Duelling was a practice in wizarding culture in which two or more wizards or witches engaged each other in combat under the condition that only magical means could be used. The combatants faced each other, bowed, and then attempted to disarm, stun, injure, defeat, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner was decided.

The Basic Rules

There are rules and customs that define how a proper duel is performed and that are normally known to wizards and witches born to magical families, even at a young age.

The Start of a Duel
In a formal duel, one wizard or witch challenges another, although it is implied that duels are not commonplace in modern polite society. If the other person accepts, they then arrange a meeting time and place for the duel. Opponents bow to one another before beginning to fight. However, duellists who do not respect their opponents do not usually bow correctly.

Seconds
Duellists will often have a "second" in a formal duel — a person, usually a trusted ally, who will act as a replacement for one duellist if necessary.

Limits on a Duel
There is a standard rule in duels that only magical means may be used to fight an opponent, and that there is to be no physical contact between the duellists. The parties of a duel might also agree to other limits, unless planning to duel to the death, which is only common practice in a war. This indicates that duellists generally agree not to use particularly dangerous and/or illegal spells, such as the Unforgivable Curses.

Duelling at Hogwarts

There is a club for duelling at Hogwarts. The rules for the club, however, are modified for nonlethal combat.

1. Each duel must be supervised by a professor. No exceptions.

2. Players may not stray from the assigned duelling area. Those that do are immediately disqualified.

3. There is to me no physical contact between duellists. The duellist that initiates physical contact will be immediately disqualified.

4. Lethal spells or spells that do serious damage are strictly forbidden in duelling. Any duellist that breaks this will be subject to removal from the duel and face consequences befitting the nature of the spell used.

5. No seconds are to be used in a duel at Hogwarts. Duels will only be between the two individuals who agreed.

6. Once a winner of a duel has been decided, it is over. Any duellist that decides to break this will be disqualified from duelling in the school for an amount of time determined at the moment they break this rule.

How to Duel in the Guild

Duelling in the guild has a set of rules that you must follow. You will be rolling one die with 20 sides on it (d20) when you post. This can be done whenever you go to post a new post, scroll down to where it says Post Action, and select Roll Dice. Where it says Select Dice, select 20 sided. Where it says number of dice, put in 1. You roll the dice, roleplaying the action that you want to achieve; however, you must wait for your opponent to post their reaction to your post.

In the case of duels, every duel will last a full three says unless a winner is decided through posts. This ensures that the duel has a conclusive end. The player that has more health than the other at the end of the three days will be announced as the winner. If neither duellist has more health than the other, then the duel will be declared a tie.

Duels and Dice
To start a duel, you will roll a die. You then add any modifier you might have for initiative. Then, when your opponent rolls their initiative, the person with the higher number goes first.

During your turns, you can roll to hit, or add to your defence. In your post, you must say what spell you are trying to use and then roll to hit them. If you do not beat their AC, you have not hit anybody. If you have, your opponent must post their reaction and may cast a defensive spell to add to their defence. If they do not, then the spell goes through and they are hit and take the damage. Damage for the spells go from 1 - 3 depending on the year they happen to be learned in. Please reference the Spells List for what level the spell is before you apply damage.

For defence, there are numerous spells that can add to your AC. They can add a total of 1 - 3 points to your AC depending on the year the spell is learned in. If your modified AC meets or beats the roll to hit, then you do not take damage and therefore are unharmed. Again, reference the Spells List to know what level the spell is that you are using for defence.

The maximum amount of actions that you may take in a single turn is two. You may do two attacks, a defence and then an attack, or you can cast a defensive spell in anticipation for the next attack. This second spell's bonus to attack is added to your next turn's AC in addition to whatever spells you may cast in your next turn.

In the event of certain spells meant to incapacitate or disarm you (such as Incarcerous, Expelliarmus, or Petrificus Totalus), you do not get an action should they hit. Expelliarmus requires you to retrieve your wand, Incarcerous causes you to have to get out of the ropes, and Petrificus Totalus causes you to freeze in place. In any case, you lose your next actions as you post having to undo the effects of the spell cast. In the case of Petrificus Totalus, you also lose any bonuses to your AC and only have a base AC of 10. You may act again once your opponent has had their second turn.

The only time that Expelliarmus does not fully prevent a person from casting spells is if they know wandless magic. Since Wandless Magic does not require a wand, you may cast as normal whould you lose your wand. The only penalty is that you incur a -1 penalty to your roll for attacking until you can retrieve your wand (which works much in the same way as the above paragraph). This penalty only applies until after you are a sixth or seventh year, have scored an EE or higher in Wandless Magic, and are still taking the class.

Each player has 10 health unless you have Dang Healthy. You must display this amount in your post as well as the total number of hit points your character has normally. If you are hit with a spell, you lose that amount of health based on the damage inflicted. Those who lose all of their health are knocked unconscious and will be transported immediately to the Hospital Wing.


Modifiers
Modifiers can give you the edge in a duel and can be used to your advantage!

How it works is simple. You roll the dice in your post and add (or sometimes subtract) the modifiers. First, let us determine the modifiers you qualify for.

Years of Schooling:
1-3rd years = +1
4-5th years = +2
6-7th years = +3

Years in Duelling Club:
1-3 = +1
4-5 = +2


The ones above are very basic for everyone. The next section is a choice on your part, as the Duellist. It is what makes every duellist just a tad different. You may have a maximum of 3 special skills. Any with more than that number will be automatically disqualified and would be required to edit their form accordingly.

Special Skills:
Dang Healthy - Adds a +10 to your health.
Dead Eye - Get a +2 to your attack roll.
Evasion Expert - Get a +2 to your AC.
Master of Defence - Your defensive spells add an additional +2 to your AC.
Improved Initiative - Adds a +2 to your initiative rolls.
Heavy Hitter - Your attacks do +1 more damage than they otherwise would.
Even Distribution - Your attack spells get a +1 to hit and defensive spells add a +1 to your AC.

For every 3 points of damage you get, you recieve a -1 to all rolls.

So, now you have your character's roll modifier! Whenever you roll in your post, you will add these in to the original post. Meaning, you won't know what your roll is until after you post your post. You will go in after you post, now knowing your dice roll, and add you modifiers to the roll (e.g. I rolled a 6. Add 1 for being a third year, add 1 for being in the Duelling Club for two years, and add 2 for Dead Eye. My final and total roll is 10). Announce the total in the first post and then wait for a reaction post to the either successful or failed post.


How Modifiers Work

Okay, now we're going to look at how these actually work in gameplay. Look at my above roll for trying to hit an opponent. The opponent in question more than likely was able to evade the strike because the minimum AC for anyone to have in the system is 11. However, as stated above, not everyone has the same same modifiers.

Let's take a look at a couple of examples. Adam, a fifth year Slytherin who has been in the Dueling club for a year, has the Dang Healthy, Evasion Expert, and Even Distribution skills. He is facing Samantha, who is a seventh year Hufflepuff with Dead Eye, Master of Defence, and Heavy Hitter.

Looking at the way the students are, Adam has a 15 AC (10(base)+2(years)+, a +