[2015] The Passive Aggressive Tournament [by Pb_pal]

Jan 3, 2007
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DISCLAIMER: Migration finished :)

This tournament has already ended. It was originally started by Pb_pal on Jan 14, 2015. The last post was made Oct 22, 2015.
(link to original thread on diabloii.net)

The children of Sanctuary had grown tired of watching their elders, parents, friends and peers all leave with fire in their eyes to fight the hordes of evil, only to return broken and hollow, or worse yet, not return at all. They had seen countless warriors venture out into the world, determined to spill the blood of every demon that dare walk their precious earth. They had always been taught to fight fire with fire, that the only thing these brutish monsters could understand would be an axe through the skull. Force had been used to allow the monsters to enter this world, and it must certainly be used to help them to exit. For years the war waged back and forth, blood shed in vast quantities on both sides, with the victories, losses, and casualties piling up every higher.

This simply could not go on, they thought.

Maybe the answer to all this violence and killing was not, in fact, more violence. Maybe the only way to conquer the evil that had overtaken their world was to attack it not with brute force, but with calm, level-headed tactics, and patience. LOTS of patience.

It was time to show the Evils of the world that cooler heads will ultimately prevail!




Welcome to the Passive Aggressive Tournament! This is a tournament where it pays to be passive (and just a little bit aggressive too ;)).

Instead of using all those high-powered skills that our enemies are expecting and prepared for, we will beat them with our superior intellect, cunning strategies, and the seemingly never-ending supply of patience and endurance that is the SPF.

Let's get to the rules!


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)
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 (you may also hot-mule off, as long as you adhere to the rules. Please take extra care to avoid any problems, and you must declare if you are using it (as per the forum rules). I will be. Here is the relevant quote from the SPF Rules FAQ:
Hotmuling

Hot muling is muling while the character you are muling from is in game. It's rarely done because of the risk of creating duplicate items (aka 'duping'). It's usually done with Gheeds because you can only carry one at a time. This is acceptable but should be declared and care must be taken so that the items are not duped.

So you are playing Teagan and she has a Gheeds. Another Unique charm drops.

Minimize to desktop and open ATMA or GoMule. You open Teagan and another character which doesn't have a Gheeds or any stash file.
You move Teagan's Gheeds to the other character or stash. You save that file and exit ATMA or GoMule.
Back in game you drop Teagans identified Gheeds on the ground and pick up the UnID'd one.
You play as normal and when you next exit you can put the 'new' Gheeds in the stash and get the first one back. Same as you would swap any other item.


However, it is not - and never has been - acceptable to restore backups with the intention of having a second chance at making an item whether through cubing sockets, crafting or making runewords. Similarly if you trade an item away, you delete the one on your hard drive. Duping is NOT acceptable.

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. Any /players setting may be used at any time.
8. 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.)
9. I will make and maintain a table with progress. This will hopefully eliminate mix-ups and missed updates(it's also less work for you!).

Tournament Specific Rules:

10. You may ONLY place points in and use skills allowed under the "Allowed Skills" list.. This also applies to synergies. If they are not on the allowed list, you cannot pump them. The only exception to this is pre-reqs, which will be allowed 1 point only.
11. All Ctc items, and charges may be used. These are NOT limited to "Allowed Skills".
12. +Class-Specific Skills granted from items may only be used if they they fall under the "Allowed Skills" category. IE. if you are playing a paladin and you find a Scepter with "+1 to Zeal (Paladin Only)", the item may be used but the skill (Zeal in this case) may NOT. This includes all class-specific aura-type skills as well.
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 the "allowed skills" category.
14. There are no restrictions on Stat-point allocation.
15. There are no restrictions on equipment for you or your mercenary.
16. Act 2 Mercenaries must abide by the "Allowed Skills" restrictions. IE. no Might(NM Offensive), Holy Freeze(NM Defensive). All other mercenaries are allowed (including all A3 Ironwolves).
17. Respec is banned for this tournament. (contact me directly if there are extenuating circumstances that need to be addressed)
18. The winner(s) of the tournament will be anyone who achieves Guardian status. The prize is my eternal admiration. ;)
19. Have fun!


Allowed Skills

As stated in the rules, points may be placed in skills that do not comply with this list as pre-reqs, however, they may NEVER be used in combat (the only exception being any skills which satisfy the conditions under rule 13).

