War of Immortals - Book Review
From mythic heroes and villains to dead gods, War of Immortals (2024) is a sourcebook for Pathfinder 2e which dives into mythic rules, mythic character options, and mythic monsters. I am going to be saying MYTHIC a lot in this book review. For those who don’t know about mythic, it is a level of power far outside the normal adventurer—which is interesting since Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and others are often called super-hero fantasy.
But basically, a mythic character could be imagined to be Lv21 to Lv30 in a game that only goes from Lv1 to Lv20. You are given more spells, more powerful abilities, more health, it’s harder for you to permanently die, and so many other abilities. It’s like comparing a red dragon to a red kobold. Sure, kobolds are incredibly ferocious and dangerous, but they got nothing on the red dragon.
War of Immortals
War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
The book opens up with a look at the lore that has led to mythic-powered characters and monsters. It’s a short description of the new era of war, that the orc pantheon has collapsed (perhaps due to OGL and Paizo now using a new license for their
Review
If you just want my opinion without going into each chapter and every mechanic… I won’t force you to scroll to the bottom.
4.7/5
The book is pretty good. I really enjoyed reading through it, including the short story spread out across the entire book about the iconics, Nahoa and Samo. I think that the book has a lot of great things in it, and a few things I would like to see some improvements on in future sourcebooks (like more interesting low-level feats).
But, it has exactly what I’m looking for in a book about high powered mythic adventurers. Mythic powers, mythic artifacts, mythic heroes, and mythic monsters that you can populate your campaign with.
Legendary Heroes
This chapter holds the character classes, and I won’t spend too long on this section. I have not gotten the chance to play them, I’ve only read through their abilities, feats, and the like—and so my thoughts on balance, ability, or power wouldn’t come from experience playing them.
That said, they both look like incredibly fun classes that provide so many ways to customize them that you could have 6 players at the table all playing the same class and none would be the same (even without telling people to pick different options). The exemplar especially has so many options that it is a bit overwhelming when deciding what you would even pick.
Animist
This class is about channeling spirits, or apparitions, and gaining power, skills, and abilities from them. You are a… sort of full spell caster in that you gain 10th-rank spells, but the spells are a bit weird. Your spells are split into two sections, Animist Spells and Apparition Spells.
Animist / War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
Your Animist Spells require you to prepare each spell slot every day, while your Apparition Spells are spontaneous, meaning you can cast whatever spell you know through them—that said, the only spells you can cast with Apparition Spell Slots are spells given to you by your apparitions, so you are limited in that regards.
And if having two sources of spells wasn’t enough for you (and you really like have multiple spell lists to maintain), you also get a few Focus Spells that you can cast. I’ll be honest, keeping track of 3 spell lists and specific spell slots seems a bit overwhelming at first read-through, but I imagine after a session or two, you’ll figure out the system that works best for you to manage the spells.
It’s a really cool class that allows you to swap in and out apparitions based on your circumstances and offers a lot of flexibility and versatility in not just spells, but skills, lore (I didn’t even talk about how each apparition gives different lore skills!), and more.
Exemplar
You remember how amazing Maui was in Moana? That’s basically this class in a nutshell. You are a deific-light being who can empower ikons (objects) with your divine spark and gain different abilities and powers. It’s a pretty amazing class, and the flavor is pretty awesome.
Exemplar / War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
My only worry with this type of class is Main Character Syndrome where one player thinks that their character is the most important one—but that can happen with any class (this would just give them another excuse). In the hands of a good player, however, they could easily craft a character that uplifts all of their companions and be a joy to play with.
As an exemplar, you are likely going to be a melee combatant, utilizing magical attacks to blast your opponents. Plus, some of these powers have awesome names, like “Rejoice in Solstice Storm” or “Infinite Blades Celestial Arrow”. While I wouldn’t require players to scream out their power names as they use them, I would be more likely to give them hero points if they did.
Servants of Power
This chapter is focused on the new Nephilim lineages, as well as archetypes for multiclassing or augmenting a base class. First up are the Nephilim, who are the children of gods (or celestials) and is a versatile heritage! I love versatile heritages, being able to augment any ancestry with being a vampire, skeleton, genie-kin, or an angel’s ‘oops baby’ is great! I like being able to throw a goblin into that mix or a human, and it not just be flavor.
