Typical Duel Stakes

Within Hollow, the most commonly used method of determining the resolution of a physical confrontation between two characters is the RP duel. Generally, the duel will have some agreed upon outcome based on who wins the duel, these are called stakes. Stakes should be discussed by both players previous to the start of the duel, mutually agreed upon, fair to both party's, and publicly announced to the judges prior to the duel (unless for some reason the RP requires that the stakes be kept a secret). Below you will find a listing of the most common stakes used in dueling on Hollow and a short explanation of each. They are listed generally from the least to most severe. The most important thing to remember regarding stakes is that, upon agreeing to the judges and stakes, you are essentially entering into a contract with the other duelist. One should attempt at all times to live up to not only the wording of the stakes, but the spirit of them as well. This means that when agreeing to stakes, trying to word it so that loopholes may be utilized at a later date which will allow the duelist to get out of the stakes is very bad RP etiquette and frowned upon my the playerbase. If you lose, accept the stakes you agreed to and RP them to the best of your ability. Do not blame poor judging for your loss, you agreed to the judges. If you don't believe suitable judges are on at the time that the duel is proposed, then say as much to the other duelist and wait until you believe you can have fair judging of your duel. There is no acceptable reason to publicly complain about your judges or the decision, or to evade stakes, unless there is proof that the person declared the winner in fact cheated somehow.

Gold

Either OOC or IC stakes: One of the oldest and most common stakes for duels, used often for stakes in OOC duels where stakes that would affect the characters directly are not fitting. Generally gold stakes range from 5,000 gold to 15,000 gold, though any amount which is agreeable to the duelists is fine.

Pride/Bragging Rights

IC stakes: These duels are often used by good characters, or those who don't necessarily wish undue harm to their opponent, but rather just to prove superiority, defend honor, or enhance their own prestige. In short, the winner of these duels will generally only have won the right to go about bragging of their victory to others ICly. There is not necessarily a final autohit post awarded the winner in these duels.

Weapons/Item

IC Stakes: A duel for the ownership of another's weapon, or other meaningfull RP item, is the start of the more severe stakes one can agree to, though still very mild in comparison to possible alternatives. In these duels, the winner takes the loser's weapon/item by force. The power, history, and prestige of the weapon/item being taken will greatly determine how severe these stakes truly are to the character in question. As well as the weapon/item of their opponent, the winner also gains similar bragging rights as the duel above. There is not necessarily a final autohit post awarded the winner in these duels, though it is generally allowed for the winner to make a post in which they forcibly take the weapon/item from their opponent.

Inventory

IC Stakes: These duels center around the concept that the winner completely strips all possessions from their opponent, leaving them either naked or with only the clothes on their back. The loser must give everything they own, down to the last bit of food, drink, item and copper piece to the winner. Stakes such as these leave the target character very embarrassed ICly as well as having to start over building their wealth from scratch. There is not necessarily a final autohit post awarded the winner in these duels, though it is generally allowed for the winner to make a post in which they forcibly strip the possessions from their opponent. If the loser had considerable wealth well outside of their ability to carry on their person, the stakes may involve allowing an RP in which the winner raids the loser's property and takes all of their remaining belongings.

Autohit post

IC Stakes: Autohit post stakes may be the only stakes of the duel, or may be included along with other stakes in any IC duel. In any duel which has an Autohit post as part of the stakes, the winner is allowed a final post after the judges announce the winner. During this post they are allowed to freely autohit the loser without their opponent having a chance to defend. Many people believe that all IC duels are best served with some form of autohit round as stakes because it defines a clear winner in the RP. Many duels have taken place with no Autohit round where the person declared the winner took practically all of the damage, and the loser was left standing without a scratch; this makes very little RP sense and often leaves a very questionable ending to how exactly the person declared the winner OOCly actually won ICly, having an autohit post as stakes solves this problem every time because it allows the winner to "finish the fight". The severity of the autohit should be agreed upon prior to the duel. Some commonly agreed upon Autohit posts are listed below.

Basic strike, knockout, incapacitating blow

These often leave no permanent damage and only serve to physically end the fight as the winner proves dominance over the other by striking them down.

Beatdown

This includes a full ass whipping of the loser; they are generally beaten until bloodied, completely helpless, and in great pain.

Permanent scar

Autohit stakes that allow for permanent scaring, include the winner marking the victim with anything (burn, cut, minor flesh removal) that leaves a lifetime scar on the loser. It is generally accepted that the loser must continue to RP this scar forever and seeking to have it removed somehow by magical, divine, or technological means is considered bad RP etiquette.

