[@Shoryu Magami] Well this is the arena, so yes, it is about competition.

[@ELGainsborough] To be blunt, you’ve still given no reason for why you [i]would[/i] use 3.5. I interpret that your reason for using it is that you already own and understand it. Which is likely to backfire because 1) you have to spend time houseruling the crap out of it and 2) it has a steep learning curve for those not familiar, thus putting up a barrier to entry. So why use 3.5 over a game that’s inherently more suited to this concept?

Thing is, a less convoluted version of 3.5 exists. It’s called D&D 5e. If you haven’t, look into it, seriously. Both editions have their pros and cons, but 5e strikes me as a straight-up better choice for the purpose of this concept. 3.5’s focus on number crunching, which is considered a positive by most who still play it, is nothing but a hindrance when you want to focus on creating cinematic combat scenes.

(As a petty side note, granting gold for equipment does not alleviate imbalance if both parties get it. And besides, in your example, whoever said the wizard was the underdog? :P At early level, sure, but they’re god-tier by mid-level.)

Anyways, regardless of system choice, I’ve been considering the practical implications of applying dice mechanics to an arena game, and the main problem that comes to mind is: When a player tries a special maneuver to gain an advantage on their attack, e.g. leaping to attack from above, how do you rule this? You can’t let the player grant themselves a bonus arbitrarily, and you can’t make a list of roll modifiers for every possible situation. Have you considered this?