Dungeons & Dragons: Mythic Actions and Mythic Traits Explained

A recent Dungeons & Dragons pulled back the veil on the new Mythic Actions and Mythic Traits that some monsters will have in the upcoming Mythic Odysseys of Theros campaign setting book. Next week, Dungeons & Dragons will digitally release Mythic Odysseys of Theros, a new campaign setting book detailing the Greek myth-inspired world of Theros from Magic: The Gathering. One of the new mechanics in Mythic Odysseys of Theros is the use of Mythic Traits to turn boss-level monster fights up to the next level. While details were vague on exactly what Mythic Actions were and how they related to Mythic Traits, the Roll20-hosted stream Indoor Recess gave fans an early sneak peek at the new mechanic during this week's episode.

According to the early document provided to the cast of Indoor Recess and posted for fans to see on the livestream, Mythic traits provide certain monsters with a "mid-battle twist" that either changes how the monster behaves, restores its resources, or provides it with new actions to use. As a result of the mythic trait, the battles become deadlier and last longer than most other combat encounters. For example, the kraken Tromokratis has the Mythic Trait "Heart of the Kraken" which prevents it from dying when it reaches 0 HP. Instead, Tromokratis's carapice breaks open and reveals its four hearts. Players then have to kill each of these four hearts, which have separate HP pools, ACs, and damage/condition immunities to kill Tromokratis once and for all.

Mythic actions are also mythic traits, and act as legendary actions that can only be used once a monster's mythic trait is activated. These mythic actions don't replace a monster's default Legendary Actions, but they instead become additional options for the DM to use once the battle reaches its "mythic" phase. One example of a Mythic Action was provided earlier in the week, when D&D showed one of the god-like spider monster Arasta's Mythic Actions. Her Nyx Weave action is similar to a normal Legendary Action, but it deals damage and has the ability to dispel magic spells that a creature might have cast on itself.

One thing that DMs will need to keep in mind is that Mythic Traits are optional to use, and that using a Mythic Trait ultimately changes the Challenge Rating of an encounter. For example, using Tromokratis's mythic trait is the equivalent to taking on two CR 26 monsters and ultimately rewards players with 180,000 XP once its defeated.

You can check out more of Mythic Odysseys of Theros by watching the Indoor Recess stream above, as the cast spends almost two full hours pouring over a preview of the book. Mythic Odysseys of Theros will be released on June 2nd on various digitial platforms.