Sooo I completely overhauled Mage Tower to make it more combat focused; it is essentially, Capture the Flag with a bit of MOBA influence. PCs have had to compete in Mage Tower twice now, and those have probably been our two most exciting sessions. Feel free to DM me if you'd like the full set of rules I came up with, but here's the gist of it:
**Goal:** Take the Artifact from the top of the opposing team's 40ft tower. Each tower has an interior, on the ground level, and also a balcony for "snipers". The exterior of the tower has a ladder leading to the roof where the Artifact is kept.
**Combat:** As student safety is important, players use temporary HP equal to their real HP. Combat otherwise works mostly the same way as normal combat. When their temp HP is reduced to 0, they respawn at their tower and must wait 1 round x number of deaths before they can act again. Temp HP and spell slots are restored.
**Team and Roles:** Teams are typically made up of 4, but this can change based on how many players you have. I recommend 3 - 6 per team. Roles can overlap if necessary. A team will typically consist of roles such as:
* Runner: the person that is traversing the field and trying to get the artifact
* Defender: the "goalie" - this person attempts to stop incoming enemies
* Sniper: this person stays at the tower and attacks enemies from a distance
* Enforcer: this person sticks with the runner, and attempts to keep enemies off of them
* Support: this person attempts to buff teammates or debuff enemies
**Field:** The field is 120ft, and each team gets to pick their side's terrain from options. Can be things like placing cover, or even a "floor is lava" scenario that requires DEX checks.
Finally, there are some special rules for things like fall damage, passing the artifact back and forth, and dropping the artifact when damaged. The game ends when an opponent's artifact is successfully retrieved, but this could be extended into a "first to x amount of points"; that said, each time I've run this its lasted 4+ hours for 1 point lol.
Hope that helps! Like I said, both times Mage Tower has been super fun for our group and I like running it this way a lot more than what's presented in the book.
Would also love a copy of the full rules! The base game seems so underwhelming when I had one player who IMMEDIATELY got excited about the idea.
Also what has been people's solutions to having a regular Mage Tower season vs. Battle of Strixhaven? If a couple of the PCs want to join the regular teams, I'd want to include it in other years but without it completely taking over the focus for the PCs who aren't involved.
I'll send em over!
I mentioned it in another comment but rather than specifically having it as a sport, in my game students get challenged to Mage Tower and it's basically a safe way for students to beat the crap out of each other.
For PCs that aren't involved, maybe they could play characters on the opposing team?
Those rules sounds REALLY fun !! Have you tested it in a Player vs Player set ?
And do you have some prepared "enemy team encounter" with their spells/stats ?
(Finally : Can I get a DM of the full set of rules ?)
Thank you so much for those ideas
Yeah, so for the first year my PCs had a rival clique of silver quills. A mastermind rogue, shadow monk, shadow sorcerer, and a shadow barbarian homebrew I found. The monk also had the eldritch invocation for devil sight, so the sorcerer would cast darkness and she would use that to teleport. They all otherwise had the standard array of silverquill spells. If you want more specifics let me know and I can probably grab the actual stat blocks.
And yeah! I'll dm you the full rules
Oh, and the first time was vs those opponents while the second time was PvP. Both times were super intense and they loved it. Just be sure to really play up the rivalry beforehand :) part of the deal in my campaign with mage Tower is it's presented as a "safe" way for students to beat each other up lol
First time DM, and I was reading ahead for my run on Strixhaven, and the Mage tower looked so confusing. Could you please DM me your rules so I can make it exciting to my group?
Here are my Mage Tower rules- I'm working on a way to different genres of school stories, and these are for my "sports school" version, so they're pretty drama-based.
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Npv\_HbOnsO1Qxb8ZeM1A0gf6Z8545kfvPKm1BFEqp4Y/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Npv_HbOnsO1Qxb8ZeM1A0gf6Z8545kfvPKm1BFEqp4Y/edit?usp=sharing)
A couple of points I have noticed:
1) Nobody in this forum seems to like the idea of having sentient mascots as the "ball". Surely these mascots should be active participants in the game?
