Help me design my tournament!

[Immabozo]

So I am running a campaign and the characters are heading to a tournament. The tournament is there are four leagues, physical melee, physical ranged, arcane and divine. I figure there will be 12 contestants in each league and, fighting each round in "best of 3" style, the top two of each are then randomly matched up with the top two of the other leagues and then quarter and semi finals and then crown a champion. A good amount of money will go to first second and third place and then a very valuable artifact is also rewarded to first place.

So I need help designing 44 contestants (other 3 are the PCs), 10 arcane casters (I have 1 designed), 12 divine casters, 10 melee characters, 12 ranged physical combat characters. Party is level 7 Gestalt characters. I figure there should be a few really tough characters, a few good challenges and a few joke characters. The PCs will likely level up once or twice in the course of the tournament.

I also want several rooms that have different obstacles that are rolled randomly for each round. Like an "every round, everyone takes 1D6 lightning damage" room, or a room with difficult terrain, or a room with wild animals attacking the contestants, or a completely black room, etc.

I would love to hear any ideas!

[CaladanMoonblad]

You may find this random npc generator (http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/random/#npc) useful as a start.

You may also find "Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns" useful to flesh out the noncombat contests- just google the title.

You may find it useful to add lower tier contests; Crafts, Tumbling, Storytelling, etc. There's a reason why people are showing up to these tourneys right? You know, other than to see blood being spilled and possibly being fireballed by an errant spellcaster.

[Amnestic]

Phew! That's a lot of characters needed.


Tiri "The Rainbow", female Strongheart Halfling
Abj 3/Master Specialist 4//Bard 7
Small Humanoid
HD 7d6+14; hp 35; Init +5; Spd 20 ft; AC 11 (+1 Dex, uses Mage Armor/Shield to supplement); ; AL NG; SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +6; Str 8, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 15.

Skill Ranks and Feats: Concentration 10, Perform (String) 10, Spellcraft 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 10, Knowledge (Nature) 10, UMD 10
1st: Spell Focus (Abjuration)
Bonus: Spell Thematics (Rainbow)
3rd: Improved Initiative
Bonus: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
6th: Lingering Song
Bonus: Greater Spell Focus (Abjuration)

Eidetic Spellcaster ACF
+2 on dispel checks

Equipment: +1 Violin Bow (as small shortsword), Masterwork Violin, Cloak of Resistance +1, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Cure Medium Wounds.

Spells:-
Wiz:

Barred Schools: Necromancy and Enchantment
Prepared Spells:
0: Prestidigitation, Dancing Lights (x2), Daze
1: Mage Armor, Shield, Protection from Evil, Colour Spray, Silent Image, Disguise Self
2: Resist Energy, Glitterdust, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray
3: Dispel Magic, Lightning Bolt, Slow
4: Globe of Invulnerability (Lesser), Black Tentacles

Bard:

0: See above.
1: Feather Fall, Expeditious Retreat, Cure Light Wounds, Grease
2: Invisibility, Hypnotic Pattern, Blur
3: Glibness


Environment: Tiri "the Rainbow" is a returning (or famously extravagant) combatant in the tournament and as such, she has managed to wrangle a custom-built area just for her. Decked out in extravagant rainbow-colours, every round three squares randomly explode in a shower or rainbow coloured lights, causing 1d6 of a random energy type (fire, acid, electric, frost, sonic) and forcing a DC15 Will save or be dazed for one round.

Cut off the Bard side if you don't want the tournament entries to be Gestalt.

--

Biff the Understudy, Male (?) Human
Commoner 7
Medium Human
HD 7d4+7; hp 21; Init +4; Spd 30 ft; AC 10; AL TN; SV Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2; Str 10, Dex 10, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10

Skill Ranks and Feats: Profession (Understudy) 10
1st: Improved Initiative
Bonus: Improved Toughness
3: Combat Reflexes
6: Power Attack

Special Ability: Imitate. By spending a full round studying an opponent, Biff can emulate their appearance and abilities...sort of. He copies the opponent's ability scores, feats, skills and any special abilities (eg. Barbarian Rage, Bardic Music, spellcasting) that his opponent has. However whenever he takes an action while imitating, he has a 50% chance of failure. If he fails, the action is wasted.

