Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXXIV

[Tim Proctor]

So when is the next one?

[OMG PONIES]

So when is the next one?

Aren't we the eager beaver ? These competitions have a set window for judging, and this one is still going for about 11 more days.

Judges will have until 11:59PM GMT on Saturday, July 14th, 2012 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted.

We already have two in, but we're still taking scores until the cutoff on the 14th. The competitors and their builds are revealed shortly thereafter, and then the Chairman will post a new thread for the next round. Amphetryon is pretty quick about posting after the deadline, which is a good thing for fanatics like myself .

[Kuulvheysoon]

So we have not one, but two ridiculously awesome judges who are each owed one entire Internet for their speed. I'll get this out of the way before I even start reading their comments:

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Final(?) Tallies After Two Freakin' Sweet Judges
{table=head]ENTRY|MEDAL|TOTAL|AVERAGE
Sam|GOLD|33.5|4.1875
Dracotaur|SILVER|31.5|3.9375
Samantha|BRONZE|30|3.75
Phaen bol Andras|Fourth|29.5|3.6875
Jenny|Fourth|29.5|3.6875
Yul'uth-ca|Sixth|28.5|3.5625
Leofriadinesal|Seventh|27.5|3.4375
Iujaku|Eighth|26.5|3.3125
Balaur|Ninth|25.5|3.1875
Draco Drago|Tenth|24.5|3.0625
Orvalo|Eleventh|23|2.875
Asheel|Eleventh|23|2.875
Tael Yerenor|Eleventh|23|2.875
Zordon Blue|Fourteenth|22.5|2.8125
Assassin|Fifteenth|21.5|2.6875
Avi|Sixteenth|21|2.625
Xiroth Striving|Seventeenth|20|2.5
Katria|Seventeenth|20|2.5
Wodan Silverblood|Nineteenth|19.5|2.4375
Tyrus Blackscale|Twentieth|18|2.25
Son of Edi|Twenty-First|17.5|2.1875
Salomon|Twenty-Second|14.5|1.8125
Bowser|Twenty-Third|10.5|1.3125[/table]

This table has not yet been reviewed for arithmetic, but it seems like the categorical scores for each entry matched the total each judge gave.

I double-checked, and I got the same totals as you, if that's any help.

[Amphetryon]

We already have two in, but we're still taking scores until the cutoff on the 14th. The competitors and their builds are revealed shortly thereafter, and then the Chairman will post a new thread for the next round. Amphetryon is pretty quick about posting after the deadline, which is a good thing for fanatics like myself .

For the fanatics, I'll let on that the next one's already been chosen.

[Draz74]

The entry I didn't quite get written up was a Ninja5/Trapsmith2/DD3/Trapsmith1/DD7/Trapsmith2. I called him Quentin Tucker and wrote a kobold army into his backstory.

I actually really like that idea. Combining DD with Trapsmith, that is. Unlike other spellcasting classes, Trapsmith Level 1 Spell Slots are actually pretty useful at higher levels!

[Devmaar]

I actually really like that idea. Combining DD with Trapsmith, that is. Unlike other spellcasting classes, Trapsmith Level 1 Spell Slots are actually pretty useful at higher levels!

That was my thinking to start with. The kobold thing came from: "now, how can I link trapmaking and draconicness fluffwise?"

[Amphetryon]

Thiago, Samantha's creator would appreciate clarification on what you mean by "Bait-and-switch spells".

[Thurbane]

Not to criticise judges, but one thing that always puzzled me is taking an originality hit for trying to parody (or homage) and existing (non-D&D) character. I get that judging is all a matter of personal preference, but I think penalising entries for being based off known real or fictional characters is a little mean spirited, especially when the build makes no effort to his that it is what it is...

[Venger]

Not to criticise judges, but one thing that always puzzled me is taking an originality hit for trying to parody (or homage) and existing (non-D&D) character. I get that judging is all a matter of personal preference, but I think penalising entries for being based off known real or fictional characters is a little mean spirited, especially when the build makes no effort to his that it is what it is...

