Mythic Advancement: Everything you need to play and GM for levels 21-25

[manbearscientist]

This 86 page homebrew book, Mythic Advancement, is all about extending Pathfinder Second Edition's gameplay beyond level 20 to the new mythic level range of 21 to 25. D&D 3.5 players may recall a similar approach called 'Epic Levels', but unlike these rules and the mythic system from 1st Edition Pathfinder, this book attempts to create a balanced extension of 2nd Edition Pathfinder's balanced math and functional action economy (I.E., still be just as playable as a game as earlier levels of 2nd Edition).

It contains:

expanded level progressions for all currently existing classes, including APG classes

guidelines to follow to convert spellcasting archetypes, animal companions, and future classes

new rules for legendary items, including the ability to create your own artifacts

89 new mythic feats (based on mythic path abilities from 1st Edition)

New rules for heightening spells to mythic levels

New heightening effects for 92 spells and rituals

GMing tools for developing and running mythic campaigns, both the intended post-20 mythic campaigns and lower-level variants

Rules for incorporating mythic rules with: relics, lower-leveled variant mythic games, victory points, influence, research, reputation, leadership, hexploration, ability score variants, (pause for breath), dual-class PCs, free archetype PCs, ancestry paragon PCs, simplified ancestry PCs, simplified skill feat PCs, automatic bonus progression, high-quality magic item variants, proficiency without level, skill points, and stamina

Expanded tables for creature creation, including progressions up to level 30 and along with rules for building NPCs (including APG classes) and Hazards

A few examples of mythic creatures including such staples as the Whispering Tyrant and Baba Yaga herself

The philosophy behind this book is simple: keep things balanced, and keep things viable. If a character likes using fireball, they can keep casting it from level 21 to 25 without becoming obsolete by mythic heightening the spell. Likewise, if they have a favorite item, they can make that item a legendary item and eventually an artifact. This book did not set out to give a bunch of new splashy mythic abilities that would make previous aspects of the game redundant or unnecessary. There's no super 11th level wish, no better than capstone level 22 class feat.

In general, mythic abilities were only brought over if they:

could be modeled as a baseline fortune or misfortune effect (advantage and disadvantage for D&D 5E fans)

did something cool, unique, or splashy

didn't simply bully non-mythic enemies while being useless against real threats

didn't break the action economy

didn't give automatic 20s

I welcome people expanding on this and homebrewing their own mythic feats, spells, or creatures but I recommend sticking to these restrictions.

[Undraxis]

OOOooo...me likey very much...my players are getting restless at level 20....

EDIT: crap, wont load past the first cover page >.<

[Shisumo]

Undraxis wrote:

EDIT: crap, wont load past the first cover page >.<

Same.

[manbearscientist]

It looks like it got corrupted when I put on Google Drive. I'll reload tomorrow and hopefully it will be fixed up.

[manbearscientist]

This link should work.

[FowlJ]

This is a pretty cool conversion of the mythic rules, I like it.

One problem I would say that it inherits from the 1e mythic rules, though, is asking you to pick between things that are cool and things that are good.

Like, 'you never age' is cool. But it won't actually have a gameplay effect in many campaigns, and it's being valued at the same level as 'you can fly forever' or 'your animal companion gets resistance 10 to most damage types' or 'your attacks ignore 10 resistance and deal extra damage of any material/alignment for the purpose of triggering weaknesses'.

Giving a boost to minor abilities like that (or folding them into similar abilities like Beyond Mortal Needs) would be a nice improvement - as well as maybe bringing down some of the more powerful feats a touch, though I haven't gone over all of them in detail.

[Moppy]

Whoah this is amazing.

I prefer my mythic as pure extra levels and not keen on mythic being points over a base level (there's a Mythic 6 monster in your book) but since 1E Mythic worked like that I see why you did it.

I would have put a kaiju in the book. I think they're the highest level things I've heard whispered about, CR 30 or so according to one of the devs on here?

[Perpdepog]

Moppy wrote:

Whoah this is amazing.

I prefer my mythic as pure extra levels and not keen on mythic being points over a base level (there's a Mythic 6 monster in your book) but since 1E Mythic worked like that I see why you did it.

I would have put a kaiju in the book. I think they're the highest level things I've heard whispered about, CR 30 or so according to one of the devs on here?

I think there was one kaiju that was CR30. Varclops or something like that ... King Gidora, basically. Also, CTHULHU! Not a kaiju, but still.

I wanna fight Cthulhu someday.

[Moppy]

Cthulhu got blown up once already. Today we refer to the event as the Big Bang.