Environment: Biff is the laughing stock and underdog of the tournament all in one. He draws enormous crowds...some of which disagree with one another. On any turn in which HP damage is successfully dealt, roll a d100.
{table=head]Roll Result|Effect
1-20|No effect
21-40|Contestants are both pelted with rotten fruit/eggs. DC10 Reflex save or be stinky for the rest of the fight!
41-60|Biff's fans are mad! They start tossing various detritus at his opponent. DC15 Reflex or 1d6 physical damage.
61-80|Crowd jeers at Biff, hurting his feelings. He gets a -2 on every roll that round.
81-95|A minor fight breaks out and spills onto the fighting arena. Collection of 2d4 NPC classes brawling (non-lethal damage). Half will target Biff or opponent if they come within 10'
95-100|A full on riot! A mob (DMG2) of NPC classes sweeps across the arena, covering everything in its path. The match is rescheduled but Biff forfeits citing injury. Poor Biff![/table]



First is an extension of one of my other characters, second was just off the top of my head. Hope they help!

[Fyermind]

The firebreather: Arson Dvochek

He's in the arcane competition.

Build him as a dragonfire adept // sorcerer if you can, otherwise Sorcerer 4 / DFA as much as you can works. As does dragon born sorcerer, or sorcerer using breath of the dragon (possibly multiple times if you expect an extended fight). Half dragon (with the feat to make it every 1d4 rounds) is a workable gish, and dragonheart mage has another way of dishing out the d6s.

The concept is to just take dragon related or defensive spells or showmanship related spells. He'll use all his second level spell slots on wings of cover (except for one that goes to mirror image if you feel it matches the flavor). Third level spell slots (if he has them) work well for Blinding breath. Heart of water might actually be an necessity for avoiding battlefield control. Displacement from all that heat shimmer works well for fluff and crunch. Dispel magic could help keep the firebreather in the competition long enough to see the PCs.

First level spells beyond nerveskitter, shield and mage armor could include breath flare (why not?) and snuff the lights (Drow of the Underdark). If walking into a room, knocking out the illumination, and throwing a breathe of fire into the room isn't a showy entrance, I don't know what is.

If you can get fourth level spells on him, he starts to get enough kick to deserve his reputation. Celerity, Stunning breath, and wings of flurry are all contenders. Any one of them can make Arson your players worst nightmare.

As a side note, you only actually have to stat out the ones the players face. The rest should be to some extent understood, but can be handwaved with a good story instead.

[ArcturusV]

How are you handling the tournament? Particularly the Magic side of things? Matters if I design some sort of "pit fighter" mage or something for you. Is it like, say, the novel Arena where most of the Tournament Fights were Spell vs Spell. Meaning each mage got ONE spell to cast. Period. No pre-casting. Just pick one and go for it. Or is this all out "Whoever wins initiative, wins period" battles where anything goes and mages will be expected to go into the ring practically glowing with buffs cast on themselves.

[W3bDragon]

I figure there will be 12 contestants in each league and, fighting each round in "best of 3" style, the top two of each are then randomly matched up with the top two of the other leagues and then quarter and semi finals and then crown a champion.

Before you get started cranking out characters, maybe you should define exactly how the match ups are going to work.

For example, what prevents contestants from killing each other? If the answer is "nothing" then that makes the best of 3 style redundant. If there is something, it needs to be defined.

Is it an honor system? If so, that would be extremely difficult to do, as the window from "He's alive and kicking my behind" to "oops, he's dead" is rather small.

Is it high magic? For example, free resurrections for all participants. That would make the cost of running the tournament rather ridiculous.

Is it moderate magic? For example, some magic in the arena turns all damage to non-lethal. That would have a large impact on what builds would be successful, since all damage is now non-lethal. Also, how will death spells be handled?

Is it low magic? For example, a few clerics standing by with some Reach Spell Close Wounds ready to rescue any contestant from death. If so, that's not really guaranteed, and death spells remain an issue.

Example solution:
The tournament rules ban all spells and effects that defeat/kill the target without leaving behind any remains. (Disintegrate, Plane Shift, etc)

The tournament entry fee is equal to 10,000 gold. (If you think the PCs can't fork out that money, some rich merchants/nobles could sponsor them)

The tournament organizers grant one free casting of Raise Dead on any contestant who dies in the arena. The raised contestant can then forfeit the rest of his matches, if he has any, or continue fighting, but with no safety net anymore, and if they die, they die. (This is assuming its a point based league. If its knockouts, then the contestant is raised and removed from the tournament.)

As for the matchups, will each contestant fight all other contestants in each league? If so, how will they be scored? Just by wins? Will speed of victory or elaborate displays have any impact?

