Thank you to the judges, and congratulations to the winners. I thought the half-golem and the amnesia victim were both really strong entries, but it would take the right campaign and right DM to really make the amnesia victim work so the scores seem pretty fair.
I heard that they are making a new video game, where you control the Netherese flying citadel of Sakkors, raining death on your helpless enemies below. Working title: Mythal Command.
My comments, as promised. I generally write them as I read, so if they seem a little disjointed, I apologize. Jehojen's Half-GolemShow
Very creative entry. I like the chaos-effect this theme offers. It would be useful to have this guy in the party, but very far away from the rest of the PCs. I fear that the "social" detriments are not severe enough to cause a player to think twice about taking this theme, however. The combat benefits are significant (especially for a loner class like an avenger or melee ranger), but I could see a player taking this theme and just shrugging off the diplomacy penalty. As a melee-based theme, the player most likely to take it will be a melee class, which generally aren't great at diplomacy anyhow. As a DM, you could adjudicate this advantage though by making the diplomacy penalty affect the entire party and until engaged by another PC, the half-golem character becomes the target of choice for the enemies (higher threat, using MMO terms). Also, the +1 racial bonus to Fort might be better to be a "Theme" bonus or untyped, as to not be overridden by the standard Racial bonus from some races (Wilden, Shadar-Kai, Genasi, Human).
Usability is good, but I don't see a non-melee class ever taking this theme. Themes are hit dead-on. Clarity is very good; submission is easily read, powers are easily identifiable, no glaring misspellings or grammar issues.
Overall, I like it. It has the potential to be abused somewhat, but the DM could handle it with story-effects. Nicely done!
Nice balance on the powers. "Flash of Inspiration" could be abused for crit-fishing. Recharge should be higher and specific text should be added that the power can only be recharged once during an encounter. Disallow the ability to choose whether to keep your first skill check roll (must use second result).
It seems to me that you're trying to make the sidekick into a hybrid summoned creature/pet/thrall idea. The end result seems to be little more than a tough meat-shield; moreso than the typical pet. I'm not sure it really works as written. Also, I see little reason why I'd choose the "Helpless" sidekick rather than the "Competent" one. As a DM, I'd be hesitant to give much more than a sentence or two story to this person, since they're likely not going to survive more than a handful of encounters.
I respect the "flavor" tips and instructions for playing the theme accurately. Alas, I could see a less scrupulous player abusing the benefit of their sidekick and making it not work that well. Also, it puts a fair amount of work on the DM to not only put together your past, but find ways to work your sidekick into it. You mention this in the flavor tips, which is good (you identified that part). This theme is most beneficial to an RP-heavy game. Allowing the replacement of your sidekick after an extended rest is questionable to me. For example, if you're in the middle of the 5th level of an undead-saturated crypt, it rather stretches credibility that you'd just "happen" to find someone from your past there (unless they're a skeleton). The DM should probably require that you be in a place of meaning to your character's backstory, where they can actually meet this person. Personally, given the investment that the DM puts into the character, I think the DM should control your sidekick full-time, to ensure that it acts appropriately. This adds yet more work to the DM's plate.
I like the creativity put into this entry. It spins the summoned creature/pet concept into a role-playing perspective. While I really like the idea put forth, I think (as written) it requires a lot of work on the DM's part, which would restrict the usability of the theme. You'd have to have a DM willing to put in a lot of story-writing for your PC. Some DMs (like me) would welcome that; many wouldn't. The themes are hit with about 80% accuracy. "Capricious" is a little shaky, but workable. Clarity is hurt by splitting many of the sidekick rules across the entry. For example, the death of the sidekick costing a healing surge isn't mentioned until late in the entry. Overall, a really neat concept that could work in the hands of a good DM, but has limited application to the general community.
I'm torn about this entry. The idea of an arms merchant isn't one I'd actually considered in the D&D world, though they'd obviously exist. On one hand, I like the mechanics introduced within the spirit of the theme. On the other hand, I don't see much to this theme that identifies it as "arms dealer" rather than "mafia boss" or "exiled commander" or "respected sergeant". The "connections" portion of the theme implies a rogue-like persona to the character, while the distain towards magic-users seems to imply disassociation with those classes. Also, the themes were somewhat weakly hit. "Connections" can be given to any character; not just the arms dealer. True, "Travelling Arms Dealer" could be a non-combat profession, the entry doesn't flavor it to be much more than a typical dwarf ex-weaponsmith-turned-merchant who happens to have a wagon full of supplies. Also, I question the bonus to Insight in respect to the spirit of the theme. Diplomacy and Streetwise are good though. Power exchanges with Warlord powers is elegant and simple.
