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View Full Version : Contest 3.X Ancillary Contest I Voting Thread



Zaydos
2015-03-13, 12:33 AM
Welcome one and all to the voting thread for the first 3.X Ancillary Contest: The Darkness Consumes (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?399648-3-X-Ancillary-Contest-I-The-Darkness-Consumes). Voting will consist of each voter giving a first, a second, and a third place vote, as well as a vote for the categories of Most Original, Most Likely to See Play, and Best Use of Theme. Anyone can vote, and in fact, entrants must vote for their entry to qualify for victory.

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. Votes for the three other categories are each worth 1 point in their category. You may not vote for your own entry.

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 contest overall, and each category goes to the class with the most votes in it. Voting starts now and will continue until 23:59 (Eastern Standard Time USA/Canada; GMT-5) on March 31st.

EntryCreator1st2nd3rdTotal PointsMost OriginalMost Likely to See PlayBest Use of Theme
Hollow (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18866372&postcount=3) (Black Magic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18866379&postcount=4))Beelzebub11111025001
Vantaxian Powers (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18874083&postcount=5)MrNobody21210005
Malumbra and Malumbran Heritage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18887840&postcount=6)Salasay0215002
Cosmic Darkness Soulmeld (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18887964&postcount=7)Jurai1014140
The Darkness Between Gear Teeth (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18889224&postcount=8)caledscratcher0204400
Dharamekhr and Dark Mastery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18889473&postcount=9)Jormengand21210310
The Shadow Twins (Mysteries, Soulmeld, Vestiges) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18930464&postcount=11)Just to Browse22010020
Path of Shadows Feat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18940781&postcount=12)spikeof20100000010

And much of the formatting of this post was copied from Temotei's Base Class Challenge voting thread.

Just to Browse
2015-03-13, 04:32 PM
1st: "Vantaxian Powers" by MrNobody
2nd: "The Darkness Between Gear Teeth" by caledscratcher
3rd: "Hollow" / "Black Magic" by Beelzebub1111

Most Original: "The Darkness Between Gear Teeth" by caledscratcher
Most Likely to See Play: "Cosmic Darkness" by Jurai
Best Use of Theme: "Vantaxian Powers" by MrNobody

Quick reviews of my top contenders:

Vantax is a very interesting vestige, though some of the powers are clunky (Feign Elements, I'm looking at you). I wasn't excited by the racial substitution levels or the heritage feats, but the mysteries gave some necessary support to the shadowcaster. It looks like they're drow-only, but I'd houserule that away in an instant.

The Darkness Between Gear Teeth is totally cool, and I love the support it gives the Clockwork Cenobite. My main problems are that it wasn't well-connected to the theme, its homebrew on top of homebrew, and there isn't enough. If there were 5-6 feats this cool, I would be hard pressed to choose a first place.

The Hollow trait is interesting in that it gives you high-level benefits for high-level penalties. I probably wouldn't take it as a player, but I like the option. Also the spell that lets you prevent revival without trap the soul is nice because it comes at level 11 instead of level 15.

Cosmic Darkness is something I could imagine seeing in Magic of Incarnum, and while most everything felt very homebrew-y this felt at home.

That's 4 to MrNobody, 3 to caledscratcher, 1 to Beelzebub1111, and 1 to Jurai

Salasay
2015-03-13, 05:06 PM
1st: Vantaxian Powers
2nd: The Shadow Twins (Mysteries, Soulmeld, Vestiges)
3rd: Dharamekhr and Dark Mastery

Most Original: Dharamekhr and Dark Mastery
Most Likely to See Play: Cosmic Darkness Soulmeld
Best Use of Theme: Vantaxian Powers

Vantax is, I think, what the contest was supposed to be. The darkness theme is strongest there than anywhere else.

Zaydos
2015-03-13, 05:30 PM
Votes tallied.

Clarified intent for categories was 1 point in their category... though the other could work too.

spikeof2010
2015-03-13, 06:21 PM
Dharamekhr and Dark Mastery
1st Place
Most Likely to See Play
Most Original

Vantaxian Powers
2nd Place
Best to Sticking to Theme

Hollow
3rd Place

Zaydos
2015-03-13, 06:33 PM
Votes tallied.

caledscratcher
2015-03-14, 01:23 PM
1: cosmic darkness
2: shadow twins
3: dharamekhr

Most original: cosmic darkness
MLTSP: shadow twins
BUOT: vantax

Zaydos
2015-03-14, 01:55 PM
Votes tallied. Beelzubub, MrNobody, Jurai, and Jorm still need to vote.

Beelzebub1111
2015-03-14, 02:02 PM
1st and most likely to see play)Shadow Twins
2nd and best use of theme)Malumbra
3rd)Vantaxian Powers

Most original) The Darkness Between Gear Teeth

Zaydos
2015-03-14, 02:07 PM
Votes tallied.

MrNobody
2015-03-15, 04:34 AM
1st and Most original - Dharamekhr

2nd and Best use of the theme - Malumbra

3rd and Most likely to see game - Cosmic darkness soulmeld

Zaydos
2015-03-15, 10:35 AM
Votes tallied. Jurai and Jorm still need to vote.

Jormengand
2015-03-19, 04:06 PM
Hollow for first and best use of the theme, darkness between gear teeth for second and most original, malumbra for third, path of shadows for most likely to see play.

