Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXXVII

[OMG PONIES]

Or the team round becomes an exhibition round, perhaps.

[Piggy Knowles]

"Special Edition" would address one of the potential concerns, of a paradigm shift.

Hypothetically, how would folks feel if - for example - Madara registered as the second chef with 6 of 10 different teams? That would appear, to me, to be a separate concern from having a solo chef enter multiple entrants, because Madara's (or any other contestant's) amount of input could be as minimal as he and the other contestant(s) are willing to accept, all while maximizing his odds at "winning."

If teams were made public before the competition, I think that would minimize that a bit... Madara could theoretically join multiple teams, but how many teams would have him when they see he's already a member of several others?

I know that if I were choosing someone to work with, I'd worry that someone involved with multiple other teams would not be able to commit properly to my own, and would probably keep looking.

[Madara]

If teams were made public before the competition, I think that would minimize that a bit... Madara could theoretically join multiple teams, but how many teams would have him when they see he's already a member of several others?

I know that if I were choosing someone to work with, I'd worry that someone involved with multiple other teams would not be able to commit properly to my own, and would probably keep looking.

Or we could just set a limit on how many teams you can be in.

[Venger]

Or we could just set a limit on how many teams you can be in.

I think only being allowed to be in one team would take care of that.

[Draz74]

I think only being allowed to be in one team would take care of that.

Or two, if one of them is just you.

[Dragrun]

hey
sorry for lurking but i personally believe that a team working on a single character and a single person/group working on a group of characters would be fine on the condition that a person could only be on 1 team per challenge (to prevent people from hedging their bets so to speak)

[Dragrun]

while I'm thinking about it how would anyone feel about doing a short diversion and do some more often-than-not forgotten and to some terrible base classes(ex. the abominable snowman{read truenamer})

[eggs]

Truenamer's possibilities have basically been played out. I'd think we'd pretty much just expect some a bunch of nearly-straightleveled TNs, with essentially the same utterances known, punctuated by the occasional 1-level drop into Factotum, Marshal or Exemplar.

Something like Acolyte of the Ego might be interesting, though.

[ThiagoMartell]

Truenamer's possibilities have basically been played out. I'd think we'd pretty much just expect some a bunch of nearly-straightleveled TNs, with essentially the same utterances known, punctuated by the occasional 1-level drop into Factotum, Marshal or Exemplar.

But it's a base class.

Something like Acolyte of the Ego might be interesting, though.

Yeah, that would be cool.

[Piggy Knowles]

So, I guess the million dollar question is.... will the close of this contest be delayed due to boards being down, or will it still end tonight?

Personally I'm fine with this contest still closing on time, as we've gotten two judgings already (which is about standard these days), and I don't think anyone has said they're currently working on also judging. But if there IS a judge who has been working on scores but won't be able to complete them on time because of board maintenance, an extension wouldn't be crazy.

[Amphetryon]

So, I guess the million dollar question is.... will the close of this contest be delayed due to boards being down, or will it still end tonight?

Personally I'm fine with this contest still closing on time, as we've gotten two judgings already (which is about standard these days), and I don't think anyone has said they're currently working on also judging. But if there IS a judge who has been working on scores but won't be able to complete them on time because of board maintenance, an extension wouldn't be crazy.

I have heard nothing from any prospective judges; don't expect an extension.

[Amphetryon]

Here, at long last, are the final tallies. I thought we had fun entries all around.

{table=head]Entry|Place|Judge 1|Judge 2|Total|Average
Kazyan's Sixteentoes Componentguarder|Gold|14.0|16.0|30.0|3.75

Piggy Knowles' Ximen Bao|Silver|17.25|12.0|29.25|3.65625

Menteith's Zaroff|Bronze|16.0|12.0|28.0|3.5

DMofDarkness' Dustie|HM and Fourth|15.25|12|27.25|3.40625

Venger's Alive|Fifth|14.75|12.0|26.75|3.34375

only1doug's Doril Shadowbane|Sixth|15|9.5|24.5|3.0625

Macabaret's Armin Long|Seventh|14.25|9.0|23.25|2.91875

God Imperror's Bilblibliip|Eighth|13.5|9.0|22.5|2.8125

mattie_p's Sheriff Breagar Bearclaw|Ninth|11.5|8.0|19.5|2.4375[/table]

New contest will be up shortly.

