What are Eustoyriax's four mythic abilities?
I see Endure Sunlight, Possession Mastery and Shadowblood.
And to developer types: I think it would be easier on GMs if mythic abilities had their own blocks. It would bring more importance to them rather than spending a long time trying to figure out or guess what they are.
As a 4th rank mythic creature, Eustoyriax should have 5 mythic abilities. Looking at a standard shadow demon statblock, I can see the following differences:
- Endure sunlight
- Possesion mastery
- Shadowblood
- summon shadows at-will
One of these should count as two mythic abilites (Possesion Mastery?), otherwise he is missing one.
I thought it was one mythic ability per rank?
Creative Director
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I don't have a copy handy here, but keep in mind that sometimes a mythic ability is something like enhanced SR or other things that don't really "show up" as being specific mythic abilities. It doesn't matter in the end, frankly, as long as he's a good challenge for his CR. Which I feel he is.
I think it could be a challenging encounter too. Unless the PCs remember the automatic way to defeat magic jar, then I'm not so sure.
What is the automatic way to defeat Magic Jar? I would like to know about this going in so if my players look like they are going to use it I can be aware of it.
Honestly I see this as being a hefty challenge as written. My players are about to dive into the citadel proper here in our next session so things are coming to a climax for this module.
Should be interesting.
Magic jar says that any creature protected by protection from evil can't be possessed. If protection from evil is cast on anyone that is possessed, then they receive an additional saving throw at +2. The cleric in my campaign loves that spell and with mythic spell casting anyone will be able to cast it.
I might be inclined to tweak the wording of Possession Mastery to overcome that weakness.
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I might be inclined to tweak the wording of Possession Mastery to overcome that weakness.
I'd suggest letting him try to overcome it with his spell resistance, like a summoned creature can. That way Pro Evil still has a fair chance for its normal benefits.
Now if they've invested in the Mythic augmentation of Pro Evil, then by all means he's tossed out on his ass.
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Contributor
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I used two solutions for my group:
1) Rig a trap that douses a poor soul in shadowblood. Very handy!
2) Swap out a feat (or give as a bonus feat) Penetrating Possession: this feat lets Eustoyriax get a chance to dispel the Protection From Evil.
I can't find a link to it atm, but it's in Demons Revisited.
As a side note, Cynthia Redgrave (the group's inquisitor of Calistria) got possessed and spirited away by Eustoyriax when ti was clear he would lose.
I plan on her returning at a later date ;P
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Creative Director
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Shadow demons are plenty tough even without protection from evil. It's kinda cheesy to nerf that protection just because you want to possess a PC—it's better to let the PC feel like they're doing something right by letting their good fore-planning and skill at the game actually help make a difference.
So, tread carefully if you want to remove the protection from evil safety net, and keep in mind that there are higher level effects (such as the above mentioned one from Demons Revisited) that do what you want by expending monster resources (in that case, a feat slot).
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Eustoyriax is mythic. He should have abilites that allow him to overcome resistances/immunities, just as the PCs do. And the options proposed (SR, dispel) are not automatic, so he can fail on the possesion. This is not "cheesy" but an adjustment GMs have to do to ensure a boss fight like this one is challenging for his/her group. If Eustoyriax cannot possess any PCs, he will have to use physical attacks that do little damage. Shadow demons are tough because they are incorporeal and have DR, but a party at this point will have one or two weapons that can overcome the DR, and the paladin will do the rest using smite evil.
Also if the players are smart, they will activate the sword of valor, weakening Eustoyriax considerably. One dismissal (smart players will use this spell in a demon-heavy campaign) and he is gone. Sure, he can come back sometime in the future, but as far as the adventure is concerned, the battle is won.
Honestly, if GMs want to use Eustoyriax to his full potential, just summon shadows again and again until you have the desired number. Since it is at-will and has a good chance of working, he will always have a decent number of shadowy minions. Unless the entire party is death-warded, they will take some strength damage. Even if shadows have a low to-hit bonus, it is a touch attack so the low Dex meleers will probably be in trouble.
