We had a go at the mythic playtest this past weekend using the scenario provided with the rules, so here is my feedback
Firstly I should say that I was playing a bard – this really didn’t help as there was nothing in the playtest that did anything to boost the bardic abilities and what I could use of those that were on offer was very limited. I appreciate that the playtest doesn’t include everything and am really only stating this for balance since my experience was so negative.
The first combat where we faced mythic creatures as non-mythic players was fun. The creatures posed a bit more of a challenge and we had to be that bit more on our toes as a result. However, once we were through the first round where we discovered just how many attacks they were getting it didn’t seem much different to any other combat. We’re used to things being hasted or slowed etc so they didn’t seem anything extra-ordinary.
From there it went rapidly downhill. As soon as we had players with mythic abilities it became less about roleplay and more about book-keeping. The combats seemed much longer and slower and if you weren’t spending your mythic points to act twice each round there was a lot of waiting around for your next turn. Of course, we were trying to use the abilities as much as possible so we could see how they worked so maybe this wouldn’t be the case in a normal game. Although for me just having to keep track of the damage I’d taken from mythic creatures separately from that taken from non-mythic because of the healing options was already one level of book-keeping too many. Plus of course having to track mythic points usage and which abilities burned those points. It made everything more complicated.
It looked like a nightmare to GM - trying to keep track of who was acting once, who was acting twice, where the second action would move to if they delayed on the first etc. It also wasn’t always clear whether some things happened once a round or once a turn and whether action twice in one round meant you had two turns or just two action – I expect there will need to be amendments to the text throughout the published works to clarify this should Mythic be released. For example bleed damage or saving throws v poison – do you bleed faster if you’re taking two actions a round? Does poison hit you faster? If you had said you were going to act twice but fall unconscious on the first do you have to stabilise or lose a point of bleed on your second action?
From my pov as a mostly non-combative bard it was majorly dull. I’d play some bardsong, maybe fire an arrow or cast a buff spell and then wait for an hour or so until it was my turn again. I did try wading into combat but the mythic abilities don’t make much difference in terms of AC or HP and none at all in terms of saving throws so I still felt way too vulnerable and even with the mythic powers I wasn’t hitting that hard. Blowing all my mythic points would take just a couple of rounds and achieve very little. Similarly for spell-casters. Acting twice a round just burns through your spells even faster.
I didn’t feel at all “mythic”. A 6th level mythic character is easily outclassed by a 7th level character of the same type because the 7th level character gets extra abilities, better BAB and saves, additional spells and a whole host of other advantages depending on character class. Sure you can wade through the commoners and minor beasties but that’s a given for any mid-high level character anyway.
You couldn’t safely face higher CR monsters as a mythic character because the combats so often rely on you having the abilities you gain at higher levels (like being able to fly or see invisibility) and the higher saving throws, so the only way to use this is to fight mythic creatures which puts you back on a level playing field where the old system with the simpler book-keeping is a lot more fun.
I don’t think this adds anything worthwhile to pathfinder at all and will not be playing again.
