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2019-01-31, 11:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
There's a thriving Villainous Design Competition in the 3.5 subforum, so let's make one for here! I'll be aping a lot of what they do, but with some differences since, well, 3.5 and and 5E are different games.
So, what do I mean by a Villainous Design Competition? Pretty much, I'd like to see the big bad of a campaign submitted from everyone who contributes. The kind of being that's a mover and shaker, the kind that drives a campaign, the kind that, when you finally, FINALLY get to face and hopefully defeat them, you feel GOOD. You feel ACCOMPLISHED. I'd also like to see their minions and lieutenants, since a solo fight is oftentimes... Not the best.
The exact specifications for submissions are:
Spoiler: SpecificationsTier(s)
What tiers of play is this villain and their minions good for? The tiers of play are Tier I (levels 1-4), Tier II (5-10), Tier III (11-16), and Tier IV (17-20). It's perfectly appropriate to design enough to cross tiers too! But please indicate where you should start, and where you should end. For instance-goblins (as presented in the Monster Manual) are a mostly Tier I threat. While, in sufficient numbers, they make for a challenge to characters of any Tier... No DM wants to run 400 goblins against a level 20 party. No one does.
A note about what tiers the villain is good for is required for a submission.
The Boss
The overriding creature(s). For this contest, an oligarchy is pretty acceptable, but may not in future competitions. This is the TOP, the main bad guy, the ruler, the driving force...
The boss should have a complete statblock, motivations, history... They should be pretty damn complete.
One or more Bosses are required for a submission.
Lieutenant(s)
The right-hand of the boss. These are the kinds of creatures that are the leaders of smaller groups, perhaps an opposite adventuring party, even! They're a cut above the rank and file, and are generally unique.
Any lieutenants you make should have a complete statblock and at least a brief blurb on motivations and backstory.
At least one Lieutenant is required for a submission.
Mooks
The rank and file. These make up the meat of a lot of encounters. It's highly encouraged for you to have many types of mooks, since fighting the exact same thing again and again gets boring.
Mooks should have complete statblocks and a short blurb on the general ideas behind them.
At least two distinct types of Mooks are required for a submission.
Submissions without the indicated necessities will be outright ignored.
Spoiler: DeadlineDeadline
Submissions for the entries themselves are due no later than the end of February. That is, 11:59, February 28th, forum time (so GMT-4). Anything submitted or revised after that point will be ignored.
Judges will have a week after that point to finalize judgements. Since the villains will be posted and revised as they come, judges should keep an eye and be formulating thoughts as the month goes on.
Spoiler: JudgingJudging
Judges should rank villainous entries on a scale of 1 (poor) to 10 (exemplary). Each part should be ranked individually-the parts are split into three categories, as seen above, and then split into further subcategories.
Bosses, Lieutenants, and Mooks are each split into the following categories:
Mechanics-Are the mechanics sound? Does everything work smoothly and intuitively? Are the power levels appropriate?
Story-Is the story interesting? Is it believable, in the given setting? Do the motivations work, and do they provide interesting encounters?
And then an overall 1-5 ranking on "How on theme is it?"
The bosses, lieutenants, and mooks will have their two rankings averaged.
Then, those three will be added together along with the "On theme" ranking.
Thus, the total possible score is 35, if you score 10/10 on everything and 5/5 on theme.
If you want to be a judge, post in this thread saying so. However, note that, if you are a judge, you CANNOT enter this contest!
Currently, the judging list is as follows:
JNAProductions
Unoriginal
Presentations will be made ANONYMOUSLY. You should PM me your submission (and any revisions) which I will repost here, in order to avoid any biases. You WILL be credited with your work after the contest is over and judging is complete.
I repeat: DO NOT POST YOUR SUBMISSIONS ON THIS THREAD! PM THEM TO ME!
To standardize the PMs and make things a little easier on me, please include:
D&D 5E Villainous Competition I: Name Of Your Entry
This first contest will have the following theme: The Cult Arises! Interpret that as you please.Last edited by JNAProductions; 2019-02-01 at 08:10 PM.
