Villainous Competition XX​V: No Solicitors!

[remetagross]

Well, it's not the best thing, but provided you people could wait till the 25th, I'd be able to start judging at that time...but it's in a while, so I'd understand that that might not be suitable.

[Inevitability]

How do we feel about adding an additional perk to encourage judges, like letting people decide the next competition's theme? Would anyone be interested in that case?

[Falontani]

I would consider forfeiting and judging for that kind of perk

[Thurbane]

How do we feel about adding an additional perk to encourage judges, like letting people decide the next competition's theme? Would anyone be interested in that case?

I think that's definitely a good idea.

[GrayDeath]

Well, if 8 had known this I would bot have submitted anything.

If we simply CAN'T find anyone to judge u til say a week from now, I'll withdraw and judge instead.

Edit: and wasn't that the case with only the judges votes counting any way?

[daremetoidareyo]

3 and a half done.

They take about half hour apiece to judge. But man, in the future, can you please be mindful to put the sources for your templates and races in an easy to find place?

I think I should be able to finish up the first round of judgement by this Sunday night.

I'm gunning for a headless villain round.

[Venger]

3 and a half done.

They take about half hour apiece to judge. But man, in the future, can you please be mindful to put the sources for your templates and races in an easy to find place?

I think I should be able to finish up the first round of judgement by this Sunday night.

I'm gunning for a headless villain round.

In the interest of making your life easier, do you want to post or pm me the stuff you're having trouble finding and I can tell you where it is?

EDIT: here you go

srd: stone golem, vampire, medusa, ghost, air elemental
savage species: lernean, multiheaded, tauric
mm2: monster of legend
dragon magic: drakkensteed
secrets of xen'drik: quorcraft
mm3: warforged, alchemical golem
heroes of horror: unholy scion
web: vampire lord
forgotten realms campaign setting: strongheart halfling
lords of madness: half-farspawn
mm4: zern
fiend folio: faratsu
magic of incarnum: soulfused, lost
Cormyr Tearing of the Weave: dark
book of vile darkness: corrupted


I'd be down for headless.

[Thurbane]

I'd love to see Headless, Harvester of Souls, or In Cold Blood.

[daremetoidareyo]

In the interest of making your life easier, do you want to post or pm me the stuff you're having trouble finding and I can tell you where it is?

I'd be down for headless.

That's not necessary, although I do appreciate the offer.

[WhamBamSam]

I still really want a round for villains that eat people, either via Swallow Whole, consuming corpses, or what have you.

[Venger]

I still really want a round for villains that eat people, either via Swallow Whole, consuming corpses, or what have you.

That sounds like fun too

[Falontani]

Why your afraid of the dark
Secrets of the deep
Evil clown
Cannibal
Doomsday
Are you sure you want to do that

[Braininthejar2]

No replies for a week, and the topic has drifted 3 pages down...

[daremetoidareyo]

I'm still working on it, but family life has kicked into difficult socio-economic mode.

[GrayDeath]

Happens to all of us. Heck, last week I had no Internet for the first time since 2006.
Fun times. :/


Hey, since you are judging I dont have to drop my entry, so for me its more than alright for you to take your time. :)

[Telonius]

Bumping since the thread went down to page 4.

Real life intrusions can be the biggest villains of all...

[remetagross]

Hey folks so I have started judging as I told two weeks ago :) I'll strive to be done by the end of the week! I've judged the "Originality" category of everyone so far.

[Braininthejar2]

And I'm having more and more doubts about my build...

I can already see some things I could've done better.

[jdizzlean]

And I'm having more and more doubts about my build...

I can already see some things I could've done better.

I do that immediately upon submission, and for a few days after. The rest of the time i just think to myself 'how could anyone beat me?' lol.

[Thurbane]

Hey folks so I have started judging as I told two weeks ago :) I'll strive to be done by the end of the week! I've judged the "Originality" category of everyone so far.

Thanks for the update, and thanks for stepping up to judge.

[daremetoidareyo]

5 more to go

[GrayDeath]

And I'm having more and more doubts about my build...

I can already see some things I could've done better.

I do that immediately upon submission, and for a few days after. The rest of the time i just think to myself 'how could anyone beat me?' lol.

I think most of us vary between these two extremes during any judging, no? ^^

[Braininthejar2]

Next time I'll playtest it before submitting

[jdizzlean]

eh, you never know til judging has been posted. I've read builds where i thought for sure they were going to win, and they didn't. It's all up to the judges in the end. don't count yourself out, ever.

[daremetoidareyo]

Two more left...

