The Ruby Phoenix Tournament Play by Post Build Rules
The sorceress Hao Jin left an indelible mark upon the land of Tian Xia. Throughout her centuries-long life, Hao Jin—a devout follower of Abadar, god of contracts, wealth, and order—set out to amass her own First Vault, a collection of those items she deemed most perfect or wondrous in all the world.
Among the many Abadaran pacts and contracts that dictated Hao Jin’s life was her carefully contracted agreement with the temple of Abadar in Goka regarding the fate of her collection in the event of her eventual death. Fearful that her treasures would fall into the wrong hands or simply be lost to history, Hao Jin left strict instructions that were she not to set foot within the temple for 10 years and a day, on the 10 year anniversary of that occasion, an epic competition of martial arts was to be held, overseen by the city’s Abadaran clergy; the winning team would be allowed to choose a single item as a prize for their victory. Not only would this prevent the collection from immediately being broken up, but it also ensured her life’s work would attain its own legendary immortality through the prestige the contest would bring.
During her lifetime, many who knew of her will attempted to end her life prematurely, and many succeeded. But Hao Jin had contingencies in place to such a degree that even her most cunning and careful wouldbe assassins underestimated her ability to return from the dead. Each time an enemy killed her, she miraculously emerged unscathed days later, her red hair a shade more vibrant than before her death. Her ability to overcome death and the resemblance her hair soon had to an animated, flickering flame earned Hao Jin the nickname Ruby Phoenix, and over the centuries of her life, many believed her to be truly immortal.
Yet in 6891 ic (Imperial Calendar; 4391 ar), a recordkeeper at Goka’s Grand Bank of Abadar informed the archbanker that a decade and a day had passed since the Ruby Phoenix last visited the temple. The conditions of her will had been met. As no one had seen nor heard from the sorceress for several years, she was assumed to have finally met her end, and the preparations were made to conduct the first Ruby Phoenix Tournament 10 years later. That tournament also established the office of the Emissary, an Abadaran official appointed for life to run the proceedings.
Each decennial since, the greatest champions from across Golarion have vied for the victors’ spot, and most contestants have competed honorably and passionately. A decade ago, however, the Ruby Phoenix Tournament was the subject of a terrible scandal that resulted in the first disqualification of a contestant in over a century.
The Ruby Phoenix Tournament takes place on an island in the wide harbor of Goka, an independent city-state on Tian Xia’s western coast. Goka lies at the one break in the nearly impassable Wall of Heaven Mountains, making it a hub of culture and trade between Tian Xia and Casmaron, Vudra, and the lands of the Inner Sea region far to the west.
You travel to the Xielan Island to compete in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, an exclusive martial arts competition held every 10 years to test the world’s greatest warriors. The island is home to a quaint fishing village, but otherwise appears largely abandoned, save for the trappings of the decennial tournament.
Regardless of how the you hear of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament, the adventure assumes that you have already won one of the prized spots in the competition in a previous qualifier.
If there was ever a time to make a cohesive working party of 4, now is the time. Try to take advantage of the fact that you are a team.
The module will start with your team getting on the ferry to get to the island, unless you have other ways to arrive.
Hello!
I was planning on doing something ranged, though I'm not sure if that is allowed. I mean I'm not sure what do you mean exactly by "martial fighting". Weapons allowed?
Also, you mention damage spells. Does that ban buffing spells, or just control/debuffs?
Yeah so the words martial arts is a bit misleading. There will be a lot of martial fighters at the tournament, but not all contestants are martial. Also, I will be modifying their builds based on your builds so it will vary. What I can tell you is the crowd will influence your rolls and if they aren't happy with how you fight you will take penalties and if they like what you're doing you get bonuses. They don't like cheap combat such as pure damage spells, that's the easy way. So nothing says you can't be a spell caster, it just will influence how the crowd reacts.
Then I'll have to ask the rest of the team. Guys, do you want me to play an archer or would you rather not raise bad feelings among the public?
All 4 players have been invited. Your character development deadline 7/19/2018
Hello! Thanks for having me in this one.
@Jereru: I say go for archer if you want to, bud. Sounds fine to me.
I've got a question about this: All Races 16 or lower RP
Does that mean we have to create a race? Or does that mean we can just build something with 16 RP?
I'm not really familiar with RP points but they look kind of cool. I've got a dwarf monk that I think fits pretty good for this one. So if I use the RP bit, can I just build whatever and call it a dwarf?
And as far as the RP goes, there is Standard, Advanced, and Monstrous. Which ones can we use/not use?
No race creating or modifying races. You just may not select any races that are higher than 16 RP, such as Gargoyles and so on. You can visit this site to get a better idea what RP certain races are; Races.
