Round 2 exit poll

[Jacob W. Michaels]

A Superstar tradition: List what you're voting for (up to 8 this round) so we can get some idea where things stand.

Keep in mind that just a fraction of the voters will rely on this, and it's proven to be somewhat reliable, especially toward the bottom of the group where you have folks separated by one vote.

[Joseph Kellogg]

Are you just trying to torture us? :-o

[Jon Haire]

Joseph Kellogg wrote:

Are you just trying to torture us? :-o

Yes, but it IS a tradition.

[Mike Welham]

Tradition!

[GeneticDrift]

I've 5 picks so far. I wish people had chosen different classes as some already fit right in. Not that unusual choices succeeded in making me happy either. (Aid another on Jacob's torture check)

[SteelDraco]

I'll go ahead and describe my votes.

Green Knight Paladin - Rather simple concept, but well executed. A paladin that doesn't quite fit the standard LG fighting against undead/dragons/demons is welcome, and the ranger-y stuff feels appropriate.

Skinchanger - Great flavor here, and all the abilities support it. Sort of a witch/druid mix. Hexes in animal form is a very powerful ability, and you're giving up a spell per level for it. Seems worthwhile, and would fit in well in the RK.

Water Snake - There were a lot of rangers to choose from, and this was my favorite. It's very terrain-specific (as were a lot of these archetypes), but it's flavorful and well-executed.

Everbloom Monk - Ring the Temple Bell is one of my favorite powers from all the archetypes this year. The rest is pretty standard monk stuff, but this is a cool enough ability to earn my vote.

Wandering Judge - This was kind of an alternate for me, along with the Water Snake. I don't love it as much as some of the others, but it's solid enough to fill out my Top 8. I dislike the forced choice on favored enemy quite a bit, but everything else is good.

Huckster - This is probably my overall favorite archetype from this year. Snake Oil is a great power, and I much prefer it to mutagen - I love temporary hit points as a mechanic, so that was an easy sell for me. Secret Recipe and Tainted Brew are very situational, but they make sense. Cure-All is both fitting and useful.

Red Adder Magus - A magus-poisoner is a very cool concept, even though poison is a giant pain in the rear to use in combat because the GM has to recalculate everything on a regular basis due to ability damage. I would have had a list of negative effects rather than forcing the player to look up poison stats all the time, but that probably wouldn't have worked well for the word count. I'm a huge fan of the magus class (my submission would have been a magus) so I was already predisposed to be a fan of this.

Forecaster - This is crazy and neat, though it's a complete re-description of the class as more of a mad scientist - I don't see any connection to bubbling beakers and chemistry here. Summon Paradox is both crazy and really powerful; I'm not sure how well it would work in play. The rest of the powers are both fitting and neat, but none of them are nearly at the level of crazy as Summon Paradox.

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Thanks, Mike, now that's stuck in my head.

And, sorry, Top 32. Believe me, I know just how torturous this thread is. I'd advise you not to look, but I suspect that's impossible. I'll keep a tally as votes come in (unless someone wants to set up a GoogleDocs spreadsheet the way Pedro did last year).

[Paul Brown]

Clay Blankenship - Skinchanger
Landon Cole - Water Snake
Matt Blackie - Six Freedoms Acolyte
Michael Esheleman - Uringen Assayer
Nicholas Herold - Huckster
Rorik Moore-Jansen - Red Adder Magus
Scott Fernandez - Forecaster
Steven Helt - Floodwalker

[Tom Phillips]

Everbloom Monk
Forecaster
Gralton Infiltrator
Green Knight
Huckster
Red Adder Magus
Skinchanger
Water-born Votary

[Thomas LeBlanc]

I voted for 4 of SteelDraco's picks, 5 of Isaac Duplechain's picks, and 3 of Tom Phillip's picks.

Hope that helps! :)

[Joseph Kellogg]

Thomas LeBlanc wrote:

I voted for 4 of SteelDraco's picks, 5 of Isaac Duplechain's picks, and 3 of Tom Phillip's picks.

