Gonna have to dissect this tirade piece by piece.
I wasn't going to go through an entire fucking thread just to see if every synchronicity idea popped up...yeah it popped up on the third post but I wasn't going to go through all that "potential" trouble...you'll also notice that I only claimed that I "thought" I might have invented it...didn't claim I did.
So, basically you didn't want to do thorough research into a topic and therefore claimed that you probably are the originator. While admittedly nothing stops you from doing this on a forum it does bring the originality of the whole build and the credibility of your statements into question. Essentially you either end up being ignorant or a liar.
This could have been phrased "I haven't seen much use of syncronicity on the boards." That would not claim total originality for the idea. But no, you claimed to have "invented" it. Invented, meaning that you personally came up with the idea before anyone else. Which brings us to your next statement...
As for the craft contingent spell...oops, my bad, I have read the feat several times before, I was just mistaken...my memory isn't perfect...fucking sue me (and don't try and say something like "well why are you exempt from your mistakes yet you come down hard on others when they make the same ones?" It wasn't the same mistake, only similar. I simply didn't remember something was there, what fallen angle did is completely fabricate something that wasn't there i.e. the Azrael having MDJ prepared when he clearly didn't).
You admit to arguing out of ignorance. That is generally something you apologize for, you know, when you are wrong. As you admit to having been. Instead you appear to have attacked everyone for, correctly, accusing you of being incorrect.
Ohhh, ok then...so you're saying that just because a lot of people see something the same way it makes it more true...well Jesus (no future pun intended) if that's the case then I guess a huge population of the world must be right about their whole organized religion thing...you know, because so many people believe it, its totally less subjective, and thus makes it true...guess I better change my evil ways or this Anthropomorphic God of theirs is going to smite me.
I am not entirely sure where this comes from. In the case of community based, subjective games such as D&D it is generally the case that when a large group concurs on something it is considered the more appropriate interpretation. Indeed, given that the whole game is imaginary I could simply disagree that your build works that way, based on my own interpretation Fusion would not be stackable and Thrallherds couldn't dominate Thrallherds. So if we want to argue that every opinion is perfectly valid, it will probably get pretty dicey.
Now onto the bolded statement...THANK YOU FOR FINALLY SAYING EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT AZRAEL THIS WHOLE FUCKING TIME!! If the only builds you guys can bring in to combat Azrael are two of the most powerful builds in CO history than DAMN he must be powerful! I know, I know, you never said he wasn't...However, you did say he wasn't worthy of being considered one of the best CO builds. I think you just proved yourself wrong...thanks a bunch
What he meant when he said that he wasn't worthy of being considered one of the best CO builds is for two reasons. First is that he doesn't really highlight anything new. That isn't to say he doesn't have something new, but it isn't highlighted. Pun Pun was all about how broken the Manipulate Form power was. Omnificer showed off a neat low level trick for massive skills. H.I.V.E. was and is the strongest application of the hivemind rules. Each build wasn't simply good, but was presented in a manner that showcased its core strength.
What does Azrael showcase. The Twice Betrayer of Shar's near invunerability in an antimagic field? The well known strength of Genisis? That fusion has highly ambiguous rules? Infinite actions though power point abuse? How about the Cheater of Mystra's wishing powers? I'll agree that I, personally, hadn't heard of syncronicity prior to this, but I also didn't know about it until the 11th page of this thread. If that is his shtick, sell it.
People are not obliged to read this, they aren't obligated to figure it out. Advertisers fall into this pitfall all the time. If you want people to like what you made you have to sell it too them. Hell Azrael has been praised by just about everyone as powerful, yet people continue not to like it because he was pitched in such an aggressive manner.
Oh, and P.S. I can easily defeat his artificer with my 20th level straight sorcerer (which is actually a character you could play in a real game...imagine that) I didn't need Azrael, that was just the challenge.
That is nice dear.
Academia. I am afraid standard for writing in "academia" are vastly higher than what you have presented. In a proper academic article you would be help accountable for every idea presented, not simply the ones you cite. In this case I would have expected an elaborate bibliography. The assorted CO boards would need metion, as would some of the key builds that this borrows from. Indeed even if (in the very very unlikely scenario) you did actually dig all this out of the books by yourself you would STILL have to cite the builds who did it before you.
