Mage Duels
- Thread starter Stormborn
- Start date
I would think it would be fairly simple to come up with some basic rules. Just start look at rules for a duel with weapons and extrapolate. Important ground rules to set would be:
1. What is the size of the dueling area and is leaving it an automatic disqualification?
2. Are magic items allowed? If so, are there limits on number?
3. How many rounds worth of spellcasting are allowed before the duel begins? (This can get into all sorts of interesting variations. If you do a See Invisibility and your opponent doesn't turn Invisible then you wasted a spell. Maybe you should have gone with Protection form Evil.)
4. Is there a judge, and if so is he equipped with See Invisibility, etc?
5. Is there a time limit after which the duel will be declared over?
Magical duels are likely to be highly lethal in most cases, as spellcasters can pump out a lot of damage quickly. But then, so are duels with swords.
Successful duelists would be those who are good at winning Initiatve and have access to good spells.
I could see an interesting variation for conjurers where they take turns for three rounds summoning creatures and then let the summons fight it out.
1. What is the size of the dueling area and is leaving it an automatic disqualification?
2. Are magic items allowed? If so, are there limits on number?
3. How many rounds worth of spellcasting are allowed before the duel begins? (This can get into all sorts of interesting variations. If you do a See Invisibility and your opponent doesn't turn Invisible then you wasted a spell. Maybe you should have gone with Protection form Evil.)
4. Is there a judge, and if so is he equipped with See Invisibility, etc?
5. Is there a time limit after which the duel will be declared over?
Magical duels are likely to be highly lethal in most cases, as spellcasters can pump out a lot of damage quickly. But then, so are duels with swords.
Successful duelists would be those who are good at winning Initiatve and have access to good spells.
I could see an interesting variation for conjurers where they take turns for three rounds summoning creatures and then let the summons fight it out.
STARP_Social_Officer
First Post
The only thing I do with mage duels is adhere very strictly to the rules, including specifiying what you're doing before you roll initiative and making you reroll every round (usually I only make players reroll when changing their action, to speed up gameplay). But I do this for all duels.
I find mage duels are over pretty quickly, actually. They tend to go a bit like this...
I find mage duels are over pretty quickly, actually. They tend to go a bit like this...
DM-Rocco
Explorer
When we used to do duels, it hasn't come up for a while, we would have them square off, roll intiative and go at it. I did one once during 3.0 and what we did was to give each a full round as normal to cast a spell, move, whatever. Spells only, no items. Then, in addition to casting a spell, you were given a readied action to counter a spell, otherwise, in the mid to higher levels, the first to go wins, this made it more interesting. We made a list of unhonorable spells to cast during a duel, invisiblity of any sort was forbidden, along with save or die. We tried to make it fun, not whoever goes second dies.
The best mage duel system in D&D is Magic of Faerun.
Two (or more) spellcasters set concentrate and set the stage for battle. They create this barrier, the more powerful the spellcasters the larger the barrier, that prevents their magic from leaving or anything or anyone from entering also.
They then choose a set amount of time to buff themselves (no more than 3 rounds worth, since after that they're so buffed no one's getting hurt), and then enter.
Each spellcaster is allowed their normal actions on their normal initiatives AND allowed one free counterspell each round.
All damage dealt is nonlethal damage, though it can be lethal if so chosen by the spellcasters. Ability damage counts but Constitution dropped to 0 doesn't kill, just brings it back to 1 (or whatever is needed to keep the character alive) and is unconscious. Ability drain is ability damage instead. Hit point, ability damage are halved. Lethal spells like finger of death deals nonlethal damage equal to the target's half maximum hit points.
There's other factors and rules, but that's the gist of it. It makes for a fun mage duel.
Two (or more) spellcasters set concentrate and set the stage for battle. They create this barrier, the more powerful the spellcasters the larger the barrier, that prevents their magic from leaving or anything or anyone from entering also.
They then choose a set amount of time to buff themselves (no more than 3 rounds worth, since after that they're so buffed no one's getting hurt), and then enter.
Each spellcaster is allowed their normal actions on their normal initiatives AND allowed one free counterspell each round.
All damage dealt is nonlethal damage, though it can be lethal if so chosen by the spellcasters. Ability damage counts but Constitution dropped to 0 doesn't kill, just brings it back to 1 (or whatever is needed to keep the character alive) and is unconscious. Ability drain is ability damage instead. Hit point, ability damage are halved. Lethal spells like finger of death deals nonlethal damage equal to the target's half maximum hit points.
There's other factors and rules, but that's the gist of it. It makes for a fun mage duel.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
What was the mage duel system that had them creating balls of light and fighting that way, despite nothing else in the magic system working that way? Clearly I've almost totally blocked it out of my mind, because it was just terrible.
In the Conan RPG by Mongoose two sorcerers (their catch-all word for casters) can enter into a "War of Souls". Nothing flashy happens, it's simply mind against mind. Conan's magic system is a power-point system so it wouldn't translate exactly to D&D, but it should be easy enough to mod.
Check it out.
I posted my first-draft mods in this thread.
Check it out.
I posted my first-draft mods in this thread.
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