Hope that helps! :)

Great, now my unhealthy need for external validation depends on a game of Password!

[cwslyclgh]

I have finished voting, but have decided not to reveal my picks until the final day of voting this year, in an attempt to stave off swaying the voting process... people thinking stuff like "Joseph Kellog seems to have enough votes already that he should make it through with out my help, so I am going to vote for Adman Blanchard instead because even though I hated his archetype I loved his item and would like to see what he can do in the next round"... (note that I just used those names as examples, it is not indicative of what I thought of their archetypes).

[Fern Herold]

Jon Haire wrote:

Joseph Kellogg wrote:

Are you just trying to torture us? :-o

Yes, but it IS a tradition.

A torture tradition.

[Template Fu]

That is not torture!

*points at Template issues*

Now THAT is torture!

[Chalk Microbe]

I voted for those not from North America. Good luck everyone.

[Turin the Mad]

I liked 7 of the archetypes and winnowed the 8th vote down by process of elimination. Congratulations to all of the top 32 +4 for getting through the Wondrous Item gauntlet!

[Jeff Lee]

Turin the Mad wrote:

I liked 7 of the archetypes and winnowed the 8th vote down by process of elimination. Congratulations to all of the top 32 +4 for getting through the Wondrous Item gauntlet!

Hmm, I did the exact same thing. After reading through them all I had 7 that were sure votes, a bunch of maybes, and a slightly smaller bunch of definitely-nots. Then I got my 8th vote from comparing the maybes.

That said, I'm not saying who I voted for until after the voting is over. :P

[R D Ramsey]

Two groups, but not in any particular order within the groups.

First group: Designers who have been strong in both rounds.

Ziv Wities, Brinebinder/Many-Layered Veil
Shawn Kowalke, Awakened/Whispering Gloves
James Conder Riverhelm/Map Of Refuge
Nichols Herold, Huckster/Gorget Of Living Whispers
Pedro Coelho, Water-Born Votary/Reins Of Unstoppable Stride

Huckster is by far my favorite of round 2.

Second group: Designers who have shown at least a flash of brilliance, even if they've stumbled once or twice.

Landon Cole, Water Snake/Ghost Ship Binnacle
Kalervo Oikarinen, Lonesome Rider/Gloves Of The Frugal Healer
Matthew Duval, Everbloom Monk/Seer's Soap

Ring The Temple Bell turned out to be enough for one of my votes all on its own.

[DJEternalDarkness]

I voted for the ones I thought were good. Sure there were a few that I was less than impressed with and some I thought were totally awesome, but I'm not saying who or why...:P

Until it's revealed who moves on.

[Oceanshieldwolf]

I'm yet to vote on the archetypes. But I AM confused. Why is 8 the number here? I thought the next round was for 16?!? Or do we vote for 8 and then by some mathemagicry Paizo calculate the most popular 16???

(Driving me crazy. Is there a post/FAQ that explains this???)

[Tom Phillips]

Oceanshieldwolf wrote:

Or do we vote for 8 and then by some mathemagicry Paizo calculate the most popular 16???

Correct!

[Jacob W. Michaels]

I'm pretty sure the mathmagicry, though, is just figuring out which 16 got the most votes. : )

[Garrett Guillotte]

I'm researching my picks until the last day to uncover the many holes I'm sure to find in my voting logic. I only have one sure-fire will-vote pick at the moment, and judging from the other reviews I'm going to get mocked for saying it out loud. :D

My tastes apparently don't line up well with anyone's. o_O

[TwoDee]

SteelDraco wrote:

I'll go ahead and describe my votes...

Are you me?

[Immortal780]

Green-Knight: I'm a huge fan of archetypes that drastically change the normal status quo. Swapping alignment and the target type excites me even if I don't ever want to make one.

Scallywag: Squeaking in as my last choice... I'm on a boat! I like the idea of boat-users as a super specialized choice and this one wins because it promotes harpoons(We can go whaling on the moon!).

Skinchanger: I really like the Witch and adding in some animal-shape loving is pretty great.

