A battle for glory! Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and countless other creatures locked in mortal combat! Let your arrows fly, swords swing, and spells fling!
For what, you may ask? To prove you are the cheesiest, munchkiniest optimizer in all the land, and hold the title of Supreme Cheese Lord! Bards will sing of your prowess, and great wizards will whisper your name in hushed tones in dark rooms.
At least until I host another tournament.
This is the sequel to a tournament that I held last year, which had 8 participants, and led to Psilosarxia the Diviner being victorious.
This will be a Blind Double Elimination format tournament, meaning players are not eliminated from the tournament until they lose two matches. Each match will be a 'best 2 rounds out of 3', except for the Grand Final which will be 'best 3 rounds out of 5'.
The Arena Master (yours truly) runs the tournament. My duties are extensive, and include, but are not limited to: maintaining and updating these rules, gamemastering the battles, and arbitrating any disputes about rules or other issues. In the event of a disagreement about ruling, I will listen to the dissenter's point, but my final decision is law. I will attempt to rule this tournament as RAWWR (Rules-as-Written Within Reason, including official FAQs) as humanly possible, except in cases where the RAW would lead to ludicrous (as determined by me) results, such as grappling someone from a mile away using a bow and Hamatula Strike. In the event of an ambiguity in the RAW, I will resort to my own interpretation of RAI (Rules-as-Intended). It is important that I remain fair and unbiased. I shall humbly serve you all, and hopefully my mind won't be sundered from the mental effort required for this.
The game will be played on roll20.com, so you will need a roll20 account to participate in this tournament (which is free!). Tournament coordination will be done on a Discord server. Ideally you will have a microphone, however its fine if you don't, and you can communicate to me through text during the fight. PMing me on Discord will be the fastest way to contact me if you need to do so (and is also how you will submit your character), but feel free to post here to generate hype (my Discord username is zollqir#6969). Spectators are highly encouraged, including other players in the tournament.
How do I join?
To join, fill in a row of the Sign Up sheet on this Google Speadsheet here, add me as a friend on Discord (zollqir#6969), and PM me a PDF containing your character in the format in the spoiler below. In addition, please send me a PNG file for your character's token (preferably one with a transparent background), as well as one for each of your followers, if any. I will be checking every submission to see if it is legal. You will be informed if your submission is illegal on Discord, and will be asked to rectify this. After your build is confirmed, I will let you know, and give you a special role on the Discord server where all Arena of Lost Souls coordination will happen. Also, linked here is a test-version of the roll20 Arena so players can acquaint themselves with the battleground before building their character.
Submissions will be accepted until May 11th, 11:59 PM EST (GMT-5). The first game will be held on May 18th.
Please send me a PM on Discord (zollqir#6969) of a PDF containing your character and all their followers using the following format (remove any sections that do not apply to your character), as well as a PNG for your character's token(preferably one with a transparent background), as well as one for each of your followers, if any.
You may instead supply a link to a monster/NPC page on Archives of Nethys or d20pfsrd for followers that have no modifications (such as a construct that you have crafted).
Here is an example submission using the below format (and the winner of the previous tournament): Psilosarxia
roll20 Display Name
Discord Username (include Discord #!)
Character Name
Sex race class/multiclass 0 (archetype, archetype)
AL Size type (subtype, subtype)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, spell effect; Perception +0
Aura xyz (0 ft., DC 10)
Languages x, y, z
DEFENSE
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10 (+0 armor, +0 deflection, +0 Dex, +0 natural, +0 shield, +0 size)
hp 0 (0d0+0); fast healing 0, regeneration 0 (fire)
Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0; +0 bonus vs. xyz
Defensive Abilities x, y, z; DR 0/xyz; Immune x, y, z; Resist x 0, y 0, z 0; SR 0
Weaknesses x, y, z
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), burrow 0 ft., climb 0 ft., fly 0 ft. (maneuverability), swim 0 ft.
