Re: questions
Bear in mind that Russ may come in and correct me on a few of these points, but I'm pretty sure I should be able to answer them all. He, however, is running the race and archery, so I'll defer to his rulings for those competitions.
Also, I think I'll post a full list of clarifications over in the competitors forum, where it should be more visible.
Zaruthustran said:
Character creation question:
1) How do you determine hit points? RPGA uses max at first level, then 1/2 your HD +1 per level after that. So a 6th level fighter with 10 con would have 10 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 40hp.
We're going with averages. You get full hp at first level, and then the average for your die thereafter. Once you get the total, round up.
Thus, say you have a 6th level fighter with a 10 Con. That's 10 hp at 1st level, and 5.5 hp each level thereafter. The total would be 37.5, rounded up to 38.
Zaruthustran said:
Duel question:
"Each duel is limited to a twenty-foot square field. If you leave this area, you must return within six seconds or forfeit the match.
Mechanics: Because duels begin at close proximity, and duelists start at exactly the same time, the first round of the duel functions as a surprise round, allowing each duelist to only make a partial action."
Four questions here, actually.
2)) Where do the duelists start? Within 5' of each other in the middle? At opposite ends of the field?
3) If the duel starts and I win init, is my opponent flat-footed?
4) Does the duel begin with weapons already drawn?
5) Is the duel limited to melee weapons?
2) Duelists will start in the middle, in adjacent squares. I plan to upload an image file that will have a grid labeled from A1 to D4, to keep things a little clearer since the chat rooms aren't quite advanced enough to have mapping software (at least not that I know of).
3) No, your opponent will not be considered flat-footed, since he or she will be ready for a fight.
4) As a general rule, you will begin the fight with whatever weapons drawn that you want. However, you do have the option of a quickdraw duel (like Japanese Iaijutsu) if both duelists agree to the same style. In that case, you begin with weapons sheathed.
5) No, the duel is limited to melee- and melee-like weapons. All melee weapons in the PHB are permissable. You can also use whips, even though they're listed as ranged weapons in the PHB. Also, you can throw weapons, assuming they're normally melee weapons.
Thus, you can swing swords, toss daggers, hurl javelins, and lash with whips or spiked chains, but you can't use crossbows, shurikens, or bows. You can even fight unarmed if you want.
Zaruthustran said:
Another duel question:
"Duelists must submit to a mandatory dispel magic one minute before their duel begins, to ensure they do not have outside magical assistance, but duelists are allowed to use any of their magic abilities on themselves after this initial dispelling. "
6) Can I cast spells during that minute, after the dispel?
6) Yes you can. The dispelling is mostly just for flavor. By the rules we set up, we're not letting you use magic items or get help from allies anyway, and this is just to make sure you understand that each event is separate from the others, and spells won't carry over. Also, it's for security reasons, to make sure people aren't going into fights with domination effects on them.
However . . . hmm. Okay, see the next question.
Zaruthustran said:
Time question:
" The second race, the Dak’Rothian Marathon, will be conducted over the course of the entire first day"
7) So if I cast spells during the race, I'll be able to rest and get my spells back in time for the joust/duel/archery on the second day. Correct? [/B]
Zaruthustran said:
7) This is an interesting question. Because we can't really enforce it (since there'll be different GMs at different events), I want to ask the opinions of people reading here. Do you want spells to be recovered after each event, or would you prefer to work on the honor system, and not have spells be recovered between events?
Hit points will be recovered after every event (indeed, after every fight in the duels and jousts). This means that fighters will be fresh for every fight. I'm inclined, then, to let spellcasters recover their spells after every event. If there is a large public demand otherwise, we can go for that, but I think it's more fair this way.
Along the same lines, for duels, the dispelling will occur only before the first duel. Assume that two minutes pass between every fight, so Shield spells will definitely wear off, Mage Armor might be active for two or three fights, and Bull's Strength will last the whole time.
