[3rd Party] Thoughts on using Spheres of Power?

[Chronikoce]

I would be greatly interested in knowing what people think about this alternate magic system.
http://paizo.com/products/btpy96pr?Spheres-of-Power

I am a really lenient DM when it comes to sources and currently run a long term campaign whose rules are the following: Rule #1 Don't be a Jerk. Rule #2 All 3.5/PF material that is not 3rd party is fair game.

Recently I have considered allowing the use of 3rd party material (specifically this alternate magic system) and was wondering if anyone in the Playground has any experience using it yet.

From reading through the free preview of the system that was available it looks like it has the potential to add a lot of diversity to the options my players can use without causing a huge spike in power. I tend to enjoy introducing options which allow my players to make the character they imagine and as long as the resource doesn't cause one person to make the others become useless I am all for it.

--Edit--
I did end up purchasing spheres of power and I love it.

[Vhaidara]

I am using Spheres. It is a fantastic system that has fully replaced Paizo's casters in my games. The system is fun, innovative, and substantially more balanced than vancian casting.

The one thing I recommend not letting people do is going Incanter and spending everything on Conjuration. I made a level 6 human Incanter who spent all of his feats on Extra Magic Talent and had 3 full strength companions: A swordsman, a skill monkey, and a blaster. As is always true with 3.5 and its child systems, action economy is king.

[Kaidinah]

After having tried Spheres, I think it is a fantastic system that I will always highly recommend. You can certainly expect characters to be vastly different. In fact, two identical classes often have more differentiation than most identical spellcasters in the vancian system. Though you should expect casters to become less versatile (though spherecasting martials are more versatile than non-magic martials).

The book comes with its own classes, but it also has archetypes to convert pathfinder classes to the system. I LOVE these conversions, though Druid may have gotten too good of a deal.

Dispel magic is actually a feat in the system, since it had no place in any of the spheres. This is something most people may not immediately notice.

Also, be careful about Conjuration. It can get to summoner eidolon strength with enough investment (basically 5 or 6 talents to have something as strong as an eidolon). This means that a sphere wizard can basically spend his first 3 levels getting an eidolon (Sphere wizards get a lot of talents), then branch out into other things for there on. Or he can randomly acquire an eidolon later and make it full power rather quickly. Though besides Conjuration, I found no problems with the book.

Advanced talents are up to GM discretion to allow, so I personally don't allow most of them.

[Vhaidara]

Advanced talents are up to GM discretion to allow, so I personally don't allow most of them.

Though some of them are just silly/fun.

All of them require at least caster level 10, so you're high level before you can access them. My personal favorite is Midnight. It's an advanced Talent of the Dark Sphere. It lets you spend 2 spell points to cast your Darkness effect over a 2 mile area. That is just awesome.

[Chronikoce]

Thanks for the feedback! This sounds like something I am definitely going to pick up. I know the PDF is the only type available but would you say the artwork and such makes investment in a hardcopy something you would consider?

As for strength, I currently allow anything from 3.5/PF so as long as my players continue to be good sports about stuff and work together to make sure everyone stays right around the same optimization level it should be fine. This sounds like a system that they will really enjoy!

[Vhaidara]

From what I've seen of the art in the PDF, very much yes. It is excellent.

Honestly, my group barely uses first party content at this point. I'm running a gestalt game, and my five players are
Fey Adept//Swarm Master Dread (Akashic Mysteries Playtest): Fear and shadows
Vivisectionist Alchemist//Armorist: Space Pirate from another dimension. Has Batman's utility belt built into his claw gauntlets
Symbiat//Harbinger (Path of War: Expanded Playtest): Telekinetic swordsman, functions almost entirely off of Int
Incanter//Elementalist: BURN EVERYTHING
Mageknight//Shifter: Werewolf with limited magic capabilities (fire, teleportation)

[Chronikoce]

Mageknight//Shifter: Werewolf with limited magic capabilities (fire, teleportation)

Does he just fluff himself as wereworlf and use shift/sphere abilities to represent the powers or do you use a wereworlf rules from somewhere? I have yet to come across a set that lets the werewolf player keep up with the rest of the party as they all level.

