sandmote
2022-06-26, 07:24 AM
This page on the homebrewery (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/r_ZbcynBmsdP)
In my memory someone posted their rules for jousting, but I can't seem to find it now. Not sure if something happened, I'm repeatedly skipping over the post for no real reason, or it was old enough that it dropped off while I was writing. Anyway, I got to thinking about various sports, and decided to try writing up some rules for them. The main sports also include a "playing the game section," to mark what I think could be done to speed things up if the 'competition' is only between two people or there isn't both time and interest in a particular game to warrant my full rules.
Due to length, I'm going to relegate my commentary on games to the end of the post.
Interaction With Combat Rules
Most places have some sort of local sporting events. Often held as part of a larger festival, or to raise morale after a military achievement, sporting events present a friendly way for many characters to compete with each other.
Sports and Combat
Several sporting events list rules that are not followed in combat. This primarily has to do with differences in the conditions between these sorts of situations. For instance, someone running on a battlefield typically needs to pay attention to their surroundings and track their equipment. During sporting events this necessity is removed, allowing participants to move faster than on the battlefield or to perform moves typically blocked by padding and armor.
Archery
Archery tournaments are popular for those from many walks of life, particular in societies where hunting is a respected pastime and where archers are valued soldiers or commonly raised levies.
Archery Rules
The targets used in archery tournaments usually have an AC of 5. Attack rolls that miss the target are counted as a score of 0. Otherwise, the arrow scores a number of points equal to the result of the attack roll.
A participant is typically allowed five arrows per round. In the 'preliminary' or 'qualifying' round, a participant typically needs a score of at least 50 points to be allowed into the tournament, although a participant may be allowed multiple attempts to achieve this score.
When the tournament starts in earnest, a participant may attempt to achieve the required score once in each successive round. Generally, participants must score at least 60 to progress past the first round, and the required score increases by 10 each round after that.
Once there are judged to be sufficiently few participants remaining, the tournament moves into the final round. In the final round, each remaining participant makes two attempts to score, and uses the higher total. Victory is awarded based on the highest of each participant's results on each of these checks.
Types of Archery Tournaments
Archery tournaments for nobles or notable marksmen typically skip the qualifying round, instead determining participants based on titles or performance in other recent tournaments
Particularly advanced tournaments may make use of smaller targets with AC 10 or even AC 15. No matter their level, some tournaments raise the stakes by requiring participants to attack a target at long range; often this is in cases where participants are expected to be sharpshooters anyway.
Other tournaments involve performing archery from horseback. While characters in combat can typically wait for a moment of reduced jostling before they loose an arrow, the archery conditions in a tournament cause disadvantage on participants' attack rolls.
In performative arenas and among the Eladrin, archery tournaments may involve a spellcaster providing blessings or other subtler benefits to all the participants, both to improve performance and because these benefits don't stack.
Alternative Weapons
The rules presented here assume a competition between archers, but can be used for crossbows, thrown weapons, and horseshoes.
Crossbow competitions are more common in urban areas fewer hunters and a higher concentration of weaponmakers. Most noble societies favor bows, so crossbowmanship is seen less favorably and carries less weight.
Competitions for thrown weapons are rarer, but in many societies javelin throwing competitions are very respectable. Axe throwing and throwing horseshoes are typically relegated to games set up during an event, rather than competitions in and of themselves.
Running the Game
When a particular player or notable NPC compete with each other in a single round, it may be worth having each roll for each arrow in turn. For speed, all of a participant's arrows can be rolled at once.
In a competition that starts with very few members, the competition may work better as a single round, with each character using their best of three scores. In the most simple case, the participants take turns loosing a prespecified number of arrows and the one with the total highest score simply takes victory.
Jousting
Mounts are expensive and require skill to ride, which limits their use to nobles or people of the plains. As an activity that inherently limits entry, jousts are one of the top sports among nobles and others with wealth and influence.
Jousting Rules
A joust is broken up into bouts, each of which involves the participants of the joust to try to unseat each other from their mounts. Each bout lasts one round. At the start of a bout, each jouster makes a contested Animal Handling (Wisdom) check. If one participant loses the check by 5 or more, they have disadvantage on their attack roll to unseat their opponent for the round.
Each jouster chooses to target one of three parts of their opponent, each of which has a different difficulty to hit.
The Body.
The Shield. The attacker gains a +2 bonus to their attack, but the target has advantage on checks to remain seated.
The Head. The attacker takes a -5 penalty to their attack, but the target has disadvantage on checks to remain seated.
No Target. The attack misses automatically, but the rider has advantage on checks to remain seated.
After the attacks are made, each participant must make their choice of an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check or Athletics (Strength) check with a DC equal to their opponent's attack roll. On a failed check, a participant is knocked off their mount and the attacker takes a point.