[daremetoidareyo]

YSNP/TWGS:
Lawful Evil Greater Stone Golem/Warblade 3/Sword Sage 1
Originality: 3.5 What I like: A big hulking martial brute that is magic immune. A wizard’s inside joke. A villain that isn’t 20 class levels.
What I think it lacks: personality and more importantly, motive!
Elegance: 5. I’m not seeing any problems yet.
Power: 4. Don’t get hit by this thing. Power attacking alone it should be able to kill a person per round with two connected hits. Wierdly enough, this thing is a little less powerful when confronted by straight up armored warriors (fighters, combat clerics, etc), especially if they have a source of miss chance.
Villainy: 2.5: A huge initiator awakened stone golem. Without a place to guard, I’m a little confused as to how to run this thing as anything other than a resource dwindler or dungeon boss. At CR 20, I feel like this a just a big pile of big numbers. But without some of the Golem’s personality, seeing as how it’s awakened and all, it’s hard to allocate much villainy to this beyond a boilerplate hp slugfest boss.
Total: 15


Sally
Four-headed Lernaean , Monster of Legend, Tauric Medusa/Drakkensteed, Scout 5, Warlock 2
Originality: 4.25 Straight out of the most metal part of the book of revelations. Did you find that picture first, Then build? Jeesh. The backstory is a bit hand wavy, but sure, maybe there’s a comically mad spellcaster out there.
What I like: Time to be scared of petrification again
What I think it lacks: It’s a bit unfocused between skirmish and eldritch blasting. Maybe the warlock levels are to obviate ambushes, or they’re flavorful throw away levels.
Elegance: 4.75 Oh my lord, a fellow optimizer who has discovered the brokentude of the tauric template. You could have gone with camel, to get a few more HD worth of class levels...Unless you were going to trample+ skirmish. Which is funny in its own right. Everything checks out, by my reckoning however. I do think that CR 13 is way too low for a party of 4 level 13 adventurers who encounter this thing unprepared. Probably on account of the tauric template. I’m going to dock a bit there for the tauric template being used to mask a more normalized CR, as most DMs would lean against using this.
Power: 4 Laernaean plus medusa is a monstrous combo, seeing as how you have to see the head to cut it off. There are precious few things that protect against petrification, except for type change. So this thing taxes all of the party.
Villainy: 3 I don’t know a whole lot about the motives of this guardian other than the professed loneliness. And I don’t see how any of the transformations that they’ve been granted would ingratiate her to her spellcaster patron. They are faustian transformations at best.
Total: 16

Slam
Quorcraft Warforged
Originality: 4.25 Ok, so golemlike critters are natural to a guardian theme. So no points gained or lost there. Here’s what I like about Slam: He has the three things I’m looking for. A place to guard, a reason to guard it, and a reason that it makes him evil. He also has a combat schtick. And he’s pretty good at it. I also appreciate your eberron lore weaving.
Elegance: 5 Everything appears legal.
Power: 4: For an incarnum beatstick, Slam is pretty goshdarn optimized. He has to be tactically dismantled by a group after any CR above 10 (4.5) Before then, Slam is just tough.(3.0) I’ll split the difference for an overall score of 4.
Villainy: 5 Name notwithstanding, I like Slam. I get him. He’s a bangarang guardian henchman. One gripe, don’t there need to be survivors for him to have gotten a nickname?
Total: 18.25

Mircea raviwr
Human unholy scion 1, vampire 4, vampire lord10 unholy scion 1/ hexblade 3/ Paladin of Tryanny 1/vampire 2/Paladin of Tyranny 2/unholy scion 2/warrior of darkness 1/ Tomb warden 3/ Paladin of Tryanny 3 / Vampire Lord 3/ unholy scion 3/ Hexblade 5
Originality: 5 Alright, the “guardian-ness” is baked right on in mechanically. I like that. Vampiric devilspawn is another good touch. Characterization about what he is guarding is good. And pretty tough for an undead.
Elegance: 5 I’m not seeing a problem.
Power: 5 Turn proof undead with a ton of debuffs and built in minions. The one weakness that I’m seeing is a weak reflex save, but then you took paladin on top all of that. So it’s more of a least strong save.
Villainy: 4.5 5: You got a thing to guard, you got benefits while guarding it, you have your mother??? This is a well built villain. There’s a lot of ways to weave this location and it’s guardian into a story or adventure goal. The only fly in the ointment for me is that this doesn't seem like a fun villain to play. They are born evil and do evil things at extreme power levels within the confines of their tomb, but I don't know. That seems like a hokey reason to penalize .5 points.
Total: 20

