Originality: You pretty much already know what to expect here. Did you surprise me? Did you use a strategy that's very similar to that of anyone else? Perhaps most importantly, if you used a very obvious method of entry (e.g., rogue into assassin, ranger into dark hunter, etc.), what did you do to differentiate yourself? Obviously, if the secret ingredient calls for a certain class feature that only one class gets, I'll be less picky about this, but it's still in your best interest to make yourself stand out a bit. What makes you different from everyone else who takes this prestige class?
Power: For me, this is tied to Use of Secret Ingredient, in that I judge based on (or at least take into consideration) how much the secret ingredient builds on what you've already got. If you were aiming at a high-powered chassis, I'll judge you that way. If you were aiming for something more moderate, I'll judge you that way. Basically, how powerful did you become within the limits your class and role place upon you? How much do you need magic items, and how well do you stand on your own? Note that builds that don't function at both low and high levels (1 to 20 is ideal, but I understand that you might not hit both extremes) will be docked points in this category.
Elegance: Does it flow? Does it work? Can I see how everything fits together? Does each level naturally lead into the next, or are there a lot of "it'll make sense in four levels, trust me" choices? If I were looking at your build one level at a time and had no idea what the whole thing looked like, at each level, to what extent would I say "ah, that choice makes sense"? To what extent would I be able to predict, roughly, what you'll take next? Note that while I am not fond of dips and may penalize for them, they are not an
automatic loss of points if you can explain why the dip was truly necessary. (Beware, though, that a dip that delays or doesn't synergize well with your other class features might lose you points in Power, if not here.) Also, I can't speak for the other judges, but I have no problems drawing from as many different books as you need. I'd prefer that you not mix setting-specific stuff if you don't have to, but I tend to be lenient about what is and is not setting-specific. I can't speak for every judge, though, so you might not want to risk it. Finally, see "Editing," below.
Use of Secret Ingredient: What do you do with the secret ingredient that you couldn't have done without it? How does it make you stronger than ten levels in another class would? How do you make taking all the prereqs truly worth it? Is it obvious that your build needs the secret ingredient, or are you only taking it because you have to? Good backstory fluff helps here, but bad backstory fluff will not hurt, because I know that not everyone is good at creative writing (I'm certainly not). Do you use every part of the buffalo, so to speak? I know that very few builds can use ALL of the class features that a given class has to offer, but the more you use, the more favorably I will judge.
Special—Format and Editing: Spoiler
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Please, please make your build easy to read. Don't make me guess or have to remember which skills you took in-class and which skills you took cross-class. Don't just tell me that you have a +35 in Craft: Underwater Basketweaving. Tell me somewhere that you got a bonus from your race, a bonus from your ACF, and a synergy bonus from Profession: Underwater Basketweaver. Explain to me where your cool combos come in and how they work together. Sure, I'll get most of them on my own, but you don't want to risk me missing something you thought of, do you? If you have spells/maneuvers/soulmelds/etc., explain which are your favorites for general situations and why. If you use racial substitution levels or alternative class features, explain what they do and why you took them. As a rule, you're not going to go wrong by explaining why you took just about everything you did. "Letting the work stand on its own" is for poets, not Iron Chef Optimizers. In general, the more you explain and the less you gloss over, the happier I'm going to be. You thought of all these cool things and noteworthy angles, and it's important to me that I understand your thought process as best as I can. I don't want to end up scratching my head and saying "why the hell did they take Blessed of Tem-Et-Nu?" while you're giggling in anticipation of how awesome Blessed of Tem-Et-Nu is going to make you and how it's going to wow the judges. Oh, and failure to cite your sources WILL result in a loss of points.
Furthermore, and this is different from most other judges, I'm going to be just a little picky about spelling and grammar. No, stop that face. It'll be OK. I'm not gonna dock you for a single typo (though if you consistently misspell a word, then we might have problems) or a small grammatical slip-up. I'm not your English teacher. I do, however, notice these things, and I will take off points if anything sends me into a grammar rage and has me instinctively reaching for my red pen. For example, one build a few sessions back used the word "whom" in the backstory over and over and over when they really needed to use the word "who." Using "who" when you mean "whom" is one thing, but using "whom" when you mean "who" tells me that you're trying something you don't understand. That's the sort of thing that will have me shaving off a quarter-point here and a quarter-point there, usually in Elegance. Basically, don't try any grammatical tricks you don't understand, try to keep it easy to read, and stay the hell away from comma splices, and we'll both be happy.
Now, I understand that English isn't everyone's first language. If you're not a native speaker and what I'm saying scares you, feel free to PM our chairman and ask him to privately tell me that. (You could put it in the build itself, but I certainly understand if you don't want to make a big deal about it). As a rule, just keep it simple and you'll be fine. I'm not here to judge you on your grammar. I'm just warning you that I won't be happy if your grammar interferes with me reading your build. I honestly don't expect this to come up. I just don't want anyone to be surprised if it does.