Edit: to answer Seannoss question, mythic creatures have a number of abilites equal to 1 + mythic rank. That's why Eustoryriax has 5
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Creative Director
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As a 4th rank mythic creature, Eustoyriax should have 5 mythic abilities. Looking at a standard shadow demon statblock, I can see the following differences:
- Endure sunlight
- Possesion mastery
- Shadowblood
- summon shadows at-willOne of these should count as two mythic abilites (Possesion Mastery?), otherwise he is missing one.
Ok! looks like originally, he was going to have an "improved shadow blend" ability, but it got cut for space reasons and replaced by granting him "see in darkness." Which is a much better choice for him anyway.
One thing I never understood: Most devils have See in Darkness. Also, most devils can't create magical darkness. ^^
Eustoyriax is mythic. He should have abilites that allow him to overcome resistances/immunities, just as the PCs do. And the options proposed (SR, dispel) are not automatic, so he can fail on the possesion. This is not "cheesy" but an adjustment GMs have to do to ensure a boss fight like this one is challenging for his/her group. If Eustoyriax cannot possess any PCs, he will have to use physical attacks that do little damage. Shadow demons are tough because they are incorporeal and have DR, but a party at this point will have one or two weapons that can overcome the DR, and the paladin will do the rest using smite evil.
Also if the players are smart, they will activate the sword of valor, weakening Eustoyriax considerably. One dismissal (smart players will use this spell in a demon-heavy campaign) and he is gone. Sure, he can come back sometime in the future, but as far as the adventure is concerned, the battle is won.
Honestly, if GMs want to use Eustoyriax to his full potential, just summon shadows again and again until you have the desired number. Since it is at-will and has a good chance of working, he will always have a decent number of shadowy minions. Unless the entire party is death-warded, they will take some strength damage. Even if shadows have a low to-hit bonus, it is a touch attack so the low Dex meleers will probably be in trouble.
Edit: to answer Seannoss question, mythic creatures have a number of abilites equal to 1 + mythic rank. That's why Eustoryriax has 5
This.
My play group is experienced. The party Wizard has Wild Arcana, so it doesn't even take any real planning or strategy to use Protection From Evil, and it's a trick he is likely to think of on the fly to neutralize what should be an epic encounter.
I have a standing rule for adventure paths I run that the final boss of any module does not pull punches and death is a very real possibility. Without removing all of the "safety nets" inbuilt into the modules and monster stats, the fights are easily overcome by a group of players with a combined encyclopedic knowledge of monsters that appear in the standard Bestiaries, one of which plays a character with the proper knowledge skills to figure the trick out relatively easily.
By removing that safety net, it forces the players to think outside the box which they are not used to doing. I also like the idea of summoning a bunch of extra stuff with his at-will summons, which gives the enemy combatants much better action economy.
***A question for Mr. Jacobs***
Sc8rpi8n_mjd mentioned something that brought to mind a discrepancy in the description of the Sword of Valor and how the module said the banner would work.
In the fight description it mentions that the Sword of Valor activates when someone picks it up, but in the description of the item it says it must be securely mounted to an interior wall of a structure in order to provide benefits.
I am inclined to side with the actual item description and disallow use of the Sword of Valor in this fight because it smacks too much of a McGuffin that keeps the party from having to actually do anything themselves. Eustoriax is a highly intelligent creature. Don't you think that he would have some idea what the banner can do? It mentions the denizens of the Citadel were unable to destroy the banner, so would it not stand to reason that they would secure it somewhere other than crumpling it in a heap on the floor where it can easily be picked up and re-activated? That seems like a gaping plot hole and one that my players are likely to find off-putting in such a climactic fight.
Him being able to summon shadows is powerful. However, if my concern is protection from evil then 1000 shadows won't make the encounter any more difficult as they are evil summoned creatures.
Who knows, I have barely scratched mythic rules yet as my PCs are just starting part two. And I am trying to fight the impulse to remove all mythicness from the AP. I was hoping that Magnuskn's thread of asking about mythic play would take off.
