I vote for Gura even though he wasted a feat on Mage Slayer when he should have taken Resilient Wisdom.
His character concept was pretty similar to mine, but focused more on the defensive side with his Yuan-ti racial ability giving advantage on saving throws.
But what really fascinates me about his build is how his level 14 Sorcerer ability (which he doesn't get until level 16) gives him a floor of 10 on saving throws. With proficiency in Con Saves and Charisma saves and the +5 proficiency bonus, that will give him a minimum of 17 on Con Saves and 20 on Charisma Saves before any boost from gear. With Resilient Wisdom, he could have put his Wisdom saves up around 17 as well.
17 won't be enough against many casters at that level, but with a boost from gear such as a staff of power he could get the floor on his Con Saves high enough that he wouldn't need to roll when the DM says "do a con save".
The floor of 10 doesn't do you much good if it's still not enough to succeed in the saving throw. Rolling a 14 instead of a 6 on a DC 18 Wisdom save makes no difference. But rolling a 18 automatically because of having a +8 to Wisdom saves and the floor of 10 on the roll makes a huge difference.
That said, he massively overstated the usefulness of the Mage Slayer feat for a similar reason: he forgot that by the time he gets the feat, enemy casters aren't running around with just +1 or +2 on Con Saves anymore. They're probably up in the +8 or +10 area by that time (and maybe with war caster or eldritch mind), so disadvantage isn't a big deal if you're not making the Con Save sufficiently hard in the first place. Even using a 5th level slot on Synaptic Static only gives a DC14 Con Save on average. Magic missile just gives a bunch of DC10 Con Saves, which don't scare people with a high Con Save. A lot of higher level casters don't even have to roll for a DC 10 Con Save.
So the mage slayer feat was definitely a waste, but it's still a cool character idea (and very similar to mine, which is why I think it's cool). If our campaigns actually got past level 15, it could be fun to play a clockwork sorcerer and abuse that level 14 ability. But since I play exclusively under level 15, I would stick with a Shadow Sorcerer. Before level 16, he gets advantage on saving throws against magic from his racial bonus, which is a very attractive thing about the race, and makes him much more of a defensive focus than mine. But still not as much fun as not having to roll once you get to level 14 and use your special ability.
This is a fantastic example of why Magic Missile is a problem, and why it works like any other multi-target spell at my table. Being able to multiply any spell damage boosts by a factor of ten is beyond outrageous and produces the sort of damage numbers that make most DMs just quietly cry into their ale after the session. Nevertheless, it makes a twisted sort of sense for a deadly agent of the Hells – this creature cares not for the laws of magic or the concerns of mortal men. It cares only to spread the word of its mistress, and that word is Burn. While I have a moral objection to the Crawrulings that make it work, I can’t say this is anything but a well-executed example of the combo built on a solid framework. Fine work, Third.
GabrielRockman’s Generic Psionic Shadow Sorcerer
Generic Psionic Shadow Sorcerer (hereafter ‘Jerry’) shows what new oiptions can do to reinvigorate a much-maligned class. Shadow Sorcerers have frequently gotten a bad rap, but the Hound combines nicely with a number of the new “psionic” options in Tasha’s to produce a character that can effectively eliminate a single character from conflicts. Multiple stacking debuffs to saving throws means debilitating effects linger far longer than a DM is ready for, and while Jerry is not particularly punchy damage-wise or terribly useful on utility (most of the time), he does have the ability to blunt just about any offense in the game. I actually rather like this notion for a character of my own I’ve been struggling with, and may hijack it in the future. Good show, Gabriel.
Sutlo’s Change
See? I tell people and I tell people – Archfey warlocks are magical thieves, infiltrators, and ne’er-do-wells, not Blastmasters. Sutlo knows. Combining the changeling’s Shapeshift and Disguise Self is excellent theater – many people assume they only need Mask without realizing how limited it is by their own voice and general build. Everything else just doubles down on that idea, and ends up with a character that can learn anything it needs to, be anyone it needs to, and escape most anywhere it finds itself. I love characters like this, even if the rest of my party tends to hate them. Can’t kill what you never knew was a threat in the first place.