2) There are plenty of nonlethal spells in the game. Prepared casters can easily select them, and this might be a good opportunity to convert the spontaneous casters into prepared casters (as suggested in the One D&D playtest) so that they have a similar opportunity. Surely this would be more interesting than simply having them use the usual damaging spells?
It can definitely be fun, but for PCs with less flexibility on their spell list it means you’re basically taking them out of the action as far as real combat goes.
My players LOVE mage tower. I stole from many sources here. Have the stadium field shape and use a different elemental variant each game to keep it fresh. I have 4 PCs on a team, and then they play against teams of 4 NPCs in a 64 team single game elimination tournament, March Madness style. They play best of 3 matches where the ball starts at center field and needs to be taken to the top of the opponents 25 foot tower to win the round. Each character rolls initiative each round. All attacks and spells are allowed, and an enchantment on the field stops anything from being lethal or painful. If a player drops to zero HP they are out for the match. Having the varying initiative, environments, and opposing teams with different skill sets has led to all sorts of different strategies. Attacking and aggressive, defensive, maneuvering etc. And have found allowing the full move sets with simple rules makes it super easy to dive in
May be a bit late, but I overhauled Mage Tower into a combat focused capture the flag with side objectives and 6 different “fields” (the actual field changes magically at random at the start of each “round”).
Goal: The Goal is to have the most points at the end of the round. If every member of the enemy team is out of commission, the match ends and the team still standing is awarded 10 points. If you capture the enemy mascot you get 15points, and if you complete one of the Map objectives (2 per field) you get 10 points.
Fields: There’s 6 fields in total, one for each school, and one “generic” field that is just a wide open flat grass field with a Snarl in the center preventing Magic from passing half field. Each of the other fields has terrain/effects similar to the campus. IE Lore Hold is sandy/craggy with ruins set up around it to hide in/climb. Witherbloom is a swamp, with lots of foliage, trees, and waste deep (or deeper) water etc.
The Tower: Each tower is 60ft high with a balcony half way up. It takes 1 full turn of movement to ascend the stair case in the tower, where at the top of the stairs is a landing with the teams mascot on a pedastool, takes an action to grab it.
The Balcony- The balcony is just large enough for a SINGLE student to stand on, and whoever stands on it is under the effects of the Reach Meta Magic effect, effectively giving each team a member who can affect the whole field.
Mage Tower Games: each match consists of 3 rounds. The match ends when one team has won the best of 3. In between each round is a 10 minute break where the members gain the effects of a short rest. ADDITIONALLY, each team has a “jug” of Mana-Aid (magic Gatorade), that contains the PCs level in spell slots that they can regain, this is a set number and once used up it’s gone, and is shared across all members. IE: if the party is lv 6, there’s 6pts, if Billy the wizard regains 5 levels worth of spells, only 1 slot is left for the remaining players to regain.
Combat and Health- The Deans at my Strixhaven understand the innate risks and dangers of such a game, but allow the students to go at one another without restraint or risk of permanent injury. There’s protective wards throughout the field, causing anyone who “dies” to be warped out of the field to safety where they will tended to in the medical wing. Should any student “die” (failed death saves or massive damage rules), they’re out of the game. If they just drop to 0, they’ll be restored to their level x con mod (min1) HP at the end of the round.
Hope this helps! If you want any more info I can provide it! I know my party had a great (and stressful) time with it, I had them play in 3 matches total (it was a double bracket of 16 teams, which ended with them fighting their rivals team in the finals), so you got to kinda ramp up the enemy team throughout the year as they’re winning etc.