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 12:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Do all the villains including the mooks need to be homebrewed monsters, or could you say something like "Magister Sandstone has 15 Bandits and 5 Thugs under her employ, which she convinced to rally her operation with demonstration of her magical might"?
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2019-02-01, 01:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2014
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 02:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2015
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Can boss or lieutenants be classed characters, or should all be stated as monsters??
I feel like Theme rating is rather low, it should be 10 full points
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2019-02-01, 02:48 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2014
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 02:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Well, then, I propose my services as judge for this competition.
Just one last question: it isn't quite clear in OP, but will all the judges debate, deliberate and decide on the score together, or will each judge's rankings of the contestant's work be averaged for the final result?
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2019-02-01, 02:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2014
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Each judge's ranking will be averaged.
That being said, it's totally fine to talk to other judges and revise your rankings, if they point out something you missed or whatnot. Likewise, if the entry gets revised over time, make sure your rankings reflect that!
Thanks for being a judge too!I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 02:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
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2019-02-01, 07:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2016
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- Washington State
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2019-02-01, 07:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2014
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2017
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Maybe you might want to include a small explanation of how disputes are handled, or if they're even allowed. That should hopefully prevent some confusion during the judging process.
For those unfamilair with the 3.5e competitions, there's usually a period after the judgements have been posted in which the contestants can submit clarifications on their build or explain some facet they think the judge overlooked (this is not for correcting mistakes or altering the build, just for providing clarity if you think the judge missed something important about your build). This is generally done by sending a message to the organizer, who'll then post the disputes for each build in the thread.Last edited by DeTess; 2019-02-01 at 08:10 PM.
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2019-02-01, 08:10 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 09:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2010
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
How many builds/full designs are we allowed to submit?
My Works:
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2019-02-01, 09:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-01, 11:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2016
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
What happens if someone fails to meet a criteria? I presume auto disqualification of entry? If its a mistake on the mook, then the mook is not counted. If its a mistake on the boss or LT ten that would be sufficient to disqualify?
Rule 0: The most IMPORTANT rule of D&D. There is no more important rule than this rule. This is a game, and as such, you do everything you can to ensure everyone has fun. /TheEnd
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2019-02-02, 12:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2010
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Am I correct that there is no theme for this first competition?
My Works:
The Commoner Handbook
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2019-02-02, 02:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2015
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2019-02-02, 06:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2018
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2019-02-02, 06:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2017
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2019-02-02, 12:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2018
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Nothing in the 3.5E was homebrew. In fact, it was exactly the opposite, except you had the ability within the core game to template, advance HD, and grant class levels to the monster if you wanted, or have villains built using the same Character Creation system as PC's. Nothing was homebrew however, and everything was RAW legal.
If it's a homebrew competition, and requiring homebrew, perhaps take it to the homebrew discussion forum where there are already competitions to create homebrews?
Is it homebrew enough to weapon swap? What about a spell swap? What about a stat bump/drop? How much am I allowed/required to modify from a 1st party designed creature before it's considered a homebrew? Can I use a standard creature but give it a homebrew magic item to make it homebrew?
If it's about creating a memorable villain, have there been many memorable villains based on their abilities, or are they memorable because of their actions? Is it memorable Sephiroth can OHKO a creature with one attack? Or is it memorable who he does it too?
While I don't have a problem with Homebrew mechanics being included, I'd prefer if it was actually marked down (as per the original challenge). After all, can Dragons' not be villains? Can Devils not be villains? Or Lich's? Or Vampires? Or Giants? Or Humans? is it allowed to homebrew a monster when it's merely copied from a previous editions as yet unpublished monsters from obscure references or later filler material in monster manuals?
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2019-02-02, 05:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
You receive 0/10 points for that category. The idea is to have complete entries.
Mistakes are not disqualifying, though-if you meant a mook to have +8 to-hit and you wrote +10 (or something silly, like +88) that's not disqualifying. Not to mention, you can revise your work before the deadline.
It's fine to have existing monsters in the cult, but the point is to make new things.
is it allowed to homebrew a monster when it's merely copied from a previous editions as yet unpublished monsters from obscure references or later filler material in monster manuals?
