User:Average/CON battle
AKA "Spitting match" -- for deciding who gets special equipment (and such) without PKing (player-kills). Perhaps it's about who will take the Shield of Turil and gain its benefits over their city, for example. It is one of the primary methods of engagement for leaders -- if they're not engaged in campaigns of wiping out your city, as fighters are the specialization for actual battle.
CON Battles are like MANA strikes for rogues, you get XP without killing anyone, just for winning.
Two or more players in negotiation are in a CON battle. Having a leader class or subclass is a must if you want to convert these battles into power (HP), otherwise you must use other tactics. It's called a CON battle but it's actually a delicate interaction between CON & PER. It doesn't really matter for the game, but the player with the bigger (CON+LVL) is called the "big dog", and player with the smaller score, the "little dog". Key point: little dogs can win.
People don't generally know it, but you're in such battles all the time in real life. When you're walking by a stranger and they're staring at you. Do you stare back or do you look away?
The players involved (or the player(s) and the DM playing a leader) sit next to each other at arms reach. The initiator starts with an intimidation, generally. It could be a stare, or a challenge hoped to make the other player fail. Either approach depletes the player`s mana until the other player gives a reproach. The target loses 100 mana per second (or time-slot) until then. If they get to 0 mana, the mana and LVL-(CON/2)(?) of their HP transfers to the challenger and the round starts over. However, the DM and the smaller player should know that many things (standing up over the other player, various types of surprises, including a tap) change the power dynamic into their favor, to give a moment's respite and counts as a valid counter response.
Think of the battle as if your opponent is having to balance a book on their head. Anytime you do something unexpected, it knocks them off of their CON, and you get a point.
If you're a dragonborn you can return non-taps with a breathe action: throw a piece of harmless something (a pebble, a token, not a glass of water or such) at the player, if it hits you've countered the attack.
If a player goes into reasonable arguments as a counter-attack (not merely verbalizing), they've started a mana strike and an additional referee will be necessary to track the verbal exchanges. This should be pre-arranged before starting or decided that such additional methods are not available (because there's always the availability of the sword).
Play ends only when one of the players volunteers something of acceptable value or forfeits (loses) one or more of their levels. For leaders, HP will automatically convert to XP if other player gets to 0 HP at a rate not-yet-calculated (1HP = 100*LVL of XP). In this way, society becomes civil, will it not? (Trick question.) If the battle cannot be decided at the given juncture, the more dominant player gets to tag the other player with a single word of their choice. This tag sticks to the other player until one or the other players finishes in either a clear victory or defeat. So a tag like "loser" is silently attached to be "Cedric (player-name), the loser" and Cedric must be content until he builds up his army and snatches the crown out of the other player's hands (or some event that causes his opponent to undeniably "lose face"). (You shall not use any tag that is personal "zitface" - it must remain solely in-game, otherwise player automatically loses a level and receives the tag "sore player", or something like that.) There's always a hierarchy for leaders and whoever is highest gets crowned (receiving the insight ability).
If a LVL1 challenges a LVL20 and wins a round, they get +20HP while the LVL20 loses 20HP. If they're under the same god, this value is halved. If they lose, and a LVL20 wins against a LVL1challenges a -LVL20, they only get 1 HP if they're under the same god otherwise twice that.
A player may strike at that point (tapping their opponent on the shoulder) and gain a victory. No points are rewarded if the defense blocks the attack.
For example, one leader might try to stare-down the other player. The player, however, can strike their opponent (tapping the player on the shoulder). If the player taps the other in error, they lose 1 HP and their opponent gains 1 HP. The key element regarding when to award a point is that the opponent has to be knocked off their CON. This requires some keen perception and ability on the DMs and others who are watching. In some cases, it may not be decidable definitively (which is also why dogs sometimes have to be pulled away from each other -- they can't get a good "read" on rank).
The DM, and other players, should watch carefully. The eyes of each player determine whether the other players tap was successful. Whether banter is successful
A tap that sneaks in without getting a return tap to the very hand that tapped gets you +5 HP and the opponent loses -5 HP. The key to knowing whether you got a tap is whether they saw it first. For that, you have to watch their eyes. If their eyes move in the direction of the tap, you got spotted and probably could claim a fraction of the normal gain.
Players lose 1 HP for every 600 mana consumed and 5 HP for every tap. If a player gets too close to 0 HP, they can decide to forfeit and lose their remaining mana. If they instigated the fight, they lose a level also and associated XP. This lost XP goes to please the gods. Nothing more need be done.
If the battle ends in "slap war" (totally uncontrolled slapfest), each side loses their level in HP as a penalty and they can either leave the battle or start over. If any player hits the face, that player automatically loses the game (their HP remains, but the item is lost).
The smaller leader has to develop his/her tactics during negotiation. Each side is trying to get a victory. For each point either side makes (mediated by the DM or the crowd generally), the winner gains temporary HP. For every insult that lands, the loser loses (temporary) HP. Such temporary gains in HP from a CON battle can be transformed into valuable power. One could apply it to forge a special sword, imbuing it into the sword, giving a permanent number of +DAM modifiers to the weapon (10HP to get +1 DAM, 15HP to get +2, 18 for +3, and <20 for +4). Or, if magical, s/he could develop a spell, whose level is equal to the leader`s magic level plus the gain taken from their HP, making the spell a higher-level power than the actual player. (to be developed)
These leader abilities (applying excess HP to metal) in subclass are present when the class gets to hero level. At that point, they can multi-class to another non-leader class without losing this ability, but if they choose this route, they can't return to it. If a high-level non-leader class is multi-classed with a low-level leader class, they must put up half of their XP for the higher class on the table. If they lose the match, they lose the XP. XXX check dynamics of this...