[manbearscientist]

For a Kaiju statblock, here's Varklops (path: brute)

Varklops Creature 30
Unique CE Gargantuan Beast Fire Kaiju
Perception +53; darkvision, tremorsense (imprecise) 300 feet
Languages Ignan; Can't speak any language
Skills Acrobatics +53, Athletics +57
Str +17, Dex +10, Con +16, Int -4, Wis +10, Cha +8

AC 61 Fort +57, Ref +44, Will +45, +2 status bonus to all saves vs magic
HP 700 (fast healing 70); Immunities clumsy, disease, drained, enfeebled, fire, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poison, polymorph, stupefied; Resistances physical 30, acid 30, electricity 30, negative energy 30, sonic 30
Weaknesses cold 30
Massive - Varklops can only be flanked by Huge or larger foes.
Inexorable Varklops recovers from the slowed and stunned conditions at the end of its turn. It’s also immune to penalties to its Speeds, and it ignores difficult terrain and greater difficult terrain.
Multiple Opportunities - Varklops gains two additional reactions each turn that can only be used for attack of opportunity.
Distracted When Outnumbered - While Varklops is furiously focused on slaying kaiju, his rudimentary intellect supports a surprisingly powerful and inflated sense of selfworth that crumbles when he faces overwhelming odds. In any combat round that involves two allied kaiju focusing their efforts against him, Varklops loses his kaijuslayer ability and becomes so distracted by which target to focus on that he must succeed at flat check of a 15 or become stunned 1 for that round. Non-kaiju cannot distract Varklops in this manner, even if the non-kaiju is similar in size to a kaiju.
Recovery (F) - Frequency Once per year Trigger Varklops would be reduced to 0 Hit Points Effect Varklops heals 200 Hit Points and ends all persistent damage it is suffering, but gains sickened 2 and fleeing. Any amount of damage dealt to it by an external source before it reaches its lair, though, immediately negates the sickened and fleeing conditions and allows Varklops to end its retreat and attack.
Attack of Opportunity (R)
Deflect Cold (R) - Trigger Varklops would take cold damage Effect Varklops shields himself from a cold attack by reflexively curling his wings around himself. When he uses this ability, all cold damage from that particular attack is ignored. At Varklops’s discretion, he can deflect the cold damage to any single adjacent creature, which is then instead treated as the target of the cold attack. If the cold attack was an area effect that also affected the adjacent creature, that creature does not take the cold damage twice, but does need to attempt two saving throws (if applicable) against the effect, taking the worse of the two results as the actual result and Deflect Cold gains the misfortune trait.
Mythic power (14th) - 10 uses

Speed 80 feet, burrow 60 feet, fly 200 feet
Melee > jaws +52 (chaotic, evil, magical, reach 30 feet) Damage 5d12+30 piercing plus 5d6 persistent fire damage and Hurl Foe
Melee > wings +52 (agile, chaotic, evil, magical, reach 30 feet) Damage 5d11+30 bludgeoning plus Hurl Foe
Melee > tail +52 (chaotic, evil, magical, reach 40 feet) Damage 5d12+30 piercing plus Hurl Foe
Ranged > fire bolt +52 (brutal, chaotic, evil, magical, range increment 300 feet) Damage 4d12+30 fire damage plus 5d6 persistent fire damage
Destructive Frenzy >>> Varklops makes three jaws Strikes, two wing Strikes, and one tail Strike in any order. .
Trample >>> Huge or smaller, wings, DC 55.
Breath Weapon >> Frequency once per 4 rounds Each of Varklops’s three heads can exhale a blast of searing fire and billowing ash, dealing 30d6 fire damage in a 1,200-foot line (DC 59 basic Reflex save) once every 4 rounds. Each head’s breath weapon is a separate attack with its own 4-round recharge period. Any creature that takes damage also takes 5d6 persistent fire damage.
Eruption >>> Requirements Varklops has burrowed underground and is within 60 of the surface Effect Varklops Burrows upward, and then deals 15d6 fire and 15d6 bludgeoning damage (DC 59 basic Reflex save) that knocks Huge or smaller creatures prone unless they have a success on their save. Any creature that takes damage also takes 5d6 persistent fire damage. The area is obscured for 1 minute as per fog.
Fire Monsoon >>> Varklops expends 2 uses of mythic power, and then flies up to twice his fly Speed. All creatures he passes over in flight take 30d6 fire damage (DC 59 basic reflex save). Any creature that takes damage also takes 5d6 persistent fire damage. The area he passes remains on fire, dealing 5d6 fire damage to any who enter or start their turns in those squares for the next minute.
Hurl Foe (F) Varklops knocks a creature back 20 feet. If he pushs the target into an obstacle, it takes 30 bludgeoning damage.
Kaijuslayer (F) Varklops spends 1 point of mythic power and targets a kaiju. Until the end of Varklop's turn, Varklops ignores that Kaiju's resistances to fire and physical damage. If they are immune to fire damage, they instead take half damage from any of Varklop's fire abilities.
Devastating Smash >
Surge F

[manbearscientist]

Is there enough interest for a small mythic bestiary (10ish for lower level mythic adventures a la 1E, 30-50 for higher levels)? What sorts of creatures would people like to see?