Nephilim
The Nephilim is an interesting versatile heritage as it also lets you pick a specific lineage if you want. Lineages are unique feats that you can only pick at 1st level and are basically physical elements that you were born with (or grew into). You can’t change them, they are just who you are. It’s pretty cool and allows you to dive even deeper into what celestial you are descended from, like aeons or proteans.
Apart from that, you also get a variety of feats at different levels (luckily you get two 17th level feats, some ancestries only have a single option so its nice to get a choice). Several of them are pretty cool, like the Call to Battle which lets you use a reaction to stand up whenever you lose the Unconscious condition (being knocked to 0 happens to a lot of my characters… could be GMs find my characters annoying or I just do a lot of dumb things).
That said, I’m not sure I really care for celestial heritages. I don’t really care for aasimar and their ilk, so this heritage doesn’t do much for me. I like the samller, sillier ancestries… like kobolds! or ratfolk!
Multiclass Archetypes
Up next are the two multiclass archetypes for the new classes, Animist and Exemplar. They are pretty interesting, and I’ve seen some complaints that they are overtuned. I’d say that Animist seems fairly balanced, while Exemplar might be a stronger option than most when it comes to multiclass archetypes. That said, I haven’t played with it so I can’t speak to how powerful it feels.
But let’s talk about what you get, Animist gives you a single apparition that you can attune to. When you attune to it, you gain that apparition’s two skills and you can cast two cantrips (selecting the apparition’s cantrip if you want it). It’s pretty on level with a lot of other archetypes and, while getting auto-proficiency progression in two skills is good, these are lore skills that can be difficult to utilize in a game (of course, you can swap your apparition with a day of downtime, but still). Everything else about the animist is pretty standard fair for a multiclass archetype.
The exemplar, on the other hand, definitely is a bit stronger than two new skills and two cantrips. For them, you get to select a single ikon, which grants you its abilities that you can utilize (like dealing extra damage, gaining unique bonuses, and similar things). Most people point out that you can be dealing a bit more damage if you take this archetype but I don’t know that it is as big of a deal as people are making it out.
If you build a character really good at hitting things and you spend one of your feats to get even better at that one thing, that doesn’t mean that that feat (or archetype in this case) is necessarily broken. It’s definitely a stronger option than some other archetypes, but the barbarian archetype gives you a skill and the ability to rage (which provides extra damage and temporary hit points when you go into a rage), so it isn’t like there aren’t options to get stronger.
Personally, I think the criticism on the exemplar archetype is overblown, but (and I feel like a broken record) I haven’t played it, and neither have most of the armchair experts theorycrafting the ‘perfect build’ that only does a single thing and never has to worry about rolling dice to determine their success. I suspect that the exemplar archetype will not be nerfed or changed, especially since these are supposed to be ‘mythical’ classes and are Rare.
If your GM doesn’t like the exemplar archetype, they can just say no or work with you to make sure you aren’t being abusive in the game with it.
Class Archetypes
Little did I know, going into this review, that the class archetypes would be my favorite section, and I’m not even meaning all of the archetypes in this section are what make it my favorite. There is a single archetype that is my favorite, but I’ll leave you in suspense for just a bit longer…
This section provides 5 class archetypes that augment a different base class to give you a bit more ‘divine’ flair in it. The 5 archetypes are Avenger (rogues), Bloodrager (barbarians), Seneschal (witches), Vindicator (ranger), and Warrior of Legend (fighters)—any guess on my favorite yet?
Each of them change up some of the core conceits of the base class, like the witch no longer has a patron, but rather acts as a patron for other people as they get stronger. They are all pretty neat (well, I didn’t particularly care for the flavor of the Seneschal, but I’m sure others would love it), and they definitely give anyone looking for a divine rogue, barbarian, witch, ranger, or fighter the flavor they want.
Avenger / War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
The Avenger is basically part rogue, part ranger, part spell-less cleric. You can use religion as a way to intimidate and coerce your enemies, you are better apt at fighting divine spellcasters with bonuses to saving throws against their divine spells, and you can Doom your enemies (and Slay them with a single action). This is a really neat archetype for those who enjoy the darker sides of holy warriors who do what has to be done, for the greater good.
The Bloodrager is a neat barbarian class archetype that combines a minor spellcaster with a blood-drinking warrior. Literally. You gain an ability where you can consume the blood on your weapon to gain hit points and bonuses on saving throws against spells cast by the creature you just stabbed. It’s pretty gnarly, but if you like blood, magic, and blood—the bloodrager is for you.
