Jousting Rules

Jousting is a noble form of armed contest found in nearly every BR tournament. In order for Players and DM's to resolve the outcome of these contests fairly, here is a simple and fast system for determining the outcome of a Joust.

-Initiative: Both Contestants roll 1d10. This roll is modified by subtracting your opponents Level from yours. Then adding the difference to your roll. For example a 7th level Fighter is to Joust against a 5th Level Fighter. The 7th level Fighter rolls a 6, then subtracting 5 from 7(his opponents Level from his)he gets a difference of 2. He then adds 2 to his 6 and gets an 8. The 5th Level Fighter will do the same. He rolls and gets a 8, but when he subtracts his opponents level(7) from his(5) he gets a -2. This gives him 6(-2 + 8 = 6). The person with the *higher* number wins Initiative. Simultaneous Initiatives are covered below. Also any non-Warrior
involved in a Joust should first divide their Level in half before determining Initiative. Initiative should be determined before each Pass.

-Jousting Pass: The winner of the Initiative shall be called Contestant 1 and the loser shall be called Contestant 2. As the Contestants Joust they need to make opposed rolls in order to determine who wins. Contestant 1 makes a Strength check(Exceptional Strength does not factor into this), and Contestant 2 makes a Dexterity check. Contestant 2 then subtracts their A.C. rating(without Dex. modifiers), and the Strength damage modifier for Contestant 1(Exceptional Strength counts for this)from their roll.

Note: A.C. lower then 0 is treated as 0. Contestant 2 then adds their own Strength damage modifier to their roll. The winner is the Contestant with the highest
successful ability check. If Contestant 1 has the higher roll and Contestant 2 has lower roll, but both are successful checks, Contestant 2 is unhorsed. If both checks rolled are equal then Contestant 1 wins and Contestant 2 is unhorsed. If Contestant 2 has the higher successful check, or Contestant 1 fails his Strength check, then Contestant 2 is not unhorsed. If Contestant 2 is not unhorsed then the Contestants immediately make opposite checks. That is Contestant 2 now makes a Strength check(no Exceptional Strength), and Contestant 1 makes a Dexterity check(modified by subtracting their A.C. from their roll, again that is A.C. without Dex. modifiers, and subtracting the Strength damage modifier for Contestant 2, then adding their own Str. damage modifier). The rolls are then compared to see if Contestant 1 is unhorsed(using the above rules only Contestant 1 is now considered Contestant 2 and Contestant 2 is considered Contestant 1). If the Contestants have simultaneous Initiatives they each make both a Strength and Dexterity check(with the restrictions above)at the same time, and then check to see if one or both of them have been unhorsed.

-Damage: Both Contestants take damage for a hit from a Jousting Lance(1d3-1, no Strength modifiers)with each Pass, and an unhorsed Contestant takes an
additional 1d2 points of damage for hitting the ground. Also the DM should roll 1d10 for each Lance on a roll of 1-5 the Lance snaps and must be replaced before the next Pass.

-Additional Notes: If a Contestant has Lance as a Weapon Pro. then his/her Initiatives, successful Strength checks, and successful Dexterity checks gain a +1. If he/she is Specialised in Lance they gain a +2 to the above rolls. These modifiers will not cause an ability check to fail. They mealy make the successful number higher. Lastly in a basic Jousting Contest 2 warriors would make Passes until the one of them had been unhorsed 3 times. Of course there are many variations on the rules and regulations in specific Contests, but those(if any)can be determined by the DM.

Submitted By Sepsis.

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