Jousting is up! docs.google.com/document/d/1W3l87xR1Y8rw-1FVTdxqdSFRvZxwJu_r-jQHnsvrgio/edit?usp=sharing

No, no, no you did not make a mistake what you made was A clerical error.

It was at this point I made a mistake - D&D in a nutshell

Hm. I can't help but put myself in the shoes of the wizard and bard... what's more valuable, 100gp, or a newly minted noble with access to land, artifacts, and influential people, who OWES you 100gp? I'm tempted to say the latter... Wonderfully cool ideas for player vs. player stuff, too!

Aah yes, you made an AHole character for one reason and still ended up being one for another. Great commitment!

So, you're a noble, but you have no money? That's maybe the most realistic thing I've ever seen in dnd.

-"All it took was one look at the players I had bribed to know. If i didn't sell one of my incredible prizes. I was FU**ED" Sounds like the best premise to start a relationship between characters and stablish a motive to go look out for an adventure that I've ever heard

Update: Sang Yup is working on compiling the rules for the trial neatly so people can read it. Right now it's just in shorthand notes, so keep an eye out for that in the next few days :)

Any chance we could get a hold of the rules used?

Remember the number 1 rule of D&D... No, not “Never split the party”, the other one: Nothing is ever as it seems.

*Disclaimer: I have friends*

*Bribes people for help by promising a share of the prize money* *Wins, but doesn’t get a cash prize* Mistakes were made...

Man I would kill for these events to be put in a module. GUESS ILL HAVE TO MAKE EM MYSELF!

"You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting." - Rufus Sewell's character from A Knight's Tale

ZeeBashew is easily a pioneer of dnd based youtube channels that isnt an actual campaign or highlights of a popular dnd group Love ya zee

I once played a game where the sorcerer in our party was challenged to a jousting match which he had no chance of winning. As a long time player trying bard for the first time I was a little high on the class and told him not to worry because I had a plan. about and hour later he was waiting in the change room before the match and looking at the full plated knight with a powerful warhorse when from the door to the room in marches a shabby looking horse costume. it was me. I cast disguise self to look more real and we took to the field. right before the match began I rolled a nat 20 to intimidate the horse and inspired the player. right as the knight took off the intimidation check sent him flying into the player's spear with his his with a 25 thanks to my inspiration. the knight was killed and we became wanted criminals for murder but for about five minutes we felt incredible.

Zee! You don't have to make a video trying to convince us that you have friends! We TOTALLY believe you!!

Never underestimate the creativity of people finding ways to beat each other up.

3:32 That little Owl Knight is the cutest thing ever.

One of my players favorite games was a grand tournament that basically turned into Ultimate Ninja Warrior and rewarded minor magical items. I also let the players tell me what competitions they wanted to compete in, hence this tournament had a pie eating contest and a dance off.

That whole mini game scenario sounds awesome! The system of writing down spells to cast in secret reminds me a bit of the combat systems in The Burning Wheel.

I can already hear it: "Where's my money?" with Stewie Griffon's voice.

This sounds awesome. We played a game almost like this, but we had two characters each. One was down in the arena fighting and the other was a noble up in a tower. There was a pretty straight fight down below while the nobles could bribe, send secret messages and manipulate things related to the arena from above. I really think there lots of opportunities for this setting.

I love how you played the 80s Sports Movie Villain role to the hilt. Cheating like mad to make up for your shortcomings, only to get your just desserts even when you won.

I have used this system, and it is awesome! TOTALLY makes player decisions more meaningful. Thanks for covering this!

These look like great rules for low level casters. I've always held that for high level casters a Spell casting contest wouldn't be combat related, it would be a contest of who can accomplish the most innovative new result with the spells readily available, judged by a jury of other casters. Things like using Web to catch falling players, or animate objects to open a mechanical lock, etc.

If that owl in armor didn't get you interested in Humblewood, IDK what will.

Oh my this is such a good way to begin a game, as well as the under-the-table bribes happening completely spices it up and sets up a great start.

I've always wanted to do a skill tourney like this, but themed as the final exam for a multi-disciplinary college.

I loved the way PVP was run in this video. Fantastic ideas!

Wish Ud share more stories like this in full version! The idea is amazing, and your experience/grp sound fun as hell to witness

Man Zee these videos are fantastic. The way you tell stories is hugely enjoyable and the animation is a lovely cherry on top

But like... Can we get a layout for this rules and set up.... Even more basic guidelines... I would love to DM this

As someone from another episode would say “Have you ever heard of a glyph of warding”

i'm in love with how the narration follows the rhythm of the background music for the first third of the video!

Damn this is amazing! I had an idea for a one-shot and I didn't realize it was actually a tournament until I saw this video. I would love to learn more about setting a good PvP Tournament!

Love your stuff zee

I have done PvP in dnd. I played a tempest cleric... Call lightning is an amazing spell.

I can't get enough of these things. SO GOOD. Great work, Zee.

I love the art of the varied onlookers at 2:37! This is definitely a campaign I'd love to learn more about.

Sounds like it's time to charge some taxes on your new lands (should be replete with peasants already).

