Spellbreaker question

[Wakrob]

I have a two handed weapon called Spellbreaker. I believe it is from WoTR AP5.

The end of the text says,
'If the bane has the Mythic trait add 1d10 to the check, or 1d20 if a Mythic Charge is expended.'

Now does this mean if you are expending a Mythic charge during the attempt you get a free upgrade to a d20 -OR- does it mean you have to spend a Mythic Charge for that upgrade?

While I feel it reads the second way, that seems like very redundant text since that is what spending a Mythic Charge generally does anyway.

Wakrob

[Frencois]

Nice one indeed. Would be clearer if written something like:
'If the bane has the Mythic trait add 1d10 to the check, or you can expend a mythic charge to add 1d20 instead.'
or (for the reverse effect) :
'If the bane has the Mythic trait add 1d10 to the check, or 1d20 if at least one Mythic Charge is expended on that check.'

The way it's written I tend to agree you can read it both ways.

Until proven guilty by Vic/Mike, I tend to promote the less favorable (for the player) reading.

[skizzerz]

I think that it gives you a free bump from a d10 to a d20 if you spent a mythic charge on the check for some other purpose. If it wanted you to spend a mythic charge to get the bump, the templating would have been different (e.g. "If the bane has the Mythic trait add 1d10 to the check; you may expend a Mythic Charge to add 1d20 to the check instead"). As a result, I'm mostly confident that this is just a free bump if a charge was spent doing something else (like bumping up some other die to a d20, or because you played some other card that required expending charges, or because the bane had a Before You Act power that made you expend charges).

Even if it was the second case however, it can still be better than simply spending a Mythic Charge normally on the check. First, it could be a check you're not able to spend mythic charges on because it doesn't match your path. Second, your path ability replaces the highest dice with d20s, so if you're rolling d12s boosting a d10 to a d20 is better than boosting a d12 to a d20.

That said, the wording is definitely confusing.

[Vic Wertz]

The text as quoted above isn't accurate. It actually says:

"For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6+3; you may additionally discard this card to add another 1d6+3. If the bane has the Mythic trait, add another 1d10, or 1d20 if you also expend a mythic charge."

Breaking that down:

"For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6+3" happens during the Determine Which Skill You're Using action.

"...You may additionally discard this card to add another 1d6+3. If the bane has the Mythic trait, add another 1d10, or 1d20 if you also expend a mythic charge" all happens during the "Play Cards and Use Powers" action.

And if I want to use my regular mythic power, that happens during the "Assemble Your Dice" action.

So let's say I have Melee d10+2. When I reveal the card for my combat check, I now have 1d10+1d6+5.

Now let's say it's a Mythic bane and I discard the card and expend a mythic charge. Now I have 1d20+1d10+2d6+8.

Now I want to expend another charge to fire off my Mythic power, which says "when you assemble your dice, for each charge expended, replace 1 of your highest non-d20 dice with a d20." So for one more charge, my d10 turns into a second d20.