When a witch’s patron goes missing, they sometimes become the Seneschal. I’ll say that this archetype is the least interesting to me, but for those who like the idea of their witch ascending and becoming a patron to others, this definitely hits that flavor.
Vindicators, on the other hand, are pretty sweet. You are a ranger with a greater focus on casting spells, with bonuses to your magic when striking against your hunted prey. They are not just going out into the forest and petting bambi, they are striking out across the wilds and the city block, seeking out those who would try to stop their gods and stamping their foes out permanently with divine magic. They also get abilities that allow them to interrogate and pronounce judgements on their enemies, which is pretty rad—it’s a lot like the Inquisitors from Pathfinder 1st edition if you were a fan of that class.
The last, and the great archetype, in my opinion, may also be the most controversial. The Warrior of Legend is a super awesome spear/polearm fighter whose legend will be passed down through the ages, but they suffer from a curse. This is basically inspired by Achilles, who was the greatest of warriors for his time, but had a single weakness—being hit by an arrow in his heel. That idea, one of greatness but with a weakness, defines this entire archetype and I so badly want to play this archetype.
First, you are forced to be a spear/polearm fighter and I am completely fine with that. I love spear-fighters (and sadly, they always get passed over for those dumb guys with swords when spears are way more accurate to history!) In addition, you have to select a weakness; piercing, slashing, or bludgeoning damage. Whenever you get hit by your weakness, you are Doomed—but it isn’t all bad, the more Doomed you are, the better you fight. It’s an amazing balance you’ll have to keep between nearly dying and just laying out absolute destruction with your spear. I want in on this wild ride—can someone run a game for me, please!?
Myths & Legends
This chapter provides the Mythic rules, as well as callings that adventurers will follow to define their legends and destinies. It also contains ideas and stories that are happening in Golarion that you can use for your mythic campaigns.
War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
Mythic Rules
Mythic creatures utilize the Free Archetype rule, and instead of gaining hero points at the start of each session, they instead gain 3 Mythic Points which they can use to fuel their mythic powers.
When you first start out as a mythic creature, you have to select your Calling, like being a mythical warrior, acrobat, thespian, tinker, and more. There are a wide variety of Callings, and they are pretty neat. Typically, they revolve around a skill proficiency and let you spend a mythic point to gain mythic proficiency (10 + your level) when you attempt the relevant skill check.
That said, the low-level mythic feats are a bit underwhelming. They are basically just you burning a mythic point in order to gain mythic proficiency for that one skill check. For your Calling, I think restricting it to a single skill check is a good idea and makes sense, buuuuuuuuut for feats at Lv2, Lv4, and Lv6, it’s kind of boring and doesn’t really scream ‘mythical character.’
That said, at least at higher levels, like even just at Lv8, you can burn a mythic point to regain all expended focus points, which is awesome and very useful—especially in a hard or severe fight where you need more spell slots at your highest level.
I like the idea of mythic, though restricting it to 3 mythic points per character seems a bit limited, especially when several of these lower level feats are just ‘roll with mythic proficiency this one time’. I’d like to see something a bit more interesting out of these feats, and maybe new feats will be introduced in future sourcebooks—I’m not sure that these characters feel especially ‘mythic’ to me until you start getting to higher levels. It seems like you really will only get 2 or 3 really useful mythic feats, and the rest will just kind of be ‘nice-to-haves’ or very situational (or, you’ll just forget you even have it cause it doesn’t feel that impactful at higher levels).
I will say, in defense of the rules, the rules do state that early level mythic is only for skills and that GMs should introduce harder ‘mythic’ level skill checks. That these feats are largely for downtime and exploration activities. It makes some sense, as you are beginning to build your legends, but I’d still like something I would happily be spending a Mythic point on at Lv1 that I would at Lv20.
Mythic Gazetteer
This section of the book is just an overview of how the Godsrain event is affecting Golarion, along with tons of mythic ideas that you can utilize for your table and mythic campaigns. Many of these ideas are very compelling, and I have so many ideas on how I would run a mythic adventure.
These are great guidelines for what the creators think are mythic adventures and, even if you have no interest in running mythic adventures, they provide tons of high-level adventure ideas for powerful adventurers.
Paths to Immortality
This chapter focuses on 10 different mythic destinies you can pick from once you reach 12th level. When playing a mythic character, you must pick a mythic destiny at 12th level, however you don’t to pick feats from this destiny at higher levels, but instead grab up lower level mythic feats.
