Someone please tell me I am reading the Champion's Blowback ability wrong. Unless I am mistaken, as written I could cast Shrink on a Halfling monk, making him Tiny-sized. Then said Halfling could run/sneak/fly/etc. up to a Great Wyrm (Colossal-sized) and he could "ninja-kick" the dragon using A standard action and spending a use of mythic power to activate Blowback and launch the dragon 10ft per Mythic Tier. Does any one else think that this is a little too powerful, even for a Mythic character?
Although the idea of a 1ft tall halfling launching a 90ft red dragon 100ft into the wall of its own lair is rather amusing.
I'm not sure what the halfling's size has to do with it (other than the amusement factor), but yes, that's possible.
My problem with it is I think there should be some kind of size limit to the ability. For example, +/-10ft from the distance moved for every size-category difference beyond the first.
Thus a medium size creature gains +10ft of distance for smacking a Tiny creature, but loses 10ft of distance against a Huge creature.
It is Mythic .. Mythic!
Other way around a colossal dragon can fail to bull rush a fighter .. without Mythic.
My problem with it is I think there should be some kind of size limit to the ability. For example, +/-10ft from the distance moved for every size-category difference beyond the first.
Thus a medium size creature gains +10ft of distance for smacking a Tiny creature, but loses 10ft of distance against a Huge creature.
The problem is you're targeting a cool but not optimal ability for adding rules to it to make it more work for possibly less benefit. It's situational in that sometimes sending someone 10-100 feet away or adding an extra 1-10d6 damage is really important, but overall it kind of pales next to a most of the other uses for mythic power.
I guess it does not make a great deal of sense but this is mythic, someone already used blowback to knock physics out the window and it looked awesome, there was flying glass and a whoosh sound and the wind whipped everyone's hair around and physics had this look on his face while shouting "This can't be happenin..." I don't even know how it ended because then there was a splat.
Which is good because otherwise physics was going to make all the dragons and giants and most of the large sized creatures crush their legs under their own weight if they ever stood up.
Heh I had a question about this one too, tho I'm kinda leaning to, "Yknow what, all the mythic abilities are a little nutty." If you did wanna make some sorta rule maybe:
Initial knockback is determined with your size vs the target's size. For each size increment greater the blowback distance is...(halved?), so if you're medium and target is large, and you're tier 8, instead of 80 feet that's 40 feet. 20 feet for a Huge, 10 for a colossal, etc. Though it does nerf it pretty hard.
Please, please, please, I urge every GM out there to NOT nerf this ability in any way. It is not mechanically the strongest ability out there, but situationally it represents sheer awesome:
Thoro swore quietly to himself as the immense dragon wheeled around for another pass. His friends had scattered, some fleeing in fear, others just trying to keep out of reach of the fiery breath the monster could unleash.
Readying his massive axe, the dwarf yelled his defiance at the wyrm. "Come on, ye great fat gecko! I got yer precious 'hoard' right here," he patted the pouch containing the group's precious magical hole, in which they had hurriedly piled a fair portion of the dragon's wealth. "Come'n get it back!"
Bat-like wings snapped against the dragon's body as it whipped into a controlled dive, arrowing straight for the tiny foe who dared to taunt it. It opened its massive jaws as it bore down on the insignificant warrior who had dared challenge it.
Thoro stood his ground as the cavernous mouth grew closer and closer, years of experience battling all manner of monsters allowing him to remain firm in the face of such a terrifying sight. He drew upon the wellspring of his power, the mighty gifts the gods had granted him to battle on the side of light. If he timed this just right...
WHAM!
His friends watched in awe as the axe swung, the head connecting with the dragon's jaw an instant before it would have torn the dwarf in two. The dragon's neck snapped up with the force of the blow, and the dragon somersaulted away, crashing into the ground, its massive body snapping trees like twigs as it fell.
For an instant, nothing moved and Thoro grinned viciously. "Plenty more where that came from. Wanna try it again?"
Good luck sneaking up on that Great Wyrm...
Does any one else think that this is a little too powerful, even for a Mythic character?
Pretty sure the entire point of Mythic was that NOTHING is too powerful for a Mythic character.
In a way its why I wonder about the way Mythic is mixed in with 'normal' progression. As a GM you're already concerned about gang focusing on a BBEG by a party. If you're running part of the "1/3rd of encounters should be non-mythic" you almost need to make them noncombat because otherwise the application of some of the mythic stuff vs non-mythic foes vastly changes stuff.
Hah, BBEG, I shoot him and he goes flying 60 feet, no save :)
The party is supposed to beat the snot out of non-mythic foes, especially after two tiers or so. No, blowback is nothing in the scheme of mythic abilities.
Which makes the "1/3rd of encounters should be non-mythic" almost intended to be "Not combat" or "Free XP/lewt".
Not every combat is supposed to be challenging. In fact, many are supposed to be below APL in CR.
And blowback doesn't destroy every non-mythic encounter. There are plenty of ways to challenge a mythic party with non-mythic creatures. For starters, you could use bigger, nastier creatures. Alternately, use more of them.
But don't rob mythic heroes of their awesomeness. Otherwise, you're just running mythic as another set of feats and rules instead of what it was designed to represent--larger than life heroes beyond mortal reckoning and worthy of sonnets and hushed tales, who shoot lightning bolts out of their arses and belch dragons unconscious (okay, that last bit is getting a bit carried away...).