Subsystems and You 1: Duels and Spell Duels
The combat system of pathfinder is pretty robust, and provides a solid foundation for all but the most massive battles, but occasionally you need a way to emulate a formal duel between two individuals, which is where today’s entry comes in.
Originally conceived as spell duels for a way for spellcasters to display their prowess, more traditional duels between all sorts of classes became available in later books.
Regardless of who is fighting them, duels have a long tradition of being a way to solve disagreements or prove the prowess of, though they need not end in death or bloodshed.
Before a duel, both sides must agree on what the terms of the duel are, such as to the death, or to subdual of one combatant, or even less conflict-oriented duels involving displays of power or skill for a crowd. Unless agreed upon beforehand, attacking bystanders (particularly to the exclusion of the foe they are dueling), or receiving aid or harm from said onlookers is considered poor form, and if at least one side intent on upholding the terms of the duel realizes this, the duel is considered annulled, and the situation continues on as appropriate, possibly escalating to combat or other conflict.
Even when they do result in death, duels are far more than just combat involving only two or more figures. Quick reactions alone are not always enough to determining who has the upper hand in acting, as some may attempt to intimidate or psyche out foes to gain the upper hand. Furthermore, due to the focus on only a few opponents, combatants can take time to study their foes and attempt to dodge away or parry a foes strikes.
Even magic users can get in on this action, able to ready one of their own spells or a dispel as a counterspell against foes. This requires quick wits and identification skill on the part of the caster, but if done successfully, is a much more flexible form of counterspelling, only requiring a prepared spell or spell slot of equal or higher level to counteract the enemy’s magic. While this can be interpreted as expending raw arcane energy to negate the magic of a foe, why be boring? Coming up with ways of how your chosen spell negated the other is half the fun, such as firing a fireball through the rift in space where a creature would be summoned, collapsing it with an explosion, or a sonic shriek to disrupt the casting of a spell, and so on.
With all these special rules in mind, the participants continue to try to achieve the win conditions of the duel until one wins, they opt to end it, or to break the agreement.
And that’s Duels! Later on Psychic Duels and Verbal Duels would be introduced, but those have drastically different rules compared to these first two types, so we’ll cover them in a future entry.
