Rules Clarifications
Last update: December 26

  1. Intential draws are allowed. If you and your opponent agree to a draw, you each get 1/2 point like usual.
  2. If you are the target of the 6th level spell Geis/Quest, you can choose to resist the effects and disobey the command. However, you must roll your saving throw immediately, and immediately take all negative consequences of the spell should you fail it (you'll take the damage regardless, and you'll sicken if you fail the save). You only have to pay those costs once (unless your fight lasts multiple in-game days).
  3. A whip is a ranged weapon, and hence cannot be Vorpal or Keen! Nice try Nate and Clint. Pick a different weapon for your diabolical decapitation attempts.
  4. If your multiclass character has more than one class that is not a preferred class for your race, the 20% experience penalty is not a problem. It is assumed that you have already worked as hard as you needed to work to obtain your experience points, and hence the penalties are moot. Basically, you can pretend those penalties don't exist.
  5. Because the Leadership feat requires DM approval, it is not allowed. This holds true for any ability, skill, class feature, etc., requiring DM approval.
  6. If you are DMing a fight where a player tries to cast Wish or Miracle, and chooses an effect not on the Wish list (i.e., some arbitrarily worded Wish), it is your duty to be as bitchy as possible, attempting to minimize their gain from the Wish, unless their Wish really does fall under the power level of a lower level spell (e.g., wishing for fire resistance is okay, because Protection From Elements could have given you that, but the Wish should not give you much more than the lower level spell would have). If a player is foolish enough to Wish for something like, "I wish to win this fight," the DM should do everything in his power to make the player rue the round he made the wish.


