Pathfinder Grab Bag Competition Chat Thread II: New Thread smell included!

[zhdarkstar]

Yeah... I'm mostly working ahead on next month's entry. I might whip up an archetype or alternate class for the Liberal Arts Major, though. Say hello to the Science Major

You have my full blessing and gratitude to do so. The LAM was born completely out of a joke, and yet I'm so glad that you guys have thoroughly enjoyed the end result. Since I'm not much of a Whovian, I'm probably going to spend some of November coming up with courses to patch other homebrew base classes into the course/minor system--with authors' permissions, of course. I apply the same principles to expansion of the class as those of the South Harmon Institute of Technology from Accepted: we teach what you want to learn. All you have to do is write the name of the course you want to take on the whiteboard...

EDIT: I already know exactly which homebrew class is the first one to get the treatment. I don't care if it's entirely predictable based on my previous work. Coming up with a Sentai tie-in is just so thematically appropriate that I would be doing the LAM a disservice by not including one.

[malonkey1]

You have my full blessing and gratitude to do so. The LAM was born completely out of a joke, and yet I'm so glad that you guys have thoroughly enjoyed the end result. Since I'm not much of a Whovian, I'm probably going to spend some of November coming up with courses to patch other homebrew base classes into the course/minor system--with authors' permissions, of course. I apply the same principles to expansion of the class as those of the South Harmon Institute of Technology from Accepted: we teach what you want to learn. All you have to do is write the name of the course you want to take on the whiteboard...

EDIT: I already know exactly which homebrew class is the first one to get the treatment. I don't care if it's entirely predictable based on my previous work. Coming up with a Sentai tie-in is just so thematically appropriate that I would be doing the LAM a disservice by not including one.

You also have my full permission to use the Arcane Engineer if you like.

[Tanuki Tales]

Have I ever mentioned how much I love all you guys and this thread and this subforum in general?

It seems to be the only drama free zone on this whole site.

[zhdarkstar]

Have I ever mentioned how much I love all you guys and this thread and this subforum in general?

It seems to be the only drama free zone on this whole site.

I wouldn't know because I don't post on any other part of the site.

[Tanuki Tales]

I wouldn't know because I don't post on any other part of the site.

Lucky man.

Two tidbits for everyone:

1. If you haven't voted yet on last month's contest, then please do so while you still can.

2. If anyone is interested, I'm hosting a "Vote up a World" thread in the World building subforum. We still need suggestions for the tone the world will have and then we start voting on that.

[SamBurke]

Out for a week due to IRL. Will get something up soonish, I hope.

[Stake A Vamp]

Two things.
1.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love all you guys and this thread and this subforum in general?

It seems to be the only drama free zone on this whole site.

I'm sorry you feel that way, (not about loving us, about the other sub-forums having too much drama) i have found that this is generally one of the best sites for acceptance (I mean, look at Reddit, you can't go half post without stepping in a massive pile of misogyny and hatred, i like it better here.) and while the dramatics can sometimes get a bit... much. (I.E. do not look like you are considering thinking about saying monk may be an okay class, or that you should let paladins off the hook for small stuff like looking the other way while his teammates steal from evil things) but overall, it's nice here. (I like parentheses!)

2. is it to late for another entry, this time less... blah (dragon-fire champion, not my biggest success)

[Tanuki Tales]

Out for a week due to IRL. Will get something up soonish, I hope.

Hope things are alright.

Two things.
1.

I'm sorry you feel that way, (not about loving us, about the other sub-forums having too much drama) i have found that this is generally one of the best sites for acceptance (I mean, look at Reddit, you can't go half post without stepping in a massive pile of misogyny and hatred, i like it better here.) and while the dramatics can sometimes get a bit... much. (I.E. do not look like you are considering thinking about saying monk may be an okay class, or that you should let paladins off the hook for small stuff like looking the other way while his teammates steal from evil things) but overall, it's nice here. (I like parentheses!)

This is something we can discuss through PMs further if you wish, but take this from someone who's been here for almost four years: You probably haven't seen the worst this site has to offer yet. And not all the drama and mental headaches are from the users.