I certainly agree with you. I think all we can do is judge that way when the torch is passed to us. I certainly mean to encourage rather than discourage it among contestants. I really liked Khariman Sandiga back in shadowdancer, and vigilante was populated with familiar superheroes. I thought that was kind of fun.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Not to criticise judges, but one thing that always puzzled me is taking an originality hit for trying to parody (or homage) and existing (non-D&D) character. I get that judging is all a matter of personal preference, but I think penalising entries for being based off known real or fictional characters is a little mean spirited, especially when the build makes no effort to his that it is what it is...

I certainly agree with you. I think all we can do is judge that way when the torch is passed to us. I certainly mean to encourage rather than discourage it among contestants. I really liked Khariman Sandiga back in shadowdancer, and vigilante was populated with familiar superheroes. I thought that was kind of fun.

I'm with you guys. Also, didn't Anansi win over the judges with his extremely obvious Spiderman references?

*cough cough* Venger.

[Zeb]

*Urge to read other judging strong, but don't want to taint my own.

Halfway done, hope to knock the rest out over tomorrows holiday.

[OMG PONIES]

I actually really like that idea. Combining DD with Trapsmith, that is. Unlike other spellcasting classes, Trapsmith Level 1 Spell Slots are actually pretty useful at higher levels!

Indeed, I too toyed with the idea. Trapsmith's odd spell list and the fact that you could get all it had to offer in 5 levels made it ripe for the picking. I engaged in the Optimizer's Paranoia Loop we discussed earlier and decided against it...

That was my thinking to start with. The kobold thing came from: "now, how can I link trapmaking and draconicness fluffwise?"

Another part of it that I abandoned due to fears of unoriginality. What started with factotum later became Kobold Rogue sub level 5/Trapsmith 5/DD 10, with a focus on craft (trapmaking) as a way to keep "Mother's" lair safe from pesky intruders. At the end, it screamed NPC so much that I'll be using him as one under the name Normyn Baits . However, I didn't think he'd cut the mustard in terms of PC power.

*Urge to read other judging strong, but don't want to taint my own.

Halfway done, hope to knock the rest out over tomorrows holiday.

Nice! Glad to hear we have at least a third judge in the works.

[Venger]

I'm with you guys. Also, didn't Anansi win over the judges with his extremely obvious Spiderman references?

*cough cough* Venger.

well, I thought it bad form to extol my own virtues or toot my own horn, but since you mention it, I really did have fun with anansi, and I think it would be a shame if I'd been discouraged from referencing pre-existing material by dings in originality. it's not like it has any material effect on the build.

but let's not forget who took gold last round

I've done that in almost every iron chef I've participated in, and only placed twice (bronze with anansi as you mentioned in drow judicator and bronze with shui cho back in initiate of pistis sophia)

in shadowdancer, claire was based somewhat loosely on Rue from Princess Tutu, being orphaned at a ballet academy by a capricious fey father.

she was a contender for a while for second, but lost ground with the final judge. it was a large field and I had a lot of steep competition, though I did get points from every judge for the backstory, but not because of its source.

pumpkinhead had nothing to do with the movie, really, just the name, and wasn't particularly based on anything. he was constructed purely for lulz, and did better than I expected him to, considering.

for consecrated harrier, shere khan singh was based somewhat heavily on khan noonien singh with shere khan's jungle backdrop instead of singh's space one. I even made sure sure to keep the famous line from Star Wars II in it and had him chase Tiberius to Baator (from hell's heart I stab at thee!)