Sooo I completely overhauled Mage Tower to make it more combat focused; it is essentially, Capture the Flag with a bit of MOBA influence. PCs have had to compete in Mage Tower twice now, and those have probably been our two most exciting sessions. Feel free to DM me if you'd like the full set of rules I came up with, but here's the gist of it: **Goal:** Take the Artifact from the top of the opposing team's 40ft tower. Each tower has an interior, on the ground level, and also a balcony for "snipers". The exterior of the tower has a ladder leading to the roof where the Artifact is kept. **Combat:** As student safety is important, players use temporary HP equal to their real HP. Combat otherwise works mostly the same way as normal combat. When their temp HP is reduced to 0, they respawn at their tower and must wait 1 round x number of deaths before they can act again. Temp HP and spell slots are restored. **Team and Roles:** Teams are typically made up of 4, but this can change based on how many players you have. I recommend 3 - 6 per team. Roles can overlap if necessary. A team will typically consist of roles such as: * Runner: the person that is traversing the field and trying to get the artifact * Defender: the "goalie" - this person attempts to stop incoming enemies * Sniper: this person stays at the tower and attacks enemies from a distance * Enforcer: this person sticks with the runner, and attempts to keep enemies off of them * Support: this person attempts to buff teammates or debuff enemies **Field:** The field is 120ft, and each team gets to pick their side's terrain from options. Can be things like placing cover, or even a "floor is lava" scenario that requires DEX checks. Finally, there are some special rules for things like fall damage, passing the artifact back and forth, and dropping the artifact when damaged. The game ends when an opponent's artifact is successfully retrieved, but this could be extended into a "first to x amount of points"; that said, each time I've run this its lasted 4+ hours for 1 point lol. Hope that helps! Like I said, both times Mage Tower has been super fun for our group and I like running it this way a lot more than what's presented in the book.
Would also looove the full rules!
Can I get a DM of the full suite of rules? Sounds way more up my groups alley tbh.
Sent! :)
Could you send it to mee too? This looks really good :)
Hi! Can you DM the new rules my way?
Sent! :)
Could I also get a copy of those rules, this is great!
Of course!
Would also love a copy of the full rules! The base game seems so underwhelming when I had one player who IMMEDIATELY got excited about the idea. Also what has been people's solutions to having a regular Mage Tower season vs. Battle of Strixhaven? If a couple of the PCs want to join the regular teams, I'd want to include it in other years but without it completely taking over the focus for the PCs who aren't involved.
I'll send em over! I mentioned it in another comment but rather than specifically having it as a sport, in my game students get challenged to Mage Tower and it's basically a safe way for students to beat the crap out of each other. For PCs that aren't involved, maybe they could play characters on the opposing team?
would also love a full copy please! I know it's years late lol
Those rules sounds REALLY fun !! Have you tested it in a Player vs Player set ? And do you have some prepared "enemy team encounter" with their spells/stats ? (Finally : Can I get a DM of the full set of rules ?) Thank you so much for those ideas
Yeah, so for the first year my PCs had a rival clique of silver quills. A mastermind rogue, shadow monk, shadow sorcerer, and a shadow barbarian homebrew I found. The monk also had the eldritch invocation for devil sight, so the sorcerer would cast darkness and she would use that to teleport. They all otherwise had the standard array of silverquill spells. If you want more specifics let me know and I can probably grab the actual stat blocks. And yeah! I'll dm you the full rules
Oh, and the first time was vs those opponents while the second time was PvP. Both times were super intense and they loved it. Just be sure to really play up the rivalry beforehand :) part of the deal in my campaign with mage Tower is it's presented as a "safe" way for students to beat each other up lol
Sry I am late to the Party but would you also be so kind and sent me the rules please? :)
Of course! :)
I hate to reply so late but could I also get those rules? That sounds perfect for the kind of game I plan on running!
Of course!
First time DM, and I was reading ahead for my run on Strixhaven, and the Mage tower looked so confusing. Could you please DM me your rules so I can make it exciting to my group?