2. is it to late for another entry, this time less... blah (dragon-fire champion, not my biggest success)

Nope, not too late; you still have almost half a month. And I really blame myself in part for your entry not doing too well. I saw there were things that could be polished and improved upon, but I didn't voice all this in a timely enough matter. I failed you in that regard Stake and I apologize for it.

[SamBurke]

Things are all chill... It's just I somehow made myself afraid? Dunno. The ideas I have aren't as cool as the stuff for the False Prophet... but I did promise a second-half to it.

[zhdarkstar]

Things are all chill... It's just I somehow made myself afraid? Dunno. The ideas I have aren't as cool as the stuff for the False Prophet... but I did promise a second-half to it.

I know those feelings. The LAM was such a large undertaking for me that I felt slightly overwhelmed coming up with the Teaching Assistant. I still haven't finished it yet as it's hard coming up with fringe benefits that would complement most emulated PrCs.

[Stake A Vamp]

Hope things are alright.



This is something we can discuss through PMs further if you wish, but take this from someone who's been here for almost four years: You probably haven't seen the worst this site has to offer yet. And not all the drama and mental headaches are from the users.



Nope, not too late; you still have almost half a month. And I really blame myself in part for your entry not doing too well. I saw there were things that could be polished and improved upon, but I didn't voice all this in a timely enough matter. I failed you in that regard Stake and I apologize for it.

oi! don't you go taking the blame for that foul brew. several people all pointed out the flaws and inadequacy's, i simply failed to listen, or in the case of the one "patch" i made, fixed them inadequately.
i swear upon a devils trap, a sonic screwdriver, and the starship voyager (sorry, I was in a reference-y mood) that my next brew shall be made of better stuff

anyone want a buffing/healer hope based class to be the counterpart to the fear-monger from fear itself?

[3WhiteFox3]

oi! don't you go taking the blame for that foul brew. several people all pointed out the flaws and inadequacy's, i simply failed to listen, or in the case of the one "patch" i made, fixed them inadequately.
i swear upon a devils trap, a sonic screwdriver, and the starship voyager (sorry, I was in a reference-y mood) that my next brew shall be made of better stuff

anyone want a buffing/healer hope based class to be the counterpart to the fear-monger from fear itself?

I love hope-based fiction, so I'll vote yay.

[Milo v3]

This is something we can discuss through PMs further if you wish, but take this from someone who's been here for almost four years: You probably haven't seen the worst this site has to offer yet. And not all the drama and mental headaches are from the users.

As a guy who used to frequent DanDwiki I can say the non-user headaches and drama here are nothing.

And this place's community is pretty nice overall, when I was going through stuff a fair amount of homebrewers were ridiculously supportive (more supportive then the people in real life by the end of it) and asking if I was okay.

[Tanuki Tales]

As a guy who used to frequent DanDwiki I can say the non-user headaches and drama here are nothing.

And this place's community is pretty nice overall, when I was going through stuff a fair amount of homebrewers were ridiculously supportive (more supportive then the people in real life by the end of it) and asking if I was okay.

Milo...trying to use anecdotal evidence to say I'm mistaken with my anecdotal evidence that is specifically the exception to my platform that I've already mentioned doesn't actually sound like you're entirely disagreeing with my premise.

Again though, this is PM stuff.

[SamBurke]

What I find ironic is how we've made drama... out of the point of whether or not this forum has drama.

In other news, my outline is complete, and it looks better than I thought. Not world-shaking, but at least not dumb.

[Tanuki Tales]

What I find ironic is how we've made drama... out of the point of whether or not this forum has drama.

I think of it as more friendly discourse than actual drama. There's no animosity present in this line of discussion.

In other news, my outline is complete, and it looks better than I thought. Not world-shaking, but at least not dumb.

Sam, you always give us good stuff, so don't sweat it.

