Last night I ran the sample adventure in the back of the playtest, and here are some of my thoughts and reactions. This will contain spoilers, so let the reader be warned.
First, a few words on character generation. I had four players from my local gaming circle generate 6th level characters (as per the playtest) on a 15 point buy and standard wealth by level (16,000 gold). These are all players that I trust, and I asked them to distribute their gold across items that would make sense for them to have if they had actually played their character from level one. It is my experience that characters built in a vacuum can be better equipped and more easily min-maxed than naturally built characters, and I tried to prevent this as much as possible in character generation for this playtest. I allowed players to draw from any of the base material for the playtest (core, ultimate magic, ultimate combat, etc.). The party consisted of a rogue focused on feints and tricking opponents for sneak attacks, an inquisitor with a mix of combat buffs, healing, and a crossbow, a barbarian with beast totem and animal fury rage abilities, and a shining knight charging paladin with a lance. The rogue and barbarian both had outflank, and the inquisitor may have had it as well. I do not believe that any character was particularly min-maxed to be strong in a specific area, but I'll post their stats once I get my hands on them so that they can be looked over.
Unless otherwise noted, I did not place any terrain on the map that could affect combat, as the playtest did not specifically mention anything or their relative placements. This may have been an oversight on my part, but I wanted to stay as close to the module as written that I could.
In the first encounter, the agile dire wolf was able to tackle the barbarian to the ground on a charge, doing a fair bit of damage over its two turns. The fact that it went twice before some players got to go at all threw some of them for a loop. Two wolves went after the inquisitor, who was separated from most of the group, and one may have landed a blow due to a particularly good roll. One snake went after the rogue, who dodged the attack, and a snake and the remaining wolf attacked the mounted paladin, doing no damage. The paladin charged the wolf, taking out a large chunk of its health (lances), and later the barbarian would rage and neutralize it despite being prone beneath the big wolf. After this point I fast forwarded to the PC's victory, since the remaining animals had minuscule chances of actually damaging the PC's, would die to one attack, and any damage would be resolved without spending many resources. In other words, there was no longer any threat. Again, this may have been an oversight, but I don't think that it affected the playtest in the least.
The second encounter was largely just reading from the book and upgrading characters. The paladin went Marshal, the inquisitor hierophant, the barbarian dual pathed into guardian and champion, and the rogue went into either trickster or champion. The rogue and inquisitor put most of their mythic resources into having a deeper pool of mythic power points, possibly to the point of min-maxing. I don't recall exactly what the paladin or barbarian took, but I'll have that information later.
The third encounter at the tree's stump was one sided. Because of the PC's mythic initiative and poor initiative rolls for the treant and bears (coming to 5 and 2 respectively), the PC's were able to take down the treant before it even got to act. One of the bears also took a solid hit before going. One bear got three hits on the barbarian, and the other missed the the rogue on a charge. Both quickly died in the second round of combat. The basket of items left by Erastil also approximately doubled the parties wealth, with the bracers going to the paladin, the cloak to the rogue, the bow to the barbarian, and the symbol to the inquisitor. Each also claimed one nectar of the gods.
The fourth encounter at the ravine was the most interesting, as a challenge was presented to some of the players. The barbarian jumped the ravine with a 53 acrobatics (I forget where all the math came from, but this is a player that I very much trust, so I do not find the numbers to be suspect), and shrugged off the lightning bolt I threw at him for reaching the halfway point with a guardian ability. The rest of the party had a tougher time crossing the ravine. The rogue fell off mid way, the paladin attempted to climb down the near side and fell, and the inquisitor would have fallen off had he not had the 1d6 he could add for a mythic power point. He also took some damage from the lightning. They then lowered a rope from the other side, which the paladin and rogue climbed up. The paladins horse was unsummoned and resummoned to get it across the ravine.
The fifth and final encounter lasted exactly one round. For this fight I declared that the bones on the ground made the terrain difficult, despite no word of this in the module. This was mainly to prevent the lance paladin from charging it to death, but this ended up not mattering terribly much. Because of the cloak and his mythic attack, the rogue was able to sneak up on the hydra and deliver a number of attacks before it was able to act. And because the hydra was unable to easily perceive him, it charged the paladin (I ruled that its size enabled it to charge over the difficult terrain), which triggered an attack of opportunity. The hydra then landed two of seven attacks on the paladin for about 19 damage. This is all the hydra did. The barbarian landed three or four attacks (mythic attack moved him in range and hit, and full attacks thereafter), one of which crit. We also used Paizo's crit cards deck, which did dazed the hydra. This came to about 60 damage total after DR (mythic power attack is nasty). The rest of the encounter was more or less just the party unloading on the hydra and using mythic initiative to go twice. Even without the dazed condition, the outcome would likely have been the same.
