[2015] The Committed Tournament [by kestegs]

Jan 3, 2007
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DISCLAIMER: Tournament migration finished thanks to @Vildecor :)

This tournament has already ended. It was originally started by kestegs on Mar 7, 2015. The last post was made Feb 20, 2017.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net)

Wesley the Paladin and Natalya were rowing down a beautiful river a few miles outside of Kurast one day. He nervously rolled around an obsidian ring of the zodiac in his leather trousers, he had been dating Natalya for 5 months and he thought the time was right. He had been refreshing vendors for nearly 3 months looking for what he hoped would seal the deal on his proposal. He finally got up the courage, got down on one knee, pulled out the beautiful ring, and asked her to marry him. "If you will give me your hand in marriage I will be yours forever"

*silence*

He waited, still on one knee, wishing he had found something better to wear than his rugged leather boots of thorns.

She looked pensive for some time and finally declared this: "How do I know you will really be with me forever? I've only known you for just a few months, how do I know you'll stay committed to me?"

Wesley said "Because I said so!" "you can trust me!"

"Not so fast" she stated plainly.

"Prove your commitment to me, and I'll marry you."

"Okay" He quickly responded, "Whatever you want I'll do"

The devious look he saw behind her eyes was a bit troubling.

"I have a list of demands for you, and you better do them all if you want to prove your commitment to me."

This sounds awfully well rehearsed he thought, oh well how bad can it be?

"Slay the 3 evils that torment our world. And do it 3 times."

"Got it! I'll set out straight away!"

She dryly responded: "You think that's all?"

"While doing this you must pick a specific skill set and stick to it, no matter how tough it seems, by this I might feel I can trust you to commit to a lifetime with me."

"You must also commit to a stat to specialize in. Go at it full on and show me you can be devoted to..."

Wesley interrupted her "But that's too hard, I'll either be too weak to wear any gear or have no life and die!"

"Fine, I'll allow you to commit to all 4, if you really want, but you better stick to it!"

"And as a punishment for even arguing with my rules you must commit to sticking with a difficulty while in each town area. Don't be taking some parts of an area at an easy pace and other parts at a difficult pace, that's no proof of commitment!"

"And if you ever face a trial by our peers you must not flee. This trial was meant to be, and must not be reset until you feel like you can do it easily. Be a man! Show me some commitment!"

"And pick a traveling partner and stick with them. If I can't even trust you to stick with a mercenary for this short time then I certainly can't trust you to stick with me for forever!"

"sheeesh, anything else?" Wesley muttered under his breath.

"Really?" "REALLY?" "Do you really want to push me?" She said angrily

"it's just....but...." He quickly backtracked

She quickly stopped his muttering "Fine, I'll give you one last requirement"

"YES!" He thought in his head

"You may not use anything to alter your ability to find things. I don't want you thinking that you can earn my trust by bringing me back something shiny. Your proof of eternal commitment is all I need"

With that she grabbed the ring out of his hand and stuck it on her finger. "I'll keep this for now. Just in case"

Wesley set out for the rogue camp with a heavy heart. He really loved her, and he just had to prove it to her how committed he was.




I hope that wasn't a lame story, story telling isn't my forte. Just wanted to give you an idea of my inspiration.
The following rules were partly borrowed...

General Rules:

1. HC, or SC with disqualification upon first death (feel free to continue to update, although you cannot win the tournament.)
2. Single-pass, untwinked only. (You may, of course, sprint from a WP to an uncleared area when starting a new session. Keep kills to an absolute minimum while maintaining safety, but all drops are off limits) If you need to S&E to not die while running through a previously cleared area that is acceptable.
3. You may defer completion of "rewards" quests (Charsi Imbue, Anya Personalization, etc.) and return for the rewards at any point. You may also return to previous acts/difficulties for shopping purposes as you please.
4. ATMA/GoMule may be used as an extended stash
5. You may re-enter as many times as you wish, or enter multiple characters at once. You may sign-up any time.
6. Version 1.10+, RRM/RWM/FAM allowed. No MP, no Trading.
7. Save + Exit to avoid death is NOT allowed, and results in disqualification from the tournament. (you may, however, S+E if running from a previously cleared area and you get yourself in trouble.)
8. I will make and maintain a table with progress. This will hopefully eliminate mix-ups and missed updates.