none of the judges mentioned it positively or negatively. the field was large here too (17), so i see how it could've got lost in the shuffle

in mindbender,monty and part 2 wasn't really based on anything in particular, but he is a halfling named Monty Took, being a pun/reference millefeuille, since Took is pippin's surname from LoTR, it's very similar to Monte Cook, and Monty is a thief and flim-flammer, so there's a play there with Took there too

in initiate of pistis sophia, my other bronze, medal winner, shui cho , was based rather loosely on Omi cho from xiaolin showdown with the water theme and fighting with a cocky artificer who stole his holy magic items made by the monastery's ancestors (jack spicer)

the backstory's somewhat generic nature was pointed out to its numerical detriment (but not the source) but to be fair, this SI pigeonholes you pretty damn hard into being a goody goody monk. (I didn't know monk of the enabled hand existed, so thought monk 10 w/VoP was the only in, leading to shui's extreme genericness)

in shadow sentinel, with sue, I'd originally intended his illumian sigil, $ to be his name, (cash) since he is johnny cash, his backstory laden with lyrics and titles of cash's songs, but sue stuck, which is ironically kind of perfect given the context.

for temple raider of olidammara with theodore logan I wrote a largely faithful matrix parody, naming him for another keanu reeves character, (ted from bill and ted) his numbers overall were much worse than I expected, but no mention good or bad of his backstory or its source, which, as a parody, I tried to underscore by making a variety of references to horribly dated internet memes and slang to remind the reader of how poorly the original matrix has aged

in drow judicator withanansi the first thing that came to mind was to riff the 60s spider-man theme and I didn't have as much time as I usually do to work on my backstories, so I was a little crunched when it came to time. one of the judges did mention this and I lost some points (not enough for it to make a difference between bronze and silver but still the point stands) but I did get more points than I lost for the spider-man thing.

I wonder how I'm going to end up doing this round. good luck to you too. I was impressed with daresh last round. mebbe we'll be on the podium together again this round.

[Draz74]

My only gold medal, Jereth from the Master of Masks competition, was loosely based on the Phantom of the Opera in some of the aspects of his early backstory. It didn't seem to hurt his chances -- although to be fair, it was more subtle than some homages; I'm not certain any of the judges even made the connection.

[ThiagoMartell]

Thiago, Samantha's creator would appreciate clarification on what you mean by "Bait-and-switch spells".

Classifying with one class and applying the bonus spells to a different class.

[mattie_p]

I'm with you guys. Also, didn't Anansi win over the judges with his extremely obvious Spiderman references?

*cough cough* Venger.

Xodion won Temple Raider with an Indiana Jones look-alike.

[Kuulvheysoon]

well, I thought it bad form to extol my own virtues or toot my own horn, but since you mention it, I really did have fun with anansi, and I think it would be a shame if I'd been discouraged from referencing pre-existing material by dings in originality. it's not like it has any material effect on the build.

but let's not forget who took gold last round

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I've done that in almost every iron chef I've participated in, and only placed twice (bronze with anansi as you mentioned in drow judicator and bronze with shui cho back in initiate of pistis sophia)

in shadowdancer, claire was based somewhat loosely on Rue from Princess Tutu, being orphaned at a ballet academy by a capricious fey father.

she was a contender for a while for second, but lost ground with the final judge. it was a large field and I had a lot of steep competition, though I did get points from every judge for the backstory, but not because of its source.

pumpkinhead had nothing to do with the movie, really, just the name, and wasn't particularly based on anything. he was constructed purely for lulz, and did better than I expected him to, considering.

for consecrated harrier, shere khan singh was based somewhat heavily on khan noonien singh with shere khan's jungle backdrop instead of singh's space one. I even made sure sure to keep the famous line from Star Wars II in it and had him chase Tiberius to Baator (from hell's heart I stab at thee!)