Melee primary attack +0/+0 (0d0+0) or
secondary attack +0/+0 (0d0+0/19–20) or
tertiary attack +0/+0 (0d0+0/18-20/×3)
Ranged mundane attack +0/+0 (0d0+0/×3) or
magical attack +0 touch (xyz)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with xyz)
Special Attacks x, y, z
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 0th; Concentration +0)
Constant—x, y, z
At will— x, y, z
0/day— x, y, z
Class Spells Known/Prepared (CL 0th; Concentration +0)
3rd (0/day) – x, y, z
2nd (0/day) – x, y, z
1st (0/day) – x, y, z
0th (at will) – x, y, z
STATISTICS
Abilities Str 10 (+0), Dex 10 (+0), Con 10 (+0), Int 10 (+0), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 10 (+0)
Base Atk +0; CMB +0 (+0 x, +0 y or z); CMD 0 (0 vs. x, y or z)
Feats x, y, z
Skills x +0, y +0, z +0; Armor Check Penalty –0; Racial Bonus +0 xyz
SQ x, y, z
Combat Gear x, y, z; Other Gear x, y, z
Spellbook 3rd—x, y, z; 2nd—x, y, z; 1st—x, y, z; 0—x, y, z
Encumbrance light 0 lb., medium 0 lb., heavy 0 lb.; Weight Carried 0 lb. 0 oz. (excluding tender)
Traits x, y
Alternate Racial Traits x, y, z
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Ability One (Ex) xyz.
Ability Two (Sp) xyz.
Ability Three (Su) xyz.
Ability Four xyz.
etc.
A description of your character's general combat strategy.
A description of what your character physically looks like.
A list of all gold expenditures, listing both the gold amount and what you spent it on for each item.
If crafting, also list the craft DC for each item you crafted, and your Craft/Spellcraft result when taking 10.
Scheduling
The scheduling for this tournament will be fairly flexible. By default, I will hold one session on Saturday each week. In the event that one or both players cannot play on a given Saturday, a different day will be determined using whenisgood.net to ensure compatible schedules. In the event that one or both players of a match have conflicting schedules for the given week, their match will be skipped over and played on a different week.
For this tournament, build one character using 25-point buy at level 11, with 82000 gp and 2 traits (not from the same category).
Only first-party material printed by Paizo for PFRPG is legal (which means no 3.5e content)
first hitdie is at maximum, the rest are half the die + 1
No third-party material
Any alignment is allowed
You may have at most one patron deity, who must be within one step of your alignment.
You cannot use/obtain artifacts
No retraining
No advanced or modern firearms
You may use skills and Item Creation feats to craft items, effectively allowing you to purchase them at reduced cost. However you will need to demonstrate that you cannot fail the skill check at the bottom of your submission for each item (for example, by having a high enough modifier that failure is impossible). Always take 10 when crafting in this manner. You may craft as much as you like, as long as it would not take longer than 60 days to do so.
No custom magic items
No technological items
Any followers you have must be: a class feature, crafted by you, or a spell effect cast by you, and must be permanent.
You may not purchase creatures (so no buying 500 riding dogs or 10 rocs).
You may hire spellcasters of 11th level or lower for the usual price (CL * Spell Level * 10 + Focus Cost / 10 + Material Cost) to cast spells for you during character creation, such as Permanency.
You may cast spells on yourself or your followers as a part of character creation, as long as it would not take longer than 1 week to do so.
You may not add spells to your spell list that are normally not castable by 11th-level or lower characters, such as 4th-level Paladin spells, 6th-level Bard spells, etc.
You may pre-poison your weapons and ammunition, but only if you have Poison Use or are are immune to poison (such as by buying and expending Blackfingers Paste as part of character creation)
If you use something that cannot be found on d20pfsrd or Archives of Nethys, please supply the book it came from, with page numbers.
If you wish to use a Variant Rule for your character, such as Called Shots or Words of Power, please contact me about it. If I decide that the variant rule is OK, I will add it to this list.
These rules may be subject to change. If this happens, I will make a post here and PM everyone on Discord that it affects, and make a notice in the Discord server.