That is how academic work goes. Nothing is original except for the work you can PROVE you did. You can't prove you EVERYTHING yourself (and by everything I mean figure out each of these tricks with no outside stimuli or help. NONE) therefore you should have started with a blanket thanks to the CO boards for all the work they've put in that you didn't have to do.
In its current state it would barely weasel by with a D+, based solely on the fact that you clearly did put in a bunch of time. But that is if it was being evaluated by an academic board. It isn't, so none of the above has any value.
Secondly, how about you define original for me? Is it original if you have an idea that you came up on your own without being influenced by any other source? If not then I've got sad news for you HARDLY ANYTHING IS ORIGINAL! Sure some other people may have thought of the idea, but if you're worried about having an "original" idea that no one has ever thought of you automatically FAIL.
As that saying goes 'if you have a thought/idea, chances are six other people have had, or are having that idea at the exact same moment as you.' Here's an example: (this is directed more at males so females probably cant sympathize) have you ever just gotten totally grossed out when you get into a public restroom and there's just piss all over the toilet seat because some lazy bastard didn't care to lift it up? Me too...so one day I got to thinking, what if you apply the same (really the reverse) mechanics they use in those flip calculators (you know, the ones everyone just seem to love for no real good reason) to toilet seats? Basically, you would have easy to design, cheap, self-lifting toilet seats (which would require minimal pressure to keep down) that you could easily install in public bathrooms everywhere and save your customers from being totally grossed out by how disgusting the rest of humanity is (at least somewhat anyway). So what did I do, I looked online to see if anyone had thought of such a thing...and wouldn't cha' know it, there were several pattons, not just on my idea, but plenty of other variations...
Now, does that make it any less of an original idea...NO! Its just life...
You are right. There is nothing original anymore. Especially not in D&D, where all classes and character were someone else's idea to begin with. I encourage you to look to the boards and attempt to find other authors who claim their works to be original. It isn't common. It is especially uncommon in builds that receive any respect.
The following quote will lead into my next point:
Do you think Einstein invented physics, or Mozart music? No, they just took a bunch of other people's ideas, theories, etc and combined them into their own unique thing...which, in case you don't live in the real world, IS HOW ALMOST EVERYTHING IS CREATED! Where do you think the word inspiration came from, hmmm?
Einstein didn't create physics, Mozart didn't create music. Neither claimed to have done so. What they did was do it better. They each took about their chosen profession in a manner that was rare and brilliant.
Which brings me back to "selling" the post. This could have been a very well received character if he had been presented in a manner that was pleasing to the eye, easy to read, and well explained. Links to where the assorted tricks came from. Or in the case that you believe they were totally original, lengthy explanations of how they worked.
I will repeat. We are NOT obligated to read your post. You have to make people want to read it. To do that you make it easy to read. You yourself admit that the formatting was screwed up, but even with the most excellent formatting it is still a long read, with very many tricks taken for granted. If everyone aside from Kell had a hard time understanding it, there are two possibilities.
1) Everyone is an idiot except for yourself and Kell.
2) The post was confusing and took more work to understand than most people wanted to put in.
Which of these i more likely?
Just like I was inspired by Kell's idea about widening a Maw of Chaos to Widen his AMF so that no one could perceive Azrael unless they were inside the field, thus basically forcing them to waste an action buffing (yeah, maybe a character like the H.I.V.E. wouldn't have to, but almost every other character would...see what I did there, I took something someone else thought of, changed it a bit, and made it my own unique defense...which is something that (as far as I know) no one has EVER thought of doing...for christ sake, it basically makes him completely unapproachable by anything save for billions of characters coming at me at once...another reason that, if it came down to an actual fight (not them hiding in some extradimensional space sending out Astral Projections), I would beat pretty much all those 20th level wizards out there that you say are on par with Azrael...hell, why don't we take out the TO from all characters including Azrael...Azrael wins...since there are no CoP, no infinte actions, etc...hes pretty much invincible, and since the entire character H.I.V.E. relies on TO, he no longer exists...you see, that's the REAL power of Azrael, he doesn't need TO to be ultra powerful, most of these other characters do...and I think that's worth mentioning...but I digress.
