Mythic Perks

What Are Mythic Perks?

Mythic Perks are special story-based rewards that GMs award to the entire party after completing major quest arcs. Unlike normal perks that players choose during character advancement, these are custom-crafted by the GM to commemorate significant campaign achievements and enhance future adventures.

Why They Exist

• Heroic Recognition: Mythic Perks mark the party’s growth from ordinary adventurers to Mythic heroes, with each perk representing a defining moment in their journey.
• Narrative Power: They solve the common GM problem of wanting to run specific types of encounters (underwater, aerial, planar) without requiring particular party compositions or extensive preparation.
• Campaign Building: Over time, these perks accumulate to create heroes capable of facing threats that would be impossible for ordinary mortals - perfect for epic finale confrontations.
• Memorable Rewards: Instead of generic treasure, players receive unique abilities tied directly to their shared experiences and victories.

Structure

Each Mythic Perk consists of three components:

1. Epic Name: A evocative title that captures the essence of the quest that earned it and hints at the power gained.
2. Ephemeral Effect: A powerful, temporary ability that lasts for the entire duration of the next major quest. This effect exceeds normal perk limitations and may break standard game rules.
3. Permanent Effect: A lasting but more modest ability that becomes a permanent part of each character. This represents the enduring change the heroes underwent during their Mythic deed.

A Note on Optionality

Heroes can suppress any Mythic Perk effect (ephemeral or permanent) at will, activating or deactivating abilities with a thought when they might be inconvenient or unwanted. This is obviSously not necessarily recommended, but may become necessary for certain quests or for convenience at some point.

This is something UNIQUE to Mythic Perks; normal Perks cannot be suppressed in this manner.

Guidelines for GMs

Power Level Expectations

Ephemeral Effects should exceed normal power of available Perks at the given level significantly - think game-changing abilities that would normally require multiple high-level spells or magical items. These are temporary, so be bold. Permanent Effects should feel like enhanced Perk effects of appropriate level - meaningful but not campaign-breaking since they’re permanent additions.

Design Principles

1. Epic Names: Use evocative titles that capture the quest’s essence. “Avatar of the Plane of Air” tells a story; “Flight Perk” does not.
2. Avoid Flat Bonuses: Instead of “+5 to rolls,” grant new capabilities, immunities, or unique actions that feel Mythic.
3. Consider Both Quests: The best Mythic Perks reflect where the party has been while enabling where they’re going.
4. Party-Wide Impact: All effects apply to the entire party simultaneously - no choosing who gets what.
5. Plan for Your Next Quest: When designing Ephemeral Effects, carefully consider how they’ll interact with your planned next quest. Abilities like unlimited flight can make certain encounters trivial or require significant encounter redesign.

Power Scaling by Party Level

Scale with Available Tiers: Match power levels to what the party can access normally:

• Level 1-4 Party: Apprentice-Journeyman power Ephemeral Effect, Apprentice Permanent Effect
• Level 5-9 Party: Journeyman-Expert power Ephemeral Effect, Apprentice-Journeyman Permanent Effect
• Level 10-14 Party: Expert-Master power Ephemeral Effect, Journeyman-Expert Permanent Effect
• Level 15-20 Party: Beyond Legendary Tier power Ephemeral Effect, Expert-Master Permanent Effect

Acquisition Guidelines

• Recommended Rate: 5-6 Mythic Perks per full 1-20 campaign
• Quest Scope: Multi-session story arcs with significant conclusions (defeated major villain, saved a city, completed planar journey)
• Scaling: If awarding more than 6, consider reducing power of each a bit

---

Sample Mythic Perks

Use these as ideas to get you to understand how far you can go with this idea

Echoes of the Void Walker

• Earned by: Defeating an entity that existed between dimensions
• Ephemeral Effect: The party can phase through solid matter 3 times per day for 1 hour each use during the next quest. Physical attacks pass harmlessly through them when phased, but they cannot affect the physical world either.
• Permanent Effect: Once per day, each party member can become incorporeal for 10 seconds, allowing passage through walls or dodging attacks.

Avatar of the Storm Winds

• Earned by: Conquering challenges in the Plane of Air
• Ephemeral Effect: The party gains true flight at normal movement speed for the entire next quest. They can hover indefinitely, carry normal equipment while flying, and maneuver in three dimensions with perfect control.
• Permanent Effect: Each party member can hover 5 feet off the ground with slow mobility (half movement speed) for up to 30 seconds once per day.

Memories of Ancient Wisdom

• Earned by: Discovering and protecting a lost civilization’s knowledge
• Ephemeral Effect: The party has access to all knowledge that ever existed in the lost civilization’s libraries for the next quest. Any historical, magical, or technical question related to their culture can be answered perfectly.
• Permanent Effect: Each party member can commune with the ancient spirits once per week to gain insight into any single question, receiving cryptic but accurate guidance.

Blessing of Land and Sea

• Earned by: Defeating the dread Pirate King and his cursed fleet
• Ephemeral Effect: The party can breathe water as easily as air, move at full speed underwater, and wield weapons with normal effectiveness beneath the waves for the entire next quest.
• Permanent Effect: Each party member can breathe both air and water indefinitely.

Hearts of Living Flame

• Earned by: Extinguishing an eternal wildfire threatening the realm
• Ephemeral Effect: The party is immune to all fire damage and environmental heat effects for the next quest. Additionally, their weapons and spells deal fire damage and can ignite flammable materials at will.
• Permanent Effect: Each party member is immune to normal fire (not magical fire) and never suffers from environmental heat or cold.