PF - Mythic Heroes & Spontaneous Caster Spell Selections

[Talya]

In typical D&D/PF play, spontaneous casters have to play a balancing act. There are typically two types of spells known that they select:
(1) Spells they will use constantly, on a daily basis.
(2) Spells that, even though they will only use occasionally, if they don't have them when they need them, they are completely fracked.

Along comes Mythic Heroes. Suddenly, with a single point of Mythic Power, spontaneous casters can cast any spell on their spell list at a moment's notice. Suddenly, any spell that falls into category (2) is no longer worth adding to your spells known list, instead you're simply going to include the things you want to use most.

Except...Pathfinder provides so many ridiculously inexpensive ways to add additional spells to your spells known - heck, you get an extra spell known at every level just for having a favored class.

Couple this with the lackluster cleric/oracle spells list to start with, and I can't find enough spells I want to take.

Looking through the spell evaluations for Oracle handbook (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W5xDNpGTGNmiQwSHvne4eTGLIFbCEJcYJ3qWWWFmlRE/edit), how would your rankings change if you were playing a mythic campaign? Are there any poorly ranked spells that suddenly go up in value for you?

(Note: I'm playing a gishy dex-based level 18 oracle with some blasty prowess and enchantments and a charisma that is sky-high.)

[Slipperychicken]

Are you talking about Ultimate Versatility? Reading it, it seems like it doesn't let you swap out spells, especially since your "spellcasting" class feature grants you access to spells.


If you use this ability to change a class feature that grants access to spells (such as a bloodline, patron, domain, or school), you lose access to any spells from the old choice but don't gain the ability to cast new spells.

Also, spontaneous casters can simply use consumables (scroll, wand) to shore up their spells known deficiency. It just takes some forethought and cash.

[Talya]

Are you talking about Ultimate Versatility? Reading it, it seems like it doesn't let you swap out spells, especially since your "spellcasting" class feature grants you access to spells.



Also, spontaneous casters can simply use consumables (scroll, wand) to shore up their spells known deficiency. It just takes some forethought and cash.

In the Oracle's case, it's the Inspired Spell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/mythic/mythic-heroes/hierophant) Divine Surge ability. Sorcerer's get something similar called Wild Arcana (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/mythic/mythic-heroes/archmage) on the Archmage path.

Without taking any of the abilities that let you maximize your Mythic Power, you get 5 mythic power points at tier 1, going up 2 per tier, and they refresh every day, so they are not a precious and limited resource, you can throw them around pretty freely. By mythic tier 10, you can do that 23 times a day (although there are other things you will want to spend mythic power on, so it's a bit more limited than that.) The average caster isn't casting 23 spells a day, and let's face it, most of a spontaneous caster's spells that they want to cast, they know, so most of the time they're still casting out of their regular slots.

[Gabe the Bard]

I think it really depends on what the Mythic versions of those spells are, since Inspired Spell and Wild Arcana don't give you access to Mythic spells. Bless goes from a pretty bland buff to a mass reroll party with Mythic Bless. But you need to have Bless on your list of spells known or have it prepared for the day in order to use the Mythic version. Also, Inspired Spell and Mythic Spellcasting/Spell Lore draw from the same pool of Mythic power, making it more of a limited resource.

[Talya]

This is a good point. If I'm lost looking at regular spells, I should check the best mythic ones for later when I get more mythic spells.

[Corlindale]

Buff spells might be good for spells known, since you will be likely to cast several of those each day (like Freedom of Movement on everyone, that's 4-5 castings right there).

Also note that spells with a casting time longer than 1 standard action cannot be used with Inspired Spell - so if you want to Summon you need to select those spells.

But otherwise I agree that it makes sense to focus on the spells you want mythic versions of - that's what I'm doing with my current mythic sorceror.

On a somewhat related note, Extend Spell becomes significantly better in Mythic because of Mythic buffs. Since uses of mythic power are much more valuable than mere spell slots in most cases (esp. thanks to Inspired Spell), the one-level tradeoff for making mythic buffs last twice as long is a great deal. Especially if the buffs are also augmented.