[OMG PONIES]

Nice entries, everyone! I was trying to judge, but real life became a bit burdensome.

[God Imperror]

Well it was a fun contest, considering I discovered it on the day the entries were due I am satisfied with my entry.

I would really appreciate comments on the inquiries that I pm to the chairman though, they would help me polish my builds in the future.

Thanks to all other contestants and congrats, the builds were a fun read, and special thanks to the judges for taking their time.

[Piggy Knowles]

Congrats, Kazyan & Menteith! I particularly liked Zaroff (and I thought it was funny that we both came up with the same fluff idea of using Justiciar's abilities to bring in victims for sacrifices).

I wasn't sure how Ximen Bao would do, so I'm glad she placed well. I liked the build, but I knew it had some issues - the biggest one being that I just barely scraped together the +6 BAB needed to enter the class, meaning that I didn't take my first level until ECL 11. I was worried that alone would kill me, but it turns out that was actually a pretty common theme this round. I also struggled a lot with getting the stats right, especially since Ximen had pretty hefty skill requirements to make everything come together. I actually considered scrapping the lesser drow and making her human several times for that reason, although in the end the fluff of her as a drow won out.

My main thought with her was that I knew we'd see a lot of grapplers, since that was such a large part of the secret ingredient. I decided pretty early on that, rather than making a build that pumped my own grapple checks, I'd instead make a build that made my enemies' grapple checks terrible.

That being said.... I really like the lead-in of duskblade 3/(cloistered) cleric 1 for a Master of Shrouds debuffer. It's not as strictly powerful as the more usual caster-focused lead ins, but clerics get a LOT of good touch spell debuffs for a duskblade's channeling.

[ThiagoMartell]

Man, I had my judging almost complete. Oh well.

[BobVosh]

I've been super busy IRL (that horrible thing, gosh) so I have missed the last like 3-4 contests. Hopefully I can judge the next one though, seeing how we had low turn out for that.

[Kazyan]

Congrats to Piggy Knowles, Menteith, DMofDarkness, and everyone, really.

...You guys liked my silly cheesy ghost-cat build?

Honestly, I was convinced that it wasn't as original as both judges thought, at first. Tibbit sort of came in late after remembering that Ghost was a template and I had to put it on something, and coming up with Ghost was a simple matter of answering "What am I going to do with all of these knocked out monsters?" Then it steamrolled from there.

Looking through everything uncovered a weird trick. I doubt I can it it into any future competition without it being obvious that it's me, so I'll present it here:

A Tibbit's cat form doesn't lower Strength directly, but instead applies a -8 penalty. A Chaotic Evil Soulborn ignores all strength penalties from level 2 onward. Also, Thunderstep Boots will apply to the cat's bite and claws, if you get Pounce from somewhere. It's not totally optimized, but the race and class go surprisingly well together. CE Tibbit Soulborn 4/Warshaper 2 with Don't Mind Me, SS (Sphinx Claws), Open Least Chakra (Feet) and Open Least Chakra (Hands) is a perfectly cromulent E6 build, and that's awesome considering Soulborn. For bonus hilarity, your carrying capacity goes up when you turn into a cat.

[Madara]

So is there consensus on whether or not we're doing a team competition next? Or is it going to be a regular IC?

[Dusk Eclipse]

Regular, Amphetryon already posted the next IC.

[mattie_p]

I have to confess I was a little disappointed in my showing in this competition. Granted I gave no backstory (although, as at least one other competitor pointed out, this is not a writing competition). That said.

Literally following the Rules As Written for a defined keyword (melee weapons are defined in the glossary, for anyone actually interested) and being penalized for that is really disappointing. The fact that I actually ensured that my entry obeyed RAW instead of RAI or, more commonly, "What I really think the authors intended" should have gotten a nod, in my opinion. Anyway. I don't want to be bitter, but maybe I need to spend more time abusing rules instead of following them next time. Just saying.

Cheers to all though, and good luck next competition.

[Amphetryon]

This round's over, folks. Let it be over. Thanks.