[Vhaidara]

Does he just fluff himself as wereworlf and use shift/sphere abilities to represent the powers or do you use a wereworlf rules from somewhere? I have yet to come across a set that lets the werewolf player keep up with the rest of the party as they all level.

He's using the Alteration Sphere and Shifter. We were going to use the Skinwalker race before I got into Spheres, but it just works better.

[Kaidinah]

The cover of the book is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen for a tabletop. I definitely want one to display with my other books.

As that "werewolf" showed, some spheres stuff is very easy to refluff into a lot of semimagical stuff.

[Vhaidara]

Yeah. The armorist I mentioned? All of his "spells" are actually inventions he has built into his claw gauntlets, like a lightning zapper (Destructive Blast) and a fabricator that he's developing (eventual Creation Sphere)

Oh, and the BURN EVERYTHING guy is also turning into a dragon via Alteration sphere. If you play Magic the Gathering, his token on Roll20 (equivalent of a mini for tabletop) is Sarkhan Vol.

[Chronikoce]

You all have definitely sold me on this being my next RPG purchase. The flavor combined with it being a good alternative to vancian casting is awesome! Now to convince players to embrace it Hehe.

[Vhaidara]

Honestly, it shouldn't be hard. Among my group of five, two of them had touched PF in the past, and only one in a serious method (the other is a child of 4e). Two others were coming over from 3.5, and the other just kind of dabbles in TTRPGs.

All it took was character creation, and the entire party was sold. It is very intuitive, and takes relatively little houseruling to accommodate any build. The only houserules I've applied involved switching casting stats (Armorist over to Int, since the Alch had Wis as a low stat) and giving everyone the Cantrips fea for free (because that'sjust flavorful and fun).

[Fallenreality]

I'm the Fey Adept/Dread from the game Keledrath mentioned.

Spheres is wonderful so far. Their illusion rules are well thought out and having an illusion focused class like Fey Adept is amazing. (They eventually get to pour a bit of reality into their illusions in order to replicate many other spheres, up to and including creating hurricanes that affect people who believe it.)

A personal favorite touch of mine is their Casting Tradition system. This allows you to pick drawbacks and bonuses for your casting and really allow you to make your caster act how you envision it. (I'm currently using a drawback that only allow me to warp sphere through shadows/shadowstuff as well as one that makes the creation sphere create things out of the previously mentioned shadowstuff.) It also allows you to select from things such as somatic casting, verbal casting, or even wild magic as drawbacks. Another cool option allows you to use your constitution for a casting modifier in exchange for taking non-lethal damage every time you cast something.

The other classes all offer a variety of features. Three of them offer a lot of customization. Mageknight is your plate wearing gish, Hedgewitch allows you to make something like Magus or Alchemist among other things, and Incanter is basically build a caster and can be made to feel like a Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, or something new. As someone else stated, the class archetypes are great as well, I'm especially happy they added a way to convert the Bard to spheres as it's a personal favorite of mine. My only complaint class wise is that the Sphere Druid archetype feels more powerful in many cases than the Shifter class. Although the Shifter has some excellent customization options.

Overall an excellent system that I already prefer over the original casting. (Although I might be biased because they gave me an illusionist class with really fun options.)

Edit: I do agree with Keledrath's houserule about letting us pick the casting stat on certain classes. I stuck with charisma due to illusions, but Incanter already allows you to pick your casting stat, so allowing other classes to do so isn't entirely out of place. It also really helps with the already plentiful customization and makes it so that you can basically recreate any kind of caster build you want.

[Milo v3]

I love sphere casting; one of my current character ideas is a dhampir armourist who makes his gear from the iron in his blood. He also does stuff like telekinetically controlling pools of blood, manipulating the blood inside of people to turn them into puppets, and turning into a giant bat form made of blood-iron.

[Ssalarn]

The Armorist was the first class I got really excited about too. My current Armorist has the Alteration and Enhancement spheres and is fluffed as a were-eagle (don't judge, you know it's awesome).

