Navigator wrote:
I just checked the help file on dualing, and I see there is a contest format, but does it allow for a master to fight a novice, without mutilating them in one blow?
Nope, and there shouldn't be. A master-level fighter engaging in mechanical combat with a novice-level character
should be mutilating them in one hit because all a master has to teach a novice about mechanically-enforced combat is "This is how you die in one hit."
For anything else there's emotes.
Navigator wrote:
As in dueling, outside interference would cause it to end. What else would you suggest to prevent sparrers, if there were such a mechanic, from being taken advantage of while their stats are reduced?
Nothing should prevent that, just like nothing actively prevents people from getting jumped while they're dueling. There's very few parts of this game that encode a protect-yourself-from-yourself aspect, and that's how it should stay.