Tournament Specific Rules:

9. You must pick one /player setting to use for the entire act, pick the setting before you
leave town. If you forget to change it at any time just do it ASAP. You also get a new setting for every difficulty/act, so you could get 15 total. Cows will count as your act 1 or 5 difficulty, your choice.
10. You may ONLY place points in and use skills in a single skill tree. This also applies to synergies, if they are not in your tree, you cannot pump them.
11. All Ctc items, and charges may be used. These are NOT limited to your skill tree.
12. +Class-Specific Skills (only applies to your class) granted from items may only be used if they fall under your skill tree.
13. All Skills granted from items that grant +Skills as a universal (non-class specific) skill MAY be used on any character. IE. +1 to Berserk from the Passion Runeword or the Fanaticism aura from the Faith Runeword. These skills are NOT restricted by your skill tree.
14. You have 5 choices of how to allocate your stat points:
~All points into Vitality
~All points into Strength
~All points into Dexterity
~All points into Energy
~All points evenly distributed. If you chose this you may only spend points when you have four to spend.
15. You must never equip any magic find gear or equipment, including sockets. Ever. This includes your Merc. Your +Magic find should always be at "0" Gold find is not restricted.
16. Respec is banned. Be committed!
17. You must pick one Merc and stick with it the entire game. You may not use a Merc from another act if that is not your choice of Merc. If you do not chose to use a rogue you must get her killed ASAP, and never put any gear on her. You can allow your act 2 merc to respecialize once. He must have the same name (I believe that's realistic, correct me if I'm wrong) so that it's essentially the same merc then.
18. You may not reset the ancients. You must fight to the death on your first spawn.
19. The winner(s) of the tournament will be anyone who achieves Guardian status. The prize is awesomeness in your own mind, and probably most other people's as well, and certainly mine.
20. Have fun, and don't die.
21. This is supposed to be hard.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Love the idea. the only thing that really jumps out at me is stats. I guess if you horde charms and get lucky with gear, then you could put everything in vit. I just started the Passive Aggressive tournament, but consider me in with a hydra summoning enchantress.
 
Haven't played a tournament in a long time. It'd be fun to play a stegs one.

So Wesley the Paladin, who in this story is known as Barry the Barbarian, was slightly troubled.

"I thought for certain that this legendary ring would be all it took. I must do something extra special for Natalya! I know, I'll write a song, and sing it to her when I return from my journey!"

So Barry the Barbarian, not knowing anything about singing, OR writing, decided to set out on his adventure.

"Since I don't know how my song will turn out, I had better train in all styles of music, so I will develop all of my stats evenly. And of course, Warcries are my style of choice." Barry thought to himself, as he set out from his tent behind Charsi's shop...

So enter Barry the Warcry barb, with even stat development. Act I will be played on /p8.
 
Well, stopping for a bit to go run some errands. Having company tonight and need drinks and foods.

Barry is doing well so far. Cleared up to Stony Field, and sitting at a healthy lv 12.

Dump thus far:
Code:
Name:       Barry
Class:      Barbarian
Experience: 93227
Level:      12

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   43/44
Dexterity:  33/36
Vitality:   38/38
Energy:     23/23
HP:         129/129
Mana:       34/44
Stamina:    116/123
Defense:    8/81
AR:         150/220

Fire:       10/-30/-90
Cold:       16/-24/-84
Lightning:  10/-30/-90
Poison:     31/-9/-69

MF:         0       Block:      21
GF:         38
FR/W:       0
FHR:        10
IAS:        0
FCR:        0

Bash: 0/0
Leap: 0/0
Double Swing: 0/0
Stun: 0/0
Double Throw: 0/0
Leap Attack: 0/0
Concentrate: 0/0
Frenzy: 0/0
Whirlwind: 0/0
Berserk: 0/0

Sword Mastery: 0/0
Axe Mastery: 0/0
Mace Mastery: 0/0
Pole Arm Mastery: 0/0
Throwing Mastery: 0/0
Spear Mastery: 0/0
Increased Stamina: 0/0
Iron Skin: 0/0
Increased Speed: 0/0
Natural Resistance: 0/0

Howl: 8/8
Find Potion: 1/1
Taunt: 1/1
Shout: 1/1
Find Item: 1/1
Battle Cry: 0/0
Battle Orders: 0/0
Grim Ward: 0/0
War Cry: 0/0
Battle Command: 0/0

Found Arctic Furs in the Cave, Coldcrow dropped nothing. And I waited to kill her until I had Find Item just to try to get something decent...

Pumping Howl so far for safety, soon I should start saving points so I can develop Battle Orders and Warcry together. Undecided at this point what my skill progression will be, just winging it really.

Undecided on Merc at this point. Instincts say to go Prayer/Insight, but MF rulings say that's a no go. Might is an option, but leaves me no way to deal with Physical resists/Immunes other than elemental melee on switch, or some lucky rune drops or something. Maybe Holy Freeze, or a mage (for my first time ever...)
 
Single tree, huh? Interesting, I may join later.

kestegs said:
~All points evenly distributed. If you chose this you may only spend points when you have four to spend. Your BASE stats must ALWAYS be completely equal.

