Today we have a 2-for-1 combo pack. Mythic Actions for the Monster Manual and Mythic Actions for Volo’s Guide to Monsters are two supplements by Spyros Kanellopoulos and Konstantinos Lagos (also available in a bundle). Their goal is to further enrich encounters with legendary creatures by giving them some extra abilities to use, especially when the battle is at its climax.

Content Overview

The concept of Mythic creatures and actions was introduced in Mythic Odysseys of Theros, with 3 monters in particular called Arasta, Hythonia, and Tromokratis. These had a normal statblock as legendary creatures, but also had the option of using a Mythic action and gaining more abilities – making them much, much harder to defeat. Spyros and Konstantinos took this premise and applied it to the legendary creatures in the Monster Manual and Volo’s Guide.

Mythic actions are usually activated when the creature drops to 0 hit points, and allow them to get a “second wind” of sorts, recovering a lot of HP and gaining new offensive and defensive options. They are accompanied by a small bit of narrative text, describing the action itself as well as any changes to the creature. Mythic creatures also award double the normal XP when defeated.

The Monster Manual supplement contains 17 mythic creatures, including of course a Mythic version of the Tarrasque. Because if your players want a challenge, why not really give them one? As for Volo’s Guide, we have 5 more. Overall, the whole mythic aspect is well implemented, keeping in the spirit of the monsters from Theros. The abilities make sense, both mechanically and thematically, for each of the creatures. Some might not be as extravagant as the others, but all of them are quite good. As a side note, my personal favourite is the Mummy Lord, although the Gynosphinx is also very cool.

Editing, Layout & Art

For both supplements, both editing and layout are well done. There are a few tiny errors here and there, but I doubt you’ll even notice them. As for art, the creature pieces are from art packs offered by the DM’s Guild, so you know it’s some quality stuff – and it’s nicely placed and used too.

Final Words

Overall, I am quite satisfied with both of these supplements. Mythic actions are a great way to make boss battles even more tense and exciting for your players, and the writers have done some great work here to get you some very imaginative options for many creatures that you could use.

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