Dueling (POCT)

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Dueling When two skilled fighters meet in personal combat, their contest runs far deeper than simple attacks, blocks, or traps. If a boxer dodges to his left when his opponent throws a right jab, or ducks when his opponent throws a body punch, he's at a distinct disadvantage. The same thing can happen in a melee between two armed combatants.
The subtle patterns of attack and defense create temporary advantages or disadvantages for characters involved in a duel. Leaping over a low axe sweep is a great way to avoid getting hit . . . but what if you guessed wrong and your opponent aimed high? This section presents an optional set of rules for resolving duels between skilled warriors.
==What's A Duel?==
For our purposes, a duel is any fight that takes place between a PC and one humanoid enemy armed with a weapon of some kind. It doesn't begin, though, until the two combatants have actually engaged in melee. Don't begin using these rules, including the special initiative system below, until this happens.
Generally, it's not worth the extra time and effort to use the dueling rules unless the enemy is close to the PC's own skill level; if the hero can clean the villain's clock within a round or two, don't bother to use these rules.
Duels are best saved for confrontations with major NPC villains. If more than one character or creature is engaged on either side, the fight doesn't count as a duel anymore; the subtleties of attack and defense are quickly lost when several combatants become involved. The DM has the authority to declare that a duel has turned into a normal melee whenever he sees fit.
==Initiative==
In a duel, initiative works differently than it does in a normal melee. Roll initiative normally at the beginning of the fight, but disregard any critical events—this is a contest of skill, not luck. The character that wins initiative is called the attacker, and his opponent becomes the defender.
After the first round, duels don't have initiative rolls. Instead, the attacker retains the initiative until one of the following events occurs:
* He chooses a combat action that does not require an attack roll in a round;
* The defender disarms or traps the attacker's primary weapon;
* The attacker is knocked down or forced to retreat by the defender;
* The defender overbears, trips, or otherwise grapples the attacker.
When the initiative shifts, the effects are immediate—if an attacker loses the initiative in the fast phase, his opponent is considered to have the iniative in the average, slow, and very slow phases of that same round, as well as the following round (or at least until the new attacker loses the initiative.)
==The Dueling Plot==
Before a duel begins, both of the participants should have a copy of the dueling plot (provided on the opposite page for you to photocopy). There are two basic parts to the diagram: the positioning symbols and the attack and defense lists.
At the beginning of each round of a duel, the attacker and defender both secretly choose their strategies of attack, defense, and position. The attack and defense forms are represented by numbers on a concealed die; the attack form uses a d12 and the defense a d6. The lists on the dueling plot indicate which forms are available and what effects and adjustments apply. The position symbols are used to indicate how the duelist moves defensively in the round.
To set up a maneuver, each player first takes the defensive die (the d6) and chooses a defense form, then positions it in the space desired. Next, an attack form is selected on the attack die (the d12). Note that not all attack forms are allowed with every defensive maneuver. The numbers in the position spaces indicate which attack choices are valid with that kind of defensive movement. After all, it's pretty hard to perform a close attack on someone when you're leaping back. Finally, the attack die is positioned where the duelist anticipates his opponent will go.
==Attacking in the Right Spot==
Anticipating where your opponent will go is an important part of the duel. If you apply your attack to the exact point that your opponent is moving defensively, your duelist gains a +2 bonus to the attack roll. For every direction (stationary, forward or backward, left or right) and every level (low, middle, high) that you are off, a 2-point penalty is applied.
For example, Eusebio is involved in a duel with his archnemesis, Darius the Dastardly. Eusebio's player secretly chooses to step to the left and perform a defensive block maneuver. At the same time, Eusebio will perform a normal attack, anticipating that Darius will leap back.
Darius, however, decides to tumble forward, making a normal defense and a normal attack. Since Eusebio guessed incorrectly two direction places (from back to stationary, stationary to forward) and two levels (high to medium, medium to low), he will suffer a –6 penalty to his attack roll (he starts with a +2 bonus, but loses four 2-point penalties for the four displacements).
==Reading an Opponent's Move==
After both characters have set their attack pattern, but before they are revealed, one duelist can attempt to “read” the other's moves. The duelists make an opposed Intelligence check. Whichever duelist wins has picked up on some telegraphed move by his opponent. If neither duelist makes a successful check, no pattern reading occurs. Alternatively, the duelist who holds initiative automatically gets to make a “read.”
