Kinak
First Post
The Mythic Surge ability is basically that, yes. Mechanically, the die size increases as you gain Mythic Tiers, so it's quite close.Isn't that just 3e's Action Point rule from Eberron? Only less beneficial, since in Eberron you rolled more dice at higher level and added the best.
But they're used as a general pool to power certain mythic abilities. All mythic characters get mythic surge, but they also all get at least one specific to their path and can pick up others as they go. So, you can spend it to do normal action point things... or you can spend it to cast any spell from your arcane spell list as a swift action without expending a slot... or spend it to take an extra non-spell standard action on your turn... or get a +20 bonus to a Strength check... or whatever, depending on what abilities you chose.
Obviously, nobody's going to say "A pool of points you can spend to effect die rolls! What an incredibly novel concept!" But Mythic Surge does a really good job of providing a foundation for those situations when none of your specific abilities apply and you just want to kick things up a notch.
Tangenting a bit from your question, I think the real benefit of having that sort of pool from the design perspective are "boons," which is to say "giving people more mythic power when they do suitably mythic stuff." That's also not unique. But something doesn't have to be unique to work.
Cheers!
Kinak