To me, it's all about -respecting- my character's concept because that is what I do for others. If someone wants to compare their character's capabilities and power to my character, I'm willing if it's an actual discussion, and not just a game of "no, mine is better than yours!".
In other words, if I were to free-form combat against any player-character, I would want them to know about and accept what my character can do, but also learn about what their character can do. This usually requires having spent time RPing with this other player-character though.
In the scenario you present, most of the time I would call for rolling if they wanted to fight. If they don't want to roll because they believe that, no matter what, their character is stronger? I do not see that as reasonable, and would just end the scene.
Some of the best bad-ass characters are those that can portray their character as a bad-ass without needing to disregard the power of others. People should put their characters on whatever pedestal they want as long as they don't try to kick the pedestals out from under other characters.
Then again, I've heard the story of a chef with a skillet who beat a Lancer due to rolling. That sounded more like a comedy routine than a duel. Even choosing to roll can be unfair, so the trick is to -always- respect the concept behind peoples' characters.
Sorry if that didn't directly answer the question, but I see too many variables even in such a specific scenario.
In other words, if I were to free-form combat against any player-character, I would want them to know about and accept what my character can do, but also learn about what their character can do. This usually requires having spent time RPing with this other player-character though.
In the scenario you present, most of the time I would call for rolling if they wanted to fight. If they don't want to roll because they believe that, no matter what, their character is stronger? I do not see that as reasonable, and would just end the scene.
Some of the best bad-ass characters are those that can portray their character as a bad-ass without needing to disregard the power of others. People should put their characters on whatever pedestal they want as long as they don't try to kick the pedestals out from under other characters.
Then again, I've heard the story of a chef with a skillet who beat a Lancer due to rolling. That sounded more like a comedy routine than a duel. Even choosing to roll can be unfair, so the trick is to -always- respect the concept behind peoples' characters.
Sorry if that didn't directly answer the question, but I see too many variables even in such a specific scenario.