2001 Rules Committee members: Alex, Curtis, Eric, Jason and Jon.


PowerGame 2K1 - Official Rules
December 26 Revision

  1. General Information
    1. The PowerGame 2K1 will be held in December 2001 and January 2002.
    2. People should try to bring some money or food for contributions to whoever is hosting their fights.
  2. Competitions and Awards
    1. There will be 4 competitions, rules below.
      1. PowerGame 2K1 - A round robin tournament of 1 on 1 fights.
      2. StyleGame 2K1 - In conjunction with PowerGame 2K1, a competition to determine who battles with the most style.
      3. Grand Melee 2K1 - Everyone gathers in one arena to see who can emerge victorious.
      4. Team Battle 2K1 - Two teams of characters face off against each other in a brutal melee.
    2. There will be awards - these will be financed with a $5 entrance fee per person.
      1. Grand Prize - the winner of the PowerGame 2K1 will receive a trophy.
      2. First Runner-Up - the Grand Loser of the PowerGame 2K1 will receive a trophy.
      3. Last Place - the Blood Stain will receive something crappy TBD.
      4. Most Style - the winner of the StyleGame will receive something spiffy TBD.
      5. Grand Melee Champion - TBD.
  3. Tournament Rules
    1. PowerGame 2K1
      1. The tournament will be held round robin style, without fixed rounds. Basically, everyone will try to battle everyone else once.
      2. Players will be granted 1 point for a win, 1/2 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.
        1. A win occurs when an opponent forfeits, resigns, or dies in a fight.
          1. A death is defined as an opponent being not living at the beginning of his action, and the competitor surviving one more round. Ways to be "not living" include, but are not limited to, having -10 or fewer HP, being dead as the result of a death effect, and being undead.
          2. Resignation is defined as the opponent saying "I concede", "I give up", "I hate this fucking game", ripping up his character sheet, or something similar to signify that he no longer wishes to continue the battle.
          3. Forfeiture occurs when a player breaks a rule of the PowerGame 2K1 and does not correct the action, or if a player refuses to fight another player without just cause. (Just cause is defined rather loosely, which is fine. This clause is to avoid "I don't want to play you because I'll lose." Which shouldn't happen anyway. You wimp.) In addition, if a player forfeits more than 1/3 of his matches, his results are stricken from the record.
        2. A draw occurs when the time limit is reached for a match, or the competitors are both dead on two consecutive actions, or two people could not fight due to extenuating circumstances. The time limit for each match is defined as 4 real hours, or 100 played game rounds. A played game round is defined as a round in which either character takes an action besides "I wait for the other person." Basically, if ten minutes pass without action occurring, it does not count as 60 played game rounds.
        3. A loss occurs when you suck. Oops. I mean, when a player dies, forfeits, or resigns.
      3. Players will be given an optional half-hour between fights. This is not mandatory, but constitutes just cause for refusing a fight.
      4. The only tiebreak used to determine ranking will be direct competition tiebreaks. For example, if Player A is 8-2, and Player B is 8-2, and Player A beat player B, Player A wins the PowerGame 2K1. If A, B, and C are at 8-2, A beat B and C, and B beat C, then Player A wins (2-0 vs 1-1 vs 0-2).
      5. In the event of an unresolvable tie, there will be a Grand Melee between the involved parties to resolve the tie.
      6. The DM for each round robin match will be another contestant in the PowerGame 2K1.
        1. A player who has already fought both competitors is preferred for DM when possible.
        2. Failing that, a player who will gain the least advantage from DMing the fight is preferred.
        3. Either player may reject another player as DM prior to the start of the match. However, using DM rejection as a tool for causing an unresolved match will not be tolerated and will result in forfeiture.
      7. Players may not observe battles. Only the DM and the two opponents may be present during a battle.
        1. Exceptions can be made, as long as both players and the DM agree to them.
      8. DM consulting is allowed; however, the DM should attempt to consult with people who have already fought the opponents, when possible.
        1. DM consult time pauses the 4 hour game-clock.
      9. Each fight will be fought on a random map, with each character starting in a random starting position. (See Map Creation below)
    2. StyleGame rules
      1. At the end of the PowerGame 2K1, ballots will be handed out with all the players' names on them. Players will rate other players based on "Style", from 1st to (n-1)th, where n is the number of competitors
      2. You may not vote for yourself.
      3. 1st place will be worth n-2 points, 2nd is n-3, down to n-1th place, which is worth 0.
      4. The competitor with the most points wins the Style competition.
    3. Grand Melee rules
      1. In general, the same rules apply, but there is no time limit or round limit. Grand Melee is strictly "kill or be killed"--there can be only one.
      2. Each player is allowed to submit one or more Grand Melee maps. They must obey the rules for the regular maps. In addition, they must have at least as many non-overlapping starting positions as there are competitors.
        1. The Grand Melee map will be chosen randomly from all those submitted.
      3. The DM for the Grand Melee will be the player with the worst PowerGame 2K1 record. If multiple people are tied for the worst record, the same tiebreak criteria as above will be used.
        1. If a person not participating in PowerGame 2K1 can be secured to DM the Grand Melee instead, the player with the worst record will be able to participate in the Grand Melee as a competitor, but locating such a person is not assured.
    4. Team Battle rules
      1. Separate characters will be used for the Team Battle. See the "Character Creation - Team Battle" section below.
      2. In general, the same rules as the Grand Melee apply. The rules for death and forfeiture are the same, except that once all members of one team have been defeated, the match is over and the team still standing is declared victorious.
      3. Each player is allowed to submit one or more Team Battle maps. They must obey the rules for regular maps. Instead of normal starting positions, however, they must have at least two "team" starting positions.
        1. The Team Battle map will be chosen randomly from all those submitted.
      4. The DM for the Team Battle is TBD.
  4. Character Creation - PowerGame 2K1 and Grand Melee
