Arena Fighting

"I saw him last summer, and I couldn't believe my eyes. He had wings like an angel, and the claws of a raptor. Ser Meekos was unlike any other champion I'd ever seen. And the way he crushed his enemies' skulls was awesome!"

Local Tavern Keep, The Sylver Scryer

Basic Overview

• There are 2 teams, each with 1 or more combatants
• Teams must fight over control of the arena
• The first team to eliminate its opponents, or scores 7 points, wins the battle

The Set Up

• Every combatant will don a Gladiator's Cataphract*
• Each combatant will start the bout at a location of their choosing within their team's Starting Zone. Refer to Arena Map on right.
• Teams will flip a coin to determine which team will commence the bout
• If the teams are composed of more than 1 combatant, they will alternate turns based on initiative order. For example, if the combatants of Team 1 rolled a 20 and a 22 for initiative, while Team 2 rolled an 18 and a 17, but Team 2 won the coin toss. Thus, the combat order would look like this: T2 Initiative 18, followed by T1 initiative 22, followed by T2 Initiative 17, followed by T1 Initiative 20.
• Once combat has started, it will continue for the next 10 rounds. If neither team has secured a victory before the end of the 10 rounds, the team with the most points at that time wins.

Scoring Points

• Anytime a combatant starts the round on their opponent's side of the arena, they earn points. The number of points the earn is determined by the particular zone of the arena they are in. Refer to the map key on the right for specific information.
• The difference between earning points and scoring points lies in whether or not a team gets to keep the points they earned in the previous round or not. For only the team that scored the most points in the previous gets to score at all. And they only score a number of points equal to the difference between the points the score and the points their opponents scored. For example: If team A earns 5 points in one round, and team B earns 3 points in the same round, team A scores 2 points at the beginning of the next round, before anyone moves, but after all combatants who were due to respawn have been relocated to their corresponding respawn line.
• Think of the rules for Shuffleboard or Corn Hole.

Winning the Fight

• The first team to eliminate all their opponents, or scores 7 points wins the fight. However, teams must win by a difference of 2. Thus, if any team reaches their 7th point during the same turn that their opponents score 6 or 7 points as well, the fight continues until the difference between points is 2 points or greater. 
• In the event of a deathmath, combatants reserve the right to claim their fallen opponent's head, as trophy, regardless of whether the combatant had purchases life insurance or not. 
• --------- Most champions, however, do not exercise this privilege. 

Gladiator's Cataphract

• Reduces all natural flying speeds down to 15ft. Does not affect flying speeds attained from spells or magical items.
• Negates all spells cast on the combatant before the start of the bout.
• Magically translocates combatants to the corresponding spawn line at the beginning of every round, if the combatant took the required amount of damage during the previous round.
• If a combatant takes 20 or more points of damage from a single source during the same attack chain, they begin the next round at a location of their choosing along the Pit's spawn line (see Arena Zones map below). If they take 30 or more points of damage from a single source during the same attack chain, they begin the next round at a location of their choosing along the Wall's spawn line (see Arena Zones map below).
• Attack Chain: An attack chain consists of any and all consecutive attacks made by a combatant against the same target during a single turn. A combatant may trigger the respawning property of the cataphract during a reaction attack(s), however the damage dealt necessary to trigger this property may not be considered in combination with any damage dealt from any other soucer. 

Apis' Arena Map
This map reflects the arena's true dimensions.
1 ☐ = 5 feet
Scroll over map to zoom in/out
Click & Drag to Pan
Legend

• Red - The Hill - Any combatant who starts the round within this zone scores 2 points for their team.
• Green - The Block - The Block makes up the largest part of the arena. It, like the rest of the arena as a whole, is divided into two sections. Any combatant who starts their round on the opposing team's side of the Block scores 1 point for their team.
• Blue - The Pit - Any combatant who starts the round inside their opponent's Pit scores 2 points for their team. The black line that crosses through the outer border of the Pit represents the spawn line for combatants who suffered the necessary amount of damage to be respawned here.
• Yellow - The Wall - Any combatant who starts the round inside their opponent's Wall scores 3 points for their team. The black line that crosses through the outer border of the Wall represents the spawn line for combatants who suffered the necessary amount of damage to be respawned here.

Click the Layers button at the top right of the screen to view the color coded version of the Arena Map

Arena

Open full size

Loot Boxes

• There are two loot boxes at either side of the arena. They are located at the top of the Half-Court columns, along the Half-Court Line. 
• The Half-Court Line and the Half-Court Columns are both neutral zones. Starting a round at either of these locations scores no points for either team.
• Activating a Loot Box costs 1 Action. 
• Upon activating a Loot Box, the combatant must choose one of the three following rewards: 1. The combatant may choose to score 1 point for their team. This point cannot be negated by the regular scoring convention. 2. The combatant may choose to heal themselves and everyone on their team by 2d4 + 4.      3. The combatant may choose 1 zone name and make all zones by that name difficult terrain for their opponents.