Mystic - Is this reading correct? (Rules Question)

[Ualaa]

Combat starts, and the Mystic begins with 1 Animus point, plus whatever their initiation modifier (Wis) is. In the case of my player, he starts with 7 Animus points.

Every round of combat, he gains an Animus point.
If he does a maneuver he gains an additional Animus point.

Some things reduce the Animus total, but there doesn't appear to be an upper cap, short of the combat ending.

Once he's low on maneuvers, he uses Blade Meditation (a full round action) and expends one point of Animus.
This essentially uses up all of the remaining maneuvers, as the recovery method.



The contentious part...

Until the start of the next turn, any creature that targets (doesn't even have to hit) the Mystic with a melee attack takes 1d6 damage, plus an additional 1d6 per two Animus points, in an explosion of energy (apparently no save).

So the Mystic could be unarmed, and attacked by a reach opponent from 15 ft. away, and hit or miss they take a bunch of automatic damage (of whatever the active energy type is... so that might be subject to resistance).

In the case of my player, if his first action was just Blade Meditation, then anyone that attacks him (even if they miss, or have a reach weapon) automatically take 4d6 damage.

The player claims, but the wording isn't clear, that a hasted opponent who was say a monk or someone heavily invested in the TWF chain might take automatic damage for each of their multiple attacks, no save.

Is the level one base class ability really this broken?
Ultimate Psionics has 'Improved Retaliation' as a suit augment that does not require the Aegis to have been hit to trigger, but this cannot be taken prior to level 16...

[lagninja]

I've never done anything with the Path of War stuff, but it does seem rather powerful. If I were to run a game where something like this happened, I'd probably rule that it is fairly obvious that the Mystic is glowing with some kind of powerful energy, and only a mindless creature would be attacking them if they try to exploit this ability to constantly have a damage-return aura.

[Castilonium]

Nope, not remotely broken or overpowered, for several reasons.

You need to spend a full round action to put up your retaliatory 'splosion shield. Inefficient action economy.

It only lasts until the start of your next turn. If you use Blade Meditation every single round, you will end up with at most +1 animus per round by using a boost, because you need to spend an animus to activate Blade Meditation. You can't stack animus outside of combat, unless your GM allows you to loudly and noisily spar with a friend for several minutes right before getting into real combat with whatever you're trying to kill. Your player apparently has 22 wisdom which is pretty high, so I'm assuming he's of a level where 4d6 damage isn't very much. Or you gave him way too much money and stat boosting templates. My point here is that it's not easy to quickly stack animus for lots of Blade Meditation 'splosion damage.

The mystic has to be attacked with melee attacks. Enemies can simply use different kinds of attacks, or not attack him at all, resulting in the mystic completely wasting his turn and 1 animus with a full round action. The 'splosion shield is easy to play around. The only enemies who would be seriously hampered by this tactic are fragile mindless ones with no closer target, and one-trick-pony multi-attacking melee glass cannons, which are both already incredibly easy to counter because of their predictability and lack of versatility.

4d6 energy damage really, really isn't much, and that's with 7 animus. That's an average of 14 damage.

So yes, your player is correct. If a hasted monk decides to flurry that mystic (who's not doing anything on account of having spent a full round action putting up a 'splosion shield) with melee attacks, the monk will take a bunch of damage with no save. But the monk would notice he's taking retaliatory damage when he makes his first attack, and could decide to stop full attacking and use his move action for something else. Or flurry with shuriken. Or ignore the mystic and direct the rest of his melee attacks against the mystic's friend right next to him.

TL;DR:
Not broken. Inefficient action economy, easy to counter, low damage.

[Ualaa]

If we add the fluff to the ability, that the Mystic glows with crackling energy (of whatever his active energy type is at the moment), so it is rather evident that a melee strike will subject the attacker to that energy because there is no way of making contact without also moving through the energy... that makes it more palatable.

The description in the book does not include anything saying that the character looks any differently. From an intelligent opponent's point of view, the Mystic could have 'Readied' an action for some trigger or chosen to 'Delay' their action until later in the round. There is no overt flag that a character waves to announce to an opponent that they're taking a full-round action.

With the crackling energy that surrounds the Mystic, it makes the automatic retaliation apparent and balances the ability somewhat. A full-round action is not an optimal choice for damage, when reliant upon opponent's actions to deliver said damage. But, as a kicker on recovering maneuvers, it is an extra benefit that doesn't hurt to have.

If going with the crackling energy route, an effective aura with a radius of zero, would it be unreasonable to rule any natural attack subjects the attacker to the energy field, but an actual reach weapon (not reach gained through a size increase, as your arm is longer and thus still exposed to the energy) could attempt to strike the Mystic with the attacker not putting their extremity close enough to the aura to be it's target?

Also, from your reply, the Mystic does not have their Animus reset to the starting value of 1 + Initiation Modifier once Blade Meditation is complete. The combat has not ended and restarted, the Blade Meditation resets the maneuvers and expends the Animus Pool in the process without giving the Mystic the extra Animus (Initiation Modifier) that they gain in round 1 of a combat. Not having 7 Animus in the pool, immediately after completion of every Blade Meditation sounds a lot more balanced as a level one feature.

