[Closed for now]Ata's 4e PPvPP Arena

Here's the (still in discussion) rules for our second experiment!


-Eight entries.
-Encounters are 2 vs 2. The couples are decided randomly and then the players (if they want) can find an agreement on the thread, or privately if they want to keep the secret.
-Lvl 16
-22 pb
-standard wealth and items(one magic item of level +1, one of your level, one of your level -1, and wealth equal to the price of a level -1 item)
-Each character can only use up to two consumables per encounter. It is allowed, however, to buy more to use in subsequent encounters.
-Available sources: PHb, FGRG, PHb2, AV, Manual of the Planes, no races from the MM, no playtest or preview material. Dragon is available as a source for expanded races and classes.
-Some options may be disallowed.

The rules:
-Competitors are coupled randomly.
-There will be four different arenas; you won't know in advance where you'll fight; there might be traps, obstacles or monsters; the arena for the final will be chosen randomly between these two.You won't be able to escape the arena so that is not an option.
-You will have a short rest after each fight.
-You win if your opponents:
* surrender
* die
* fall unconsciou on their turn due to reaching 0 hp and you can attack them on your subsequent turn
* fall unconscious during your turn due to reaching 0 hp and fail a death saving throw on their subsequent turn
-The fight continues if:
*An unconscious competitor manages to recover from the uncoscious condition
*An uncoscious competitor fails to recover, but the opponents are unable to attack him (example: they are immobilized and only have melee attacks)
-You can have one item or weapon ready at the start of the battle. Well, except for shields, that'd be unfair. So yeah, for example you can have a sword and a shield readied without needing an action, but you'd have to spend one to take a potion out.
-Spending action points is not allowed. You can, however, spend action points to activate certain abilities that require the expenditure (like the bonus damage of a warpriest or the dmg resistance of a dreadnought).
[sblock=House rules]-Stealth:
*You can hide with simple cover, albeit at a -2 penalty on your stealth check.You can't hide on subsequent turns in the same spot with simple cover if you have become visible.
*You can't hide with light concealment, but concealments from different sources stack.
-Double Weapons:
*Double weapons lose the defensive property
*Double swords lose the light blade type
-Battlerage Vigor:
*You can only gain temp hp from being damaged once per round.
-Storm of blades power:
*you can make a number of attacks equal to 1/2 your Con modifier +1.[/sblock]

[sblock=previous game]-Lvl 2
-22 pb
-standard wealth and items(one magic item of level +1, one of your level, one of your level -1, and wealth equal to the price of a level -1 item)
-PHb, FGRG, Dragon for races and classes, no races from the MM, no playtest or preview material.
-All books available for material.
-Some options may be disallowed.

The rules:
-Competitors are coupled randomly.
-There will be two different arenas; you won't know in advance where you'll fight; there might be traps, obstacles or monsters; the arena for the final will be chosen randomly between these two.You won't be able to escape the arena so that is not an option.
-You will have an extended rest after each fight; you can choose not to take an extended rest and keep benefits deriving from the fight that you haven't used(pact boons, temporary hps, action points, whatever)
-You win if your opponent:
* surrenders
* dies
* falls unconscious on his turn due to reaching 0 hp and you can attack him on your subsequent turn
* falls unconscious during your turn due to reaching 0 hp and fails a death saving throw on his subsequent turn
-The fight continues if:
*An unconscious competitor manages to recover from the uncoscious condition
*An uncoscious competitor fails to recover, but the opponent is unable to attack him (example: he is immobilized and only has melee attacks)
-You can have one item or weapon ready at the start of the battle. Well, except for shields, that'd be unfair. So yeah, for example you can have a sword and a shield ready without needing an action, but you'd have to spend one to take a potion out.
[sblock=House rules]-Stealth:
*You can hide with simple cover, albeit at a -2 penalty on your stealth check.You can't hide on subsequent turns in the same spot with simple cover if you have become visible.
*You can't hide with light concealment, but concealments from different sources stack.
-Double Weapons:
*Double weapons lose the defensive property
*Double swords lose the light blade type
-Battlerage Vigor:
*You can only gain temp hp from being damaged once per round.[/sblock][/sblock]

Wow. This was an experiment and I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't exect the interest to be: zero!

I think the issue lies in 4e being a team based game, so in an arena battle certain classes wouldn't be very effective. Controllers aren't needed as there aren't minions or large #'s of enemies to hit, Defenders aren't needed to lock down enemies and there's no one to defend, & Leaders have no one to lead.

Therefore it becomes a striker battle, most likely all rangers...as they have such a high damage output.

Well... that depends. In an enclosed space with obstacles, cover, difficult terrains and such, you can exploit different things. Fighters can certainly be considered on par with rangers since they compensate their lower damage. Depending on the build and structure of every single arena a ranged character might manage to keep the distance. Leaders have noone to lead but have access to a lot more healing...etcetera. Clearly melee types have the advantage but maybe tactics could turn it around. I've never experimented it so i'd like to try. But maybe you're right and the idea is just bad

Actually the healing as a minor action would be a huge benefit, I can see the cleric being pretty strong.

I don't think it's a bad idea, just more difficult in 4e.

Uhmm... PHB2 should bring more options to the table too... well... I'll wait another couple of days and see.

I hope so, I'm anxious to see it come out. Go Go Primals!

I want to see the sorcerer more than anything actually Missed him.

I think the idea is a good one - one that I've explored many time in 3e, but never 4e. I think Ren is right though, in that some classes may be a but outmatched by others.

I think that maybe you could reduce that by the types of arenas that the combat is in. Just a normal, open area is boring and pointless... but if you design some sort of interactive battlefield,with columns and pits and things that go boom, well... you've just increased the usefulness of those classes.

Think of a cemetery with zombies popping out of a random grave every so often, or a cramped dungeon area with blades swinging from the ceiling.

Just a thought.


-IG

IG, thank you for the advice. Actually, that was exactly what I was thinking. An arena with traps, columns, obstacles, maybe monsters sometimes, possibly a different one each time. That's why I was saying even a ranged combatant or maybe even a well-thought controller might manage to be effective one-on-one.
Does that make you interested?

p.s:I know that some classes are obviously at a disadvantage, but I think that the range of options is quite large; for example, at level two a staff wizard-swordmage can make a decent gish; with some tactics you might be able to win the day against a meleer; not easy: but it depends on both the build and the player. One who builds a wizard for a one vs one pvp is looking for a challenge, after all.