Items
- spell-completion or spell trigger items from classes of 12th level or higher (meaning no scrolls/wands/potions/etc, of Wizard spells of 7th or higher, no Summoner spells of 5th or higher, etc.)
- Candle of Invocation
- Cyclops Helm
- Blightburn Paste
- Ghost Syrup
- Numerian Fluids
- Iron Circlet of Guarded Souls
Feats
- Leadership, as well as any other means of obtaining a cohort
- Sacred Geometry
Spells
- Blood Money
- Create Mindscape
- Create Mindscape, Greater
- Irradiate
- Planar Ally
- Planar Ally, Greater
- Planar Ally, Lesser
- Planar Binding
- Planar Binding, Greater
- Planar Binding, Lesser
- Simulacrum
- Simulacrum, Lesser
Classes
- Chained Summoner, as well as its spell list
Miscellaenous
- Pugwampi Gremlins
- Polymorph spells cannot be used to polymorph into the following creatures: blight (any), deathsnatcher, Euryale, fen mauler, green man, mezlan, rawhead, and vespergaunt
Spells
- Spells with the shadow descriptor cannot exceed 100% realness by any means.
- Animate Dead, Create Undead, and similar spells cannot be cast outside the Arena, but are allowed within it. Any followers created by such spells are destroyed at the end of each round, and then restored to their original form/state.
- Dwarf
- Elf
- Gnome
- Half-Elf
- Halfling
- Half-Orc
- Human
- Aasimar (no rolling on the Variant Aasimar Abilities table)
- Aphorite
- Aquatic Elf
- Astomoi
- Caligni
- Catfolk
- Changeling
- Dhampir
- Drow
- Duergar
- Duskwalker
- Ganzi
- Gathlain
- Ghoran (treat as 13 RP, now that its plant immunities have been removed)
- Gillman
- Goblin
- Grippli
- Hobgoblin
- Ifrit
- Kitsune
- Kobold
- Kuru
- Lashunta
- Lizardfolk
- Locathah
- Merfolk
- Monkey Goblin
- Nagaji
- Orang-Pendak
- Orc
- Oread
- Ratfolk
- Samsaran
- Reborn Samsaran
- Reptoid
- Shabti
- Skinwalker
- Strix
- Sylph
- Tengu
- Tiefling (no rolling on the Variant Tiefling Abilities table)
- Triaxian
- Triton
- Undine
- Vanara
- Vine Leshy
- Vishkanya
- Wayang
You may use any alternate racial traits you wish, however if you select a racial trait that alters the RP (Race Points) of your race, the total number of RP of your race cannot exceed 15.
The arena is on the Material Plane.
The arena is a vertically-oriented cylinder, with a radius of 150 feet and a height of 50 feet. The walls, ceiling, and floor are infinitely thick, indestructible, and impassable by any means including earth glide and incorporeality. One square is 5 feet.
Obstacles: There are two kinds of obstacles: pillars reach the ceiling, while rocks are only 5 ft. high. Pillars and rocks have AC 5, a hardness of 8, and 120 hit points. Rocks weight 21,000 lbs., pillars weigh 210,000 lbs. You may move through both with abilities such as earth glide and incorporeality, but cannot end your turn inside of a rock or pillar.
Rock Cover: Rocks provide Cover (+4 AC, +2 to Reflex vs. attacks from the other side) to Medium or smaller creatures standing behind them, and Partial Cover to Large creatures (+2 to AC, +1 to Reflex vs. attacks from the other side). Huge and larger creatures do not benefit from cover from Rocks.
Pillar Cover: Pillars provide Cover to Large or smaller creature standing behind them, and Partial Cover to Huge creatures. Gargantuan and larger creatures do not benefit from cover from Pillars.
Improved Cover: Medium or smaller creatures behind a Pillar, or Small or smaller creatures behind a Rock can benefit from Improved Cover (+8 AC, +4 Reflex vs. attacks from the other side, Improved Evasion, +10 Stealth). You cannot attack or cast spells while using Improved Cover as you have to press yourself against the obstacle.