Amazon:
Javelin and Spear Skills: None
Passive and Magic Skills: All skills are permitted.
Bow and Crossbow Skills: None

Assassin:
Martial Arts: None
Shadow Disciplines: All skills are permitted.
Traps: Blade Sentinel, Blade Shield

Necromancer:
Summoning Spells: All Golems, Summon Resist, Golem Mastery
Poison and Bone Spells: Bone Armor, Bone Wall, Bone Prison
Curses: All are permitted

Barbarian:
Warcires: All except War Cry are permitted
Combat Masteries: All are permitted
Combat Skills: Leap

Paladin:
Defensive Auras: All are permitted
Offensive Auras: Blessed Aim, Thorns
Combat Skills: Holy Shield, Holy Bolt, Conversion

Sorceress:
Cold Spells: Frozen Armor, Shiver Armor, Chilling Armor, Cold Mastery
Lightning Spells: Teleport, Energy Shield, Thunderstorm, Lightning Mastery
Fire Spells: Warmth, Enchant, Fire Mastery

Druid:
Elemental: Cyclone Armor
Shapeshifting: Werewolf, Werebear, Lycanthropy
Summoning: All are permitted


So there you have it! I think it's pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. :)

The tournament starts now, good luck to all participants!
 
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Dude you know I'm in, but I likely won't start for awhile. The skill-less tournament is going really well so I'd like to finish that, but we'll see. I'll definitely play an amazon.

Do the same rules apply to items with charges? I like using a staff with frost nova charges to slow things down, but I'm guess that's out.
 
Dazliare said:
Dude you know I'm in, but I likely won't start for awhile. The skill-less tournament is going really well so I'd like to finish that, but we'll see. I'll definitely play an amazon.

Do the same rules apply to items with charges? I like using a staff with frost nova charges to slow things down, but I'm guess that's out.
No worries, join whenever you'd like! All skills on charges are allowed as per rule 11. I might clarify it a bit in the rules to avoid confusion. :)

SunsetVista said:
Are points in synergies allowed?

Sorceress seems pretty strong in this one

Synergies are allowed as long as they are an allowed skill. Skills not on the allowed list cannot be used as synergies, only as prerequisites. So for example Firebolt and Firebll can have only 1 point put into them, as they are a prereq for Hydra. But no more than 1 point may be placed.

Warmth, however, can be maxed to synergise enchant since it's on the Allowed Skills list.

I thought sorc might be quite fragile without any crowd control. Any suggestions on balancing?
 
Both enchant and hydra are very powerful on their own since fire mastery and warmth are available... but you have SF banned so that's a huge loss for sorc. I would perhaps ban hydra if I was going to remove any more skills from sorc (shiver armor is also very powerful defensively since it slows enemies on their attack). Teleport, ES and telekinesis are all great defensive skills, too.

I might participate to mix things up a bit. I've only been playing 1.07 trav runs lately and haven't done an untwinked melee enchantress... ever
 
I've done a ranged one... well it was mostly untwinked, I guess. It was when I restarted in SC for 1.13 (and was my first char outside of 1.07 years ago to finish hell in single player <3)

edit: It also gives me an excuse to stream :p
Single-pass is fun and I'm nooby at optimizing it by gambling, collecting ammies, rings, etc.
 
I enter this tournament! The skills I'm going to focus on are:

Claw mastery
Venom
Blade Sentinel
Blade Shield

Obviously fade and shadow master will get the remaining skills. I can't wait to spend days shopping claws from Anya!

We'll see how it goes. Should be interesting, I've never actually put more than 1 in either blade skills. And apparently blade sentinel doesn't affect weapon durability, so I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for some uber eth cruel claws.

I agree that the Sorc seems quite powerful. Perhaps by taking away ES it would balance things out. Or maybe taking away telekinesis as that technically is an active skill.
 
I originally added Hydra in just to give extra build options to the sorc players. But I think you guys are right. Since nobody has picked a sorc yet I don't feel bad modifying it. Melee enchantresses for all! Would it be too much to limit telekinesis to prereq status too?

That challenge from Zylo seems like too much to pass up pharphis :p I'll get the table ready for you...
(+1 for streaming!)

And welcome Jocular! Assassin was the other build I was going to try, so I'll be following your trip closely!
 
SunsetVista said:
Sorc minus hydra and telekinesis seems much more fair. She's still got tele and a cold armor.
Yeah I think that sounds good. Thanks for the help everyone! Skill lists are updated.

Welcome djmbbandie! Good luck! It's not overcommitting, it's just some extra practice ;)

I will make the table tomorrow, as well as provide an update on Calabi's progress. Be careful out there!
 
Pb_pal said:
I originally added Hydra in just to give extra build options to the sorc players. But I think you guys are right. Since nobody has picked a sorc yet I don't feel bad modifying it. Melee enchantresses for all! Would it be too much to limit telekinesis to prereq status too?

That challenge from Zylo seems like too much to pass up pharphis :p I'll get the table ready for you...
(+1 for streaming!)