I want to like this entry more, but there's just not enough flavor to it to make me see "arms dealer" moreso than any of 5-6 other potential themes. You need to make me believe that this guy has access to lots of ways to kill people and is willing to provide them to the highest bidder. And as an aside, I believe any arms dealer worth his salt would also trade in magic. Yes, the most powerful magic-users can be felled by a lowly dagger, but one fireball scroll is worth 10 warriors.
Suggestions: Give the arms-dealer 10x more starting gold and a reliable income (+ two treasure parcels' worth of money per level). Make the benefit concerning magic item prices -20%/+20%, but only with respect to weapons/armor. Give ability for non-magic-users to be able to wield wands/staffs/rods/scrolls once as an encounter power. Give ability to recruit mercenaries during a battle (+1d4 level-appropriate minions come into the fight as allies - daily power). Things of this nature.
This theme should list the spiked-chain feat as a requirement. Otherwise, it gives the PC a free feat to use however they wish. How is the Grab attack any different than the already-defined unarmed grab? At the very least, the attack's reach should be melee 2. I question the "primary attribute" method here. What if I chose this theme for an Ardent? I fail to see how Charisma or Wisdom could apply here. Should probably just be Str/Con/Dex.
Building a theme around a specific (exotic) weapon is a great idea; I've thought to do this myself many times. Unfortunately, I don't think you do very much to set the spiked-chain user apart from the standard grappling fighter. Your choice of powers/benefits aren't very inspired. The usability of the theme is better than average, but I can see people taking it solely for the free feat it inadvertantly gives. It doesn't offer much to make the character stand out from your typical chain-wielder. Clarity was good. Powers were formatted nicely and benefits were explained well. No glaring grammatical/spelling mistakes. Had to give a zero in Themes, however, as a) none were supplied in the text and b) the only one I could identify was "Weapliment".
A good idea that just wasn't developed as completely as it could've been.
"Lucky Strike" should probably be an encounter or daily power. I'm not sure I like the DM-control on it either; it could easily be used to "punish" a well-built PC. You could've simply named this theme "Jinx". It's pretty appropriate to the idea.
I like the idea here of a character whose presence is a detriment to one's allies but beneficial to themselves. I'm not sure if you fully captured that feeling though. True, the jinx does benefit and his/her allies can be harmed. They just seem a little...random?...I guess. I also think it might be better to express this positive/negative concept as an aura of sorts, rather than an automated result. I can't really find fault in any of the benefits/powers given, though none of them shout out to me as being particularly creative or useful. You're right...this is more of a role-playing theme than a mechanical one, and that's okay. I wish I had more useful feedback to this though. I can't complain much about anything given, but I can't really praise anything either. It just....is.
Sorceror: "I'll attack the [solo monster] with Chaos Bolt." Warden: "Don't you ever use encounter powers?!?!?" Sorceror: (casually) "I don't need to." ----------- "Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live." - Martin Golding
I really think this is a fantastic entry, and it takes a template from a prior edition and makes it feel fully and naturally a part of 4e. I particularly like how you handed the recharge power. With the formatting, I did not even realize recharge was part of the power until I went back and looked for it. Well-done. My only quibble with the theme is that the aspect with the chaos elementals seems arbitrary and, well, grafted onto the theme. Otherwise, excellently done.
Another fantastic idea for a theme. A classic idea and one I could see many players wanting to incorporate. However, I wasn't crazy about the use of a sidekick here. In D&D, the place of the amnesiac's sidekick is filled by the other PCs. This theme seems to eschew party play in favor of an insular game with the amnesiac and DM alone. Although I did like the sidekick powers, that seemed appropriate for its own theme unrelated to the amnesia.
I do like the concept of arms dealer as a Theme. I very much like most of the elements you devised specifically for the dealer. However, I have two complaints. I would have liked more guidance and examples for DMs on how to best use their underworld connections in advantures. This as intended to meet an optional element, and I think to do so most effectively, it needs to feel like an integral feature of the class. Second, I felt the requirement that the arms dealer have a "higher purpose" to be unnecessarily restricting the Theme. Certainly, one could play an arms dealer with a higher purpose. But I don't see why you have to play it that way. A lot of the justification for the leader-ish abilities comes from this "higher purpose", but it simply reads as the sort of coordination any group of adventurers might develop over an adventuring career.
This is easily the most usable of themes presented because it simply allows a character to specialize in a weapon. That said, I also though you evocatively brought out what it unique and fun about wielding a spiked chain. Also, you used sblocks, which hurt you on Clarity, and failed to list the optional elements, which may have hurt your Themes score. (I only identified Weapliment.)
