|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 4:06AM
#1
|
- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
|
Expert Dungeon Master Competition #10
Design Two Elite Creatures! [indent] Creating a unique challenging monster for the characters to encounter is one of the more fun aspects of being a Dungeon Master. But crafting a pair of elite creatures requires true expertise. This iteration of the XDMCs asks you to create an encounter comprised of two different elite creatures of your creation.[/indent] Welcome to the tenth Expert Dungeon Master Competition! The primary purpose of the Expert Dungeon Master Competitions is threefold: [list=1] To create a resource for new Dungeon Masters drawing on the vast talent pool of the experienced Dungeon Masters of this forum.
To create a fun and vibrant competition that is sportsmanlike and friendly.
To showcase the creativity and talent of Dungeon Masters like you.
In order to enter the competition, your entry must fulfill the following required elements:
[list=A]Provide separate statblocks for two creatures that might be encountered together. The statblocks must contain all the information found in the Monster Statblock Template in the 4e SRD appropriate for that creature.
Each creature must have the Elite group role.
Briefly describe each creature's typical appearance and behavior.
Set forth what characters may know of each creature with an appropriate Arcane, Dungeoneering, Nature, or Religion check.
Set forth at least one scenario in which a typical adventuring party might encounter the creatures, and the strategy the creatures might employ in this scenario.
In addition, the entry must include at least three of the following optional elements:
[list=1]
Each creature gains a mechanical benefit from standing within two squares of the other.
One creature has a Good or Lawful good alignment; the other has an Evil or Chaotic Evil Alignment.
One creature serves as a mount for the other.
Only one creature has a burrow speed.
The creatures appear almost identical, but one is at least five levels higher than the other.
The creatures are both thematically associated with a solo creature of the paragon or epic tier found in the Rules Compendium.
The creatures do not share the same type, origin, or size.
The creatures have different abilities that complement one another.
The creatures would suffer damage or a deleterious condition if they touched one another.
The creatures’ powers are antilogous in some way (fire and ice, light and darkness, etc.) but the creatures still believably might be encountered together.
- Code of Conduct. All entries must comply with the forum's Code of Conduct.
- Contest Duration. Contests usually run for two weeks, beginning with the post announcing the competition. The Coordinator may extend the duration of the contest at his discretion after consulting the other judges for that competition. However, such extensions should be done very rarely.
- Edits After 15 Minutes Prohibited. Applicants may not edit their entries more than 15 minutes after submission. This includes editing done by forum moderators, unless the moderator specifically states that the entry had not been edited prior to the moderator's action. If the entrant submits an entry before the contest closes and then edits the entry after the contest closes, but within fifteen minutes of submission, the edits will be considered valid. Entrants should use the forum’s “preview post” function or an off-line text editor to check the entry before posting. Once winners have been announced, entrants may edit their entries.
- Multiple Entries Prohibited. Each applicant may only submit one entry during the period in which entries may be submitted. Submitting multiple entries disqualifies all entries. Additional entries may be submitted after the competition closes, but they will not be judged.
- Multi-Post Entries Prohibited. Each entry must be contained within a single post. The judges must ignore any subsequent posts.
- Outside Links Prohibited. Entries may not include material hosted on a website other than the post on which the entry appears. Images hosted on, or links to, other websites will be ignored by the judges when scoring.
- Plagiarism and Previewing Prohibited. All entries must be the original, exclusive work of the applicant. Entries found to be copying the work of another, or that have been posted for review prior to the close of the competition, will be disqualified.
The contest will run from today through Friday, June 5, 2009. All entries must be submitted no later than 12:00 midnight on that day (Eastern Standard Time). The judges of this contest are Eldritch_Lord, Tinwe, TwinBahamut, and wrecan, and the coordinator of this contest is wrecan.
Good luck and have fun!!
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 4:07AM
#2
|
- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
|
Questions & Answers
(questions posed by potential entrants and the coordinator's response)
Q. For purposes of required element B, can one or both creatures begin as standard, minion or solo creatures, which become elite creatures due to a power or subsequent application of a template?
