Prestige Class Contest Voting Thread IV: With a Single Spell

[JoshuaZ]

Well, here's the voting thread for the fourth prestige class contest, With A Single Spell. 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 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 entry that ends up with the most points wins the contest, and each category goes to the entry with the most votes in it.. Voting starts now and will continue until April 3rd, 2019.

So our entries are:


Entry
Creator
1st
2nd
3rd
Total Points
Most Original
Most Likely to See Play
Best Use of Theme


The Prestidigitator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23690691&postcount=2)

rferries (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?153931-rferries)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


Counterfactual Caster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23692913&postcount=3)
JoshuaZ (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?24353-JoshuaZ)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


The Accursed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23718834&postcount=4)

Lanth Sor (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?72861-Lanth-Sor)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


The Deadspeaker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23719960&postcount=5)

MrNobody (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?75476-MrNobody)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


The Forerunner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23725582&postcount=6)

Unavenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?174498-Unavenger)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


The Adjudicator of the Sky Tower (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23735163&postcount=76)

Indigo Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?156825-Indigo-Knight)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


The Lightning Bolter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23762895&postcount=9)

Southern Cross (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?42000-Southern-Cross)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-




As always, everyone is welcome to vote, and you are welcome to explain the reasoning for your votes.

[MrNobody]

1st: Counterfactual Caster: well balanced brew, with a really nice lore and additional stuff. Big plus for being also fun to read.
2nd:The Adjudicator of the Sky Tower: it may have needed a better wording for Special Abilities (or simply more words), but overall is a good and balanced class with a nice, melee-oriented take.
3nd:The Prestidigitator: i was thinking about doing something similar, pushing things a little forward to make prestidigitation a low level wish. Simple and clean.

Most Original: The Adjudicator of the Sky Tower (i would have voted the Accursed if it had been finished).
Most Likely to See Play: Counterfactual Caster.
Best Use of Theme: Counterfactual Caster.

[JoshuaZ]

1st The Prestidigator. Well done, with a reasonable set mechanics to do what it is supposed to do. And well-balanced.
2nd The Deadspeaker. This is a really good extension of the base spell. I really like the mechanic of spending questions for abilities.
3rd The Adjudicator of the Sky Tower. The idea of being really good at dispelling is one that's been done before both in homebrew and in official 3.5 classes, but in some respects this class does it better than most of those. The name is really neat. My only quibble is that I really want to know what the Sky Tower is; the name suggests such great fluff. Hopefully we'll get to see that filled out after the contest.


Most original: The Deadspeaker: Did I mention I like the question exchange mechanic? I did? Let me say again that I really like the question exchange mechanic. This gets originality points from me for being a mechanic that would never have occurred to me but that once I've seen it seems like it is completely obviously the best way to do what it needs to do.

Most Likely to See Play: The Prestidigator; this class is clean and easy to use with easy to enter class features. It is worth noting that sometimes there's a danger that most likely to see play may mean slightly overpowered, but I don't get that impression here. The class looks genuinely fun to play, and can be qualified for so one is finishing the class at about where many games finish. Honorable mention to the Deadspeaker (who only loses out here because the class may require a slightly more narrow roleplay and class build).

Best Use of Theme: The Prestidigator. This was tough. The Prestidigator, Deadspeaker, Adjudicator and Lightning Bolter all seem to do a good use of the theme (the Accursed seems like it would be too, but it isn't quite finished enough for me to tell). Of those, the Prestidigator does the best job of taking the original spell in question and making it feel like the class really uses that spell to its maximum of its capability.

[Indigo Knight]

1st: The Lightning Bolter
2nd: The Prestidigitator
3rd: Counterfactual Caster; It's unfortunate that the class skip spellcasting levels.

Original: The Prestidigitator
Likely to See Play: The Forerunner. I think It's a tad too powerful. And I'm not sure about the theme of One Spell. But as a player, that would be what I would pick.
Thematic: The Deadspeaker. "What was passing through your head?" "A bullet." :tongue:




The name is really neat. My only quibble is that I really want to know what the Sky Tower is; the name suggests such great fluff. Hopefully we'll get to see that filled out after the contest.

I strongly dislike addind fluff to the section of rules. So, I tend not to add them to writings about rules.

The great Sky TowerTM is a massive, spire like, marble windowless doorless tower, located at the middle of no-man's land between a few Great fiefdoms. It serves as a neutral ground for arcane caster of various allegiances. As well as meeting and get togethers, it also host celebrations and festivities.
The adjudicators of the Sky Tower are the tower's hosts. Tasked with keeping peace, breaking feuds and generally forcing the neutrality.

