GiTP Prestige Class Contest XLIV Voting Thread: It's Cold Outside

[Techwarrior]

Alright folks, it's time to test the temperatures ofGiTP Prestige Class Contest XLIV: It's Cold Outside (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16757323) contest! Lots of good work, but only one can emerge as the chilliest.

The rules are simple: Vote once, ranking your top 3 favorites. 1st place gets 3pts, 2nd place gets 2pts, and 3rd place gets 1pt. Whoever has the most points wins. When you vote, bold your entries please, and tell us why you voted for those classes. Voting is open til next Monday, January 27th. Get voting!

And the entries are...
{table=head]Prestige Class|Author|1st|2nd|3rd|Total
Chillblain Acolyte|malonkey1||||
Harbringer of the Sunless Void|Machinekng||||
Warbringer of Krom|Grimsage Matt|1|||3
Snow Sheperd|Zaydos|1||2|5
Frozen Host|Realms of Chaos|1|2||7
Coldfire Inferno|DeAnno|1|1||5
Uttercold Retributor|Network|||2|2
Winter Court Emmisary|Adam1949||4||9
Solrime Apostate|Temotei|1|1|1|6
Frozen Seer|JoshuaZ|1||2|5
[/table]
No disqualifications this time around! Now let's get voting!

-Techwarrior

[Adam1949]

Alright, I'm not sure if I can vote for myself, but I'll work under the assumption that I can.

First off, definitely my favorite out of all of them, is actually not mine, but rather Temotoi's Solrime Apostate. It takes one of my favorite fanon theories, that of Pelor the Burning Hate, and makes it a fun, flavorful, and most importantly balanced (as balanced as a Cleric PrC can get, at least) choice. Definitely top ranks here.

Next, in second place, would be my own Winter Court Emmisary. It's got some things I definitely would have changed when I first made it, but it has a place in my heart for two reasons: it was my first ever post on these forums, and it was also surprisingly not broken (in either sense of the word) despite being my first attempt at homebrewing for 3.5.

In third place is Network's Uttercold Retributor. It uses the Mythos subsystem, which is one of my favorite bits of homebrew I've seen on GitP, and it makes me happy to see that other people enjoy it too. Really, it's just fun and great.

[Techwarrior]

Votes tallied. Keep the votes coming!

[Temotei]

I don't like the idea of voting for myself, so I'll just not do that (No offense to you, Adam; I just don't like voting for myself because it feels wrong to me.).

1st: Frozen Seer, by JoshuaZ - I love divination-focused classes, and this one's particularly well-executed, in my opinion. It fits the theme very nicely and works with the concept without seeming out of place and its abilities pretty much all perfectly fit with the class. The only questionable fit is cold resistance/immunity, but it works out alright because of the intricate ties to ice the class has, so it's all good. Ice shard is gold (I love the second feature of it). It's very fluffy and works great with the class, and on top of that, you keep building on it to make it a central part of the whole spiel. History preserved in snow is cool, ice opacity is cool, see and be seen...yeah. Puns intended. Well done.

2nd: Frozen Host, by Realms of Chaos - First, I like the concept. It's a great idea. Very unique. I like the fluff, I like the mechanics. It all fits together pretty damn well. My favorite mechanics are false warmth and gracious host, though false warmth can be dangerous to allies. Interesting mechanic, nonetheless, but possibly harmful to the team, which is sad. Question, though: Is the frozen host affected by his own aura? It's somewhat unclear in the feature itself. I assume he's not, but clarity is good.

Incidentally, I was disappointed that you didn't include a sample encounter, but oh well.

Anyway, cool idea, and well done.

3rd: Snow Shepherd, by Zaydos - Quick note: You forgot to insert "snow shepherd" in the class skills section (it still says "class name").

I think this is the entry I have the least to say about. That's not a bad thing. It fits together very well and I really like how the (relatively simple) mechanics work together with the fluff to give you this perfect "frostfell ranger" feel. I'm glad the animal companion benefits automatically from the mentioned class features. I really like walk the night. The organization associated with the class is fun and I like how entry is not required to take levels in the class. Good job.

Honorable mention to malonkey1 for making a prestige class for casters with no casting progression for the original class that I still like and that still works. Some of the secrets seem just better than others, though, so touching those up wouldn't hurt. Chill tongue could easily be a full class levels bonus. Icy strength should probably give a +2 per time you take it, since taking it a second time would be awkward unless you planned on having an odd Strength score until you got it a third time (at which point you're missing out on a higher-level secret). Anyway, just examples. I like how it turned out, overall.


Oh, and Temotei is spelled with an E, not an O. :smalltongue:

[Grimsage Matt]

1st; Warbinger of Krom. Monster classes get little love, and brute melee/leadership even less. Call down the north.

2nd; Coldfire Inferno. Invokers are what casters should have been. A few tricks, but they can do them at will. And this belnds ice and fire, which I like.

3rd; Solrime Apostate. Almost purely for the conspericy theory. Plus, the unoffical god of humans is really evil? No wonder we're so messed up.