I love this idea as a theme. (Heroes of the Feywild is my favorite 4e supplement to date.) You also did a pretty good job capturing the weirdness one expects for a changeling child. I particularly like Lucky Break as a power. That said, mechanically, I feel that the theme needs a lot of work. First, shouldn't the theme require the character to be of a fey race? They could be elves, changelings, pixies, satyrs, drow, eladrin, etc.,and given a feature that makes them appear as some race from the natural world? That's the essence of the idea behind the changeling child… the child is really a fey who appears to be something else. Also, the Lucky Strike power seems very powerful. Maximizing critical dice appears prone to abuse as there are many ways to stack critical dice. I think it would encourage builds that don't seem consistent with the changeling theme.
I have an announcement to make. This was my last Expert DM Competition as coordinator. I had a great time coordinating the last 36 competitions, but it has become more of a chore than a joy the last few competitions, and it's tim for me to step down. I have offered the role of coordinator to the eligible judges (and Jehojen, that goes for you too), but to date, nobody has taken up the offer. Without a coordinator, this could be the last XDMC.
When Next is officially released, I may think about making a competition for that game, if I convert over to that edition.
Again, I want to thank all the wonderful judges and contestants for 36 fantastic competitions. See you around the forums!
We all appreciate the time, effort, and consistency you have given to this. My own Boards experience is better because of what you have brought to it through your competitions. Thank you.
Here are the PHB essentia, in my opinion:
Three Basic Rules (p 11)
Power Types and Usage (p 54)
Skills (p178-179)
Feats (p 192)
Rest and Recovery (p 263)
All of Chapter 9 [Combat] (p 264-295)
A player needs to read the sections for building his or her character -- race, class, powers, feats, equipment, etc. But those are PC-specific. The above list is for everyone, regardless of the race or class or build or concept they are playing.
I also would like to express my thanks to Wrecan for putting in the time and effort required to make the XDMCs a success all these years. I came in on XDMC #9 and was totally hooked on the idea. While I might not have participated in every contest that came around, I did follow them to the best of my ability and got (read: stole) many excellent ideas from the submissions made; both winners and non-winners.
I fully respect this decision, as I sort of know firsthand what kind of effort Wrecan had to put into these to keep them running. I tried to resurrect the Wyrmling (Beginner) DMCs a while back and was able to get 4-5 done before I ran into the same problems documented here. It's really hard to get people to commit to put the time into coming up with creative ideas and then judging the results when there's no real reward other than bragging rights and new ideas to add to your game. I am really impressed that we've been able to go so long so successfully and most of that is due to Wrecan's dedication to the Art.
You will be sorely missed and I eagerly look forward to the potential resumption of the XDMCs in the future. Thanks again for helping us stretch our skills and learn how to be better DMs!
Sorceror: "I'll attack the [solo monster] with Chaos Bolt." Warden: "Don't you ever use encounter powers?!?!?" Sorceror: (casually) "I don't need to." ----------- "Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live." - Martin Golding
Even though I've only participated in a handful of competitions (3 as entrant, 2 as judge), I've gotten a lot out of them and really appreciate all the effort that goes into organizing something like this.
Wrecan, thank you so much for all your hard work and commitment over 36 great contests! May all your future endevors succeed even more!
I'm sad, but also still excited about the future. If anyone steps up to organize even a few more XDMCs I will certainly be in on them at least as a contributor. I'm glad I took the time to be a part of this one, especially if it ends up really being the last.
Bronze! Pretty nice, considering I put this together just from inspiration of my current favorite anime series. Anyone looking for what I based my theme on, watch the Jormungand anime, up to episode 4. I definately didn't take enough time for this theme as it deserved, so I agree with the criticisms of the both of you. Thanks for the judging
Wrecan, you have my thanks for organising the XDMC competitions. For the few I participated in (two times participant and two times judge), I found them to be extremely enjoyable and a great source of inspiration. Thanks for being awesome and creating them
Let's hope we can keep continuing the XDMC! I'm definately going to look at my time a bit more closely to see if I can manage the coordinating, but so far it hasn't worked out well.
Thanks to the judges for the Gold on this one and for the feedback!
And to wrecan, thank you for running these - they've been fun to watch and I'm glad I got to enter into one finally! I kept making up entries in the past that never made it to the boards for lack of confidence in the entry, but this time I felt I needed to enter for some reason. Guess it was good timing!
As to picking up the XDMC I might be interested, these things have become a staple on the boards and I'd hate to see them stop. Of course I've never been a judge for these things yet, so perhaps I'm just not really sure what goes into running one. Wrecan, if you want to PM me about it we'll see if we can't get at least another 1 or 2 out before we call it quits!
Anyway, thanks everyone! Oh yeah, and like I said before, I've got 2 other themes that I wrote for this, I'll try to post them in the next day or so for some supplimentary themes as well.
"I find choice a bit overrated. Once you select a character concept and decide what you want a character to do, most of the choices are made for you. Powers aren't created equal, and there's usually one choice clearly superior to the others. Now this is more true for some classes than others, and the more you optimize the more true it is, but I find it holds." -- thecasualoblivion
