I’ve been looking at some Mythic Stars ideas recently, as I am in a Mythic Starfinder game and that’ looking to be a good jumping-off point to publish some Mythic Starfinder content. And that has me thinking about spells.

I have an inkling that Mythic spells in Starfinder may need some special interaction with tiered spells. I’m not SURE of that, but I want to look at some interactions. But tiered spells are kinda all over the place in Starfinder, making it hard to know which ones I should use as a baseline for this thought experiment. So to make sure I grok the underlying math and design decisions for my sample spells before building off of them, I want to write up a specific set of tiered spells to use as my jumping-off points.

Since the main point here is to experiment with how mythic spells and tiered spells should interact (and the answer may be “just like non-mythic tiered spells”), I wanted one 1st-6th level spell unique to each of the three current official spellcasting classes. Since I want to test various ideas and compare the results for each class, I thought they should be iconic spells for those classes (and not available to any other core class). Selecting magic missile for the technomancer was a no-brainer, and I have always felt like it should be a tiered attack spell anyway. Mystics already have mystic cure as an iconic tiered spell, but it’s a bad choice for this kind of thought experiment, and if I am giving the other classes new tiered spells I didn’t want to exclude them, so I choose reflecting armor as their iconic spell. Witchwarpers are a weirder case, but I decided shifting surge was a pretty solid 1st-level damaging spell in the same niche as magic missile and reflecting armor, so I created a tiered version of that.

Magic Missile (Tiered)
Classes Technomancer 1-6
School evocation (force)
Casting Time 1 standard action; see text
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets up to three creatures, no two of which can be more than 15 ft. apart; see text
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes

You fire two missiles of magical energy that strike targets unerringly (the creatures must still be valid targets). You can’t target specific parts of a creature, and objects are not damaged by the spell.

You can target a single creature or several creatures, but each missile can strike only one creature. You must designate targets before you attempt to overcome spell resistance or roll damage.

You can cast this spell as a full action. If you do, you fire three missiles instead of two.

1st: When you cast magic missile as a 1st-level spell, each missile deals 1d4+1 damage to the target.

2nd: When you cast magic missile as a 2nd-level spell, each missile deals 2d4+2 damage to the target.

3rd: When you cast magic missile as a 3rd-level spell, each missile deals 4d4+2 damage to the target.

4th: When you cast magic missile as a 4th-level spell, each missile deals 4d4+2 damage to the target, and you receive one additional missile (three missiles if cast as a standard action, 4 missiles of cast as a full action).

5th: When you cast magic missile as a 5th-level spell, its range becomes long (400 ft. +5 ft./2 levels), each missile deals 6d4+3 damage to the target, and you receive one additional missile (three missiles if cast as a standard action, 4 missiles of cast as a full action).

6th: When you cast magic missile as a 6th-level spell, its range becomes long (400 ft. +5 ft./2 levels) and you can select target creatures within a 30-foot radius, each missile deals 7d4+3 damage to the target, and you receive one additional missile (three missiles if cast as a standard action, 4 missiles of cast as a full action).

Reflecting Armor (Tiered)
Classes Mystic 1-6
School abjuration (force)
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range personal
Duration 10 minutes/level or until dismissed (D); see text

You create a shimmering skin-like coating of mystical force that covers your body, allowing you to reflect damage you take back against your attacker. At any time during this spell’s duration, when you take damage from an attack made with a weapon by a foe within 100 feet, you can choose to dismiss the spell as a reaction. If you do, the armor crackles with energy as it disappears, arcing through the air to strike the attacking creature, which takes an amount of damage equal to the damage dealt to you at the time this spell was dismissed (to a maximum determined by the spells level). This damage also has the force descriptor. The target can attempt a Reflex save for half damage.

1st: When you cast reflecting armor as a 1st-level spell, the reflected damage dealt has a maximum of 10 points.

2nd: When you cast reflecting armor as a 2nd-level spell, the reflected damage dealt has a maximum of 20 points.

3rd: When you cast reflecting armor as a 3rd-level spell, the reflected damage dealt has a maximum of 35 points.

4th: When you cast reflecting armor as a 4th-level spell, the reflected damage dealt has a maximum of 50 points. If the damage dealt to you by the triggering attack is less than 50, the reflecting armor is not dismissed and can be triggered again, though with a maximum of only 20 damage.

5th: When you cast reflecting armor as a 5th-level spell, the reflected damage dealt has a maximum of 75 points. If the damage dealt to you by the triggering attack is less than 75, the reflecting armor is not dismissed and can be triggered again, though with a maximum of only 35 damage.

6th: When you cast reflecting armor as a 6th-level spell, the reflected damage dealt has a maximum of 85 points. If the damage dealt to you by the triggering attack is less than 85, the reflecting armor is not dismissed and can be triggered again, though with a maximum of only 50 damage.

Shifting Surge (Tiered)
Classes Witchwarper 1
School transmutation
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range touch
Targets one willing creature or object
Duration 1 round; see text
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes

You touch a willing creature and affect one of its energy damage attacks or weapons, changing the energy damage type of one of its attacks to one other type until the end of your next turn. Even if you don’t change the damage, the next affected attack that hits deals additional damage.

1st: When you cast shifting surge as a 1st-level spell, it deals 2d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 1d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets.

2nd: When you cast shifting surge as a 2nd-level spell, it deals 4d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 2d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets.

3rd: When you cast shifting surge as a 3rd-level spell, it deals 4d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 2d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets. Additionally the duration increases to 2 rounds, and the extra damage is dealt by all affected attacks rather than just the next one.

4th: When you cast shifting surge as a 4th-level spell, it deals 6d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 3d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets. Additionally the duration increases to 2 rounds, and the extra damage is dealt by all affected attacks rather than just the next one.

5th: When you cast shifting surge as a 5th-level spell, it deals 8d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 4d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets. Additionally the duration increases to 2 rounds, and the extra damage is dealt by all affected attacks rather than just the next one.

6th: When you cast shifting surge as a 6th-level spell, it deals 8d6 additional damage if it targets only one target, or 4d6 additional damage if it affects an area or multiple targets. Additionally the duration increases to 3 rounds, and the extra damage is dealt by all affected attacks rather than just the next one.

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