Duelling Rules

Levels

The adult characters on PA are graded in skill on a tier system. The highest tier is number 1.

The Hogwarts duelling system has a level system. The lowest level is number 1.

All students begin on level 1.

Magic Points

Magic points are what your character uses to cast defensive spells.

Your character gains magic points as they gain experience in duelling.

All students begin with 15 magic points.

Spells

Students may only cast the spells that are recorded in their duelling information.

New spells may be added to your character's information as they gain experience, either by purchasing them with experience points, or as an RP giveaway or for reaching a certain level.

All students begin with the same five spells.

The Tally

Every duelling post (except the first one) should have a tally at the bottom. It tells your opponent what you're doing and makes it easier for you to keep track of your points.

It looks like this:

15 - 4 (blocking charm) = 11
0 hits
Hurling hex

It means you started with 15 magic points, you subtracted 4 points to block the spell that was cast at you and now you have 11 points left.

You have been hit by 0 spells.

And the spell you cast in this post was a hurling hex.

In duelling we always round up! If you figure out your blocking total and it's a fraction, round up to the nearest whole number (if you rounded down, you wouldn't block the spell, see?).

How to Duel: the nitty gritty

YOU MUST DUEL AS THE CHARACTER YOU ARE LOGGED IN ON

What you will need:

1. to have signed up for duelling
2. an opponent (or make it open)
3. an adjudicator (aka. me)

Recipe:

Each dueller writes an opening post for the duel. DO NOT CAST ANY SPELLS YET.

Now, you wait till I notice your post is there, and come to start your duel. It might take a while! Don't PM me to tell me about it; I don't want a PM box full of "why haven't you started our duel?" messages. Also, don't post more than once each in the thread, or I'll assume I already started your duel.

Once I've posted something, either of you can start casting spells. To cast your spell, first of all, check what spells you actually can cast - that means going to the Information topic, finding your character (ctrl+F) and reading their spell list. Choose a spell that sounds fun, write your post, write a tally for your spells and then roll the die to see how strong your spell will be.

Look here to see how to use the dice roller.

Then, it's your opponent's turn. They take the number generated by the dice roller and use that as your offensive spell's strength to figure out how much they need to block for. Or to decide whether they get hit.

You continue in this way, casting one spell each post, until either one person runs out of magic points or their hit counter runs up to three.

For an example of duelling in action, look here

Getting hit and dodging

Dodging and getting hit are the same thing in the duelling arena. You can role play a dodge, but you still MUST add one to your hit counter in your tally.

Once your character has three hits, they are too weak to continue the duel.

Time limits and Forfeiting

Because duelling is something that you do between your other threads, it can end up taking a long time and people can forget their duels. Therefore, I'm going to implement a timeline system.

If there have been no replies to your duel for over two weeks it will be locked.

If you are going to be away, you can get an extension by posting in the thread with the date that you are returning. If you haven't posted a week after that date, I'll lock it then.

If, after your thread has been locked, I receive no PM asking me to reopen it for a further week, it will be moved to the Pensive.

If your duel has been delayed for a long time and you don't know what's going on with the other person or you don't want it to remain unfinished, you may also take the option of forfeiting.