[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Mystic Duels

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

The Ultimate Guide to 
The Duel Arcane
Part Two

The following are consolidated rules for the other mystic duels beyond the traditional Duel Arcane for Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, adapted from various sourcebooks from Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition and game hax we have tried out before.  This has been a long time coming, especially after we had the Duel Arcane Tournament during many character's time at the Pentacle Academy.  Our changes are in different colors than the core source text so they can be used or discarded.  It's our system to make duels more dynamic and interesting.

Part One - The Traditional Duel Arcane
Part Two - Other Mystic Duels
Part Three - The Arcane Code Duello


Sources:
- Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed corebook
- Mage: The Awakening 1st Ed corebook
- Tome of the Mysteries sourcebook for MtA1.0
- Sanctum & Sigil sourcebook for MtA1.0
- Secrets of the Ruined Temple sourcebook for MtA1.0
- The Adamantine Arrow order sourcebook for MtA1.0
- The Silver Ladder order sourcebook for MtA1.0

Other Mystical Duels
Although the Duel Arcane is the most common means of resolving conflict among mages, it is by no means the only one. Other contests of mystic power and capability exist. Note, however, that many of these combats do not involve the same magic as the Duel Arcane; they can be more direct magical confrontations.  Within the Duel Arcane, there are variations designed to suit various whims and needs. Some mages are not satisfied with merely exhausting a hated enemy, while others want the contest to suit their personal talents and aesthetics.

Sanguine Duels
Mages can fight a Duel Arcane past mere exhaustion of their Doors with the proper configuration of the dueling spell. If a mage chooses to fight on regardless, any additional damage from the duel is real (affecting Health) in the form of Bashing damage.  The contest ends when first blood is seen (Bashing wraps to Lethal) or when one opponent passes out from the damage (failing to remain conscious with all Health boxes filled with Bashing Damage.  A mage may yield to the opponent at any time.

Some matches skip the Doors and go right to physical harm.  Even though mages are perfectly capable of killing each other within a normal dueling circle, there are those who believe that fates are best sealed in blood. Mages fight these duels to first blood (typically, the first lethal or aggravated injury), incapacitation (the first to fall unconscious from injury) or worse.

Only a slight variation of the Sanguine Duel, a the Death Duel continues until one opponent is dead or dying (full Aggravated damage) unless there are pre-arranged conditions to surrender or yield before the final blow is struck.  If the opponent loses consciousness before death occurs, the terms of the duel may call that a win or require the winner to strike the final blow after the circle is dropped.

Duels to the death are relatively rare, but they do happen, usually in cases in which a mage prefers death to surrendering to a bitter enemy. Since Duels are meant to resolve conflict without violence and death, a Duel to the Death almost completely undermines what the Duel Arcane was made for.  Still, many find their courage wanting, breaking off a duel and yielding before the final blow is struck.

Sanguine Variations:
- To First Blood (First Lethal or Aggravated wound)
- To Knock Out (fall unconscious from injury)
- Until Surrender/Submission
- To the Death, or until Dying

Group Duels
It’s possible and known for a group of mages to challenge another of equal number to simultaneous one-on-one duels, but the vast majority of the time the Duel Arcane is fought one on one. Should a group of mages have the audacity to challenge a lesser number of opponents (or even a single mage), the challenged is under no obligation to accept. Still, accepting such a lopsided duel may still be preferable to the alternative of facing a larger number of mages in open combat. There are also legends of powerful mages overcoming multiple opponents in a single Duel Arcane.

It is also possible to have entire cabals square off against each other in a mass duel in which every member of one cabal may attack another's.  There is no obligation to accept the challenge unless there are an equal number of opponents.

Curse Contests:
This is perhaps the crudest of magical “duels,” wherein mages simply hurl baneful spells at each other, testing their spellcasting and defenses. The winner is the mage whose spell disables the other contestant first and most thoroughly. Modern mages disdain curse contests as primitive and childish, the sort of battles early mages fought in antiquity. Still, they do happen from time to time.  Cursing Duels and contests tend to differ from the Sanguine Duels in that the spells are aimed to torment and inhibit the opponent without causing physical harm.  But since they are largely unregulated, anything goes.

Mystic Contests:
The two sides choose a particular Arcanum and a particular extended action task, often with the challenger choosing the Arcanum and the challenged choosing the task. Then each side attempts to complete the task faster and better than the other. The range of possible tasks is virtually endless. It may include shaping a sculpture with Matter, navigating a maze using Space (blindfolded, of
course), or contesting command of an elemental with Spirit. Essentially, each mage casts a series
of spells. The first to attain the required number of successes wins. Particularly simple contests, amounting to “magical arm-wrestling,” can be resolved with a single roll: whoever gets the most successes wins.