Water-Snake: Very good theme tie in, even if I probably wouldn't want to be so specialized.

Outsea-Delver: Like water snake a good theme tie-in, specialized and actually useful(some of the specialist archetypes that exist are pretty chock full of useless stuff).

Water-Born Votary: Another well themed archetype, but for monk.

Red-Adder Magus: One of my favorites; it changes things up drastically like Green-Knight. Arcane Pool for poisons? Awesome! Even if they're a pain in the ass, it's another class other than rogue that can take advantage of some of those feats.

River-Wrangler: Tied with Red-Adder for my favorite this round. It makes me think of Arnold trying to choke out the Predator or even in a lighter sense of the Crocodile Hunter being a multi-class ranger/river-wrangler.

[Constantine]

I think I see everyone of my choices on here except the Lonesome Rider. I think that choosing a class that instantly alienates half the voting pop was not a great idea, but I liked it.

Other votes -
Awakened
Red Adder Magus
Huckster
Skinchanger Witch
Outsea Delver
Water Snake
Everbloom Monk

I couldn't vote for any of the boat rangers...

[SteelDraco]

TwoDee wrote:

SteelDraco wrote:

I'll go ahead and describe my votes...

Are you me?

No, but I am RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

[Illeist]

My votes:

Uringen Assayer
Scallywag
Red Adder Magus

[Oceanshieldwolf]

In no particular order:

Forecaster: Way, crazy idea, beautiful execution of difficult material, shows incredible design potential.
Lonesome Rider: Bold, oozes dread mood, one imperfectly themed ability (Phantom Whistle) but overall love it.
Feymarked Scoundrel: Hate the name, love the familiar tweak however imperfect - shows great promise...
Outsea Delver: Perhaps the simplest and most elegant this round. Perhaps niche, but very broadly applicable on land or water. Aquadynamic bombs FTW!
Uringen Assayer: Another way crazy idea, difficult approach, perhaps imperfect, love it
Green Knight: Kinda safe on the one hand, kinda bold - not too different from vanilla abilities but throws Pallys' alignment right up there, saying "Well????"
Six Freedoms Monk: So tight with theme, and a neat execution. Shows design chops to stick to the brief
Everbloom Monk: Great name, interesting idea. Probably my least strong top eight, but props for approach, and Ring the Temple Bell is dread!

Strangely almost all the archetype names that were evocative or screamed cool to me were on the right hand side, but mysteriously smaller than the left hand side!?!?!

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Assuming I didn't miss any and only counting the ones that actually gave specific names, here's my tally from the thread. For those at the lower end, I'd say don't panic -- obviously there are a lot more votes being cast than what's listed here.

Red Adder Magus 6

Huckster 5
Skinchanger 5
Water Snake 5
Everbloom Monk 5

Green Knight 4
Forecaster 4

Lonesome Rider 3
Uringen Assayer 3
Outsea Delver 3
Water-born Votary 3

Six Freedoms Acolyte 2
Scallywag 2
Awakened 2

Floodwalker
Gralton Infiltrator
Brinebinder
Riverhelm
River Wrangler
Wandering Judge
Feymarked scoundrel

[Matthew D. Correll]

My votes went down for:

Huckster - Snake Oil!

Outsea Delver - Salt Bombs!

Lonesome Rider - Hiho, Silver! Away!

Red Adder Magus - It's a one stop shop for awesome!

Everbloom Monk - Ring the Temple Bell!

Green Knight - I speak for the trees!

Wandering Judge - There's a new sherriff in town!

Awakened - Ooo, the pretty colors!

I also liked the Forecaster alot, but I feel that he is a great base line for an all new Chronomancer base class, (anybody else remember that thing from back in 2E?) than an Alchemist Archetype.

[Caineach]

Charlie Bell — Green Knight (Paladin)
Jon Haire — Shapegrifter (Druid)
Joseph Kellogg — Gralton Infiltrator (Alchemist)
Matt Blackie — Six Freedoms Acolyte (Monk)
Michael Pruess — Outsea Delver (Alchemist)
Mike Kimmel — Frontier Sentinel (Ranger)
Nicholas Herold — Huckster (Alchemist)
Pedro Coelho — Water-Born Votary (Monk)

I am amused that I did not vote for any in the top 5, and only 2 of the top 11 of this poll.

