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Who will be the warriors you'll choose to participate in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament?
Just a game to explore everyone's creativity and character design and help GMs and players with a collection full of charismatic characters to use. I'll start presenting one, He is:
The Dragon Warrior:
A martial arts disciple who trained for years converting all his hatred and rancor into powerful and destructive kicks capable of shattering even the most resistant rock.
The Master: The only disciple of a mysterious elder who lives on top of the highest mountain in Tian Xia. Interestingly, there are legends about this master being alive for over 200 years, even though he is just a human...
Barbarian 11 (Martial Artist Archetype)
Main Features: Dragon Instinct, Raging Intimidation (Feat 1), Martial Artist Dedication (Feat 2), Dragon Stance (Feat 4), Dragon's rage breath (Feat 6), Dragon Roar (Feat 8) and Grievous Blow (Feat 10).
In addition to his heavy blows, the Dragon Warrior has access to special techniques such as expelling fire through his mouth and terrorizing his rivals on the battlefield to make his blows even more painful.
Additional Feats: Battle Cry, Intimidating Glare, Clever Improviser, Combat Climber, Diehard, Intimidating Prowess, Fleet, Haughty Obstinacy, Powerful Leap, Terrified Retreat, Titan Wrestler,
Additional Specials: Critical Brutality, Toughness, Deny Advantage, Untrained Improvisation Instinct (Dragon Instinct), Quick Jump, Raging Instinct (Gold), Resistance
I've been designing four-person teams, either for inspiration or as possible adversaries/foils.
For example: The Jalmeri Genie-kin, a team of monks (all humans with a different versatile heritage and the Martial Disciple background).
Air
Key Feats: Natural Ambition (Crane Stance), Cat Fall, Ki Strike; Elemental Fist; Fleet; Flying Kick; Slip with the Breeze (grants Powerful Leap and Quick Jump); Crane Flutter; Toughness; Wild Winds Initiate; Djinni Magic; Wind Jump; Incredible Initiative
Earth
Key Feats: Natural Ambition (Ki Strike), Quick Jump, Mountain Stance; Elemental Fist; Fleet; Mauler Dedication*; Treacherous Earth; Knockdown**; Toughness; Mountain Stronghold; Shaitan Magic; One-Inch Punch; Incredible Initiative
*- even though they can't be in Mountain Stance while attacking with a bo staff
**- which does not need to be with a bo staff
Fire
Key Feats: Natural Ambition (Ki Strike), Cat Fall, Monastic Weaponry; Elemental Fist; Fleet; Peafowl Stance; Lavasoul; Cleric Dedication; Toughness; Basic Dogma (Domain Initiate [Fire]); Scorching Disarm; Peafowl Strut; Incredible Initiative
Water
Key Feats: Natural Ambition (Dragon Stance), Quick Jump, Ki Strike; Elemental Fist; Fleet; Cleric Dedication; Rimesoul; Basic Dogma (Domain Initiate [Water]); Toughness; Dragon Roar; Marid Magic; Winding Flow; Incredible Initiative
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Or a how about a group of misfits that want payback: "Bad things come in small packages."
"Renfield"
Feats: Ancestral Paragon (Voice of the Night), Aura of Despair, Basic Oracle Spellcasting, Battle Cry, Battle Medicine, Bloodletting Fangs, Deity's Domain (Might), Devoted Focus, Enthralling Allure, Fangs, First Revelation, Fleet, Incredible Initiative, Intimidating Glare, Intimidating Prowess, Oracle Dedication (Bones mystery), Risky Surgery, Titan Wrestler
Spell Repertoire: chill touch, divine lance; animate dead; spiritual weapon; vampiric touch
Gear: victory plate with affixed shark tooth charm talisman, +2 striking scythe with affixed gallows tooth talisman, armbands of athleticism, boots of bounding, demon mask, gloves of storing, staff of necromancy
"Really, I'm descended from a sky dragon!"