The system probably achieves a level of cool, balanced, and versatile that I haven't seen outside of Dreamscarred Press' works, the art is slick, and as others have mentioned, it allows you to have such huge variety that even two characters of the same class can be completely unrecognizable as using the same chassis.

In addition to the Armorist I'm personally running, games I'm playing in also include my friend Alice's Eliciter who serves as a buffer/debuffer and party face for our Iron Gods campaign, a hibkha (birdman from DSP's Akashic Mysteries) Incanter specializing in Weather and Divination who serves as our airship navigator in an every-other-Sunday game, my fiancee's Incanter, also in the airship game, who specializes in Conjuration and Fate to ride around on a manticore stealing her enemies' luck and bolstering her allies (especially the manticore), and an NPC Slayer/Fey Adept who uses the Warp, Illusion, and Dark spheres to execute daring kidnappings and assassinations.

It's also super easy to convert core casting classes over. One of my buddies who picked up SoP on my recommendation is playing a hunter who swapped out spellcasting for equivalent spherecasting, and now he uses the Conjuration and Alteration spheres to transform into a huge wolf, with both his regular animal companion and his conjured companion serving as the other members of his pack.

I really like that several of the classes let you pick your casting stat as well. One of my buddies is wanting to run a revamp of an old Icewind Dale adventure we did year back based on the computer game of the same name, and I'm thinking of making my paladin of the Red Knight over as a Mageknight with the Life and Protection Spheres using Int as her primary casting mod, while using her skills and feats to focus on tactics and engineering.

The spherecasting system does a really good job of shifting everyone who uses it into the Tier 3 range (sometimes up, sometimes down). While it's super easy to shift any class over to spherecasting, I find that it's better to use the Incanter over converting the Sorcerer or Wizard, since it can easily fill the same niche and is better adjusted for it.

[Chronikoce]

That sounds excellent. I have to say I really like the Armorist and can't wait to get a chance to read through the rest of the book. Now I just have to decide if I buy the PDF now or wait until I have the chance to order the pre-order bundle for hardcover+PDF.

I've been trying forever to build a character that summons/creates his tools of mayhem from nowhere and can't wait to whip one up with the Armorist!

[Ssalarn]

That sounds excellent. I have to say I really like the Armorist and can't wait to get a chance to read through the rest of the book. Now I just have to decide if I buy the PDF now or wait until I have the chance to order the pre-order bundle for hardcover+PDF.

I've been trying forever to build a character that summons/creates his tools of mayhem from nowhere and can't wait to whip one up with the Armorist!

I strongly recommend grabbing the Alteration sphere so you can increase your size and summon up appropriately huge weapons to go with it. Alteration is also nice from an RP perspective; I'll often refluff some of the effects as being weapon/armor enhancements to give the character a bit more of that Erza Scarlet vibe.

[Almarck]

I strongly recommend grabbing the Alteration sphere so you can increase your size and summon up appropriately huge weapons to go with it. Alteration is also nice from an RP perspective; I'll often refluff some of the effects as being weapon/armor enhancements to give the character a bit more of that Erza Scarlet vibe.

Speaking of, anything came out of that Alteration Hunter that you were interested in a few weeks back?

[Ssalarn]

Speaking of, anything came out of that Alteration Hunter that you were interested in a few weeks back?

My buddy decided to run with the idea. He just did a straight casting to spherecasting swap on the Mid Caster progression and it's worked out really well so far. He's been increasing Alteration and Conjuration at roughly the same pace so he's got two full progression companions he can potentially buff and modify as well as being able to go beast mode himself. It's actually one of the cooler builds I've seen, and it's basically a version of the Feral Hunter archetype from the ACG that doesn't suck :P

[stack]

Just skimmed through the sample pdf; I want to try this out immediately.

[Ssalarn]

Just skimmed through the sample pdf; I want to try this out immediately.
It's super cool. I bought the WIP and almost immediately told my group that Sorc and Wiz style casting was officially banished for at least the next 3 months :P

So far, no one has complained.