In either case, the winner gets to ask about one aspect of his opponent's pattern. He may choose to ask what kind of attack is coming, what kind of defense is being used, or the position of his opponent's defense. Once this is done, the duelist who has made the read may adjust one aspect of his own pattern accordingly. If he chooses to change the position of his attack, then he may only adjust it by one space, either directionally or by one level.
Continuing our example, Eusebio wins an opposed Intelligence check and questions Darius's player on the direction Darius intends to move defensively. Upon seeing how badly he miscalculated, Eusebio decides to adjust his attack from a leap back to a backpedal, reducing his penalty from a –6 to a –4. Alternatively, he could have chosen to change his attack style to a wild swing, gaining a +1 bonus to hit, but his final penalty would have been at –5.
==Moving the Figures==
After the patterns are established and read, combat is conducted as per the combat system in Chapter One. If a figure must close to make an attack, the figures are moved accordingly. At the end of the round, the players must move their figures on the board one space in the direction they chose as their defensive positioning. In other words, if a duelist tumbled forward, that figure moves forward one space.
If for some reason the two figures end up in the same square, an opposed Strength check is made to see who gains the square and who is pushed back a square. The combatant who wins the square always pushes his foe in the opposite direction from where the winner came in.
==Choice of Defense==
There are six different defenses that a dueling character can choose from when building his attack pattern for the round. The defenses are:
# None: The character chooses to use a standard defense, not utilizing any unusual maneuvers.
# Weapon Block: The character allocates an attack for the block maneuver, using a weapon to catch one of his opponent's attacks.
# Defensive Trap: The character allocates an attack to perform the trap maneuver. The trap itself can be performed with a primary or secondary weapon or even a shield.
# Defensive Disarm: The character allocates an attack to perform a defensive disarm.
# Shield Block: The character allocates an attack for the block maneuver, using a shield to catch one of his opponent's attacks.
# Parry: The character chooses the combat action parry, making no attacks this round. Parrying provides the character with a bonus to his AC equal to his level, or his level plus one if he is a warrior.
==Choice of Attack==
Duelists can also choose one of twelve types of attack:
1 Normal Attack: The duelist uses no unusual maneuvers, simply attempting to land a normal blow with her weapon.
2 Shield Punch: The duelist allocates one of her attacks to performing a shield punch.
3 Sap: The duelist attempts to use her attack to knock her opponent unconscious.
4 Pull/trip: The duelist tries to use her weapon to hook or snare her opponent's legs and pull him off his feet. She must allocate an attack for this option.
6 Offensive Disarm: The character allocates an attack to the offensive disarm option.
7 Feint: The character tries to draw out her opponent by faking an attack in one location and then attacking somewhere else. The feint is particularly effective against ripostes and disarms, and therefore provides a +1 bonus against those types of attacks.
8 Outside Attack: The character tries to attack around her opponent's guard, striking to the side of a shield or at a sliding opponent. This maneuver offers a +1 bonus against a shield block or a slide position. Flails are also very good for this and get a +1 attack bonus above and beyond any other bonuses for this maneuver.
9 Riposte: The character waits for her opponent to launch an attack and expose a weakness, and then she strikes in return. A character who ripostes must wait until after her opponent has attacked before she can make her own attack in that round. However, the riposte maneuver offers a +1 bonus to hit against smashes, wild swings, and outside attacks.
10 Smash: It's not elegant, but beating down a weaker character's defenses is a legitimate tactic in a fight. This type of maneuver offers a +1 bonus to hit versus blocks and parrys.
11 Close Attack: The duelist tries to get inside her opponent's guard and attack at close range. This maneuver provides a +1 bonus against opponents with larger weapons, but it cannot be used if the character's own weapon size is larger than her opponent's.
12 Wild Swing: Foregoing all thought of defense, the character tries to make as many attacks as possible by raining a fusillade of blows on her opponent. Wild swings gain a +1 bonus to attacks against normal defenses.
==Ending a Duel==
Duels don't have to be fought to the death; in fact, there are lots of villains and monsters that would rather not get killed if it's possible to surrender and live. Some other common conditions for duels include fighting to first blood, fighting until someone is wounded (usually 25% or 50% loss of hit points), fighting until disarmed or knocked down, and any number of other alternatives. In social confrontations, the area's culture may have dueling traditions that define the normal forms of combat and victory.
For example, in Norse cultures, duels might be resolved in a holmgang, or island-going; the two parties involved meet on a small island, with no seconds or bystanders, and only one is permitted to return. Other duels may be considered over when the blood of one of the fighters stains a white sheet on which they fight, or when an impartial judge rules that one character or the other has been defeated.