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Magical Dueling

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Dueling is a popular pass time for competitive, honor-preoccupied galdori. It is not illegal in any of the Six Kingdoms, and is in fact considered a fairly serious sport. At Brunnhold, for example, there are highly competitive student dueling leagues, wherein students compete with one another.

Dueling Culture

A galdor may challenge another galdor over any slight, real or imagined. It is generally considered rude and cowardly to refuse the challenge, although there are scenarios – if the challenger is heavily inebriated or otherwise presents a danger to themselves and others – where the honorable thing to do would be to refuse.

Note that what is discussed here applies to formal duels – not street fights, and not any encounter between galdori who wish to contest one another magically. Many other types of combat or challenges also exist and are widely agreed upon. For example, these rules would be used during Dueling League matches at Brunnhold or during a formal duel between two galdori in front of an audience, but not on the Lawn at Brunnhold or by a Seventen subduing a criminal galdor.

Dueling Etiquette

In practice, duels work on a turn-based system. It is considered the height of rudeness to interrupt your opponent’s turn with anything other than a counter-spell, or for any watchers to interrupt in any way.

The challenged has the right to choose the location and timing of the duel (there is no standard practice as regards time of day; duels are often conducted immediately, but can be scheduled for another time or place). The challenged also has the right to set an agreed-upon level of “damage” – for example, the challenged may stipulate that neither galdori has the right to draw blood. This is customary, and violating this would be a serious enough breach of etiquette as to be considered a “loss.”

Although any level of mutual damage may be agreed upon, those who attended Brunnhold will be aware of mutually agreed upon levels, or tiers. These are:

Third tier


No damage that lasts beyond the duel (temporary pain spells or discomfort are allowed, however)

Second tier


No bloodshed (or no deliberate bloodshed) and no grievous injury

First tier


No holds barred (although killing is always frowned upon)

It is up to the dueling parties whether to stake anything on the duel; often, honor is sufficient.

Even with these rules, there are certain types of spells that are considered extremely brutal and poor form. For example, spells doing any sort of damage to the opponent’s tongue (i.e. cutting it) are considered in poor taste; similarly, while allowed, doing something like shattering an opponent’s leg or casting a serious psychosis spell on them would also be a dishonorable win.

How a Duel Works (In Game)

For galdori, duels work on a point-based system which operates in timed rounds, with one turn for each galdori per round. Typically, a duel is won by the first to five points, although there are cases in which there is an automatic forfeit.

A point is scored when the caster’s spell affects the recipient. Each galdor can score no more than one point per round. A turn begins when the caster starts to cast, and ends when they finish their spell. The timing component comes in at the beginning of the next caster’s turn; they have a certain amount of time (typically thirty seconds) in which to begin their spell. Failing to begin the spell within that time means forfeiting one’s turn; one therefore loses the opportunity to cast a spell in that round, and the other caster can begin their next spell.

A new spell must be cast in a turn in order for a point to be scored. Forfeiting three turns in a row is also considered an automatic loss. This allows a caster of a powerful sleep spell, for example, to win without needing to cast two additional spells.

Even duels outside of a league will have an “Arbiter”; this can be any mutually agreed upon person for a formal duel (although in a league, training and certification is required). The Arbiter is responsible for keeping the timing of the rounds, and may sometimes be asked to adjudicate spells which fall into a gray area of “affecting the recipient.” If the duelists do not agree on who goes first, the Arbiter is also responsible for using a coin or some other similar mechanism to decide.

Note that a duelist can also forfeit at any time by choice, although this is considered shameful. Unconsciousness, if it occurs, usually triggers a loss by the skipped turn mechanism.

How a Duel Works (Suggested Mechanics)

Here are some suggestions for how to play out a formal duel between two PCs (or a PC and a NPC) using dice. Let’s call the duelists Duelist 1 and Duelist 2.

Duelist 1 has the first turn, whether decided by random chance or the duelers’ agreement. He casts a spell. The writer playing Duelist 1 rolls 1d6 to determine the success of the spell.

On a 1, the spell automatically fails (and may result in backlash). For any other value, the writer playing Duelist 2 then rolls to “contest” the spell. If they roll the same number or higher, the spell succeeds and does affect them, but is not sufficient that Duelist 2 cannot cast on their next turn. Regardless, note that as long as Duelist 1’s player rolls a 2 or higher and the spell affects Duelist 2 in some way, a point is scored. Duelist 2’s player’s roll is focused on whether or not Duelist 2 will be able to cast during their turn.

Note that the writer of Duelist 2 can always choose to automatically “fail” the contesting roll, if doing so makes sense for their intended story. Similarly, the writer of Duelist 1 could always choose to take a 1 as the outcome of their casting roll.

If the spell “succeeds,” either automatically or because Duelist 2’s player rolls lower than Duelist 1’s player’s roll, Duelist 2 would not be able to cast during their turn. If the spell fails, either automatically or because Duelist 2’s player matches or beats Duelist 1’s player’s roll, then Duelist 2’s turn comes next.

Duelist 2 and their player then repeat the process, until one of the two Duelists has reached 5 points. That Duelist is then the “winner” of the duel.

Variations Across Kingdoms

The approach described here is the basis for galdori dueling culture across all Six Kingdoms, and can be considered the basic rules of dueling, familiar to any galdori who has attended Brunnhold; duels following these rules may take place anywhere. There are, however, variations on dueling that persist among the different kingdoms and would be familiar to galdori educated or living there. The below discusses some of these, but other alterations to these rules and standard practices may also exist.

In Bastia, most duels are conducted along the same lines as those in Anaxas. Bastia also, however, has a flourishing non-combat duel system, in which the duelists compete against one another with successively more impressive displays of magical skill. An example might be weaving elaborate illusions via perceptive magic for the arbiter or audience. In such a duel, the arbiter usually selects the winner.

In Hox, it is common practice to cast lots for an Arbiter among the audience, to ensure that the selection of the Arbiter is completely unbiased.

In Hesse, considerable respect is paid to duelists who are able to score a ‘point’ without actually damaging their opponent; this is regarded as the most honorable type of fighting.

In Gior, duels to the death are considerably more common (although usually still a response to a more serious provocation). As well, the selection of dueling location is particularly important in Gior; skilled physical casters can (and will) make use of caverns and echo-casting during duels.

In Mugroba, some duels are conducted with a relaxation of the turn-based system; this is especially true for duels among clairvoyants, where the winner is often whoever is able to cast first.