none of the judges mentioned it positively or negatively. the field was large here too (17), so i see how it could've got lost in the shuffle

in mindbender,monty and part 2 wasn't really based on anything in particular, but he is a halfling named Monty Took, being a pun/reference millefeuille, since Took is pippin's surname from LoTR, it's very similar to Monte Cook, and Monty is a thief and flim-flammer, so there's a play there with Took there too

in initiate of pistis sophia, my other bronze, medal winner, shui cho , was based rather loosely on Omi cho from xiaolin showdown with the water theme and fighting with a cocky artificer who stole his holy magic items made by the monastery's ancestors (jack spicer)

the backstory's somewhat generic nature was pointed out to its numerical detriment (but not the source) but to be fair, this SI pigeonholes you pretty damn hard into being a goody goody monk. (I didn't know monk of the enabled hand existed, so thought monk 10 w/VoP was the only in, leading to shui's extreme genericness)

in shadow sentinel, with sue, I'd originally intended his illumian sigil, $ to be his name, (cash) since he is johnny cash, his backstory laden with lyrics and titles of cash's songs, but sue stuck, which is ironically kind of perfect given the context.

for temple raider of olidammara with theodore logan I wrote a largely faithful matrix parody, naming him for another keanu reeves character, (ted from bill and ted) his numbers overall were much worse than I expected, but no mention good or bad of his backstory or its source, which, as a parody, I tried to underscore by making a variety of references to horribly dated internet memes and slang to remind the reader of how poorly the original matrix has aged

in drow judicator withanansi the first thing that came to mind was to riff the 60s spider-man theme and I didn't have as much time as I usually do to work on my backstories, so I was a little crunched when it came to time. one of the judges did mention this and I lost some points (not enough for it to make a difference between bronze and silver but still the point stands) but I did get more points than I lost for the spider-man thing.

I wonder how I'm going to end up doing this round. good luck to you too. I was impressed with daresh last round. mebbe we'll be on the podium together again this round.

Well, my first ICO entry was loosely based on a combination of Wolverine and Xena, Warrior Princess (Azuki, waaaaaaaay back in ICO XX), and I got a silver there.

And it would certainly be strange if I placed thi round, considering how I didn't even enter (life being too hectic). But best of luck this round, and perhaps next round I'll join you up there on that hallowed space.

[Piggy Knowles]

I almost always scour mythology and history when I'm writing up the backstory for characters.

Going back through my catalog of IC entries...

Vald Lokkur was inspired by the Norse concepts of the Fimbulvetr as described in the Poetic Edda, as a witch-warrior dedicated to making the endless winter that precedes Ragnarok come about.

Maxwell Allard the Raven really came about because I felt like writing a villanelle, but some of the character concepts came from the old-school pulp, The Shadow (Maxwell Grant was the pen-name of the radio-drama author of The Shadow, and Kent Allard was The Shadow's original alter-ego, hence Maxwell Allard, the shadow 'neath the raven's wing).

I don't recall if I had any specific inspiration for Lucian the Wanderer - he was one of the rare builds (for me) where the build itself came first, and the story came second. I'm pretty sure the name came from Lucian of Antioch, but not because he inspired the character (I had just happened to be reading about him at the time).

Anjelica from the Mindbender competition is another that didn't really have any specific inspiration, although some of the names do. Her parents were Kyla and Minno (Kylie Minogue... don't judge me! :P), and Lilitu as the name of her demon "parent" came from the Lilith of Jewish mythology.

Frater Omnia Vincam was heavily inspired by the late nineteenth century occultists, especially Aleister Crowley, S.M. Mathers and Charles Stansfeld Jones. "Omnia Vincam" means "I Will Conquer All" and was the magical name taken by Victor Neuberg on initiation into the OTO. Acchad Joannes was a reference to Frater Achad (Charles Stanfeld Jones' magical name), followed by Jones. Aerodotus the Scholar was a straight play on the historian Herodotus. Tristan Rosencrew was a play on Christian Rosencreux. There were a bunch of other references buried in there too, but I don't recall them all.

