[Spheres of Power] Nyctomancer's Handbook Open Playtest

[Bhaakon]

Hello, all! I am sure many of you are aware of the line of single-sphere handbooks being published by Drop Dead Studios (http://www.dropdeadstudios.com/) for their Spheres of Power (http://paizo.com/products/btpy96pr?Spheres-of-Power) alternate magic system for Pathfinder. I am the author of the upcoming handbook for the Dark Sphere, currently titled the 'Nyctomancer's Handbook'. In the interests of making a better book--and merely embarrassing myself on various message boards rather than in physical print--I present you with the playtest of the work I've distilled from my blood sweat and tears (mostly tears). Please burn it to the ground with your reasoned critiques, that it may rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes. Or some other self-gratifying simile!

Nyctomancer's Handbook Playtest (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zHRZyaMh_QwWcQ-ROGCjQyCdflD6cbm9VdEOJMpC06I/edit?usp=sharing)

Feel free to leave your comments on the google doc itself, here, or both. Content, rules mistakes, rules interaction, copy editing, and any other pertinent errors or issues are fair game. All replies will be read and considered, even if I don't respond to each in detail (though I'll be active in the thread and will likely respond to most of them).

[LordOfCain]

Looks pretty cool. Ill look more into it in a bit.

[Afgncaap5]

Finally, I can begin crafting Falstag, Sorcerer of Darkness!

[Galacktic]

So out of curiosity, what's the intended purpose for Stygian Immersion, considering it can't be used for travel? I suppose you could use it to actually hide somewhere, though if they step into your shadow then they'll find you just as well as anywhere else. I'm just wracking my brain and I can't figure out a good use. A few sub-par ones, but nothing too terribly amazing. I could see it being used as the basis of a potent Spellcraft combination but that's about it.

[khadgar567]

love the shadow mannequin and lightless penumbra
and small question is there a chance we can get advance creation and darkness talent allowing us to wear darkness as armor

[Bhaakon]

So out of curiosity, what's the intended purpose for Stygian Immersion, considering it can't be used for travel?

Hiding, as you mentioned. It can be used to traverse some obstacles using the Flowing Darkness talent (For instance, you cast a blot that slips through a gap beneath a door, then use Stygian Immersion to swim beneath the door).

Mostly, though, its use would be to force enemy combatants unprepared for aquatic combat to deal with being immersed, which is a potentially significant debuff (or even deadly, if the creature can't swim or breath underwater).

And I see that it requires a duration. I will add one.

Edit: Having re-read the talent, I see now that the wording made the potential aggressive use impossible by most readings. I have changed it.


and small question is there a chance we can get advance creation and darkness talent allowing us to wear darkness as armor

I'll discuss that one to the Creation Sphere author. We'd need to think up some interesting mechanical benefit to wearing darkness as armor, and decide which book it would go in.

[A.J.Gibson]

I'll discuss that one to the Creation Sphere author. We'd need to think up some interesting mechanical benefit to wearing darkness as armor, and decide which book it would go in.

You could make it into an armor property pretty easily.

[Bhaakon]

It could, but what would it do? A stealth bonus would be the obvious thing, but there's already an enhancement for that. Heh. I'm making it sound like I'm against the idea, and I'm not. I just want it to have an interesting effect instead of just be a fluff change, and I'm coming up dry at the moment.

[stack]

Miss chance would seem to be the most obvious, balancing could be tricky. Having it be a valid target for darkness would be interesting since then the darkness could move with you. Or the darkness eats your enemy and they spend a few rounds in the shadow plane.

[Bhaakon]

OK, I've gone though and made some pretty notable changes lately:

-Added new Arsonal Tricks, mostly to make the new weapon/armor enhancements in the book available for summoned and bound weapons.

-A slew of new feats for Shadow Lurks, since the commenters have finally overwhelmed my aversion to making it too Naruto <.<
Shadow coterie: Summon multiple Lurks.
Lurking Surprise: Pop your Lurk to let it use a single Dark Sphere power.
Shadow Swap: Switch places with your Lurk.
Body Double: Let your Lurk take a hit for you.

-I retouched the Talent Thief to try and make it usable in games that aren't SoP-exclusive.

This is an addition to the minor tweaks and clarifications I've made in response to comments, so please give it another look if you haven't in a while. Thank youf for the input!

[khadgar567]

Is shaded armor have any penumbra talent and shadowed mien or just shadow mien

[Bhaakon]

Just shadowed mien.

[Mathias1313]

I really like this handbook so far, it has some cool options. I have some questions and points, so here they are.



