PvP gladetorial combat

[Calthropstu]

How would you run this?

How would you build for this?

Assume zero magic allowed for one set, magic items only for second set, full magic for third set.

[exelsisxax]

How would you run this?

each player rolls a 1d20, lower result loses but gets to narrate what happened.



How would you build for this?

Anything incorporeal, natural fly or burrow speed, or other inbuilt mechanism to leave the arena after saying "screw you guys, i'm going home"



Assume zero magic allowed for one set, magic items only for second set, full magic for third set.

rust monster, artificer, iron golem psion

[noob]

Iron golem is a quite problematic due to hit dice so if you go iron golem psion you will have a hard time using cool powers.
Unless you mean that you used true mind switch on a golem.

[exelsisxax]

Iron golem is a quite problematic due to hit dice so if you go iron golem psion you will have a hard time using cool powers.
Unless you mean that you used true mind switch on a golem.

Shenanigans to get full psion casting on a golem are obviously preferable, but as long as you can catch the opponent an iron golem wins any duel against devoted spellcasters, as long as it's a surprise. You are immune to the go-to spells and extremely resistant to anything else. But if anyone prepares spells after figuring this out you're in deep trouble.

[Sleven]

A lot of people dump on PvP around here, but it was my introduction to D&D as there were no groups that could meet regularly at the time and that's what the people I played with did to get their fix: theory-crafted builds and pitted them against one another.

I actually would not recommend dividing it up like you have. Instead, lump everything together but use a lot of house rules to try and balance what you can (including straight up disallowing builds that are irreparably inferior to the competition). Another important thing to maintain balance (it actually more closely resembles rock-paper-scissors when you get the right level of optimizers participating) is to limit the level of participants. Level 12 or so isn't too bad with the right house rules. Odd levels are generally inadvisable, given that certain classes can get keen advantages because of it. Going much higher is inadvisable, as casters will already be dominate. You can also allow greater WBL for non-casters, but to me that complicates things more than you may want.

I've heard Test of Spite has a pretty decent list of house rules, but (glancing at it now) I would still tweak it a bit to suit your group's tastes (for example, I would likely put tighter restrictions on free actions given some of the shenanigans you can pull off with them).

To me "PvP" allows for some creative optimization that you might not otherwise see at your typical table. As such, I would actually encourage more people do something like this. Speaking from personal experience, it's not something you'll want to make the sole focus of your D&D career (storytelling is a lot more fun), but it is fun as a side project, particularly if you have a character building itch.

[Eldariel]

Played a level 15 Gestalt warrior arena here and found it quite enjoyable. The first iteration allowed only Completes and some choice books with any kind of spellcasting not available (but Su-abilities and magic items were), where I played a Wildshape Ranger/MoMF//Swordsage/MotN. It was an interesting optimization exercise but Wildshape obviously breaks it numbers-wise. The second iteration suddenly allowed all 3.X sources and made LA only count on one side so it was swiftly overrun by template stacks. It was still quite interesting but most of the optimization went into getting your race right.

Both can certainly work; non-magic arenas without any Su stuff full of ToB goodness can make for a pretty interactive and interesting environment with choice additions from other sources. PoW would make for an even more varied kind of an environment. But yeah, if you go no-magic, definitely add something like ToB that adds depth to martial combat since it's so abstracted compared to magic in the system that you ultimately have very few competitive options lower on. And obviously, magic is still magic so it needs reining in when you do introduce it lest you want for it to be a magic fest. Obviously the lower level, the simpler it is but restrictions can breed creativity. Ultimately, the best options in a low level arena are pretty easy to figure out while higher level arenas with appropriate restrictions can actually cater to many styles.