If a participant scores a critical hit during a round in the joust, they can make an Intimidation (Charisma) check contested by their opponent's Insight (Wisdom) check. On a success, their opponent makes their check to remain seated with disadvantage. If the opponent is unseated during this round, the participant who scored the critical hit gains an additional point for the round.
The first participant to have five points and have at least one more point than their opponents wins the joust.
It typically takes 1d4+1 rounds for the participants to be ready for the next bout.
Engaging Other Features
Participants with particular types of martial training can, in some cases, gain a benefit when jousting. The following are some common features and their effects during a joust.
Action Surge A participant can expend an action surge to make a second attack during a round of a joust. The attack can target a different part of the body than the regularly made attack, but must be made before participants make their rolls to remain seated. The target of the attacks must roll separately to remain seated against each attack.
Divine Smite A character with access to the divine smite feature can expend a 1st level spell slot to add a d4 to the DC of their opponent's check to remain seated. If expending a spell slot of 2nd level or higher for the divine smite, the die increases by one size for each slot level above 1st, to a maximum of a d12 at 5th level.
Favored Enemy A participant with the mount's creature type as a favored enemy gains a +2 bonus to their Animal Handling (Wisdom) roll made to control their mount.If using my ranger fix (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?592451-Sandmote-s-Ranger-Fixes-(PEACH)), a participant with the favored enemy feature adds their Favored Enemy bonus damage to their Animal Handling (Wisdom) check instead.
Rage A raging participant can add their bonus rage damage to the DC to remain seated against their attack roll.
Running the Game
The above rules are there for events showcasing jousts or when a PC participates in the sport. For tournament arcs, you can shorten the event without choosing winners by having each participant in a match roll three rolls: An attack roll, an Animal Handling (Wisdom) check, and the NPC's choice of an Acrobatics (Dexterity) or Athletics (Strength) checks. Whichever character gets the higher total or higher average roll wins (use whichever you find easiest to calculate; it won't impact results). If even this takes too long, use the passive scores for each check to determine the winner.
Races
All involved participants run the race at once, so separate turns taken during the race. The first character to reach a particular distance wins the race. If multiple characters finish covering the required distance in the same time period, the character who has the most remaining movement when they reach the finish line wins.
Short Distance Races
This type of race include footraces and swimming events and applies when the race is short enough for a participant to simply move as fast as they can manage for the duration.. Each round, a character can make an Athletics (Strength) check and an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check. The characters can then move a distance up to to twice their movement speed + the sum of the two checks.
Marathons
Running distance during a race long enough to focus on endurance is typically measured in tenths of a mile. Every 10 minutes during an extended race, each participant travels a number of miles equal to one tenth of 1d10 + their Constitution modifier + their Strength modifier (minimum of one tenth of a mile).
Mounted and Chariot Racing
In chariot race or one done from the back of a mount, each round the driver or jockey makes an Animal Handling (Wisdom) check and all of the horses (or other steeds) make an Athletics (Strength) check. The mount or chariot can then move a distance equal to twice their movement speed + the result of the driver's check + the average of the steed's checks.
Boat Races
Boat races are typically performed by boats of a particular type. Each round, the captain makes a Performance (Charisma) check each round of the race and the helmsman makes a Water Vehicles (Wisdom) check. The boat can them move a distance equal to the boat's movement speed times the number of actions it can take + the sum of the two checks. This can apply to both sailing vessels and rowed vessels. If the vessels used have a single rower rather than multiple crew members, substitute an Athletics (Strength) check for the Performance (Charisma) check.
Running the Game
If there's more than a few participants, rolling for all the runners in a race is usually unnecessary. Rolling for characters the party knows (such as friends or rivals) is usually enough. Few PCs are champion runners or riders, but occasionally it might be possible for one to win. In this case, it can be effective to generate results for 3 to 5 of the best NPC participants. The strongest participants can usually be expected to each have 15 in any relevant ability scores and proficiency in the used skills. In a race with many participants, it may be worth having these participants roll each leg of the race with advantage, to ensure they place highly.
Wrestling
Two characters participate in the wrestling competition at a time. Characters participating are lightly clothed, and limitation on clothing options and which moves are legal makes possible opportunities that don't take place in typical combat.
During a wrestling match, each participant chooses which action they will attempt at the start of the round, which are then revealed at the same time. Rather that using initiative, resolve the chosen actions in the other they are presented below. If the conditions to resolve an action aren't possible at the time a participant attempts the action, the action simply fails. A character loses when they are pinned at the start of the round and remains pinned through the entire round.
Evade The participant expends 5 feet of movement rather than make a check. If their opponent attempts a grapple or interrupt, they fail automatically.
