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Here goes my votes for this round (alphabetically by first name):
Adam Donald - Pyrebloom
Chris Shaeffer - Bristlecraw
Daniel Rust - Laru
James Olchak - Hushfoot Bocan
Mike Welham - Phasic Ravager
Russel Vaneekhoven - Witchbole Willow
Sam Polak - Ravenous Gorgewort
Steve Miller - Necrotic Reef
Good luck, guys!
So far the ones that are definite lock ins for my vote are
Will Cooper- Sidhe Lord- I actually plan on using this my next session of Kingmaker, though I'll probably swap out his longsword and a feat for a rapier and Weapon Finesse.
Adam Donald- Pyrebloom- Bomb throwing plant? And it blows up? Excellent!
Steve Miller- Necrotic Reef- I disagree with the antimagic part, but overall, this a very unique and creative monster.
Tom Phillips- Slaughterhound- well done mechanics and a tight theme sell this one for me.
James Raine- Thunderthief- I feel this needs a revision, but the core idea is very strong and flavorful. I love the ideas behind the abilities. One of my favorites this round.
I'll have to ponder the last three.
All-in-all, a very excellent round and I imagine it is going to very close.
So far I have only voted for two, though I intend to use all my votes before the deadline. I just want to reflect a bit on some of the others.
Pyrebloom and Necrotic Reef were my only two auto-votes.
And Adam has the highest overall rating from all three rounds in my opinion.
I've only read 4 so far and all of them could get my vote. Looks like it is going to be a tough job separating the excellent entries.
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My votes go to:
Sam Polak — Ravenous Gorgewort
Daniel Rust — Laru
Russell Vaneekhoven — Witchbole Willow
(the frontrunnters, if you ask me, based on the quality of their organization and monster)
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
James Olchak — Hushfoot Bocan
Steve Miller — Necrotic Reef
(based on their monsters, didn't really like their organizations that much)
Jacob Michaels — Sidhe Noble
David Ross — Anzu
(mostly because I liked the concepts of their organizations and their monsters, though the execution was better for the organizations IMHO)
If I'd had additional votes, they would have gone to
Chris Shaeffer — Bristlecraw
Mike Welham — Phasic Ravager
In order of preference. Voted for:
>Pyrebloom
>Ravenous Gorgewort
>Slaughterhound
>Hushfoot Bocan
>Necrotic Reef
I think all need some tweaks. But these were my top 5.
Haven't used my last 3 votes. Still weighing the rest up.
I voted for the following, in alphabetical order.
1. Will Cooper's Sidhe Lord
2. Adam Donald's Pyrebloom
3. Jacob Michaels's Sidhe Noble
4. Steve Miller's Necrotic Reef
5. Tom Philips's Slaughterhound
6. David Ross's Anzu
7. Daniel Rust's Laru
8. Mike Welham's Phasic Ravager
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in alphabetical order:
Adam Donald — Pyrebloom
Jacob Michaels — Sidhe Noble
Steve Miller — Necrotic Reef
James Olchak — Hushfoot Bocan
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
Sam Polak — Ravenous Gorgewort
Daniel Rust — Laru
Mike Welham — Phasic Ravager
for me, there were only 4 outstanding monsters, and thus i'm only using 4 of my 8 votes.
Pyrebloom
Necrotic Reef
Slaughterhound
Ravenous Gorgewort
Partial results here.
After reading through all of them, there were 4 that stood out to me.
Adam Donald- Pyrebloom
Sam Polak — Ravenous Gorgewort
Will Cooper - Sidhe Lord
James Raine — Thunderthief
Jacob Trier — Huri, Treacherous Ex-Familiar (weaker but I think it shows a uniquer idea)
I find most of the others a little too mundane.
Again I went with a top 8 vote. The bold ones are the ones I wrote down as definite votes as I read them. The others were marked as possibles as I crossed off the others. And to get my eighth pick I pulled Jacob Michaels Sidhe Noble out of the reject pile.
Will Cooper - Sidhe Lord
Adam Donald - Pyrebloom
Jacob Michaels - Sidhe Noble
Daniel Rust - Laru
James Olchak - Hushfoot Bocan
Sam Polak - Ravenous Gorgewort
James Raine - Thundertheif
Steve Miller - Necrotic Reef
Out of the eight I voted for last round (all of which made the cut to 16) only Jacob Michaels, James Olchak, Sam Polak, and Daniel Rust got my vote this round.
I've voted for 6:
Sam Polak — Ravenous Gorgewort
Steve Miller — Necrotic Reef
Daniel Rust — Laru
Andrew Marlowe — Njaa'mende
Mike Welham — Phasic Ravager
Adam Donald — Pyrebloom
I wasn't sure about the last 2, but there was enough in their favour to overcome their flaws.
"But I don't feel qualified enough yet to weigh in one way or the other on any of the other entries."
I'm a complete newb, but I did play D&D a long time ago. I can't crunch the numbers, so I go on the descriptions and special abilities. I'll have a quick look at the numbers to see if anything looks unusual or doesn't fit with how I think the monster should play. Other than that, I just think about how I would use the monster as a GM or how I would feel as a player coming up against the monster.
