Help! Sorceror vs Sorceror duel

[Micah]

Hi,
I'm fairly new to DMing and I need to construct some rules for a sorceror's duel. I was told that when you are dealing with 2 thirteenth level magic weilders, that any dueling is usually very short-lived - in other words whoever rolls higher initiative might win in the first round.

I need the duel to last for a fair ammount of game time - at least an hour or more and I'd love to set up a situation where both characters have to use a great deal of their resorces/ spell slots etc. I'm willing to bend or break any rules to make this function.

My only thought so far was to set a limit on how many hp a character could loose per round and then using that as my limit figure out normal rolls on a percentage based situation. Not sure if this is a viable situation, Any ideas out there?

I'm grateful for any help and/or tips.

 

[Jack Simth]

Well, assuming that these are both "standard" sorcerers (that is, no Quickened spells, no swift action spells that matter, and so on) you can just use basic combat rules. For fun, set up an arena with some starting positions, and have the referee disjunction both first (no magic items permitted, no spells pre-cast); nobody is permitted to cast a thing until the whistle blows. This is the standard "You'd better win initiative" setup, usually over in a single round.

If you, as the DM, want it to last a long, long time, you can arrange that - give the NPC opponent the same spell list as the PC, and arrange for the NPC to win initiative (fudge the die roll, if needed), and have the NPC ALWAYS ready an action to counterspell (while his Improved Familiar attempts actual combat against the PC). Both get exhausted of their magic fairly quickly (unless PC figures out what's going on, and draws a crossbow or some such instead of casting).

 

[Zurai]

There are rules for mage duels in one of the Forgotten Realms supplements - probably Magic of Faerun.

Given your goals, I would let each caster ready a counterspell as a swift action, but require them to specify which spell they're readying. I'd also allow a less restrictive counterspelling; instead of having the exact spell or a dispel magic, they can counterspell in a way that "makes sense". For example, if one casts fireball, the other could counterspell with wall of stone to intercept the fireball. If the other had already readied a disintegrate to counterspell, he could zap the wall of stone before the fireball bead got there, allowing the fireball through but leaving him open to attack if the opponent survived the fireball.

Note that my suggestion is totally house rules.

 

[Darklone]

I had some old dueling rules from somewhere ... dragon I think... that used two simulacrums for the duel with bonuses on saves and hitpoints to make the duel last longer.

 

[green slime]

"The Mageduel" is described in detail in Magic of Faerun, on page 14,

I'd recommend getting it, its got a lot of usuable ideas.

The gist of it:
All participants must be able to cast arcane spells.
The define the size and shape of the arena together: if they can't agree opposed ability checks.
minimum size: cube with sides 2x(sum of all arcane spellcaster levels) in feet.
Obvious shimmer defines the area, which is avoided by animals and vermin. Other creatures within must save each round or be Frightened.
Participants define the number of rounds allowed for pre-duel "buffing".

No spells cast in the duel extend beyond the confines of the arena.
Each participant gains one counterspell action each round.
All damage done is subdual, and halved, even attacks by summoned creatures.

Between PC's: inform the DM secretly of which spell they are casting; the other PC must make their Spellcraft check to correctly discern what the spell is.

 

[Felix]

If you want to make it last for a long while, then restrict the level of spell the sorcerers can cast.

For the first 5 rounds, they can only cast 1st level spells.
Rounds 6 to 10, only 2nd and lower level spells.
Rounds 11 to 15, only 3rd and lower spells.

That way you'll see a lot more buff and debuff spells flying around before the big guns come out, and the initial minutes of the duel won't be immediately terminal.

 

[Micah]

Thanks! I like that idea. I have freedom to incorporate house rules on a lot of this too so I'll probably incorporate some of the other suggestions too.