And welcome Jocular! Assassin was the other build I was going to try, so I'll be following your trip closely!
I think TK is much more of a defensive skill than offensive. Even aside from the prereq bonus, it does almost 0 dmg so it's just used to stunlock or knockback enemies (like leap would!)

Sorc would def be more fragile w/o ES :p Much more fragile (but I'm biased because I always use ES on my sorcs)
 
From the Diary of Visala:

Day 1

The assassin looked me up and down cautiously. "This really is the best fighter you have? No wonder!" Kashya flushed red. "Are you going to take her or actually buy one from me?" I was also angry with Kashya: "Captain? Seriously?" She defused it by going "fine, I need a shield from death anyways. She'll do for now."

The crypt and Mausoleum went with out issues. She wasn't really impressed, But I was with my outfit. She got me a cap with fire resist, a rare quilted armor with a little poison resist, and a rare bow that had poison, lightning and more damage against undead. Although she seemed high-class, she was at least rich. I thanked her politely. She had a hint of a smile, then resumed using her blade sentinel.

Natasha Level 12 in the Cold Plains with Visala, the newly acquired fire rogue. Up Next: Stony Field.
 
Sounds fun, I will probably join later (after finishing my campaign in Sacred 2 and my skill-less tourney assassin).

If I get to Guardian in skill-less (with Cold rogue merc), that leaves me with 3 merc types left for my tourney dodecavirate of merc types. The ones remaining are Prayer guard, Defiance guard and fire mage. Axe- or polearm Enchantress or an amazon with 2h-sword, polearm or staff are most likely. Suggestions are welcome.
 
@pharphis - ES is still allowed, so you have no excuse for not joining. :p I disallowed TK, however, since upon further reading/consideration, the passive bonus it applies to ES just gives the sorceresses a bit too much of an advantage over the other classes. Besides, after all that 1.07 broken-ness, I can't make it too easy on you here. ;)

@Jocular - it's a shame the blade skills have all those caveats, but hey, its IS [possible to make an untwinked blade sentinel assassin. Just don't let the first sentence of that thread dissuade you (not that statements like that ever do around here...) Good progress so far! What is your assassin's name, so I can add her to the table?

@Dazliare - I'm also toying with the idea of keeping the rogue merc the whole way, but I might go with a barbarian instead. I guess it will depend on the items I find along the way ;)

@djmbbandie - Nice writeup, best of luck to Natasha and Visala!

@jiansonz - My vote is either polearm enchantress, or a staff amazon (Gabrielle must be avenged!)

Okay, now here is Calabi's (yes, I spelled her name wrong in my first post:rolleyes:) update so far!

Calabi started her journey as all Amazons do, javelin in hand and pride in her heart. Her trusty javelin helped her to rid the Den of its evil, and clear out the wilderness. Once she was able to hire her mercenary, she could assume the position she felt she had been destined for, and stepped back from the front lines to direct Fiona (while still helping out with some pokes here and there). She was quickly getting used to her new role, and was having some fun with slow missiles.

Nothing too noteworthy on her journey early on, her and Fiona pushed on and managed to dispatch Griswold without trouble, before rescuing the old cage-dweller. We hit the six-chippie-topaz threshold at the tamoe highlands, so the focus was now on Fiona to do most of the killing. With some gambled gloves and boots, her MF is now close to 90%. I've never played single pass untwinked before, but so far I'm really loving the gameplay, and how priorities are so shifted from what I'm used to. :)

Her only scary moment happened in the pit, when she was met upon entry by a Boss pack of rogues accompanied by a champion pack of archers. Throw in some skeletons and fallen and you've got yourself some nice fun early on :). Managed to get a TP up and bounce between that and the entrance by using the Inner Cloister WP (which I nabbed before heading down), so there wasn't too much trouble. Fiona eventually picked everyone off, and we were rewarded shortly after by Calabi's first S/U of the tourney! She is currently using it, as the knockback is quite handy for a bit of crowd control (no more shield though, blasted swinging weapons).

Now she is resting comfortably at the Inner Cloister, eager to move on into the barracks.

Calabi the Tankazon and Fiona the Cold Rogue - lvl 17(about 1% from 18), Outer Cloister

Code:
Table of Heroes:
Forum Name    Class      Char Name    LVL    ACT    WP
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pb_pal        Amazon     Calabi       17     A1     Outer Cloister
Jocular       Assassin   ?????        14     A1     Stony Field/Dark Wood(?)
djmbbandie    Assassin   Natasha      12     A1     Cold Plains

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: Calabi is actually at the OUTER cloister WP, not inner. oops :p
 
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