Lunge The participant expends 5 feet of movement rather than make a check. If the opponent evades, they have disadvantage on Strength checks an cannot evade again until the end of the next round.
Interrupt The participant makes an unarmed strike against their opponent. The attack deals damage as normal, and if the target is concentrating on a spell they must make a Constitution saving throw with a save DC equal to the attack roll to maintain their concentration.
Hold The participant expends 5 feet of movement and their opponent has disadvantage on checks made to initiate, resist, or escape being grappled or pinned until the end of the round.
Escape The participant makes their choice of an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check or Athletics (Strength) check contested by their opponents Athletics (Strength) check. On a success, the character is no longer pinned. If the character wasn't pinned, they are instead no longer grappled.
Grapple The participant initiates a grapple. A lunging opponent has disadvantage on their check to escape the grapple.
Pin The participant expends 5 feet of movement and initiates a grapple. If they succeed and their target is already grappled, the opponent is also pinned.
Magic and beating on an opponent are both taboo in most wrestling competitions. For this reason, performing interrupts is typically relegated to the most brutal events, when an opponent is visibly using magic, or to incite the audience in a performative match.
Engaging Other Features
Participants with particular types of martial training can, in some cases, gain a benefit when wrestling. The following are some common features and their effects during a wrestling tournament.
Action Surge A participant can expend an action surge to perform a second action during the round. An action surge cannot be expended until after any attempts made to pin creatures normally, but the action taken is performed before the round ends.
Ki Whenever a participant would make an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check or Athletics (Strength) check, they can expend 1 ki point to make an Insight (Wisdom) check instead.
Rage A participant can enter a rage as a bonus action before they perform an action during a wrestling match. The rage lasts as normal, ending early if the participant fails to attempt an interrupt, grapple, or pin and takes no damage by the end of the round.
Running the Game
The above rules are there for events showcasing wresting or when a PC participates in the sport. For tournament arcs, you can shorten the event without choosing winners by having each participant in a match roll four checks: Two Athletics (Strength) checks, an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check and an Insight (Wisdom) check. Whichever character gets the higher total or higher average roll wins (use whichever you find easiest to calculate; it won't impact results). If even this takes too long, use the passive scores for each check to determine the winner.
Additional Games
The above do not include all types of games played in competitions or events. The following are games that are generally simpler or less varied than the games listed above.
Card Games and Board Games
Often played on trips and with friends, card games and board games come in a variety on shapes and forms. For generic board game rules, participants each choose one tactic to focus on each time a game is played, which are revealed at the same time after having been chosen.
An Intelligence check using your proficiency with the game. If your opponent chooses to make a Charisma check, they make their check with disadvantage.
A Wisdom check using your proficiency with the game. If your opponent chooses to make an Intelligence check, they make their check with disadvantage.
A Charisma check using your proficiency with the game. If your opponent chooses to make a Wisdom check, they make their check with disadvantage.
Alternatively, a character may attempt to cheat at such a game. In this case, they make a Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check contested by their opponent's Perception (Wisdom) or Investigation (Intelligence) check. On a success, they gain advantage on whichever skill they use to play the game. On a failure, they get caught cheating, which carries different consequences depending on the conditions of the game.
The character who wins the contested roll wins the game; in the case of a tie, the result is similarly a tie. If a tie isn't possible in the particular game, reroll the dice until a victor is achieved.
Insuknawr or Sumo
Insuknawr and Sumo are sports that involve two participants attempting the push their opponent out of a ring or to knock them onto the ground. In Insuknawr the participants hold opposite ends of a thick, 8 foot long pole while in Sumo the participants are unarmed.
Each round during an Insukawr or Sumo match, the participants take an action to participate, each choosing one of the following actions, which are revealed at the same time after having been chosen.
An Athletics (Strength) check. If your opponent chooses to make an Insight (Wisdom) check, they make their check with disadvantage.
An Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check. If your opponent chooses to make an Athletics (Strength) check, they make their check with disadvantage.
An Insight (Wisdom) check. If your opponent chooses to make a Sleight of Hand (Wisdom) check, they make their check with disadvantage.
The participants make a contested check between the chosen skills. The participant who wins the check gains one success, and their opponents gains a failure. Successes and Failures cancel out.
When either participant accumulates three failures they are pushed out of the ring and lose the match. If either participant loses their check by 15 or more, they fall and immediately lose the match.
Skittles
Skittles, also known as nine pins, is a sport the involves rolling a ball down a lane to knock down nine skittles or pins set up at the end.
