Rank Name | Level | Requirements | ((Fancy Maneuvers)) |
Commoner | 1 | None | 0 |
Swordsman | 2 | 5 Merits | 1 |
Master at Arms | 3 | Swordsman rank + 10 Merits (= 15 total) | 2 |
Grandmaster | 4 | Master At Arms rank + 15 Merits (= 30 total) | 3 |
Warlord | 5 | Grandmaster rank + 20 Merits (= 50 total) | 4 |
Baron | 6 | By Challenge | 5 |
Overlord | 7 | By Challenge | 6 |
For Beginners: Merits of Rank
Hear ye, first-time duelists!
As a beginner, you will be ranked Commoner. To advance in rank, you must prove yourself in the ring during sanctioned dueling hours. With each victory, you will be awarded a number of Merits equal to the rank level of your opponent (i.e. 1 Merit for Commoner, 2 Merits for Swordsman, etc.). As you meet each set of requirements, your new rank will be issued to you, with the required Merits being deducted from your total Merit count.
For Warlords: Executive Merits
Hear ye, newly ranked Warlords!
Congratulations! You have reached the pinnacle rank earnable by Merits alone. From this point forward, you will earn Merits as proof of worthiness in challenging for title and other rights afforded holders of Baronies and the Overlordship, as listed below:
Rights of Warlord | Merits Required |
Challenge for Barony | 25 |
Challenge for Overlordship | 50 |
Rights of Baron* | Merits Required |
Challenge for Overlordship | 25 |
Use of Test of Worthiness by Squire** vs challenger | 25 |
*If you should hold the title of Baron prior to having earned the Warlord rank by way of a challenge right grant or prize, then the Merits you earn as a Baron will apply first to achieving any outstanding prerequisite ranks (i.e. Swordsman through Warlord). Should you lose the title of Baron prior to earning a Warlord rank, you will assume the highest prerequisite rank that you have achieved up to that point.
Rights of Overlord | Merits Required |
Grant of Baronial Challenge Right (The “Overlord Grant”) | 25 |
Interceding on behalf of Loyal Baron vs challenger | 25 |
Use of Test of Worthiness vs challenging Renegade Baron | 25 |
Use of Test of Worthiness vs challenging Warlord | 0 |
Upon executing any of the above rights, the required Merits will be deducted from your total Merit count.
Merits Awarded During Challenges
0 Merits will be awarded to a successful challenger to a Barony.
25 Merits will be awarded to a successful challenger to the Overlordship.
A Baron or Overlord that successfully defends their title in the ring, which is to say not by a successful champion in a Test of Worthiness, will be awarded double the Merits afforded by their opponent's rank, regardless of whether the challenge is fought in a single-duel or Best-of-Three-style format.
Merits will be awarded as normal to the winner of any duels occurring during a “Test of Worthiness”.
Loss of Merits
Should you, as Baron or Overlord, lose your title by challenge or forfeiture, your Merit count will be reset to 0.
Removal from the standings due to retirement or inactivity will result in your Merit count being reset to 0 upon reinstatement.
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New Character | Total Merits Earned | Active Merits |
1st week (as Commoner): | ||
Win vs. Swordsman = 2 Merits | 2 | 2 |
Loss | 2 | 2 |
Win vs. Grandmaster = 4 Merits | 6 -> Swordsman (-5) | 1 |
2nd week (as Swordsman): | ||
Loss | 6 | 1 |
Win vs. Master at Arms = 3 Merits | 9 | 4 |
Win vs. Commoner = 1 Merit earned | 10 | 5 |
Win vs. Warlord = 5 Merits earned | 15 -> Master at Arms (-10) | 0 |
Loss | 15 | 0 |
Win vs. Commoner = 1 Merit earned | 16 | 1 |
3rd week (as Master at Arms): | ||
Win vs. Master at Arms = 3 Merits | 19 | 4 |
Loss | 19 | 4 |
Win vs. Commoner = 1 Merit | 20 | 5 |
Loss | 20 | 5 |
Win vs. Swordsman = 2 Merits | 22 | 7 |
Loss | 22 | 7 |
Loss | 22 | 7 |
4th week (as Master at Arms): | ||
Loss | 22 | 7 |
Win vs. Warlord = 5 Merits | 27 | 12 |
Win vs. Master at Arms = 3 Merits | 30 -> Grandmaster (-15) | 0 |
Win vs. Baron = 6 Merits | 36 | 6 |
5th week (as Grandmaster): | ||
Win vs. Commoner = 1 Merit | 37 | 7 |
Loss | 37 | 7 |
Loss | 37 | 7 |
Win vs. Master at Arms = 3 Merits | 40 | 10 |
Win vs. Master at Arms = 3 Merits | 43 | 13 |
Loss | 43 | 13 |
Win vs. Overlord = 7 Merits | 50 -> Warlord (-20) | 0 |
Warlord rank achieved after 5 weeks
WoL record: 16-11 (5 WoL)
Total duels: 27
Breakdown of ranks defeated to earn each rank:
Swordsman:
- 1 Swordsman
- 1 Grandmaster (1 Merit carries over to achieve next rank)
- 1 Commoner
- 1 Master at Arms
- 1 Warlord (1 Merit carries over to achieve next rank)
- 2 Commoners
- 1 Swordsman
- 2 Master at Arms
- 1 Warlord
- 1 Commoner
- 2 Master at Arms
- 1 Baron
- 1 Overlord
Combined (going from Commoner to Warlord):
- 4 Commoners
- 2 Swordsmen
- 5 Master At Arms
- 1 Grandmaster
- 2 Warlords
- 1 Baron
- 1 Overlord
Brief summary: This is a points-based system, similar to gaining experience points in an RPG. As you win duels, you earn points, called “Merits”. The amount of points you earn per duel is determined by your opponent’s rank: higher rank means more points. These points effectively act as a currency that players may exchange for higher ranks, rights to challenge, rights to use a Test of Worthiness, Overlord’s Intercession, or Overlord’s Grant. Characters will view “Merits” as proof of worthiness, similar to a martial artist earning stripes on their belt to represent the progress they make within a rank prior to advancing to the next rank.