Terrain: The arena counts as any type of terrain and grants the full benefits related to terrain-specific bonuses within the boundaries of common sense such as a ranger's Favored Terrain.
Torches: The torches in the arena are standard non-magical torches that shed 20-feet of normal light, followed by 20-feet of increased light level (increasing the ambient darkness of the Arena to dim light). A torch within reach can be snuffed-out with a standard action, or with any (reasonable) amount of water or similar liquid.
Prepared spellcasters must supply a list of spells they have prepared in their submission, which they must use during the first round of every match. They may then choose to prepare different spells for each subsequent round of the match.
When a match begins, both contestants, any followers, and all gear are dispelled of any non-permanent spell effects. After being dispelled, both contestants, their followers, and gear they are carrying will be teleported to their respective sides of the map.
For the first round of combat, you will be trapped in a small area by indestructible walls of force. Leaving this area before this round is impossible, however creating spell effects outside this area that do not require Line of Effect (such as Scrying) are allowed. This time should be used to cast buff spells, and ready actions.
The physical description of each contestant will be shared with the other, however the same will not be true for their followers.
At the start of your turn, as well as every time you move, you may make a Perception check to attempt to notice things (such as enemies using Stealth). You may also make a Perception check as a move action in place of movement.
Leaving the arena is impossible via teleportation, plane shift, astral/ethereal travel, burrowing, or any other means.
Game Stalling: If 5 turns pass without either player having dealt damage or inflicted any status effect, or in anyway affected their quarry, the position of every creature in the arena will temporarily be revealed to each player. If 5 more turns pass without either player having dealt damage or inflicted any status effect, or in anyway affected their quarry, the player responsible for the delay will lose the round. In the event that both players are responsible for the delay, the round will end in a draw. If two draws result in a given match as a result of this rule, both players are removed from the tournament.
A player wins a round when the opposing player is dead, unconscious, petrified, or in anyway rendered helpless/unable to act (aggressively) for at least one hour. In the event that both players are rendered dead, unconscious, etc. simultaneously, the match will end in a draw. Eliminating all enemy combatants is not necessary, simply incapacitating the enemy player is sufficient.
Before each round, each player and all their followers will be restored to full health and purged of any status effects or ailments and placed in a 50 ft. by 50 ft. inescapable room, and any gear that has been damaged, lost, or consumed will be replaced. All abilities with a frequency of X/week or less are refreshed as well. Each player will then have 24 hours of preparation, which can be used to sleep, prepare spells, cast spells, etc., though any spells cast during this time cannot be refreshed before the battle begins.
In a match, both contestants know each other's name and have seen each other once (Firsthand (you have met the subject) for the purpose of Scrying and similar effects).
If you have an Obedience feat, you are assumed to have completed your deity's obedience before every round, regardless of your obedience's normal requirements. In addition, you may only gain the benefit of one Obedience feat at a given time.
Using metaknowledge of a creature's abilities without making the requisite Knowledge check to identify it will result in a warning in the first instance. The second instance will result in the loss of the round, a third instance will result in removal from the tournament.
When identifying a creature with a Knowledge check (such as a summoned monster), succeeding the check gives the identifier complete knowledge of the creature's statblock.
Players have complete knowledge of their follower's statblocks, as well as any creatures they summon/create/etc. during a round.
New rules:
Druids may select Herbalism as their Nature Bond, but are unable to craft any free potions.
Trompe L'Oeil constructs are banned
There are currently two confirmed entrants to the tournament, with a couple more in the process. Sign up, and become a legend!
Dotting in, will have the stuff hopefully done in a few hours.
New rules:
If a player is killed/petrified/etc. or in anyways unable to act aggressively by an effect with a duration of 1 hour or greater, his allies have 3 rounds to remove this condition, or else the round will end in a loss.
Mothmen are banned,
Very Interesting. This is a dot.
New rule:
Full pouch is banned.
Currently at 8 entrants with 3 more on the way!