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So I've been gearing up for a new campaign in a few months and, as part of it, I've been doing my due diligence in figuring out what I want to make a part if it and what I do not. One of my players has been dying to try the mythic rules and I wasn't opposed to it initially. However, I've read some anecdotal reviews of the system that seem to cast it as "completely broken". For example, one poster talked about how he routinely vital strikes for quadrupedal digit damage. Another described it as "D&D meets DBZ". Are these accurate, or hyperbole? I figure the system has been out for over a year now so some of the launch "grar" has passed, so I'm hoping for rational appraisals from people have used it for a while.
As a note, I was hoping to use the system so the PCs were more like the immortals from Highlander or the demigods from Greek myth; basically humans with a little extra. I really wasn't looking for Dragon Ball Z.
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It depends on how many mythic levels you give 'em. I'm running a campaign right now where the PCs have a single mythic level and while it certainly makes them more powerful, they are still challenged by some fights.
I would recommend playtesting a few combats with some folks with varying mythic levels to get a feel for what kind of power level you want.
So I've been gearing up for a new campaign in a few months and, as part of it, I've been doing my due diligence in figuring out what I want to make a part if it and what I do not. One of my players has been dying to try the mythic rules and I wasn't opposed to it initially. However, I've read some anecdotal reviews of the system that seem to cast it as "completely broken". For example, one poster talked about how he routinely vital strikes for quadrupedal digit damage. Another described it as "D&D meets DBZ". Are these accurate, or hyperbole? I figure the system has been out for over a year now so some of the launch "grar" has passed, so I'm hoping for rational appraisals from people have used it for a while.
As a note, I was hoping to use the system so the PCs were more like the immortals from Highlander or the demigods from Greek myth; basically humans with a little extra. I really wasn't looking for Dragon Ball Z.
At level 10, PCs are not like the immortals from Highlanders or the Demigods from Greek myth. They could curb stomp those people effortlessly while surviving a fall from the stratosphere. You need to calibrate your expectations of what high level PCs are capable of, particularly with mythic. A level 6 character with Mythic will feel like what you are looking for, a level 10 character will not. And the game would be better balanced if higher level martials with mythic were more "DBZ" since spellcasters are already basically superheroes once the levels hit double digits.
I played the complete Wrath of the Righteous with three players where we were Half-Celestial in order to compensate for being one player short. I DMed a pair of players thru Reign of Winter, where I gave them Mythic to compensate for being a pair.
In both experiences, things were balanced for the first three to six levels of Mythic. We were slightly bumped for the first level to three levels of Mythic. From 3 to 6, we were beyond any foe. At level 10, we had one player one shot the end game boss. Simply put, by the time you are Mythic rank 10, you are near godhood. Weapons can easily bypass all damage reduction, movement rates become nearly inconsequential, spells become far more advanced and deadly, etc.
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At level 10, PCs are not like the immortals from Highlanders or the Demigods from Greek myth. They could curb stomp those people effortlessly while surviving a fall from the stratosphere. You need to calibrate your expectations of what high level PCs are capable of, particularly with mythic. A level 6 character with Mythic will feel like what you are looking for, a level 10 character will not. And the game would be better balanced if higher level martials with mythic were more "DBZ" since spellcasters are already basically superheroes once the levels hit double digits.So I've been gearing up for a new campaign in a few months and, as part of it, I've been doing my due diligence in figuring out what I want to make a part if it and what I do not. One of my players has been dying to try the mythic rules and I wasn't opposed to it initially. However, I've read some anecdotal reviews of the system that seem to cast it as "completely broken". For example, one poster talked about how he routinely vital strikes for quadrupedal digit damage. Another described it as "D&D meets DBZ". Are these accurate, or hyperbole? I figure the system has been out for over a year now so some of the launch "grar" has passed, so I'm hoping for rational appraisals from people have used it for a while.
As a note, I was hoping to use the system so the PCs were more like the immortals from Highlander or the demigods from Greek myth; basically humans with a little extra. I really wasn't looking for Dragon Ball Z.
Fair enough, I should have mentioned that I was planing on capping the game at somewhere around 9-11 level.
I've GMed and played with the Mythic Rules. In general my opinion is to not use them until the PC's are above 15th level. I am running a Rappan Athuk game and our group agreed not to use Mythic until level 20. So your opinion may vary, but that is how I feel. I cannot at this time give you specific instances that showed me how broken it was, but basically I had to make the monsters Mythic in order to challenge the party.
LazarX, you are welcome to your opinion. However, I have decided not to use it at lower levels. I may not use it at all in RA.
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I played the complete Wrath of the Righteous with three players where we were Half-Celestial in order to compensate for being one player short. I DMed a pair of players thru Reign of Winter, where I gave them Mythic to compensate for being a pair.
In both experiences, things were balanced for the first three to six levels of Mythic. We were slightly bumped for the first level to three levels of Mythic. From 3 to 6, we were beyond any foe. At level 10, we had one player one shot the end game boss. Simply put, by the time you are Mythic rank 10, you are near godhood. Weapons can easily bypass all damage reduction, movement rates become nearly inconsequential, spells become far more advanced and deadly, etc.
So basically keep it below tier 3 to keep things from going bananas? Also, what particular aspect of the mythic system did you find were the most powerful (i.e. Mythic Feats, Powers, Spells, et cetera)?