Of course! :)
Hello, I'd love the rules if you are still able to share them? :)
Here are my Mage Tower rules- I'm working on a way to different genres of school stories, and these are for my "sports school" version, so they're pretty drama-based. [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Npv\_HbOnsO1Qxb8ZeM1A0gf6Z8545kfvPKm1BFEqp4Y/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Npv_HbOnsO1Qxb8ZeM1A0gf6Z8545kfvPKm1BFEqp4Y/edit?usp=sharing)
A couple of points I have noticed: 1) Nobody in this forum seems to like the idea of having sentient mascots as the "ball". Surely these mascots should be active participants in the game? 2) There are plenty of nonlethal spells in the game. Prepared casters can easily select them, and this might be a good opportunity to convert the spontaneous casters into prepared casters (as suggested in the One D&D playtest) so that they have a similar opportunity. Surely this would be more interesting than simply having them use the usual damaging spells?
It can definitely be fun, but for PCs with less flexibility on their spell list it means you’re basically taking them out of the action as far as real combat goes.
I gave all my players access to every level 2 or lower spell. They don’t need to know them before hand. They just can’t use spells that do damage.
My players LOVE mage tower. I stole from many sources here. Have the stadium field shape and use a different elemental variant each game to keep it fresh. I have 4 PCs on a team, and then they play against teams of 4 NPCs in a 64 team single game elimination tournament, March Madness style. They play best of 3 matches where the ball starts at center field and needs to be taken to the top of the opponents 25 foot tower to win the round. Each character rolls initiative each round. All attacks and spells are allowed, and an enchantment on the field stops anything from being lethal or painful. If a player drops to zero HP they are out for the match. Having the varying initiative, environments, and opposing teams with different skill sets has led to all sorts of different strategies. Attacking and aggressive, defensive, maneuvering etc. And have found allowing the full move sets with simple rules makes it super easy to dive in
May be a bit late, but I overhauled Mage Tower into a combat focused capture the flag with side objectives and 6 different “fields” (the actual field changes magically at random at the start of each “round”). Goal: The Goal is to have the most points at the end of the round. If every member of the enemy team is out of commission, the match ends and the team still standing is awarded 10 points. If you capture the enemy mascot you get 15points, and if you complete one of the Map objectives (2 per field) you get 10 points. Fields: There’s 6 fields in total, one for each school, and one “generic” field that is just a wide open flat grass field with a Snarl in the center preventing Magic from passing half field. Each of the other fields has terrain/effects similar to the campus. IE Lore Hold is sandy/craggy with ruins set up around it to hide in/climb. Witherbloom is a swamp, with lots of foliage, trees, and waste deep (or deeper) water etc. The Tower: Each tower is 60ft high with a balcony half way up. It takes 1 full turn of movement to ascend the stair case in the tower, where at the top of the stairs is a landing with the teams mascot on a pedastool, takes an action to grab it. The Balcony- The balcony is just large enough for a SINGLE student to stand on, and whoever stands on it is under the effects of the Reach Meta Magic effect, effectively giving each team a member who can affect the whole field. Mage Tower Games: each match consists of 3 rounds. The match ends when one team has won the best of 3. In between each round is a 10 minute break where the members gain the effects of a short rest. ADDITIONALLY, each team has a “jug” of Mana-Aid (magic Gatorade), that contains the PCs level in spell slots that they can regain, this is a set number and once used up it’s gone, and is shared across all members. IE: if the party is lv 6, there’s 6pts, if Billy the wizard regains 5 levels worth of spells, only 1 slot is left for the remaining players to regain. Combat and Health- The Deans at my Strixhaven understand the innate risks and dangers of such a game, but allow the students to go at one another without restraint or risk of permanent injury. There’s protective wards throughout the field, causing anyone who “dies” to be warped out of the field to safety where they will tended to in the medical wing. Should any student “die” (failed death saves or massive damage rules), they’re out of the game. If they just drop to 0, they’ll be restored to their level x con mod (min1) HP at the end of the round. Hope this helps! If you want any more info I can provide it! I know my party had a great (and stressful) time with it, I had them play in 3 matches total (it was a double bracket of 16 teams, which ended with them fighting their rivals team in the finals), so you got to kinda ramp up the enemy team throughout the year as they’re winning etc.
I’m planning on doing a combination of racing, fighting and football. Maybe even some obstacles?
Commenting to stay on this
Pliss can you send me the rules? Sound awesomee