Need homebrew spell: "Duel Arcane"

[FrancisBean]

I need a homebrew spell for an upcoming campaign, one which binds the casters (yes, plural!) into a magical duel. For those who are familiar with it, I'm looking for something roughly based on the spell used by Charissa and Kelson at the end of Deryni Rising. The idea is that they jointly cast a spell which formed a magical barrier enclosing them both, warding out outside influences and imprisoning them both until one or the other is dead. And, as a side note, preventing anything they summoned from harming innocent bystanders.

I'm trying to work out the mechanics so it can't be abused. (OK, that's not possible with clever players, but let's at least make it harder to do things like challenging your best friend to first embarassment so you can hide behind an impenetrable barrier for a long rest, mmm'kay?)

I figure it should be at least a minute casting time, with the response necessary to complete it. (That is, not useful in combat, and impossible to do unilaterally.) It shouldn't be impossible to breach from the outside, or someone will inevitably find a way to use it as a party shelter from, say, Tiamat. It should be almost impossible to breach from the inside until the conditions of the duel are met. The conditions shouldn't necessarily be death -- unconsciousness or incapacitation should be an option. It needs to prevent the principals from dimensionally departing (Misty Step, Teleportation, Plane Shift, &c). It makes sense that it could be castable as a ritual rather than using a slot, since it isn't intended to be cast during combat; and the principals probably don't want to burn a slot for it when they're about to need every slot they have for the duel.

It should maybe scale with level, so a duel between 5th-level magi is easier to interrupt than one between 20th-level magi. I rather like the notion that breaking it from the outside might entail doing dire harm to the principals, so your archmage buddy can't step in to save your buttocks. I figure the stakes might also be dependent on level -- e.g., a couple 1st-level magi might be literally incapable of binding themselves into anything worse than "first blood," 3rd level (or 2nd-level slots?) for unconscious (HP=0), while you need to be 5th level (3rd-level slots?) to make it to the death. It might make sense to base it off of slot level access for non-primary casters, or maybe just leave it off their lists entirely.... Just tossing that out as an idea.

The same or a similar spell was used in later Deryni books for team-on-team duels, so it would also be nice if it were possible to do something other than one-on-one.

Has anybody written something like that? Is anybody willing to give it a crack?

[Galithar]

Arcane Duel
1st level (Abjuration)
V, S, M (A rope of silver thread. Wrapped around the arms of the casters and severed in the final moment of casting)
Range: Touch
Target: Self and one willing creature
Casting Time: 5 minutes
Duration: Special

The spell must be cast while within reach of a willing target. For the duration of the spell the caster and their target are locked within a magical some with a radius of 60 feet. They cannot be effected by any magic, except dispell magic and wish, cast by any non-target of the spell. Additionally they gain damage immunity from all damage types and immunity to all conditions inflicted by anyone other then targets of the spell. Additionally the targets may not be healed by anyone, or any effect created by someone, that is not a target of the spell.

Additionally they may not heal, damage, or inflict any conditions on someone that is not a target of the spell.

Any attempts to willingly move, through mundane or magical means, outside the barrier requires a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save the target takes 1d10 psychic damage. Any attempts to force another target to move outside the barrier, through mundane or magical means, requires a Wisdom saving throw that is made at disadvantage. On a failed save the target takes 1d10 psychic damage.

A creature that is unwilling forced to move outside the barrier is simply stopped at the barriers edge and slowly drifts safely to the ground before the start of their next turn.

This spell ends when any target is reduced to less then half of their hit points. Any damage that exceeds half of their maximum hit points is ignored.

When cast with a spell slot of third level the radius of the dome increases to 90 feet and the spell does not end until one of the targets is reduced to 1 hit point. Any damage that would reduce their hit points below 1 is ignored, and the target is rendered unconscious for 1 minute or until attacked or a creature uses an action to shake them awake.
When cast with a spell slot of fifth level the radius of the dome increases to 120 feet and the spell does not end until one of the targets is killed.
When cast with a spell slot of seventh level the radius of the dome increases to any distance up to 1 mile but no less then 50 feet. The spell does not end until one of the targets is killed.
When cast with a spell slot of ninth level it may only be dispelled by a wish spell. Additionally, the caster may target any even number (including themselves) of creatures within 60 feet. The radius of the dome increases to any distance up to three miles, but no less then 50 feet. The creatures must be divided into equal sized groups. The spell does not end until all creatures from one group are killed.



Not perfect, and formatting is probably screwy because I'm on my phone. But that's my initial run at it.

Edit: It's harder to interrupt as the level gets higher because you need a better roll on dispell magic. And at max level is only ended by a wish.

[FrancisBean]

Arcane Duel
1st level (Abjuration)
V, S, M (A rope of silver thread. Wrapped around the arms of the casters and severed in the final moment of casting)
Range: Touch
Target: Self and one willing creature
Casting Time: 5 minutes
Duration: Special

The spell must be cast while within reach of a willing target. For the duration of the spell the caster and their target are locked within a magical some with a radius of 60 feet. They cannot be effected by any magic, except dispel magic and wish, cast by any non-target of the spell. Additionally they gain damage immunity from all damage types and immunity to all conditions inflicted by anyone other then targets of the spell. Additionally the targets may not be healed by anyone, or any effect created by someone, that is not a target of the spell.

Additionally they may not heal, damage, or inflict any conditions on someone that is not a target of the spell.

Any attempts to willingly move, through mundane or magical means, outside the barrier requires a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save the target takes 1d10 psychic damage. Any attempts to force another target to move outside the barrier, through mundane or magical means, requires a Wisdom saving throw that is made at disadvantage. On a failed save the target takes 1d10 psychic damage.