[gr8artist]

So, I know I've been absent for quite some time here. I voted for this theme, and have yet to make a submission.
Looking back over the entries I'm familiar with, only a few things jump out.
1. A creature/template called the "Hollowed" which has had most of its body replaced by Seru. It would function like a swarm, kinda, or a hive-mind... more a group of lesser entities than a single creature.
2. A creature template category called the "Punished"... or something to that effect. Ghosts with special abilities based on their method of execution... The gallows ghost would be one type; there would also be burned-at-the-stake, swimming-with-the-fishes, and buried-alive varieties... (air, fire, water, earth... hue hue hue.)
The ghost templates would be fun, but it's quite a bit of work and I'm thoroughly distracted right now. If I can't pick up anymore shifts this week, I'll try and have a submission up by the end of the week.
I'll review other entries as soon as my own is completed.

[Tanuki Tales]

And I just noticed the deadline for the last voting thread has whirled by.

I'm sorry guys, I'm in the middle of a family emergency and my mind is all over the place. I've got some college responsibilities I need to see done today, but when they're done I'll work on the trophies.

[Tanuki Tales]

Ok, so my college work and responsibilities took longer than I had envisioned.

I'm jumping on those trophies as we speak. Keep in mind though that there is approximately five days left in this month's competition....and we only have a single complete entry.

[SamBurke]

Ok, so my college work and responsibilities took longer than I had envisioned.

I'm jumping on those trophies as we speak. Keep in mind though that there is approximately five days left in this month's competition....and we only have a single complete entry.

Yeah. This month's entry went from "Yay, I have all my ideas!" to "I... only have a bunch of random notes..." really fast. We'll see... Still gonna try. If worst comes to worst, I'll crank out a fast Handyman monster stat-up, instead of a second class.

[Tanuki Tales]

Time for run downs everyone!

Spoiler: Ehmoptrus

Show

Grammar and Such

• The first sentence of this race's fluff is a fragment and not a sentence proper.
• Under "Relations", I do not believe that "mediocre" is necessarily the right adjective to use; minor or something similar seems more appropriate.
• Also under "Relations", I think you meant, "elves are moderately", not "elves and moderately annoying".
• Under "Naturally Psionic" in the racial features section you have a copy/paste error. You use "Dromite" instead of Ehmoptrus.
• Under your subrace section, I think you meant "thousand years later", not "thousand years latter".

Notes

• A race of psionic, sentient bombardier beetle-men is a pretty neat concept to see and mechanically I think you pulled this off very well. One of the biggest things I'll point out is that you hardly mention anywhere that they physically resemble said beetle, which made these guys hard to picture visually until I got down to the racial traits.
• I feel like the fluff could be expanded upon. Explaining more how they became trapped in the city and how that changed them, going into more detail about how their relationship with the Kobolds changed, as well as explaining their psychology some more.
• Caustic Bombardment is....kind of a bad ability. Why would you exchange Force damage for inferior damage typing like Fire or Acid? The actual amount of damage doesn't change, which makes the gain from this ability hard to see in my opinion.

Well...I'd love to do some more run downs...but no one else is done.

So that's all for now!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

It's times like these I wish I had had a less crazy month to do things.

[Tanuki Tales]

It's times like these I wish I had had a less crazy month to do things.

I hear ya.

October has turned into one of those months where nothing has gone the way I wanted, schedule wise.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I hear ya.

October has turned into one of those months where nothing has gone the way I wanted, schedule wise.

It was a crappy month at the beginning, where everything went wrong for me. And now at the end, everything is resolving - similar to a novella, I guess.

[Tanuki Tales]

It was a crappy month at the beginning, where everything went wrong for me. And now at the end, everything is resolving - similar to a novella, I guess.

Well, glad to hear things are going better for you.

I've got so much homework to do this week; since I had no time last week to do anything.

[gr8artist]

My apologies for the delay. I got a new game, Terraria, which consumed a lot more of my time than it should have. Then my comp got some weird glitches, and I've been trying defrags and system restores for the last week to get it right. It would seem that as the veil weakens, the spirit of Steve Jobs is wreaking havoc with my PC.

Anyway, my submission is up ~ The Suffering Spectre.
It's kind of a weird template, with multiple sub-tymplates depending on the specific method of execution. I currently have the main template (the base framework they all share) as well as the first two sub-templates, the Beheaded and the Blistered.
I think it's enough for a complete entry, the other sub-templates (Drowned, Entombed, Hanged) will come later but aren't necessary for the entry to work.