Goals of proposal:
- To give incentives for duelists of all ranks to duel during regular hours. The incentives should:
- Be goals that are intrinsic to the core game.
- Give a sense of being achievable while still providing a challenge.
- Be scalable to a player’s activity level, meaning the player should feel that the only limit on their advancing in the game is the time they put in.
- To put increased weight on wins against opponents of increasingly higher rank than one’s own rank.
- To encourage duelists to never limit their Fancies against a lower rank, even in an Overlord vs. Commoner duel, while encouraging lower ranks to take up such a challenge.
- To reinforce gamesmanship in the Duels while not detracting from roleplay. The ranking system should make sense from the character’s points of view.
- Rate of forward progress should be determined by skill.
- No risk or fear of reverse progress for duels lost.
- Simple to understand.
Regarding Rights of Barons and Overlord: The idea is that Merits should only be charged to one party in any given event (for the purpose of initiating it). To explore this further:
- An event is defined as either a challenge or a Test of Worthiness (a Test of Worthiness could be considered a “counter-challenge”, in which case you could say every event is in fact a challenge).
- In the example of a Warlord challenging for Baron, or Baron challenging for Overlord, the challenger puts up Merits to initiate the challenge—here the Merits provide evidence that the challenger is worthy of holding such title—and the defender puts up Merits to initiate a Test of Worthiness**, their Merits providing evidence that they are worthy of keeping such title. The Test of Worthiness should be seen as a separate event that attempts to trump the initial event (the challenge).
- In the example of a Warlord challenging for Overlord directly, the worthiness of the Warlord, having circumvented the act of first successfully challenging a Baron, may be in question (the total number of Merits required to challenge for Overlord being the same in either case), so no Merits would be charged to the Overlord in a Test of Worthiness, unless worthiness was proven in the Warlord Tournament.
- The Overlord’s Grant is essentially a challenge, in which the Overlord fronts their own Merits to initiate a challenge on behalf of the challenger.
- The Overlord’s Intercession is essentially a version of the Test of Worthiness, in which the Overlord fronts their own Merits to initiate the Test.
Regarding Loss of Merits: A fallen Overlord or Baron loses all of their Merits because they lost to a lower rank on the sport’s biggest stage and thus must re-prove themselves. It brings more weight to challenge matches and encourages more activity overall as titleholders will be encouraged to use their Merits while in title, and duelists in general will always be collecting Merits because they will not be able to build a large stockpile and ride it out over a long period. It also establishes Merits as a measuring stick for who is “hot” right now.
Recommendations for rule changes in conjunction with this proposal:
- Remove the modifier limit on Barons and Overlord. Lower ranks will have so much more to gain by defeating a Baron or Overlord that it would be a dishonor to “go easy on them” in a sanctioned duel.
- Reduce the limit on the Overlord’s Grant from “once per cycle” to “only one Grant may be outstanding at any given time”, i.e. the Overlord, assuming they hold sufficient Merits, would not be able to issue another Grant until the last Grant recipient has fought their challenge or forfeited the Grant.
- Remove any “per cycle” limits on challenges and Tests of Worthiness. As with reducing the limit on the Overlord Grant, this will allow the rate of Merit accumulation to determine frequency of use (see goal 1c above).
Other considerations:
- New ranks could be issued immediately and announced in the room by the Nexus Guide as soon as the duel earning a new rank is completed, and updated in the duelist’s profile; or, they could be issued with the issuing of each new standings. The choice here may depend largely on coding preferences. I do think Merits should be updated in real time in a character’s profile so that Warlords and titleholders can use them immediately, so immediately issued ranks might be more consistent with that approach.
- This proposal states that a Baron who acquired title prior to becoming Warlord will still need to earn any outstanding prerequisite ranks prior to using Merits toward Baron rights, so there would probably need to be some record kept of ranks earned for each duelist, in case they lose Barony prior to earning a Warlord rank, so that they fall back to the appropriate rank.
**I may have made up that rule about a Baron being able to use their Squire in a Test of Worthiness; if so, then consider it a second proposal! I was seeking a second option for Barons to use their Merits toward.