No matter what, make the builds secret.
And regulate it. Some stuff is OP like an L20 match with a wizard and fighter.
I'd say no summoning. Long matches against other people can be frustrating.
Have weightclasses based on tiers. Obviously a T1 is gonna wipe the floor with a T5, so it's better to just limit everyone to the same tier (or one category above or below).
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Question for the OP:
You talking arena style fighting against each other, or
"Head of Vecna" level party vs party shenanigans?
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I've played PvP arenas, it's odd. Sometimes fun.
Your Favourite Character doesn't do well in the arena. At low levels the winners are always Barbarians because they hit hard and Swashbucklers because they can parry-riposte. In that sense it is quite realistic to actual gladiatorial combat I guess. One can get joy out of a tricky caster shooting Color Spray too, that sort of thing.
As levels go up, the balance changes of course, but bear that in mind. High level arenas have their own set of problems, especially with prep time. People will demand a potion shop.
What it means for your game is that giving the party a traditional party to do this might not work, and people become terrible rules lawyers over terrain and five-foot steps.
Either give pregens or encourage cartoony stereotypes for the players, it is no time for depth and they are doomed any way. Also look at the rules for performance combat - fights won't last long enough for rules as intended, but there are ways to add bonuses.
Gladiators which work well in my experience are:
- Enlarged Barbarian, big two-hander.
- Swashbuckler spamming parry-riposte.
- Ninja with Vanishing Trick.
- Illusionist with Color Spray.
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In our group, a well-used GM trick is to dominate or otherwise control the BSF of the party. In our last campaign, my barbarian and the melee fighter went toe-to-toe several times for various reasons. I agree with Ooooooooooo (quite a name there) that traditional party diversity would make poor gladiators-- the others all agreed that if the two of us ever faced off against the other four, they'd probably be screwed.
Deliberately, I've scheduled "Arena Sessions" where for a portion of the session, the story steers towards an internal competition/conflict settlement within the group.
1v1, group fights, grand melee, run it as a normal encounter. I try to ensure the battlefield has mixture of LoS breakers, cover, and open lanes/flats that people can take advantage of tactically, so Mr. Mage doesn't get curbstomped turn-one by the charging Barbarian, and likewise that same Barbie would not be picked off from 100' off the bat by the ranged Inquisitor that's been pre-baking judgments even before the bell rang. Bear in mind, this does favor stealth classes -if the opponsing PC was so foolish as to try and stalk a rogue in cover. As in, both Players have LoS at the start of the fight, but there's plenty of terrain to develop in atwixt them.
Coercing the pretty-princess type of PC to be Ring-Girl is just another bonus. Once, it took my Players 2 matches to figure out I was playing out their bloodpig match as a spoof on Space Jam. I had to start playing the match music from the soundtrack.
Please establish rules like in MMO/Shooter PvP sessions that don't occur in deathmatch context of "No Finishers". If that critical goes overkill, then let it; I'm talking about prohibiting Coup de Grace. Winning is the goal, not Fatalities a la MK. As a DM, I take a hard line on maiming/defiling downed Players by other PCs because that is anti-social behavior not by that PC, but by the Player piloting that toon.
I enjoy PVP in the campaigns I engage in as a PC and a DM, because it accesses a paradigm of combat that frankly, a lot of PCs do not know. Rather than tell, it shows people where their build excels/fails.
Storytime: 60' Vision Oracle vs. Pistolero in an open arena. I had to play Marco Polo with lead slugs. I roleplayed it as seeing his shots coming out of the void at the edges of my sight, just using the opportunity to move-action, and cast an appropriate spell as needed. It was crazy, and frankly put, his dice saved me from himself. Touch AC vs. Will Save was the subtitle of that fight. That Oracle will forever tell his progeny of how Divine(luck) wins Championships.