PRESENTSWelcome to the inaugural Homebrew Optimization Contest (brought to you by AD HOCC, the Auspicious Day Homebrew Optimization Contest Committee). Since this is the first incarnation, there will almost certainly be speedbumps and confusion, so be sure to ask if you have questions, and also check back here for clarifications/changes. Thanks, and enjoy!
--sirpercival
The voters have spoken, and our first piece of homebrew to be optimized was written by oslecamo (click for the class info):
THE RULES
Build Guidelines:- 20 levels. You may use any number of Plain Scholar levels, but the more levels of Plain Scholar, the more points. In any case, the class must be the central part of the build.
- 32 pb, normal WBL, 2 flaws, 1 trait.
- LA buyoff and pre-game crafting are allowed, including the MIC rules for combining items to conserve slots. We are using the 1xp --> 5gp conversion, so xp spent in the past that is providing a current benefit counts against WBL. Thus, self-crafted magic items cost 50% market price + 20% market price for the xp. XP from an artificer's own craft reserve don't count against WBL. Note that the point of this contest is NOT to show off how good you are at stacking templates and crafting custom items. Please focus on the homebrew.
- Retraining, rebuilding, and PsyRef (with xp payoff as above) are allowed ONLY to improve viability at multiple levels. In addition, retraining maneuvers is NOT allowed beyond that granted by the class itself. DCFS is not allowed.
- No infinite loops or other TO material, please. If you're not sure, ask, or err on the side of caution. Try to stick to builds that would be allowed by a lenient, optimization-friendly, but not stupid DM.
Allowed Content:- Homebrew -- The class in question, as well as supporting material by the author. No other homebrew is allowed. In addition, there will be no edits to the Plain Scholar once the competition starts; the homebrew content is reposted below.
- Other content -- Anything published by WotC is allowed. No Dragon mag, or non-WotC "official" content like spelljammer or athas.
Entry Guidelines: (please include the following)
- Build + Feats + Manuevers
- Any important skills, equipment or spells (but you don't need to list everything!)
- A few comments about how the build addresses each point of the judging criteria
- How the Plain Scholar class works with the build (if it isn't obvious)
- Viability of the build at different levels
- What are the key abilities? What makes it cool and different from other probable builds?
- Feedback on the Plain Scholar, including an explanation/justification of build choices (to give the author an idea of why things work together or don't)
JUDGING CRITERIA
This contest will be judged by
sirpercival,
littha, and
Garryl, with sirpercival the chairman.
- Plain Scholar & Plain History are a large and substantial part of build. More points to creative use of the class & maneuvers.
- Optimization of material. This will be in comparison to the starting point (for example, a highly-optimized tripper build would score higher than an average wizard build).
- Viability of build. More points will be awarded for viability at more levels, especially early. Thus, it's important to discuss strategies and viability at as many levels as possible.
LOGISTICS
This thread will be for questions and discussion of the contest itself. There will be an additional thread for discussion, feedback, and clarifications with oslecamo about the Plain Scholar.
The contest will close in 3 weeks, on 1/22/2012. When your build is ready, pm it to one of the judges, and it will be posted once the contest closes (to prevent cherry-picking of ideas).