YOU DID IT AGAIN! You just claimed something else was your own totally original idea after just pointing out that all ideas come together from a communal effort. I know you added (as far as I know) but your own ignorance is not a defense for being wrong. This is especially awful to see from someone who went on an antireligious tirade just a few paragraphs before.
On the Theoretical Optimization point: Was this the selling strength of the character? Why was it not highlighted. Hell that is a ridiculously board claim to make in the first place. I would like to see evidence of that claim. (FYI, before you tell me to go look it up, the burden of proof is on the one who makes the claim. Otherwise I could state "There are puppies that could beat Azrael" and expect YOU to prove it to ME.)
Now, if you want to make an issue that using things like genesis is a rip off then I guess any build that uses any common spell is ripping off of 10,000 other builds...what a ridiculous argument...Its like telling the wizard that uses magic missile that hes not being original because 100000000000000000000000000000000 wizards before him use(d) the spell.
He isn't being original. He isn't claiming to be.
In conclusion, your argument is pointless. Sure, there's no way I can prove to you that it was an original idea and not ripped off someone else, but I know, and that's enough for me. Because to me, you're all just faceless internet folks that have no bearing on my real life so I couldn't give a shit about what you think about me personally. The truth is, if you ever met me in person you would probably think I'm one of the nicest people you have ever met, I'm extremely easy to get along with...whatever it is that I exude in this internet form of mine is obviously a butchery of my real personality.
Perhaps it is the way I'm putting myself out there, or perhaps its the way you are perceiving it...remember, its the internet folks, any information that you don't know about a person is automatically filled in by your own prejudices, biases, and thoughts...ever had that experience when you've been talking to someone online for a long time and you finally meet them in person and they are NOTHING like you expected...yeah, same thing...
If it was good enough for you you would have stopped. People who genuinely don't care about other peoples opinions don't argue about them.
The person you are online and the person you are in real life are one in the same. Someone else isn't making you type these things, someone else isn't insulting people online. It is you. You are doing it. Even if you are the nicest guy in person that doesn't make a lick of difference in how you acted here. The fact that you DID bring it up suggests that you are feeling personally assaulted.
Let me remind you, most of us don't care that much. So rest at ease, no one cares who you are or what you are like in real life. (Unless they do, perhaps I am making an excessively blanket statement)
And Azrael does bring something new to the table...why do you think I posted him in the first place. You're forgetting the original context (not that you were necessarily involved and could have remembered) in which he was brought up. Someone mentioned on the 'post your sig char' board after I posted a brief description of Azrael that they had never seen a 'fusion' char before, and would love to see the possibilities of min-maxing fusion. That's whats original about Azrael...the fact that hes the first char to really optimize (without becoming a God...though I guess now I should post that version as well) the fusion power (to my knowledge). H.I.V.E. has its niche as being many from one, Azrael is the opposite, one from many.
That, and the whole not having to rely on TO to be super powerful...I think that was a good point Honestly, the character was basically completed before I added all that CoP and other shit in there...I just figured that since he was capable of it, and everyone else was doing it, I should as well...hell, it will only make him more powerful and I figured I would get called out on NOT using it, if I didn't...Guess this is just another case of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'
I won't repeat that bit about failing to sell the idea to us, I've said it twice now in this one post.
In conclusion. Azrael is great. No one is arguing he is not. However he has been presented in such a way as to make him hostile, confusing, and made to appear utterly unoriginal. You, Azrael, the OP. Became personally invested in the argument and began to take personal offense to anything that challenged your creation. As a result you launched personal attacks on the people who commented, incurring further personal attacks in response. You even went so far as to being in a completely different post that had nothing to do with this one. Just to attack me, personally.
The final outcome of all this is that several people here have developed a rather keen image of how you act (this isn't really an inherent prejudice, there has been ample communication). Some found it to be repulsive and had their own guttural response to set you straight.
The best POSSIBLE response for you now would be: "This conversation has degraded to immature name calling. Regardless of who started it, I will end it." Then stop making long personal responses to anyone. For any reason. Ideally you could go rework the original post, which several people have said was aggressive and confusing. On the other hand, if you don't care about people's opinion on him then you could ask an admin to close the topic and make space on the front page for other posts.
Thank you for your time.