Feats: Acrobatic Performer, Adopted Ancestry (Human), Arcane Sense, Basic Sorcerer Spellcasting, Battle Cry, Claws of the Dragon, Crafter's Appraisal, Dragon Disciple Dedication, Dragon's Rage Breath, Fascinating Performance, Fleet, Incredible Initiative, Intimidating Glare, Intimidating Prowess, Kobold Breath (electricity), Moment of Clarity, Multitalented (Sorcerer Dedication [Draconic/Blue]), Natural Ambition (Raging Intimidation), Sudden Charge
Spell Repertoire: daze, shield; grim tendrils; web; fireball
Gear: rhino hide with affixed grim trophy talisman, +2 striking falchion with shifting rune and affixed fear gem talisman, boots of bounding, dragon's eye charm (from Age of Ashes AP), greater bracers of missile deflection, ring of wizardry I
"The Shadow knows..."
Feats: Clever Shadow, Double Slice, Dual-Weapon Reload, Dual-Weapon Warrior Dedication, Experienced Tracker, Fleet, Foil Sense, Gravity Weapon, Hefting Shadow, Incredible Initiative, Multilingual (Tien, Undercommon), Quick Jumper, Quick Squeeze, Shadowdancer Dedication, Shadow Magic (dance of darkness), Shadow Mark, Shrouded Magic (daze), Swift Sneak, Toughness, Twin Parry
Gear: +1 resilient leather with shadow rune, +1 striking hand crossbow, gloom blade, spellguard blade, boots of bounding, doubling rings, greater dancing scarf, pendant of the occult, wondrous figurine (black jade ["golden"] lions)
"If you knew how it was made, you wouldn't want to eat it..."
Feats: Arcane Sense, Basic Witchcraft (Cauldron), Basic Witch Spellcasting, Cat Fall, City Scavenger, Crafter's Appraisal, Disturbing Knowledge, Dread Striker, Eldritch Archer Dedication, Fleet, Forager, Incredible Initiative, Junk Tinker, Kip Up, Magical Trickster, Quick Unlock, Recognize Spell, Root Magic, Streetwise, Toughness, Trap Finder, Underground Network, Very Sneaky, Wary Disarmament, Witch Dedication (Wild patron)
Rat familiar ("Stinker"): 2 abilities, Spells Known (acid splash, produce flames, ray of frost, tanglefoot; hydraulic push, spider sting; acid arrow, barkskin; earthbind, stinking cloud), Formulas Known (barkskin potion, minor healing potion, minor oil of unlife, minor potion of retaliation, potion of expeditious retreat, ration tonic)
Gear: +1 resilient leather with slick rune, +2 striking composite shortbow, boots of bounding, cloak of elvenkind, greater staff of fire, pendant of the occult, sleeves of storage, wand of crackling lightning, sterling artisan's tools (oils and potions)
A group consisting of characters I'd happily play, all victims of betrayal at some point in their past.
The Betrayed -
The Wizard's Apprentice:
Persuaded to join a cult by a charismatic leader, this character thought they were going to be shaped into a mighty wizard. They were actually the experimental subject. After the transformation, they fled but never gave up on the wizard dream.
L2 Titan Wrestler, Wizard Dedication L3 Ancestral Paragon/Natural Ambition/Moment of Clarity L4 Recognise Spell, Basic Wizard Casting L5 Clever Improviser, Medicine L6 Battle Medicine, Attack of Opportunity L7 Wall Jump L8 Water Sprint, Arcane Breadth L9 Dragon Prince L10 Knockback, Religion skill, Powerful Leap L11 Fleet.
Ability scores 20/14/14/18/12/14
The Abandoned Child:
An unwanted child of an ill-omened affair, they were dumped on the streets when their half-orc heritage became obvious. Taken in by other urchins, they grew up listening to the whispers of battle, bloodshed and vengeance, coming into divine power when the passed through adolescence.
Ability scores 18/12/18/12/12/20
The Forgotten Prisoner:
Framed for a crime they did not commit whilst barely more than a child, this Elf spent over 60 years in a human prison. Escaping after learning everything they could from any friendly inmates, they now seek revenge on those who wronged them.
Ability scores 14/20/14/14/14/16
The Exiled Scion:
A noble child of a Dwarven family, exiled from an underground nation for a minor offense, they have been brought up on glorious tales of bravery and heroism. One day, they shall see their family restored to it's former glory. This dwarf is responsible for bringing the group together, helping each of the others become free and focused.