[VoodooPaladin]

#1: Frozen Host. This class is simply gorgeous, such that I now hope to one day make homebrew that's half as flavorful and evocative as it. Really, I am in awe. It's the little things like the mechanically-simple entrance prerequisites, and the classiness of your decision not to place an intrusive Code of Conduct-style compulsion to do as the fluff dictates. In practice, I see the heavy lifting of the class being done by illusion, and the application of illusions in D&D confuses me greatly, but I don't care. Well done.

#2: The Winter Court Emissary. Practical, and most likely to see use in an actual game. While the prerequisites are a bit strange (Metamagic feats, but no cold spells?), the class itself is just so elegant. You get useful abilities at a clip fast enough to actually use them, and it's an excellent transition from swordsman to spellcaster.

#3: Uttercold Retributor. I hadn't expected someone to be able to make interesting PrCs for Xefas' stuff quite so fast. I'm impressed by how much stuff in here is actually useful, where other people might have soft-sold the concept. It's my third pick because, well, it seems relatively overpowered: you are effectively trading passive benefits gained once every even level (Excellencies) for real, active character power at every level.

[dragonkingofthe]

Before i vote let me say none of the class 'light me on fire' so to speak. There not bad classes don't get me wrong, but the concept of ice powers does not anything intrinsically for me, that said lets do this.

1st place:Snow Shepard: a interesting concept, reading it the thing that comes to my mind is 'Royal Canadian Mounty in D&D,' likely not your intention but that concept is interesting enough to get a first place. Mechanically the Snow Shepard skills are built to find people, accenting both his stated goal and a personal reinterpretation and this duality and flexibility is what helps give him his placement.

Second place: The Winter Court Emissary: tough choice, but the W.C.E was one most original of the classes. Connections with Fae are a interesting idea and not only offers a lot of personal ablity, it can easily be spun into plot hooks by a GM for the whole group and it's for the ablity to possibly improve the enjoyment of every one at the table by fueling unique and interesting encounters and quests that gives the winter court second place.

Third place: Frozen seer: the concept of a Ice crossed with fate is intriguing, given how i personally like to blend science and magic, (read upon on the 'big freeze' fate of the universe hypotheses), The Frozen Seer also gets points for having all her ability tie back to 'divination with ice', and avoided the temptation to get extra of ice shards to throw at people, which while cool does not fit the class nearly as well.

[Adam1949]

{table=head]Prestige Class|Author|1st|2nd|3rd|Total
Chillblain Acolyte|malonkey1||||
Harbringer of the Sunless Void|Machinekng||||
Warbringer of Krom|Grimsage Matt|1|||3
Snow Sheperd|Zaydos|1||2|5
Frozen Host|Realms of Chaos|1|2||7
Coldfire Inferno|DeAnno|1|1||5
Uttercold Retributor|Network|||2|2
Winter Court Emmisary|Adam1949|1|3||9
Solrime Apostate|Temotei|1|1|1|6
Frozen Seer|JoshuaZ|1||2|5
[/table]

This now includes JoshuaZ's votes! Tallied up to the most recent votes!

[Zaydos]

1st Coldfire Inferno by DeAnno: It's a warlock/dfa prc, it's thematic, and rather awesome. The 8 points of Dex damage EB + Eldritch Glaive might be worrisome, but there are easier ways to more severely break the game. Mostly I loved the dfa parts. Biggest complaint is Winter's Aura and figuring out how it interacts with other temperature influencing effects. Also does it increase DFA for gaining breath effects at any levels (casting increase might include this by RAW I shall check this now)?

2nd Frozen Host by Realms of Chaos: A really interesting idea both conceptually and mechanically. While I think I'd run with the evil adaptation (I seem to have a thing in my mind where primal cold = evil) it is a really, really neat idea.

3rd Frozen Seer by JoshuaZ: Mechanically sound and a fairly neat idea. I like the thematic take to divination.

Honorary mention: Winter Court Emissary; overall I liked it, but the spell-list could use some rebalancing (blacklight tends to be quite a bit stronger than darkness, darkness is on there twice, ice storm is weaker than cone of cold unless your CL is really low), thinking about cone of cold and round/level spells is their CL = class level or something else I assumed the former but the latter might be better. Finally why can't they hurt members of the Winter Court? They seem like they'd be well suited to act as assassins within the traditionally* in-fighting filled court.

*Here meaning "usually represented in media as" opposed to folk lore/actual traditions.

@dragonkingofthe: Royal Mounties were partially what I thought about after I got past old cartoon rescue dogs (the initial inspiration).

[Techwarrior]

Thanking adams1949 for the update to my table. :smallsmile:

Keep the votes incoming, about a half a week left!

[JoshuaZ]

First: Winter Court Emissary. Well done, fun, mechanically balanced. And has the advantage of fitting in very closely with the arc my PCs are going through right now, which means I can try it out soon.

Second: Solrime Apostate, in part for being a somewhat serious take on the Burning Hate.

Third:Snow Shepherd. Thematically nice and shows a PrC can be themed on something not strongly combat related and still able to contribute to a party.

[Techwarrior]

Votes tallied. The voting period is now closed.