I just had to watch 3 hours of various T.V. award shows for a school project(don't ask). However I made the mistake o trying to complete the assignment right after working on sections of my new campaign that I'm running, and nothing robs me of my concentration more than D&D fresh on the brain.
As such whenever I heard "Best Actor" I thought Doppleganger...
When I heard "Best supporting role" I thought Bard...
I started thinking about all the talent that the D&D universe had been thanklessly supplying for all these years and decided to bestow my own honors in the form of nominations to made up catagories.
For Best Monster Design, extend a nomination to my personal favorite the Beholder for seamlessly combining three cherished and traditional villanous qualities. A floating disembodied head combined with an evil mastermind flavor and topped off with eye mounted death rays!
For Best Rule Book Persona, I nominate Ember the Monk for her simple yet convincing example of pure monkdom despite the curiosity of being the only african persona portraied in the phb with the only clearly asian proffession in the phb!
For Best Illusion Spell I nominate Phantasmal Killer. For being a milestone as earliest available instant kill spell as well as being a uniquely brutal and horrific spell to contimplate. making adventurers and monsters everywhere even more afraid of gnomes.
I expect to create more of my own catagories and nominees soon but I am looking forward to what fellow paizoians can come up with?
Seriously! Inventing fake award shows for RPGs is the most fun you can have at 4:30 in the morning! Well... next to sleeping.
Sleeping? You cur! What is this bufoonery?
Best Campaign-Long Monster Design: Age of Worms
Best Insidious Plots The Party Is Never Likely To See Coming: Age of Worms (think Ilthane's little treasure chest in the Mistmarsh)
Back to more core rules
Best Very Low-Level Monster: Goblins. The party always feels super special one-shotting one of these buggers, even at 1st level. Then they get cocky and fail to realize that goblins ARE dangerous in large numbers.... Kobolds might also be suitable here.
The People's Choice Award for most used/popular 1st level spell: I nominate Cure Light Wounds.
For Best Amorphous Creature I nominate the gibbering mouther! A creature so mind numbingly twisted in design that it passed abbhorrent and went all the way back around to being cool.
For Best Defence Against Arcane Spellcasters I nominate Monks! For their odd mix of saves, resistances, mobility, and fighting prowess that allow them to tumble pass the baddies obstacles (including minions) shrug off every spell thrown at them and still have enough time left in the round to force a fort save against stun.
For Best Defence Againts Melee Fighters I nominate Illusions!
For the tradition of joyously reducing a 320 pound, battle hardened, steel covered, merchant of death to the fighting effectiveness of a blind Koala cub.
For Best Defence against Frenzied Berzerkers... I nominate the Miracle spell!