Oooooh, okay. I was thinking we had to do the whole RP thing. Cool then. Just a good ol' dwarf it is. That's way easier.
I don't really get Performance feats. How does that work exactly?
The reason I ask is this:
Whenever a combatant has a chance to affect the crowd’s attitude, she makes a performance combat check. The check is a Charisma ability check modified by the base attack bonus of the character plus any ranks the character has in Perform (act), Perform (comedy), or Perform (dance), whichever is highest. Making a performance combat check is usually a swift action, triggered when a combatant performs a trigger action (see the Affecting the Crowd’s Attitude section).
Okay, say you have a +2 in Cha, you're 11th level and you have 11 ranks in Perform(act).
Does that mean you have a +24 to your Performance check? Because in herolabs, I set this up to see what my dwarf would have. If I put 11 ranks in any of those Perform skills, it shows he has a +8 total. Instead of -1, +11, +11 which is +21.
I'm just trying to figure out how this is suppose to be calculated because I'm at a loss.
And what does "modified" mean exactly?
So your forumla is: +11 (ranks) +2 (CHA) = 13 + 11 (BAB)
Herolab won't show performance numbers when it comes to this stuff. If you bring a performance feat, the numbers may vary depending on what the feat does.
Ah thank you for pointing out there is table.
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As for playing a ranged character, I would say that, though a Zen Archer may be the best archer, it might fit the setting better to be a straight fighter. Going with the point blank master and other 'weapon training' like feats would allow the use of a bow in melee. I always imagined this fighting style to look pretty cool.
^
Just my thoughts..I'm by no means telling you what to do.
Thank you for the ideas! I totally forgot about the Merciful enchantment, that's a nice solution. As for the class, I've tried several times to build an Arsenal Chaplain Warpriest, and this could be the one; a guardian of the temple who's set on winning the tournament to bring glory and fame to his god and congregation.
There's a table right under your quoted text which should clarify the issue: having +0 BAB gives you no bonus, between +1 and +5 gives you +1, +6 to +10 results in a +2 and so on. Same with ranks in Perform.
In your example, your dwarf should have +2 (CHA) + 3 (+11 BAB) + 3 (11 ranks in Perform) = +8
Hope that helped ;)
That table! Man you know I ignored that.
I read this at the bottom of the paragraph, "(see the Affecting the Crowd’s Attitude section)" and just figured it was referring to the crowds and paid it no mind. (That's what I get for not paying more attention) :P
Thanks!
And Merciful is a GREAT idea. Perfect for this one for sure.
Oh, btw, what do we do with HP? (1/2)+1?
Max 1st and average round up. So D6 is 5, D8 is 6 and D10 alternates 6,5,6
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"Maximum Effort!"
str 14 +2
dex 14 +2
con 24 +7
int 13 +1
wis 14 +2
cha 7 -2
HP : 162 (195 raging) (77 con + 9 fcb + 11 toughness + 10 lvl1 + 55 lvl2-11) + (33 raging)
AC 26 (+9 armor + 3 Luck +2 Dex +2 def)
for +24 = 9 + 10 + 5
ref +13 = 6 + 2 + 5
will +10 = 3 + 2 + 5
feats
(race) Endurance
1 Power attack
3 Toughness
5 Antagonize
(6 BL)Weapon Focus (unarmed)
7 Raging Vitality
9 Fast Healer
(9 BL) Diehard
11 Deathless Initiate
(2 Br) Second Wind
27 rnds rage / day
Alternate Racial Traits
Sacred Tattoo
Shaman’s Apprentice
Traits
Sun-Blessed
Fates Favored
3.1k gold
Gear bought
belt of con +6
celestial armor
amulet of mighty +1 neck
shawl of life-keeping
talisman (lesser) (life’s breath) neck
sandals of interception
ring of deflection +2
wait so a D8 is 6 per and a D10 is less than 6 per?
Just pick average and round up and we will settle that.
I run things how my real life table runs things, and I would rather not cause a "rules" conflict.
Submitted Characters
Saashaa - Bloodrager, Brawler
Limnen_euron - Ahnika, Championess of Falyna - Oracle, Monk
Can we combine magic items if we can cover the cost?
For instance: Say we have a ring of protection +2 (8,000g) and a ring of sustenance (2500g). Can we combine those two if we pay the x1.5 the cost of the RoS - which would be 3750g and would bring the total cost to 11,750.
I'm not totally certain I want to go this route but I figure I better ask just in case. I tend to flip flop these kinds of things around in my mind so I was just wondering.
Nope.