A skittles tournament is broken up into legs. During a leg, each participant is allowed to roll three balls down the length of the alley to knock down the nine skittles. If all nine skittles have been knocked down with balls remaining the skittles are reset, and the participant can use their remaining balls to attempt to knock down the skittles. Each participant can therefore knock down up to 27 skittles each leg.
For each ball rolled by a participant, the participant can make their choice of an Athletics (Strength) check or Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check. The participant knocks down one pin for every two points on the check, to a maximum equal to the number of pins remaining. Therefore a roll of 18 is enough to knock down all nine pins at once.
Tournaments
Formally, tournaments are martial competitions with very few rules. In practice a tournament plays out as typical combat, usually as a duel between two participants.
In a duel during such a tournament it may be prudent to treat a Character's AC as 1d20 plus their typical AC minus 10. In this case, a character may manage to block or evade even a high attack roll, and cannot assume they are safe after seeing their opponent got a low roll.
Competitions and Magic
In a world where magic is a known phenomenon, it naturally comes up in sporting events. Attitudes on using it to enhance performance vary by culture, by the type of magic, and by the event.
Magic Items
Generally, those who can obtain magical items that aid them in a competition also have a lot of influence of the cost of setting up the event. Since most participants in a sport bring their own equipment anyway, magic items are typically not an issue.
For prestigious events held by powerful creatures, such as genies or the Eladrin, participants' showcase their wealth as well as their skill and it is fully expected that one brings their most powerful equipment.
In a low level local tournament, particularly a friendly tournament, bringing magical or otherwise performance enhancing equipment is often considered unsporting. Someone with a common or uncommon magic bow will have any success attributed to the bow (and failure outright mocked) but will typically still be allowed to participate. A renowned archer will likely be allowed to bring their preferred bow if scoring a round as part of an opening ceremony, but otherwise someone using a rare or rarer magic bow won't be allowed to compete.
Spellcasting
In most cases, participant's typically need to show up 1d4+1 minutes before their event or participant in a round begins. This is usually setup rather than intended to prevent a participant from benefiting from spells, but still reduces the ability of participants to magically enhance their performance.
For events focusing entirely on skill or in which participants don't have access to magic, those caught using longer lasting magical or alchemical effects or those which get caught getting spells cast on themselves directly before they compete are typically disqualified. It is common for the reason they are disqualified to be publicly announced and include the names of any known co-conspirators.
For events showcasing the participant's wealth or access to magic, having spells cast on each participant is an expected and an allowed method for improving one's results.
Other Features
Those operating sporting events are usually unaware of non-spell magical abilities or unable to differentiate them from spellcasting. Because these are often subtler and less known, they are either not noticed or treated as spellcasting. The following are main exceptions to these rules.
Bardic Inspiration Bards inspiring various candidates is typically legal. However, a bard clearly benefiting a particular candidate may result in a penalty the participant's results, and the bard is also typically removed from the tournament grounds for the rest of the event.
Artificer Infusions For competitions using a weapon or other built item (such as archery competitions), an artificer infusing their equipment will be treated as showcasing their craftsmanship rather than their skill with the weapon. In contests demonstrating skill with the relevant equipment, this means they are allowed to compete and win prizes with the same level of respect granted to someone demonstrating their prowess with the equipment in question. If the competition is about physical prowess, however, infusions that grant a magical bonus are treated the same as other magical weapons.
Ki granting the use of Wisdom (Insight) checks when wrestling is fairly arbitrary, but I wanted something monks are likely better at than athletics they have some ability to use instead.
Which ability score inflicts disadvantage on opponents using a different ability score when playing a board or card game is similarly arbitrary. The main goal was that a player might have cause to use an ability score with a lower modifier based on their opponent. Any suggestions for how to justify a particular set of rock-paper-scissors are welcome.
The checks used for Insuknawr and Sumo are so they aren't a pure test of who has a higher bonus in Athletics. That said, I do think the rules I've ended up with overcorrect and make the Strength and Constitution scores insufficiently relevant.
The suggested change for tournaments I think is relatively known for high profile duels between PCs (or PCs and important NPCs) and is mainly included for completeness.
High Jump and Long Jump aren't included, as I'm not sure how to add a roll without having everyone start jumping ridiculous distances. A d10 instead of a d20 for the added distance, maybe?
I did not include any team sports, as I wasn't sure how to make them less dependent on NPCs rolling well (or a PC team all having proficiency in whichever group of skills). Suggestions for how to make this work are welcome. Closest I could come up with is a Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check made when handing off a baton during a relay race.
Finally, when I tired to make the listing less focused on European settings, I found Insuknawr (was already aware of Sumo), various regional types of wrestling, and various traditional races (mostly boat races, which seemed odd, but its likely sampling bias from boat races being less common). If you know of a sport you think would be good for fantasy settings to include, please mention it; my goal is a general listing of these for future reference.
