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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nifft" data-source="post: 724765" data-attributes="member: 6562">Ray Silver vs. theRuinedOneThis was a very hard round to judge, especially since I was sick with a mind-numbing fever -- perhaps a yellow one. In the end, I had to rank each entry on a different day, to be sure I was judging each on its merits and not in comparison to the other.FIrst off: I guess aboleths are stupid monsters. How can something that's trapped in a pool in a cave be a threat to anyone? Mobility is the key to modern (and 3e) combat. So, it's no surprise that neither entry had a particularly plausible aboleth. Ray's aboleth was better, as it's basically an Enchanter stuck in a cave. theRuinedOne's aboleth, though -- how is it delivering this yellow fever? How is it controlling those who fall victim to the disease -- especially if they're prone to die, like the wife? Bleah, bad aboleths.Brewer's Guilds: these both felt tacked on, no further comment except to say that it was a nice (but still tacked on)  touch to have theRuinedOne's Crest of Curses hidden in the Brewer's Guildhouse.Zombie Cities: Both former home towns. Poignant and good on both sides.Yellow Fever: Ray, I love the idea of yellow fever turning into the yellowed flesh of the undead. Ruin: Delivery mechanism? Specifics on why it's "unnatural"? I guess it could do Wisdom damage, which would make it easier for the aboleth to control people -- but the aboleth Enslave power only works within 30 feet! What good is a distant outbreak?Crest of Curses: Both very good. Ray, I wish you'd put something in about how the Crest made you want to posess it (like the One Ring) -- that would both explain the replicas and the heroine's otherwise baffling decision to steal it when she ran away. Honestly, I don't see why you needed the city of the dwarves at all -- the elven city would have served just as well as a zombi-opolis.Dereliction of Duty: Both kinda eh. What in the 42 planes of Heck is Anastrianna supposed to have done? To whom was her duty -- the festering yellowed corpses of her people? Or was her dereliction the fact that she never got around to making her frail self an Amulet of Health +4? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue    :P"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" /> theRuinedOne, your dereliction is at least to an actual duty, and it has a big effect on poor Marus.Now, the important parts: how useful are these characters going to be when I steal them for my own wicked use?The Frail is someone I want to use in my campaign -- but with a 6 Con, she's almost comically unhealthy as it is -- couldn't she at least take Toughness once?! Marus is less useful -- he seems to be less interested in interaction. Still, as a brooding Aragorn-looking warden of a far-off wilderness place, he'll be handy.Ray SilverIngredients:- Yellow Fever: 8- Zombie City: 8- Aboleth: 6- Brewer's Guild: 3- Crest of Curses: 9- Dereliction of Duty: 1Personality: 14Usefulness: 17theRuinedOneIngredients:- Yellow Fever: 3- Zombie City: 7- Aboleth: 5- Brewer's Guild: 4- Crest of Curses: 9- Dereliction of Duty: 7Personality: 12Usefulness: 15Congradulations Ray Silver!</blockquote>

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