By the way, this is the guy I'm gonna be bringing: Darnak
I still got to get his mechanics updated(working on it in herolabs) and copied over but this is who it will be. Will have it done in the next day or two.
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Hou Wong Xia is ready to compete. He is the protector of a remote temple of Qi Zhong, and comes here to obtain fame and glory for his cult, which is on the verge of disappearing due to lack of resources.
Submitted Characters
Jereru - Hou Wong Xia - Warpriest
Javell DeLeon - Darnak Deepstone - Monk
Only 4
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Bloodrager 9 (spelleater) (BL Destined)/ Brawler (Mutagenic Mauler)2
str 14 +2 (+4 rage)
dex 14 +2
con 24 +7 (+6 rage)(+4 mutagen)
int 13 +1
wis 14 +2
cha 7 -2 (-2 Mutagen)
HP : 228 (77 con + 9 fcb + 11 toughness + 10 lvl1 + 55 lvl2-11) + (33 raging)(+33 mutagen)
AC 26 (+9 armor + 3 Luck +2 Dex +2 def) [-2 rage][+2 mutagen]
for +26 = 9 + 12 + 5
ref +13 = 6 + 2 + 5
will +10 = 3 + 2 + 5
BAB +11
CMB +15
CMD 30
full melee +12/+12/+7/+2 (1d6+11 B)
melee +14 (1d6+11 B)
some skills
feats
(race) Endurance
1 Power attack
3 Toughness
5 Antagonize
(6 BL)Weapon Focus (unarmed)
7 Raging Vitality
9 Fast Healer
(9 BL) Diehard
11 Deathless Initiate
(2 Br) Second Wind
27 rnds rage / day (+4 str, +4 con, fast healing 2)
Alternate Racial Traits
Sacred Tattoo
Shaman’s Apprentice
Traits
Sun-Blessed
Fates Favored
3k gold
Gear bought
belt of con +6
celestial armor
amulet of mighty +1 neck
shawl of life-keeping
talisman (lesser) (life’s breath) neck
sandals of interception
ring of deflection +2
Mask (50g) [full head]
Flame Retardant Outfit (50gp)[red]
I can buy you some clothes.
He finally awoke to the jolt of being carried over a shoulder as it seemed he was exiting the lab. He quickly looked back to see his father dead on the floor with several big gashes and a few burn marks. The lab was all messed up, and on fire. And a person sized mound of what looked like red meat on a table (Yep, that’s all your gonna get. You’re welcome). Looking at his captors he saw people he had only heard about in stories. These were adventurers! But they had killed his father! And, speaking of..where was his mother? So he asked. His question was not followed up by silence, per’se, just several rounds of wrenching. Maybe they were sick? Kendis got sick sometimes and it caused him to throw up. They must be sick. And one of them would cry whenever they looked at him. She wore some cloth robes that had the same symbol scattered everywhere on it. Kendis thought it looked silly but eh..They never did answer his question about his mother, quite adamantly actually. But they took him with them wherever they travelled. (I’mma stop here because there is so much more to tell, but I’ll leave that for another time…)
Personality:
A little continuation to the backstory…
Kendis was told what had happened eventually and as such lost all faith in…well anything really. He gave a metaphorical middle finger to the gods, his father, and that adventuring party (Because apparently a simple casting of confusion is a TPK. Thanks fighter and barbarian!) Anywho, After that he pretty much just went into business for himself. He’d take quests that were intended for full groups and succeed easily. Apparently he just couldn’t die, weird huh? Oh and many tried, fret not.
So his personality is, as you’d expect of a person who gave a finger to all and thinks he can’t die. That being said, he has a great wit and a….’good?’ , albeit dark, sense of humor. Truly a great balance to a team full of “do good-ery, goody two-shoes wearing, justicy justicers”.
So to sum it up we have
We might also try to interweave our background a bit to justify our initial interactions. For instance, both Darnak and Ahnika are practitioners of the Dragon Style. Maybe they met in a monastery in Tian-Xia that taught it? Or maybe he taught it to her? In addition, Ahnika and Hou Wong Xia are both aasimars, so they probably clicked naturally.
(On a related note: Ahnika suffers from the curse of tongues, meaning she can only speak Celestial during combat. With Linguistics being a background skill, might it be worth having everyone understand it for better coordination? Not wanting to impose anything on anyone, just throwing this out...)
Also, we need a team name!
Wong Xia speaks celestial. During combat, he can either rely on swift actions to buff himself while delivering arrows from turn 1, or cast a pair of buffs from above to the whole party before relying on ranged attacks to finish the opposition.