Reviews would be appreciated, it's actually turning out to be more interesting (and challenging) than I'd originally expected. Ideas for additional sub-templates would also be neat, though I think I'll stay away from the Crucified, and anything else too controversial.

Obviously, it's based on my old Gallows Ghost creature template. For my sample, I'm thinking of doing Rasputin (sp?) because he was executed about 7 times, and who wouldn't want to fight his ghost?

[Tanuki Tales]

My apologies for the delay. I got a new game, Terraria, which consumed a lot more of my time than it should have. Then my comp got some weird glitches, and I've been trying defrags and system restores for the last week to get it right. It would seem that as the veil weakens, the spirit of Steve Jobs is wreaking havoc with my PC.

That's why you should buy PC mate.

But I hear you on games; Pokecrack is my life now ever since the 12th.

Anyway, my submission is up ~ The Suffering Spectre.
It's kind of a weird template, with multiple sub-tymplates depending on the specific method of execution. I currently have the main template (the base framework they all share) as well as the first two sub-templates, the Beheaded and the Blistered.
I think it's enough for a complete entry, the other sub-templates (Drowned, Entombed, Hanged) will come later but aren't necessary for the entry to work.

Reviews would be appreciated, it's actually turning out to be more interesting (and challenging) than I'd originally expected. Ideas for additional sub-templates would also be neat, though I think I'll stay away from the Crucified, and anything else too controversial.

Looking forward to reviewing it when I get a chance. Crucifixion isn't really that controversial; they had that as a punishment long before him and I believe for a while after him. Though I can probably come up with a ton of sub templates for you, given time.

Electrocuted, Poisoned and Impaled come to mind off the top of my head.

Obviously, it's based on my old Gallows Ghost creature template. For my sample, I'm thinking of doing Rasputin (sp?) because he was executed about 7 times, and who wouldn't want to fight his ghost?

He's actually an enemy in the Reign of Winter path. My personal suggestion would be to do something completely off the wall and odd for your template ghost. I personally always love example monsters that are unique and strange.

[gr8artist]

Well, the template is intended for intelligent creatures, so getting something really exotic in there might be challenging. I mean, who would ever think to drown a dragon?
Although, I could see someone who couldn't kill a certain creature through mundane methods going out of their way to execute it in an unexpected manner... like when they dumped Megatron's body into the ocean to make doubly sure he never came back.
The trick is finding a creature that would synergize well with the spectre's abilities, which cuts out a large portion of classes and creatures. Though... I think I can come up with something. Suggestions are welcome, of course.
Also, I can't believe I didn't think of electrocution. True, it's a modern method, but I worked on death row for 3 years... You'd think I'd remember the chair.
Poison would work too, and be pretty easy, but Vladimir style impaling might be tricky. I wouldn't want to mimic the effects and flavor of the Beheaded, just changing all the "slashing" to "piercing".
I'm debating a Martyred type, as well as a Sacrificed type... but I'm not sure what to do to make them interesting, that's not just redundant undead bullcrap.

Edit: I have the primary 5 sub-types completed... I just need a sample creature for the entry to be complete. I've got a couple ideas, but for some reason I keep coming around to a beheaded minotaur. I just can't think of a good reason that a minotaur would be put to trial and sentenced to execution. Some kind of monstrous humanoid, anyway, although a beheaded hydra would have me cracking up.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Edit: I have the primary 5 sub-types completed... I just need a sample creature for the entry to be complete. I've got a couple ideas, but for some reason I keep coming around to a beheaded minotaur. I just can't think of a good reason that a minotaur would be put to trial and sentenced to execution. Some kind of monstrous humanoid, anyway, although a beheaded hydra would have me cracking up.

Beheaded hydra, drowned mermaid, a hanged choker....you could have some fun.

I vote for a Burned Troll, since that's typically how one would be killed.

[Tanuki Tales]

I vote for a Burned Troll, since that's typically how one would be killed.

I second this motion!