[Fallenreality]

Same thing happened with Keledrath and I, we bought it the day Ssalarn posted about it and I don't miss vancian at all.


Edit:

Currently trying to work out a gestalt for a backup character that will be a sort of classic Bibliomancer. Creating weapons out of paper, summons stories, and trapping people within them. Any ideas? I'm thinking Fey Adept//Eliciter or possibly replace one of those two with Incanter or Armorist.

[Ssalarn]

Same thing happened with Keledrath and I, we bought it the day Ssalarn posted about it and I don't miss vancian at all.


Edit:

Currently trying to work out a gestalt for a backup character that will be a sort of classic Bibliomancer. Creating weapons out of paper, summons stories, and trapping people within them. Any ideas? I'm thinking Fey Adept//Eliciter or possibly replace one of those two with Incanter or Armorist.

I think Fey Adept//Armorist. You can refluff the Armorist abilities as your lethal origami, Fey Adept with the right spheres should cover the rest.

[Fallenreality]

Mmm, the reason I was considering Incanter is for the extra talents. I'll need a lot to pull off all the effects I would be going for.

[PsyBomb]

Mmm, the reason I was considering Incanter is for the extra talents. I'll need a lot to pull off all the effects I would be going for.

If you have ever read Libriomancer, the main character works like an Armorist. Any of the full-progression classes would be good on that... but my preference is to go with Guru or Vizier.

[Ssalarn]

If you have ever read Libriomancer, the main character works like an Armorist. Any of the full-progression classes would be good on that... but my preference is to go with Guru or Vizier.

If I was going to play a gestalt character any time soon, I'd probably do a hibkha Vizier//Incanter and focus on veils that amp up my other effects. It'd be fun to pair up things like Nature (Fire) or Destruction with Circlet of Brass, use Ring of the Abjurer for defense, etc.

[stack]

The elementalist caught my eye, but again, that was only the preview doc so not all classes are in it, only that and Mage knight.

[Ssalarn]

The elementalist caught my eye, but again, that was only the preview doc so not all classes are in it, only that and Mage knight.

Elementalist and Mageknight are both really solid. Mageknight is fun because it's basically a build your own 1/3 caster chassis.

My personal favorites are (in order):
The Armorist - magical Fighter, summons up gear on demand
The Incanter - build a Wizard chassis, perfect for a fully customized full caster for any concept
The Soul Weaver - necromancer, healer, or both. Thematically and mechanically fun and solid
The Shifter - fleshcrafter who can turn himself and others into vicious war monsters, a great replacement for Wildshape druids when you don't want all the other bits of the druid chassis

[EldritchWeaver]

I'm sorry to bother anyone but I'm looking for people's opinions regarding the printing schedule (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400348-Spheres-of-Power-Print-Schedule-Opinions). As at the time of posting no one has replied there I do not know if people don't have anything to say or if they simply didn't notice my thread so far. Which makes it difficult to argue about what the majority truly wants. :( So please post there!

[Der_DWSage]

Snarky answer:Can't be any worse than the Advanced Class Guide.

Serious answer:So long as the typos aren't of the type that cause rule confusion, I'm okay with it. Especially if they do a second run later to fix said typos. I admit I'm a little impatient to see the rest of the book, as Spherecasting has legitimately breathed some life into my magic-users' playstyle.

[EldritchWeaver]

Snarky answer:Can't be any worse than the Advanced Class Guide.

Serious answer:So long as the typos aren't of the type that cause rule confusion, I'm okay with it. Especially if they do a second run later to fix said typos. I admit I'm a little impatient to see the rest of the book, as Spherecasting has legitimately breathed some life into my magic-users' playstyle.

Delaying the print would not delay the release of the PDF with its full content this month.

[Mithril Leaf]

Well having purchased and read the entire book in the past 2 hours, I can strongly recommend it as pretty nifty, and also the art as sometimes really good and sometimes high Deviantart tier. Might throw you off a little.