Maiming post

IC Stakes: Very severe in-character stakes in which the winner has the right to forcibly remove or destroy a part of the loser's body. If one of the players wishes that there be limits on which part of their body may be removed, they should state this when agreeing to the stakes prior to the duel. After the duel, much like an autohit post, the winner gets a free round in which they may remove or destroy the desired part of their opponent's body in what ever way they see fit without the loser having an opportunity to defend. Common things targeted during maiming posts include an arm, wing, leg, ear, eye or eyes, tongue and male reproductive organ. If pairs of organs are intended to be removed, it is generally considered common courtesy that they make sure the opponent fully understands this during agreement of stakes (IE. both arms, both legs, both wings, both eyes). The target of a maiming post can not be something that the opponent unequivocally needs to survive, for example you can't take a human's heart, brain, lungs, etc. In general it is assumed that the part being removed will be gone or destroyed forever. Many people view the replacement of a body part lost in a Maiming Duel to be bad RP etiquette; given this fact, if either of the duelists intend to replace or regrow the lost body part at some point after the duel, they should inform their opponent of this during negotiation of the stakes, and an acceptable time frame for how long the replacement will take should be agreed to.

Slavery

IC Stakes: In duels with Slavery as the stakes, the winner achieves the right to take the loser into slavery. Because these stakes involve putting the fate of your character in the hands of another character, the exact nature of the slavery should be defined before the start of the duel. In the most extreme forms of the stakes, the loser agrees to give the winner a general right to autohit and control them in any situations where the slave is kept in a compromising situation. Due to the difficult nature involved with enforcing these stakes through IC actions without continual autohits and controlling moves and the fact that these stakes are often poorly RPed by the loser, the use of Slavery as stakes in a duel have largely fallen out of use. Some common types of slavery are listed below.

Forced Slavery

Slave is unwilling to cooperate, and constant RP to keep them in line is required.

Willing Slavery

Upon losing to the winner, the slave submits and willing follows orders by their new Master, generally for a predetermined amount of time before they are either given a chance to fight for their freedom or earn it.

Arcane Slavery

Duelists sign a binding arcane document in blood, cursing them to be magically compelled to follow the wishes of the winner until the curse is willingly lifted by their new Master.

RP Conditions

IC Stakes: These duels are very broad in possibility and can involve nearly anything that the two duelists agree to as RP stakes. The affects of RP stakes can severely alter the future of a character's RP depending on the nature of the conditions agreed to. It is very important when agreeing to RP stakes that both duelists fully understand the future consequences on their character to which they are agreeing and are willing to RP these stakes accordingly. Some commonly used RP condition stakes are listed below, but the sky is the limit with these situations. Often the most full and entertaining RPs can come from these kind of stakes as they force the player to take a direction with their character that they never intended.

Abandon a cause, clan, leadership role, authority position or religion

Conquering/usurping; winner becomes the new recognized leader of a clan, race, area, organization, etc.

Become an ally of the winner, support them in a cause

Forced marriage / Forced divorce

Exile from their homeland

Forced or coerced public declaration (Posting a specific message, admission, pledge, or opinion on one or more public message boards along with your signature)

Draining or transfer of ones Arcane power, physical strength, or some other innate ability

Forced wearing of a specified item or article of clothing (making someone wear a rival insignia, clothing of the opposite sex, etc.)

Soul

IC Stakes: This duel used to be a common form of stakes for duel, especially those involving evil necromancers and mages of considerable power. The winner would essentially steal the soul from the loser, leaving only an empty shell of a person behind. These duels became grossly overused, often involving the stealing of a soul by characters who would have no reasonable means of doing so; this along with the very poor way that the losers generally RPed the effects of having their soul removed made this type of stakes fall largely out of use. Eventually, the administrators altered the rules regarding souls and decided that players were not allowed to have control over the soul of other characters, thus essentially making these duels illegal.

Death Duel (DD)

IC Stakes: The most severe duel stakes, the winner is allowed an autohit post in which they may kill the loser in any way they wish. This death is permanent; the loser's character is dead and may not be revived by another through divine means, necromancy, healing, etc. The only way to return after being killed in a Death Duel is for the winner of the duel to agree to it, and even then it is generally considered bad RP etiquette to do so after losing a DD. In the same vein as bringing a dead character back, it is also poor RP etiquette to create another character who is virtually identical to the one lost; this is seen as essentially skirting the spirit of the death duel stakes.