Level Range: 11-20
The time has come again for the Ruby Phoenix Tournament! The sorcerer Hao Jin has invited only the strongest martial artists, adventurers, and fortune seekers to her world-famous fighting competition.
This is Pathfinder’s ode to Enter the Dragon, Mortal Kombat and The Karate Kid. With a dash of Godzilla thrown in. The Ruby Phoenix Tournament pits Tian Xia’s greatest martial artists against each other every ten years. Enter your team and fight!
You may be thinking that sounds like a long and boring series of fights, but you’d be wrong. There’s a story here that emerges as the competition advances. The competition itself doesn’t begin until the second book and the first book contains a smaller story about the temple your team trains in.
Fists of the Ruby Phoenix has combat against a good variety of opponents, but the battlefields are surprisingly lacking in personality, being mostly wide sandy arenas of one sort or another without cover, concealment or hazards. Of course, you’re 14th level by the time the competition begins, so flight and teleportation are a regular part of the fighting.
What Fists of the Ruby Phoenix lacks in narrative complexity it more than makes up for in atmosphere and interesting Non-Player Characters. Since you’re not trying to kill most of your foes, there is a chance to gain recurring rivals and friends among the competition as well as with patrons and fans of the tournament.
If you’re looking for a deep narrative or an epic tale, this isn’t the right adventure path for you. But if you’re looking for a fun, fast-paced story with plenty of style, atmosphere and intrigue, then Fists of the Ruby Phoenix may be just the thing! I had a blast with it!