Transmorpher’s Gura D. Bumbac, Antimage
This is an interesting take on the Abjurer idea, ensuring no mage can sustain concentration spells for more than a round. There’s parallels to Jerry here; both specialize in disruption and lockdown, but while Jerry’s focus is on eliminating a single enemy’s ability to act, Gura’s focus is on sweeping away any magic not his own. Each has some capacity to do the other job, but I find it fascinating to examine the difference just a few key choices ends up making. I do have to Fry Meme Gura here for pulling the yuan-ti card, but eh. Mechanus as an Undying patron is an interesting read, especially for a dip. One of those “Ye know, technically he’s right” sorts of things. And for a Clockwork mage of Mechanus, technically correct is not just the best kind of correct – it’s the only kind of correct. Good work, Transmorpher.
Necromas’ Jasper, the Red Mage
First of all, I really dig the HeroForge for this. Clean, classy, effective, with just a pinch of drama to set it off. Nice work, Necromas. Sadly, Action Surge does not let you double-cast leveled spells – the restriction on leveled spells is per turn, and an Action Surge is within the same turn. One can use Action Surge for a ton of other useful things though, and I’ve got a soft spot for the war-trained battlemage archetype – the spellcaster who’s trained in fieldcraft and warfighting alongside the martial soldiers of his unit. This is a really well executed example of the archetype that makes excellent use of new Tasha’s options to enhance the base sorcerous abilities with choice maneuvers and Magical Guidance (even if Mark of Shadow is cheating. Naughty naughty :P). Excellent work, Necromas.
Bramblefoot’s Ryze, the Rune Mage
I’ll admit to a complete lack of familiarity with League of Legends’ worldbuilding/setting/lore. But this one does sound like the pitch for plenty of campaigns I’ve seen. Ryze (that’s not awkward at all when you play weekly with a Rize :P) does the cantripmaster well, bolstering a generically effective spell list with Coolguy features from lore bard and Wild sorcerer. it’s nice to see somebody with the balls to indulge in Wild Magic, even if it’s not terribly frequent here, and always cool to see War Magic see the light of day in a world where Bladesingers exist. I like that this one feels like someone who had to teach himself as much as not, and it’s rare to see a use of the Lucky feat that doesn’t make a girl want to Excalibur Face. Not bad, Bramble.
Well-Intentioned Bison’s Shalla, Mage Sovereign
I see Lucky. Out of nowhere, on a variant human. Ahem:
Anyways. There’s a tale in this one, a character campaign seed I can appreciate, and I do love the Abjurer subclass. Abjurers are heavily underrated; it’s one of the few ‘School of [X]’ wizard subclasses that feels like a cohesive, functional thing. This one splashes Lore bard because Lore bards are ridiculous, gaining the ability to pump heals and some actual class features. The loss of Spell Mastery is painful, but in this specific instance I can see where the Lore abilities outweigh Spell Mastery. It’s not as countermage-y as Gura, but it also requires less set-up and comes by Spell Resistance honestly. Simple, solid, well executed. A good entry from a good bovine.
See? I told you I’d get to the write-ups this weekend, dood. Regardless. Our second Clockwork sorcerer and the only artificer splash in the whole contest. Armorer is an interesting mix for a Clockwork sorcerer, giving the character some actual clocks to work with from infusions. A three-level dip isn’t amazing for artificer powers, but it does mean this is the only build in the entire list wearing heavy armor. Don’t know how much use Elrin’s getting from Thunderpunching things, but heavy armor that doesn’t care about strength and can be a casting focus (if only for artificer spells) is pretty nice. The rest is pretty archetypical Clockwork sorcerer, which is fine because the Clockwork sorc is stupid good. Man, if every sorcerer subclass looked like this, nobody’d complain about the class being ‘just a shitty wizard’.
Also yeah. If you’re gonna be fantasy Iron Man with a (bigger than usual) justice complex, that’s the art to do it with.
Final Vote
I’m actually going to give this to Necromas’ Jasper, the Red Mage. There were a lot of cool ideas in this round, from Third breaking the rules over his knee to kill gods with a first-level spell to three different interesting takes on a countermage, but Jasper feels like the most coherent character here. A powerful spellcaster, yes, but one with a job and a life. I also love the integration of Tasha’s tools, utilizing new Battlemaster maneuvers to really double down on a caster who’s trained for war. This is a pretty fantastic example of how to adapt a character from another property properly – take the essence of what you’re adapting and build a new shell around it, rather than trying to just stitch together a clone.