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Hi everyone don't know if this has been covered yet? I just picked up sword of valor and cannot find the rules for mass combat. Also I don't have the UC to look at. Am I missing it somewhere? What can I do if I don't have the rules? Thanks in advance!
The mass combat rules are available online for free.
Him being able to summon shadows is powerful. However, if my concern is protection from evil then 1000 shadows won't make the encounter any more difficult as they are evil summoned creatures.
Who knows, I have barely scratched mythic rules yet as my PCs are just starting part two. And I am trying to fight the impulse to remove all mythicness from the AP. I was hoping that Magnuskn's thread of asking about mythic play would take off.
Thanks for pointing out the interaction between Prot. from Evil and summoned creatures, Seannoss. I totally forgot about it when suggesting the shadow-swarm technique :-)
As far as I remember, the module doesn't give any hints about Eustoyriax presence in the dungeon, so in my case I don't think the group will be casting prot. from evil prior to this fight. Once the shadows appear along with him, the group may think they are real enemies, because standard shadow demons don't have any summoning powers.
If you want give the shadows a chance to add to the fight before they are dispelled/defeated/ignored, you could allow them to use Eustoyriax's SR value to try to overcome the spell. Even if they cannot attack the PCs, I'm pretty sure you can still use them to raise Eustoyriax's AC with the Aid Another action (this depends on the GM's interpretation of this rule and the interaction with prot. from evil).
As for the thread, I too hope that people will post their experiences using the mythic rules with the encounters Paizo published. I could add my opinion but since a) my group is still at the Worldwound incursion and b) I'm reworking encounters/adding more mythic enemies, I'm not sure how useful the information would be.
I agree Sc8rpi8n mjd. I do hope that people post their mythic experiences, problems and solutions.
I have already banned mythic vital strike, which is a lazy solution but it is too powerful. Or it is more powerful than a want a campaign to be.
The module does not give any hints as written, however if they catch/interrogate the traitor in their army, she was directly recruited by Eustoyriax. Or if they do what my group did and redeem her with some very convincing arguments and a few good rolls, they will learn not only that he exists, but that there is a secret underground chamber to the citadel which she has knowledge of. It doesn't take much of a leap to put those pieces together.
My feeling is that this fight should catch them off guard and that standard methods for dealing with creatures of a certain type should not always apply to Mythic creatures of that type. Additionally I don't feel that a boss encounter should have an item in his room that is capable of trivializing his fight if one of the PC's happens to pick it up. That's just poor design for an encounter.
What I am likely to do is give him the means of bypassing or dispelling protection from evil, and probably have him attack/harass the party with Magic Jar before they even get to his room. He can be anywhere he wants at any time via incorporeal and his lack of vulnerability to light. If the Citadel is under attack, I'll have him take the fight to the party and hit them while they are otherwise occupied and running low on resources.
Well, after taking some time to reread the module, I have found another big hint about Eustoyriax: Staunton's journal. This is what happens when you post from memory... It basically tells the players that there is a mythic shadow demon inside the citadel guarding the sword of valor, so if they follow the module and defeat Staunton, they will expect him to show up at the end of the dungeon.
I'll probably modify the text so it doesn't reveal that much. It really spoils the surprise.
For those who keep the journal as written, the hit and run tactics Aldarionn suggests are a good way for keeping the party on their toes.
I agree Sc8rpi8n mjd. I do hope that people post their mythic experiences, problems and solutions.
I have already banned mythic vital strike, which is a lazy solution but it is too powerful. Or it is more powerful than a want a campaign to be.
Heh, I found that this one of the things which I had hoped that the core rules would do, to make mobile combat finally a viable option. ^^
If by viable you mean characters doing 50-60 damage per swing at 6th level, then yes. That isn't a campaign I wished to run.
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Creative Director
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Every time... EVERY time... that I've run a fight involving a shadow demon, it wrecks the party. The combination of incorporeal plus its resistances, spell resistance, immunity, and damage reduction make it a VERY strong foe against a typical APL 7 party. That's the reason that Staunton's journal pretty much lays it out like that—this is a foe that if the PCs aren't ready to deal with can really catch them off guard.
