Physical Competitions

[Allistar1801]

So in my homebrew there's a city made up of the larger races (Loxodons, Golaiths, Firbolg and the like) I decided to drop a few details about a competition for groups of 3 that was being held soon at the arena, but then I realized that I had no idea how I would do that. My party is level 3 and consists of a 2 fighters one of which is a caviler and the other is a brute, and our last party member is a rogue.

My leading thoughts are to break in up into 4 separate team events
1. A relay race while carrying a 300 lb boulder
2. A throwing competition (With something like darts or knives at a target dummy)
3. A strong man competition (Like the carnival game)
4. An all out brawl between 7 groups of 3 bandits and the players (Each team for themselves)

Each event would have a certain number of representatives needed and they would get a certain number of tries. As for representatives, whole team for the race, one for the throwing and strong man competitions and then the of course whole team for the brawl. And for the number of tries I'm thinking about taking an average of three for the throwing and strong man events.

My main point of contention is "How do I make this not just be 5 athletics checks" and "How do I not completely screw the rogue in this competition".

I'm thinking about making the relay race a few athletics checks and a few con saves while they're sprinting about/ the caviler might be able to make his mount push it around, the throwing competition can be a way for the rogue to flex their proficiency in darts, the strong man competition can be a test to deal the most damage to the thing, and then a good old fashion combat to close it out

Also not sure how much I should make the rewards be. First draft is
1st place 500GP a masterwork maul, 5 masterwork throwing knives, and a set of plate
2nd place 250GP a masterwork warhammer, and a set of chain mail
3rd place 125GP a morningstar and a set of ringmail
Not sure if this is stupid broken, but it seems alright to me

Thoughts?

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I just did 'goat ball' with a goliath and the rest of the party against a team of villagers. I had to make up the rules as I went.

We set up obstacles 5-15 feet apart. You can jump from obstacle to obstacle (if you have enough strength to make it - Thief rogues can be awesome at this).

When you land on an obstacle, you make an acrobatics of DC 5+2/5 feet traveled. If you fall off, you are out. I might increase that dc slightly.

Someone starts with the Goat ball. It has a range of 15 feet. You roll to hit and if you hit, Your opponent can catch it by beating your attack roll. If they fail, they make an acrobatics roll dc 10+1 for every point over their armour class that you hit them. If they fail, they fall off. Once again, if you fall off, you are out.

Passing the ball to someone requires the receiver to make an acrobatics roll of 5.

If no-one catches the ball and, or you just miss, it goes to the closest person where the ball landed (gm decides).

So, everyone rolled initiative and I had everyone jumping around on barrels and logs and rocks trying to get close to opponents, passing the ball to someone in range, trying to knock them off.

I'd tweak it next time but it was pretty fun. The party won but got disqualified at the end when the wizard cast shield so as not to get hit by the ball.

 

[Shiroiken]

My leading thoughts are to break in up into 4 separate team events
1. A relay race while carrying a 300 lb boulder
2. A throwing competition (With something like darts or knives at a target dummy)
3. A strong man competition (Like the carnival game)
4. An all out brawl between 7 groups of 3 bandits and the players (Each team for themselves)

1. Each representative makes a Str/Athletics and Con/Athletics check, awarding points equal to the total of both checks. Have the other groups totals for each section predetermined (rolled or decided, your choice), so you can narrate how well they're doing at each leg.

2. Probably not a team event. Each competitor makes a series of attack rolls (I'd say 5) against an AC: 5 to get 1 point; each success by 5 gets +1 point; critical hit gets additional +1. Highest total wins; sudden death tiebreaker round (one attack each). Again, I suggest opponents score already predetermined (except sudden death), so players can see how well the opponents do before and after.

3. Probably not a team event. Run a series of contested Str/Athletics rolls, against predetermined results, with first to 3 the victor. Winner advances to next round, with probably 3 rounds to final. I suggest opponents start easy, and get progressively better. Describe non-PC matches to show who is expected to be in final.

4. Standard combat, but don't roll NPC vs. NPC. Assume half of each attack hits for average damage. Unless you want this to be to the death, prohibit ranged weapons and obviously damaging spells.

Something worthwhile would be to describe various competitors for each of the competitions a day before the events actually occur. This would allow sneaky/devious characters a chance to mess with opponents before the games begin (such as poisoning the obvious favorite), or have some of them try to mess with the PCs!

 

[Allistar1801]

Like I said, 2 and 3 were probably gonna be a 1 man job from the team.

I Like the point system for the throwing game

Not too keen on making the strongman game come down to a single athletics check for each of the rounds, but I guess randomness has to come in at some point.

I have introduced a few other adventurers before the competition, but they weren't much into talking to them. Was thinking about having a monk group of the iron mountain join in and do crazy monk stuff (dash with ki, punch the strongman machine, you know the usual). I also like the idea of a Furbolg beastmaster having his animal companions do the events with him. "Go Bearington, win for the motherland!"

I also think the idea of totem barbarians getting involved would be funny but at the same time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Any other NPC ideas?

 

[Shiroiken]

Not too keen on making the strongman game come down to a single athletics check for each of the rounds, but I guess randomness has to come in at some point.

I was thinking 3 checks to win a round. That would keep randomness down a bit, and allow tension to build each time an opponent won a check.

I have introduced a few other adventurers before the competition, but they weren't much into talking to them. Was thinking about having a monk group of the iron mountain join in and do crazy monk stuff (dash with ki, punch the strongman machine, you know the usual). I also like the idea of a Furbolg beastmaster having his animal companions do the events with him. "Go Bearington, win for the motherland!"

I also think the idea of totem barbarians getting involved would be funny but at the same time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Any other NPC ideas?

A jester who wanders around insulting people while juggling daggers. He's a major competitor for the 2nd competition, and is actually a bard for the grand melee (using vicious mockery).

Identical goliath triplets who try not be seen together before the competitions, in order to confuse people during the relay race.

A mighty braggart who enters 3 as the PC's first opponent, only to be more talk than ability. Assuming the PC wins, he hunts them down in event 4 (also not very good).

 

[Eltab]

A weightlifting contest. Some races think picking up a tree is more impressive than picking up an Olympic weightlifter's barbell made of steel.
Especially if you have to uproot the tree first.

A druid or a spellcaster with Move Earth could cheat.
Devious version: conceal yourself and cast on the other team's big strong guy, so HE gets busted for cheating.