The Lists

At the heart of the Tourney are the lists, where brave knights joust each other for victory. No other area of the tourney carries such risks or such potential for glory. In the Joust brave men make fortunes and win kingdoms, while the unlucky find only death.

Combat in the lists draws much from the basic rules outlined in the Foot Combat, please familiarise yourself with those rules.

Finding an opponent

The first step in entering the Lists is to find an opponent. You may challenge any other knight present, but one with 5 or more Prestige than you can turn you down without penalty. Any other knight to refuse you loses 1 point of honor!

Entering the Combat

Once you have an opponent you must pay 30gp to enter the combat. You may also attempt to win the favour of either the King or Queen on your combat. See the rules on the King and Queen. If you do not have the 30gp for the combat you cannot enter. You must also have a horse, a shield and three lances to enter the lists. In addition to these you may carry one foot weapon for use if unhorsed. If you have a squire then they may carry any number of additional weapons for you.

Laying a Wager

If you have an Honor of -3 or less you may lay a wager on the outcome of the fight so long as your opponent is of equal or higher prestige than you. Your wager may be any sum, but cannot be more than 10 times your gambling skill. If you win the fight you get back triple your wager.

Fighting the Joust

The Joust is fought on horseback. The joust consists of a number of passes, during which you try to unseat your opponent by smashing them with your lance, and they do the same to you. The Joust is won when one participant is unhorsed or slain. If both are unhorsed at the same time (and can continue to fight) or all available lances are broken without anyone losing, then combat will continue on foot till one knight yeilds.

The Passes

Each knight charges each other down the length of the lists, trying to unhorse the other. The process works as follows.

Each makes a test against their lance skill to hit the other knight opposed by the other knight's shield skill, these attacks are both done at the same time. If the defending knight exceeds the hit roll by 2 or more (its hard to block a lance) then the blow is deflected. If the result merely equals or exceeds the hit roll then the lance hits, but its damage is reduced by 2. If the attacker fumbles his lance is broken, if the defender fumbles he takes +2 damage. If the attacker rolls a critical he adds 2 to the damage he inflicts and if the defender rolls a critical he automatically defelcts the blow.

Assuming that the blow was not defelected the knight takes damage. Remember to add the extra damage for a charger and for high strength. If the knight has no shield then they take another 2 damage!

If the knight is wearing armour make an armour test to reduce the damage.

Now the knight must try to stay horsed. If they have been reduced to zero or less hits they will automatically fall off. Otherwise they must make a make a test of Riding to stay on. If the result beats the amount of damage they have taken then they stay horsed, otherwise they will fall off. A fumble on this roll will always result in a fall, a critical in them staying on.

Finally the attacker must make a test on their lance skill. On a result of less than 9 their lance breaks and they must take another.

Example

Sir Ector (Strength 6, Health 7, Lance 6, Shield 6, Riding 5, Heavy Armour) is facing Sir Kay (Strength 7, Health 8, Lance 6, Shield 7, Riding 7, Heavy Armour and a Charger) in a joust. The joust begins with the first pass. Pass 1 Sir Ector rolls a 4 to hit. Adding his Lance of 6 that gives a total of 10. Sir Kay rolls a 3, adding his Shield of 7 he also gets a 10. However since he did not beat the attacking roll by 2 or more he still takes damage, reduced by 2. Sir Ector is not on a charger, and does not have Strength 7 or more, so he inflicts 6 damage, reduced to 4 for the shield. Since Kay is wearing Heavy Armour he now gets to make an armour test. He rolls a 3, adds 2 for his armour, getting a 5, so the damage is reduced to 3. Having been wounded Sir Kay drops to 5 Health. He must now roll to stay on is horse. He rolls a 2, and adds 7 for his riding, for a total of 9. Since this beats the damage of 3 he just took he stays on his horse. Now Sir Kay's attack is rolled Sir Kay rolls a 5 to hit. Adding his Lance of 6 that gives a total of 11. Sir Ector rolls a 6 and adds his Shield of 6 to get a 12. This critical automatically defelcts the blow. Now each knight tests their lance skill, to see if their lance breaks. Sir Kay rolls a 3 for a total of 9, while Sir Ector rolls a 2, for a total of 8, this means that his lance breaks. Luckily he has another, and so grabs it before starting the second pass. Pass 2 Sir Ector rolls a 2 to hit. Adding his Lance of 6 that gives a total of 8. Sir Kay rolls a 2, adding his Shield of 7 he again gets a 9. Again he takes damage reduced by 2, i.e. 4. Kay then fails his armour test. Having been wounded Sir Kay drops to 1 Health. He must now roll to stay on is horse. He rolls a 2, and adds 7 for his riding, for a total of 9. Since this beats the damage of 4 he just took he stays on his horse. Now Sir Kay's attack is rolled Sir Kay rolls a 5 to hit. Adding his Lance of 6 that gives a total of 11. Sir Ector rolls a 2 and adds his Shield of 6 to get an 8. Since this fails to deflect the blow Sir Ector will take the full damage. Since Sir Kay has Strength 7 and is on a Charger he adds 2 damage to his blow, for a total of 8. Since Ector is wearing Heavy Armour he now gets to make an armour test. He rolls a 4, adds 2 for his armour, getting a 6, so the damage is reduced to 7. Having been wounded Sir Ector drops to Health 0 and is knocked from his horse. Sir Kay has won.

 

The Foot Combat

If both knights are unhorsed in the same pass, and both can still fight, or one knight has run out of lances, then the combat will continue on foot till one knight yeilds.

See Foot Combat

After the Combat

After the Combat three things happen, both the winner and loser gain money, prestige and experience. How much of these you gain depends on you and your opponent.

For the Winner

Money

The winner gains a number of gold pieces equal to the prestige of his opponent x 30 plus 100gp. So for defeating a Knight with prestige 4 the Knight gains 220gp. If the defeated Knight is of 5 or more Prestige less than you then taking the money is dishonorable, and costs you 1 honor, if you have 5 or more Honor. After all there is little honor in being paid to defeat your inferiors. If you have less honor than this then this is not a dishonorable act, no one will think less of you for paying your costs!

Prestige

You gain 2 Prestige for winning.

Experience

You gain experience equal to the loser's prestige + 1, unless it is more than 2 points lower than yours, in which case you gain only 1/2 that amount (rounded down), or it is more than 5 lower than yours, in which case you gain a 1/3. This is sumarised as below

Relative Prestige	Points
Greater than yours	Equal to Prestige + 1
Equal to yours	Equal to Prestige + 1
1 less than yours	Equal to Prestige + 1
2 less than yours	Equal to Prestige + 1
3 less than yours	1/2 Prestige + 1
4 less than yours	1/2 Prestige + 1
5 less than yours	1/2 Prestige + 1
6 less than yours	1/3 Prestige + 1
7+ less than yours	1/3 Prestige + 1

For the Loser

Money

The Loser gains no money

Prestige

You gain 1 Prestige.

Experience

You gain 1 Experience Point