I Challenge You To A Duel! (Special combat)

[curtis]

In a sword duel:

You must wear padded armor.
You must wield a light or one-handed sword (longsword, rapier, scimitar, bastard sword).

Each turn you choose one of the following options:

Thrust
Slash
Parry

Thrust-Thrust: Both attack
Thrust-Slash: Both attack
Thrust-Parry: Locked blade
Slash-Slash: Locked blade
Slash-Parry: Locked blade
Parry-Parry: Nothing

LOCKED BLADE

Each player makes a Strength check.

Equal: still locked blade
1-5 difference: push forward
6+ difference: winner gets to attack

if the blade is still locked, each player has the following options:

Lock
Leap Back (moves back 5 feet)
Thrust

Lock-Lock: Locked Blade check
Lock-Leap Back: Leaper gets a free attack
Lock-Thrust: Locker gets a free attack
Leap Back-Leap Back: nothing
Leap Back-Thrust: Thruster gets a free attack
Thrust-Thrust: Both get a free attack

PUSHED FORWARD

The attacker chooses one of the below options:

Disarm
Thrust
Force Blade

The defender chooses one of the below options:

Leap Back (moves back 5 ft.)
Force Blade
Fall to Parry

Disarm-Leap Back: Nothing
Disarm-Force Blade: Pushed Forward (disarm)
Disarm-Fall to Parry: Disarm attempt at -5 to Attacker
Thrust-Leap Back: Free Attack to Attacker
Thrust-Force Blade: Free Attack each
Thrust-Fall to Parry: Free Attack with +5 AC to Attacker
Force Blade-Leap Back: Free Attack to Defender
Force Blade-Force Blade: Pushed Forward (attack)
Force Blade-Fall to Parry: Free Attack with +5 AC to Attacker

Pushed Forward: Each player makes a Strength check, with the attacker adding their weapon's weight to the roll.

Attacker wins: free attack/disarm
Equal roll: stay pushed
Winner loses by 1-5: return to Locked Blade
Winner Loses by 6-10: Pushed Back
Winner loses by 11+: Loser gets a free attack

[JoshuaZ]

In a sword duel:

You must wear padded armor.
You must wield a light or one-handed sword (longsword, rapier, scimitar, bastard sword).

Each turn you choose one of the following options:

Thrust
Slash
Parry

Thrust-Thrust: Both attack
Thrust-Slash: Both attack
Thrust-Parry: Locked blade
Slash-Slash: Locked blade
Slash-Parry: Locked blade
Parry-Parry: Nothing

LOCKED BLADE

Each player makes a Strength check, adding their weapon's weight to the roll.

TO BE FINISHED VERY SOON

Ok, straight off under this system someone can keep parrying indefinitely and never be attacked. If you do add something like your strength check detail (which you haven' explained yet) then it will likely never make sense to parry. This is going to need a lot of work to be reasonable.

[HellFencer]

If you are looking for a "duel" system that is this simple, you may want to take some notes from Suikoden (Japanese RPG). During a duel, you could wield ANY weapon (although the character's only ever equipped one kind of weapon based on preference or whatever). This makes sense, as you could definitely block a sword strike with a bo-staff, or a spiked guantlet.

In their setup, there were three options, and each opponent had the exact same initiative, meaning it was possible to have both KO.

Attack - a regular balanced attack
Desperate attack - a powerful strike that sacrifices defense
Defend - a defensive pose that reduces damage

Opponent 1 -> Opponent 2

Attack -> Attack = Both damaged.
Attack -> Desperate Attack = Both damaged, #1 more so.
Attack -> Defend = #2 takes a little damage.

Desperate Attack -> Desperate Attack = Both badly damaged.
Desperate Attack -> Defend = #2 dodges and badly damages #1

Defend -> Defend = No one damaged.
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As you can see, it is a glorified Rock, Paper, Scissors game. I propose a slight modification to the above to improve it for D&D.

Attacks must still hit an opponent's AC.

Attack -> Attack = Weapon lock.
Attack -> Desperate Attack = Weapon lock.
Attack -> Defend = #2 can parry.

Desperate Attack -> Desperate Attack = Weapon lock.
Desperate Attack -> Defend = Parry or Counterattack.

Defend -> Defend = No one damaged. Staredown may be initiated.

During the duel, opponents write down their actions and show them at the same time to avoid unfairness and bad emotions thereafter. (Afterall its just a game)

Attack -> All other things aside, a hit occurs when an opponent's AC is hit, just like in normal combat.
Desperate Attack -> By sacrificing defense, a terrible blow may be dealt. Using this option doubles damage dealt, but the duelist takes a penalty to AC equal to 1/2 his BAB.
Defend -> The duelist gains +4 AC this round.

Initiating weapon lock: Weapon lock occurs when each opponent's to hit score is within 10 of each other. Otherwise, the higher scoring opponent may attempt a hit (versus AC). Example: Barbarosa swings with a to hit of 12, and Gnorsh's to hit is 17. They enter weapon lock.

Resolving weapon lock: Opponents make strength checks, with appropriate modifiers for size and racials (like a gnome fighting a kobold). Someone must win by 5 in order to break the lock. If someone wins by 10 or more, he may (but doesn't have to) make a disarm attempt (no damage dealt this round; Imp. Disarm applies). When the lock is broken, damage may be dealt to the loser. If the lock is not broken, it continues into the next round and must be resolved again.

Parry: The defending opponent makes an attack roll like normal, except the target DC is now the attacker's to hit roll. If the defender matches or beats the target number, he successfully parries the attack.

Counterattack: A parry attempt is made as normal. Should the parry beat the target number by more than 5, a counterattack is initiated. This means the defender not only parries, but then may attempt to hit his opponent as though he had chosen the Attack option.

Staredown: When both duelists defend, the DM should ask if either one wants to attempt a staredown. It only takes one person to initiate the staredown. Once initiated, opponents make a specialized charisma check (1d20 + BAB + CHA. Mod. + 1/2 total Intimidate bonus). The winner of the staredown gains a +2 on ALL rolls (to hit, damage, etc.) for the remainder of the duel, known as "The Edge". Tiebreakers are determined by a dice-off with a d6 and no modifiers. A duelist may receive this bonus multiple times, although anything beyond the first bonus is only a +1. Special: Only one duelist may have The Edge at a time. When The Edge switches opponents, its bonuses reset.

I don't believe I've left anything out that I was thinking of... Please feel free to make comments or suggestions to my proposed idea.