Honorable mentions to Jerry and Change – Jerry for finding a really cool use for a somewhat blah subclass, and Change for daring to be a warlock in a contest dominated by wizards and sorcerers and doing a damn fine job of it. I can only vote once though, and I just like battlemages too much not to let Jasper have a hashmark here.
Thanks yurei, I chose the war magic as it had the right blend and wild magic as it was fun and for flavour. The cantrips were annoying tbh, but at least he has some considerable damage without spell slots, and some food utility.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I vote for Gura even though he wasted a feat on Mage Slayer when he should have taken Resilient Wisdom.
His character concept was pretty similar to mine, but focused more on the defensive side with his Yuan-ti racial ability giving advantage on saving throws.
But what really fascinates me about his build is how his level 14 Sorcerer ability (which he doesn't get until level 16) gives him a floor of 10 on saving throws. With proficiency in Con Saves and Charisma saves and the +5 proficiency bonus, that will give him a minimum of 17 on Con Saves and 20 on Charisma Saves before any boost from gear. With Resilient Wisdom, he could have put his Wisdom saves up around 17 as well.
17 won't be enough against many casters at that level, but with a boost from gear such as a staff of power he could get the floor on his Con Saves high enough that he wouldn't need to roll when the DM says "do a con save".
The floor of 10 doesn't do you much good if it's still not enough to succeed in the saving throw. Rolling a 14 instead of a 6 on a DC 18 Wisdom save makes no difference. But rolling a 18 automatically because of having a +8 to Wisdom saves and the floor of 10 on the roll makes a huge difference.
That said, he massively overstated the usefulness of the Mage Slayer feat for a similar reason: he forgot that by the time he gets the feat, enemy casters aren't running around with just +1 or +2 on Con Saves anymore. They're probably up in the +8 or +10 area by that time (and maybe with war caster or eldritch mind), so disadvantage isn't a big deal if you're not making the Con Save sufficiently hard in the first place. Even using a 5th level slot on Synaptic Static only gives a DC14 Con Save on average. Magic missile just gives a bunch of DC10 Con Saves, which don't scare people with a high Con Save. A lot of higher level casters don't even have to roll for a DC 10 Con Save.
So the mage slayer feat was definitely a waste, but it's still a cool character idea (and very similar to mine, which is why I think it's cool). If our campaigns actually got past level 15, it could be fun to play a clockwork sorcerer and abuse that level 14 ability. But since I play exclusively under level 15, I would stick with a Shadow Sorcerer. Before level 16, he gets advantage on saving throws against magic from his racial bonus, which is a very attractive thing about the race, and makes him much more of a defensive focus than mine. But still not as much fun as not having to roll once you get to level 14 and use your special ability.
I have to admit... I underestimated the real potential of the level 14 Clockwork ability. It's honestly a feature that the entire build could hinge on, and I kind of just treated it like an afterthought because it doesn't come online until 16th level.
As for me, I'm also voting for Impending Doom. On one level I dislike the cheesy, sort of exploitive nature of the build... but also I'm impressed that it works so well. Still, the fact that it's all backed up with a solid backstory and build pushed it over the edge for me.
Also, just as an aside... there were a lot of Aasimar in this contest, weren't there?
My D&D group is 5 PCs and 1 DM, and we never go past level 15 in our campaigns, and that heavily impacts the way that I theorycraft my characters.
My character differed from Transmorpher's character in that I didn't feel the need to go as heavy on the defense because I'm accustomed to playing with four other party members. And having four other party members means that it's completely fine if I don't have much in the way of damaging capabilities because the other four can easily cover for me.