A creature that is unwilling forced to move outside the barrier is simply stopped at the barriers edge and slowly drifts safely to the ground before the start of their next turn.

This spell ends when any target is reduced to less then half of their hit points. Any damage that exceeds half of their maximum hit points is ignored.

When cast with a spell slot of third level the radius of the dome increases to 90 feet and the spell does not end until one of the targets is reduced to 1 hit point. Any damage that would reduce their hit points below 1 is ignored, and the target is rendered unconscious for 1 minute or until attacked or a creature uses an action to shake them awake.
When cast with a spell slot of fifth level the radius of the dome increases to 120 feet and the spell does not end until one of the targets is killed.
When cast with a spell slot of seventh level the radius of the dome increases to any distance up to 1 mile but no less then 50 feet. The spell does not end until one of the targets is killed.
When cast with a spell slot of ninth level it may only be dispelled by a wish spell. Additionally, the caster may target any even number (including themselves) of creatures within 60 feet. The radius of the dome increases to any distance up to three miles, but no less then 50 feet. The creatures must be divided into equal sized groups. The spell does not end until all creatures from one group are killed.



Not perfect, and formatting is probably screwy because I'm on my phone. But that's my initial run at it.

Edit: It's harder to interrupt as the level gets higher because you need a better roll on dispell magic. And at max level is only ended by a wish.

I was away for the weekend -- sorry for the long pause in response.

I love the fluff here -- the material components are perfect. Most of the rest is also perfect, to my way of thinking. There are a few points where I want to figure out a way to adjust it.

First, I still think it should be castable as a ritual. I also think at least one willing target needs to also be able to cast the spell him/her -self -- you can't do it with a willing target who can't engage.

There's a scaling weirdness where a 1st-level wizard and a 20th-level wizard do the deed, and it depends greatly upon who casts it. I think I'm OK with that one. :smallsmile:

I also think the damage sustained by any attempt to voluntarily move through the barrier needs a serious boost -- this is intended to be a "no looking back" situation. I'm thinking d10 x combined level of participants, psychic damage. I'm going to blithely ignore the case of a caster who is immune to psychic damage. I also think it needs to apply to any attempt by a principal to dimensionally travel beyond the boundaries of the barrier. There's an edge case with the Banishment spell which I can't quite figure out. Any ideas?

Closing a loophole: if the exit conditions are no longer possible to fulfil (E.g., your opponent succeeds in walking through the barrier), the spell ends immediately.

One more loophole: I think the barrier, as it arises, pushes non-participants away. They can choose to resist, but if they don't they are expelled from the arena. In other words, you can't enact it around someone and then beat them down because you're immune to them. And, for those who choose to be within the zone, they can take damage from the principals. You see where I'm going.

As a simplistic alternative, the spell simply fails if there is a non-participant within the zone. Anybody within it needs to choose sides. That might actually work better for my campaign than the Deryni version!

[Man_Over_Game]

I would suggest making the spell in a way that it COULD be used in a real combat scenario, but only likely to be useful out of combat.

Something like how the Dominate spells are best used on noncombatants. You COULD do this with initial saving throws, but I like the idea of making it an instant-casted spell with the option to be a Ritual.

[Galithar]

Few things that you may or maynot want to change still.

This duel prevents any non participant from damaging a participant and vice versa. There is no difference whether that is with a sword or a spell. So as written a caster could duel a willing fighter etc. You may or may not want that. It's simple to fix. Change the target to "A willing creature that has at least X level spell slots"

The idea was that once cast movement outside the barrier would invariably fail and cause damage to whoever tried. If you attempt to walk out you take minor psychic damage and are prevented from leaving. If you try to teleport or planeshift out the spell fails and you take minor psychic damage. Also if you try to force your opponent out, YOU take psychic damage and they stop at the barrier safely (or the spell moves if trying to forcefully teleport them as with Banishment) That may not have been worded clearly before. The saving throw was there to prevent the damage and punish anyone that foolishly tries to escape or force their opponent out. Not to allow movement through the barrier. I did that instead of making it a physical barrier to show that other things (like non-participants) would be free to move in and out of the area of conflict.

My version protects non combatants for the combatants and vice versa. This may not be what you were going for though so feel free to change it as needed. Just remember if you keep my arena sizes imagine what happens if 2 people cast this within a city with a level 9 slot. That's a 3 mile radius, or likely the majority or entirety of the city. Suddenly pushed 3 miles away from them? I was trying to allow to super mages to have a brawl in the middle of the city with hundreds or thousands of on Lookers without risking hurting them. Just because two powerful people want to kill each other doesn't mean they want to kill everyone and everything around them haha.

[Cikomyr]

As cheesy as it sound, why not make it a simple level 3-4-5 ritual that requires an actual specifically built arena?

You could have these arena built here and there around your world to allow wizards to settle beef. Might also make for emergency shelter against tiamat.

[Desteplo]

Could be too complicated. Instead of putting all these dual limitations and suggestions—

1 minute cast time
-30ft range.

You and 1 willing opponent are restrained and can’t cast spells as their magic and yours are intertwined in combat.

Each affected by the spell rolls a d20 + casting modifier, at the start of their turn. This roll is opposed by the opponents d20+mod. Before either rolls, they may choose to spend a spell slot adding the spell’s level to the roll.
(Those are the mechanics of the dual)

(The result can be different things)
“Whoever loses the contest....”
1) gain a level of exhaustion
2) loses an additional spell slot less than the spell slot used by the winner (wording is bad)
3)etc

(You can also apply some deterrent effects)
“When a creature moves within 10ft of a caster locked in a dual in this way...”
1) strength save or be pushed 10 ft and stunned until end of turn
2) takes Damage equal to...
3)etc