Monthly Create-A-Servant Contest

[Bird of Hermes]

I am allowed to change my mind (and my choices) before the voting period ends, right? If so, I might go back and swap Ibn Battuta and Xu Fu...

It's been done before by people but it's a bit ehhhh

[SleepMode]

I am allowed to change my mind (and my choices) before the voting period ends, right? If so, I might go back and swap Ibn Battuta and Xu Fu...

I wouldn't stop you, but think this: it is very disrespectful toward the guy whose vote you changed.

You shouldn't vote before you absolutely sure of it.

.

[Crying]

.

It's been done before by people but it's a bit ehhhh

Got it, nevermind then

[4score7years]

Wow, this was a tough one. "Ok, settled, those are my three. But, wait, this one's really good..." (repeat several times)

My votes:

3 Pts: Ibn Battuta, by JetKinen
This is someone I always thought would make an interesting sheet, but never knew exactly how it would work. You've totally nailed it. This is just really good.

2 Pts: Laika/Unknown, by Bloble
I think this is probably the most wild idea in the entire contest. It's a testament to this sheet's quality that this crazy concept actually holds up. The Noble Phantasm is probably the highlight of the sheet, for me. It's a simple idea at heart but described vividly and richly and it's just great. If there's one thing bothering me about this sheet, it's the same thing that happened a lot in the Phantoms contest. I feel like the two characters don't fuse together evenly into a singular figure, if that makes sense. Still excellent, though.

1 Pt: Benjamin Franklin, by Bird of Hermes
Possibly America-bias, but how can you pass up the Grandfather of USA? A well-made sheet, with the personality and flavor pushing it into this spot. I think the NPs were a little flat, though. Or, at least, not as interesting as they could have been.

Honorable Mentions:

Ferdinand Magellan, by Spartacus: Classical explorer, lots to like here. Slightly generic boat NP still has a fair bit of flavor to set it apart, 2nd NP is good as well. Lots of personality stuff put in, as well. Genderbend strikes me as somewhat pointless, but I think that's true of pretty much every genderbend.

Hernan Cortes, by 34: How is Mihawk just the perfect FC here? Anyway, points for staying very close to the traditional explorer concept, as with Magellan. I personally would have gone for a more overtly villainous take, but Fate tends to err more towards antiheroes so I suppose that's a defensible decision, at least.

Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, by You: Creative, funny, and I learned a bit about the history of the restaurant. Pretty great all around, and I can tell a lot of effort was put in. Very solid entry.



Voting ends tonight at midnight EST, but unfortunately I won't be able to post results until later tomorrow morning. Lame, I know, but what can you do.

[Sunny]

Mrr. I'm buried in work right this moment, but I'll draft up my thoughts on everyone's sheets in detail tonight... S-Sorry for the wait!

3 points: Elias Lonrot
2 points: Ferdinand Magellan
1 point: Khaemweset

Honorable mentions:
Benjamin Franklin, Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau, Hernan Cortes

Honorary giggle award:
Heracles (i giggled at work while reading the thread and still feel embarrassed thinking about that! Meanie zikari!!)

[zikari8]

After some solemn soul searching, my votes are as such:

3 Points - Ibn Battuta

2 Points - Khaemweset

1 Point - Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau

Honorary Mention: Sunny for the challenging prompt

It was a very close race across a majority of sheets. There's a lot I want to say about each sheet, but with such great quality I don't know if it's necessary. For now, good job to everybody for their hard work.

[34]

wow, a tie between Ibn Battuta and Laika

[SleepMode]

Err... Wow, this has never happened. How exactly do we settle this?

[Spartacus]

Janken, obviously

[SleepMode]

There can only be one

[Spartacus]

Seriously tho, if you guys and the winners ok with this, I'm down with double winner.

I have something to determine the winner in mind, but I think that should be implemented on the next prompt, suddenly implementing a new rule in a middle of competition doesn't feels very fair.

[RoydGolden]

In case of a tie, the winner is determined by a one-on-one duel between the two highest-voted Servants.

.

[Bloble]

Laika is illiterate and won't recognize an book as an obstacle. Ibn Battuta can't do anything by himself except lie there.

Time Over...?

[zikari8]

First set of destructive criticism:

Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan

Character:
A very lovable captain all throughout. The sheet oozes with charisma and gives a good feel for the kind of hijinks she’d get herself into. Personality-wise, she feels like a mix of Drake and Nobu and the result is very likeable. I especially like her relationships section and how she bounces off of the other explorers. On these accounts, I believe she is worthy of the true award of Most Moe Sheet, much much more important than any other metric.

Kit:
In terms of her abilities, they’re pretty solid all throughout and die into the theme of perseverance.

Equilibrium Fortune is a cool skill, reminiscent of Transmutation but much more random.

