In 1st place, I have Ninja_Prawn's Mirrorkin. This excelled in all of the areas I considered: it looks quite balanced, the features hang together with a clear theme, and the flavor is probably the most overtly "Beyond!" out of any submissions. This class feels actually alien to me and not just in a way like "I become an aberration" or "I blast people's minds with psychic damage."

For themes, 1st would be I Read This in a Book, Once! and 2nd So You Don't Have To.

[Fnissalot]

Subclass vote

3rd Circle of the far stars: there are too few dark and twisted themes for druids. I like it.
2nd Mirrorkin Origin: supercool, fits very well with theme.
1st Path of the Center: fits with theme, one of the few barbarian paths that I would want to play. Mechanically very clean and easy to get into.

Theme:

2nd Hold the line
1st So you don't have to

[gloryblaze]

1: Mirrorkin
2: Path of the Center
3: Oath of Searing Stars

1: Hold the Line
2: I Read this in a Book, Once

[Ninja_Prawn]

Okay, let's see...

1. Way of the Tempest. *Marge voice* I just think it's neat.
2. Path of the Centre. Some of the fluff is a bit overwrought, but I really like the mechanics.
3. Silence Domain. Part of me thinks this would work better as a paladin oath. It's well executed though.

Third place was the hardest choice for me. There are several others that come very close to that one.

1. Jesus, read a book once in your life!
2. Flash Excel does the hard work, so you don't have to.

[Skuxintux]

1. Way of the Tempest
2. College of Constellations
3. Xenomancer

1. So You Don't Have To
2. Subsystems Online

[Oncie]

Ok, so I can already tell by the way everyone else voted that my opinion here will be really unpopular, but, I gotta say what I gotta say. I honestly think this contest is really underwhelming compared to the previus one, with many classes either not doing anything interesting or just not interpreting the theme in a very creative fashion. There also was a problem for me with most ofthe class features being worded in a weird way that didn't quite seem like e5 to me, but that's a minor detail.

But anyway, out with the negativity! Here are the classes I thought deserved some points:

1st: Mirrorkin Origin Sorcerrer by Ninja_Prawn I honestly fell in love with this subclass the moment I saw it. I don't know what it is about mirrors, glass, water and all the other transparent/reflective surfaces, but all of them just seem innately magical to me and I often get myself drawn to them. This subclass beautifully encaptulates the feeling I get from these elements and interprets the theme of the whole contest in a really creative manner. The quality of the subclass itself is also really high, and I can definetly see myself picking up sorcerer just to see it in action.

2nd: The Void Patron Warlock by Blackbando This is the other decent subclass that I found worthwhile in this rendition of the contest. I honestly LOVE all things astral/cosmic/space related, wheather it be stars, black holes, the purest of lights coming from the primal nuclear fusions coming from the space beond our sight or anything else really. Knowing that, you would never anticipate the kind dissapointment I felt when I looked over all the other space-related subclasses in this contest to see that none of them were nearly as imaginative as what had concieved. Well, all besides this one, kind of. This subclass still has a lot to ask for in my opinion, but it still strikes me as the most unique one out of the bunch, both mechanics-wise and flavor-wise. It's quality is solid, and I honestly don't understand why it doesn't have more votes when all the compettion looks sto bleak in my opinion, but hey, I guess that answers it- it's my opinion. Anyway, good warlock, I'd play that.

3rd: Variant Multiclass Warlock by Jormengand In all honesty? I'm only voting for this "subclass" just because I feel betrayed by how uncreative all the others are, and I don't want them to get my vote, so here, have this little point for yourself buddy. At the very least, you tried to do something original and rarely seen, even if it was weird at best.

[MoleMage]

My votes are as follows

Number 1: Mirrorkin Sorcerer: It represents a niche that doesn't exist yet in DnD, it fits the theme, it makes sense without being bloated with extra text. All around great.

Number 2: College of Constellations: Old school divining/astrology is underrepresented in DnD in my opinion. Mechanics are solid, on topic, and fit a different mold than others. Good work!

Number 3: Path of the Center: It's just not space without black holes. Plus this class addresses a part of the tank role that most tabletop games don't cover: how to make sure people target you instead of your friends.


For theme:

Top Pick: It is Written: Nothing but personal bias here; it was one of my original themes on the list and I want it to get at least some points.
Second Pick: I Read This In a Book, Once: Honestly I'm hoping someone picks a source that I haven't read/watched yet and makes it sound cool enough for me to pick it up.

[Blackbando]

Finally have my votes thought up!

First is obviously Mirrorkin, it really doesn't surprise me that Ninja_Prawn of all people would make what I personally deem the best subclass in this contest. Not a lot I can say that hasn't been said already, but the mechanics and flavor are excellent.

Second is College of Constellations, another subclass which I really do like the ideas of. It might be on the weak side, though, aside from the 14th level feature.

Third is Path of the Center. I'm going to be honest and say I actually didn't really want to vote for this subclass, but I'll go in-depth as to why not and why I did, real quick: I'm voting for it because the flavor is good, and I can't personally say the same for a lot of these. Mechanically, this subclass is actually a really big disappointment, in my honest opinion; the 3rd level feature is laughably weak compared to every other 3rd level barbarian feature, Gift of the Center is alright mechanically, but has the opposite problem of not really doing a lot flavorfully (also it works with bows and other ranged stuff since it says "non-Finesse" instead of "that use Strength", which is weird). Weight of Worlds is, again, flavorfully great, but isn't very useful unless you can reliably fly by being an Aarakocra or having a spellcaster spend a slot and concentration on you. Event Horizon goes against this trend, as I actually think it's pretty good mechanically while still being flavorfully interesting. So, another reason why I voted for this subclass is because I really want to see its mechanics fixed, because I think out of most of these subclasses, this one has the most potential to be interesting if fixed up.

Right, now that my mini-rant is out of the way, let's go to the themes.

Top Pick: I Read This in a Book Once. A lot of my subclasses are already using this theme, so it'd be nice to not feel like the odd one out.

Second: So You Don't Have To. I like supporting people and if I have more options I can annoyingly barrage my DM with pick from, that'd please me.

[MoleMage]

Alright, I'm awake and reasonably caffeinated so let's tally these totals!

Taking third place, with 7 total points earned, we have Fnissalot's Bard College of Constellations! Read the stars, embrace the weirdness of the elder things. Improve your normal bardic inspiration.

In second place, with 12 total points earned, we have Thanatos 51-50's Barbarian Path of the Center! Be heavy. Really heavy. No really, be so heavy arrows curve in flight towards you and enemies can't escape your event horizon.

And in first place, with a whopping 21 total points earned is Ninja_Prawn's Mirrorkin Sorcerous Origin. For when your ancestors went through the looking glass, or into the mirror dimension. Be a perfect mimic. Reflect spells.

Congrats to our three winners and thanks to everyone else who participated!

In the vote for next contest theme, our winner was So You Don't Have To, and our runner-up which automatically gets added to the voting pool next time is I Read this In a Book, Once. I'll be putting the new contest thread up shortly, so keep an eye open!