Mage Duels

Like dual wielding, mage duels are, as well, something I consider quite neat. Especially in literature, I find spellcaster fights very exciting. Although, this was not the case with the Harry Potter books, lol. I guess it was the pathetic magic wands they used to cast their spells or something.

Great mage duels, however, can be found in Ed Greenwood's Elminster novels, where Elminster, being a very powerful wizard and a Chosen of Mystra, often ends up fighting spell-hurling villains. While not the most excellent writer overall, at least not in my opinion, Greenwood manages to bring something special in spell battles. Also, they include spells of D&D and follow its rules usually very closely - a fact I find delightful.

Probably the most epic mage duel I've read, though, is written in Philip Athan's Annihilation, the fifth book in the War of the Spider Queen series. In the said duel, Gromph Baenre, the Archmage of Menzoberranzan, and Dyrr, Lichdrow of the House Agrach Dyrr, clash with each other in a long fight that shakes the whole City of Spiders.

In computer games, Baldur's Gate II has potential to have awesome mage duels, as the game is based on the 2E rules of D&D, and thus has tons of different protection and attack spells. The problem is, however, that you most often play more than one character (which removes the 'duel' part) and due to laziness or whatever, the fights against spellcasters often deteriorate into your mage just casting Breach, or some other psychical protections removing spell, and melee characters then proceed to hack the opponent into pieces.

Continuing with Dungeons & Dragons; Magic of Faerûn, a 3E D&D Forgotten Realms campaign accessory book - which I happen to own and which haven't seen (and likely won't see) much action - has rules for nonlethal mageduels, which are often fought in magefairs or such. The mageduels in question have been made possible by Mystra (the goddess of magic) who altered the Weave so that rivaling spellcasters could test their strength against each other without losing neither one as a result. I think it would be cool to play such a duel with a high level character against a DM controlled opponent. My spell list would include magicks such as Simbul's Spell Sequencer and Elminster's Effulgent Epuration...