[Themetricsystem]

manbearscientist wrote:

Is there enough interest for a small mythic bestiary (10ish for lower level mythic adventures a la 1E, 30-50 for higher levels)? What sorts of creatures would people like to see?

Titans and primordial creation giants such as in Greek Mythology of an immense scale and power while being more or less fundamentally humanoid instead of monstrous. You can intermix this with the whole Attack on Titan style creatures as well if keeping it lore agnostic is important but the idea is truly immense creatures that look and behave more or less like humanoids.

Living geographical features such as actual mountain ranges that are actually trolls/giants, sea creatures so immense they are mistaken for and function as Islands, sections of old-growth trees and moss-covered hillocks in a forest that are actually the skin and hair of immense buried Treants that are tens of thousands of years old, and inland lakes that are literally just resting Water Elementals lying down in a valley or even a miles wide Thunderstorm Cloud that never dissipates and is actually an ancient Air Elemental.

Also, the inexplicably flying, jet-black, an immense monolith of solid stone that appears and disappears in a moment that emits invisible mental influence on those in the vicinity and is also capable of sonic/force attacks.

A disembodied human fist a quarter-mile across made of living metal that can fly and smash anything in its path like Master Hand.

[Sharrakor]

The timing of this absolutely excellent because I've been planning on converting Wrath of the Righteous (or, at least, the last two books) to PF2E. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

manbearscientist wrote:

Is there enough interest for a small mythic bestiary (10ish for lower level mythic adventures a la 1E, 30-50 for higher levels)? What sorts of creatures would people like to see?

I absolutely would love to see this. Is there any chances you could be convinced to do a couple of demon lords?

Also: I just want to make sure I'm reading the document correctly. With Mythic Power, is the only way to regain expended uses by completing a Mythic Boon? Or is it intended to be a pool of points that are refreshed each day? It's a bit unclear at the moment.

[manbearscientist]

Sharrakor wrote:

The timing of this absolutely excellent because I've been planning on converting Wrath of the Righteous (or, at least, the last two books) to PF2E. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

manbearscientist wrote:

Is there enough interest for a small mythic bestiary (10ish for lower level mythic adventures a la 1E, 30-50 for higher levels)? What sorts of creatures would people like to see?

I absolutely would love to see this. Is there any chances you could be convinced to do a couple of demon lords?

Also: I just want to make sure I'm reading the document correctly. With Mythic Power, is the only way to regain expended uses by completing a Mythic Boon? Or is it intended to be a pool of points that are refreshed each day? It's a bit unclear at the moment.

It refreshes during daily preparations.

[Ched Greyfell]

I'm cracking up over "Cover Artist: None". "
Director of Game Design: None."

This looks really good. As others have said, this could help me run WotR for PF2.

I'm looking thru the document trying to find what "mythic proficiency" level is. I can't find it anywhere. Is it level + 10 or what?

[manbearscientist]

Ah yes, its level + 10.

[Justpassingthrough]

This is honestly incredible. It is not perfect, and there are some things that I would have done differently*, but I can see just how much time and effort went into this conversion, and how much you did to keep things balanced. You did a stellar job of integrating everything into the pathfinder 2e framework, and in making sure to stick within the boundaries of the game. The future-proofing, acknowledging, and giving advice for official variants...the amount of thought and effort that went into this conversion really shines through.

Probably the thing that I liked best from the player's side of the table is how you handle mythic surges and mythic heightening, it is elegant, neat, and at a glance does not seem to be overtly problematic from a gameplay perspective.

The thing that I liked best from a gm perspective is that you made it so that demigods and demi goddesses actually have spellcasting, YES! Seriously, one of my biggest issues with pathfinder 1e mythic was just how poorly divine beings were handled. They had a handful of spell-like abilities, no applicable divine abilities or control over what they were supposed to hold sway over, and were only mythic inside of there realm. When a 20th level cleric has far more divine abilities and powers than a cr 30 actual demipower, my suspension of disbelief pretty much curled up and died. While I personally would go a little bit further than you have in differentiating demigods and demigoddesses from other monsters of equal level, I think you have done a fantastic job with starting the process of making them far more interesting and divine than they were in the previous edition.

*I am personally a fan of the way that the mythic system in PF 1e was a separate progression from the normal level system. Being able to add mythic abilities to low level pcs and monsters made the system feel very unique and distinct from just increasing the level cap. I do appreciate how you did try your best to still allow that as an option though!

[Elorebaen]

Really great work! Thank you for sharing!

[TSRodriguez]

Amazing work!

[Evan Tarlton]

I echo the compliments. This is very well done.