Dueling Guide

## Basic Guidelines

This guide will walk you through the process of simulating a duel on site. There are two options for members, you can narratively decide what happens in a duel and write it out in a thread or you can make use of rolling mechanics to incorporate the element of randomness into the outcome of the duel. Outlined in this guide is the step-by-step process of incorporating rolling mechanics into your duel. In order to ensure dueling mechanics that are consistent with canon, there are several things that need to be taken into consideration when choosing a spell to cast in your opponent’s direction:

* All spells that are used need to be from the Standard Book of Spells. Spells not in this list are not considered site canon.
* **Before beginning, both players need to agree to a dueling plot and accept that potential bodily harm may occur to a character. The players also need to agree ahead of time if death of a player in a duel is a possibility.  If both players did not agree to a dueling scenario, the thread will be archived automatically.**
* With students, in particular, spells need to be age-appropriate. A first year should not be able to successfully attempt a spell that is taught at the NEWT-level.
* Dueling is subject to IC consequences
	+ Students who are dueling on Hogwarts grounds will be interrupted by a Professor/Prefect/Head. Points may be docked and detentions may be given.
	+ Adults who are dueling may be subject to the consequences of being asked to leave a pub or other location or have disciplinary action from their supervisor if they are dueling at work.
* Unforgivable Curses are subject to expulsion from school and potential arrest.

All dueling will be rolled for by the members participating in the appropriate channel on the Discord server.

## Posting Order

Posting order will be varied for dueling threads to ensure that characters have an equal opportunity to cast first. The typical etiquette in RP is to wait for your opponent to reply before posting your next reply will be disregarded. We encourage members to roll a D12 to decide who gets to go first in order to keep things random and fair; the member who rolls the highest without a modifier would be the first to post a spell in the thread.

### In situations with only two characters dueling the order of play will be as follows:

* Player A (cast spell)
* Player B (cast spell)
* Roll for success and consequence
* Player B (reaction & new spell)
* Player A (reaction & new spell)
* Roll for success and consequence
* Player A (reaction & new spell)
* Player B (reaction & new spell)
* Roll for success and consequence
* Continue as needed

### In situations with larger groups dueling, the order of play will be as follows:

* Player A
* Player B
* Player C
* Roll for success and consequence
* Player B (reaction & new spell)
* Player C (reaction & new spell)
* Player A (reaction & new spell)
* Roll for success and consequence
* Player C (reaction & new spell)
* Player A (reaction & new spell)
* Player B (reaction & new spell)
* Roll for success and consequence
* Continue as needed, repeating the same order starting at the top of this list

## Dueling Rolls

No matter the spell the player decides to cast, they will roll a 1D12 dice.  If they have any modifiers, either from Age-Based Modifiers as shown below or negative modifiers from a distraction, those are summed together.  The resulting number is used to determine if the player succeeded at casting the spell(spell challenge rating) and if they succeeded at casting the spell on their opponent(rolling higher than their opponent).

## Hit Points or Damage Dueler can take

With Dueling, there is only so much damage that a character can receive before they are knocked out of the duel.  That amount of damage is the character’s Hit Points.  The amount of Hit Points that a character has is static and based on their year.  See below for the amount of Hit Points.

* 1st year - 4
* 2nd - 3rd year - 8
* 4th - 5th year - 12
* 6th - 7th year - 16
* Adult (post school) - 20

## Student Dueling Mechanics

Students are subject to different mechanics for dueling due to a lack of experience. However, based on a student's age or level of study, they can add specific modifiers to the cast spell.

### Age Based Modifiers

* 1st year - +0
* 2nd - 3rd year - +1
* 4th - 5th year - +2
* 6th - 7th year - +3
* Adult - +4

### Spell Challenge Ratings

* 1st year - 5
* 2nd year - 6
* 3rd year - 7
* 4th year - 8
* 5th year - 9
* 6th year - 10
* 7th year - 11
* Post Hogwarts - 12

## Spell Categories & Effects

### Immobilisers:

Spells intended to prevent your opponent from taking an action.  These spells will prevent the target from taking action until the affected player rolls a number equal to or greater than the challenge rating of the Immobiliser spell cast on them.

### Defences:

Spells intended to prevent your opponent's action from affecting you.  Defence spells need to meet different qualifiers to succeed.  First, the player needs to roll enough to meet the Defences spells CR.  Second, the Defences spell year needs to be no more than two spell years below the spell it’s defending against.  For example, a year 1 spell can defend against up to a year 3 spell.

### Attacks:

Spells intended to damage your opponent's health status.  These spells will incur a certain amount of damage listed in the spell but will be typically 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, or for a couple of spells, ‘instant kill.’

### Distractions:

Spells intended to reduce the effectiveness of your opponent's action.  When they try to perform spells, these spells will cause the target to have a negative modifier.  The amount of the negative modifier, ex. -1, -2,  -3, or as noted.  This negative modifier stays with the affected player semi-permanently.  To remove the modifier, the player needs to spend their turn attempting to remove the modifier by rolling equal to or greater than the distraction spell cast on them.

### Non-combatives:

Spells that may have a narrative element but don’t fit into any of the above categories, and they don’t have any in-duel effect beyond storytelling.

### Battle Scenarios and Resolution

In general, in any duel, the caster is trying to overcome both the challenge rating of the spell they are attempting to cast along with overcoming their opponent’s challenge to the spell.  Likewise, a player that attempts a spell that isn’t an attack, they need to overcome the challenge rating of the spell and overcome their opponent’s role.  In the event of a tie, the advantage goes to the first person to act in the sequence unless otherwise indicated below.

Below are further details of how scenarios resolve based on the specific scenarios.  The way that the scenarios are described is in the order the event happens.  (Ex - Attack success, Defense success.) In this scenario, the first player to act is casting an Attack spell, and the second player is casting a Defense spell.

### Attacks, Immobilisers, or Distractions vs. Defenses

* Attack success Defense fail - Attack spell effect happens
* Attack success Defense success - The Attack is successfully defended against.
* Attack fail - Nothing happens beyond narrative
* Immobilisers success Defense fail - Immobilisers spell effect happens
* Immobilisers success Defense success - The Immobilisers is successfully defended against.
* Immobilisers fail - Nothing happens beyond narrative
* Distractions success Defense fail - Distractions spell effect happens
* Distractions success Defense success - The Distractions is successfully defended against.
* Distractions fail - Nothing happens beyond narrative

### Attacks, Immobilisers or Distractions vs. Attacks, Immobilisers or Distractions

* Both Players Attack - If both player’s succeed this is the one situation that both player’s effect happens.  If only one player succeeds that player’s attack does the spell effect.  If both fail nothing happens beyond the narration about the spell’s failing.
* Attacks, Immobilisers or Distractions vs. Immobilisers or Distractions - If both player’s succeed the first player to act’s spell effect happens.  If only one player succeeds that player’s spell effect happens.    If both fail nothing happens beyond the narration about the spells failing.

## Resolution of Duel

There are a few ways that a duel can resolve.

* One player opts to end the duel - Keep in mind that this is subject to turn order.  So a player who is second in the turn order can opt to end the duel, but they may be subject to one last spell by their opponent
* One player is reduced to 0 or lower hit points
* One player is hit with a spell that is either an instant kill or disables the player permanently