So I started this game a couple weeks back, and my PCs are hitting the Grey Garrison this weekend. So far, the adventure as written has been really easy, so I'm tweaking a lot of stats and combining a few encounters to simultaneously result in fewer encounters and more challenging ones (for example, the PCs will be fighting the oracle boss and the fiendish minotaur at the same time, with the oracle lowered to level 6 and tweaked to be more supportive). In any case, the adventure has already been pretty easy for my PCs, and I've heard it just gets easier after Mythic. I don't care about tweaking stuff - in fact, I welcome the chance to put a personal touch on the AP (and I'm going to be rewriting book four entirely to have the PCs going to Avernus instead of the Midnight Isles and allying with Barbatos). What have the biggest pitfalls of this AP and mythic PCs been?
In case it matters, here is the party I am working with...
- Paladin. Uses a greatsword (Radiance was changed to a greatsword in this AP). Player doesn't have the strongest system mastery. I am giving her some build advice, but not totally railroading her character.
- Investigator. Not sure what to expect from this guy. He understand the system better than most of my players, but likes to play jacks of all trades, and will probably end up spreading himself kind of thin. He also has a tendency to find a specific gimmick to exploit that makes him formidable, but usually not game-breaking. Shooting for Trickster
- Wizard, specialized in abjuration, with evocation and necromancy as disabled schools. Also likes conjuration and illusion. This guy probably has the strongest system mastery, and is usually the one I need to watch out for. He pretty much always plays a wizard, and likes to load up on save-or-suck spells and battlefield control. Obviously aiming for archmage.
- Inquisitor. This guy seems to know what he's doing, more or less. I'm not entirely sure what he's going for, but so far he's been competently versatile.
- Ranger. Favored enemy is demons, of course. Going for archery. This guy is a veteran player, but still tends to rely on more system savvy players for build advice. He's had hilariously bad luck with his attack rolls so far.
We are also using a handful of house rules. The biggest potential game changers is probably that we're using the Wounds/Vigor system from ultimate combat, as well as the expanded rules for called shots. I've tweaked a couple feats, most notably weapon finesse (the common house rule that weapons are finessable without the feat. In this game, the feat lets you use int bonus for damage, but it counts as precision damage) and precise shot (the feat doesn't exist. It's benefits apply within 30 ft if you have point blank shot, and at all ranges if you have far shot).
Finally, we're blowing through it a little faster than usual. We've cut out xp and PCs are just leveling at specific points. As such, I'm cutting out most combat encounters that aren't related to the narrative and don't include appreciable loot.
Switch out Mythic and just give them regenerating Hero Points. It's less complex and not as overpowered but still gives many of the same benefits. And have the Hero Points start at 3, and then go +1 per Mythic Tier. (Don't give any of the other Mythic abilities, though you might allow +1 to any stat per tier.)
I think I'll loose half my group if I do that. One of the reasons they wanted this AP was because they wanted to try out mythic characters.
These sorts of questions are near and dear to my heart as well, though I'm not as far along (we only manage to play once a month or so, and we're online, so the party just made it above ground again this weekend).
My biggest step, so far, has been to be prepared to adjust on the fly. I've reduced some enemies in power as I've realize the adjustments I'd made were too much, and I'm prepared to go the other way. I've also said flat out that if we get a TPK due to me making a mistake in encounter adjustment, then we rewind that.
Most everything has been pretty easy for my party so far as well. One thing I know I need to do is challenge the back line some; the two frontliners have been taking almost all the hits. Not that I've had a lot of ranged attackers so far; I'll need to adjust that.
Okay. Suggestion #1: Have a +1 stat increase for each Mythic Tier, instead of a +2 every other Tier.
Suggestion #2: Tell players that if they do not want to use Mythic or find Mythic too confusing, you'll allow them to use Hero Points (as I suggested above); the Hero Points should help them remain viable compared to the Mythic characters.
Suggestion #3: Don't allow certain Mythic Feats, such as Mythic Power Attack, Mythic Vital Strike, or the Mythic Critical line of feats.
Suggestion #4: The mythic ability Fleet Charge should become a Move Action. The Archmage abilities Wild Arcana and Arcane Surge should be Standard actions.
That should fix the worse of it. Things will get overpowered despite those fixes in all likelihood, and once you're partway into the third book you might want to combine encounters to increase the threat factor - otherwise it risks being a cake-walk. There are other threads concerning Mythic with good advice in the WotR section of the forums that I recommend reading.
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Look I don't have the time right now, but I have answered this question quite a number of times already, just searching in my posts should find you answer.
Sorry if this sounds rude, but the answer to that particular question is usually quite long. And remember 5 players are substantially more powerful than 4.
they should really put a Sticky on one of these "How to Balance Mythic Adventures with Wrath of The Righteous" threads, or better yet Scorpions thread on tougher opponents:)
The Archmage abilities Wild Arcana and Arcane Surge should be Standard actions.
Not sure if this is the right place for it, but I had a thought about the whole wild arcana/inspired spell issue, and wanted to know what everyone thought:
Both are activated with a swift action. However, they don't actually cast the spell, but instead give you access to the spell to begin casting that turn. In that way, for the average spell that uses a standard action, you'd spend swift and standard actions, plus a mythic power. This also deals with longer cast-time spells suddenly becoming standard actions, though it has issues with swift-action speed spells. What do you think?
Longer cast spells cannot already be cast via those abilities. They both effect spells with a casting time of standard action.
My limit on those abilities would be that you can only cast a spell with them equal to your tier or half of your tier... whichever flavor of power level a GM wishes for.