In my memory someone posted their rules for jousting, but I can't seem to find it now. Not sure if something happened, I'm repeatedly skipping over the post for no real reason, or it was old enough that it dropped off while I was writing. Anyway, I got to thinking about various sports, and decided to try writing up some rules for them. The main sports also include a "playing the game section," to mark what I think could be done to speed things up if the 'competition' is only between two people or there isn't both time and interest in a particular game to warrant my full rules.
Due to length, I'm going to relegate my commentary on games to the end of the post.
Interaction With Combat Rules
Most places have some sort of local sporting events. Often held as part of a larger festival, or to raise morale after a military achievement, sporting events present a friendly way for many characters to compete with each other.
Sports and Combat
Several sporting events list rules that are not followed in combat. This primarily has to do with differences in the conditions between these sorts of situations. For instance, someone running on a battlefield typically needs to pay attention to their surroundings and track their equipment. During sporting events this necessity is removed, allowing participants to move faster than on the battlefield or to perform moves typically blocked by padding and armor.
Archery
Archery tournaments are popular for those from many walks of life, particular in societies where hunting is a respected pastime and where archers are valued soldiers or commonly raised levies.
Archery Rules
The targets used in archery tournaments usually have an AC of 5. Attack rolls that miss the target are counted as a score of 0. Otherwise, the arrow scores a number of points equal to the result of the attack roll.
A participant is typically allowed five arrows per round. In the 'preliminary' or 'qualifying' round, a participant typically needs a score of at least 50 points to be allowed into the tournament, although a participant may be allowed multiple attempts to achieve this score.
When the tournament starts in earnest, a participant may attempt to achieve the required score once in each successive round. Generally, participants must score at least 60 to progress past the first round, and the required score increases by 10 each round after that.
Once there are judged to be sufficiently few participants remaining, the tournament moves into the final round. In the final round, each remaining participant makes two attempts to score, and uses the higher total. Victory is awarded based on the highest of each participant's results on each of these checks.
Types of Archery Tournaments
Archery tournaments for nobles or notable marksmen typically skip the qualifying round, instead determining participants based on titles or performance in other recent tournaments
Particularly advanced tournaments may make use of smaller targets with AC 10 or even AC 15. No matter their level, some tournaments raise the stakes by requiring participants to attack a target at long range; often this is in cases where participants are expected to be sharpshooters anyway.
Other tournaments involve performing archery from horseback. While characters in combat can typically wait for a moment of reduced jostling before they loose an arrow, the archery conditions in a tournament cause disadvantage on participants' attack rolls.
In performative arenas and among the Eladrin, archery tournaments may involve a spellcaster providing blessings or other subtler benefits to all the participants, both to improve performance and because these benefits don't stack.
Alternative Weapons
The rules presented here assume a competition between archers, but can be used for crossbows, thrown weapons, and horseshoes.
Crossbow competitions are more common in urban areas fewer hunters and a higher concentration of weaponmakers. Most noble societies favor bows, so crossbowmanship is seen less favorably and carries less weight.
Competitions for thrown weapons are rarer, but in many societies javelin throwing competitions are very respectable. Axe throwing and throwing horseshoes are typically relegated to games set up during an event, rather than competitions in and of themselves.
Running the Game
When a particular player or notable NPC compete with each other in a single round, it may be worth having each roll for each arrow in turn. For speed, all of a participant's arrows can be rolled at once.
In a competition that starts with very few members, the competition may work better as a single round, with each character using their best of three scores. In the most simple case, the participants take turns loosing a prespecified number of arrows and the one with the total highest score simply takes victory.
Jousting
Mounts are expensive and require skill to ride, which limits their use to nobles or people of the plains. As an activity that inherently limits entry, jousts are one of the top sports among nobles and others with wealth and influence.
Jousting Rules
A joust is broken up into bouts, each of which involves the participants of the joust to try to unseat each other from their mounts. Each bout lasts one round. At the start of a bout, each jouster makes a contested Animal Handling (Wisdom) check. If one participant loses the check by 5 or more, they have disadvantage on their attack roll to unseat their opponent for the round.
Each jouster chooses to target one of three parts of their opponent, each of which has a different difficulty to hit.
The Body.
The Shield. The attacker gains a +2 bonus to their attack, but the target has advantage on checks to remain seated.
The Head. The attacker takes a -5 penalty to their attack, but the target has disadvantage on checks to remain seated.
No Target. The attack misses automatically, but the rider has advantage on checks to remain seated.
After the attacks are made, each participant must make their choice of an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check or Athletics (Strength) check with a DC equal to their opponent's attack roll. On a failed check, a participant is knocked off their mount and the attacker takes a point.