[Kiel Howell]

Green Knight
Gralton Infiltrator
Water Snake
Everbloom Monk
Huckster
Water-Born Votary
River Wrangler
Floodwalker

[Jerall Toi]

Welcome back exit poll, my old friend.

Charlie Bell — Green Knight (Paladin)
Joseph Kellogg — Gralton Infiltrator (Alchemist)
Michael Eshleman — Uringen Assayer (Alchemist)
Michael Pruess — Outsea Delver (Alchemist)
Nicholas Herold — Huckster (Alchemist)
Pedro Coelho — Water-Born Votary (Monk)
Rorik Moore-Jansen — Red Adder Magus (Magus)
Steven Helt — Floodwalker (Witch)

[Damon Griffin]

Floodwalker (witch) by Steven Helt

Red Adder Magus (Magus) by Rorik Moore-Jansen

Skinchanger (Witch) by Clay Blankenship

Water Snake (Ranger) by Landon Cole

Adjudicator (Inquisitor) by Guy Russell

Green Knight (Paladin) by Charlie Bell

River Wrangler (Rogue) by Sam Harris

Wandering Judge (Ranger) by Maurice de Mare

[magusapollo]

Green Knight (paladin)
Gralton Infiltrator (alchemist)
Thief-taker (rogue)
Water Snake (ranger)
Outsea Delver (alchemist)
Huckster (alchemist)
Red Adder Magus (magus)
Forecaster (alchemist)

I uh, I may have felt that the alchemists held some of the strongest, if not the strongest. The others were either super-solid, like the Green Knight and Water Snake, or had some delicious flavor to balance out the flaws, like Thief-taker.

[French Wolf]

Floodwalker (witch) by Steven Helt
Red Adder Magus (Magus) by Rorik Moore-Jansen
Skinchanger (Witch) by Clay Blankenship
Water Snake (Ranger) by Landon Cole
Green Knight (Paladin) by Charlie Bell - my favourite - brave naming.
Everbloom Monk (Monk) by Matthew Duval
Outsea Delver (Alchemist) by Michael Pruess
River Warden (Paladin) by Zachary Hensley

Good Luck. I think the standard in this round is pretty good.

Cheers

[Trinite]

My picks, in rough favorites-first order:

1. Huckster. Hands down best archetype of the round.

2. Uringen Assayer. Telefragging goodness. I've always wanted to play this class.

3. Green Knight. This is a brilliant use of real-world mythology, and a very original spin on the paladin.

4. Red Adder Magus. This is a really good take on poison use, and a very smart variation on the magus.

5. Skinchanger. This is a very well-designed witch concept.

6. Water-Born Votary. This archetype clearly shows that the designer understands what makes monks cool, and he's translated this to a river-focused setting very well.

7. Outsea Delver. I'm kind of a sucker for underwater archetypes, and this one is simple and effective.

8. Gralton Infiltrator. This one was my only borderline pick. I liked the concept, despite a few flaws. An incognito alchemist is an interesting idea.

Observations: Looks like I picked three of the four alchemists. Guess I know what I like. I wanted to like the Forecaster, too, but it seemed too broken to me. Similarly, I wish I could have voted for the Lonesome Rider, but I just couldn't in good conscience kill that many horses. :)

[Joel Flank]

Scallywag
Riverhelm
Thief-taker
Everbloom Monk
Uringen Assayer
Outsea Delver
Huckster
Brinebinder

[Curaigh]

TRADITION!

4 easy votes, next 2 fairly easy, last two were hard :)
In no particular order:

Lonesome Rider
Brinebinder
Outsea Delver
Floodwalker
Green Knight
River Steward
Thief-taker
River Wrangler

[Knoq Nixoy]

Difficult to pick 8, even the best ones have problems.