If instead of points, its a series of knock out matches, then how will odd numbers be handled? Since you're starting with 12. That's 6 1v1 matches, the winners of which will have 3 1v1 matches, leaving 3 victors at the end. That means you'd need to have 8 or 16 participants in each league to get even numbers at the end.

Example solution:
Based on your post, I figure you have 2 melee PCs and 1 arcane PC. That means that you don't really need to create that many NPCs.

Assuming you choose knock out rounds and stick with 8 contestants per league, you need:

2 Physical Ranged (The winners of the Physical Ranged league)
2 Divine Casters (The winners of the Divine Caster league)
3 Arcane Casters (The two opponents your PC will fight plus the second remaining winner, assuming your PC wins his matches)
6 Physical Melee (Since you have 2 PCs in that league, they'll probably meet all the contestants, and even possible fight each other)

So that's 13 NPCs. Much more managable than 44. Also, it would be rather convenient if all the NPCs happen to be 7th level gestalt characters. I'd recommend a level range for the NPCs, and don't bother making all of them gestalted.

A sample level spread I would recommend would be:
Physical Ranged 1 (6th level)
Physical Ranged 2 (8th level)
Divine Caster 1 (7th level)
Divine Caster 2 (5th gestalt)
Arcane Caster 1 (4th level)
Arcane Caster 2 (5th gestalt)
Arcane Caster 3 (7th level)
Physical Melee 1 (2nd level gestalt)
Physical Melee 2 (3rd level)
Physical Melee 3 (4th level)
Physical Melee 4 (5th level)
Physical Melee 5 (7th level gestalt)
Physical Melee 6 (8th level)

[Immabozo]

How are you handling the tournament? Particularly the Magic side of things? Matters if I design some sort of "pit fighter" mage or something for you. Is it like, say, the novel Arena where most of the Tournament Fights were Spell vs Spell. Meaning each mage got ONE spell to cast. Period. No pre-casting. Just pick one and go for it. Or is this all out "Whoever wins initiative, wins period" battles where anything goes and mages will be expected to go into the ring practically glowing with buffs cast on themselves.

I was thinking that there is a chance to cast 2 buffs before entering the portal into the arena. And then how combat goes and how long it goes is up to the two fighting. No specific rules on how to conduct yourself, just no outside influence helping you will (a spectator magically talking to you and giving you advice and the like.


Before you get started cranking out characters, maybe you should define exactly how the match ups are going to work.

For example, what prevents contestants from killing each other? If the answer is "nothing" then that makes the best of 3 style redundant. If there is something, it needs to be defined.

Is it an honor system? If so, that would be extremely difficult to do, as the window from "He's alive and kicking my behind" to "oops, he's dead" is rather small.

Is it high magic? For example, free resurrections for all participants. That would make the cost of running the tournament rather ridiculous.

Is it moderate magic? For example, some magic in the arena turns all damage to non-lethal. That would have a large impact on what builds would be successful, since all damage is now non-lethal. Also, how will death spells be handled?

Is it low magic? For example, a few clerics standing by with some Reach Spell Close Wounds ready to rescue any contestant from death. If so, that's not really guaranteed, and death spells remain an issue.

Example solution:
The tournament rules ban all spells and effects that defeat/kill the target without leaving behind any remains. (Disintegrate, Plane Shift, etc)

The tournament entry fee is equal to 10,000 gold. (If you think the PCs can't fork out that money, some rich merchants/nobles could sponsor them)

The tournament organizers grant one free casting of Raise Dead on any contestant who dies in the arena. The raised contestant can then forfeit the rest of his matches, if he has any, or continue fighting, but with no safety net anymore, and if they die, they die. (This is assuming its a point based league. If its knockouts, then the contestant is raised and removed from the tournament.)

High magic, for sure. I was thinking free resses (15,000 gold buy in, each PC, I think, can afford it, plus, each PC has a potential sponsor) but if you exceed 3 resses, they begin to cost normal price. So at that rate, best 2 out of 3 works.

I utterly agree on the disintegrate/planeshift thing, I was thinking something similar to the myself.


As for the matchups, will each contestant fight all other contestants in each league? If so, how will they be scored? Just by wins? Will speed of victory or elaborate displays have any impact?

If instead of points, its a series of knock out matches, then how will odd numbers be handled? Since you're starting with 12. That's 6 1v1 matches, the winners of which will have 3 1v1 matches, leaving 3 victors at the end. That means you'd need to have 8 or 16 participants in each league to get even numbers at the end.

