Spheresrof Power: Protection and Enhancement

[Almarck]

So, I had a player run Spheres of magic wizardry and he's trying to understand Enhancement and Protection but doesn't find them as useful as in normal wizardry.

I want to know what things can be done to improve them particularly what kinds of combos he can pull off and how to combo everything via spellcrafting.

I'm the GM so I'm giving permission for alot of things not normally allowed.

[Thatwarforged]

First I would allow the enhancement bonus stack with nontemporary ones (like say using physical enhancement (str) on someone with a +4 belt of str) out of the fact he is spend character resources (talents, spell points or standard actions) on it. Protection is a difficult one it gets some really awesome but specific capabilities. I would suggest taking the community talent and allow him to take a homebrew mass aegis so he had some damage mitigation abilities also pick up Painful aegis for some damage and Guardian for some control. As for optimizing those specific spheres it might be a little problematic which i can't really help on.

[Feint's End]

Slightly off topic but may I suggest changing the title of the thread to Spheres of Power: Protection and Enhancement. The way it is written now I wasn't initially sure what you are talking about.

Secondly I recommend something along the lines of allowing half the enhancement bonus to stack with enhancement Boni from other sources. This gives the sphere some useability with characters who already have them from other sourcers.

Or make a talent for that. Making the bonus unnamed but reducing it by half (or 2 ... makes it smoother). That would make a nice upgrade too.

[Vhaidara]

Enhancement: Personally, I modified the base duration on spending a spell point to be 10 minutes/level and the Deep Enhancement duration to an hour/level.

For in combat effectiveness, Steal Enhancement and Cripple make for a good debuffer, but probably the most effective one would be Mass Enhancement plus either Steal Senses or Lighten. Steal Senses gives you an AoE blindness, and Lighten, starting at level 8, lets you just make people start floating (really funny if he also has Telekinesis, because then he can start throwing them around).

For versatility, Animate Object and eventually Bestow Intelligence.

Protection: The Community talent will let you redirect damage towards the healthiest member of the party with your Aegis. This is very expensive on spell points though. That plus Status and Healing Aegis can make you a very effective medic.

This one's a bit weak for versatility, but you can pick up Breathless.

Sphere Dipping: I honestly recommend any high caster pick up access to the Destruction Sphere. It gives you something to do when you have nothing better to do, and high casters can afford the single talent.

[Almarck]

Well, my player likes the ideas proposed so far, particularly stacking enchantment onto Destruction magic.