[Swaoeaeieu]

If we add the fluff to the ability, that the Mystic glows with crackling energy (of whatever his active energy type is at the moment), so it is rather evident that a melee strike will subject the attacker to that energy because there is no way of making contact without also moving through the energy... that makes it more palatable.

The description in the book does not include anything saying that the character looks any differently. From an intelligent opponent's point of view, the Mystic could have 'Readied' an action for some trigger or chosen to 'Delay' their action until later in the round. There is no overt flag that a character waves to announce to an opponent that they're taking a full-round action.

With the crackling energy that surrounds the Mystic, it makes the automatic retaliation apparent and balances the ability somewhat. A full-round action is not an optimal choice for damage, when reliant upon opponent's actions to deliver said damage. But, as a kicker on recovering maneuvers, it is an extra benefit that doesn't hurt to have.

If going with the crackling energy route, an effective aura with a radius of zero, would it be unreasonable to rule any natural attack subjects the attacker to the energy field, but an actual reach weapon (not reach gained through a size increase, as your arm is longer and thus still exposed to the energy) could attempt to strike the Mystic with the attacker not putting their extremity close enough to the aura to be it's target?

Also, from your reply, the Mystic does not have their Animus reset to the starting value of 1 + Initiation Modifier once Blade Meditation is complete. The combat has not ended and restarted, the Blade Meditation resets the maneuvers and expends the Animus Pool in the process without giving the Mystic the extra Animus (Initiation Modifier) that they gain in round 1 of a combat. Not having 7 Animus in the pool, immediately after completion of every Blade Meditation sounds a lot more balanced as a level one feature.

I agree with Castilonium, blade mediation isnt that powerfull. If you are worried it is too powerfull at level one, maybe the problem is your player having that high a wisdom at that level...

Ruling that you dont get hit by blade meditation if you use a reach weapon is odd, since blade meditation states melee attacks, not natural attack.
If worried your npc's will kill themself attack the mystic, i think you can give them a knowledge martial or arcana check to realize what is happening and then decide not to attack, or just shoot instead of attack in melee.

and honestly, if the mystic is saving up animus and using it for blade meditation in the hope to do dmg, she might be using it wrong. Animus can be used for much nicer things. Maneuvers do more damage and are not subject to waiting on the enemy to go kill themself. Especially since the mystic recovers maneuvers every turn, making blade meditation only something you use if you are in dire need of that one maneuver you just expended.

But now that i read blade meditation again, it does specify '' creatures that target the mystic with melee attacks ...'' so it could mean that a monk attacks a bunch of times only gets hit once, not once for every attack.

[Elricaltovilla]

If your player thinks that spending a full round action to stand still and get punched in the face the for the love of all that is holy, let him do it.

Using blade meditation is a full round action, which means that he isn't making attacks, isn't moving more than 5 ft., Isn't using any strikes, and isn't doing anything to threaten your monsters. A commoner would be a bigger help in combat.

Blade meditation doesn't stop you from taking damage. It is a deterrent from being attacked while the mystic resets their maneuvers. It is entirely passive in nature and contributes nothing to combat. Compared to all the other things a mystic can do, you should be grateful that your player chooses to waste their actions on blade meditation.

[lord_khaine]

As others have already stated a few times. Its not even that big of a deal, since the Mystic spends his entire turn setting up his retaliation shield.
And your player seems to think its a cool trick, so i would recomend letting a less smart opponent take a swing at him every second encounter or so, and learn that Mystic glow = ouch.

I mean, you dont need to go very far up in levels before 4d6 damage dont break a encounter. And in that case i think blowing the odd orc/ogre up like this is a small price for making a player happy.

[Barstro]

My only concern with this (probably poor) strategy is the player not only thinking this is worthwhile (arguably is), but actually receiving feedback that it is worthwhile (again, probably is at low levels). I've had players who would get upset when this "broken" strategy no longer works and start demanding houserules to fix the fact that this lackluster strategy is no longer effective.

FWIW, I consider "broken at level one" to equal "trap". Only a fool makes a character based on how effective it is for one day of playing.

[Necroticplague]

Is the level one base class ability really this broken?
That's not quiet a loaded question, but it's dangerously close, because it actually encompasses two questions.

1. 'Is this how this ability works'.
2. 'Is this ability broken'?

Which, to answer succinctly: Yes, that's exactly how that works, no, it's not broken. Animus can be used for much more useful things than that. Unless your AoOs are murderous, why would the enemy hit you when you Meditate, instead of smacking your non-energy-infused friends? Plus, the action needed to set it up means that's all you're doing. And it's all moot if they use ranged weapons.

For comparison, a Gunsmoke Mystic can use 1 animus point to do 6d6 slashing/piercing/slashing damage (ref half DC 20) in a 30 foot radius, and still have a move action left to get out of dodge.