Personal thoughts:
Mythic initiative is a HUGE bonus. By enabling the characters to go first against most enemies and then again, possibly before the enemy has gone yet, you essentially introduce the "action economy wins" and "rocket tag" aspects that I've often heard associated with higher level play. In the encounters that I ran, anything that could have potentially hurt the PC's was eliminated before it got passed being flat-footed (the treant comes to mind). I think that this could be generalized to most encounters given the current rules set.
I have to wonder if the playtest was designed to at all challenge a group of level6/mythic 3 characters. The "boss" hydra encounter took a CR6 monster, and increased the CR to 9 by adding three mythic ranks or an equivalent template. However, if you apply this same sort of logic to the PCs, this would be an average (APL+0) encounter, which most parties would steamroll. And this is exactly what happened. In fact, we were discussing the final encounter after the fact, and determined that the barbarian could have soloed the entire fight with little chance of failure.
I like the concept and most of the things included in the mythic playtest, especially since it lets characters do some pretty cool things. But either mythic characters need to be reduced in power, or the next playtest (if there is one) needs more challenging opposition.
Contributor
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I think the encounters complete the adventure, but don't seem like challenges for a party. Also, there's a huge jump in power level with tier two, and that maybe deserves a look. 6/3 is supposed to mean APL 9, but it doesn't. It means a party of 8-12 characters in the encounter. For a rogue (who's saying rogues get no love?), it's multiple full attacks with sneak attack dice. Give me a good intitiative build and FOUR rounds of flat-footed opponents and I'll assassinate anything. CR will very quickly become irrelevant.
Here are two of the characters.
Rogue:
https://www.box.com/s/6kzdhrfl11zccuymmkyp
This character never used most of his feats, and forgot some of his human racial bonuses.
Paladin:
Teagan
Male Human (Keleshite) Paladin (Shining Knight) 6
LG Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +1; Senses Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 25, touch 12, flat-footed 24 (+10 armor, +2 shield, +1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 55 (6d10+12)
Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +8
Immune fear
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee Lance +1 +11/+6 (1d8+7/x3) and
Longsword +10/+5 (1d8+4/19-20/x2)
Special Attacks smite evil (2/day)
Spell-Like Abilities Detect Evil (At will)
Paladin (Shining Knight) Spells Prepared (CL 3):
1 (2/day) Cure Light Wounds, Knight's Calling (DC 13)
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 14
Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 22
Feats Mounted Combat, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, Weapon Focus (Lance)
Skills Acrobatics -4 (-8 jump), Climb -1, Escape Artist -4, Fly -4, Ride +15, Stealth -4, Survival +3, Swim -1
Languages Common, Kelish
SQ animal companion link, aura of courage, aura of good, divine bonds (storm, horse), heart of the wilderness +3, lay on hands (3d6) (5/day), mercies (mercy [diseased], mercy [sickened]), paladin channel positive energy 3d6 (2/day) (dc 15, share spells with companion, skilled rider, summon mount (1/day) (1/day)
Combat Gear Potion of cure light wounds, Potion of cure moderate wounds, Potion of endure elements, Potion of enlarge person; Other Gear Teagan's Plate, Buckler +1, Lance +1, Longsword, Amulet of natural armor +1, Cloak of resistance +1, Ring of protection +1, Custom Container, Custom Container, Military saddle, 236 PP, 5 GP
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Special Abilities
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Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Aura of Courage +4 (10' radius) (Su) You are immune to Fear. Allies within aura gain a morale bonus to saves vs Fear.
Aura of Good (Ex) The paladin has an Aura of Good with power equal to her class level.
Detect Evil (At will) (Sp) You can use Detect Evil at will (as the spell).
Heart of the Wilderness +3 Negative Hp required for death increases by listed amount, +5 on CON checks to stabilize.
Immune to Fear (Ex) You are immune to all fear effects.
Lay on Hands (3d6) (5/day) (Su) You can heal 3d6 damage, 5/day
Mercy (Diseased) (Su) When you use your lay on hands ability, it also removes disease, as per the remove disease spell at a caster level of your Paladin level.
Mercy (Sickened) (Su) When you use your lay on hands ability, it also removes the sickened condition.
Mounted Combat Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Paladin Channel Positive Energy 3d6 (2/day) (DC 15) (Su) A good cleric can channel positive energy to heal the living and injure the undead; an evil cleric can channel negative energy to injure the living and heal the undead.
Ride-by Attack You can move - attack - move when charging mounted.
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as touch spells.
Skilled Rider (Ex) (Su) Ride does not have an armor check penalty. Your mount gains the benefit of your divine grace class feature.
Smite Evil (2/day) (Su) +2 to hit, +6 to damage, +2 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Spirited Charge Double damge when making a mounted charge (triple with a lance).