[stack]

How does the elementalist's elemental defense work with crystal blast? Do you get DR 10 against piercing?

Crystal is amazing regardless. Air is pretty sweet too, need to boost bull rush checks then put small circles around enemies so they pinball back and forth, or between walls parallel to each other.

[atemu1234]

Snarky answer:Can't be any worse than the Advanced Class Guide.

Serious answer:So long as the typos aren't of the type that cause rule confusion, I'm okay with it. Especially if they do a second run later to fix said typos. I admit I'm a little impatient to see the rest of the book, as Spherecasting has legitimately breathed some life into my magic-users' playstyle.

Ah, Advanced Class Guide isn't that bad.

[EldritchWeaver]

How does the elementalist's elemental defense work with crystal blast? Do you get DR 10 against piercing?

I quote "crystal blast grants DR 1/bludgeoning". So yes, a piercing weapon would suffer from reduced damage. (Unfortunately, the amount of DR is ridiculous low compared to the other options. At least in this revision.)

[stack]

I quote "crystal blast grants DR 1/bludgeoning". So yes, a piercing weapon would suffer from reduced damage. (Unfortunately, the amount of DR is ridiculous low compared to the other options. At least in this revision.)

Ah, must have been updated from the version I was looking at. The free preview doc doesn't appear to have been revised.

I agree that is a weak resistance, so I suppose it comes down to deciding if a weak resistance is worth adding damage to the most useful blast type.

[EldritchWeaver]

Ah, must have been updated from the version I was looking at. The free preview doc doesn't appear to have been revised.

I do not believe that the preview will be revised. Not until the book is completely finished at least. Which is still unlikely as it has been stated in the preview that the actual rules might have been changed in the complete book.

BTW, destruction has been nerfed a bit. Force Blast is now a talent, the default is bludgeoning damage. Still, if you like the book, why not buy it?

Edit: It occurred to me, if doing piercing damage is the sole thing you want from Crystal Blast, then choosing this newly introduced talent might be more interesting:

"Crafted Blast

When making a destructive blast unalrered by a (blast type) talent, you may change the damage of the destructive blast to be either bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, and may change all rolled 1’s and 2’s to 3’s."

Would you still choose Crystal Blast as a favored element?

[Adam Meyers]

Adam Meyers, the writer of Spheres of Power here.

We'll have a minor update soon that catches a few last typos, and then we'll update the preview PDF. I'm not sure when things will be up on d20pfsrd.com, only because that's a big expenditure of time on our part, and with Skybourne in the works and convention season starting, I'm not sure when we can put that time in.

[Vhaidara]

*Squees*

Wait, are you also on the d20PFSRD staff? I thought they had their own people (at least, sort of).

[Adam Meyers]

Wait, are you also on the d20PFSRD staff? I thought they had their own people (at least, sort of).

They do, but since they are putting up literally all of the stuff, they let us upload our own stuff if we want to expedite the process.

[Kudaku]

I've been keeping my eye on this system. Heard really good things, but I'd really rather not introduce this big a change mid-campaign. So... Keep talking about how great it is I guess? :smallsmile:

[MyrPsychologist]

I recently bought this book because I had heard some stuff about it and it really is nifty. I really like it as an alternative to magic classes that don't feel as completely broken and able to neuter campaigns.

Also. You can be a time wizard. That's always my favorite thing.

[Kudaku]

Actually, I have a few questions. How compatible is this system with Pathfinder's later classes? How painful would it be to convert an investigator or an inquisitor to using Spheres? Does it distinguish between prepared and spontaneous casters, or alchemy and regular spellcasting?

[Vhaidara]

Prepared is done through a drawback. You have to dedicate your spell points to each sphere.

I would highly recommend leaving the alchemist and the investigator as they are. They are fine with what they can do, and it makes alchemy actually feel different.

[CashanDraven]

Short answer, yes, you should be using SoP, it's a fantastic book that is perfect for replacing the aging magic system. That being said, there are a few things that still need to be given another look. Like Creation and Illusion are so far behind the curve it's not even funny, and Telekinesis isn't doing to well either, especially compared to things like conjuration, alteration, and destruction.

