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Made in gb
Beast Lord






England.

Admit it, you've all wondered before how PvP would go if somebody converted it to work with the D&D system, well wonder no longer! I have, and it works great, as a DM myself, it provides a great way to escape from the campaign and a chance for me to play a character when more than one person is away from my group. These are the times when everyones just stuck there thinking, we can't really have 2 characters missing and continue with the story as it'd be too much hassle when the players come back. Instead of rolling up some random encounters for the party to blaze through without exp or items, we whip out the PvP files and see ultimately, who has the most skill on the battlefield.
Now I know what your thinking, D&D will not work in PvP, it is entirely a team based game and the whole concept seems a waste of time. You might at this point be interested, and thinking ooooooh if I introduce this to my group then roll up a rogue I can so whip their butts with high initiative.
No, this doesn't work in PvP, it never will the way me and my group play it, which after time and many trials, we have decided is the best way. Sure you can modify my rules and say well I just want to be able to say I'm the best in my group, but theres really not much point. It's certainly not fun at all for the other person if you beat their initiative roll on a 1, and then run over and slit their throat with a guaranteed first/second turn kill.
So I'm going to explain how we play PvP, for 1v1, 2v2 or even more in the Duel arena, and if you have 3 or more players, you can even run alot larger matches such as CTF games. I'm only going to post rules for PvP Duels in an arena based map here, but if the post proves popular or people request it I will provide our rules and map for CTF games.

The basics.
For starters, the two best levels we've found to play PvP at are 11 and 4. 4 Provides for a lot simpler and faster gameplay as there is less choices for players to make, and can be alot easier to play if you decide to try it out one night without having pre-made characters before you arrived to the session.
Level 11 however can provide alot of bonuses, you have paragon paths, alot more choice with powers, and higher health, ability scores and defenses. Whilst taking longer to play and set up, level 11 can provide more fun, tactical optimization and thought to a battle.
It's your choice which one to use, but their is a couple of rules to go with each, will I will explain in detail below. Personally I prefer to play at level 11, so if I refer to anything in this guide without stating it's level, I'm talking about 11.
Level 4 Duel Rules:
  • No action points are used in level 4 duels, and no daily powers either (Daily Utilities are allowed), this is stop rangers or rogues running over with high initiative, popping a daily and their encounter power and completely annihilating their opponent.
    All characters have double health, again this is stop players from winning without just getting lucky with roles when their opponents don't, then finishing them off on the second turn. Because of this all healing is doubled, including surges, second wind and potions.

  • Level 11 Duel Rules:
  • Action points are used, and so are daily powers, because of higher health and defenses here, matches at level 11 last alot longer than their level 4 counterparts. This is why we allow use of dailies and action points, but if you want to limit them with either, that's fine.
    Double health/healing is optional here, but not recommended, again personally we dont use double health for level 11 duels, as we seem to take them alot more seriously than level 4 ones. Again though, it's your choice and you can change it if you find it suits your groups style better.

  • Duels are played on an 8x8 grid, with opposite sides of the grid having a 2x2 spawn area. Players are recomended to use the front 2 squares of the spawn area, so they are closer to the main grid. If you have more ranged players, feel free to increase the size of the grid, but I don't recommend going above 12x12. Pillars and cover are optional, we usually have 4 pillars that take up a space each and block line of sight completely. If you want to design pit-fall traps or anything else, it's your choice.

    That covers most of the core concepts you need to play PvP, when a player drops to 0HP, he/she dies and is removed from the board and game completely. Players cannot be revived from death. Incase anybody is interested, Rangers, barbarians and rogues seem to be the best classes here. They can all deal damage fast and easily, and barbarians especially can take a tonne of damage and have high defenses. Ranged classes are usually too squishy to compete, but if you want to try one out that's your choice. Fighters and paladins are great at taking damage, and work well in teams where marking can distract the enemies from hitting the rogue, which is flanking them and doing a potential 3d8 + dex mod damage with an AW power(+3d8 if they are attacked before the end of their next turn - Riposte Strike). Also Paladins and clerics can heal okayy whilst still withstanding and dealing moderate damage. Rogues can suck after turn 3 if they don't have flanking or an alternate way to keep combat advantage, and hence work better in teams. Barbarians and rangers (especially at level 11), can work excellent by themselves, barbarians just raging and smacking the enemy with a tonne of damage, and rangers who can get a potential of around 8-10d10 + 2d6 + about 40 in modifiers damage a turn (with Action Points).

    Thread is now open to discussion, opinions and own details are welcome and appreciated.
    James.

    This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/03/03 13:20:23


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