Summon Mount (1/day) (1/day) (Sp) summon your mount to your side.
Took Dodge and Mythic Dodge as Mythic feats. Took Confidence and Fight On (never used).
Storm
Horse
LG Large Animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +10
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Defense
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AC 24, touch 12, flat-footed 21 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, -1 size, +8 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 27 (+24)
Fort +9, Ref +7, Will +3
Defensive Abilities evasion
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Offense
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Speed 50 ft.
Melee Bite (Horse) +8 (1d4+5/x2) and
Hooves x2 (Horse) +8 x2 (1d6+5/x2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
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Statistics
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Str 20, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +4; CMB +10; CMD 23 (27 vs. Trip)
Feats Armor Proficiency (Light), Dodge, Mobility
Tricks Attack [Trick], Combat Riding [Trick], Come [Trick], Defend [Trick], Down [Trick], Guard [Trick], Heel [Trick], Seek [Trick], Stay [Trick], Track [Trick]
Skills Acrobatics +0 (+8 jump), Climb +3, Escape Artist +0, Fly -2, Perception +10, Ride +0, Stealth -4, Swim +3
Languages
SQ combat riding [trick], devotion +4, seek [trick], stay [trick], track [trick]
Other Gear Chain shirt, You have no money!
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Special Abilities
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Combat Riding [Trick] The animal has been trained to bear a rider into combat.
Devotion +4 (Ex) +4 Morale bonus on Will Saves vs. Enchantments.
Evasion (Ex) No damage on successful reflex save.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Mobility +4 to AC against some attacks of opportunity.
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Seek [Trick] The animal moves into an area and looks around for anything that is obviously alive or animate.
Stay [Trick] The animal will stay where it is.
Track [Trick] The animal will track a scent.
The rogue and inquisitor put most of their mythic resources into having a deeper pool of mythic power points, possibly to the point of min-maxing.
First, I'd like to comment that I feel taking a single mythic feat to increase the number of mythic power points is hardly "most" of the mythic resources, and only a maximum of 4 of the 10 were used up at any one time (at least for the inquisitor). I believe the thief may have had 7 of his 14 used at most - but he did use 2 path abilities to get extra mythic points in addition to the feat, but that's still only about half of the "mythic resources" available.
Also, I noticed there is no restriction on the Mythic Flaw "Hubris" with any class that has immunity to fear: i.e. a Paladin can take the Hubris flaw and rules-as-written have no actual drawback as the ability only activates on a "successful save"
The Inquisitor:
Cardinal Flambois
Male Human Inquisitor (6
N Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +6/27 (pre/post mythic)
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Defense
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AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 21 (+7 armor, +3 Dex, +1 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 42/54 (6d8+12/+12 [mythic bonus hp])
Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +9/10 [mythic ability score improvment]
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee Lance +1 +11/+6 (1d8+7/x3) and
Ranged Repeating Heavy Crossbow +8 (1d10+1/19-20/x2)
Special Attacks Judgement (2/day)
Spell-Like Abilities Detect Alignment (At will), Bane, Discern Lies
Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 6):
0 - Acid Splash, Brand, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Light, Sift
1 - True Strike, Cure Light Wounds, Inflict Light Wounds, Lend Judgment
2 - Cure Moderate Wounds, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Flames of Faithful
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Statistics
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Str 9, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 16/18, Cha 10
Base Atk +4; CMB +3; CMD 17
Feats Deadly Aim, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Point-blank Shot
Teamwork Feats (Inquisitor Bonus): Lookout, Enfilading Fire
Skills Acrobatics +8, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +6, Heal +7, Intimidate +12, Kn (Arcana) +8, Kn (Dung) +4, Kn (Nature) +9, Kn(Planes) +4, Kn(Religion) +9, Perception +12, Sense Motive +13, Stealth +6, Survival +15, Swim +1
Languages Common, +1 bonus that didn't matter
Combat Wand of Cure Light Wounds; Other Gear Breastplate +1, Repeating Heavy Crossbow +1, Amulet of natural armor +1, Cloak of resistance +1, Ring of protection +1, Headband of Great Wisdom (+2), Longsword
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Special Abilities
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Judgment
Monster Lore
Stern Gaze
Cunning Initiative
Detect Alignment
Track
Solo Tactics
Bane
Discern Lies
Mythic Abilities [Hierophant]:
Mythic Power 10/day (Tier [3] + Wis Mod [4] + Dex Mod [3])
Diving Surge: Recalled Blessing
Path Abilities: Faith's Reach, Feat of Wisdom, Sustained By Faith
Mythic Spell: Inflict Moderate Wounds
Flaw: Insanity
Feats: Mythic Rapid Shot, Dual Focus (add Dex mod to Mythic Power)