Lorelai G’Elsewhere: Guardian of the Gate
CE strongheart halfling conjurer 3/master specialist 3/luckstealer 2/fatespinner 5/wayfarer guide 3/luckstealer 4/master specialist 5
Originality 5: Lots of innovation here. Although she has summons, she specializes in luck rerolls and teleporting the assailants away. Cast against type, with the guardian being a small bookish type
Elegance 5: No problems here.
Power: 4.5: For a caster, there’s some sacrifices that were made for this build that affect overall potential power. On the other hand, what an exhausting encounter to have to deal with, over and over again.
Villainy: 4.5 I don’t have a sense of the outright villainy of this guardian. Her lifespan is short relative to the epochal nature of DND. I don’t have a sense of her Evilness or her chaoticness. And I don’t have a sense of her ethos or pathos, so it’s difficult to peg Lorelai as more of an ark to defeat a villain, as they come across as more of a creative but disgruntled intern of some magical location of some sort.
Total 19

The Ghost of Grobzok the Guardian
Lawful Evil Orc Warrior 1/Dread Necromancer10/Tomb Warden2/Dread Witch 5
Originality 5: What I like: Ghost orcs. There should be so many to deal with. The bardic knowledge check is a classy addition. This a a very well put together villain mechanically, and you demonstrated a mastery of knowledge over your dish’s weaknesses.
Elegance: 5 Everything seems copacetic.
Power: 4. Fear the ghost orc and his magics. Seventh level casting and fear and undeadomancy make this guy a real pain in the butt to deal with.
Villainy: 3.25: I mean, the stakes here don’t seem incredibly high. Oh No, a haunted bakery. What do we do? Seal it off from the outside world... On the otherhand, the politics of indiscriminate orc slaying having lasting effects as a moral issue is nice little bit of perspective. What Grobzok brings to the table is quite villainous within those limitations.
Total 17.25

Giolt
Half-Farspawn Monster of Legend zern
Originality: 4 5 You check off the bigs needs: A place to guard, a reason to guard it, and a reason that it makes him evil. Your race selection is bonkers, and with the exception of some resistances, I’m not seeing a whole lot of synergy, unless I’m missing something. I originally had a 4 in this category, but I'm changing that now. This build is weird. Therefor original.
Elegance: 5, I’m not seeing any issues
Power: 4.25 I’m seeing a lot of versatility but not a lot of expansion on how to use those zern abilities in companionship with the crusader class levels. So, on a switch hitter scale, Giolt stacks up similarly to an optimized gish, or anything else with access to alter self. Man are those stats big! I was inclined to go with a 4, in this category, but on second check, let’s make that a 4.25
Villainy: 3 The story of Giolt and lack of description of a few tactics for how he guards, doesn’t give enough narrative muster to consider him a villain in his own right. Giolt is probably very difficult to describe physically, what with the fly’s head and the number of stretchy tentacles. I get the impression of Giolt as more of a Henchman than a straight up villain in his own right.
Total 17.25

Narfle the Garthog
CE Shadow Faratsu (Fiend Folio 42) Fiend of Possession 6 (FF204)/Dread Necromancer 1 (Heroes of Horror 85)/Marshal 1 (Miniatures Handbook 11)
Originality: 4.5 I did not see fiend of possession coming, or any of the weird stuff from fiend folio. I appreciate your ability to be both treasure and guardian of treasure simultaneously. I dislike the mentions of grafts without the naming of what grafts you’d like to be on Narfle.
Elegance: 5 everything looks peachy.
Power: 4.75 This one is hard to judge on power because of the whole possession aspect. Going by CR, He seems a bit harder than equally CR critters straight out of the monster manual. Especially with his ability to debuff and harass.
Villainy: 4. I am lacking a sense of why he guards this temple of loot. I like that you gave me tactics and strategies on how to use this character. And those tactics can be nefarious and fun to DM.
Total 18.25


SHARLA THE BLACK ANGEL
Human vampire, Duskblade 13, Crusader 5
Originality: 3.75 Vampire duskblade crusader. I mean, vampires can be permanent guards, so it makes sense. What i like: tactical breakdowns at each CR. I like the physical description too. What i want to see more of: why is this guard guarding this thing? Who is this guard?
Elegance: 5: Easy to parse legal build.
Power 4: For a vampire, the crusader levels are helpful. Duskblade is a simple chassis mid range optimization chassis and crusader is solid also. Your feat selection seems non-optimized, at least by board standards, but not weak.
Villainy: 3.75 I don’t have enough understanding of this villains motives and drivers to really solidly place them in the halls of eternal villainy. Don’t get me wrong, this is a solidly built lieutenant type. And the fighting tactics may make the players fall in hatred with her.
Total 16.5

