Tower & Tome42 notes on etiquette, tactics and safe practice, written for wizarding-school roleplay. Each one has a teaching tip for professors.
Search, filter and quiz these notesIn some tellings, a few magical plants can be carried and used to defend yourself.
Teaching tip: Be clear whether your group allows plants in a fight. If it does, the plant gets one action a turn, like a spell.
Also on: Herbology
In some tellings, a potion that hardens the drinker's skin like rock for a short time, so that blows do less harm.
Teaching tip: If your group allows potions in duels, both sides must agree before the duel starts.
Also on: Potions
In some tellings, a potion that makes the drinker's spells hit harder for a short time.
Teaching tip: Ask whether a duel won with it really counts. It is a good argument about fairness.
Also on: Potions
In some tellings, a potion that helps the drinker cast one spell after another with less rest between.
Teaching tip: Have students describe what sharper focus feels like for their character. It makes a good in-character moment.
Also on: Potions
The Banishing Charm. It pushes the target away from you, the opposite of the Summoning Charm.
Teaching tip: Set up a row of cushions and have students push one without moving its neighbours. It teaches aim and control.
Also on: Spells
A spell that makes its target move downward.
Teaching tip: Have students lower a floating object slowly and stop it just above the desk. Slamming it down loses the point.
Also on: Spells
A spell that slows down a moving object or person.
Teaching tip: Use it in a flying or falling scene. The caster decides how much they slow the fall, and the faller describes the landing.
In some tellings, a quick levitation spell that lifts an object or an opponent off the ground for a few moments.
Teaching tip: Pair it with a pushing spell in a practice duel: one lifts, the partner writes how they land. Keep the lift short.
Also on: Spells
In some tellings, a freezing spell that coats its target in ice.
Teaching tip: Ask students what else it could be used for besides duelling: cooling a potion, crossing a puddle, keeping food fresh.
Also on: Spells
In some tellings, the Knockback Jinx. It knocks the target backwards or flips it over.
Teaching tip: Good for a first practice duel. It knocks a partner back without harm, so students can concentrate on taking turns.
Also on: Spells
The general counter-spell. It ends the effects of spells that are still working.
“Finite Incantatem!”
Teaching tip: Cast a harmless spell on a prop, then have students end it. It teaches that tidying up is part of casting.
Also on: Spells
The Impediment Jinx. It slows the target down or stops them in their tracks for a short time.
Teaching tip: Use it to teach timing. A student who slows their partner must use that moment for one clear follow-up.
Also on: Spells
Many schools run a duelling club, where students practise against each other under a teacher's eye.
Teaching tip: Open each meeting with the rules and a warm-up pair. Let members challenge up the ladder one rung at a time.
In a formal duel, each duellist names a second: a friend who stands by and steps in if they cannot continue.
Teaching tip: Give each duellist a second with a real job: holding the cloak, checking the rules, and calling for the referee.
The oldest rule of a wizard's duel: wands only, and no physical contact.
“Wands only. No contact.”
Teaching tip: Say the rule before every duel and have the class repeat it. It heads off most arguments.
A referee starts the duel, stops it, and decides the winner.
Teaching tip: Let students take turns as referee. Being in charge teaches the rules faster than duelling does.
Watch your opponent's wand arm, feet and eyes. They give away what is coming.
Teaching tip: Have one student announce a spell with body language alone. The partner writes what they think is coming.
You do not have to block everything. Stepping aside is often quicker than a shield.
Teaching tip: Run a round where nobody may shield. Students have to describe how they move instead.
A shield lasts a moment, so it has to go up as the spell arrives.
Teaching tip: Call 'now' at random and have students cast their shield on the word. Too early or too late is a miss.
Good duellists chain spells: one to unsettle the opponent, the next to finish.
Teaching tip: Give each student two spells and have them explain why the order matters before they try it.
Control spells stop an opponent acting for a moment, without hurting them.
Teaching tip: Limit a practice duel to control spells. Students learn that winning does not need to hurt.