Qilin, Defender of the Dusk Unicorn was thrown together pretty quickly (I made it on the day of the competition), but the qilin is a mythical Chinese unicorn-like creature. Most of its story was made up from a conglomeration of unicorn-related mythology that I could recall.

Jal Filius was mostly an attempt to write in a pseudo-biblical style, although I specifically read a little bit of Ovid to get in the mood for writing it. I couldn't say anyone in particular inspired it, though - the image of a man forged out of the wood of a sacred tree was inspiring enough for me.

For Jacques Payens, I looked mostly at crusaders and adventurers from the 1300s to 1500s for inspiration. The name came from Hugue de Payens, founder of the Knights Templar. He was sort of a conglomeration of a bunch of historical figures, though (Casanova definitely played a part, for instance).

The Laidly Worm of the Taer was almost entirely inspired by the poem, the Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh. Just about everything about it, from the names to the backstory, came from that.

I think those were all of my entries. They pretty much all had references to real or fictional characters or events, and they all placed fairly well (the only two that didn't get trophies were the Laidly Worm and Qilin, and both still scored decently). But I also didn't really make any complete clones of popular figures - I more used other stories as stepping stones to build my own.

[kestrel404]

Hmm, I can't say that I'm a fan of starting with another character and 'translating' them into D&D. However, I don't see any reason they should be considered less 'original' than another character.

However, what they usually DO lack is a backstory that integrates them into the D&D world, and when I judge I generally penalize an entry with no story in the originality category.

[Venger]

Well, my first ICO entry was loosely based on a combination of Wolverine and Xena, Warrior Princess (Azuki, waaaaaaaay back in ICO XX), and I got a silver there.

And it would certainly be strange if I placed thi round, considering how I didn't even enter (life being too hectic). But best of luck this round, and perhaps next round I'll join you up there on that hallowed space.

whoops! with 22 other contestants, I forgot who all was competing. thanks.

[Z3ro]

My only gold medal, Jereth from the Master of Masks competition, was loosely based on the Phantom of the Opera in some of the aspects of his early backstory. It didn't seem to hurt his chances -- although to be fair, it was more subtle than some homages; I'm not certain any of the judges even made the connection.

To address this and related points; I don't have a problem with a character paying homage to an existing character. I have a problem when you lift that character whole, name, backstory, and all, for the competition.

[Menteith]

I was trying to stat up Jar-Jar Binks for the Temple Raider Iron Chef, using Luck feats, Fortune's Friend, and a Vorpal Weapon, but I could never get the thing to work. Now I sort of want to go back and finish that build....

[mattie_p]

I was trying to stat up Jar-Jar Binks for the Temple Raider Iron Chef, using Luck feats, Fortune's Friend, and a Vorpal Weapon, but I could never get the thing to work. Now I sort of want to go back and finish that build....

You should, but base it on Sally's Jar-Jar, and not Lucas' Jar-Jar.

[Menteith]

You should, but base it on Sally's Jar-Jar, and not Lucas' Jar-Jar.

But then all my hard work of getting a Charisma of 1 with no level adjustment will go to waste! Clearly, Darth's and Droid's Jar-Jar has a decent Diplomacy/Charisma score, as he convinced the peaceful Senate to create an army with a single check.

[mattie_p]

Technically Sally's Jar-Jar convinced the senate to create an already existing army. Also, everyone knows that politicians like nothing better than spending money, so there was a huge circumstance bonus on the diplomacy roll to begin with.

[gbprime]

but let's not forget who took gold last round

in shadowdancer, claire was based somewhat loosely on Rue from Princess Tutu, being orphaned at a ballet academy by a capricious fey father.

Interesting discussion tactic, touting the gold and then leading off with an entry that didn't win one.

Let's see... Who DID win that round?

[/smack]

[Venger]

Interesting discussion tactic, touting the gold and then leading off with an entry that didn't win one.

Let's see... Who DID win that round?

