Arena of Ages

Arena of Ages Rules version 0.10

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Arena of the Ages, where many brave heroes have fought not only to win prizes, but to hone skills and eventually reach levels unsurpassed by their competition! This arena is open to ANY NUMBER of players allowing for a multitude of skills and combating abilities!

This does NOT mean that our wizards and the like are left out, oh no! This is even open to them as they can be the most deadly opponents in the right arenas! Now before you begin to venture forth, there are a few rules to abide by while here:

Requirements

To play in the Arena of Ages you need:

• The current version of TOS+
• An active subscription to the Community Forum

How to create your gladiators:

Each gladiator is rolled using the 5d6 method, dropping the lowest two and assigning as per normal. All stats are to be rolled using the Invisible Castle roller. On that site, you can register a free account - try to use the same name as your forum nickname if possible.

Here is about what you need to do to roll your Gladiator:

Doing Rolls on Invisible Castle
Section	What to enter
Name	The name of your Gladiator
Campaign Name	AoA Gladiators
Number of Rolls	6
Dice	5d6.minroll(2).takeHighest(3)
Notes	Your School Name: Roll # out of 3

You will do thi above THREE times and pick the one that is BEST suited for your character. Save ALL the HTTP:// in the Notes section of TOS+ for your Gladiator.

Once you have your Gladiator ready, send it via PM to the Judges:
BusyCowboy
shai-hulud
Duniagdra
(copy all three and paste into the "to" window of the PM)

System Used

There are going to be two separate areas set up. One for the Pathfinder system, and one for D&D 3.5. You can play in both; however you have to create two separate schools for each of them. Currently, we play only 3.5 Characters until TOS+ v3.0 is made public

Books

Presently, you are allowed to use the content of the System Reference Document, which matches the content of TOS+.

Starting Gold

As per your Class - use the average value.

Spellcasters

A special note on spellcasting gladiators. In regard to what spells this gladiator has available to his/her use, the submission to the Judges and the forum may exclude spells from the file. Spells allowed are strictly limited to those built into TOS+ and the SRD. No other sources are allowed, as no other sources are allowed to other gladiators.
At a time that a spellcaster is challenged by, or challenges, another Gladiator, caster or not, this spellcasting Gladiator MUST be sent to the Presiding Judge of said match with spells included. Failure to do so will result in no spells available for that match.

Gladiator Schools

A gladiator school may only have 1 gladiator to start out with. When the school has successfully raised a gladiator to 5th level, that school may then have up to 2 gladiators. After a school has a 10th level gladiator, they may have up to 3 gladiators. After a gladiator reaches 15th level, that school may then have up to 4 gladiators. You may retire a gladiator at any time in their career; however, you can only recruit/create 1st level gladiators!

Gladiators

When a gladiator reaches level 20, they have become a legend in the arena. At this point, they are encouraged to retire and live a life of luxury. When a school retires a 20th level gladiator, that school may then recruit Level-Adjustment gladiators. This starts out with +1 LA races. For each 20th level gladiator a school retires, the allowed level adjustment increases by an additional +1. For example, if a school has retired 3 20th level gladiators, they may recruit +3 LA races. However, a LA gladiator is treated as being of the level indicated in the level adjustment for the purposes of challenges.

CHALLENGES

HOW to issue a Challenge

Once a school has been established, and it has a gladiator, you are free to challenge any gladiator from any school. A challenge may be issued to any gladiator of equal level or higher...though you may not challenge a gladiator more than 2 levels higher than you (even if you think you can take them!) To issue a challenge, a PM MUST BE SENT to the one being challenged AND the Judges. One of the Judges will then respond for covering this match and the challenged has 5 days from that point to respond. Prior to challenging a gladiator, you are encouraged to talk with them about who you are going against. In all fairness, both parties MUST at least give basic information such as weapons and armor and level and the like.

How to REPLY to a Challenge

When you have been challenged, you have several options. If the gladiator who challenged you is of equal level, you may choose whether or not you accept the challenge. If the gladiator that challenged you is of lower level, you MUST fight them. A gladiator CANNOT challenge an opponent of lower level then he/she is. In either case, the person BEING challenged gets to choose the arena to fight in.

In general, all bouts are fought until one gladiator has fallen (negative hit points). In some cases, a gladiator may continue fighting until -10 hp (such as with the diehard feat). The gladiators do not die and are automatically restored to full health at the conclusion of a match. This also includes Familiar/Animal companions and such.

If you are challenged and do not respond to that challenge within 5 days and do NOT have viable reason, it will be classified as a LOSS against your school. [under revision]

If this happens repeatedly (max 3 times), your gladiator will impose a -1 penalty to attack, damage, saves, skills, and initiatives until the opposing gladiator wins (ie...Glad 1 vg Glad 2, no response from Glad 2 for 5 days = -1 penalties for Glad 2 until they win a duel). This effect STACKS with other penalties/spells. [under revision]

After 3 consecutive non-responses to challenges, the gladiator will be removed from the game.

