Game Day Gladiatorial Game - Suggestions?

[Quasqueton]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

I have Dragon #303. It has great info and suggestions for a gladiatorial campaign, but the game day arena won't be a campaign. To make the game fair for all contestants, and consistant for all matches, I shouldn't change the "spice" or layout of the arena from match to match. Also, having random events or mechinations in the arena may make the matches too complicated and long for this game event. But I may add some "permanent" obstacles to break up the terrain.

I was thinking of using the arena map from Dragon.

Starting gold? Good question. Thanks for mentioning that. I guess standard gold for level 9 would work.

CR vs. ECL? It is my understanding that CR reflects the one-combat "level" of the creature. ECL reflects the campaign-long "level" of the creature. Since this game event will be one-combat situations, I figured CR was the better factor to use. Maybe I should just have contestants stick with the PHB races?

Prestige classes? Core books only. That limits to the DMG.

Prep time? I'll say no buffing before the fight. Buffing must be done in the arena.

Group fights? This would be fun, but for the logistics in a game day event. How many prepared groups of 4 or 5 will there be among a total gathering of 25-30 players? Many players will be "tied up" with a standard game event. Will a single fight between 8 or 10 player characters take hours to finish? I personally would have no problem refereeing such a group battle(s). Though I think it won't fit in well with this game day, I will leave the option open in case some players do want to bring in group combatants.

I was also thinking of using a stop watch to limit each player's turn at making decisions and taking actions to one minute. Don't want a single match to take an hour to resolve.

Everything so far is still open to discussion. I won't make the final rules for a few weeks. The game day is still 8 weeks away.

Quasqueton

 

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

I believe that the difference between CR and ECL is that if you add levels to a CR 9 creature and make it a CR 13 creature that the creature is supposed to present a challenge to 4-5 13th level characters. However, ECL is the actual character level of the Monster before adding character classes. Therefore a CR 1 monster is not of equal power with a level one character, but an ECL +1 monster (with no class levels) is of equal power with a first level character.

There are ECL conversions listed in the DMG in the character chapter, although I believe that these may have been corrected and expanded in a Dragon somewhere.

 

[alsih2o]

i am reading a good book on gladiators right now that talks about people flooding spaces and putting in boats for gladatorial naval battles, this might add a twist to some round

 

[Quasqueton]

I believe that the difference between CR and ECL is that if you add levels to a CR 9 creature and make it a CR 13 creature that the creature is supposed to present a challenge to 4-5 13th level characters. However, ECL is the actual character level of the Monster before adding character classes. Therefore a CR 1 monster is not of equal power with a level one character, but an ECL +1 monster (with no class levels) is of equal power with a first level character.

The CR for "standard" characters is their character level. A 2nd-level fighter is CR2. A 9th-level wizard is CR9. So says the DMG.

CR = combat "level"
ECL = campaign "level"

There are ECL conversions listed in the DMG in the character chapter, although I believe that these may have been corrected and expanded in a Dragon somewhere.

And Savage Species will update and change the ECL's again next month.

Sticking with PHB races is looking like a much better decision. To avoid this kind of confusion/debate at the game table.

Quasqueton