Little something I tossed together that my players are interested in turning into a significant part of their campaign. Thought I'd toss it out here to share and see if anyone had any thoughts or comments they might want to share.
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BEING A TREATISE ON THE RULES AND VARIANTS FOR POPULAR SUMMONING COMPETITIONS
It was the will of the Guild Council to establish a common reference work in identifying the various methods in use for adjudicating the competitions between Conjurers, particularly in the use of Summoning Magicks. To that end, this Treatise was commissioned in order to codify the known styles of competitions and reference their known variants for the edification of all Guildmembers. Keeping in mind that new competitions or variants may be encountered or developed, this document is being presented as a living document and as such may be appended or updated at any time, without warning.
Certain variations are common across all the games. The first is the setting of a time limit for the duration of the individual challenges. The second is whether or not additional spells are allowed to be cast on the Summoned creatures before or during the challenge. Additionally, some challenges are divided into a specified number of rounds of a given length, with grace periods between the rounds to be used for casting restorative or enhancing spells. This approach is particularly popular amongst Casters of the nations of eastern Forinth. Finally, Casters may be restricted in how many times they may Summon creatures during a challenge.
Competition #1
Commonly called "Last Man Standing" or variation thereof, this competition is regularly seen as a slugfest between Summoned creatures of opposing Casters. The primary variations seen in this competition has to do with whether Casters are limited to how many times or creatures they are allowed to summon. Rarely is a time-limit imposed as is seen in other variants, but occasionally during multiple-casting contests, there is a point set beyond which no more Summonings may be cast and the final conflict is allowed to play out.
In Ruidia, brackets are run as in a warrior's tournament, typically held in double-elimination fashion. Casters are limited to a single Summoning, but are allowed to enhance and heal their avatars throughout the competition.
Competition #2
This is known as "First Touch." In this style, the opposing caster is the target of the Summoned creature. Here, the object is for the creature to make a successful melee touch attack against the opposing Caster. Harming the Caster is almost uniformly considered to be a sign of poor sportsmanship and lack of control and is regularly penalized by disqualification and in many cases financial sanctions. The main variation in this competition is whether or not the Caster is allowed to defend themselves against the creature's efforts.
Certain northern barbarian Sorcerers use a variant that is a fight to first blood, wherein the creatures are allowed to inflict damage and the Casters are allowed to fight back.
Competition #3
This category is more a group of related competitions that share a common style. Frequently, these games are referred to as "Capture The Flag" for their use of a flag or heraldic banner on the field. Casters are typically expected to provide their own banner in two-flag games, whereas the hosting field provides one - usually in the colors of the game's sponsor - for one-flag games. In a one-flag game, the flag starts in the center of the field and the creatures from each side must first reach the flag and then either return it to their own starting area or advance it to their opponent's starting area, depending on the local rules. Two-flag games require the Summoned creatures to either advance their own flag across the field to plant it in their opponent's starting area or to retrieve their opponent's flag from the far side of the field and return it to their own starting area. In all cases, the flags return to their original starting point within 5-6 seconds via a variant of the Dimension Door spell.
These games have the most number of variants. First, several Casters may be grouped together as one team, as is common in Havalrand. Most multi-Caster challenges are restricted to no more than a single Summoning per Caster. Games are played until one side reaches a set number of points first or they may run a preset length of time, with the side having scored the most points being declared the winner. Should one side see the loss of all their summoned creatures, the opposing side is typically called as the winner, with points recorded as scored up to that moment.
Entry Requirements, Fees, & Prizes:
Sponsors may set whatever requirements they wish to enter a competition and this varies widely between cultures. (For example, in Khadil, only females are allowed to cast arcane magicks, therefore their competitions are open only to females.) Membership in a particular Guild or Magickal Order, Patronage or Sponsorship, minimum casting capabilities, and nationality are all known requirements that have been used throughout history.
Fees and prizes often go together, as the former is frequently used to provide the latter. At the Collegium of Ghent, competitors were charged a scroll as their entry fee. The top three winners then selected from the scrolls as their prizes, the idea being to foster the spread of Arcane knowledge amongst peers. This practice continues to this day and has gained popularity amongst scholarly types as a means for both improving the range of student spellbooks as well as providing a practical test of Summoning magicks and language skill. Other entry fees known to have been charged have included the obligatory coinage, gifts to charity, spell components, artwork, enchanted items, personal favors, and rare animals. One famous competition held by Lady Ariviaa, Countess Bhonlen, had as its entry fee a poem. It was for this event Lord Fagalen the Dusty composed his now-famous "Salute to the Far Road" extemporaneously, having arrived at Bhonlen Estate with no foreknowledge of the event being hosted.
As was mentioned, the prizes offered at a given competition may be tied to the entry fee, but this is not by any means a hard and fast rule. Many competitions have been hosted in order to meet the needs of a particular charity - the building now housing the Santo Pilastro orphanage and chapel in Juntasa was paid for from funds raised by such a competition. Every participant received a small cloak-badge as a token of appreciation and today those who wear their badge when visiting that town find themselves on the receiving end of many kindnesses while there, from free food and lodging to special treatment by city officials. Other prizes include the obligatory coinage, the aforementioned spell-scrolls, magickal items, artwork, trophies, and personal favors, to name several. If something has a value or is desireable by someone, it has probably been used as a prize. Naturally, the more powerful the competitors, the more valuable the prizes. Most competitions give awards to either just the winner of each category or to the top three finishers.
GAME NOTES:
Competition structures are typically single-elimination, double-elimination, or round-robin styles. If the pool of competitors is particularly small, a double round-robin structure is frequently used.
Another concern is how tournaments divide up entrants into categories. A student who has just completed his apprenticeship is no match in most challenges for a Guild Mage who researches new spells for breakfast. Detect Magic offers one potential grouping by following Aura strengths of "faint," "moderate," and "strong" which yields Wizards grouped into levels 1-6, 7-12, and 13-20. This quickly leads to uneven matches, such as a Dretch versus a Celestial Badger. The availability of Arcane Sight gives the DM a way to keep things more even, by allowing only match-ups of equal spell level.