If a participant scores a critical hit during a round in the joust, they can make an Intimidation (Charisma) check contested by their opponent's Insight (Wisdom) check. On a success, their opponent makes their check to remain seated with disadvantage. If the opponent is unseated during this round, the participant who scored the critical hit gains an additional point for the round.
The first participant to have five points and have at least one more point than their opponents wins the joust.
It typically takes 1d4+1 rounds for the participants to be ready for the next bout.
Engaging Other Features
Participants with particular types of martial training can, in some cases, gain a benefit when jousting. The following are some common features and their effects during a joust.
Action Surge A participant can expend an action surge to make a second attack during a round of a joust. The attack can target a different part of the body than the regularly made attack, but must be made before participants make their rolls to remain seated. The target of the attacks must roll separately to remain seated against each attack.
Divine Smite A character with access to the divine smite feature can expend a 1st level spell slot to add a d4 to the DC of their opponent's check to remain seated. If expending a spell slot of 2nd level or higher for the divine smite, the die increases by one size for each slot level above 1st, to a maximum of a d12 at 5th level.
Favored Enemy A participant with the mount's creature type as a favored enemy gains a +2 bonus to their Animal Handling (Wisdom) roll made to control their mount.If using my ranger fix (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?592451-Sandmote-s-Ranger-Fixes-(PEACH)), a participant with the favored enemy feature adds their Favored Enemy bonus damage to their Animal Handling (Wisdom) check instead.
Rage A raging participant can add their bonus rage damage to the DC to remain seated against their attack roll.
Running the Game
The above rules are there for events showcasing jousts or when a PC participates in the sport. For tournament arcs, you can shorten the event without choosing winners by having each participant in a match roll three rolls: An attack roll, an Animal Handling (Wisdom) check, and the NPC's choice of an Acrobatics (Dexterity) or Athletics (Strength) checks. Whichever character gets the higher total or higher average roll wins (use whichever you find easiest to calculate; it won't impact results). If even this takes too long, use the passive scores for each check to determine the winner.
Races
All involved participants run the race at once, so separate turns taken during the race. The first character to reach a particular distance wins the race. If multiple characters finish covering the required distance in the same time period, the character who has the most remaining movement when they reach the finish line wins.
Short Distance Races
This type of race include footraces and swimming events and applies when the race is short enough for a participant to simply move as fast as they can manage for the duration.. Each round, a character can make an Athletics (Strength) check and an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check. The characters can then move a distance up to to twice their movement speed + the sum of the two checks.
Marathons
Running distance during a race long enough to focus on endurance is typically measured in tenths of a mile. Every 10 minutes during an extended race, each participant travels a number of miles equal to one tenth of 1d10 + their Constitution modifier + their Strength modifier (minimum of one tenth of a mile).
Mounted and Chariot Racing
In chariot race or one done from the back of a mount, each round the driver or jockey makes an Animal Handling (Wisdom) check and all of the horses (or other steeds) make an Athletics (Strength) check. The mount or chariot can then move a distance equal to twice their movement speed + the result of the driver's check + the average of the steed's checks.
Boat Races
Boat races are typically performed by boats of a particular type. Each round, the captain makes a Performance (Charisma) check each round of the race and the helmsman makes a Water Vehicles (Wisdom) check. The boat can them move a distance equal to the boat's movement speed times the number of actions it can take + the sum of the two checks. This can apply to both sailing vessels and rowed vessels. If the vessels used have a single rower rather than multiple crew members, substitute an Athletics (Strength) check for the Performance (Charisma) check.
Running the Game
If there's more than a few participants, rolling for all the runners in a race is usually unnecessary. Rolling for characters the party knows (such as friends or rivals) is usually enough. Few PCs are champion runners or riders, but occasionally it might be possible for one to win. In this case, it can be effective to generate results for 3 to 5 of the best NPC participants. The strongest participants can usually be expected to each have 15 in any relevant ability scores and proficiency in the used skills. In a race with many participants, it may be worth having these participants roll each leg of the race with advantage, to ensure they place highly.
Wrestling
Two characters participate in the wrestling competition at a time. Characters participating are lightly clothed, and limitation on clothing options and which moves are legal makes possible opportunities that don't take place in typical combat.
During a wrestling match, each participant chooses which action they will attempt at the start of the round, which are then revealed at the same time. Rather that using initiative, resolve the chosen actions in the other they are presented below. If the conditions to resolve an action aren't possible at the time a participant attempts the action, the action simply fails. A character loses when they are pinned at the start of the round and remains pinned through the entire round.
Evade The participant expends 5 feet of movement rather than make a check. If their opponent attempts a grapple or interrupt, they fail automatically.