Also, just because there are stats for dragons doesn't mean you can't make a dragon the boss-you can easily make a new type of dragon, or a unique dragon of an existing type, or other options.
5E is a different beast from 3.5. There's no easy-to-cheese monster creation system, and no straitjackets for design space.I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-02, 05:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Does changing a spell list count as homebrew? Is making a spellcasting dragon enough? What about equipment changes? What about mounting guys on top of one another?
You have absolutely no mention of homebrew either in the OP. And if it is homebrew required why is this not in the homebrew section?
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2019-02-02, 06:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2016
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2019-02-02, 08:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2018
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Making the mechanics is different that making a villain, though. Is Goldfinger a memorable villain because of what his Stat sheet says, or what his actions are?
If I create my Orcish Cultists, am I going to be penalised because I used Orcs, and not because I created Yellow Necked Pygmy Dragonfly Winged Walrus Beetle cults?Last edited by Kadesh; 2019-02-02 at 08:07 PM.
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2019-02-02, 08:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Kadesh, I'd like to politely ask you to accept that the competition is what it is, and not just continue to try to crap on it.
Part of the competition IS the fluff-a perfect statblock won't get you first place, you need good personalities and stories to go with it.
And no, you will not take penalties for making an Orcish Cult. You would have some already-filled design space, but so long as you explore something new for the bare minimum of two types of mooks, a singular lieutenant, and a singular boss (notably, while there's lot of Orcish mooks, there aren't many boss or lieutenant suitable monsters in printed books) but if you make good crunch and fluff, you'll do miles better than someone who makes a crappy statblock and story for the One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple Eater.
Edit: Also, a lot of those complaints are perfectly valid against the 3.5 competition, yet I don't see you bothering them there.Last edited by JNAProductions; 2019-02-02 at 08:11 PM.
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-02, 09:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2018
Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
A lot of those complaints are not valid against the Villainous Competition 3.5 because they use the RAW ways of modifying monsters. You cannot create templates, you cannot increase HD beyond what the base creature allows, the assumption is that all class levels are associated, the magic items are created in accordance with the DMG rules, any classes, spells, skills and feats come from an existing book...
And now in the 5E, competition is now requiring me to make homebrew creatures of my own design, or I'll be penalized? 1 - Why? There might not be suitable reasons why I can't make a 1-20 theoretical cult plot line out of orcs alone, but delving into their backstory gives me a great number of potential hooks with other creatures.
I want to enter this competition, so I'm not piddling on It. I'm just questioning 2 things, why is being a villain (of various degrees) predicated on it not being written down in a book already, and what is the minimum needed for a monster to be considered homebrew?
Is a weapon swap enough? What about a spell swap? Or a spell list swap? What about a star array? How's about those creatures with optional spellcasting, does adding that to the creature count as homebrew?
I want to put in the worm for this, but I don't want that to be rewarded with 'oh, you've not homebrewed enough, here's 0 points'.
It seems arbitrary, and nonsensical.
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2019-02-02, 09:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
The monster has to be significantly changed from the original, if based on an existing one.
There's no hard line on that, but something like a weapon swap would almost certainly NOT qualify.
Just get your stuff done early, submit it, and if the judges (currently me and Unoriginal) think it's not changed enough, then we'll say so, and it can be changed before the deadline.I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-02, 09:58 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
Wait, why are we submitting stat blocks instead of story hooks and motivations/goals?
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2019-02-02, 10:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
I have a LOT of Homebrew!
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2019-02-03, 01:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Villainous Design Competition I: The Cult Arises!
I don't even play 3.5 but I find the 3.5 forum's optimisation/design challenges to be fun to look at so I think I'll give this a shot now that it's in a system I actually fully understand. I just have a couple of questions first.
1. Do we need to tie our entries to some pre-existing setting? For example, could I make a cult dedicated to an evil deity that doesn't exist in any setting because I just made it up? Assuming of course that I gave this deity a proper fleshing-out in my entry.
2. Is there some kind of format we're expected to present our statblocks in? Or is it up to us, as long as everything that would be in a 5e statblock is represented somewhere?Thank you to Honest Tiefling for my awesome avatar!
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