[/smack]

welp, gold is the best medal for a reason. I don't have any blue ribbons myself, so couldn't really lead with one unlike some

[Zeb]

Judging below

*Please note first time as a judge and there were a lot of entries if there are any mistakes, questions or math errors I will address them as they are brought to my attention.

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Refresher of my previously posted criteria

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Originality: this will be based on the originality of your chassis to enter the SI. If it was a common or easy way to get there less points, uncommon or surprising, more points. If I find in via Google a lot less points. Competition point If other entry's use your entry chassis expect to lose some points. As far as race anything goes, but if I have to read more than 3 of the same races who want to be dragons expect a small deduction. Also more points if your concept is cool/I like it.

Power: Base power is compared to your build if it didn't take the SI and instead I just clapped the Half-dragon template on. Does your build cover all the bases, offense, defense, utility? Competition point If another build does it better don't expect points, if your the best then points for you.

Elegance: So much here, is your entry readable, does it make sense, questionable rules use, excessive dipping, lack of focus, use of stinky cheese, and anything that leaves a poor taste in my mouth. Of course the normal deductions for UA set forth by the chairman.

Use of Secret Ingredient: Did you qualify? take all ten levels? make use of the abilities? Did you make it the star of the build? Does your Non-SI synergize with the SI?

Note illegal builds will automatically score below the lowest legal build, sorry even if its really cool.

In addition this SI in what might be a surprise to some contestants had 4 entry requirements:

Race: Any nondragon (cannot already be a half-dragon).
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks.
Languages: Draconic.
Spellcasting: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation

If an entry didn't specify they could speak Draconic but it was available as a bonus language for their race they were not penalized in Use of Secret ingredient. If they did not have it listed and was unavailable either as a bonus language or because they lacked sufficient Int they received a '1' in UoSI for not qualifying for the class. If the chairman feels it warrants it I will change this to 0s for illegal entries as it effects about a third of the contestants.
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Orvalo - 12.25

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Originality: 3.75
Azurin (-.25), mineral warrior (+.25), Wu Jen is cool (+.25), (+.25) Earth Dreamer, Good story weaving (+.25)

Power: 4
Solid power with some good tricks.

Elegance: 2.5
While it was a well put together and understandable entry(+.5) Alacritous Cogitation, Earth Spell, combined with the possibility of multiclass penlites net you a loss (-1)

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
Dragon disciple seems to slow our use of wu jen, questionable qualification also hurts.

Jeanette Crawford - 11

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Originality: 3.25
Battle Sorcerer, Soul Eater and Daelkyr are used by others (-.75). Awesomely creepy back story(+1).

Power: 4
Negative levels are a powerhouse, but as you admit you are vulnerable at low levels and anything immune.

Elegance: 2.75
The build flows well, table readability was a bit difficult also debatable use of energy drain since its an Su and those normally default to Standard actions.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
No Draconic

Salomon - 9.6

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Originality: 2.75
Human, Sorcerer, Abjurant Champion lots of humans and sorcs, only abjurant champ classic entry.

Power: 3.1
Slightly above the baseline of NPC power.

Elegance: 1.75
Craft wand seems out of place, also as a skill? spells are incorrect and table has some legibility issues.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
It seems like you take the SI... because you couldn't start as a half dragon?.

Tael Yerenor - 13.25

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Originality: 4
Cool Entry, Wizard and Frost mage(+1)

Power: 3.25
Wiz spells, stat dmg is good on those not immune

Elegance: 2.75
It flows well especially with the back story but your qualification feat seems to be an incorrect choice

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.25
Growth into the SI isn't bad but there is nothing great about it.

Wodan Silverblood - 12.85

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Originality: 3.6
There are other humans and Stalwart battle Sorcs(-.5), but I have a soft spot for the Stalwart battle sorc(+.1) Odin as a dragon? love it (+1)

Power: 4.25
Spells, Maneuvers, enspelled maneuvering familiars all bring out the dmg.

