Mythic Power Question

[jlighter]

So I just had this come up in a game I was running. While it is defined as a Swift Action for some uses of Mythic Power, what kind of actual action is entailed? I'm curious because my player used the Fast Healing Guardian power under the assumption that expending Mythic Power wasn't a visible action, or was more an action like taking a deep breath and wasn't exactly identifiable. I treated it a little bit more like spellcasting, and while I gave him a Stealth roll to conceal it, the NPC who distrusted magic made his Perception to see him do whatever he did. I'm just curious about the opinion of what using Mythic Power actually entails. Is it more along the lines of what he said, and not readily observable, or is it more obvious, like an invocation to a god?

[blahpers]

That's up to the GM. How visible is a rakshasa's ability to detect thoughts, or a witch's evil eye?

[Wycen]

Fast Healing (Ex)

As a swift action, you can expend one use of mythic power to gain fast healing 5 for 1 minute. This ability can be taken a second time at 3rd tier or higher and a third time at 6th tier or higher. Each additional time you take this ability, the fast healing increases by 5.

The (Ex) tells us what type of ability (besides mythic) it is.

Extraordinary Abilities (Ex)

These abilities cannot be disrupted in combat, as spells can, and they generally do not provoke attacks of opportunity. Effects or areas that negate or disrupt magic have no effect on extraordinary abilities. They are not subject to dispelling, and they function normally in an antimagic field. Indeed, extraordinary abilities do not qualify as magical, though they may break the laws of physics.

Based on this, it would be my ruling that he could expend the mythic power point and would start healing and non-mythic creatures/people wouldn't have any idea it was happening. A mythic being on the other hand, might know something was up, but this is not a spell or spell like ability, so maybe after a few rounds of observation they could try to perceive the mythic healing was working.

[Eridan]

The 'Fast healing' ability requires a swift action. Swift actions are free action but limited to one per round. Free actions require only a small amount of time and visible effects / components are not necessarily needed.

By RAW nobody can see the useage of mythic power but the results can be visible (in your example the fast healing ability).

Houserule on my table:
Every usage of mythic power requires a special expression, gestures, a quick prayer etc. to show that is something special (like Cap. Buzz Lightyear is saying 'To infinity... and beyond').

Another Houserule i know:
Mortals can not see the useage of mythic power but other mythic creatures can see/feel/smell it. It is an adventure with 'Highlander' background where mythic creatures hunt each other to get more power. So it can be very dangerous to use mythic power ..

[jlighter]

The issue I'm running into is that it is not RAW that nobody can see the use. It is stated to be a Swift Extraordinary action. Nothing says those are invisible, and none of the Free/Swift actions I looked at were expressly invisible; they were predominately the opposite. The only one that might be was "Cease Concentration on a Spell," which would still probably be a visible change in attitude or expression, since concentration is a standard action. I'm not talking about provoking an attack of opportunity, or provoking a readied action, or being able to interfere with the action. I'm purely talking about noticing that something has taken place (whatever mumbled words or furrowed brow or whatever) and connecting that with the visible effect of wounds closing from fast healing. Think something akin to an interrogation/punishment scenario.

Detailed Scenario; S&S Spoilers:

So the player is running solo through Skull & Shackles, and I granted him mythic power to roughly balance it. I'll e adjusting along the way. During the post-storm after day 8, the character passed out from exhaustion and was subsequently to be lashed during Bloody Hour. I rolled Stealth for the character when he said he was using his Fast Healing power, opposed by Perception from Scourge and Plugg. Scourge missed the activation, but subsequently noticed the effect of Fast Healing. Plug saw the action, and put 2 and 2 together to assume that it was some kind of spell. When challenged about it, the character Bluffed (14) against Plugg's Sense Motive (Crit). For lying, the lashes were doubled. The player then raised a question about how Plugg had seen it, and we stopped there.

[blahpers]

The rules often do not cover whether an action is visible, leaving that to either obvious inference (in the case of casting a spell with verbal and somatic components) or the GM to adjudicate. In one campaign, an ancestor oracle might loudly beseech her ancestors to send forth her family's sacred weapon; in another, using ancestral weapon might simply cause the weapon to *pop* into being, suitable for use with Stealth.

There is no RAW on how visible mythic actions are. Since the mechanic in question is a mythic power, it's even more in the land of "GM discretion" than anything else--the GM decides pretty much everything about how mythic power works in a campaign, including how one acquires it and what makes it work. I doubt you're going to get any official clarification on this one.

The way you ran it is just fine, even given that we know nothing about how mythic power works in your campaign. The only advice I can give is to write down any rules you make as you go and apply them consistently. Players appreciate knowing that Magic A is Magic A.