Dueling Rules

***The gauntlet has been thrown and now it is time to run a duel in your game. In history and fiction, duels stand out as scenes full of tension and action. How can you provide that excitement and avoid creating a long, drawn-out combat scene while the rest of the table waits? Here are some advice and rules for running duels at your table.***

## **Reasons for a Duel**

There are many reasons for a duel scenario. Here are some potential starters to make sure the duel has a reason to occur and an outcome that matters.

* **Avoid a War.** When two armies meet on opposite sides of the battlefield, they could avoid mass bloodshed by calling for single combat between two champions. By having a champion from each army fight to determine the outcome of the battle, everyone else could go home without a scratch.
* **Compelled Duel.** A PC or NPC could be compelled into a duel using magic such as the spell compelled duel (see core rules). Who cast the spell, and why?
* **Defending Honor.** In a society where the preservation of one’s honor is paramount, a duel provides a way to satisfy a dispute and maintain honor. Depending on the seriousness of the dispute, a duel can range from first blood to mortal combat. If you want a location the PCs are visiting to have an established practice of using duels to achieve satisfaction, create a codified set of rules for dueling (see Code Duello). If a PC breaks social norms and insults a noble, they could end up challenged to a duel, even if they aren’t aware of the existence of the code.
* **Final Showdown.** After losing loved ones and chasing an adversary for years, a PC finally has their chance for revenge. As the party of adventurers closes in on their companions enemy, they yell to their companions, “Stay back, this fight is mine alone!” It’s always a good idea to set this type of scene in a dangerous setting like a rooftop, bridge, burning building, or cliff beside a waterfall. These types of settings are exciting and provide an escape for a villain so they can return to threaten the PCs another day.
* **Performance Duel.** The rival of the party’s bard has sent out a challenge to settle who is the better of the two. While things could get serious and turn to combat, this type of duel generally starts with a contest of Performance or musical instrument checks to see who can get the crowd going.
* **Prize Fight or Contest.** Whether it’s a sideshow where a brute challenges passers-by, or the main event in a huge coliseum, winning the duel earns the PC a prize. That prize could be their freedom, gold coins, or something needed from an important NPC. If you want to keep the fight non-lethal, have the blows deal non-lethal damage from blunted blades and other non-lethal options.
* **Training Trials.** Lower-level PCs have often left some type of order of bards, warriors, monks, or wizards to wander the world. As they advance, a duel against their former teacher provides an interesting challenge and a chance to earn new class features or even a selected class archetype. This type of duel could be a short session with just one player. Trial by Combat. The party is in trouble with the law and have to stand for trial.
* **A trial by combat** (or judicial duel) can resolve a conflict where there was little evidence, settle a bitter dispute, or be the preferred judicial resolution of an area. The party could appoint a single champion, or you could even have each PC fight for their freedom. As an alternative, you could drop the PCs into a dungeon, gauntlet, or another challenge after being told only the innocent survive.

### Code Duello

Whether an impromptu fight demanded during a heated argument or one scheduled for dawn, duels need established rules of engagement. These rules are often called a Code Duello. Without rules of engagement, you have a standard combat encounter. There are countless rules you could invent, but a Code Duello should make sense for the place where it is tradition. Decide how well known and enforced the Code Duello is. What are the impacts of breaking the rules in a duel? Are the rules written down somewhere? The Code Duello example below for Nekhemra allows nobles to seek satisfaction when their honor has been threatened.

Duels are completely legal on the Planet Nhekmaru. The following rules of engagement are well known:
* Duels occur in public, outside, during daylight hours.
* Each participant fights alone and can receive no help from outside sources.
* Each participant declares a second, who acts as a witness and ensures both participants obey the rules.
* Each participant fights with the same or similar weapons, determined and agreed to by both parties before the duel begins.
* The participants wear no Armor.
* No magical items or effects can be used before or during the duel to aid its participants. Any participant found benefiting from magic forfeits the duel and is declared dishonorable.
* The duel lasts until one of the participants bleeds, surrenders, or is unable to continue.

## **Determining a Winner**

As your campaign advances, PCs and monsters gain enormous numbers of hit points. For most duels, reducing an opponent to 0 hit points is neither fun nor essential to determine a winner. When creating your own Code Duello, consider the following ways to determine a winner.

* **Three Touches.** The first participant to successfully hit three attack rolls against their opponent is the winner. Any touch could also be the last if the hit is enough to bring the opponent to 0 hit points. This method helps to quickly determine a winner and works great for lower level PCs. Once PCs gain the Extra Attack feature, duels can become very short and this method can be unsatisfactory if the first round is one-sided. The three-touch method also works if you want a non-lethal duel with blunted blades, such as in a contest, trial, or training.
* **To the Blood.** The first participant to reduce their opponent to half of their maximum hit points wins. This method avoids a long battle and outright killing an opponent.
* **To the Death.** The first participant to fall unconscious or die loses. This method could work well at the lower levels but takes a significant amount of time at higher levels, especially if damage reduction, self-healing, and resistances are significant.
* **Other Ideas.** There are countless other ways to decide victory, such as pushing an opponent out of the ring or knocking an opponent off a log. Establish the method as part of your Code Duello, and have fun with it.