Zaydos
2015-03-20, 08:57 AM
Votes tallied, jurai still needs to vote to qualify (and other people should feel free to vote)

Temotei
2015-03-21, 02:34 AM
1st: Just to Browse's The Shadow Twins - This is the entry I got the most excited about overall. The mysteries are especially cool and my favorite part of the entry. The vestiges are fun, and all of the aspects fit the fluff well. The First Shadow's Shadow Scout should probably clarify whether the 1-hour duration is the time you're allowed to watch through the shadow or whether that's the time it remains in the designated location (or both). Right now it seems like it stays in the location you designate forever until you place it somewhere else, but you can only watch for 1 hour at a time (which is really no limit at all if it stays afterward anyway). The Second Shadow's Shifting Shadows maybe should say whether allies are considered targets when in the binder's threatened area. It seems like the intent is to have only enemies affected, but it may need to be clarified. The invocations are fine, but they feel a bit empty. A little bit of fluff would go a long way here, I think. How did warlocks come to gain these powers from The Shadow Twins? Did an early warlock enter a dark deal with them and gain powers for all warlocks to come? Is it an individual warlock making a deal each time to gain these invocations? Is it simply the darkness within the warlock being awakened? I can understand the desire to leave it open to interpretation, but just a little aside giving more context to the invocations and how they might fit into a world would improve this last part of the entry immensely, I think.

2nd: Jormengand's Dharamekhr and Dark Mastery - My favorite part of the entry is in the fluff and overall "feel" of the magic and consequences of using it. The execution of alignment switching is a little shaky, I think, but it's okay. Also, more details on the effects of changing from CE to Madness would be appreciated. I'm sure it's just like CE but with more mustache-twirling thrown in, but it'd be nice to note whether that means holy word and the like affect the character as before or whether they are now so ridiculously corrupt that they have reached beyond the petty alignment system and become immune to alignment-based magic. I like the spells, but I wish there were more, and they generally feel a little...usual, I guess. Not bad, but I guess I was expecting a more dark and corrupting feel in the spells' effects. Again, though, the feel of the entry is great, and I think that's the strongest part. Keep developing the spells and making each one feel darkly loved and this'll be a truly excellent piece of homebrew.

3rd: MrNobody's Vantaxian Powers - The substitution levels are easily my favorite part of this entry, and I'd allow them for any race in a heartbeat because they're just that cool. The mysteries are cool, with call the umbral lord being the obvious standout. The feats are fine, but none of them stand out as particularly special in any regard (other than the drow gaining additional benefits, which I have mixed feelings on). Vantax himself is well-made and I like the fluff, weaving in the parallel status of the Plane of Shadow that is already well-known with your own unique flair. Poor shadow elementals. You may want to cite sources outside of the core books. Good entry overall, with a solid vestige and fun substitution levels especially, but the feats are okay, too, and fit well enough. Oh, and under the feats section, you say the number of feats is five a few times, but there are six. May want to fix that when you get the chance.

Most Original: caledscratcher's The Darkness Between Gear Teeth - While it is based on another piece of homebrew, I think it extends far enough to be great in its own right, and the short little bit of fluff before each feat is excellent. I like the name of the entry, by the way.

Most Likely to See Play: Jurai's Cosmic Darkness Soulmeld - It's simple, effective, and it's got just enough fluff to make it cool and flavorful. Easy to implement and no [Evil] tag associated make it basically an insta-include.

Best Use of Theme: MrNobody's Vantaxian Powers - Everything in the entry basically says "darkness" with no stretching of the imagination, and the mechanics match the fluff very well.

Zaydos
2015-03-21, 08:33 AM
Votes tallied, bringing us into a three way tie for 1st place. At the... well it's not the end of the voting, just when I won't be on as much till after it's over.

Temotei
2015-03-21, 01:22 PM
Votes tallied, bringing us into a three way tie for 1st place. At the... well it's not the end of the voting, just when I won't be on as much till after it's over.

trololololol

Actually, though, I didn't even notice that I put them each at 10 until after I decided on my votes. Just a "happy" coincidence.

Zaydos
2015-03-28, 10:47 AM
Just a reminder less than 4 days remain in which to vote; Jurai still needs to vote, but anybody is welcome too.

Zaydos
2015-04-01, 10:17 PM
Sorry to close the contest late, ended up crashing early last night and then not thinking about it in the morning (woke up several hours earlier than normal) and then had to break the tie.

So...

First Place Vantaxian Powers: By MrNobody. My personal favorite in this contest. I do think Just to Browse is right that it'll probably have the restriction on who can learn the invocations waved.

Second Place The Shadow Twins: By Just to Browse. My second favorite in the contest and a close second at that. There are just afew more things that feel off to me than in Vantaxian Powers. That said parts of it are my personal pick for most likely to see use.

Third Place Dharakmekhr and Dark Mastery: By Jormengand. A wonderful piece, very unique and original (my personal choice for most original). That said I found the other two more likely for me to include in a game as a DM or request as a Player.

Most Original Darkness Between the Gear Teeth By caledscratcher. I'm not commenting here because I didn't have to break a tie in this case.

Most Likely to See Play The Shadow Twins: By Just to Browse. Jurai didn't vote and thus was disqualified :smallfrown:

Best Use of Theme Vantaxian Powers: By MrNobody.