If you feel that your party is doing particularly well, is able to handle a foe like this, or deserves a "surprsie" then by all means let them face Eustoyriax without any foreshadowing. But as written, yes, the intent is absolutely that a group that is observant and pays attention should realize well beforehand what they're going to face and should have a chance to prepare for it accordingly.
If by viable you mean characters doing 50-60 damage per swing at 6th level, then yes. That isn't a campaign I wished to run.
That's not even super optimized. You can do far worse.
To Mr. Jacobs: Unless I misread the module the party will by Level 9 and Mythic Rank 2 by the time they face Eustoyriax, no APL 7. That gives them quite a bit more to work with. Even a bog-standard 15 point buy party with reasonable forethought should be able to handle a Shadow Demon.
With the ability to blow 4 Mythic Points via Wild Arcana (and the divine equivalent) and negate his ability to possess anyone, they SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the danger of the fight. Add in a banner that, when activated, drops his AC and saves by 4 and summons a CR16 PLANETAR to aid in the fight and you basically remove all Mythic potential from the encounter. I wouldn't grant my players a Mythic rank for defeating Eustoyriax in a lopsided fight like that. SR and Incorporeal only protect him so much, and with AC 21, saves of 5/9/7 and melee attacks that will only mildly annoy the average party (Average of 8 points of damage per bite, and 7 points of damage per claw), he will find himself hilariously outclassed.
Against a party of players that have only been playing about a year and have maybe a single campaign under their belt, sure. That might be a challenge. But my group scour books and the SRD. They are experts on the rules and their 15 point buy "average" characters are well put together and prepared for a number of situations. They know how to wisely allocate stats, what gear to purchase and what spells/feats to take in order to shore up weaknesses. At a certain point it gets hard to build characters that are NOT min-maxed because it feels like you are purposefully taking the worst possible choices just to limit yourself.
Currently my party consists of a Paladin/Guardian with the Sacred Shield ACF, a Bard/Dragon Disciple/Champion wielding a Scimitar, a Conjurer/Archmage with a +17 initiative bonus and Wild Arcana, and a Cleric/Heirophant of Cayden Cailean. The bard is something of a melee front-liner with a bunch of skills. The Paladin is a straight tank and when they cluster on him they take half damage (or quarter damage if a creature fails its save against Debilitating Portent). The Wizard is a battlefield control build with insane initiative, a pile of knowledge skills and the ability to cast any spell he wants. The Cleric is there to put everyone back together if any real damage gets through.
Fights often go like this:
-Surprise round, if any, to attempt to incapacitate someone.
-Roll Initiative, Wizard is usually first.
-Wizard makes relevant knowledge check to determine what sort of abilities the enemy has. Wizard uses prepared spells to nerf the creatures attacks, blind it, or otherwise incapacitate it. Failing those options, he uses Wild Arcana to pull the spell he needs out of thin air.
-Party clusters around the Paladin.
-Cleric casts Debilitating Portent on the baddie, and if any energy damage is present he casts Protection From Energy (Communal) via the Divine Wild Arcana.
At this point the monster has gotten 1-2 rounds at best to do anything impressive, and the party proceeds to ignore whatever damage it can do and most of its other abilities while the Bard beats it to death.
And that's not anywhere near the most broken combo they could come up with. My point is, with mid-level skill and a bit of working together, they can effectively trivialize any encounter unless I give it a means to bypass their defenses.
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Creative Director
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To Mr. Jacobs: Unless I misread the module the party will by Level 9 and Mythic Rank 2 by the time they face Eustoyriax, no APL 7. That gives them quite a bit more to work with. Even a bog-standard 15 point buy party with reasonable forethought should be able to handle a Shadow Demon.
That's moving the goal posts. I'm talking SPECIFICALLY against fights against shadow demons.
Note also that Eustoyriax is no CR 7 foe. He's CR 11, but brings with him all of the things that make a shadow demon tough, while simultaneously abandoning one of the shadow demon's greatest weaknesses.