In fact, I'm actually designing the Shadow Sorcerer right now for one of the two campaigns that my group is doing. My current character in that campaign is a Tempest Cleric who is built around Booming Blade with a whip using the Spell Sniper feat, and Tasha's took that away, so I'm unhappily having to retire that character because of the change to Booming Blade. She is at +8 to Con Saves right now, and I was really looking forward to being at +9 for Con Saves at the next level because that would mean not having to roll a Con Save when I take 21 or less damage. Alas, it was not meant to be. But, at least the Shadow Sorcerer that I've started building looks like it will be fun to play.
I vote for Gura even though he wasted a feat on Mage Slayer when he should have taken Resilient Wisdom.
His character concept was pretty similar to mine, but focused more on the defensive side with his Yuan-ti racial ability giving advantage on saving throws.
But what really fascinates me about his build is how his level 14 Sorcerer ability (which he doesn't get until level 16) gives him a floor of 10 on saving throws. With proficiency in Con Saves and Charisma saves and the +5 proficiency bonus, that will give him a minimum of 17 on Con Saves and 20 on Charisma Saves before any boost from gear. With Resilient Wisdom, he could have put his Wisdom saves up around 17 as well.
17 won't be enough against many casters at that level, but with a boost from gear such as a staff of power he could get the floor on his Con Saves high enough that he wouldn't need to roll when the DM says "do a con save".
The floor of 10 doesn't do you much good if it's still not enough to succeed in the saving throw. Rolling a 14 instead of a 6 on a DC 18 Wisdom save makes no difference. But rolling a 18 automatically because of having a +8 to Wisdom saves and the floor of 10 on the roll makes a huge difference.
That said, he massively overstated the usefulness of the Mage Slayer feat for a similar reason: he forgot that by the time he gets the feat, enemy casters aren't running around with just +1 or +2 on Con Saves anymore. They're probably up in the +8 or +10 area by that time (and maybe with war caster or eldritch mind), so disadvantage isn't a big deal if you're not making the Con Save sufficiently hard in the first place. Even using a 5th level slot on Synaptic Static only gives a DC14 Con Save on average. Magic missile just gives a bunch of DC10 Con Saves, which don't scare people with a high Con Save. A lot of higher level casters don't even have to roll for a DC 10 Con Save.
So the mage slayer feat was definitely a waste, but it's still a cool character idea (and very similar to mine, which is why I think it's cool). If our campaigns actually got past level 15, it could be fun to play a clockwork sorcerer and abuse that level 14 ability. But since I play exclusively under level 15, I would stick with a Shadow Sorcerer. Before level 16, he gets advantage on saving throws against magic from his racial bonus, which is a very attractive thing about the race, and makes him much more of a defensive focus than mine. But still not as much fun as not having to roll once you get to level 14 and use your special ability.
I have to admit... I underestimated the real potential of the level 14 Clockwork ability. It's honestly a feature that the entire build could hinge on, and I kind of just treated it like an afterthought because it doesn't come online until 16th level.
As for me, I'm also voting for Impending Doom. On one level I dislike the cheesy, sort of exploitive nature of the build... but also I'm impressed that it works so well. Still, the fact that it's all backed up with a solid backstory and build pushed it over the edge for me.
Also, just as an aside... there were a lot of Aasimar in this contest, weren't there?
Yeah, a Clockwork Sorcerer 14 Paladin 6 with 20 Charisma would be so powerful against spellcasters. I guess it's too late to make one of those for this contest....
Thanks for the kind words Yurei! :) I really think there is a LOT of hidden hiding potential in the warlock, I startet building Change and at the end I was sure I could never play them - there are just too many options of how to trick and misguide everyone. But it was fun trying here :). Expect me to take a step at the next throwdown, too! :)
My vote goes to thirdSundering's "Impending Doom" build. Not because I think you should ever play it, but because it is a nice show of why you shouldn't just go full bananas on the rules as written. I think the RAI of MM is "a bunch of small missiles that hurt a bit." but the raw makes it so they can be brutal. So - never play this build pls :)
Okay, sorry, this time I don't have time to do a huge write up on all of the builds, but I like a lot of what I see here. Inevitably, my vote is going to have to go to Yurei's Jhanni the Silverhand. The story of this character makes up for any huge lack of optimization, and would be a great character to play.
Thanks for the awesome stories and builds everyone. I can't wait to see who comes out as the victor in this one.
