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View Full Version : A Dwarven Arena- Trial By Combat



Haldir
2017-03-08, 04:57 PM
My players are currently engaged in a Dwarven ritual of cleansing, wherein the Clerics of Moradin sit in over trials of physical combat to resolve the past years issues. Unfortunately, in Neverwinter, my dwarves use four different calendars, and this happens four times a year.

What sort of obstacles or adornments might be included in such an arena? The rules of the combat are explicitly set, I just wonder about ideas for the layout.

My thoughts so far - Pit traps, maybe a toggled water obstacle, and allowing the audience to interfere with buff/debuff spells and thrown weapons.

oudeis
2017-03-08, 05:14 PM
An unadorned wooden table with simple chairs to sit at. Each player must drain a series of tankards filled with light beer, fruit-flavored beer, habanero/jalapeno beer, and other abominable concoctions. The first one to vomit or cry out to Moradin for relief from their blasphemous beverage loses.

thedanster7000
2017-03-09, 02:42 AM
There could be levers dotted around the arena that could lower/raise platforms and activate traps and the like.

Incorrect
2017-03-09, 04:11 AM
I feel like the point of trial by combat is removed by allowing one person to gain an unfair advantage over the other.

Fights like this, with the crowd favorite getting help and the fight being turned around by a hidden trap, seem to be more for the purpose of entertainment.
If it is used to settle disputes it should be pure and fair.

Perhaps there is a series of gladiator fights, with a champion crowned and a big party held in celebration. Then, the next day, is the day for settling grudges. This adds the positive of some grudges being settled (peacefully or not) during the party, but also adds tension if the champion is involved in a grudge fight.

Haldir
2017-03-09, 09:15 AM
I feel like the point of trial by combat is removed by allowing one person to gain an unfair advantage over the other.

Fights like this, with the crowd favorite getting help and the fight being turned around by a hidden trap, seem to be more for the purpose of entertainment.
If it is used to settle disputes it should be pure and fair.

Perhaps there is a series of gladiator fights, with a champion crowned and a big party held in celebration. Then, the next day, is the day for settling grudges. This adds the positive of some grudges being settled (peacefully or not) during the party, but also adds tension if the champion is involved in a grudge fight.

If you think justice is anything other than mob rule, I can lend you some of the hundreds of papers I had to write on witchcraft for my history capstone. I'm shooting for accuracy, not idealism.

Knaight
2017-03-09, 09:25 AM
If you think justice is anything other than mob rule, I can lend you some of the hundreds of papers I had to write on witchcraft for my history capstone. I'm shooting for accuracy, not idealism.

Treating all justice as mob rule isn't accuracy, and that's not coming from a place of idealism. You'll notice that the idea of trial by combat has a very good overlap with places where nobles are often a trained fighting caste, and where it's not uncommon to have ways to have other people fight for you. It's a mechanism for keeping the powerful in power, as are so many other justice systems, which are very distinct from mob rule.

Haldir
2017-03-09, 09:45 AM
Actually, this idea is derived a Peruvian ritual that involves any and all parties. It only becomes a trial because people in authority want the fighting happening in a controlled space. Gonna put the link in a spoiler because this thread is super derailed by this inanity.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20121218-perus-christmas-fighting-festival

Back on top and away from Naivety:

No platforms that raise, but maybe a huge sudden elevation shift can happen partway through the fights. Giant machinery under the arena grinds and churns and a plateau appears.