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Contributor
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I think this was a pretty good round. While there were few entries that really amazed me, there were none that really stank. So even the Rejects below don't mean that your entry sucked, just that it didn't amaze me as much as the others. I'll try to give a few lines of feedback (now that I'm no longer a contestant, I think that's ok).
My impressions about the first ones from the top (I'll finish this later):
Sidhe Lord: The text flows really beautifully, I like that. However, I think the concept is too narrow in the sense that the Sidhe Lord feels more like an individual character or member of an organization than a species of monsters. On the fence.
Thunderthief: It's a fun little critter, and the ability to steal stuff with thunderdash puts a nice twist on the tired old "lightning teleport" ability. It doesn't look like an aberration to me, though. And thinking about this contest from a broader persperctive, I can't ignore it that you couldn't resist helping the voters to draw conclusions about my round 2 entry, not very superstar-like. Weak reject.
Pyrebloom: Now this one's pretty good. MY only complaints are Vapour (Canadian English?) and the goblin connections. I know goblins love fire and this creature is fire, but the connection still seemed a little weak to me, for some reason. At any rate, Keep for now.
Anzu: An emo-cat? I wish you had started your entry with an evocative piece of description, now I had to read all the stats until I got to see what it looked like. It's got some creative spark to it, but doesn't just appeal to my personal tastes. Reject.
Njaa'mende: Neat idea, a swarm that speaks. Rather creepy, that's good. However, you haven't shown your rules design fu by designing interesting new abilities. The only new ability, Consume, is pretty bland. So, good fluff, weak crunch. On the fence.
Laru: Another emo creature? Well this one's better. I like the description, rather creepy. I wish there had been more unique abilities, now it has recycled abilities and a SIAC with a different area of effect. Still, it's pretty good. Weak keep.
To be continued...
I voted for:
Pyrebloom
Necrotic Reef
Ravenous Gorgewort
Laru
Njaa'mende
Slaughterhound
Hushfoot Bocan
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Contributor
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Mini-reviews continue...
Sidhe noble: Ok, another sidhe. The entry opens with a sufficient if not terribly evocative description. Its abilities aren't very exciting, just +x bonuses and Truthspeaker which is not going to make an encounter with the Sidhe noble more interesting, the PCs will hardly notice. The writing is ok, and these guys could well be agents of the Verdant Dawn. ;-) Still, I wish the entry had been a bit more exciting, so I have to say Reject this time.
Bristlecraw: An aberrant starfish? Alright, I can easily imagine what these creatures look like, and I cannot remember I've seen any starfish-like mosnters recently in adventures or movies. There's HP Lovecraft, of course, but that was long ago. Its abilities are more imaginative than most creatures this round. There are some weird things like the cold/fire vulnerability, but all in all, I think it's going to be a Keep.
Necrotic reef: Another sea creature. I like the idea of an undead disgusting mass of dead things from the sea. Its abilities are moderately imaginative, so I'm going to say it's a Weak keep.
Huri, treacherous ex-familiar: My first thought was: is this a villain? The name is bad, Huri alone would have been better. My second thought was: in round 2 we had corrupted eidolons and now there's a corrupted familiar? If there are no familiars in the group (they're rather rare, even more so now that wizards too can have bonded items), no-one's going even notice one of the abilities that pretty much defines this creature. There's some good writing there, but still, this is unfortunately a Reject.
Hushfoot bocan: I don't like the name very much, and a fox-like creature doesn't sound very exciting because there are already so many monstrous canines and canids and so forth. Howver, with the exception of Sonic Shroud, its abilities are not bad, so I'm On the fence.
Ravenous gorgewort: Sam, I liked your entries from the previous rounds, and this one's really well written as well! You've managed to cram five flavorful and fun abilities into your entry without making it a chore to read. Definitely a Keep!
Witchbole willow: I don't like it that it's tied to a specific location and purpose. It's not a bad entry at all, but I think it would have been better with more interesting abilities and less fluff about its background. Weak reject.
Slaughterhound: There's definitely potential here, but I think it suffers from a bad name and to me, the thematic link between a hound that slaughters and its abilities is a bit weak. Reject, I'm afraid.
Phasic ravager: It's well written and adding magic items to its body seems like a fun idea. I don't understand how the stealing ability really works. It can't wield items it steals but it can otherwise benefit from magic items.. so it can benefit from items it doesn't steal? Hard to decide what to think about this one, so I'm going to say Weak reject.
It looks like I have 5 Keeps and I'm On the fence with three monsters, so I think I've chosen my top 8. :)
My votes went to:
Adam Donald — Pyrebloom
Steve Miller — Necrotic Reef
James Olchak — Hushfoot Bocan
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
Sam Polak — Ravenous Gorgewort
David Ross — Anzu
Russell Vaneekhoven — Witchbole Willow
Mike Welham — Phasic Ravager
David Ross got my vote based on previous rounds. All others stood on their merits. Russell Vaneekhoven's monster, although not that different from a treant in practical terms, has the best Golarion tie-in IMO. Sam Polak is still producing some of the top works. Tom Philips and James Olchak are keeping a steady pace from round to round, never in the bottom but not quite reaching the top yet. On a curious note, it's the first time Steve Miller and Mike Wellham make my top list, as the Necrotic Reef and Phasic Ravager are probably my favorite entries this round.