Elegance: 2
Good flow, but draconic polymorph hurts the SI, wyrm of war is questionable, psychic reform and not from yourself also not so much

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3
Use it yes, is it special no.

Avi - 11.5

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Originality: 3.5
Warmage and Talon of Tiamat, nice evil draconic theme(+.75) small hit for Illumian(-.25).

Power: 2.5
You're a blaster and melee, loss of focus hurts.

Elegance: 2.5
Table legibility and problems with spells.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3
Standard use of SI

Asheel - 9.9

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Originality: 2.75
Human Duskblade expected(-.5), Ur-Priest (+.25).

Power: 4.9
An Ur-Priest with extra 9th lvl spells and some melee backup.

Elegance: 1
The cheese its too much!

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1.25
Only five levels (-1.5), you really only used it for the spells but the extras are gravy (-.25)

Iujaku - 13.75

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Originality: 2.75
Human Duskblade(-.5) but Kensai (+.25).

Power: 3
Decent Melee Charger but not an uber charge or king of smack, could have benefited more from spells.

Elegance: 4.5
Everything flows well and has natural progression, legibility and brevity earn points.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.5
Breath weapon and spells could have got a nod but nice growth into the physical aspects of the SI.

Balaur - 14

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Originality: 3.75
Human and Dragon Sam(-.5) but marshal (+.25) the story and build show an awesome "natural" progression to half dragon(+1)

Power: 3.5
Comes online late, but a solid char.

Elegance: 3.25
Natural understandable progression, check your feat name at lvl one.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.5
makes the transistion to Half dragon seem... Natural.

Zordon Blue - 13.25

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Originality: 3.75
Azurin Battle Sorcerer(-.5) a Totemist(+.25) conviction to stick with the color blue priceless (+1).

Power: 3.5
Natural attack plus totemist is good, could have used more spells.

Elegance: 2.75
your dip into totemist gives you multiclass penalty.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.25
Totemist naturally synergies with the SI, works ok with what you are doing, it just doesn't wow me with DD.

Xiroth Stirving - 11.25

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Originality: 3.75
Dread Necromancer with the thought of becoming a dracolich(+1.25) Illumian and fighter(-.5)

Power: 2
Feats were meh, seems like you were trying to pump your attack, could be better.

Elegance: 2.5
Dipped around and table legibility hurt you (put notes anywhere but in the table).

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3
This seems like a good concept for use with the SI, your execution was lackluster. It would be awesome to somehow workout becoming a Dracolich.

Yul'uth-ca - 13.6

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Originality: 4.35
Stalwart battle Sorc barbarian Anthropomorphic animal were all used(-.65) All Hail our glorious master (+2)

Power: 4
All power to our masters Might

Elegance: 1.25
The flaw, the dip, adding amphibious to a squid, it just fills me with a sense of otherworldly wrongness

Use of Secret Ingredient: 4
yes you use 13 levels of the ingredient but it seems more about making our glorious master and less about the SI.

Katria - 11.85

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Originality: 3
Battle Dancer, Dragon Devotee were taken (-.5) elf and Sword of Righteousness were not(+.5).

Power: 3.1
Good melee power but other characters outshine you.

Elegance: 2.75
stat blocks were handy, but the table needed work, I had to keep jumping back and forth to figure out what was going on and if you qualified for your prestiges I might have missed some tricks or features.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3
nothing special here.

Son of Edi - 7.75

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Originality: 4.5
Draconic Neanderthal Wonderworker (+.75) sorcerer (-.25). Liked the concept(+1).

Power: 1
Could have been Amazing, but you don't qualify for metabreath feats (Draconomicon pg 66 first paragraph under metabreath feats) so the cornerstone of your power isn't there. it would have been a 4 otherwise.

Elegance: 1.25
La is a slight ding though the entry was legible and well explained, however there is the whole non qualification for feats and even if it did work the reasonable limit on free actions, actual wait time on quicken breath and the argument weather it was still a standard action to convert a spell to a breath weapon just pull it down.


Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
Sadly no draconic means you don't even qualify for the SI

Leofriadinesal - 11.25

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Originality: 3.25
Orc Warblade (+.5) but also duskblade (-.25) D&D has made me jaded towards orphans but not enough to lose any points.

Power: 3.5
Maneuvers and weapon aptitude and Greatspoon make you stand out, just not far ahead.

Elegance: 3
Duskblade seems a tacked to qualify for the SI, but other than that everything looks pretty.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
No Draconic

Bowser - 4

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Originality: 4
Not the coolest big bad presented in this completion.

Power: 0
The build is illegal for contest purposes it would be unfair to try and score it against other builds.

Elegance: 0
The build is illegal for contest purposes it would be unfair to try and score it against other builds.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 0
The build is illegal for contest purposes it would be unfair to try and score it against other builds.

Sam - 13.5

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Originality: 4.5
Warforged bard warchanter who wants to become a dragon(+1.5)!

Power: 4
Not bad all around plus your good for the party.

Elegance: 4
Simple progression, the classes complement each other, good suggestions and legibility.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
No Draconic, and your a bard, it was one skill point?!?!?!?

Tyrus Blackscale - 10.4

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Originality: 2.5
Human sorc *yawn (-.5)

Power: 2.9
Melee combatant who isn't very exciting

Elegance: 2
Using alternate UA system deserves an elegance hit due to contest rules in addition you would have been served just as well by taking one of many approved classes the uncanny dodge/improved uncanny doge option not being that key.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
Really a better indication or explanation of why could have earned you some points

Samantha - 15

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Originality: 4.25
Spirit Shaman Swanmay(+.5). Sure its a human (-.25) but is this how we get Coutals(+1)?

Power: 4
Plenty of options, spells, skills and melee if needed.

Elegance: 2.75
Southern Magician was expected and I dont like it for qualification purposes but at least you kept within setting for it. Everything else flowed well and was legible.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 4
You use everything and still make DD feel special.

Phaen bol Andras - 14.6

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Originality: 3.1
Other stalwart battle Sorc anthro animals and dragon samurai (-.65). but I like the joke (+.75)

Power: 4
Great melee foc with pounce and good spell choices.

Elegance: 3.5
La buyoff is a ding, otherwise it flows well.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 4
Good explanation of what synergies with the SI plus with the starting handicap of rhd and la the SI is a good choice to add half dragon.

Dracotaur - 14.5

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Originality: 2.75
Hey a centaur (+.25) but barb and Dragon Devotee were done(-.5)

Power: 4.5
Super physical power!

Elegance: 3.75
Slow growth, core only option, no legibility issues.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.5
Uses everything but the spells.

Draco Dragon - 9.75

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Originality: 3.25
Everything but Thayan Gladiator we have seen (net -.75). rising to the challenge (+1)

Power: 3.5
you have a lot of options but many of those options are done better by other contestants

Elegance: 2
Dip-tastic, lacks focus and Soul Eater discussion applies here as well.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
Got too far in character and forgot to learn draconic

Assassin - 8.6

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Originality: 3
Monk & Rog are new(+.5), Human Assassin (-.5) is something I thought more would use to qualify.

Power: 3.1
Sneak attack dependency is kinda a one trick dead end.

Elegance: 1.5
Skill choices, spell choices a little more explanation all could have helped you, also why not ninja?

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
without a skill list I have no way of being sure if you qualified for the SI ditto for language, but otherwise why Dragon disciple?

More than happy to elaborate on any of the judging but I kept them short for my sanity and readability.

[Amphetryon]

From Balaur:

i just wanted to state that the first feat is indeed Magical Training as noted in my sources. I just kind of blanked out when typing it into the tables.

[Zeb]

It wasnt a deduction from me just somthing I noted.