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As for me, I'm also voting for Impending Doom. On one level I dislike the cheesy, sort of exploitive nature of the build... but also I'm impressed that it works so well. Still, the fact that it's all backed up with a solid backstory and build pushed it over the edge for me.
Also, just as an aside... there were a lot of Aasimar in this contest, weren't there?
Thanks for the vote and kind words, Transmorpher. I also dislike the cheesy exploits of the subclass, but a blaster gotta blast, even if it requires selling your soul to a devil.
There were a lot of Aasimar, I was kind of surprised. It was necessary for my build to stack as much damage on the build as physically possible, but I am kind of intrigued as to why others chose it.
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I picked Scourge Aasimar just because it sounded awesome for the build I made. Also Bramble I'm not sure if that question was to just everybody in general or to third specifically but I vote with a mix of both. I read the characters and whatever one I wind up liking more is the one I vote for.
You vote based on who you'd like to win, or which build you believe deserves a vote. If there were strict voting criteria, DF would simply pick the winner himself, ne?
Actually have a suggestion for the next contest related to that, but that can wait for the next contest.
It depends on the flavor or optimization. This round I voted because of flavor, last time I did for flavor as well. For me, flavor is more important for who I vote for than optimization, even though optimization matters to an extent.
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First of all, I really dig the HeroForge for this. Clean, classy, effective, with just a pinch of drama to set it off. Nice work, Necromas. Sadly, Action Surge does not let you double-cast leveled spells – the restriction on leveled spells is per turn, and an Action Surge is within the same turn. One can use Action Surge for a ton of other useful things though, and I’ve got a soft spot for the war-trained battlemage archetype – the spellcaster who’s trained in fieldcraft and warfighting alongside the martial soldiers of his unit. This is a really well executed example of the archetype that makes excellent use of new Tasha’s options to enhance the base sorcerous abilities with choice maneuvers and Magical Guidance (even if Mark of Shadow is cheating. Naughty naughty :P). Excellent work, Necromas.
Afaik there is no restriction on leveled spells per turn as long as you have actions to spend on them. The only stipulation is that those actually need to be 1 action cast spells because as soon as you cast one as bonus action, you are limited to cantrips. You absolutely can cast 2x Fireball if you use action surge and if you haven't cast anything as a bonus action on your turn.
Hm. I'll have to look that up. I know most tables run Action Surge that way, but a lot of tables also run Action Surge as an entire second turn-within-a-turn, which it most emphatically is not.
Also: vote for somebody. If you can read submissions, you can vote for one :P
Hm. I'll have to look that up. I know most tables run Action Surge that way, but a lot of tables also run Action Surge as an entire second turn-within-a-turn, which it most emphatically is not.
Also: vote for somebody. If you can read submissions, you can vote for one :P
There is absolutely no way I am not going to vote for Keanu ;-)
I vote for Gura even though he wasted a feat on Mage Slayer when he should have taken Resilient Wisdom.
His character concept was pretty similar to mine, but focused more on the defensive side with his Yuan-ti racial ability giving advantage on saving throws.
But what really fascinates me about his build is how his level 14 Sorcerer ability (which he doesn't get until level 16) gives him a floor of 10 on saving throws. With proficiency in Con Saves and Charisma saves and the +5 proficiency bonus, that will give him a minimum of 17 on Con Saves and 20 on Charisma Saves before any boost from gear. With Resilient Wisdom, he could have put his Wisdom saves up around 17 as well.
17 won't be enough against many casters at that level, but with a boost from gear such as a staff of power he could get the floor on his Con Saves high enough that he wouldn't need to roll when the DM says "do a con save".
The floor of 10 doesn't do you much good if it's still not enough to succeed in the saving throw. Rolling a 14 instead of a 6 on a DC 18 Wisdom save makes no difference. But rolling a 18 automatically because of having a +8 to Wisdom saves and the floor of 10 on the roll makes a huge difference.
That said, he massively overstated the usefulness of the Mage Slayer feat for a similar reason: he forgot that by the time he gets the feat, enemy casters aren't running around with just +1 or +2 on Con Saves anymore. They're probably up in the +8 or +10 area by that time (and maybe with war caster or eldritch mind), so disadvantage isn't a big deal if you're not making the Con Save sufficiently hard in the first place. Even using a 5th level slot on Synaptic Static only gives a DC14 Con Save on average. Magic missile just gives a bunch of DC10 Con Saves, which don't scare people with a high Con Save. A lot of higher level casters don't even have to roll for a DC 10 Con Save.
