The Block Knight's page

Alright, so this is something I figured would crop up once the playtest hit but I was hoping it would be addressed in the playtest document. It wasn't, or rather, not very well at least.

The matter at hand is how to handle experience progression for Mythic characters and how it interacts with character design. The issue is that since the creatures are more powerful (and hence give more XP) characters will advance at a much faster rate. Too fast. Which is doubly problematic when you compound it with the fact that Greater Trial story arcs need to be included within the progression parameters.

The document's solution is to switch the XP progression to Slow. That doesn't work. At higher levels, it's not even a band-aid solution as the math breaks down entirely. Here's why:

Let's go to the beginning of high-level play (or thereabouts). We have a party of Level 14 characters with 7 Mythic Tiers. APL 21. By Level 16 they should also achieve Mythic Tier 8. So over the course of 2 levels I need to fit in 4 Greater Trials. That should be at least 4 encounters minimum, but more would be suitable. During the time it takes to go from Mythic Tier 7 to 8, the party will go through Levels 14 and 15. That's APL 21 and 22, respectively.

Now the encounters need to challenge the party. Let's try to fit in as many encounters as we can. So no boss fights, just average encounters. That's CR 21 for Level 14, and CR 22 for Level 15.

To get from Level 14 to 15, each party member (assuming a party of 4) needs 290,000 XP on slow progression. A CR 21 encounter, split 4 ways is 102,400. That's a total of 2.8 average encounters.

Level 15 to 16 is 395,000 XP. A CR 22 encounter is 153,600 XP after the split. That's almost 2.6 average encounters.

So, in total, over the course of 2 Levels and from Mythic Tier 7 to Tier 8, I have 5.4 average encounters to work with and I need to squeeze in 4 Greater Trials. That doesn't seem right.

I don't want to sound judgmental (I really hope I don't). I'm just trying to help the process. Hope this is helpful.

Cheers,
Tony

Hey, first time poster here but a loooong-time lurker (since '09). I've been looking for a good excuse to start posting for a while now and I figure this is as good as any.

Just want to say thanks for the excellent customer service from the staff at Paizo (especially Cosmo). Your reputation is well earned. Thank you for handling my account issue so quickly and (thinking back on the call) for putting up with my initial rambling. When met with such pleasant and efficient service I feel it's important to recognize such good work so let me add my voice to all the others on the site who echo, time and again, that you guys are the best in the "biz" at what you do.

Cheers,
Tony