Lunge The participant expends 5 feet of movement rather than make a check. If the opponent evades, they have disadvantage on Strength checks an cannot evade again until the end of the next round.
Interrupt The participant makes an unarmed strike against their opponent. The attack deals damage as normal, and if the target is concentrating on a spell they must make a Constitution saving throw with a save DC equal to the attack roll to maintain their concentration.
Hold The participant expends 5 feet of movement and their opponent has disadvantage on checks made to initiate, resist, or escape being grappled or pinned until the end of the round.
Escape The participant makes their choice of an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check or Athletics (Strength) check contested by their opponents Athletics (Strength) check. On a success, the character is no longer pinned. If the character wasn't pinned, they are instead no longer grappled.
Grapple The participant initiates a grapple. A lunging opponent has disadvantage on their check to escape the grapple.
Pin The participant expends 5 feet of movement and initiates a grapple. If they succeed and their target is already grappled, the opponent is also pinned.
Magic and beating on an opponent are both taboo in most wrestling competitions. For this reason, performing interrupts is typically relegated to the most brutal events, when an opponent is visibly using magic, or to incite the audience in a performative match.
Engaging Other Features
Participants with particular types of martial training can, in some cases, gain a benefit when wrestling. The following are some common features and their effects during a wrestling tournament.
Action Surge A participant can expend an action surge to perform a second action during the round. An action surge cannot be expended until after any attempts made to pin creatures normally, but the action taken is performed before the round ends.
Ki Whenever a participant would make an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check or Athletics (Strength) check, they can expend 1 ki point to make an Insight (Wisdom) check instead.
Rage A participant can enter a rage as a bonus action before they perform an action during a wrestling match. The rage lasts as normal, ending early if the participant fails to attempt an interrupt, grapple, or pin and takes no damage by the end of the round.
Running the Game
The above rules are there for events showcasing wresting or when a PC participates in the sport. For tournament arcs, you can shorten the event without choosing winners by having each participant in a match roll four checks: Two Athletics (Strength) checks, an Acrobatics (Dexterity) check and an Insight (Wisdom) check. Whichever character gets the higher total or higher average roll wins (use whichever you find easiest to calculate; it won't impact results). If even this takes too long, use the passive scores for each check to determine the winner.
Additional Games
The above do not include all types of games played in competitions or events. The following are games that are generally simpler or less varied than the games listed above.
Card Games and Board Games
Often played on trips and with friends, card games and board games come in a variety on shapes and forms. For generic board game rules, participants each choose one tactic to focus on each time a game is played, which are revealed at the same time after having been chosen.
An Intelligence check using your proficiency with the game. If your opponent chooses to make a Charisma check, they make their check with disadvantage.
A Wisdom check using your proficiency with the game. If your opponent chooses to make an Intelligence check, they make their check with disadvantage.
A Charisma check using your proficiency with the game. If your opponent chooses to make a Wisdom check, they make their check with disadvantage.
Alternatively, a character may attempt to cheat at such a game. In this case, they make a Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check contested by their opponent's Perception (Wisdom) or Investigation (Intelligence) check. On a success, they gain advantage on whichever skill they use to play the game. On a failure, they get caught cheating, which carries different consequences depending on the conditions of the game.
The character who wins the contested roll wins the game; in the case of a tie, the result is similarly a tie. If a tie isn't possible in the particular game, reroll the dice until a victor is achieved.
Insuknawr or Sumo
Insuknawr and Sumo are sports that involve two participants attempting the push their opponent out of a ring or to knock them onto the ground. In Insuknawr the participants hold opposite ends of a thick, 8 foot long pole while in Sumo the participants are unarmed.
Each round during an Insukawr or Sumo match, the participants take an action to participate, each choosing one of the following actions, which are revealed at the same time after having been chosen.
An Athletics (Strength) check. If your opponent chooses to make an Insight (Wisdom) check, they make their check with disadvantage.
An Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check. If your opponent chooses to make an Athletics (Strength) check, they make their check with disadvantage.
An Insight (Wisdom) check. If your opponent chooses to make a Sleight of Hand (Wisdom) check, they make their check with disadvantage.
The participants make a contested check between the chosen skills. The participant who wins the check gains one success, and their opponents gains a failure. Successes and Failures cancel out.
When either participant accumulates three failures they are pushed out of the ring and lose the match. If either participant loses their check by 15 or more, they fall and immediately lose the match.
Skittles
Skittles, also known as nine pins, is a sport the involves rolling a ball down a lane to knock down nine skittles or pins set up at the end.
A skittles tournament is broken up into legs. During a leg, each participant is allowed to roll three balls down the length of the alley to knock down the nine skittles. If all nine skittles have been knocked down with balls remaining the skittles are reset, and the participant can use their remaining balls to attempt to knock down the skittles. Each participant can therefore knock down up to 27 skittles each leg.