It seems weird for her to have both Batcon and Unyielding Will, especially since the former is apparently also will-based rather than a product of physical endurance. Wouldn’t the effects of the latter already cover the former in most situations?

Ship NP’s are always cool so that alone makes me happy. Hyperwarping is a simply concept but it fits really well with Magellan’s legend. The two NP’s together work really well as a kit.

Overall Impressions:
Altogether, a very likeable personage with a strong theme that echoes through both her legend and her abilities. However, major points off for the FC not being Magellan from One Piece. What do you think this is, Genderbend Town? Nah, this is One Piece ville. ;p

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Class
So, is he a dual class or is this just a sheet that encompasses both his Caster and Lancer forms? Either way, I think you could’ve made it more clear what his situation is exactly. The class skills seem to be a mix of the two with riding thrown in there as well. Well, I guess I understand Riding for the sex joke and Lancers having it isn’t without precedent.

Abilities:
Founding Father is an interesting skill that feels like a Murica version of Imperial Privilege.

Galvanism being at an even higher rank than Tesla’s is intriguing, although I suppose it isn’t unfounded in the context of the skills’ justification. The skill seems to allude to some hidden magus lineage that is part of Benny’s background which seems to tie into his existence as a Caster, but such a backstory doesn’t seem to be in the sheet other than a mention of his talent for magecraft. I’d be interested in learning more about his magus heritage and why they would have an innate magical engine for elemental conversion.

As for the Noble Phantasms, I think they’re pretty straight forward for what they are, but not without their justification.

Overall Impressions:
Honestly, I think the sheet is a bit rough and unpolished. There are allusions to something greater to Benny’s abilities and background, and I’d be interested in seeing those. For what is here though, I think Franklin’s character comes out pretty nicely and his skillset makes logical sense.

As a side note, I feel like his STR and END parameters could be switched around considering his exploits.

Pytheas

Pytheas

Foreigners sure are getting popular lately, huh.
I’m no expert on creepy crawlies, but from what I can tell, Rlim Shaikorth is a pretty good fit for Pytheas.
Midnight Sun seems like it’s leaning more towards the NP line than a skill. I can understand why it is a skill, but the line is pretty thin.
Yikilth Hyperboa is a pretty cool spin on the ship NP with the inclusion of Rlim Shaikorth’s powers.
Overall, I actually think Pytheas’s own discoveries seem to be pushed to the sideline in favor of his worm powers, and that’s a bit iffy to me. Ideally, I would’ve liked an equal parts combination of both of their abilities.

Fritz Haber

Fritz Haber

A horrific tale given form. Background and character-wise are Haber’s strengths and the theme of horrific mistake through simple well-intentions shine in the sheet.
That said, I think his abilities seem strange for what he is.
Conceptual Improvement feels like it should be a variant of the original skill as it’s more specialized than Edison’s version.
For a modern scientist type servant without any special upgrades like Edison and in the Assassin class, his parameters seem a smidge high.
His NP… is really powerful. I think it’s a bit too powerful for his legend. Yes, chemical gas is dangerous but I get the feeling that shouldn’t translate directly to Servant powers. Being able to take out Phantasmal Beasts seems excessive and the scale of the attack is eye-opening. Basically, it’s too much wank.

David Livingstone

David Livingstone

A powerful character backed by a strong unyielding will. Surprisingly, I don’t have too much to say about him, which is I suppose both good and not so good in different ways.
I think, as a Reality Marble, Victoria Falls is a bit unimaginative.

More to come probably never

[You]

just spitballing
a good idea might be if there's a tie then the person who got the most 3's wins
and if they have the same amount of 3's then game over

[Spartacus]

Same thought, that what I want to suggest. But if 3 have the same amount, then the most with 2 votes win, still tie at 2 and 1, then game over.

But doesn't feel very fair for suddenly implemented right now imho. But just my opinion.

[4score7years]

Alright, let’s tally it up and see if we can definitively settle this in votes.

Ibn Battuta:
6 3s
1 2
1 1
=21

Laika:
6 3s
1 2
1 1
=21

...

..

Well, as awesome as that is, it does kind of put that method out of the doable. We could try a straight up tie-breaker vote. 3 days, 1 vote for either Laika or Ibn Battuta. In theory, most people have already placed their votes down (in the actual vote) but it would let the others who voted for other people altogether to weigh in.

Thats all I can think of. So, that, or we just go double-winner and call it.

thoughts?

[MehKitteh]

Can I still vote?

[Bird of Hermes]

Might be easier to have a tie.

[SleepMode]

Might be easier to have a tie.

+1

Despite my bias, those two sheets are phenomenal and certainly deserves to be in the thread’s Hall of Fame.