Uringen Assayer
Outsea Delver
Red Adder Magus
Green Knight

Feymarked scoundrel fits the best thematically, but fails too much in mechanics.

[Starglim]

Awakened
Everbloom Monk
Floodwalker
Green Knight
Outsea Delver
Red Adder Magus
Riverhelm
Skinchanger

[Orthos]

Green Knight
Huckster
Red Adder Magus
Scallywag
Everbloom Monk
Forecaster
Gralton Infiltrator
Outsea Delver

[Scintillae]

Huckster
Green Knight
Scallywag
Red Adder Magus
Frontier Sentinel
Wandering Judge
Lonesome Rider
Floodwalker

[Nicos]

Scallywag
red adder magus
river wangler

[frank gori]

From the top of the voting page on down:

Green Knight- Easy vote makes paladin more playbable.

Scallywag- This vote I am slightly on the fence on Everbloom monk was close here, I liked the scallywag just a little more.

Skinchanger- This was another easy vote, a shapeshifting witch = awesome.

Shapegrifter- Great name, fun design. This was not an auto-vote but I liked it allot.

Gralton Infiltrator- Another on the fence for me but this archetype deserved some love.

Huckster- I'm not as in love with this as everyone else but I do like it an awful lot and it was another easy vote.

Red Adder Magus- Easy vote, magus is a favorite and this is just plain cool.

Brinebinder- Love that this can bring saltwater threats inland, summoning + the water power = awesome-sauce!

Didn't make my vote but were right there:
Everbloom Monk- Ring the Bell was almost enough!
Water snake- Love the grappling this was really close
Outsea Delver- I want to take this archetype into the ocean with the jellyfish submersible!

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Updated tally
Green Knight 15

Red Adder Magus 14

Outsea Delver 13

Huckster 12

Everbloom Monk 10

Skinchanger 9
Water Snake 9

Uringen Assayer 7
Water-born Votary 7
Floodwalker 7

Forecaster 5
Lonesome Rider 5
Gralton Infiltrator 5

Awakened 4
River Wrangler 4

Six Freedoms Acolyte 3
Scallywag 3
Brinebinder 3
Wandering Judge 3
Thief-Taker 3

Riverhelm 2

Feymarked Scoundrel
Shapegrifter
Frontier Sentinel
Adjudicator
River Warden
River Steward
Riverhelm

[Effie Schwartz-Craighill]

Yo, I think it looks a bit more like this - you might have missed a couple posts?

Tally:

Green Knight 18
Red Adder Magus 18

Huckster 15


Outsea Delver 14


Everbloom Monk 11


Skinchanger 10


Water Snake 8

Gralton Infiltrator 8
Floodwalker 8


Water-born Votary 7

Uringen Assayer 7

Scallywag 7


Forecaster 6
Lonesome Rider 6


River Wrangler 5


Awakened 4

Wandering Judge 4
Brinebinder 4



Riverhelm 3
Thief-taker 3
Six Freedoms Acolyte 3

Frontier Sentinel 2
Shapegrifter 2

River Warden

Feymarked scoundrel
Adjudicator
River Steward

Also, I'm guessing it wouldn't behoove me—as a contestant and all—to post my votes? :P

[Jacob W. Michaels]

Whoops. It looks like several votes may have been posted as I was doing the most recent tally, according to a PM). I'll try to doublecheck the numbers tonight (Eastern time).

[Eric Morton]

I voted for the eight archetypes I thought were most polished, even if their flavor and mechanics didn't particularly excite me. In alphabetical order by archetype name, they were:

Floodwalker

Gralton Infiltrator

Green Knight

Huckster

Outsea Delver

River Wrangler

Riverhelm

Water Snake

If I had sixteen votes, I would have added eight archetypes that had flaws, but that I thought were concepts worth salvaging in development. While I couldn't vote for them directly, I hope these runners-up also advance so I can see what else their designers can do:

Runners-Up:

Awakened
Everbloom Monk
Feymarked Scoundrel
Red Adder Magus
Skinchanger
Urigen Assayer
Wandering Judge
Water-Born Votary