Yes, yes and yes to answer which parts of mythic are most powerful. That doesn't answer much as the mythic rules aren't even balanced within themselves.
I banned mythic vital strike, legendary weapons and a few other things to keep damage more manageable. And even then, you can't run monsters or the AP as written.
MY experience is also based on actual play results. You have the right to play your way and I have the right to play my way. Neither way is right or wrong just different. So don't get on your high horse and try telling me how to play my game.
In my experience, mythic for 1/2 casters and martials brings them up to par with full castors of the same level. The ability to add an attack as a swift, to boost hp a little, or to gain a combat feat is balanced by the limited pool and resource cost of activating a mythic point. (My own mythic ninja/gunslinger had too many swift action options actually, grit/ki/mythic meant I was forced to pick and choose).
Castors on the other hand, have the ability to cast literally any spell on their list and at a higher tier without needing to know it as a swift action before their standard. This can make dragon disciples insanely powerful, it also means you as GM can never really limit a castor again. With the abilities to make crafting faster and easier, to increase DC's or cast spells from other lists, to mythic or free metamagics, full castors even at first level are really powerful and need to be balanced by players and GM's coming to an agreement ahead of time.
My own players are doing character 10/mythic 1. The dragon disciple and magus can kill any one thing with a single spell, so I send in mooks to compensate. We have also discussed that they must have GM permission to cast certain new spells (at one level higher than the highest they can cast 0_o). They know I might veto mythic powers after selection as we are still feeling them out and seeking balance with player, party, and GM desires.
As for fun, yes mythic is very fun to play and very fun to manage as a GM, use with caution and discuss with your players ahead of time.
OP
first off, man, read up on anything that you would even consider using in your campaign before making a decision
Right now, my group is nearing the end of book 4 in a long Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition campaign. Wayyyyy back when Mythic was first introduced as a playtest, our GM chose to include it in the campaign.
As of right now, we are all level 11 and have two levels of mythic as well.
Honestly, it has caused a lot of problems for our GM with game balance. At first, he had a hard time adjusting to how brutally we were destroying encounters. Then it swung the other way, with virtually every encounter he had tried to rewrite nearly killing one or all of our characters. It's been pretty much that way ever since.
All in all, it's caused a LOT more work for our GM and has introduced some aspects into the game that have caused frustration for him and for us as players. If we had it to do over again, we would most likely have not included it.
That being said, they are cool rules that can really do some amazing stuff. But know what you're getting into, OP. Even just a level or two of mythic can drastically change the abilities and power level of a character.
At 2nd level Mythic, Amazing Initiative gives players a very powerful ability. This gives players another Standard Action for each Mythic Power. This is in addition to whatever each Path gets for abilities. If I were wanting to give the players a little boost and I decided on Mythic, I'd just give them level 1 Mythic. This opens up powerful items and one or two abilities.
I've discussed with my normal group, and we've decided (players included) that we won't play Mythic again unless the campaign is designed from the start for Mythic. I may give it a shot again someday, as Wrath was exciting to GM, but by late game characters are just insanely powerful.
I had considered using Mythic in my game to punch up the cinematic action. But after reading the book and hearing commentary from other players, I went with a variation on the Hero Points system instead. (Basically, normal rules, plus an extra Hero Point that can be used once per play session.)
In my opinion, mythis is fun but has a bit too heavy of an impact on the game. Monsters simply can't stand up to mythic characters. Also, there is a huge rocket tag problem because players tends to gravitate towards offense rather than defense.
Due to my experince with mythic in WotR, I would suggest that you abandon the standard tier system. Rather than the benefits that a character would gain with a tier just let them pick a (non overpowered) mythic power and give them a level's worth of bonus hit points. Maybe give them a few of the survival powers from teir 1 for free. Ban both mythic feats and spells, and ignore mythic path restrictions since they can't pick dual path.
This way you gain a lot of the fun of mythic without all the crazy (and unnecessary) fiddly bits like +10 worth of stat boosts, extra standard actions, and essentially unlimited spells per day.
Seriously, we had so many resouces that our GM made us play through all of book 5's major encounters in WotR without a single rest to regain spells/abilities.
Mythic works great but keep in mind it magnifies all the problems of high level play. So if you struggle with high level play this just makes it even harder. Another thing is single BBEG encounter don't work well as it is and mythic just makes them even easier due to action economy.
If I were to run mythic again I start with lower stats. No rolling 15 point buy maybe even 10 point buy. I'd cap it at 12th and use the slow experience progression. Between gaining level and mythic tiers there should be more than enough rewards to keep the players happy.
Wealth would be limited and magic items harder to come by. No magic shop for example and crafting items would require rare components that would send the party in search of things for them to craft with or to allow a npc to do it for them.
The world would be filled mythic creatures. Basically they wouldn't be rare but they wouldn't be obvious either.
Actually, I'd ask: are you running a premade campaign path or making something of your own?
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Actually, I'd ask: are you running a premade campaign path or making something of your own?
I'm rolling my own campaign so I can at least dial in to fix problems. I've found that even minor changes to power levels can shatter an AP so I can't even imagine trying to retrofit Mythic on a AP not designed to handle it.
I plan on running m6 at some point. I think m6 could be really well done.