Example: Space Fencing - Other contests may involve using the Space Arcanum, each trying to score a “touch” on the other, as they teleport, warp space and otherwise try to evade each other.

Similar contests are played out using mind reading (Mind) or even time warping (Time).  Others fight duels in which the participants shift shape, turning into all manner of beasts, birds and other creatures to fight each other tooth and claw. All other uses of magic are forbidden during the duel; the mages rely on physical prowess, knowledge of different shapes, animal cunning and mastery of Life.

The Adamantine Arrow are the biggest supporters of these contests, using them for training, recruitment and a host of other functions.  Contests such as these are dynamic embodiments of many of their tenants.  Path may also flavor the nature of the competitions by virtue of the personal philosophies of participating magi.

Astral Duels:

A location in the Temenos, where both duelists can meet, is sometimes a popular dueling field

for mages who wish to conduct affairs in private. It also guarantees a measure of safety (assuming

a safe route to get there) and is a popular way for two bitter enemies (from different sects) to meet and fight without the possibility of ambush and death.  The dueling circle functions normally here (if used at all) and its virtually impossible to inflict physical damage on the dreamers. Depending on location, the dueling circle may be dropped entirely and the mages can freely battle to the "death" in relative safety. If a mage’s Dream Corpus zero she drops out of astral space as usual and gains the Soulshocked Condition. Astral duels allow mages to safely settle their differences, even when their physical locations are quite distant and occluded from one another.

Yet this method is not without its flaws. First of all, each combatant, witness or other participant must journey into the Temenos.  Secondly, participants must find each other in the chaotic universal dreamscape without the sympathy that would allow them to find each other in the Phemoral World. Although there are few fixed reference points in the Temenos and beyond. An experienced dream traveler can sometimes guide everyone to one that will serve as the field of honor. Otherwise, mages normally find themselves wherever their psyche takes them. It is therefore quite common for duelists to use magic to seek each other out.

Spirit Battles: 
These sorts of duels are fought largely by proxy. The mages conjure, summon and command various spirits as their soldiers, pitting them against each other. It may be a simple contest of one spirit versus another or a more complex battle of spirit armies, a test of strategy and leadership as much as mastery of the Spirit Arcanum.  A very distinct form of this, using proto-spirits and raw magic, is called Shadow Chess (See Shadow Chess below).

Shadow Battles:

Mages who favor the spirit world sometimes conduct their battles in Shadow itself. The Shadow Realm is a forbidding battlefield. Would-be Shadow duelists need a means to cross over into the Shadow. Even though Display of Power is possible, it in no way shields the area from the resonance of combatants. Mages who fight protracted duels here often attract spirits who wish to feed from the energies of their conflict. Duels in the Shadow are not invisible. In fact, they tend to be even more spectacular than the mind’s eye experience of normal duels, as the substance of the Shadow itself crackles with the manifest resonance of the duelists.  A very distinct form Spirit Battle that can occur in the Shadow is called Shadow Chess (see Shadow Chess below).

Vulgar Duels:
Vulgar duels cannot be properly defined as a mode of the Duel Arcane. Combatants use magic to directly affect the enemy or the victory conditions of the duel, instead of channeling it through Sword and Shield Arcana and most don't use the Dueling Circle at all. This could be done with several kinds of contests such as Cursing Duels and Space Fencing (mentioned above).

Despite the name, Vulgar Duels do not necessarily require vulgar magic. Nor are they consistently regarded as lesser contests. Instead, the title refers to the fact that these are more or less direct magical conflicts. Dueling carelessly can reveal magic to the uninitiated, invoke Paradoxes and inflict collateral damage. On the other hand, Vulgar forms involve magical specialties; mages with those particular talents can use them to win. To prevent accidents, some vulgar duels specify that both parties must use covert magic or combine “Target Exemption” (“everyone except my enemy/the objective”) into all spells that affecting anything besides the caster.

There are some though, that take the term "Vulgar" Duel Arcane very seriously...

"The Knights of the Blackened Denarius had everything they wanted.  The hellmouth, the priest, and they could kill us at their leisure.  We were completely outclassed.  So we tried something crazy, tried to get them to honor the protocols of Awakened kind and challenged them to a Duel Arcane.  Their monstrous demon-possessed Scelesti vs our small group of Nameless Disciples.  I guess ole Nick figured he'd just cheat anyway so he might as well agree to the sport of it."  

"And they did cheat almost immediately.  Nicodemus squared the circle and we found ourselves in a group on group Duel Arcane... a literally Vulgar Duel.  Anything we used caused Paradox.  Anything they did caused Paradox.  They used our fight to worship the Abyss and Paradox pooled and mounted in the circle.  Then they started through the Paradox around, throwing it in our faces, letting it go, it was a fucking mess.  I threw up blood and passed out.  Every since that night I get sick whenever Paradox gets really high.  Somehow we won, Loudon struck the last Denarian out of the circle.  Most of us were too hurt to see it."

