Editing Epic Levels (section)

===[[Pathfinder]]===
[[Pathfinder]] went another, though equally broken (both in the "overly powerful" and "this shit doesn't work" sense) idea with ''Mythic Adventures''. Rather than increase level directly, a character got additional "mythic tiers" that gave him new abilities. A character could be level 1 with mythic rank 10 or (more likely) level 10 with 2 mythic ranks. Like Epic Level Handbook these abilities varied between stupidly OP and weak even for normal options. Also like ELH, most of the stupidly OP stuff went to casters and the weak stuff went to martials: Casters get to cast any spell with a standard action casting time on their list, regardless of if they know it, while martials can move and attack at the same time. Universal options tend to be better than the ELH's marginal improvements on normal options though, having stuff like becoming a demigod that can grant spells. Classes vary wildly on how well they work with mythic abilities: While your typical full caster and beatstick are compatible enough, anything slightly unusual is completely and utterly unsupported or so poorly supported it might as well not be. Classes with "pets", such as a [[Druid]]'s animal companion or [[Summoner]]'s Eidolon, are boned because mythic doesn't advance their pet (and the Mythic Companion ability is very lacking), a caster with medium BAB and 6th level spells ([[Alchemist]], [[Bard]], [[Magus]], [[Warpriest]] ect.) has to choose from focusing on being a melee killbot or trying to ape the full caster's trick with even less support while being levels behind them while having absolutely no support for their unique abilities.

In place of epic spells is alliterative Mythic Magic. By spending Mythic Power on a spell you can break limits on it and do new things. Unfortunately the system is gimped by how, instead of being something anyone with mythic power and casting can do, it requires the caster take a feat/path ability that gives access to a ''single'' mythic spell per mythic tier, meaning pretty much all of the interesting ones will never, ever be used since the opportunity cost is, literally, apotheosis. There's the Ascendant Spell metamagic that allows converting spells into their mythic version, but at a +5 spell level increase and a large chunk of spells bared from using it, it is almost never worth it.

Paizo pretty much dropped it when they realized how shit it was, but it did survive for one use: While the system is horrible to give your PCs, it's ''really'' good for making boss monsters, especially so if the GM is reluctant to make stuff up from scratch. While giving players extra actions, immunities and powerful new abilities is a good way to destroy your game, boss monsters enjoy being able to act multiple times against a group of multiple PCs, not getting save-or-died, and having some flashy abilities random encounters won't have. Even Paizo acknowledged this, as within a year the only time they ever referenced the book for was some boss monsters. Mythic eventually receive new material in one of the system's last books, but it was primarily to add abilities compatible with newer (mostly occult) classes.

Paizo's screw-ups didn't stop third party companies from taking a crack at the system, however, and in Pathfinder's usual trend these companies actually improved upon the system a great deal. Legendary Games' Mythic Heroes' Handbook offered revised rules for Mythic that nerfed the absurd rocket tag of the system into viability. They also provided options for many of the classes that Paizo left behind and re-organized many features so that classes were no longer locked into a specific path. This was successful enough that they put out several more books in this line and ''Legendary Planet'', a full mythic adventure path.

In Pathfinder 2E… there’s no Mythic Rules, and no Templates at all for Monsters, let alone Mythic ones. Rules still exist via third party sources on Pathfinder Infinite such as Mythic Powers, but otherwise no Epic Level stuff for the system. But hey, Legendary Planet was updated for PF2E, so maybe one day a third party will make a proper physical Mythic Handbook?

The [[Wrath of the Righteous]] video game also has its own take on the Mythic Path system.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Mechanics]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Mechanics]]