It was at that moment he realised... he f*cked up.

I kinda love it that you bribed those two guys with a fraction of your prize money but not only you, but both of the NPCs, just forgot there was no prize money.

This sounds like so much fun! :) it’s always fun to see how people game the games.

"The Producers" fantasy style? Nice story.

3:20 For the record, no, it is not a good idea to give a crow the black materia.

Animation rocks! Beautiful choice of color! Great job Zee!

The animation give me chills

The tournament really sounds like the GM just making it about luck, since every actual class feature would never come into play

Easy, just tell them you Will give them extra gold if they wait, go to yours land and start a farming industry or something and boom gold.

This is a great episode, great way to start a campaign!

I didnt realize you knew Kurtz, that's rad. Also rad story, cool how your DM made the tournament so dynamic and interesting

but... you set your character up for evil and fighting other players... on the other hand, the lawful part of lawful evil may include honoring your promises and it's generally a good idea to keep those when other players are involved anyway...

You should’ve used a divine soul Sorcerer. That way you could bless people without them knowing with Subtle Spell.

This was a huge source of inspiration for 1 of the campaigns I currently run! 7 factions with 3 champions each (including the PCs) issuing and accepting public challenges (with the catch that you cant issue a challenge later if youve already won at it, so PCs have to get creative with skills and save their best for last). Competiting twice a week and needing to win at least once a week to stay in the game. All with oppurtunities to make and break alliances with other factions. They even recently framed a competitor for attempted assisination.

It's nice to see D&D videos getting so popular, out of the shadows at last!

This sounds like so much fun! I hope my DM does something like this. Great video, as always!

This is a really neat tournament idea. Serious props to your friend. (definitely going to try using this next time) I tried something along the lines of Star Ocean 2 for my tournament. You basically have to find a sponsor that provides you gear to use in the tournament (think medieval nascar, fights are ad space/commercial for shop quality) Meaning the party couldn't use all their OP loot to win the fights easily but depending on which shop they get sponsored by they would have either +2 weapons with lower quality armor but 2 healing potions or +1 weapons with +1 armor and 1 healing potion Or mundane gear but several vials of healing potions and scrolls. (these are just examples there were dozenes shops all with different perks) You were limited to what the shop gave you with no time to really rest between matches (no short rest) so using your recovery items wisely was key to surviving till the end of the day as well as being tactical with who was taking damage (best to spread it out). Tournament lasted 3 days total. If someone was knocked out they were not allowed to rejoin that day but if the party made it to the next day they were allowed to join again. Buffing before the fight started was not allowed and the whole thing was sealed in a magic arena with two purposes. A) to prevent spell casting from outside (no cheating). B) keep the crown safe from rogue fireballs. (a story for a different time) But I like the idea of a more skill check focused arena. I did some skill checks but not nearly as much as I would have liked looking back. There was also a bid system for each fight meaning if you thought you could win a fight easily it was better to send only 1 party member and conserve resources than spend all of it on a fight you know you will win. (enemy combatants were doing the same tho so if you underbid you might be overwhelmed an lose points for nothing, trade off tho was you could force opponents to over bid then fold, sure it cost you points but it could set up two strong opponents to fight next round) So it challenged the players to make choices about how much they wanted to risk each fight. You could forfeit a match you thought was to tough but you would still lost that minimum bid. (think poker betting, as the tournament goes on the pot minimum bet keeps going up meaning you have to bet more each round) The whole thing was a mock war style fighting. I E don't over commit resources to a losing fight. If you want to win the war you have to pick your battles. Overall it worked well from a creative combat intention but now looking back and after seeing some great ideas from this video I wish I had incorporated more skill based side games. (they were busying trying to unravel a few different story plots tho between matches so maybe it was for the best)

Awesome vid Zee! This would be an awesome one shot to run!

i actually really enjoyed this narrative about your huge dilemma of essentially being indebted to these guys that helped you win.

Wow. This actually gives me a better idea on how to work on that Orc Colosseum tournament i had been thinking

Can't sneak that Gimli helmet design past me, no sir

That... sounds awesome beyond words. I'll definitely have to consider something similar!

That. Is. Awesome. Infinite props to your DM, thats awesome

D&D PvP can be very fun. One example was actually during a zero session. One of the things we do is that whilst everyone is sorting their stuff out, the characters themselves are in a Tavern. If a player changes his character then it's played as one character leaves; another enters. Cue a player bragging about 'carrying the team' because he's a Barbarian. It's true that at levels 1-3 Barbs aremore useful than Wizards. I was a Wizard; an aspiring Bladesinger (I say aspiring because I don't get Bladesong until 2nd level). This was roleplayed as the burly Barbarian chugging an ale, bragging about how strong he is and how weak everyone else is. I... took issue with that. "Please. You swing a big axe and think you're hard, but you'll just be a liability". Anyway, to cut a long story short this escalated into a 1v1 fight outside the Tavern. Wizard vs Barb. Place your bets now. Having pumped my Dex high, I got the first initiative and cast the sleep spell. Yes, I get caught in the cloud, but the funny thing about Half-Elves is *magic cannot put them to sleep*. The Barb, meanwhile, was out like a light. Add to that a high-powered critical with a rapier and boom, match was over. Our Cleric woke the Barb with a Spare the Dying cantrip and I left, telling him to remember his place in the pecking order.