So the mage slayer feat was definitely a waste, but it's still a cool character idea (and very similar to mine, which is why I think it's cool). If our campaigns actually got past level 15, it could be fun to play a clockwork sorcerer and abuse that level 14 ability. But since I play exclusively under level 15, I would stick with a Shadow Sorcerer. Before level 16, he gets advantage on saving throws against magic from his racial bonus, which is a very attractive thing about the race, and makes him much more of a defensive focus than mine. But still not as much fun as not having to roll once you get to level 14 and use your special ability.
Third Sundering’s Impending Doom
This is a fantastic example of why Magic Missile is a problem, and why it works like any other multi-target spell at my table. Being able to multiply any spell damage boosts by a factor of ten is beyond outrageous and produces the sort of damage numbers that make most DMs just quietly cry into their ale after the session. Nevertheless, it makes a twisted sort of sense for a deadly agent of the Hells – this creature cares not for the laws of magic or the concerns of mortal men. It cares only to spread the word of its mistress, and that word is Burn. While I have a moral objection to the Crawrulings that make it work, I can’t say this is anything but a well-executed example of the combo built on a solid framework. Fine work, Third.
GabrielRockman’s Generic Psionic Shadow Sorcerer
Generic Psionic Shadow Sorcerer (hereafter ‘Jerry’) shows what new oiptions can do to reinvigorate a much-maligned class. Shadow Sorcerers have frequently gotten a bad rap, but the Hound combines nicely with a number of the new “psionic” options in Tasha’s to produce a character that can effectively eliminate a single character from conflicts. Multiple stacking debuffs to saving throws means debilitating effects linger far longer than a DM is ready for, and while Jerry is not particularly punchy damage-wise or terribly useful on utility (most of the time), he does have the ability to blunt just about any offense in the game. I actually rather like this notion for a character of my own I’ve been struggling with, and may hijack it in the future. Good show, Gabriel.
Sutlo’s Change
See? I tell people and I tell people – Archfey warlocks are magical thieves, infiltrators, and ne’er-do-wells, not Blastmasters. Sutlo knows. Combining the changeling’s Shapeshift and Disguise Self is excellent theater – many people assume they only need Mask without realizing how limited it is by their own voice and general build. Everything else just doubles down on that idea, and ends up with a character that can learn anything it needs to, be anyone it needs to, and escape most anywhere it finds itself. I love characters like this, even if the rest of my party tends to hate them. Can’t kill what you never knew was a threat in the first place.
Transmorpher’s Gura D. Bumbac, Antimage
This is an interesting take on the Abjurer idea, ensuring no mage can sustain concentration spells for more than a round. There’s parallels to Jerry here; both specialize in disruption and lockdown, but while Jerry’s focus is on eliminating a single enemy’s ability to act, Gura’s focus is on sweeping away any magic not his own. Each has some capacity to do the other job, but I find it fascinating to examine the difference just a few key choices ends up making. I do have to Fry Meme Gura here for pulling the yuan-ti card, but eh. Mechanus as an Undying patron is an interesting read, especially for a dip. One of those “Ye know, technically he’s right” sorts of things. And for a Clockwork mage of Mechanus, technically correct is not just the best kind of correct – it’s the only kind of correct. Good work, Transmorpher.
Necromas’ Jasper, the Red Mage
First of all, I really dig the HeroForge for this. Clean, classy, effective, with just a pinch of drama to set it off. Nice work, Necromas. Sadly, Action Surge does not let you double-cast leveled spells – the restriction on leveled spells is per turn, and an Action Surge is within the same turn. One can use Action Surge for a ton of other useful things though, and I’ve got a soft spot for the war-trained battlemage archetype – the spellcaster who’s trained in fieldcraft and warfighting alongside the martial soldiers of his unit. This is a really well executed example of the archetype that makes excellent use of new Tasha’s options to enhance the base sorcerous abilities with choice maneuvers and Magical Guidance (even if Mark of Shadow is cheating. Naughty naughty :P). Excellent work, Necromas.