K.A.M.
Soulfused Construct, Lost, Advanced Alchemical Golem, Totemist 2, Fighter 2, Warblade 1
Originality: 4.75 A brilliant homage to a much loved monstrosity.
Elegance: 5 -1 point. I’m not seeing anything that states that you can retroactively select feats for your HD when you gain an intelligence score. If I’m wrong, gimme a source in your dispute. Nevermind, found it.
Power 4.25: This is a fun build. It combines what i like about rust monsters with some crazy nostalgia. Players will have to kite/run this guy, as his inability to heal over short time frames is really the only option. The other option is to attack his INT score, which he can’t protect.
Villainy 3.75: With an int of 3, KAM is more of an experience than a mastermindy villain. He’s probably really fun to run as a DM. He’s got a place to guard, but the reason for guarding is offset by the budding sentience and the death of his creator.
Total 17.75

asharuach
Dark (Cormyr Tearing of the Weave, Pg. 152) Corrupted (Book of Vile Darkness) Air Elemental 44
Originality: 5: I love your inclusion of the place being guarded. I like the physical description and other lore elements included. All around well conceived. All i missed were some more robust tactics descriptions, but air elementals all play similarly in my experience. Even crazy aberrant ones.
Elegance: 5: A simple build.
Power 4.25: Not a lot class features on this one... A tough pile of numbers that is hard to hit without special preparation
Villainy: 5 All around well executed. Who where and why all answered with some extra back up provided with the dawnbird additions. I also get the impression that diplomacy and/or subterfuge might actually work on a bored lonely and vain air elemental.
Total 19.25

The Watcher
Lurker in Darkness, Lurker in Death
Ibrandlin Dracolich Soulbound Weapon Psychic Warrior 12
Originality 5: I didn’t expect the dracolich. Cool build. Triggering many final strikes is fun. But don’t you need an excess of reptilians/dragons for possession?
Elegance: 4.75: The flight speed shenanigans may not fly at everytable. -.25 points
Power: 4.75: This is a super tough fight. Let’s hope the players stock up an anti-undead gear and abilities.
Villainy: 3.75 I like that you have a place to guard and a reason to guard it. But what else is the watcher doing? Why? Wouldn’t the whole eternal life thing being a sham only introduce difficulties in the watcher’s time? What’s the watcher’s goals?
Total 18.25

Claws at heart
Neutral Evil Greenbound Guardian Panther Druid 15
Originality: 5 Using timeless body is a great move. Especially on an animal. I usually get bored during stories, but that was well composed.
Elegance 5: no problems that I can see.
Power 4.5: 15 levels of druid about 5 levels late, but druids are tough, and the panther gets a bunch of resistances.
Villainy 4.75: I like that you have a place to guard, a reason to guard it, but why is the druid evil? Or...how does that evil manifest itself? I absolutely love the love/hate relationship that claws-at-heart has with his awakened existence. It gives a sense of loss to his existence that many of the abandoned guardians in this competition would be feeling.
Total 19.25

My HM goes to Lorelai G’Elsewhere: for the outside of the box thinking on what constitutes guardianship.

[Telonius]

Woohoo, one judge in! Thanks for stepping up!

[GrayDeath]

Good, one down!

Spoiler: Question for the Judge for CLarities sake

Show

Ehm, just a question,as I am a bit confused: Why are you assigning the same amount of Eelgance to Single class, evrything easy and clear and wildly ... interesting 5+ Class builds? I mean Elegance is not Legality only, otherwise we would only have 5 pts and 1 pts scores ^^

Important:
Not critisizing, just very curious, as it seems to me a fair bit leass detailed/reasoned than your other Judging criteria.

Another point for judges always posting their criteria Explanation up front maybe?

[daremetoidareyo]

Good, one down!

Spoiler: Question for the Judge for CLarities sake

Show

Ehm, just a question,as I am a bit confused: Why are you assigning the same amount of Eelgance to Single class, evrything easy and clear and wildly ... interesting 5+ Class builds? I mean Elegance is not Legality only, otherwise we would only have 5 pts and 1 pts scores ^^

Important:
Not critisizing, just very curious, as it seems to me a fair bit leass detailed/reasoned than your other Judging criteria.

Another point for judges always posting their criteria Explanation up front maybe?

I don't care about the number of sources used. I only care that the build is legal (Prereqs met and competition legal) and RAW interpretation is reasonably likely to be used at a table. I start at five and just penalize downward. I'm pretty permissive.

The rest of the builds start at 2.5 and I sort of eyeball it. Adding for qualities that I believe are above average for niche and subtracting for aspects that I feel are below average or lacking. If the niche is unique like the soulbound dracolich, I just compare it with bog standard critters of the same CR, or imagine putting them against a party of 4 with a meatbag melee, a sneak, an arcane need, and a divine nerd to see how I imagine them fairing against the creature.

This contest was hard to judge because guardians are sort of sedentary. So their villainy is very limited compared to other archetypes. This paired with the mindlessness of guardian types made it a little worse. So a compelling place to guard, a reason to guard it, and why you are evil, villain personality and tactics became the way to really compare the competing entries.

[Braininthejar2]

A question for future builds I might try:

We normally start with an elite array.

But how to calculate mental stats for a creature that gets awakened somewhere during the build?