It sounds like you, like Magnuskn, have a group that's a lot more experienced at the game than the average group, and as such you WILL need to either bolster the adventures as written or have your players use 15 or even 10 point buy for their characters—they're experienced players, after all, so having them play the game on hard mode is always an option.
Of course, many players don't enjoy that, so the onus falls on the GM to know what needs to be done to adapt the adventure.
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Or, and I risk spears and slings to even mention this, you fudge rolls.
The PCs are wiping the floor with him? Triple his hit points. They don't see his stats. They don't know what he can do. They don't know his equipment or Mythic abilities.
Have him hit them with a Dispel Magic, an ability that you as GM has decided he gained for being Mythic. It doesn't give him blanket immunity to Protection from Evil but it may very well debuff characters. Suddenly they're freaking out because they just lost their protection... and he then might possess their cleric, the one character who could rebuff them.
The AP is a suggestion. It is a guideline. You as GM have to further adjust it to fit your players and their characters and the situation. This includes on-the-fly adjustments. Scream bloody murder at me, call me all the names in the world, but that does not lessen the fact fudges are a time-honored method of ensuring a fight remains not only difficult... but also not lethal for the entire party.
Ahh I see what you meant. And I don't mean any of the above as an attack on you guys. I understand why you make things the way you do. I just know that in order to make it challenging I need to make adjustments.
Encounter difficulty comes down to just a couple of basic principals. Action economy, adaptability, initiative and mobility. Any party that can stay mobile, win on initiative, have a flexible spell list and not waste actions each round will generally tear apart anything 2-3 challenge ratings higher than them regardless of given stat buys. My players know how to do this, as do I.
If you give me any four classes of reasonable variety and a 15 point buy (or even just 15/14/13/12/10/8), I can come up with a party capable of overcoming most any challenge I've seen in an AP to date. There have been a few encounters that have surprised me (like nasty swarms, mind-controlling fey and plant monsters that swallow people whole and paralyze them) but by and large the majority of BBEG style enemies have been underwhelming as written because they usually include some glaring weakness that trivializes the encounter. Skull And Shackles had a few, and Shattered Star and Reign of Winter. Wrath of the Righteous is no exception. I just tend to remove them and move on from there.
Yeah? And that's the point. They're heroes. They're SUPPOSED to overcome a fight! There is supposed to be the RISK of failure... but they're supposed to win unless they do something so totally stupid that they can't help but fail. If every fight is one that risks total failure... then it gets overwhelming and not exactly enjoyable after a bit.
Or in other words, let them be heroes.
I've had games in which the party felt it was a hard and difficult fight... despite the fact half of the PCs didn't get hurt. My most recent adventure had the only character to almost die (twice) being the NPC Rogue! (She was stupid enough to enter the room first. She does stupid things sometimes. And I was running a lot of enemy NPCs and had to run one of the PCs because the player couldn't make it so it didn't dawn on me 'til it was too late. Was amusing that she barely survived without die-fudges though.) Of the others, no one was reduced below half hit points. Yet the Transmuter burned through almost every single spell. The sorceress used a lot of her spells as well. And they felt it was a hard fight, despite the fact half of the group hadn't been actually hit in the first. (Chokepoints can truly suck at times.)
Eustoyriax can easily be increased in difficulty with just two simple changes. First, let him cast Dispel Magic three times a day. Second, have him know the PCs are coming and have summoned a half dozen Shadows to help that are spread out through the room so one Channel Energy doesn't get them all. He still has his weaknesses. A smart party can still plan for him. But he can outwit them because of those two changes which increase the number of foes... and also allows a possible negation of buffs.
If by viable you mean characters doing 50-60 damage per swing at 6th level, then yes. That isn't a campaign I wished to run.
50-60 damage sounds unlikely, even with Vital Strike. You'd have to show me the math behind that. Although I can see how a Barbarian or Fighter might be able to do that when getting his full attack, our Barbarian regularly does dish out 16-24 damage per hit at level four.
Yeah? And that's the point. They're heroes. They're SUPPOSED to overcome a fight! There is supposed to be the RISK of failure... but they're supposed to win unless they do something so totally stupid that they can't help but fail. If every fight is one that risks total failure... then it gets overwhelming and not exactly enjoyable after a bit.