Ability scores 14/20/16/12/18/12
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Finally a chance to show off our work! Here's what our group has made so far for our coming Fists of the Ruby Phoenix campaign:
Ocrox Uarzik (11th-level fleshwarp mana waste mutant)
Portrait | Token | Token (Battle Damage)
Having lived for more than an Age, Ocrox (more commonly known by his nickname Oczik) was born thousands of years ago as a Gebbite in the nation of Geb. Largely shielded by his family from the growing tensions of war at that time, he was blessed with a relatively happy childhood in which he helped his parents run a popular tavern. It was during this part of his life that he became enamored with the tavern patrons’ many stories of adventurous heroes, terrifying monsters, and the glory of war.
While Oczik was still young, open warfare broke out between his homeland, Geb, and its neighboring nation, Nex. His father, being a former captain in the military, left home to defend his nation’s honor once again. In time, so too did Oczik’s older siblings. By the time Oczik himself was old enough to fight alongside his family and personally bear witness to the horrors of war, his family had already been elevated in status to nobility, having earned titles and land for their heroic wartime deeds.
Having talked strategy and having sparred regularly with numerous adventurers, mercenaries, and soldiers in his family’s tavern as a boy, Oczik took to battle like a fish to water and many Nexian spellcasters were laid low due to a combination of Commander Uarzik’s cunning ambush tactics and their overconfidence, pride, and hubris. Though many in his family disapproved of their youngest’s deceptive tactics, none could deny its effectiveness, and young Oczik would ultimately bring ever greater honor and prestige to his family’s name through his actions and deeds.
Several years into the war, during a climatic engagement in which Geb and Nex personally took part, a magical calamity laid waste to large swaths of terrain. The specific cause of the event is now lost to time, but it was most certainly the result of the mixture of powerful magic being hurled between Geb and Nex. The magical holocaust wiped out Oczik’s unit, killing his father and two of his brothers. There are conflicting sources about who was at fault, but by day’s end most of the battlefield was covered in a gray mist and most of the inhabitants within its borders were dead or horrifically transformed. Entire cities shifted locations or were obliterated, terrain was raised or lowered, or transformed into glass or other materials. Oczik himself was buried alive under a landslide of magically infused black sand that slowly burned his flesh away.
When next he awoke, it was well into a new age. The weather and natural erosion had slowly washed the black sand away over the course of centuries, leaving Oczik’s corpse once again naked to the open sky. He found himself transformed. Instead of flesh, only bleach white bone remained. Though he could still feel himself, and retained all his mobility, senses, and ability to speak, he appeared as little more than an animated skeleton in armor that had long ago rotted away to worthlessness. Instead of eyes, glowing pools of malevolence flickered like small blue flames, allowing him to sense magical auras nearby. Having grown up surrounded by necromancy and the undead, it was immediately apparent to him that something was horribly wrong. He was not merely a new member of the honored undead, but something far more monstrous. Something…in between…a horrible hybrid mutant caught between life and death, but not truly undead.
With the landscape changed by both the powerful forces that entombed him and through centuries of natural erosion, Oczik became lost in what had come to be called the Mana Wastes. For years he wandered aimlessly, and likely would have lost his mind had he not found companionship in the form of a disembodied wandering wasteland spirit calling herself Sentia.
With Sentia’s help, Oczik eventually found his way out of the Wastes, and made his way back home to Geb. In the time since the war, much had changed. In the early days of the struggle against Nex, most Gebbites were living humans, descendants of an ancient Osirian colony with perhaps a slight favoring of necromancy to echo the interests of their immortal lord. With the large-scale reanimation of legions of undead warriors and the eventual incarnation of Geb himself as a ghost, the undead grew more and more influential in Gebbite society. Today the undead essentially are Gebbite society, with the remaining humans and other living creatures growing more and more marginalized with each year that passes.
What’s more, since the disappearance of its enigmatic leader, Nex has almost completely ceased its open hostility against Geb. Zombie-harvested crops from Geb are a staple of the nation’s diet, exchanged for all manner of goods and certain rare components used in the study and art of necromancy. Although the hatred of their leader for his sworn enemy still burns deep after thousands of years, the common folk of Geb care little for the ancient conflict with Nex, and if not for the treacherous landscape and deadly inhabitants of the Mana Wastes, trade between the two nations might be even stronger than it is today.