"Then they just left.  The priest was already ritually mutilated and would be dead in moments, the hellmouth sung with malice.  Guess they got everything they wanted and left us to live to hunt us down later.  To feed on our dread and despair.  They didn't count on Nergal holding Father Forthill's soul in his body long enough to heal him.  They didn't count on us reversing their elaborate ritual.  They didn't count on us, years later, killing all of them in the mouth of hell itself." - Lorekeeper Casstiel, Bridge of Souls

The Duel Mundane:
Even though willworkers exult in their ability to raise the Mysteries against their enemies, it is perfectly legal and customary to duel without using any magic at all. Many such contests could benefit from magical enhancement, but there is a growing movement (especially in the Free Council of Assemblies) to refrain from this. Guardians of the Veil pride themselves on using little or no magic even when it is permitted and so a good old fashion knife fight sometimes does the trick. When the duel forbids magic, it usually falls on a duelist’s second to ensure that the enemy isn’t sneaking a spell in.  These matches often stride the line between “duel” and “game.” Low stakes are more common. Sorcerers can thus test their ability to master common human tasks and beat the Lie at its own game.

Contests include:  Athletic challenges and bloodshed, footraces, sword fighting, hunting and wrestling test a mage’s physical abilities. Mages who enjoy hurting their enemies often prefer mundane fighting, since it’s easier to hurt people this way, but harder to kill them. The Adamantine Arrow believe that these contests strengthen the militant core from which their magic springs.

Azimuth Duels

Gaining popularity among Sleepwalkers and Proximi, Azimuth Duels are magically assisted combat that even someone with little or no magical ability can do.  A specially imbued statue called the Azimuth Focus stands between two psychicly gifted people in the Azimuth Piste.  While Sleepwalkers and Proximi are the only guaranteed non-Awakened beings that can always participate in an Azimuth Duel, many other supernatural beings and fallen hedge wizards have shown the ability to participate as well.

Each duelist selects a Focus Weapon, specially prepared melee weapons, usually staves, wands, rods and the like.  All Focus Weapons are specially prepared Platonic Exemplars which will react to the Azimuth field generated by the Azimuth Piste.  With some preparation, the duelist can attune themselves to the supernal resonance of their chosen Focus weapons.  From there, they can Duel in a manner similar to a Duel Arcane within the Azimuth Field.  They battle by projecting their psychic energies at each other through their Focus Weapons and score points which are tallied.  

Each participant loses Willpower points any time they are hit and once depleted they can no longer launch attacks and have lost.  Usually the owner of the Azimuth Piste is a third party that keeps score.  Mechanically, both Azimuth duelist roll either their rolling their Willpower pool or Clash of Wills (Power Splat + appropriate Attribute) contested against each other.  Excess successes drain Willpower Points from the losing Duelist.  This is repeated until the prerequisite points are scored or until one opponent is out of Willpower Points.  They can forgo either attack and roll their attack pool as a defense pool.  They can also spend Willpower Points during an attack to gain a +3, but they are weakening themselves by doing so.

There are whispers of Mortal Azimuth Duels in which the Azimuth Focus between two opponents is actually Mordite (Abyssally tainted Apeiron).  Opponents exert their will upon the deadly miasma of the Mordite until the cloud touches one of the opponents.  The victor is the one who is not disintegrated...


Riddles & Lore:

Sorcerers test each other’s wisdom with all kinds of puzzles. Some of these require a flare for logic. Others force mages to travel halfway around the world so that they will be the first to uncover ancient ruins or grimoires. Needless to say, Mysterium mages prefer these “duels” above others, but Guardians of the Veil have been known to choose them as well. They normally add the proviso that, if they win, they can hide whatever they have discovered.

Art & Performance:

Grand initiation rituals and paintings riddled with esoteric symbolism were once a mainstay of Silver Ladder social conflict. Modern times have forced the théarchs to abandon such pursuits because

they can no longer conceal them among the secret societies of rich Sleepers. It is troubling, then, that Free Council mages have taken up artistic competition with a crude flair, using modern music, digital video and performance art to establish their own pecking orders. Participants in these contests must agree on who will judge the “duel.”

Appendix A: Shadow Chess:
By adding a component from the Spirit Arcanum (3 or 5 dots) to the Display of Power spell, imagos in the are focused by the duelists’ magical power into animate forms: proto-spirits that fight for the duelists. Some mages prefer “Shadow Chess” to the standard Duel Arcane.  A Disciple of Spirit that Squares the Circle creates a dueling space that must be cast in the Shadow and creates insubstantial proto-spirits that only have substance in the Shadow Realm.  A Spirit Master that Squares the Circle creates a dueling space that can be in the physical or the Shadow Realm and creates proto-spirits that are in the Twilight State in the material world.