All in all the book/pdf is well worth the money and I recommend it to anyone. Hopefully it will gain the popularity it deserves and we can get an expansion not too long from now with more options in the forms of talent/feats.

[stack]

Illusion isn't lacking in the hands of a fey adept at level 6+, in my estimation, though I have yet to see how that works out in play. Creation also has great potnetial for problem solving, but is limited and expensive in combat.

[Crake]

I would like to thank Spheres of Power for making my candy mage a possibility

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f4/37/cc/f437cc99e79b40a3fdf1681e0046e4a5.jpg

Being able to make gingerbread carriages, entire table platters of candy, all masterwork quality, at level 1? Tied to charisma? Yes please! My DM thought the idea was brilliant. I'm gonna eventually get the destruction sphere and crystal blast, fluffed as shards of rock candy and gum, and eventually at level 10, when I get fleshcrafting and permanent change, I'll have what essentially equates to Flesh to Candy. Can't wait.

[MyrPsychologist]

Actually, I have a few questions. How compatible is this system with Pathfinder's later classes? How painful would it be to convert an investigator or an inquisitor to using Spheres? Does it distinguish between prepared and spontaneous casters, or alchemy and regular spellcasting?

I'm going to second the idea that it would be better to leave an alchemist or inquisitor where they are. The spheres of power setup feels like a much more balanced approach to magic and is significantly more limited than the traditional casting. But it is like that by design and the classes it makes would fit perfectly in a party with an alchemist and investigator without gaining the ability to overshadow them.



And I also found that creation is probably the most powerful setup from spheres of power. But I feel like that is inherent in the concept of minion control. And it's still more in line than something like the arcanist.

[EldritchWeaver]

Actually, I have a few questions. How compatible is this system with Pathfinder's later classes? How painful would it be to convert an investigator or an inquisitor to using Spheres? Does it distinguish between prepared and spontaneous casters, or alchemy and regular spellcasting?

Have a look at Spheres of Power All Class Conversions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?392982-Spheres-of-Power-All-Class-Conversions). There people are discussing ways to do so. Overall, most classes fit the magic system nicely.

[Adam Meyers]

Actually, I have a few questions. How compatible is this system with Pathfinder's later classes? How painful would it be to convert an investigator or an inquisitor to using Spheres? Does it distinguish between prepared and spontaneous casters, or alchemy and regular spellcasting?

All spellcasting classes (with the possible exception of the Alchemist for previously-mentioned reasons) can be adapted. While there is no distinction between spontaneous and prepared in the basic rules, such distinctions can be re-introduced with casting traditions.

[Adam Meyers]

I would like to thank Spheres of Power for making my candy mage a possibility

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f4/37/cc/f437cc99e79b40a3fdf1681e0046e4a5.jpg

Being able to make gingerbread carriages, entire table platters of candy, all masterwork quality, at level 1? Tied to charisma? Yes please! My DM thought the idea was brilliant. I'm gonna eventually get the destruction sphere and crystal blast, fluffed as shards of rock candy and gum, and eventually at level 10, when I get fleshcrafting and permanent change, I'll have what essentially equates to Flesh to Candy. Can't wait.

I have seen many great SoP creations in my time...but this one might be one of the greatest.

[stack]

Since we have the bossman here, a question: The official Drop Dead Studios forum doesn't seem real active, is that the best place to raise questions and concerns?

[Chronikoce]

I would like to thank Spheres of Power for making my candy mage a possibility

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f4/37/cc/f437cc99e79b40a3fdf1681e0046e4a5.jpg

Being able to make gingerbread carriages, entire table platters of candy, all masterwork quality, at level 1? Tied to charisma? Yes please! My DM thought the idea was brilliant. I'm gonna eventually get the destruction sphere and crystal blast, fluffed as shards of rock candy and gum, and eventually at level 10, when I get fleshcrafting and permanent change, I'll have what essentially equates to Flesh to Candy. Can't wait.