Bramblefoot’s Ryze, the Rune Mage
I’ll admit to a complete lack of familiarity with League of Legends’ worldbuilding/setting/lore. But this one does sound like the pitch for plenty of campaigns I’ve seen. Ryze (that’s not awkward at all when you play weekly with a Rize :P) does the cantripmaster well, bolstering a generically effective spell list with Coolguy features from lore bard and Wild sorcerer. it’s nice to see somebody with the balls to indulge in Wild Magic, even if it’s not terribly frequent here, and always cool to see War Magic see the light of day in a world where Bladesingers exist. I like that this one feels like someone who had to teach himself as much as not, and it’s rare to see a use of the Lucky feat that doesn’t make a girl want to Excalibur Face. Not bad, Bramble.
Well-Intentioned Bison’s Shalla, Mage Sovereign
I see Lucky. Out of nowhere, on a variant human. Ahem:
Anyways.
There’s a tale in this one, a character campaign seed I can appreciate, and I do love the Abjurer subclass. Abjurers are heavily underrated; it’s one of the few ‘School of [X]’ wizard subclasses that feels like a cohesive, functional thing. This one splashes Lore bard because Lore bards are ridiculous, gaining the ability to pump heals and some actual class features. The loss of Spell Mastery is painful, but in this specific instance I can see where the Lore abilities outweigh Spell Mastery. It’s not as countermage-y as Gura, but it also requires less set-up and comes by Spell Resistance honestly. Simple, solid, well executed. A good entry from a good bovine.
Evmoose McYakkington’s “
Take That, Spooky*****”Elrin BronzehammerSee? I told you I’d get to the write-ups this weekend, dood. Regardless. Our second Clockwork sorcerer and the only artificer splash in the whole contest. Armorer is an interesting mix for a Clockwork sorcerer, giving the character some actual clocks to work with from infusions. A three-level dip isn’t amazing for artificer powers, but it does mean this is the only build in the entire list wearing heavy armor. Don’t know how much use Elrin’s getting from Thunderpunching things, but heavy armor that doesn’t care about strength and can be a casting focus (if only for artificer spells) is pretty nice. The rest is pretty archetypical Clockwork sorcerer, which is fine because the Clockwork sorc is stupid good. Man, if every sorcerer subclass looked like this, nobody’d complain about the class being ‘just a shitty wizard’.
Also yeah. If you’re gonna be fantasy Iron Man with a (bigger than usual) justice complex, that’s the art to do it with.
Final Vote
I’m actually going to give this to Necromas’ Jasper, the Red Mage. There were a lot of cool ideas in this round, from Third breaking the rules over his knee to kill gods with a first-level spell to three different interesting takes on a countermage, but Jasper feels like the most coherent character here. A powerful spellcaster, yes, but one with a job and a life. I also love the integration of Tasha’s tools, utilizing new Battlemaster maneuvers to really double down on a caster who’s trained for war. This is a pretty fantastic example of how to adapt a character from another property properly – take the essence of what you’re adapting and build a new shell around it, rather than trying to just stitch together a clone.
Honorable mentions to Jerry and Change – Jerry for finding a really cool use for a somewhat blah subclass, and Change for daring to be a warlock in a contest dominated by wizards and sorcerers and doing a damn fine job of it. I can only vote once though, and I just like battlemages too much not to let Jasper have a hashmark here.
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Thanks yurei, I chose the war magic as it had the right blend and wild magic as it was fun and for flavour. The cantrips were annoying tbh, but at least he has some considerable damage without spell slots, and some food utility.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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I have to admit... I underestimated the real potential of the level 14 Clockwork ability. It's honestly a feature that the entire build could hinge on, and I kind of just treated it like an afterthought because it doesn't come online until 16th level.
As for me, I'm also voting for Impending Doom. On one level I dislike the cheesy, sort of exploitive nature of the build... but also I'm impressed that it works so well. Still, the fact that it's all backed up with a solid backstory and build pushed it over the edge for me.
Also, just as an aside... there were a lot of Aasimar in this contest, weren't there?