A. No.
Q. For purposes of required element D, can the entry include information that the adventurers might learn with a different Skill check, such as History or Streetwise?
A. Such information would not satisfy required element D. Nor is it barred by required element D, or any other rule.
Q. For purposes of required element E, can the scenarion include more than 2 elite creatures?
A. No, unless these additional creatures are present due to a power of one of the creatures (such as summoning).
Q. For purposes of required element E, can the scenario add additional elements (like terrain) that make the encounter more difficult than if the party encountered them in a scenario lacking such elements?
A. Yes.
Q. Can you satisfy optional element 1 by making one creature a mount for the other, even though that satisfies optional element 3?
A. No. You must go beyond the usual benefits of having a mount to satisfy optional element 1.
Q. For purposes of optional element 6, can creatures from Monster Manual 2 be used, if they are added to the Rules Compendium before the contest closes?
A. No. We're using the Rules Compendium as it existed at the beginning of the contest, which did not include monsters from Monster Manual 2.
Q. For purposes of optional element 6, must both elite creatures be associated with the same solo creature, or can they each be associated with different solo creatures?
A. They must be associated with the same solo creature.
Q. For purposes of optional element 7, must the elite creatures differ in origin, size, and type?
A. Yes.
Q. For purposes of optional element 8, may the creatures have some powers in common?
A. Yes, as long as they have some powers not in common that complement one another.
Q. For purposes of optional element 9, what does "touching" mean?
A. Use the colloquial definition of the word, rather than any "in-game" definition. (There is no in-game definition of "touching", by the way.)
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 4:07AM
#3
|
- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
|
Entry List [list=1] Gold Medalist: Furion Thamior's Lucid Dream & Waking Nightmare (16th level Elite Controller & 18th Level Elite Skirmisher)
Silver Medalist: CorrinAvatan's Dreamshaper & Dreamwrought Golems (25th Level Elite Controller and 23rd Level Elite Brute)
Bronze Medalist: Koradzi's Aspects of Nature's Bounty & Cruelty (21st level Elite Controller & Brute)
Pluisjen's Spitwurm & Rockling (16th Level Elite Artillery & 14th Level Elite Soldier)
JayJian's Viscous Orb Swarm & Trickster Lob Master (5th Level Elite Controller & 7th Level Elite Artillery)
ClanBattlerage's Tangler & Ethereal Mauler (10th Level Elite Controller & 12th Level Elite Skirmisher)
Lardking's Fire & Ice Archon Diplomats (16th level Elite Controllers)
DaigotsuRezan's Dream Eater & Rakshasa Mystic (23rd Level Elite Lurker & 22nd Level Elite Skirmisher)
Veok's Cacophonous Discord & the Gloaming Silence (26th Level Elite Soldier & Lurker)
shinobicow's Magnetron Golem & Ooze (15th Level Elite Controller & Artillery (Leader))
Nyarlathotep's Fomorian Cursespewer & Bonegrinder (20th Level Elite Controller & Brute)
Jailbreaker's Maw of Madness & Maw Guardian (7th Level Elite Artillery & Soldier)
ff6shadow's Whelk & Elf Druid (10th Level Elite Soldier & 12th Level Elite Controller)
herald108's Yuan-Ti Abominable King & Snaketongue High Priest (23rd Level Elite Controller (Leader) & 21st Level Elite Artillery (Leader))
Elil's Laloca & Tanu (10th Level Elite Artillery & 8th Level Elite Soldier)
Late-Filed and Disqualified Entries:
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 4:08AM
#4
|
- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
|
Medalists The Bronze Medal Goes To...Koradzi with "Aspects of Nature's Bounty and Cruelty" ! The Silver Medal Goes To...CorrinAvatan with "Dreamshaper and Dreamwrought Golems"!! The Gold Medal Goes To...Furion Thamior's "Lucid Dream and Waking Nightmare"!!! Congratulations to all of you! The gold medalist, Furion Thamior, is eligible for the custom title of "Heroic Dungeon Master" (if so desired) and is also now eligible to judge future competitions! If Furion Thamior wins subsequent competitions, the custom title can be changed to "Paragon Dungeon Master" and then "Epic Dungeon Master"! Thanks also to my fellow judges, Eldritch_Lord, Tinwe, and TwinBahamut, who did a great job judging the competitions. A creature competition is always the most mechanically intense of the competitions, and they did a great job with so many entries to review. I am so very grateful to them for volunteering. Congratulations again to everyone for such wonderful entries and thanks for making the XDMCs a continuing success! Anybody who wishes to edit their entries are welcome to do so. Also, judges are welcome to post their comments. Stay tuned for XDMC #11 to begin (hopefully) in a few weeks. In the meantime, enjoy the carefully tabulated scores below. [b]CONSOLIDATED SCORES BY ENTRY[/b]
[b]Entry Creat'y Usab'y Theme Clar'y Bonus Total Author's Entry[/b]
1 11 3/4 9 1/4 7 5 1/2 33 1/2 Pluisjen's Spitwurm and Rockling
2 10 1/4 10 3/4 6 1/2 6 33 1/2 JayJian's Viscous Orb Swarm and Trickster Lob Master
3 11 3/4 12 1/4 8 1/4 6 1/2 38 3/4 Koradzi's Aspects of Nature's Bounty and Cruelty
4 9 1/4 10 1/2 7 7 3/4 34 1/2 ClanBattlerage's Tangler and Ethereal Mauler
5 10 1/4 12 1/2 7 3/4 7 37 1/2 Lardking's Fire and Ice Archon Diplomats
6 12 1/4 12 1/4 6 1/2 7 38 DaigotsuRezan's Dream Eater and Rakshasa Mystic
7 11 1/4 10 3/4 6 1/4 7 35 1/4 Veok's Cacophonous Discord and the Gloaming Silence
8 11 3/4 9 7 3/4 6 1/4 34 3/4 shinobicow's Magnetron Golem and Ooze
9 12 3/4 11 1/4 8 7 3/4 39 3/4 CorrinAvatan's Dreamshaper and Dreamwrought Golems
10 11 1/2 12 1/2 6 1/4 6 1/2 36 3/4 Nyarlathotep's Fomorian Cursespewer and Bonegrinder
11 8 3/4 9 1/4 7 1/4 5 1/2 30 3/4 Jailbreaker's Maw of Madness and Maw Guardian
12 10 1/4 12 1/4 6 1/2 7 1/4 36 1/4 ff6shadow's Whelk and Elf Druid
13 12 3/4 12 1/2 7 3/4 7 1/4 40 1/4 Furion Thamior's Lucid Dream and Waking Nightmare
14 10 3/4 11 3/4 7 1/4 7 3/4 1 38 1/2 herald108's Yuan-Ti Abominable King and Snaketongue High Priest
15 12 10 7 6 35 Elil's Laloca and Tanu
[b]CONSOLIDATED SCORES BY SCORE[/b]
[b]Entry Creat'y Usab'y Theme Clar'y Bonus Total Author's Entry[/b]
13 12 3/4 12 1/2 7 3/4 7 1/4 40 1/4 Furion Thamior's Lucid Dream and Waking Nightmare
9 12 3/4 11 1/4 8 7 3/4 39 3/4 CorrinAvatan's Dreamshaper and Dreamwrought Golems
3 11 3/4 12 1/4 8 1/4 6 1/2 38 3/4 Koradzi's Aspects of Nature's Bounty and Cruelty
14 10 3/4 11 3/4 7 1/4 7 3/4 1 38 1/2 herald108's Yuan-Ti Abominable King and Snaketongue High Priest
6 12 1/4 12 1/4 6 1/2 7 38 DaigotsuRezan's Dream Eater and Rakshasa Mystic
5 10 1/4 12 1/2 7 3/4 7 37 1/2 Lardking's Fire and Ice Archon Diplomats
10 11 1/2 12 1/2 6 1/4 6 1/2 36 3/4 Nyarlathotep's Fomorian Cursespewer and Bonegrinder
12 10 1/4 12 1/4 6 1/2 7 1/4 36 1/4 ff6shadow's Whelk and Elf Druid
7 11 1/4 10 3/4 6 1/4 7 35 1/4 Veok's Cacophonous Discord and the Gloaming Silence
15 12 10 7 6 35 Elil's Laloca and Tanu
8 11 3/4 9 7 3/4 6 1/4 34 3/4 shinobicow's Magnetron Golem and Ooze