Or in other words, let them be heroes.
On the reverse, if they ROFLstomp everything, it becomes a farce of overpowered heroes swatting aside enemies which are supposed to be terrible and fear-inducing like they were overgrown teddybears. There has to be a challenge, in my personal opinion more times than not.
Eustoyriax will need some normal Shadow Demon minions in my game to overcome the 50% action economy advantage the party will have compared to the adventure as written. Fortunately, normal Shadow Demons still pose a threat even at that level, due to their touch attacks.
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My point I guess is that there is a fine line between challenging a party, killing a party and having the party curb-stomp every encounter. Adventure paths have cool stories but they tend to allow for the third option 9 times out of 10 with a few exceptions. I'm shooting for a fun and challenging encounter where the party is taxed, but able to win. If they breeze through everything I put in their way, I feel I have failed as a DM exactly the same as if I murder them at every turn. Neither option is fun. Riding that line in the middle is what make the game entertaining. Presenting them with obstacles that they have to think to overcome, not just putting obvious win-buttons in easy line of sight.
In this case I think I will try a few things. First I plan to have the random encounters ramp up as the final battle outside Drezen approaches and the party takes the fight into the Citadel. This should start taxing their resources.
Second, as the party tackles the Citadel I intend to have the denizens act cohesively. If they retreat to rest, I will have enemies come after them, maybe even minions of Eustoyriax himself like a summoned Shadow Demon and a few Shadows. Things will attack them in their camp only to retreat after interrupting their sleep forcing saves against fatigue and exhaustion. If they choose to rest inside the Citadel in a safe room, they will find themselves haunted by its warden. After all, it does say Eustoyriax does everything in his power to protect the Sword of Valor from would-be rescuers. It should be hard for them to recover spells that way, and force them to think outside the box when it comes to protecting themselves.
I like the idea of giving Eustoyriax the ability to dispel magic, or even Penetrating Possessions (though I need to find text for that ability. I don't own that book and it's not on the SRD) to give him the chance of overcoming Protection From Evil. The two players with good aligned characters took Worldwound Walker, giving them protection against things that discriminate against their alignment. The baddies can have the same kind of trick!
Finally, I'm going to try to think of a way for the Sword of Valor to still be usable in the fight, but not without the party specifically looking for it. Basically instead of being a win-button it will be there for the taking if they think to try and find it, but it won't be there staring them in the face.
I won't really have to change much to accomplish these things; just play the encounters differently and utilize the resources of the Citadel in a smart way.
We shall see.
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If by viable you mean characters doing 50-60 damage per swing at 6th level, then yes. That isn't a campaign I wished to run.50-60 damage sounds unlikely, even with Vital Strike. You'd have to show me the math behind that. Although I can see how a Barbarian or Fighter might be able to do that when getting his full attack, our Barbarian regularly does dish out 16-24 damage per hit at level four.
Whenever you use Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, or Greater Vital Strike, multiply the Strength bonus, magic bonus, and other bonuses that would normally be multiplied on a critical hit by the number of weapon damage dice you roll for that feat.
Extra damage from sources that wouldn't normally be multiplied on a critical hit isn't multiplied by this feat.
If I'm using a 2d4 weapon with Vital Strike, it's now 4d4 dice. Then I multiply all bonuses that are normally multiplied on a critical by 4. So my 22 Str Fighter with a +2 weapon, two handing it, is getting 4d4 + (6*1.5 str) * 4 + (+2 weapon) *4 + (+2 Weapon Specialization) *4. So, 4d4+52 for a normal Vital Strike, without me even looking for ways to expand on it.
That is weaseling through the intent of the rule. If you were using a 1d8 weapon then the damage is HALF that. Thus as GM I'd state the intent was for it to multiply it by the number of chances for hits (ie, 6/1 would be x2, 11/6/1 would be x3).
And that is honestly a FAQ candidate.
Aldarionn,
You may want to extend the wards in the dungeon to affect the entire citadel (as the adventure says they did in the past). Use the spell tied to the unhallow effect to the enemies' advantage.