Wong was given to the monastery as a baby. He's spent most of his life there, but he has met all kinds of practitioners who've been visiting the temple during its golden age. Now there are not as many visitors as before, but still some of them like to learn some healing arts from the followers of Qi Zhong.
In the area around the temple, people know Wong very well and treat him with respect but with a familiar attitude. Only when he ventured far from his land did he notice strange behaviours in people towards him, specially when his wings are apparent. Knowing someone belonging to the same heritage is something new and exciting for him.
Now, my spells memorized are just the standard array for any given day. I'll have a look at which spells you can cast as an oracle, Ahnika, and try to memorize some different ones to not step on each other's toes. The team will benefit from it.
Team name? I'm so bad with names!
Characters & Marching Order
Jereru - Hou Wong Xia - Warpriest
Javell DeLeon - Darnak Deepstone - Monk
Saashaa - Deathless - Bloodrager, Brawler
Ahnika, Chapioness of Falayna - Oracle, Unchained Monk
OK, let's get your marching order set. Most of the time you will be put in the ring top to bottom or left to right, on occasion double stacked 2 in front and 2 in back. Please come up with an order you'd like to be placed.
Make sure your characters are up to date as of Friday morning when I put up our first post.
Also, come up with a team name.
Please dot and delete the gameplay thread with your character alias. Make sure you have the picture you want so I can pull them as tokens.
Hello players,
You may not have noticed by now, but I am a bit of a perfectionist and tend to over achieve. I do this to make things easier, quicker and overall smoother for myself and everyone I GM for. I think that if everyone puts this code in Classes/Levels field on your alias page, it will greatly help me. I would like you to have these numbers as your active numbers. So if I drain your will, I want to see that will save number be modified here. If you guys can do that for me I would very much appreciate it.
template: x represents number
HP x/x | ACx tchx FFx | CMDx/FFx | Fx Rx Wx
---------------
If you want you can add extra info after that code but not necessary.
Think I got it ironed out.
I would say Deathless-->Darnak-->Ahnika-->Hou
ooops, I need to do me bloodrager spells
done
I already did something similar. Is it ok that way, or do you want me to change it? I have no problem with that.
I need the FFCMD and what is the (34)
Is this ^ ok?
The number in parentheses next to the Will save is the bonus vs. charm and compulsion effects due to the irrepressible trait which allows CHA to be added intead of WIS.
Also, CMD vs. grapple is 6 higher due to celestial obedience and improved grapple.
ok cool ty
Could you just add into your code +6 grpl next to your CMD
Done (there was no space left in the string so I removed the part about darkvision).
On that note, there's also a +2 bonus to saves vs. sleep, paralysis, and stunning effects I didn't manage to insert – though that's probably more situational.
EDIT: there's also another header that can be found in my profile under a spoiler, it refers to her buffed stats. I'll copy it here for reference
Monk 2 / Oracle 9 | HP 102/102 | AC 36 (Tch 24 FF 31) | CMD 39 (FF 34), +6 vs. grapple | F +14 R +16 W +9 (+17) | Init +4 | Perc +14
I was meaning to ask: will we be given time to prepare before combat begins? I'm talking in particular about 1 round/level spells, since I understand at level 11 1 minute/level spells last long enough that can be cast comfortably in advance.
you dont' have to spell out grapple, you can shorten it to like gpl or grpl and you don't need vs. either.
so just +6 grpl
Think I got it ironed out.
I would say Deathless-->Darnak-->Ahnika-->Hou
Sounds good.
Name? How about 'The Odd Squad'. :)(Sorry, couldn't resist. My kiddos love that show)
Maybe 'The Supreme Brawlers'. Or 'The Vagabonds'. 'The Maraud Squad'(Probably a bit much). :P
The Renegades. The New Warriors. The Elite(That way, every opponent starts out jealous). :)
How about 'Guardians of freakin' Golarian'. To bad one of us isn't named Drax. ;)
Big Bad Brawlers.
We eat losers for lunch. (HA-HA! Yeah, sorry. Okay, back on track.)
Yeah I stole pretty much all these. I just googled 'team names' and from what I found slapped some of them on here.
I'll ponder something tomorrow and see if I can't come up with something fitting. Hopefully by then one of you will have already came up with one. :P
I'll change it when I get home (editing from the phone sucks). The 34 is the value Vs disarm and sunder. I'll make it clearer.
Fists of fury?
Since it looks like 3 out of the 4 of us picked Fate's Favourite as a trait, something reminiscent of the fact that destiny's supposedly on our side? Like The Coils of Fate?
The Evertide if we feel like waxing poetic.
Fists of fury?
I like this!
Still waiting on one player to dot and delete the gameplay thread and I'll get you started as soon as that happens.