Kendrick lowered his sword. He stepped closer. "How is he? Not too hurt, I hope."

After time for each contestant to fully heal and prepare themselves, the next bout is announced ...

Table 1 - Cass Vs Adoven  (Umpire Kendrick 1)

Adoven readies himself with rapier and dagger. He says "Good Luck, but not too good." If he is the faster fighter, he will take advantage of whatever gaps appear in Cass' defenses.
Adoven starts in B-3. His actions are based on who is faster.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:37, Thu 21 Jan 2021.

“Relying mostly on luck got me trounced last session.” Cass remarked, turning to give Kendrick a wink. “Nice victory, Marshall. Clean and harmful, just the way it should be.” Looking back to Adoven, Cass saluted with his sword. “Since I know that you won’t agree to duel without magic as the Marshall agreed, I am sure this will be a truer test of combat prowess than swordsmanship. As such, I wish you a fair showing. But only fair.” Cass smiled genuinely to Adoven. He then quickly took his place (C3) and began spell casting.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Thu 21 Jan 2021.

Clarifying posts

Additional question for one of you.

PM

PM

The two combatants entered the dueling room. Adovan attacked with rapier and dagger. Both attacks in rapid succession. Cass was already on alert, so he wasn't caught flat-footed. Cass casted a spell while on the defensive.





OOC: Next round! Adovan won INIT. But both may post in a private line.

PM

“Two strikes deserve two strikes.” Cass commented before he attacked with both sword and spell.

Pause as I get clarification from the GM :)

DM Ruling

The rules say that a Character is flat-footed in the first round of combat, if they lose initiative.  However, this is a controlled duelling environment, not a standard fight.

The Duel starts when the duellers enter the table.  Adoven has entered the duelling table  and walked to the centre of the table to take his stance - right next to Cass.  So there is an implied movement of 5 feet in Adoven's post.  That, in my view, is enough to negate the flatfoot rule.

After this tournament is over, I will modify the house duelling rules to fix starting points for contestants - so this doesn't come up again.

On a second point -  no character knows whether they have won or lost initiative, until they hit or are hit.  There can't be an either/or set of action - players must post a single set of actions, regardless of whether they win or lose initiative.

Adoven takes a 5' step away from Cass. He mentally activates his Shield spell, casting Defensively.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:55, Fri 22 Jan 2021.

And this is exactly why I didn't really want to run  duels and why I dislike the way the d20 and then PF has added all these fine detail rules for a game that has always been based around general concepts - that encouraged Role Play rather than rules management.  I find it amusing (to some extent) that D&D grew out of a wargame (Chainmail) to  scratch the developers itch to role play their main characters, and  now, the combat rules are moving back towards fine detailed skirmish level wargaming.

Supplements for the sake of supplements  to earn them more money with little consideration of how they affect the game.  It is interesting to note the power creep that takes place with each supplement - amazing how many people now think the original prestige classes are 'weak'. I guess they were just throwing 'cool stuff' at the rules.

Cass moves the distance needed to strike Adoven again and again brings his sword to bear this time sending magical lightning along with it.

OOC Is this Lightning energy something that Evasion works against?

It is a touch attack.

OOC Ah. Adoven's Touch AC is currently 19.

OOC : But the sword already touched him. How does that work? I thought the spell triggered on any successful strike attack, so long as spellcraft didn’t fumble. Do I need to roll a second attack roll instead?
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:07, Fri 22 Jan 2021.

The effect is delivered through the sword.  If the sword-blow hits the magical effect takes effect.  If the sword misses, the lightning doesn't hit.

Ok. Please hold up so that I can post results from Round 2.
And then I'll start working on elements of Round 3, which I see parts of but not all.

In reply to Kendrick Winters (msg # 42):

Adovan casted a spell on himself. The shield negated the magic missiles that struck the invisible barrier, but it did not stop the Aldori Sword that slid effortlessly into Adovan's flesh.

OOC
I have Cass' action. Need Adovan's action for round 3.

Adoven breathes a sigh of relief as he presses his attack. He hadn't known that Cass knew that spell, and his Shield saved him from that lack of knowledge. "Pretty tricky, Cass" he says as both rapier and dagger dig at Cass Mordane's defenses.