Lawful GM,
I reworked Staunton's statblock, and gave him Improved Initiative among other things. That will help him act faster in the initiative count.
I did, Lochar. And as I said, this is ruleslawyer weaseling and as GM I'd say "no"
Seriously. That's a no-brainer.
Yeah, sorry, I'd laugh you out of the room if you'd come to me with that interpretation. That's not being a devil's advocate, that is just trying to win an argument with munchkin rules-lawyering.
It was a smiting paladin but I will assume that nearly every group in this AP had a pally. (Although its my fault, I told my PCs that this would be the adventure to play one)
But the damage was: 3 stat, 2 weapon, 12 smite and 4 power attack for a bonus of 21. Mythic vital strike: 2d8 + 42. Still low powered, non min maxed at all and the weakest interpretation of mythic vital strike.
And both the sorcerer on the bridge and Vahne's brother also have crafting feats without any skills to back them up. Odd what the thought process was with all the NPCs in the area.
The smite bonus would only work for one single hit against the same opponent, outside of that it drops to +6. The Paladin would do the exact same damage if he'd just stand there, full attack and hit with two attacks (which is a likely prospect, given the attack bonus you get from Smite Evil and compare it to average monster AC's at that level.
Sure, the high damage numbers on single hits look great, but given that you need to invest up to four feats to keep your mobile combat competitive (Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, Greater Vital Strike and Mythic Vital Strike) and Paladins only get very few feats (and have limited uses of Smite Evil, too), I don't see it as inherently superior to normal combat. It's a pretty hefty investment for that class.
Given how you can spend mythic power in many ways to get extra move actions, it falls further down in power level. Not to mention that the damage output is laughable when compared to what casters will do later on.
An unrelated question -
He moved off to an area he knew was relatively safe and sheltered, and used Wild Arcana to cast Summon Accuser. He used the Summoned Accuser Devil and its not inconsiderable stealth abilities in conjunction with its ability to transfer large amount of knowledge in a single round with a touch to scout around the grounds of the Citadel and a short ways inside.
To make a long story short, he ran into a number of locked doors he could not get past, but he made it up to the landing where the Mythic Chimera was guarding a large pile of treasure. The Devil reported in and the Wizard gave him instructions to grab a small piece of it. During the attempted robbery the Chimera's Scent ability picked up the nearby Accuser Devil. When it could not find the Devil who teleported away the following round, he became enraged and took wing. At this point he spotted the army just as they were mopping up the Schirs on the hill to the east and flew down to intervene. The Paladins wisely backed off and let the party deal with the incoming beast.
The Wizard, seeing that he had provoked the thing gave the Accuser Devil instructions to teleport back and load everything into the Bag of Holding that was sitting with the treasure, then hastened off to help the party with the Chimera. Not thinking that he should be discreet in his dealings with his master, after he had loaded the bag with goods the Accuser Devil teleported to the party to present them with a pile of treasure he had stolen for them.
Now, if you are paying attention, this basically put a Lawful Evil creature under the nose of the party Paladin in front of an army of Paladins, and it's increadibly obvious considering who he gave the treasure to that he was summoned by that person to do his bidding.
We have not resolved this yet. In fact the session ended with me just totaling up the loot and having the party write it down, so there was no roleplay here at all. In our next session I intend to ask the party Paladin what he plans to do about one of his travelling companions summoning and consorting with Devils.
So after that long winded explanation, how much leeway should I give the Paladin here, and what sort of response should I expect? Summoning the creature was obviously an evil act, and the Paladin is not likely to stand for it again, but I don't think it's worthy of serious punishment especially since it yielded some valuable intel. At the same time, if he lets it slide completely I might be a bit upset at the lack of roleplay. This Paladin is very severe in a number of ways, so it seems like a thing he should probably be upset about in some way.
TL;DR - The party Wizard used an army combat as a distraction to summon an evil outsider to scout the Citadel. A series of events lead the outsider in question to appear right in front of the party Paladin and the army of Paladins and very obviously give away who he was working for. How should this be handled?