For each ball rolled by a participant, the participant can make their choice of an Athletics (Strength) check or Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check. The participant knocks down one pin for every two points on the check, to a maximum equal to the number of pins remaining. Therefore a roll of 18 is enough to knock down all nine pins at once.
Tournaments
Formally, tournaments are martial competitions with very few rules. In practice a tournament plays out as typical combat, usually as a duel between two participants.
In a duel during such a tournament it may be prudent to treat a Character's AC as 1d20 plus their typical AC minus 10. In this case, a character may manage to block or evade even a high attack roll, and cannot assume they are safe after seeing their opponent got a low roll.
Competitions and Magic
In a world where magic is a known phenomenon, it naturally comes up in sporting events. Attitudes on using it to enhance performance vary by culture, by the type of magic, and by the event.
Magic Items
Generally, those who can obtain magical items that aid them in a competition also have a lot of influence of the cost of setting up the event. Since most participants in a sport bring their own equipment anyway, magic items are typically not an issue.
For prestigious events held by powerful creatures, such as genies or the Eladrin, participants' showcase their wealth as well as their skill and it is fully expected that one brings their most powerful equipment.
In a low level local tournament, particularly a friendly tournament, bringing magical or otherwise performance enhancing equipment is often considered unsporting. Someone with a common or uncommon magic bow will have any success attributed to the bow (and failure outright mocked) but will typically still be allowed to participate. A renowned archer will likely be allowed to bring their preferred bow if scoring a round as part of an opening ceremony, but otherwise someone using a rare or rarer magic bow won't be allowed to compete.
Spellcasting
In most cases, participant's typically need to show up 1d4+1 minutes before their event or participant in a round begins. This is usually setup rather than intended to prevent a participant from benefiting from spells, but still reduces the ability of participants to magically enhance their performance.
For events focusing entirely on skill or in which participants don't have access to magic, those caught using longer lasting magical or alchemical effects or those which get caught getting spells cast on themselves directly before they compete are typically disqualified. It is common for the reason they are disqualified to be publicly announced and include the names of any known co-conspirators.
For events showcasing the participant's wealth or access to magic, having spells cast on each participant is an expected and an allowed method for improving one's results.
Other Features
Those operating sporting events are usually unaware of non-spell magical abilities or unable to differentiate them from spellcasting. Because these are often subtler and less known, they are either not noticed or treated as spellcasting. The following are main exceptions to these rules.
Bardic Inspiration Bards inspiring various candidates is typically legal. However, a bard clearly benefiting a particular candidate may result in a penalty the participant's results, and the bard is also typically removed from the tournament grounds for the rest of the event.
Artificer Infusions For competitions using a weapon or other built item (such as archery competitions), an artificer infusing their equipment will be treated as showcasing their craftsmanship rather than their skill with the weapon. In contests demonstrating skill with the relevant equipment, this means they are allowed to compete and win prizes with the same level of respect granted to someone demonstrating their prowess with the equipment in question. If the competition is about physical prowess, however, infusions that grant a magical bonus are treated the same as other magical weapons.
Ki granting the use of Wisdom (Insight) checks when wrestling is fairly arbitrary, but I wanted something monks are likely better at than athletics they have some ability to use instead.
Which ability score inflicts disadvantage on opponents using a different ability score when playing a board or card game is similarly arbitrary. The main goal was that a player might have cause to use an ability score with a lower modifier based on their opponent. Any suggestions for how to justify a particular set of rock-paper-scissors are welcome.
The checks used for Insuknawr and Sumo are so they aren't a pure test of who has a higher bonus in Athletics. That said, I do think the rules I've ended up with overcorrect and make the Strength and Constitution scores insufficiently relevant.
The suggested change for tournaments I think is relatively known for high profile duels between PCs (or PCs and important NPCs) and is mainly included for completeness.
High Jump and Long Jump aren't included, as I'm not sure how to add a roll without having everyone start jumping ridiculous distances. A d10 instead of a d20 for the added distance, maybe?
I did not include any team sports, as I wasn't sure how to make them less dependent on NPCs rolling well (or a PC team all having proficiency in whichever group of skills). Suggestions for how to make this work are welcome. Closest I could come up with is a Sleight of Hand (Dexterity) check made when handing off a baton during a relay race.
Finally, when I tired to make the listing less focused on European settings, I found Insuknawr (was already aware of Sumo), various regional types of wrestling, and various traditional races (mostly boat races, which seemed odd, but its likely sampling bias from boat races being less common). If you know of a sport you think would be good for fantasy settings to include, please mention it; my goal is a general listing of these for future reference.