D&D 5e Subclass Contest I Voting Thread

[MoleMage]

Well everyone, we had a great first contest, so here it is: the voting thread!

Simple rules. Vote for your number 1, number 2, and number 3 picks. You can't vote for yourself. Also enter your choice of theme for next contest. For this first contest, I'll experiment with non-compulsory voting BUT in the event of a tie, anyone who did vote will win out over anyone who didn't. Voting will end in 2 weeks (last day July 1), giving us all time to clear our heads for the next contest.

Entry	Creator	1st	2nd	3rd	Next Contest Theme Pick
Fighter: The Clockwork Warframe	PhoenixPhyre	1	3	1	New Mechanic/Subsystem
Bard: The College of Optics	MoleMage	3	1	3	It Came from Beyond
Monk: The Path to the Singularity	JNAProductions			1
Monk: Way of Invention	Protato
Rogue: Analyst	Ninja_Prawn	1	1		Keep it Simple, Stupid
Barbarian: Path of the Monster	Mourne				Alternate Mechanics or Rare Mechanics
Wizard: School of Technomancy	demonslayerelf		1		Revision (Refine Mayhem)
Wizard: School of Magitech	WarrentheHero	1
Wizard: Mech Pilot	Blackbando	1	1	2	Pop Culture
Monk: Grammaton Cleric	sengmeng		1	1	Luck
Multiple: Variant Multiclass Rogue	Jormengand
Druid: Circle of Progress	Ivellius	3	2	2	It Came from Beyond
No Entry	Gryphonus				Points for Everybody!

Also, if you would like to see special categories in the next contest, please note that here; if there's enough interest I can add them here. The Next Theme column will be used for each participant's choice for the next theme; I'll add a new row for anyone who votes but didn't have an entry this go-around for that purpose.

Classes unrepresented in contest 1 (not counting Variant Multiclass Rogue): Cleric, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Warlock.

[PhoenixPhyre]

That was closer than I had thought.

All these three were tied with 11/16 points; I chose from there based on subjective feel.

1st: College of Optics
2nd: Grammaton Cleric
3rd: Mech Pilot

Honorable Mention at 10.5/16:
Analyst
School of Magitech
Circle of Progress

Theme for next contest:
A new mechanic/subsystem.

Spoiler: Detailed Breakdown

Show

Voting Criteria:
Theme: How well does it fit within the theme of technology?
Mechanics: Balance (both with other classes and with other subclasses), "kludgy"ness of the mechanical structure
Quality: Writing quality, fluff.
Fit: Does it feel like the class in question and with 5e's normal mechanics? Fiddliness is here.

Explanation of scores
0: Does not meet even minimal standards for the category
1: Has significant issues that leave it mostly non-functional
2: Playable with minor issues
3: Workable without issues but not inspiring. A solid effort.
4: Inspiring. Extremely good.
Half-integer scores (2.5) represent better than a 2 but worse than a 3 (for example).
Scores of 2 or below ("Bad" scores) are explained in parentheses.

Bard: College of Optics (11/16)
Theme: 3
Mechanics: 2 (Spots of unclearness what action is using the glass as an attack?)
Quality: 3
Fit: 3

Monk: Path to the Singularity (10/16)
Theme: 4
Mechanics: 3
Quality: 1 (Doesn't feel like a monk--doesn't interact with anything but martial arts, no ki mechanics)
Fit: 2 (not useable in many/most settings, everything is combat focused)

Monk: Way of Invention (10/16)
Theme: 4
Mechanics: 1 (the action + ki costs are significant barriers to utility).
Quality: 3
Fit: 2 (Wording doesn't fit 5e's normal wording patterns)

Rogue: Analyst (10.5/16)
Theme: 2 (only the names are really "technology" related)
Mechanics: 2.5 (seems weak compared to other rogue archetypes on a first reading)
Quality: 3
Fit: 3 (although the references to the Arcane Trickster table would be better as reproducing the table explicitly IMO).

Barbarian: Path of the Monster (10/16)
Theme: 3
Mechanics: 2 (too much dependence on hit die makes this real dicy).
Quality: 3
Fit: 2 (Barbarian sub-classes start at 3--so you're normal until then, but had these features from birth?)

Wizard: School of Technomancy (10/16)
Theme: 4
Mechanics: 1 (significant balance issues, especially Nut 'N' Bolts, which has way too many things in it).
Quality: 2 (many spelling and editing errors. Timeless body says that you both age (second paragraph) and don't age (third paragraph)).
Fit: 3

Wizard: School of Magitech (10.5/16)
Theme: 4
Mechanics: 0.5 (Seems quite unbalanced compared to other wizard schools)
Quality: 3
Fit: 3

Wizard: Mech Pilot (11/16)
Theme: 3
Mechanics: 2 (lots of moving parts for a wizard subclass)
Quality: 4
Fit: 2 (not useable in many/most settings or game themes)

Monk: Grammaton Cleric (11/16)
Theme: 3 (not particularly fond of the name)
Mechanics: 3
Quality: 2 (lacking in fluff)
Fit: 3

VMC: Rogue (9/16)
Theme: 0 (it just doesn't fit the theme at all)
Mechanics: 2.5 (very complex)
Quality: 3.5
Fit: 3

Druid: Circle of Progress (10.5/16)
Theme: 4
Mechanics: 1 (still quite weak--with no forms above CR 1 (and that only at levels 8+) and no casting in wildshape until very high levels, you're quite weak and vulnerable in combat.)
Quality: 3
Fit: 2.5 (subjective--it just didn't feel right for some reason that's hard to articulate).