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My D&D group is 5 PCs and 1 DM, and we never go past level 15 in our campaigns, and that heavily impacts the way that I theorycraft my characters.
My character differed from Transmorpher's character in that I didn't feel the need to go as heavy on the defense because I'm accustomed to playing with four other party members. And having four other party members means that it's completely fine if I don't have much in the way of damaging capabilities because the other four can easily cover for me.
In fact, I'm actually designing the Shadow Sorcerer right now for one of the two campaigns that my group is doing. My current character in that campaign is a Tempest Cleric who is built around Booming Blade with a whip using the Spell Sniper feat, and Tasha's took that away, so I'm unhappily having to retire that character because of the change to Booming Blade. She is at +8 to Con Saves right now, and I was really looking forward to being at +9 for Con Saves at the next level because that would mean not having to roll a Con Save when I take 21 or less damage. Alas, it was not meant to be. But, at least the Shadow Sorcerer that I've started building looks like it will be fun to play.
Yeah, a Clockwork Sorcerer 14 Paladin 6 with 20 Charisma would be so powerful against spellcasters. I guess it's too late to make one of those for this contest....
Thanks for the kind words Yurei! :) I really think there is a LOT of hidden hiding potential in the warlock, I startet building Change and at the end I was sure I could never play them - there are just too many options of how to trick and misguide everyone. But it was fun trying here :). Expect me to take a step at the next throwdown, too! :)
My vote goes to thirdSundering's "Impending Doom" build. Not because I think you should ever play it, but because it is a nice show of why you shouldn't just go full bananas on the rules as written. I think the RAI of MM is "a bunch of small missiles that hurt a bit." but the raw makes it so they can be brutal. So - never play this build pls :)
Okay, sorry, this time I don't have time to do a huge write up on all of the builds, but I like a lot of what I see here. Inevitably, my vote is going to have to go to Yurei's Jhanni the Silverhand. The story of this character makes up for any huge lack of optimization, and would be a great character to play.
Thanks for the awesome stories and builds everyone. I can't wait to see who comes out as the victor in this one.
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Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Thanks for the vote and kind words, Transmorpher. I also dislike the cheesy exploits of the subclass, but a blaster gotta blast, even if it requires selling your soul to a devil.
There were a lot of Aasimar, I was kind of surprised. It was necessary for my build to stack as much damage on the build as physically possible, but I am kind of intrigued as to why others chose it.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I wonder...
Do you vote based on flavour or optimization?
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
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I picked Scourge Aasimar just because it sounded awesome for the build I made. Also Bramble I'm not sure if that question was to just everybody in general or to third specifically but I vote with a mix of both. I read the characters and whatever one I wind up liking more is the one I vote for.
You vote based on who you'd like to win, or which build you believe deserves a vote. If there were strict voting criteria, DF would simply pick the winner himself, ne?
Actually have a suggestion for the next contest related to that, but that can wait for the next contest.
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I prefer a mix, with the throwdown itself saying which to lean towards e.g Christmas one would be flavour, unkillable would be power etc.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
It depends on the flavor or optimization. This round I voted because of flavor, last time I did for flavor as well. For me, flavor is more important for who I vote for than optimization, even though optimization matters to an extent.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Afaik there is no restriction on leveled spells per turn as long as you have actions to spend on them. The only stipulation is that those actually need to be 1 action cast spells because as soon as you cast one as bonus action, you are limited to cantrips. You absolutely can cast 2x Fireball if you use action surge and if you haven't cast anything as a bonus action on your turn.
Hm. I'll have to look that up. I know most tables run Action Surge that way, but a lot of tables also run Action Surge as an entire second turn-within-a-turn, which it most emphatically is not.
Also: vote for somebody. If you can read submissions, you can vote for one :P
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There is absolutely no way I am not going to vote for Keanu ;-)
I mean Jhanni :)
Ya dun' gotta. But ya can still vote for sumbuddy else. Hell, at this point it's prolly for the best if I stop winning these things.
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Yurei... I'd love to win, but I don't think anyone is going to do as good as you every single throwdown.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
It's time for new blood to get some points! :D I will have my Santa - Monk build ready by December 25th!