This is amazing. I'm now mad at you because I have yet another character concept I wish I could play. Alas I'm the DM 99% of the time so my characters sit idle.

As the original poster of this thread I can update and say I purchased the PDF and love it. I'm in the middle of a long term campaign so my players haven't started using it but a few npc's have. Next campaign I start will likely use SoP as the primary source of classes.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

What kind of abilities does the War sphere grant? I'm interested in the system, since it has so many good things attached. From what I read of the preview, though, its not quite at a 'replace vancian magic' level yet.

[Vhaidara]

War sphere is offensive buffs/debuffs, usually applied to groups. I actually had a boss who was focused on War/Protection Sphere who had time to prebuff. Dropped 4 totems and 5 Aegis. Almost wiped the party.

[Crake]

I have seen many great SoP creations in my time...but this one might be one of the greatest.

:smallbiggrin: thanks! But it wouldn't have been possible without Spheres of Power :smalltongue: I'm only sad that the game I'm currently DMing started before my players and I managed to get a good look at SoP, so nobody in that game is playing one :smallfrown: I'll definitely be including it via some NPCs though, it's just too great to pass up any opportunity to use them

[Ninjaxenomorph]

You know, something I might try out is having dragons using different magic systems. Primal dragons with Wordcasting, and SoP seems like it would work with pretty much all of them.

Edit: Does SoP have rules for magic items, such as wands, scrolls, etc?

[Ssalarn]

Edit: Does SoP have rules for magic items, such as wands, scrolls, etc?

Yes, it does. Most of the staves and things like that grant bonus talents for associated spheres, and there's not a lot of difference from core in how other items work.


What kind of abilities does the War sphere grant? I'm interested in the system, since it has so many good things attached. From what I read of the preview, though, its not quite at a 'replace vancian magic' level yet.

I know for me, it definitely was a great system to replace Vancian casting, largely because it successfully avoids most of the major issues and OP spells and combos. It's also much simpler to use and learn, meaning that since we adopted it there have been a lot more spellcasters at the table. It also does a great job of covering a wider array of character concepts withough tagging on baggage that the character might not be interested in.

[AGrinningCat]

Spheres is awesome. My only complaint is that there isn't enough talents yet. I'm hoping to see supplemental release for spheres like Light, certain Nature selections and maybe something to smooth out the crazy spell point cost of Creation.

Oh, and the bloody cast time on Rituals. I'd love a feat that could lower the level of ritual cast times by a few. If you want to check out an Invoker, here's Ino Serset at 5th level.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pakfltCMK2kCgNDAYrffaNtud86leO28pHfCq2btwsg/edit?usp=sharing

[Forrestfire]

Short answer, yes, you should be using SoP, it's a fantastic book that is perfect for replacing the aging magic system. That being said, there are a few things that still need to be given another look. Like Creation and Illusion are so far behind the curve it's not even funny, and Telekinesis isn't doing to well either, especially compared to things like conjuration, alteration, and destruction.

All in all the book/pdf is well worth the money and I recommend it to anyone. Hopefully it will gain the popularity it deserves and we can get an expansion not too long from now with more options in the forms of talent/feats.

I've found the opposite, actually. Illusion is pretty great, especially since you can freely manipulate your illusions while they're up (and, with some multiclassing, can grab Permanent Illusion at level 8 to pretty much always have effectively free illusions). It's as strong as your imagination makes it, really, and is phenomenal unless the GM just ignores reactions to it.

Conjuration and Alteration are, from what I've seen, stronger than the other spheres, and probably a bit overpowered (but then, it's summoning and shapeshifting, two of the problem children of 3.x). Destruction I've found to be a bit underpowered, since to have competent blasting, it eats through your spell points at a ridiculous rate (in my games, the fix is to up it to d/CL if you spend a spell point at all, rather than having to spend an extra one).

