Rooftop Dueling Federation

The Federation hosts fights and tournaments atop the Old Observatory bordering the dangerous Mall, in Wizard City Hexcrawl. The Federation itself is a loose conglomeration of various students, mercenaries, gangsters, and paramilitary wizards interested in honing their dueling skills for fame and fortune.

Wizard Gangs and fraternal organizations will often have recruiters here to poach talent. Wizard Law comes here to mingle with the gangs. It's unwise to travel alone - there are no arbitrators, only agreements between groups. Bring your own referees and medics.

Al Sadeem Observatory - UAE

The one constant of the organization is Magister Ornadox, who died here some three decades ago and now haunts the building, tending to accost those who find themselves alone in the abandoned halls. One tends to find him lurking in unoccupied places, rigorously cleaning up spots where fatalities have occurred, even long after they've happened. Some rumor that the Magister isn't actually dead, or a ghost, but rather some kind of illusion or protective spell placed over the Observatory long ago. Some say that he is the Observatory - a genius loci - attempting to tidy itself up.

A typical wizard duel has a few rules: no leaving the designated arena, no physical weapons, when a wizard cannot continue to fight they're done, etc. But sometimes they can become quite atypical:

Special Rules - Standard

d6	Rule	Mechanics
1	Specialized School	Only magic from one school of magic (i.e. evocation, illusion, drowned, circles) is permitted.
2	Spell Boxing	No ranged attacks or ranged spells allowed. All magic must be touch or personal buffs.
3	Rocket Tag	No physical contact allowed, including touch spells.
4	Knight Fight	No offensive spells allowed, only personal buffs. Weapons and armor typically allowed.
5	Familiar Bout	Only Familiars are allowed to fight each other - basically a magical cock fight.
6	Mensuren	Fight done for ritual scarification - to first blow. Typically very narrow sets of magic allowed - conjured or bound weapons are popular.

Special Rules - Challenging

d6	Rule	Mechanics
1	Slug Fest	Counterspells and Dispels are not allowed.
2	Battleship	A screen of Darkness bisects the arena. Fighters must stay on their sides, unable to see the other team’s location. Use area-of-effect spells to blast blindly into the other side. Movement optional.
3	Shrinking Arena	Walls of Force slowly contract the arena space, bringing fighters closer until they are adjacent.
4	Cord of Concentration	Combatants each have one hand tied to their opponent’s with loose cord, allowing opponents to physically interfere with spellcasting. Breaking the cord results in a draw.
5	Zombie Fight	Proxy fight conducted through the animation and control of undead. Not allowed to influence or harm the controlling wizards.
6	Moon Match	Shapeshifted or polymorphed fighting only. Sometimes a moonstone or similar simulacra is brought in to trigger lycanthropy.

Special Rules - Insane

d6	Rule	Mechanics
1	The Floor is Lava	All areas of the arena floor except for four narrow elevated pylons become lava, dealing 1d4 damage per round spent without heat protection, 4d10 damage on contact, and 8d10 submerged.
2	Mannequin Roulette	A captured soul-sucking mannequin from The Mall is released in the arena during the fight - there’s no telling who it’ll attack.
3	Cord of Death	Combatants each have one hand tied to their opponent’s with a rope in a Death Knot. Should this rope break before the knot is undone, both fighters will die instantaneously. Fighters can easily interfere with each other’s spellcasting while the cord is tied.
4	No Rules	Like it says - no rules. No referee. No protections, limitations, or resusitations.
5	Safety Dome Retracted	Dome which normally prevents wizards from being hurled off a ten-story building or flying high up into the air is lowered.
6	Patent Violation	A copyrighted spell is used illegally, drawing the Patent Police to the arena in a matter of minutes.