***Establish Setting***

Use an interesting and dramatic location for your duel.

* an arena with a screaming crowd
* at a tavern surrounded by drunk gamblers
* high above the deck of a ship
* in the town square on market day
* high noon at the edge of town
* on a rooftop after a chase
* in the bell tower of a cathedral
* on a balcony at a formal ball

## **Running a Duel**

To run a duel, you don’t need a new and complex set of rules. Fifth edition already has everything needed to run combat, with initiative, attack rolls, saving throws, and advantage/disadvantage. Here is a simple framework for running a duel

* Each participant makes an initiative check each round
* Duels are planned, or at least expected, and neither participant can be surprised without some form of serious distraction.
* At the beginning of each round, the GM checks that each participant wants to continue the duel, unless it is to the death. If either participant yields, the duel ends and the participant that ended the duel has lost.
* On their turn, each participant takes their actions and movement. Consider how the spirit of the duel handles Hide, Disengage, or leaving the fighting arena.

## **Using Duel Points**

Unlike the distracting chaos of regular combat, a duel requires focusing on only one opponent, which can make scoring a hit considerably more difficult. If you want a slightly more complicated system for running your duel, you can have the participants fight to wear their opponent down and gain the upper hand. Choose any combination of the following rules that work for your table.

* Each participant starts with 3 duel points.
* Begin the duel with an intimidation round to allow either opponent the chance to earn a boon to start the duel. Each participant in the duel makes their choice of a Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Performance) check, contested by their opponent’s Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Performance) check. The winner of the contest gains their choice of an additional duel point or adding 1d4 to their initiative roll.
* Participants in the duel make normal attack rolls to wear down their opponent. Each attack roll that hits against the opponent’s AC takes away a duel point from the opponent. • A participant only rolls damage for an attack roll that hits when their opponent has started to tire and falter, indicated by having 0 duel points remaining.
* A participant can spend a duel point to gain advantage on an attack roll. • A participant can attempt to earn a duel point by choosing to forgo an attack to fight defensively, imposing disadvantage on their opponent’s next attack roll. If the attack roll misses, the participant gains a duel point.
* A participant wins a duel when their opponent loses hit points for a single touch contest. For other victory conditions such three touches, to the blood, or to the death, continue until the victory condition is reached.

## **Seconds**

Seconds traditionally act as witnesses and assist the person involved in the duel. This could be one or more people. Their role is usually formalized in the Code Duello. A second might need to:

* **Negotiate on behalf of the duelists to set the rules, time, and place of the duel.** They could even negotiate peace, avoiding the duel.
* **Act as a witness** and ensure both participants obey the rules.
* **Take the place** of an ill, injured, or cowardly duelist.
* **Notify the next of kin** when death occurs, and tend the body of their fallen comrade. You could set-up a tag team match where a second jumps in and takes the place of a defeated duelist. Victory could be determined by which side landed the most hits or had duelists left alive.

## **Keeping Everyone Busy**

A duel doesn’t have to be a time for the other players to sit by while one player takes the spotlight. Let the party run wild and you have a session to remember.

* **Cheat.** It is only cheating if someone finds out. Remind them of the repercussions of getting caught and enjoy the train wreck the ensues when things go downhill. PCs aren’t the only ones who can cheat.
* **Quips and Banter.** A duel can be a time for NPCs to taunt a PC with quips that cut deep and establish or reinforce the PC’s hatred of them. Banter can be loud and boastful, or whispered just to the PC. Use banter between attacks to reveal plot details such as who really killed the king or an evil plan their PC will never be able to stop once they are dead. Have the PCs stop the allies of the other participant in the duel from supporting the opponent or cheating.
* **Collect Information.** Allow other PCs to learn more about the opponent, find loopholes in the Code Duello, or anything else that could provide an edge. If you feel generous, create a loophole for the players to find in the rules.
* **Encourage and Insult.** The other PCs can help their champion by yelling encouragement or insulting the opponent. A character who is not a participant in the duel can encourage and insult by making a Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Performance) check contested by an ally of the opponent’s Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Performance) check. The winner of the contest provides a participant in the duel with a duel point. A character can only provide an ally with a duel point once per duel.
* **Gamble.** A duel is a great time for the other PCs to make a little coin. Allow the other PCs to gamble on the outcome of the duel. If gambling is not allowed, this can create even more complications.
* **Help and Hinder.** If healing and buffing your duelist, or hindering the opponent is allowed, there should be lots to keep the other PCs busy. Set out what is allowed in the Code Duello to avoid the rival duelist being transported to another plane or reduced to a pile of ash (outside of a wizard’s duel, of course).