Once his fellow Gebbites realized that Oczik was not a mindless skeleton, he was afforded great respect by most of Geb’s citizenry (many thereafter mistakenly believed him to be a grave knight), and it was not long thereafter that he found the descendants of his family. After the war they had leveraged their newfound nobility to great effect, with their patriarch—Oczik’s paternal uncle Americ—eventually becoming a member of the Blood Lords, one of three-score necromancers and the highest among Geb’s nobility, led by Geb’s chancellor, the vampire lord Kemnebi. Though Oczik was formally recognized by his uncle (who long ago became a vampire along with a handful of other esteemed members of the Uarzik family), he had been divorced from humanity’s living mindset for so long that he no longer had the emotional capacity to care in the slightest for the return of his long lost nephew. Even more concerning though, was the fact that no one save Oczik himself seemed to be able to see or otherwise interact with his companion spirit, Sentia. Believing his nephew twisted to insanity by the Mana Wastes, Blood Lord Americ did little more than give Oczik room and board while he sought to figure out what had happened to his nephew—not out of concern, but out of curiosity.
When it came to light through their mystical investigations that Oczik was not undead at all, but a lowly Mana Waste Mutant that merely emulated many undead qualities and—more importantly—that he held no more meaningful secrets that could increase his uncle’s lust for power, his uncle’s curiosity and tolerance evaporated completely. Oczik was unceremoniously disowned by his family, cast out, and disinherited, just as though he had never been recognized at all. In his grief, even Sentia left him soon after, simply not appearing to him again one evening as had once been their custom. Despairing that he had lost everything and everyone he had ever cared about, Oczik left his homeland and wandered the world aimlessly as a monstrous mercenary for hire for over a century.
It wasn’t until he found himself far away in the foreign lands of Tian Xia that he heard about a grand tournament being held there. It was rumored that any sentient being could enter, and those who won would have their every desire granted to them by the tournament’s host, an immortal human named Hao Jin. Oczik desired nothing less than to end his curse and to become a true member of his nation’s honored undead. Coming to believe that Hao Jin could provide him this, Oczik entered the tournament preliminaries and began looking for a team as skilled and unique as he was. In the end, he hoped that if he could accomplish all these things, then Sentia would return to him as well, agree to marry him, and stay with him for eternity.
Old Wooly (11th-level venerable dwarf brawler)
Portrait | Token | Token (Battle Damage) | Voice Recordings
Matriarch of Clan Hammerdasher, Wild Warrior of Kalsgard, and Ice Miner of Undercroft
Mammo Higgins is a rare jewel: a life-long adventurer that managed to survive several centuries of trial and tribulation to reach old age. Though she began life as a common laborer, developing near-unnatural levels of strength over a century of heavy toil, she would eventually come to be one of the renowned wild warriors of Kalsgard in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Today, with her hunched posture, craggy face, and gnarled cane, she hardly resembles a powerful warrior of legend. The only outward sign of her warrior past remaining are the dozens of colorful patches weaved throughout her snow white robe—pieces of glory ribbons that honor the memory and sacrifice of friends long ago killed in action.
Mammo adventured across the harsh lands of the north for half-again a hundred years, accomplishing many great deeds. During that time, she earned the name “Mammo Wooly”—an epithet bestowed upon her by the Mammoth Lords of old, meant to honor her strength by likening it to that of a wooly mammoth. These days, most simply refer to her as “Old Wooly.”
Old now, even for a dwarf, Mammo remembers little of those days. Like her memory, much of the rest of the world has long since moved on from that gloried past. Retired for over a century and nearing her 420th birthday, she desires little more than to live out the rest of her life reliving some of the glory days now forgotten. Though she appears old and frail (having become nearly as thin as a human), she is still quite hale and hardy. Her great strength also remains (deceptively hidden by her small stature), overshadowed only by her spirit for life and her love for adventure.