If you accept a challenge and DO NOT post within the 2 day validation you will be given a foul. Having a foul means your Gladiator has a condition (fatigued, etc.) applied to him/her for 1 (could be 2) rounds. If you foul consecutively, or foul three times in one match, the match is "Forfeit by Foul", and your opponent gets a win and 50% of the prize for that match. Note that some games will require a Private message to the DM, as your position is hidden from the other. [under revision]

Number of Matches at One Time

A single Gladiator may, if he chooses, be in more than one Match Fight. This Gladiator may also refuse a challenge if he is already in a Match Fight, with no penalty to the Gladiator or the school. A Gladiator may be in no more than 3 Matches at any one time.

For spells with material or focus components, as in the rules governing spells and their components, the caster pays for components of value and must track them. If a caster is in more than one Match Fight, the caster MUST choose which match what components of value are available in.

A Death Match

A 'Death Match' is a battle to the death. A battle to the death must be agreed upon by both gladiators prior to beginning the bout. If a gladiator has died, they may be resurrected if that gladiator has the money to do so. However, True Resurrection may never be used. If the gladiator is level 4 or higher, then each time they die, they incur a -1 level penalty.

Rewards

The following amounts are in gp. Look up the winner's level and the loser's level to determine the winner's earnings. This table is not yet valid. It is merely a placeholder for the actual table to come with test numbers that are not for actual use.

		Winner's Level
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Loser's Level	1	200	350	450
	2	338	600	788	900
	3	500	900	1,200	1,400	1,500
	4		1,250	1,688	2,000	2,188	2,250
	5			2,250	2,700	3,000	3,150	3,150
	6				3,500	3,938	4,200	4,288	4,200
	7					5,000	5,400	5,600	5,600	5,400
	8						6,750	7,088	7,200	7,088	6,750
	9							8,750	9,000	9,000	8,750	8,250
	10								11,000	11,138	11,000	10,588	9,900
	11									13,500	13,500	13,200	12,600	11,700
	12										16,250	16,088	15,600	14,788	13,650
	13											19,250	18,900	18,200	17,150	15,750
	14												22,500	21,938	21,000	19,688	18,000
	15													26,000	25,200	24,000	22,400	20,400
	16														29,750	28,688	27,200	25,288	22,950
	17															33,750	32,400	30,600	28,350	25,650
	18																38,000	36,338	34,200	31,588	28,500
	19																	42,500	40,500	38,000	35,000
	20																		47,250	44,888	42,000

Also: In a Match where a Gladiator who actually refuses the challenge (according to the rules) Pays nothing.
In a Match where a Challenge has been made, but no answer has been received (according to the rules) then the challenger receives 50gp for his time spent waiting.
With a Match in progress, concerning a Win by Forfeit (according to the rules), the winner receives 50% of the prize value.

Vacation / Away

If you are going out of touch for more than a few days, please indicate this in the ABSENT thread on the forum so that way you will NOT be penalized and your school will be put on hold until AFTER you return!

Validation and Judge

If a judge is gone for a length of time that is double the time of the validation process (ie 2 day validation = 4 days gone), then another judge, at the request of the players, may be used for the time frame of that challenge.

THE ARENAS

There are several Arenas to choose from and more are added from time to time. Please consult the Map Area on the Community Forum to view available Maps!

Movements

When moving around the Arena, please indicate the square you have moved to by using the grid coordinates..ie "I have moved from 1A to 3B." The ARENA LAYOUT thread has several arena layouts, however they are ALL based upon the TYPICAL arena unless otherwise shown or noted.

Arena Options

A person who is being challenged may select one of several arena types for the bout. The arena types are as follows:

• Typical: Standard Arena (50x120x50)
• Burning: 1d6 fire damage per round, Fire spells gain +1 ECL
• Wetland: Movement Halved, Water spells gain +1 ECL
• Forest: Movement Halved, +10% concealment
• Clouds: +1 ECL to Air spells, 15% chance knocked prone (air currents)
• Fire Plane: +3 ECL to Fire spells, 4d6 fire damage/round
• Water Plane: 25% chance to take 2d6 suffocation damage, +3 ECL to Water Spells
• Earth Plane: 15% chance earthquake (4d6 damage), +3 ECL to Earth spells
• Air Plane: Falling unless flying, no dex bonus, 3d6 dmg/round (high winds), +3 ECL to Air spells
• Shadow Plane: 5% chance of hitting a stone (DC 35 or die)
• Light Plane: Regenerate/gain 5 HP/round. If 10 hp over your initial, DC 30+1/hp or explode
• Limbo: Arena changes every 5 rounds

A notice will be posted in the ARENA ANNOUNCEMENT area to let you know which arenas are open. If enough people request one, there can be 2 of each arena, but as it stands now, there is only ONE of each EXCEPT the typical arena which there are 5.

