I've been thinking about possible variations to duels: The duel is a separate set of combat rules, but since they are so deadly and usually involve sheathed katanas, they do not play a large role in my campaign. So I was thinking about other kinds of duels that the PCs could become involved in, ones that do not represent court challenges following the Kakita code.

One change would of course be the weapons used. Criminals might fight duels with daggers, monks may have duels with staffs or clubs. But I was looking for further variation.

A few ideas:

- En Garde: Before the duel begins, both combatants roll for the Guard action (which in this case is an additional allowed duel action). They don't start with sheathed katanas like in a Iaijutzu duel, but with drawn blade and defensive stance.
The effect would be that winning initiative is not as important, as you are not as easily hit on the first strike.

- Preparation: On a shugenja duel, the combatants may decide to allow one or two support spells to be cast before the battle begins. The combatants are thus better protected when rolling initiative.

- Raised Stakes: A monks duel classic, the combatants fight atop a set of vertical logs, balancing on top. Being hit forces a combatant to make a Fitness check to keep their balance, effects that make Prone, push or pull the opponent increase the TN. Falling to the grounds means forfeiting the duel.

- Wrestling: In a wrestling competition, the win condition may be that a combatant succeeds in inflicting the Immobilized condition for two rounds (or three) in a row. Knockout or broken bones are not accepted outcomes.

Other ideas?

1 hour ago, Harzerkatze said:

- Wrestling: In a wrestling competition, the win condition may be that a combatant succeeds in inflicting the Immobilized condition for two rounds (or three) in a row. Knockout or broken bones are not accepted outcomes.

You'll need an action to do that. I would say adding two unarmed actions - 'pin' (applies immobilized and possibly dazed) - and 'throw' - which allows you to move your opponent.

Immobilized is probably not enough; traditionally you'd need to apply immobilized and prone, or else force them out the ring.

1 hour ago, Harzerkatze said:

- Raised Stakes: A monks duel classic, the combatants fight atop a set of vertical logs, balancing on top. Being hit forces a combatant to make a Fitness check to keep their balance, effects that make Prone, push or pull the opponent increase the TN. Falling to the grounds means forfeiting the duel.

Indeed. Any 'duel on a bridge' is an interesting one. You could just make it dangerous terrain and have incapacitated = falls, but fitness to hold your station sounds good too.

1 hour ago, Harzerkatze said:

Other ideas?

The 'shrine duel' in Repentance Does Not Come First - two shujenga create a shrine and attempt to entreat the enshrined kami in their opponent's shrine to move into theirs, either by luring it or by blowing up the other shrine and leaving it nowhere to go.

3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

You'll need an action to do that. I would say adding two unarmed actions - 'pin' (applies immobilized and possibly dazed) - and 'throw' - which allows you to move your opponent.

Immobilized is probably not enough; traditionally you'd need to apply immobilized and prone, or else force them out the ring.

I liked that anyone has access to the hand as a Snaring weapon, so anyone can fight such a duel and Immobilize. Problem is that Immobilized always ends after 1 round, which is why I wrote that you have to succeed at it 2x in a row. Prone & Immobilized surely is closer to the real thing, but Prone requires an Earth Ring kata, thus keeping most PCs out of this duel. It is important to me that not only specialists can fight this kind of duel (the very problem with the Kakita Iaijutzu duel that I try to circumvent here).

I wanted to avoid introducing new combat options for this that then are suddenly unavailable in other combat situations, so I'd rather avoid introducing Pin and Throw as options.

So inflicting Immobilized 2x in a row seems like a working compromise to me. Then again, Earth stance would make a combatant immune to it, so probably not a working system. Hmmm, too bad.

Introducing Actions that cause the Prone or Immobilized condition circumvents that problem, but as I said, I want to avoid that.

So wrestling matches are out for now. At least in the Open to All format. With the right techniques, it is certainly workable (e.g. Silent Elimination, Earthen Fist or Open Fist with Coiling Serpent and a lot of Opps). But that requires PCs build for that.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

The 'shrine duel' in Repentance Does Not Come First - two shujenga create a shrine and attempt to entreat the enshrined kami in their opponent's shrine to move into theirs, either by luring it or by blowing up the other shrine and leaving it nowhere to go.

That sounded very cool, no doubt. But I am unsure how to structure that, rules-wise. Theology checks to appeal to the kami vs. inflicting a key amount of Fatigue to the shrine? A mixture of Intrigue and duel?

I could see requiring either a set amount of Momentum Points to convince the kami, or a set amount of damage to destroy the shrine.