Upon hearing of the Ruby Phoenix Tournament and the seemingly immortal sorcerer, Hao Jin, in the far off lands of Tian Xia, Old Wooly has decided to come out of retirement and seek adventure one final time. Fearing she’ll not live to see another opportunity like it before she sets sale upon the River of Souls, she bid farewell to her children’s great, great, grandchildren and their families and set out with a large trading caravan headed across the Wall of Heaven mountains. Even should she fail the tournament, she can pass on in peace, knowing that she lived a full, adventurous life. If she somehow manages to win against all odds though? Then perhaps the tournament hosts will have something in their legendary treasure vault that could restore Mammo’s youth, thereby granting a second life filled with even more amazing adventures.
During the expedition through the mountains, Mammo’s caravan was beset by a frost giant brigand and a fiery arctic predator called a remorhaz. After ordering his beast to set one of the wagons alight, the brigand then demanded the caravan pay an impossibly high toll for the privilege of passing into the lands beyond the mountain passage unscathed. Old Wooly felled the villain and drove off the beast in short order. The brief skirmish wore her out, however, and her heart stopped abruptly while returning to her wagon. Had it not been for the presence a young Rahadoumi traveler skilled in a healing technique called “the breath of life” that had accompanied their band, she likely would not have survived the trek through the mountain pass. Despite this rather serious setback, Old Wooly insists that she merely stopped for a spell to take a short nap. She is now more determined than ever to see her journey through to the end.
Traxun Sharptooth (11th-level dwarf valley guardian)
Portrait | Token | Token (Battle Damage)
Many who know of Traxun Sharptooth only know him from the strange tales that surround him and his past. “He’s actually a three-horn who chooses to look like a dwarf,” come whispers from the bar corner, or “he was adopted by the huge beasts as a babe, and is now more thunder lizard than dwarf,” comes a joke from the bartender. In truth, Traxun started life as Aurun Silveranvil, hailing from the Realms of the Mammoth Lords. His family has spent many years at the forge, crafting ornate armor and deadly weapons with which to trade with the Kellid peoples. Their skill was such that they were often sought out by heroes of the land, such as the now forgotten warrior, Mammo Higgins, whom Aurun’s grandfather fought alongside against a frost giant incursion lead by Jarl Gnargorak. (“And a great honor it was!” he would later tell his grandchildren.) After driving the incursion back, the giants seemed to fade from view. Aurun, like many of the prouder Kellids in his generation, attributed this to the superiority of their way of life, bragging that giants can witness “smaller folk” defeating their kin in battle only so many times before they retreat for good. Some Mammoth Lords have already taken to calling the giants a folktale of the past, and so young Aurun scarcely believed his grandfather’s wild tales. Aurun was brave, foolhardy, and impetuous in his youth. His love for beer, battle, and—best of all—the hunt, was insatiable. To him the bigger the trophy the greater the renown—and the more women he could swoon into his bedchambers.
Fate would soon change his course, however. In his arrogance, Aurun decided to hunt down and slay an infamous beast called the Great White Mastodon. The albino mastodon was rumored to be many times larger and more dangerous than even the local mammoths, to leave no trail that could be tracked, and to have eluded and crushed dozens of hunting parties for as far back as anyone could recall. Aurun put a hunting party together and set out into the wilderness, chasing leads from exclusive reports they had obtained. After several weeks of trekking through the wilderness, they came across the behemoth. Larger than even the wildest of rumors, the beast—long accustomed to being attacked by hunters—possessed numerous scars and maddened eyes red like pools of blood. Though they wounded the fell monster, sending it fleeing back into the Tusk Mountains, the immense titan nevertheless annihilated most of Aurun’s hunting companions within mere minutes of their encountering it. Despite being bruised and battered himself, Aurun gave chase with naught but vengeance in his heart, but soon lost his quarry in a sudden blizzard.
Aurun wandered for days on end, the remaining members of his party ultimately abandoning him to die on his fool’s quest. Dying from exposure, in what should have been his last moments in the snow, he believed he saw the beast in the distance being led deep underground by a band of frost giants. Knowing he had no recourse, he gave chase one last time, determined to return with proof of his successful hunt, or die trying. His vision led him down into a dark crevice. His tired legs and weary eyes could barely follow the large monster. He lost his footing and tumbled down and down and down into the darkness of unconsciousness.