Telekinesis seems to be at a pretty good place, too. It's always been pretty hard to balance in this system, and I feel like it hit a good place. Three talents spent (Telekinesis Sphere, Divided Mind, Dancing Weapon) lets you full attack (without the iterative penalty, even) with your weapons as a standard action, using your casting ability for attacks and damage. That's pretty great, and doesn't even cost any spell points. By spending your feats on the normal melee damage bonuses, you're likely outdamaging Destruction users in single-target damage.

They also have the ability to give people fly speeds (for hours/level at CL 10), immediate action stop ranged attacks, and combat maneuver at range. It's pretty much everything I could ask for a non-broken telekinetic specialist (speaking as someone who has played a broken one, with the Ghost template. Standard telekinesis does ludicrous damage that's just not good for games at most levels).

Creation I'll agree with you, though.


On the rest of the book: I am a huge fan of the Armorist. It's everything Soulknife should have been, and its capstone is great. There aren't many things in Pathfinder or 3.5 that let you pull off a Gates of Babylon, but free action creation of temporary magic weapons to throw at things is awesome at it. It's a shame that it only comes online at level 20, but the fact that it exist is just fun.

[Crake]

Creation I'll agree with you, though.

I've found creation to be similar to how you described illusions. The potency of being able to make whatever you want, and have it last for hours on end is pretty huge. Not to mention potent alteration being able to actually straight up fix magic items, including being able to restore the magic to them (assuming your CL is high enough), something that I don't believe can be done by anything else ever short of a wish to revert time or something.

Everything else is entirely up to your imagination for creation. Need passage through a wall? No problem, it's made of chocolate now, need a soft landing? Fluffy marshmellows to land in, Need to climb up a wall? Oh look, a rock candy staircase leading up over the wall! Need to slow down enemies? Oh look, the ground is now thick caramel, need to stop them? Well, now that their feet are sunk in it, it's rock candy!

It comes with the same caveat as illusion where your DM needs to allow these things to work, but if they do, then it can be great fun.

[Adam Meyers]

Since we have the bossman here, a question: The official Drop Dead Studios forum doesn't seem real active, is that the best place to raise questions and concerns?

The problem is that when I get really into a project, I tend to stop going online, which is something I'm working on fixing. The forum should be the best place, and I'm working it into my schedule to check there, here, and on facebook at least once per day if I can.

And for what it's worth, the reason Creation cost a spell point is that in our tests, when used correctly it has been known to become quite a game-changer: putting domes around troublesome creatures to cut them out of the fight, dropping walls to crush and bar the way for advancing hordes, provide the players with free cover, cut a spellcaster's line of sight, etc. One time as a low-level character I created a massive sack cloth around a major spellcaster big enough it didn't give him a Reflex save to escape and forcing him to use his turn to cut his way out instead of letting him blast us.

[MyrPsychologist]

Yes, it does. Most of the staves and things like that grant bonus talents for associated spheres, and there's not a lot of difference from core in how other items work.



I know for me, it definitely was a great system to replace Vancian casting, largely because it successfully avoids most of the major issues and OP spells and combos. It's also much simpler to use and learn, meaning that since we adopted it there have been a lot more spellcasters at the table. It also does a great job of covering a wider array of character concepts withough tagging on baggage that the character might not be interested in.

Once I sat down and read the book I also found it to be pretty user friendly and easy to explain. The part I like is that concepts are up and running fairly early instead of waiting an exceptionally long time to get high leveled feats, abilities, or spells. And they feel a lot more balanced than Vancian casting.

[Nyaa]

Does Illusion - Invisibility grant greater invisibility for minute/level, without spell point expenditure?

[stack]

No, I believe it specifies making an illusion to do it. There is also a thread started yesterday by the developer to answer questions. link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?415365-The-Creator-of-Spheres-of-Power-Here-Ask-Me-Anything&p=19262862)

[Adam Meyers]

Invisibility follows the rules for any other illusion as far as expenditure of spell points and duration, and we tweaked the benefit to Stealth, but otherwise it is greater invisibility, yeah.

[Kaidinah]

I actually like that the anti-invisibility options are spread across multiple Spheres, so that you don't need 1 particular sphere to deal with it.