RANKING SYSTEM

There are 4 different levels for each rank. Everyone starts out at D-Private. Once you gain a level, you would then become a D-Sergeant. Once you hit D-Major (level 5), you become a C-Private at level 6 and so on and so forth. All of the benefits listed below STACK and are in addition to any bonus granted by leveling!

Progression

Each and every level is attainable by earning Victory Points.
1 Win = 2 VP
1 Loss = 1 VP
3 Wins gain 1 level, while 6 Losses gain a level.

D LEVEL

• Level 01: Private - None,
• Level 02: Sergeant - +1 to any ONE skill
• Level 03: Lieutenant - +3 HP
• Level 04: Captain - +1 to AC (Deflection)
• Level 05: Major - +1 to any ONE stat

C LEVEL

• Level 06: Private - +2 to ATK/DMG or ECL
• Level 07: Sergeant - +2 to either ATK or DMG
• Level 08: Lieutenant - +2 to Initiative
• Level 09: Captain - +2 to ALL Saving Throws
• Level 10: Major - +2 to any ONE stat

B LEVEL

• Level 11: Private - +3 to ATK/DMG or ECL
• Level 12: sergeant - +3 to any ONE skill
• Level 13: Lieutenant - +6 HP
• Level 14: Captain - +3 to AC (Deflection)
• Level 15: Major - +3 to any ONE stat

A LEVEL

• Level 16: Private - +4 to ATK/DMG or ECL
• Level 17: sergeant - 5/- Resistance
• Level 18: Lieutenant - +4 to Initiative
• Level 19: Captain - +4 to ALL Saving Throws
• Level 20: Major - +4 to any ONE stat

Gold Ownership

Gold is owned by the Gladiator who has earned it - not pooled in the school coffers. You cannot transfer gold (or equipment) from one of your gladiators, to another one.

Prize for Winning

If the gladiator wins, then they will get 200 gp, if they lose, they get 1/10th (20 gp). In addition to that, each time they gain a level, they will also gain the following, including the benefits from the above ranks (note that if you lose a lot and level up, you do not gain the gold):

Level	Award	Level	Award
2	200 gp	12	15,000 gp
3	400 gp	13	20,000 gp
4	600 gp	14	25,000 gp
5	1,000 gp	15	35,000 gp
6	1,500 gp	16	45,000 gp
7	2,000 gp	17	55,000 gp
8	2,500 gp	18	65,000 gp
9	3,000 gp	19	75,000 gp
10	5,000 gp	20	100,000gp
11	5,000 gp	-	-

[under revision]

MAGIC

Magic cannot be cast prior to the fight. Each gladiator goes through a 'de-spell' prior to such. Psionic characters cannot start out as already psionically focused. (ref)

For classes that must memorize spells, please PM me or the judge you’re memorized spells prior to beginning the bout. Also, if anyone is playing a wizard, please keep track of your spell book in your character sheet.

In all arenas, Summon Natures Ally / Summon Monster can be used; however it is the normal stats for the creature summoned. It is up to the judge of that challenge to determine whether or not any feats (such as Augmented Summoning) take hold for that particular creature. After all, if you are going against a druid or a decently thought out wizard, you should expect something else to come up!

Invisibility

If you are invisible by means of natural abilities, you may PM to let me know your movement in the arena, as to keep your opponent from knowing your location. If, however, you are combating me, then I will designate an alternative person to keep track of your movement.

Animal Companions / Familiars / Rebuking

Animal Companions/Familiars are allowed within the confines of the arena and act as normal, however summoning a horde and then rebuking to take control of them will not be allowed if the total number of their HD is greater than HALF your level rounded down.

The player may choose to give the animal companion new feats and skills if he rears the animal himself. The warbeast template cannot be applied to an animal companion. Ability scores are set, no playing around with point buys. No flaws for animal companions. No fleshraker dinosaurs!!!

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS

(pending modifications) Each month there will be a tournament of champions. During this time, none of the participating schools can be challenged. Each school will then create a new gladiator of a set level for this tournament. Once they are complete, these new gladiators will battle to become number 1!

These gladiators are TEMPORARY; you do NOT get to keep them!

Other tournaments will come available as we progress!

GOLD

The gold that you win can buy you numerous items, as per the book allowed to your School. Aside from the standard items that you can get from the SRD, there are specialized items that can be purchased that are posted in the ARENA ITEMS thread. Many more things are on their way! As we play test this system, I am sure you will be surprised! So keep your eyes open!