You are correct. I'll limit in to 8 characters per league. No, no everyone fights everyone in the other leagues. Only the top two of each league will fight the other leagues


Example solution:
Based on your post, I figure you have 2 melee PCs and 1 arcane PC. That means that you don't really need to create that many NPCs.

Assuming you choose knock out rounds and stick with 8 contestants per league, you need:

2 Physical Ranged (The winners of the Physical Ranged league)
2 Divine Casters (The winners of the Divine Caster league)
3 Arcane Casters (The two opponents your PC will fight plus the second remaining winner, assuming your PC wins his matches)
6 Physical Melee (Since you have 2 PCs in that league, they'll probably meet all the contestants, and even possible fight each other)

So that's 13 NPCs. Much more managable than 44. Also, it would be rather convenient if all the NPCs happen to be 7th level gestalt characters. I'd recommend a level range for the NPCs, and don't bother making all of them gestalted.

A sample level spread I would recommend would be:
Physical Ranged 1 (6th level)
Physical Ranged 2 (8th level)
Divine Caster 1 (7th level)
Divine Caster 2 (5th gestalt)
Arcane Caster 1 (4th level)
Arcane Caster 2 (5th gestalt)
Arcane Caster 3 (7th level)
Physical Melee 1 (2nd level gestalt)
Physical Melee 2 (3rd level)
Physical Melee 3 (4th level)
Physical Melee 4 (5th level)
Physical Melee 5 (7th level gestalt)
Physical Melee 6 (8th level)

I like your spread! I think that gives a good challenge, a few laughable easy ones and some tough challenges. And you are correct. 13 is much easier than 44!

[W3bDragon]

I was thinking free resses (15,000 gold buy in, each PC, I think, can afford it, plus, each PC has a potential sponsor) but if you exceed 3 resses, they begin to cost normal price. So at that rate, best 2 out of 3 works.

Well there is a problem if you plan to grant more than one ress per contestant. If it was just one ress, then Raise Dead will work, and the associated level loss is a fair trade for taking a shot at winning the tournament and failing.

However, if its multiple resses, then it needs to be a Resurrection at least, to avoid the permanent level loss. That increases the price of the spell required from a minimum of 5,450 GP to a minimum of 10,910 GP per casting, making it a dubious venture for the tournament organizers even if they charged 25,000 GP per contestant.

If I was the organizer of the tournament, I would look for ways to weasel my way out of casting that many resses, to save some gold. As such, I'd do the following:

First, I'd have a cleric announcer with Deathwatch cast that observes the fight and calls out/blows a trumpet/whatever to signal the end of the fight the instant one of the contestants dies or is dropped unconscious.

Second, I'd have another cleric prepared with some method of fast movement or swift teleportation* to enter the arena and cast Revivify on the dead participant, which costs only 1,350 GP. This can be done right after the announcer calls the match complete, within the 1 round limit of the Revivify spell.

Even if they are forced to use Resurrection every once in a while, this method should save the organizers a ton of gold.


*Travel Devotion, Anklets of Translocation, Dimension Hop, Expeditious Retreat, etc.

[Immabozo]

Well there is a problem if you plan to grant more than one ress per contestant. If it was just one ress, then Raise Dead will work, and the associated level loss is a fair trade for taking a shot at winning the tournament and failing.

However, if its multiple resses, then it needs to be a Resurrection at least, to avoid the permanent level loss. That increases the price of the spell required from a minimum of 5,450 GP to a minimum of 10,910 GP per casting, making it a dubious venture for the tournament organizers even if they charged 25,000 GP per contestant.

If I was the organizer of the tournament, I would look for ways to weasel my way out of casting that many resses, to save some gold. As such, I'd do the following:

First, I'd have a cleric announcer with Deathwatch cast that observes the fight and calls out/blows a trumpet/whatever to signal the end of the fight the instant one of the contestants dies or is dropped unconscious.

Second, I'd have another cleric prepared with some method of fast movement or swift teleportation* to enter the arena and cast Revivify on the dead participant, which costs only 1,350 GP. This can be done right after the announcer calls the match complete, within the 1 round limit of the Revivify spell.

Even if they are forced to use Resurrection every once in a while, this method should save the organizers a ton of gold.


*Travel Devotion, Anklets of Translocation, Dimension Hop, Expeditious Retreat, etc.

wow, I hadn't looked into the gp costs, thank you. I'll have to use this!