4 9 1/4 10 1/2 7 7 3/4 34 1/2 ClanBattlerage's Tangler and Ethereal Mauler
1 11 3/4 9 1/4 7 5 1/2 33 1/2 Pluisjen's Spitwurm and Rockling
2 10 1/4 10 3/4 6 1/2 6 33 1/2 JayJian's Viscous Orb Swarm and Trickster Lob Master
11 8 3/4 9 1/4 7 1/4 5 1/2 30 3/4 Jailbreaker's Maw of Madness and Maw Guardian
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 4:26AM
#5
|
|
|
Ooooooo, two creatures... ahhhh.
I love this one...
Time to get to work *pulls out pen and paper and starts to draw*
I live and work in Japan, near Mt. Fuji, teaching English to High Schoolers. In my spare time I also happen to be a husband, a father, and an Otaku. I run a biweekly DnD game on Sundays and blog about it every other day of the week at http://thedumpstat.blogspot.com 
D&D Home Page - What Monster Are You? - D&D Compendium
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 4:39AM
#6
|
|
|
I guess i'll be the first to ask a question(s), both in regards to optional element 6...
Q.1
Does this apply to the competition at the time of posting, thus no monster manual 2, or does this apply to the competition at the time of closing, thus allowing monster manual 2. Rules compendium update should probably be up within a few days, thus the difference in time means the inclusion or exclusion of possible material (i don't seem to find any monster manual 2 stuff in the compedium at the moment and so i can only imagine it goes up with the monthly update.)
Q.2
Does this mean that they both have to be thematically linked to the same solo from paragon or elite tier, or can they both individually be linked to a different solo from paragon or elite tier. i.e. two seperate solo monsters from which are drawn the thematic link to both of the two seperate creatures being created.
Thanks! Glad to see the next competition is on! Sorry for bugging ya'll as soon as this started.
I live and work in Japan, near Mt. Fuji, teaching English to High Schoolers. In my spare time I also happen to be a husband, a father, and an Otaku. I run a biweekly DnD game on Sundays and blog about it every other day of the week at http://thedumpstat.blogspot.com
D&D Home Page - What Monster Are You? - D&D Compendium
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 5:17AM
#7
|
|
|
Ick, a mechanically heavy competition. I'll wait and see if inspiration strikes. This is all Wizards' fault for reminding me of that list of stupid monsters. Now all I can think of is doing a 4E update of the Asswere.
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 5:48AM
#8
|
Date Joined:
Apr 11, 2009
|
On number 7 "The creatures do not share the same type, origin, or size.", does it have to be all three or is it choose one or more?
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 6:01AM
#9
|
- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
|
On number 7 "The creatures do not share the same type, origin, or size.", does it have to be all three or is it choose one or more?
All three.
|
|
|
|
4 years ago ::
May 22, 2009 - 6:02AM
#10
|
- Forum Guide
- Hero Craftsman Gold Medalist
- Master Dungeon Master
Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2005
|
Q.1
Does this apply to the competition at the time of posting, thus no monster manual 2, or does this apply to the competition at the time of closing, thus allowing monster manual 2.
Monster Manual 2 is not included.
Q.2
Does this mean that they both have to be thematically linked to the same solo from paragon or elite tier, or can they both individually be linked to a different solo from paragon or elite tier.
They must both be linked to the same creature.
|
|
|