When he next awoke, he found that he had stumbled into a hollow world: a warm realm hidden far below the icy mountains. He had unknowingly found his way into Deep Tolguth, a vault of Orv in the lowest levels of the Darklands. The beast he had been following in his delirium was not a mastodon at all, but a triceratops. Its frost giant companions leading it were naught but its three horns!
Lost, Aurun continued following the triceratops to its nest where he found a nearby stream of fresh water and edible flora that grew in abundance. Though the three-horned animals were wary of him at first, in only a few short days he found himself a welcome stranger, as the creatures grew accustomed to his presence. Unable to recall the route he had taken initially, Aurun spent weeks searching for a way out of the vault, which seemed large enough to encompass an entire nation. It also appeared to be lit by a brightly glowing light in the center of its ceiling, two miles off the ground. Aurun observed that the light burned for twelve hours each day before disappearing completely, simulating a day‑night cycle. The cavern’s “night” was not completely dark, however, as the ceiling was also studded with numerous glowing crystals which give off a glow reminiscent of starlight. Its interior terrain consists primarily of jungles, lakes, and swamps, whilst the ground at its perimeter rises like mountain slopes.
In time, Aurun grew fond of the triceratopses, even going out of his way to protect them from predators. One evening he even had to square off with a tyrannosaurus he dubbed “Sharptooth.” Though the carnivore was far too tenacious to be killed by a single dwarf, Aurun nevertheless managed to drive it off by impaling it with the horn of a fallen member of the triceratops herd. It was this brave action that brought the Protectors to him.
The Protectors were a strange group of powerful Orvian druids whose ancestors had long trickled down from all over Golarion. They had lived in Deep Tolguth for many generations, learning to live alongside and protect the many dinosaurs that resided there. Like they had done with hundreds of other wanderers who they found worthy, they would take Aurun into their circle. Through them, he would come to learn how to manipulate Golarion’s natural electromagnetic fields to generate bursts of electricity and to revere the dinosaurs by emulating their physical forms. They also taught him the name of his new home, as well as many of its other secrets, such as knowledge of the warring tribes of primitive humans and orcs that lived in the “mountains.”
Decades passed. Aurun, now known among the Protectors as Traxun Sharptooth, survived many harrowing adventures during that time. Having discovered the route that would return him to the surface long ago, he rejected it in favor of his new home with the druids and their dinosaurs. Despite this decision, he remained the only member of the druid sect with recent knowledge of the surface world, and so he was tasked with protecting his new home from outsiders that might discover the Path and come to threaten their world. Honored to become the order’s new “Path Guardian” Traxun would frequently travel between Deep Tolguth and the surface settlements near the Tusk Mountains, keeping an eye out for possible threats. He also took on the role of a bounty hunter, earning a little gold on the side for when he needed something that Deep Tolguth could not provide.
It was in one such settlement that a messenger bird found him. The message it carried was a coded missive from the order. While he was away hunting people on the surface, intruders had discovered the Path, infiltrated Deep Tolguth, killed several triceratopses, and absconded with their eggs. Fearing that the next generation would be forever lost, the Protectors sentenced Traxun to exile. Unless he could return with the stolen eggs and save the next generation of three-horns, the Path would be forever closed to him.
Having suddenly lost everything he had grown to hold dear in his life, Traxun became singularly focused on his new hunt. He tracked his prey through several lands, from port to port, until he was finally able to catch up to and apprehend one of the egg thieves. The interrogation revealed that the adventurers had parted ways a fortnight before, after they had sold the eggs to a wealthy merchant prince heading into the Wall of Heaven mountains for Tian Xia. The merchant, a noble with hair and beard seemingly spun from gold and a lion’s head embroidered upon a luxurious cape, was apparently planning to make a tidy profit off the dinosaur eggs during a grand tournament being held in the eastern empire. Unsure if his new target would be participating in the tournament as a contestant, acting as a sponsor for a team, or filling some other role, Traxun had no other choice but to follow behind and infiltrate the tournament himself in the hopes that he could track down his prize.
Violet (11th-level human changeling oracle)
Portrait | Token | Token (Battle Damage)