EDIT: Oh, and here are the updated results.
My votes thus far:
Adam Donald — Pyrebloom
James Olchak — Hushfoot Bocan
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
Mike Welham — Phasic Ravager
daniel rust is pushing my awesome button so far this contest...
votes (alphabetic order):
jacob michaels, sam polak, david ross, daniel rust, jacob trier, mike welham (only 6)
Changed my mind and I'm only using 4 of my votes. In the end I can't overcome my concerns about many of the monsters.
But I did talk myself into adding the Huri and the Bristlecraw to my votes.
Just a quick pop in to say to all contestents what a fantastic round!
I'd also like to commend the feedback from the judges and everyone else - monster creation was always an area I struggled with as a GM, so this round has been extremely educational for me.
Thanks everyone.
p.s. I havent reviewed openly this round as I dont feel I have sufficient experience to, but just wait for the map round - he he, chian_map fu may be making a visit - so god help you if there's no scale, North indicator, or clear labelling. You have been warned.
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Lots of good choices this round:
Will Cooper — Sidhe Lord
Adam Donald — Pyrebloom
Andrew Marlowe — Njaa'mende
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
James Raine — Thunderthief
Daniel Rust — Laru
Chris Shaeffer — Bristlecraw
Jacob Trier — Huri, Treacherous Ex-Familiar
Though I think this round was much closer than others, I did finally finish them all and voted.
The first four were easy votes for me (well written/balanced/memorable):
Pyrebloom
Bristlecraw
Hushfoot Bocan
Slaughterhound
and the next tier:
Laru
Witchbole Willow
Sidhe Lord
I voted for these four:
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
James Raine — Thunderthief
Daniel Rust — Laru
Mike Welham — Phasic Ravager
in nor particular order (save I thought the last two listed were the weakest to get my vote)
Tom P. Slaughterhound
Sam P. Ravenous Gorgewort
Daniel R. Laru
Adam D. Pyrebloom
Chris S. Bristleclaw
Steve M. Necrotic Reef
Mike W. Phasic Ravager (with some reservations)
Russell V. Witchbole Willow (with some reservations)
Well, my fellow paizonians, I've just opened the exit poll spreadsheet so anyone can edit it. I would gladly keep updating the sheet till this round winners are announced, but sadly I'm off to Rio for carnaval tonight and won't be following this thread for a while. So, if anyone wishes to keep up the work, feel free to do so!
My votes...
Top 3: Pyrebloom, Necrotic Reef, and Ravenous Gorgewort.
Next 3: Sidhe Lord, Hushfoot Bocan, and Slaughterhound.
To round out my votes, I added Thunderthief and Sidhe Noble.
I liked both of James Raine's previous submissions (Spellbreaker Gauntlets and Besmara's Chosen), as well as both of Jacob Michaels' previous submissions (Haunting Glass, and the Unfettered). Since these two gentlemen are the only people still in the competition where I liked both their Round 1 and Round 2 submissions, I gave them a free pass as it were. I want to see what else they can design for this competition. I know I should probably only vote for the monsters on their own merits, but no other monsters really grabbed me, so I decided to vote this way.
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..sadly I'm off to Rio for carnaval tonight..
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Group 1: sidhe lord, njaa'mende, hushfoot bocan, ravenous gorgewort.
Group 2: pyrebloom, slaughterhound, laru, witchbole willow.
Group 1 are the only four monsters I felt I wanted to vote for based solely on the monster. Group 2 are the monsters I voted for after reviewing both the monsters and their creators' submissions in prior rounds. The only monster that I feel I would run without any editing is the Ravenous Gorgewort; the rest of Group 1 I would make only very minor changes. The other four I would make significant changes to (I am counting an adjustment to CR as "significant changes").
Been a busy weekend; I'd hoped to have time to comment on my picks, and still might, but regardless (and in no particular order):
Sam Polak- Ravenous Gorgewort
James Raine- Thunderthief
Adam Donald- Pyrebloom
James Olchak- Hushfoot Bocan
Steve Miller- Necrotic Reef
Daniel Rust- Laru
Andrew Marlowe- Njaa'mende
Tom Phillips- Slaughterhound
Good luck to all contenders; this was an excellent round.
I voted for:
Will Cooper — Sidhe Lord
Adam Donald — Pyrebloom
Steve Miller — Necrotic Reef
James Olchak — Hushfoot Bocan
Tom Phillips — Slaughterhound
Sam Polak — Ravenous Gorgewort
James Raine — Thunderthief
Daniel Rust — Laru
I think that all the contestants did a great job in this round. I had a tough time narrowing my votes down to 8. Congratulations and good luck!