[Ivellius]

Here's my list.

1st - PhoenixPhyre's Clockwork Warframe.
Overall a really interesting niche that has good flavor and seems balanced. I can see this dropping into a campaign setting, and it gives reasonable benefits. Augmented Strength seems a little weak for Medium characters, and I don't like that you have to hit 10th level before you complete a "significant upgrade," but it's still my front-runner.

2nd - Blackbando's Mech Pilot.
I think the Mech might be a little overloaded--you get quite a few modules, and there isn't much drawback to it. But I like the core concept and mechanic, and the modules themselves do make sense.

3rd - MoleMage's College of Optics.
This is an interesting take, so I'm awarding extra for creativity. The Bard is the most poorly designed class from a class option standpoint, but that's not your fault.

Edit: Forgot to add a vote for future themes, so I'm going with It Came from Beyond! (Alien / space theme.)

[Protato]

I'm gonna have to make something better than my first attempt next time! I can't wait to see what the theme is gonna be.

[demonslayerelf]

1- Circle of Progress
2- Clockwork Warframe
3- Mech Pilot
Next Contest- Revision

In a rush, can't really explain things. If I have time I'll come back.

[sengmeng]

1. College of Optics I love picturing a hard rock bard doing a laser light show.

2. Clockwork Warframe gnomes in power suits would be simultaneously deadly and adorable.

3. Circle of Progress a bold choice and well done.

Next theme: Luck

[Ninja_Prawn]

Yikes, I'm struggling to find three subclasses here that I actually like! Am I just really out of touch? I guess I don't hate these three:

1. School of Magitech.
2. Circle of Progress.
3. Clockwork Warframe.

As for the next contest, my suggestion is Keep it Simple, Stupid.

[Gryphonus]

1st: Circle of Progress because tech-wielding druids are epic.
2nd: College of Optics to quote sengmeng "I love picturing a hard rock bard doing a laser light show."
3rd: Path to the Singularity a robo-monk? Awesome!

My suggestion for the next contest theme: Points for everybody!

[Mourne]

1st: College of Optics
2nd: Rogue: Analyst
3rd: Druid Circle of Progress

Next contest theme: Alternate mechanic/creative use of (rarely used) existing mechanic

[MoleMage]

1st: Rogue: Analyst. I like the idea of a spellcaster that focuses on information gathering, but it would probably be too weak as a primary class. As a one-third casting subclass it's juuuust right.
2nd: Wizard School of Technomancy: uses classical DnD constructs to make a class within theme but not outlandish to the standard settings.
3rd: Monk: Grammaton Cleric: For surprising me with source material.

My vote for next theme: It Came from Beyond (GOO Warlock can't be the only eldritch idea we can come up with, surely).

[Oncie]

The choice is simple for me:

1: Mech Pilot (Piloting mechs is always awesome)
2: Circle of Progress (I love how it lets your wildshape be more versatile)
3: College of optics (I like glass... yeah)

[Blackbando]

This was actually a really hard decision for me, since I feel very similarly about almost everything here. However, I narrowed it down (at like the last day of voting, woo!):

First Place: Circle of Progress. I really enjoy the concepts thrown here, although it does have an issue in that the Wild Shape forms are probably too low CR to really benefit from the combat enhancements.
Second Place: Clockwork Warframe. This one is pretty interesting to me, and I love the idea of grappling Huge sized baddies. Sounds fun.
Third Place: College of Optics. I do like this one, although it's not my absolute favorite, and could probably be a little more interactive with Bardic Inspiration.

My theme choice? I'm gonna have to go with Pop Culture. From video games, to movies, to books, I wanna see some subclasses based on cool media stuff!

[MoleMage]

Votes are tallied, and winners declared!

I forgot to mention it in the first post, but I modeled the voting values off of previous contests, so a 1st place vote was worth 3 points, a 2nd worth 2, and a 3rd worth 1. I think most of you probably guessed as much but I wanted to be clear here how these totals were reached.

In 3rd place, we have the Martial Archetype for fighters, the Clockwork Warframe! Whether you be a gnome, a dwarf, or a particularly technologically minded half-orc, put on your power armor and wrestle something large.

In 2nd place, we have the Bardic College, the College of Optics! For when you really need to put on a laser rock show, and also for when you need to laser some bad guys. Or just look at things far away.

And our winner of the first forum subclass contest, the Druid Circle of Progress! Turn into a cyborg wolf! Incorporate your magic weapons and armor into wild shape forms! Eschew traditional lore expectations by embracing the wild and the artificial at the same time! Wear metal armor!

Congrats to Ivellius!

Thanks to everyone who submitted entries for this contest. We had a strong first turnout and I hope we can keep up momentum moving forward. Our next theme, with two votes (I will provide a shorter list for the next voting thread to hopefully get more consensus) is It Came From Beyond! Submission thread will go up in a few minutes after I edit the discussion thread's first post and write a new intro for the new theme.