    1. Characters will only be created with the 3rd Edition PH and DMG, and when necessary, the MM.
    2. 3 players must verify the character's legality, according to these rules. If this is not possible before the first fight, at the minimum the DM and 1st opponent must verify the sheets.
      1. Mistakes must be corrected as soon as they are noted.
    3. Characters will start with 90 ability points for the 6 standard stats.
      1. The minimum unmodified stat will be 8.
      2. The maximum unmodified 1st level stat will be 18.
      3. Players must be able to reconstruct how they created a stat.
    4. Dice roll results may be chosen by the player instead of rolled, unless specified elsewhere in the rules.
      1. Characters have maximal hit points.
      2. If a feature of a character grants him a random number of abilities, the player may select the maximal number of abilities allowed.
      3. If a character has a percent chance of possessing an ability, the player may choose whether or not the character has that ability.
    5. Characters will be constructed with 435,000 XP (exactly 30th level) and 300,000 GP.
      1. 1 GP may be bought for 1 XP, but not vice-versa (i.e., you can have more gold, but not more experience).
      2. No single character class may exceed 20th level.
    6. Classes will be taken from the PH only. No DMG classes (i.e., prestige classes) will be allowed.
    7. Races will be taken from the PH. In addition, the templates detailed in Appendix 3 of the MM will be allowed.
    8. However, undead templates (Ghost, Lich, Vampire) are discouraged since by the rules, the character would be dead at the start of each match.
      1. To use a template, the character must meet all prerequisites for that template.
      2. No more than one template may be used for a character.
      3. Each template has a price as follows:
        1. 57,000 XP: Celestial or Fiendish.
        2. 84,000 XP: Half-celestial, Half-dragon, Half-fiend, Werewolf or Wereboar.
        3. 110,000 XP: Werebear or Weretiger.
    9. Familiars and animal companions may be chosen from the standard lists in the PH. Paladin mounts are standard warhorses (light or heavy).
    10. Characters may have a maximum of 1 class-specific animal per class, and 1 purchased animal.
    11. Items in both the PH and the DMG are purchasable, as long as a price for them is listed. If no price is listed for that item (for example, the laser pistol in the DMG), then that item is not available.
      1. For scroll costs, see Scribe Scroll item creation feat in the PH. Spells requiring material components costing 1 GP or more must add the cost of the material component to the scroll cost. Any spell with an XP cost must add five times the XP cost in GP to the scroll cost. Note that the cost of a material or divine focus does not factor into the scroll cost. (If computed correctly, the cost a scroll should equal that listed in the DMG.)
    12. Each item's location on the character's body must be noted on the character sheet. Encumbrance rules apply, but item volume is not an issue (e.g., 50 long swords strapped to your belt is okay).
      1. Material components worth less than 1 GP may be kept in a single container (or multiple containers) without noting individual components on the character sheet.
        1. The pouch's location(s) must still be noted.
        2. Material components worth 1 GP or more must still be individually noted.
    13. Up to 20 equipment configurations may be defined. An equipment configuration is a list of equipment that the character takes into battle, and the location of each piece of equipment for that particular configuration.
      1. These configurations must be determined prior to the start of the tournament, and cannot be added, amended or altered once the character has been ratified.
      2. Before each fight, after the opponent is known, any one of these predefined configurations may be selected for use in that battle.
    14. Up to 20 spell configurations may be defined. A spell configuration is a list of spells that the character has prepared before entering battle. The same rules as equipment configurations also apply for spell configurations.
    15. Character sheets in original state are considered to be open. Players may not look at each others' current statistics during a match, although they may ask each other about a character's initial statistics from the beginning of the fight.
  5. Character Creation - Team Battle
    1. In general, the same rules for creating a PowerGame character apply to the Team Battle character. Differences are noted below.
    2. Characters will be constructed with 105,000 XP (exactly 15th level). Amount of GP per character and/or team is TBD.
    3. Races will be taken from the PH only. No templates will be allowed.
    4. No intelligent items will be allowed.
  6. Map Creation
    1. All players must contribute at least one map.
    2. Maps are also open: Anyone may view them at any time.
    3. A map must be between 20 feet cubed and 1000 feet cubed in size.
    4. Each map must contain at least 4 starting positions. Symmetry is not required.
      1. Each starting position must be at least 10'x10'x10'
    5. Maps may not contain instant death (i.e., death in the first round from the starting position).
      1. Instant death is defined as the possibility that, from the starting position, an unarmored, unequipped character has the possibility of dying.
      2. The easiest way to avoid instant death is probably to have the characters start standing on the ground.
    6. No magical items may be hidden in the environment.
      1. Normal items may be hidden in the environment, even at random, given that the method for determining the items is known.
    7. No other sentient beings are allowed in the map.
      1. This includes animals, but not foilage.
    8. If a map is objectionable to 3 or more competitors, the map will be rejected. The offending player must then submit a new map for consideration.
  7. Rules for Dungeon Masters
    1. There will be a computer for the DM in the competition room. The DM must use it to keep a detailed log of each match. These logs will be used to chronicle the event on the web page.
    2. The DM must also log any and all questions regarding rules, and note his decision regarding that question. DM rulings will be posted on the web site, and will remain in effect for the remainder of the tournament.
    3. The DM has authority on all decisions within the match. To contest a ruling, players must bring it to the attention of the rules committee. The ruling will only be overturned if the rules committee comes to a unanimous decision that the ruling was incorrect. If a ruling is ever overturned in this way, the match in question will be declared null and void, and the players will have to fight again.

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