They aren't from the beginning, so what do we do about that? Do we use the first level-ups to even them out, or did you mean that our pumping/investment of the stats must always be equal between the four?
 
jiansonz said:
They aren't from the beginning, so what do we do about that? Do we use the first level-ups to even them out, or did you mean that our pumping/investment of the stats must always be equal between the four?

My guess would be:
1 in each (4)
Save (1)
1 in each (4)
Save (2)
1 in each (4)
Save (3)
2 in each (8)
and repeat.


I really want to play an Aggressin in a tournament but I guess it won't be this one. I already have a toon in the Passive Aggressive one, so I'm probably not going to join (for now). Good luck to everyone else!
 
@Dazliare The stats are probably one of the toughest things. I love hydra, sounds like a good build.

@logoutzero Nice start. I had considered a singer, since they're my favorite build. I completely forgot that insight had mf on it, guess it got a little tougher!

@jiansonz Good point, I spaced that. I guess the way I initially intended it would lean towards each point just being equally distributed. I can't really decide if either way is an advantage or not. Probably for most classes it's best to evenly distribute, but I guess that depends on your goals. What do you guys think? I'll change the rule here pretty quick and if you've already started you can either slowly bring your character up to compliance or use a respec.

Edit: what srrw said was the way I originally intended it in my mind.
 
@kestegs Yeah, I've been doing it the way srrw described, when I read the rules I read "all earned stats must be evenly distributed" even though the words say otherwise. I think even stat growth is challenge enough, without having to even them out first. If you think about it, developing each stat to equal first actually shows preference to certain stats, as some have to be pumped more than others, and thus, not a true equal distribution.

If the ruling changes, I'll be glad to restart.
 
I like the 'even distribution from the start' way also. It keeps the stat bias towards how the class is designed (even though the percentual differences will get smaller and smaller).

@kestegs: if you remove the last sentence in rule 14, it gets less confusing.


I've started with Mago the pure Summoner Necromancer.
Mago - Mage, Golem.
It's going to be a Lord of Mages build with a 'Golemancery' minor.
Self-imposed restriction: only one point may be invested in Raise Skeleton. I can use the skill, but not pump it further.
Will get Revives too, if I make it that far.
Merc is going to be a Fire Iron Wolf. He's the 'boss mage'. :)
Players setting is already decided: 8 on Normal and NM, 1 on Hell.

Mago is probably required to get his hands dirty, even in the late game.
Key curses and stuff will have to be found as charges.
 
@kestegs - sweet idea and a fresh start and I liked your into. I'm in with Ema w/ (cold) Iron Wolf. I have been doing my stats the way srrw explained. Evenly distributed stats and utilizing only the Javelin Tree. /p8

Ema has prided herself in the study and skillful use of the poisonous and furious lightning javelins, which her older sisters of the spear taught her. She relishes in throwing these javelins and chuckling as large green clouds envelope her victims.
Leaving the Rouge encampment, many monsters have fallen to her poison.

@jiansonz - I love that build, even if mages are grossly underpowered. You will surely need the aid of monster summons in late normal and the rest of the game for tanks, unless of course you become a melee master.

Ema, Level 10, Act I Just made Cold Crow choke to death.
 
kestegs said:
Okay, I've changed the rule to reflect an even stat distribution. Glad to see some people joining. I'm still deciding on my entry so I'll go work on my PA necro while I keep thinking. Good luck everyone!
If it were me, I'd also remove/modify/condense rule #15 into rule #19. It's clear to anyone that actually reads the rules that they can't wear any MF, but rule #15 isn't entirely correct on it's own.
 
Ema has made her way to the Inner Cloister waypoint with not much to report on other than accumulating a large number of various chipped gems. She has inserted the rubies in her armor for added health.

Looking forward to pumping plague javelin with more levels as it should kill much quicker. Poison javelin applies larger amounts of poison over a rather long period of time and Ema doesn't like having to keep running around waiting for those stupid beasts and especially the undead to succumb to its effects.

Poor Pitspawn Fouldog and crew, not much of a threat. :D

Screenshot003 (1).jpg

Ema, Level 18, Inner Cloister
 
Currently level 18 sitting in Jail Lv1 somewhere. Needed to take a break, I don't know how some people can beat the game with Attack... And untwinked at that! I thought Battle Cry would be the turning point for me, but with 1 point it hardly makes a notable difference. Going to walk away for a while.

So far the going has been Howl/Taunt to take stuff on 1 on 1. With a rare Spiked Club, and about 10-14 damage in fire/lit charms.
 
I'm thing of joining this and doing an offensive aura pally with even stat distribution and hoping for the runes for any runeword that would grant me some form of attack. Either passion or kingslayer. I figure only stat wasted would be energy (extra dex will be needed for blocking without hs and maybe not even that if I manage to get vengeance. I will be able to Max all the good auras if I make it that far too.

Either that or go with defensive auras and really hope for vengeance weap for more challenge.
 
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