Force spells push, pull or knock an opponent off balance.
Teaching tip: Mark a line on the floor. The first to be pushed across it loses, so students think about where they stand.
Anything that burns, cuts or blasts is banned from student duels, along with all curses.
Teaching tip: Post your banned list where everyone can see it, and deal with the first breach firmly and fairly.
You can end a duel at any time by yielding. There is no shame in it.
“I yield.”
Teaching tip: Have students practise yielding in character. Being comfortable with losing makes people braver about duelling at all.
If your wand leaves your hand, the duel is over and you have lost.
Teaching tip: Have the disarmed student describe where the wand lands. The winner fetches it and hands it back.
In a paired duel, two face two, and working together matters more than raw skill.
Teaching tip: Put a strong duellist with a beginner. Tell the strong one that their job is to make their partner look good.
A duelling tournament pairs duellists off round by round, until one is left.
Teaching tip: Run a small tournament across two classes. Give a prize for sportsmanship as well as for winning.
New duellists do best with a few reliable spells: a shield, a disarm, a push, and something to slow an opponent.
Teaching tip: Limit first-time duellists to these few. Mastery of a handful beats a long list half learned.
A roleplay duel goes turn by turn. You write the attempt, your opponent writes whether it lands, and then they answer.
Teaching tip: Agree before the first cast how hits are decided, and say it aloud. Then keep each turn to one action.
Also on: RP Tips
A formal duel starts with a bow, then both players step apart and raise their wands.
“Bow first, then begin.”
Teaching tip: Start every duel with the same ritual so it stays safe and fair: bow, wands up, count to three, then begin.
Stand side-on to your opponent, knees slightly bent, wand arm steady.
Teaching tip: Have students describe their character's stance. Do they stand tall, crouch, or keep one foot back? Stance is a good way to show personality.
A good duelist alternates between forcing the pace and protecting themselves.
Teaching tip: Use short rounds. Each student alternates between attacking and defending, then reports what felt harder.
Disarming removes your opponent's wand, and stunning knocks them out. Disarming is gentler and usually enough in class.
Teaching tip: Pose a scene and ask which spell a student should pick and why. The most careful choice is usually the best.
A shield charm blocks or bounces back minor spells, but only if it is cast quickly and confidently.
Teaching tip: Pair students. One casts a harmless spell at a time and the other practices a clean shield. Switch every five rounds.
Advanced students can cast without saying the words, which gives opponents less warning.
Teaching tip: Introduce it only after students master the spoken versions. Ask them what makes it harder: concentration, nerves, or timing.
Practice duels use small, safe spells and a referee who can stop the fight instantly.
Teaching tip: Always appoint a referee. Make it a rule that the referee can stop any duel at any time.
A class duel can be scored on clean spells, good defense and sportsmanship, not just who wins.
Teaching tip: Agree a simple scoring system before the first duel, such as one point for a clean disarm and one for a clean shield.
A duel has rules, a signal to start and stop, and an agreement that nobody gets badly hurt. A real fight has none of those.
Teaching tip: Ask students what separates a duel from a fight. Good answers include rules, a referee, and an agreed stop.
The Disarming Charm. Knocks the wand out of an opponent's hand.
Teaching tip: Set up a controlled duelling drill with clear rules: bow first, one spell per turn, narrate results, stop on the professor's signal.
Also on: Spells
The Shield Charm. Blocks or turns back minor spells.
Teaching tip: Pair it with Expelliarmus in a drill. Partners alternate attack and defense, and the defender narrates how the shield held.
Also on: Spells
The Stunning Spell. Knocks the target out with a jet of red light.
Teaching tip: Teach consequences, not just the spell. Ask how a good duelist keeps it controlled and checks on a stunned partner afterward.
Also on: Spells
The Full Body-Bind. Makes the target go stiff as a board.
Teaching tip: Use a freeze scene. Agree in advance how long a frozen character stays frozen, so nobody's turn is stuck.
Also on: Spells