[rferries]

Apologies for the delays, just back online now. An abundance of entries this time!

1st Place: Deadspeaker
I love this one!!! No doubt broken somehow but the flavour is impossible to resist.

2nd Place: Adjudicator
I was expecting more people to seize on dispel magic, kudos to you for making it a whole archetype.

3rd Place: Counterfactual Caster.
In-depth lore & mechanics.

Most Original: The Accursed
Casting curses on yourself and delivering them to others is a great twist; once finished would look very promising.

Most Likely to See Play: The Lightning Bolter
Very nice. Good clean mechanics.

Best Use of Theme: Forerunner
Nice spin on the theme, the rest of us were too literal. :)

[JoshuaZ]

A few people who have entries haven't voted yet. I'm going to extend for another 48 hours and then close the voting. Of course, if anyone else wants to vote in that time, by all means feel free.

[Southern Cross]

1st Place: Forerunner.
Considering this class not only gives full spellcasting, but also adds elite spells, which are more powerful versions of existing spells, it deserves 1st place .

2nd Place: The Prestidigitator
Shows what can be done with the weakest and most versatile of spells.

3rd Place: The Counterfactual Caster
Considering its sheer versatility, it would be 2nd place, if not for the loss of two spellcasting levels.

Most Original: The Accursed
Casting curses on yourself and delivering them to others is a great twist; once finished would look very promising.

Most Likely to See Play: The Forerunner
Due to this prestige classes sheer awesomeness.

Best Use of Theme: Forerunner
Nice spin on the theme, the rest of us were too literal. :)

[JoshuaZ]

1st Place: The Lightning Bolter
Of course, I would vote for my own prestige class.

2nd Place: Forerunner.
Considering this class not only gives full spellcasting, but also adds elite spells, which are more powerful versions of existing spells, it deserves 2nd place at worst.

3rd Place: The Prestidigitator
Shows what can be done with the weakest and most versatile of spells.

Most Original: The Accursed
Casting curses on yourself and delivering them to others is a great twist; once finished would look very promising.

Most Likely to See Play: The Lightning Bolter
Very nice. Good clean mechanics.

Best Use of Theme: Forerunner
Nice spin on the theme, the rest of us were too literal. :)

Under the rules, one cannot vote for one's own class. Could you please adjust your vote accordingly?

[Lanth Sor]

1st Place: The Prestidigitator
Something finally shows Prestidigitation for what it is, Minor Wish.

2nd Place: Adjudicator
I felt like I was reading the WC3 spellbreaker, which makes me happy.

3rd Place: Counterfactual Caster.
This is my number 2 pick for most likely to see play.The whole recovery mechanic is handled really well.

Most Original: Deadspeaker
This tickles my Necrobone in the best ways, a necro you can easily argue is the good guy.

Most Likely to See Play: The Prestidigitator
My party would likely uses this for sure.

Best Use of Theme: Forerunner
Going to have to agree that this class line does this competition theme best.

[JoshuaZ]

So our vote totals are:

So our entries are:


Entry
Creator
1st
2nd
3rd
Total Points
Most Original
Most Likely to See Play
Best Use of Theme


The Prestidigitator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23690691&postcount=2)

rferries (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?153931-rferries)
2
2
1
11
1
2
1


Counterfactual Caster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23692913&postcount=3)
JoshuaZ (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?24353-JoshuaZ)
1
-
4
7
-
1
1


The Accursed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23718834&postcount=4)

Lanth Sor (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?72861-Lanth-Sor)
-
-
-
0
2
-
-


The Deadspeaker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23719960&postcount=5)

MrNobody (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?75476-MrNobody)
1
1
-
5
2
-
1


The Forerunner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23725582&postcount=6)

Unavenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?174498-Unavenger)
1
-
-
3
-
2
3


The Adjudicator of the Sky Tower (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23735163&postcount=76)

Indigo Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?156825-Indigo-Knight)
-
3
1
7
1
-
-


The Lightning Bolter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23762895&postcount=9)

Southern Cross (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?42000-Southern-Cross)
1
-
-
3
-
1
-




So, assuming I've added up everything correctly, The Prestidigator comes in first place with 11 points. 2nd/3rd place are a tie between the Counterfactual Caster and the Adjudicator of the Sky Tower. More Original is a tie between the Accursed and the Deadspeaker. Most Likely to See Play is a tie between the Prestidigator and the Forerunner. Best Use of Theme is the Forerunner. Congratulations to all winners. Next contest will be up soon. The theme will be: Hybrid Power.