After some _intense_ build-up, my players encountered a lamia that I played like a Nile Queen, intimidating them just through the way I played her (and the fact that she had an army of jackalweres) to camouflage the fact that the four of them could've easily eradicated the entire lot of them in about three turns. It worked, and in exchange for an item they were seeking, I made them put on a fight between the fighter and the monk. It was the toughest time I ever had being a DM. I was entranced with how into it my players were. I even told them I just wanted to watch them fight. It was great. Even the bard got into it, providing special effects to enhance the experience. The lamia was suitably impressed, I was thoroughly entertained, and my players still bring it up from time to time. It's weird how it can work within the context of the game. It's so _not_ built for PvP, after all. When it was all over, the lamia lived, the players made off like kings, and instead of keeping the rogue prisoner for her amusement, they promised to come back with the most powerful wizard in the world (an idiot savant named Jimothy Francine Quarnsworth who was a genius at only one spell, an AoE souped-up Heat Metal, currently enslaved by contract to some dwarves and being put to use as the heat source for gigantic mead boilers) which the lamia peeked in on with one of her spells and agreed to take in exchange. No, they never delivered. In fact, when they finally freeds him, the bard thought it'd be a good idea to offer him some cards from the Deck of Many Things. Did you know Avatars of Death carry no metal and that inept wizards who can only cast Heat Metal die really fast?

OK, gonna need the part II of this one ASAP

glorious, simply glorious

this sounds absolutely amazing

This is ingenious and now I want to run or play something like this

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Funny thing about being awarded lands, it usually comes with a stipend issued by the crown.

This sounds like the single best thing ever. Like, damn.

i love how you legit have 0 dislikes XD man its so rare on youtube once you hit the thousand mark, great vid man

very similar to the gempukku from L5Rs first book and how I opened my most recent D&D game (the copper championship) now those characters that did well (the PCs) are the magistrates of the city, saving it from dangers both seen and unseen. You sir do good work,

Just binged the entire animated spellbook I have no life

This sounds like a legitimately awesome competition and I'd love to actually participate in something like this.

Wow! Love it! Excellent idea!!

I dm'ed a competition when I ran waterdeep dragon heist. I allowed the characters to compete in "the running", and by making skill checks associated with each task, I had them play against each other and against other people. They loved it more than anything else I've run or played.

Have a friend who does PvP stuff for meetups, and was trying to think what to do next time after doing a capture the flag thing. I did recommend to do something akin to mini-games that would do things other than simply player characters running around in a map trying to kill each other. He seemed to think the idea would be too complex. I also just recently put up some homebrew stuff Reddit to make characters alcoholic drinking as more of an event, rather than simply saying to do a boring con check. Gave it balance for dwarves, stout halfling and sizes. Making drinking that could be something competitive, a game where drunk characters make mistakes that players can reveal things like a secret or who they might flirt with. And story hook of punishment or reward if they blackout and go missing.

Respect for making Count Adhemar!

I, for one, love this idea.

Our DM, just to see what would happen, had us fight mirrors of our characters. Also played by us. Same stats, same gear, only no saving throws on them (and disappear on death,don't want to give us double the magic items!) Now, we could've gone easy on ourselves... But we didn't. The battle was grand, and I learned that out Cleric is actually kinda terrifying when she wants to be (normally I make fun of her terrible swordsmanship, as she misses a lot). The fight went on for nearly 10 rounds, the Bard got killed and one of the fighters was downed, but we eventually managed to beat our doppelgangers and thankfully had enough time left to revive the Bard (we had enough resources for 2 resurrections). That battle still sticks out quite a lot in my mind.

Yeah I need magic duels in my life! That was epic

I'd love to see where this game went. Such a good idea.

This is awesome! It would be a fun way to debut in D&d

"It was at this point, I made a mistake..." -Zee Bashew "Nope... There are no mistakes in D&D, only Happy Miscalculations!" -Me... ...and maybe Bob Ross... if he ever played D&D. ;o)

Doing this. Amazing video once again Zee

Great Vid! Im going to use these!

Definitely my favorite story thus far

This sounds really cool and I need to do this in one of my games.

I almost died at the horse giving 0 shits lol

Despite that he's always pitching his sponsor, he delivers excellent stuff! Keep it up!

I feel like a tournament arc would be interesting. I should bring it up to my DM.

This is a great story about your character. I would LOVE to hear what decision you made to save your cleric's hide.

This may be an old video, but technically speaking, by the players Gold from the prize money you won, you made no mistake. Because you didn't get prize money, you owed them nothing. After all, they got a share of the prize money you got. In fact, both of them got all of it. By not specifying from just "your winnings" you managed to make the most lawful evil choice available, bending the rules of your own deal to suit your needs, even if based on a false assumption. Bravo at managing to stay in character without even realizing it!

That’s sounds awesome I am definitely running this for my players

This sounds AMAZING.

That sounded like fun!

Awesome story!