The idea behind mythic destinies should be familiar to anyone who has played 4th edition. In 4e, your character went up to 30th level, but the levels between 20 and 30 were a bit like mythic characters with major destinies ahead of them. In addition, just like with these mythic destinies, once you hit the final level, you gain a sort of immortality—whether it is true immortality, like you will always come back from the dead or a more figurative immortality like becoming one with the moon, this immortality is supposed to be the epilogue of your character and NPCs or forces that your GM can utilize in future campaigns.
This book provides only 10 mythic destinies, which feels a bit limiting, though most destinies don’t have prerequisites you have to meet. I’d have prefer something like 12 destinies, that way you were less likely to have duplicates in multiple games with mythic characters, but then again, how many full mythic campaigns will you be apart of?
I won’t go destiny by destiny, but just know that there are multiple feats at 14th, 16th, and 18th level so just because your destiny might be the same as another character, there are plenty of options within that destiny to make it your own. In fact, a few of the destinies even have multiple 20th level feats with different types of immortality, so you may even end your destiny in different ways as well.
It’s an interesting mechanic and I like the idea of having your characters immortalized and used for future campaigns. It would be especially fun to have a godling destiny where you become a minor deity, and then in your next campaign, make a cleric of that deity! (Hopefully don’t have a dumb name like Bob or Jim, hard to take a Cleric of Bob seriously.)
Archfiend Mythic Destiny / War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
Mythic Vault & Mythic Monsters
For the last two chapters, I am going to combine them into a single section. The Mythic Vault contains new equipment, magic items, and spells; while Mythic Monsters provides rules to make mythic monsters with a template and mythic monsters made using that template and wholly new creations.
Without getting too deep into the woods, like going equipment by equipment or spell by spell, I’ll just provide my general thoughts on each.
I like the new equipment they provide here. Many of it, like a gladius, haven’t been in the game before, and are definitely themed towards ancient heroes, like Achilles. As for mythic magic items, there aren’t a lot of them and I get the idea that the writers want the GM to make custom mythic items for their players and only provide a handful to help guide what those types of items would look like. That said, they don’t provide rules on mythic items so maybe not.
As for mythic monsters, you only get 7 custom mythic monsters—but it isn’t just a short description and a stat block. Instead, you get a full write up on their lore, as well as information on how you could use the mythic monsters at different levels in a campaign. To top it off, every monster comes with more things to do around them, like mythical hazards, mythical deeds to accomplish for the mythic monster, and even new mythic artifacts (so you do get more than just what’s in the Mythic Vault section, even if it is hard to find them when you aren’t given a chart of where they are all located).
As for the template, it provides different types of mythic monster roles (like Mythic Strikers, Mythic Brutes, Mythic Casters, etc) and then walks you through what unique abilities those roles would get. It’s pretty extensive for a template, I was expecting a one-fit-all solution, but I like that they took the time to think about each role and how a mythic monster would feel as that role in combat.
In addition, it’s just as easy to make any monster in the Bestiary mythical with their handy chart on when and what to give monsters at different levels.
Verex-That-Was Mythic Monster / War of Immortals, 2024 Paizo Publishing
Concluding the War of Immortals
So this book has a lot going on and is geared to a very specific playstyle. Like, heroic fantasy rubs some people the wrong way (cause you’re too much like superheroes in a gritty, grimdark world), but this definitely takes that concept and goes even further. There is no pretending that you are just a normal guy adventuring to feed his family, you are an adventurer and warrior of legend.
There will be songs and legends written about you.
Some people will love that, some will roll their eyes at the idea of making adventurers be something more than just regular people.
I think this is a pretty cool book. I’m not currently planning on a mythic campaign, so I don’t see myself using the mythic rules (for the characters) in the future, but I wouldn’t hesitate to allow the two new classes at my table. They fulfill are very interesting niche and I think they could create some incredible characters.
Also, I like the idea of mythic monsters. I may use those against my regular adventurers and provide side quests that they can go on to overcome the mythic powers of the monsters. I can just imagine starting a campaign arc with a mythic creature laying devastation and the party has to go on a quest to find ways to overcome its mythic abilities and defeat it.
But what about you? Did you enjoy this book? Is there something you were hoping for but didn’t get? Are you going to be running a mythic campaign anytime soon? Share your stories below!
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