"Anything else in the Dueling Circle, whether in the Shadow Realm or the Material Realm is fair game to the Chessmasters.  Sure you only have Fetches in Twilight, but the spell connects to the Supernal World so strongly that it basically lets you create a limited army of the insubstantial.  And in Shadow, if you phase them into the circle, it can rip creatures apart. I've heard of enemies to the duelists getting caught in the circle and ambushed by swarms of spirits created from the imagos and wills of the duelists.  If you can pull it off, it actually has applications as a real-world killbox.  So make a nice big game board..." -Nergal of the Five Horsemen

Duelists within the “Shadow Chess” dueling circle prepare a dueling sword and shield, just as if they were fighting the standard Duel Arcane. Unlike a duel fought conventionally, participants fight using proto-spirit proxies called Dueling Pawns or Chess Pieces. The Chess Pieces attack each other and the enemy mage.  The summoning mage usually gives a Chess piece designation to its spirit (i.e. Pawn, Knight, King, etc) but these are largely arbitrary.  Some mages take the time to set up entire game boards of spirits before they fight each other.

Each success a mage scores with her dueling sword does not (and cannot) inflict damage to
her enemy. Instead, each success temporarily generates a spirit out of the mage’s raw, emotionally charged magical power. The spirit is similar to a Geotic demon in that it resembles a cross between the mage’s Sword Arcanum, a spirit common to the local Shadow and the mage herself. It is still considered a Shadow Spirit but its life only persists for the duration of the dueling spell.  Dueling Pieces cannot ever leave the dueling circle and disintegrate into resonance and magical energy if the circle drops or they are somehow forced out of the ring.

The Proto-Spirit Chess Piece accumulates traits in the following way.  It has a baseline of a Shadow Spirit with Rank 1; Attributes: Power 2, Finesse 2, Resistance 2; Essence: 10/10; Influence: Creating Arcanum 2,  Size: 5, Ban: Cannot disobey creator, cannot leave the circle, must fight the opposing mage and their minions; Bane: the Inferior Arcanum of the Supernal Realm associated with its Arcanum; Manifestations: Twilight Form (Spirit 5 only).  Their derived traits are calculated as normal.

Each additional success provides one of the following benefits:

+1 Rank - max Rank possible based on Spirit Arcanum dots.  Increasing Rank does not increase other stats mentioned below, but does increase baseline armor (Rank dots in General Armor) and Natural Weapons (Rank dots in Lethal damage, though most spirits only take Bashing damage from anything but their Banes)

+2 dots to a single Attribute and any derived traits increase as well.

+1 dots to all three Attributes and any derived traits increase as well.

+3 to Size (Corpus) or Species Factor (for Speed) and derived traits increase as well.

+1 Influence - The Influences a Chess Piece has is almost universally limited to the Arcana and Arcana dots the mage possesses and act almost like improvised spells within the rules for Influences.

+1 Numen or Manifestation - Usually are in line with the theme of the mage or their Arcana and can be Spell-Like Numina that behave the same a Supernal Spells.

A Dueling Piece serves the mage that created it faithfully as an extension of the creator's will. Each turn, a dueling Chessmaster may use the same Sword Arcanum to stack additional successes upon an existing Dueling Pawn or create a new Pawn.  Orders to attack or defend different entities in the dueling circle can be done as a free action. Commands are telepathic in nature but only convey verbal direction.  How well those commands are received depends on the relative intelligence of the Pawn (Rank is a good guard for relative Intelligence dots the Pawns would have).

Pawns inflict Willpower damage to non-spiritual entities first, then Health. They may injure regular spirits and other ephemeral entities normally within the dueling circle.  Any Numina they might acquire that would allow them to inflict direct physical damage conforms to the above rule (Willpower damage first), instead. A dueling mage use normal combat rules.  In the Shadow they are just as solid as they would be in the Material Realm and in the Material World the proto-spirits must have the ability to attack physical beings to harm a Mage not in Twilight.

As they are inextricably linked to the sorcerer’s will, Dueling Pawns can provide energy to stave

off psychic defeat. As a reflexive action, a mage can divert Willpower damage that he suffered to

the Corpus of a Pawn. If this knocks a Pawn’s Corpus to zero, the mage suffers any excess

Willpower point loss and the Pawn is destroyed. Mages cannot sacrifice Pawns to stave off physical injuries  however, so deadly Shadow duels often end in a quick, lethal “checkmate.”

There are Sanguine and Mortal versions of this spell that allow Chess Pieces to immediately inflict Lethal or Aggravated damage to non-spirits instead of destroying Willpower first. These require Prime 3 (Lethal damage) or Prime 5 (Aggravated damage).