Questions:

-DarkShaper
Shadow Limb – Could you clarify this ability a bit? For instance, I animate my own shadow… how big of a space does it take up? Where exactly is it? The way the ability is worded it makes me think that my shadow gets animated and stays in my own space and follows me as I move and basically functions as a Natural attack that will eventually get reach from my square. If my assumptions is wrong plz clarify, if it is how it works… plz still clarify, just not as much.

-Basic Magic
I find some of the Talents you have created to be unnecessarily separated. For instance:
-Directional Darkness if used on as a blot could do the same thing as Flat Black.
-Gaze into the Abyss and Obfuscation do incredibly similar things. Why not just combine them into one
-Shadowed Mien dosent seem like its worth a talent.
-Shadow tag is very cool, but I don’t see why it isn’t 1hour per caster lvl.
-Shadow Stash should be clarified as it says “ you may stash AN item” which makes it seem like only 1 item and then goes on to use plurals which makes me think multiple items. The only thing that makes me think it might actually be only one item is that this ability does not give spatial dimensions, which other similar abilities have.
-Stygian Immersion should get some clarification on what the Will save protects them from. Is the will save to negate the effects of just the Pure Darkness or is it to not fall into the water?
- Could you maybe change the Sinister surprise to not cost a SP initially but instead say something like placing a Sinister surprise can be done but no other Darkness, or Blot effect may be used until it is activated or the duration ends. Still limiting but dosent always cost an SP.
-Tenebrous Legerdemain has no duration. I think you meant for it to be added on as a rider to an existing Darkness of Blot effect and then would last as long as that effect would last, but the wording dosent support it.

Advanced Magic
-Animated Shadow needs the same language clarification that the DarkShapers Shadow Limb needs.
-Lightless Penumbra is in the same boat as Shadowed Mein as I see it, not really worth the talent. Could it be rolled into another one instead?
-Shadow Double…… I like it but why is it limited to lvl 15 and why add Melt into shadow as a pre-req? It seems Excessive

Feats
-Lurking Surprise.... the single persistant Dark sphere effect? does it last as long as the lurk does... as in, Say I use Hungry Darkness, does it mean that if my lurk touches someone then they save or take the ability damage, does that work every time he touches or is it single use?
Shadow Mannequin can I use the Mannequin to hold my armor but still benefit from wearing the armor?? Cause if so, thats freaking awesome.

[Prime32]

Some things I'd like to see:

A drawback for the Conjuration sphere where the creature rises up out of a (darkness) or (blot) effect, making it incapable of leaving that area (and dissipating if the darkness is destroyed). You can create a "blank" blot with no effects as part of the summoning, or use one you have already.
An upgrade to Step Through Darkness which allows you to reach through to grab or attack things.
A way to deal continuous cold damage with your shadows, possibly with the Destruction sphere as a prereq.


love the shadow mannequin and lightless penumbra
and small question is there a chance we can get advance creation and darkness talent allowing us to wear darkness as armorThat already exists - the Material Focus drawback lets you choose "shadowstuff". Maybe one of the races should get both Dark (Drawback: Meld Into Dark) and Creation (Drawback: Material Focus [shadowstuff]), receiving no bonus talents for either sphere.

[Taveena]

Going through the doc, random feedback below.

Does the Darkshaper's charisma bonus on attack rolls while using her Shadow Limb apply to weapons wielded by the Shadow Limb, or only the natural attack? Presently unclear.

I'm not an expert on Spheres optimization, but wouldn't dipping another class to negate the Lycanthropy drawback of Shadowshifter be nearly required? Hidden Transformation already rewards them for focusing it on themselves, so the hard Lycanthropy restriction seems weird.

+1 per 5 levels is a pretty small skill bonus, compared to some other classes that grant them as a class feature. It's nice, obviously, but I feel like it could afford to be a little higher.

So effectively the only bonus of Shadow Boxing over normal unarmed strike is the reach, yes?

Siphon Shadow and Shadow Theft don't have a listed duration on the 'missing shadow' effect - when is their shadow returned?

Does the Clinging Darkness effect suppress the Darkness/Blot for the round, or end it?

Obfuscation's second paragraph should probably use "increasing the protection to the equivalent of 1 foot of lead"

The Shadow Lurk should probably also be unable to use active supernatural abilities, though I'm not sure how you'd word that.

One with the Void could be clarified (are you able to take sizes in BETWEEN the 5 foot square and maximum size, or is it one of the two extremes?)

Hoooboy Toxic Miasma looks fun. And potentially really, really powerful - an AoE save or lose, potentially. Yikes.

Shadow Warded seems extremely situational. As a +1 enhancement it feels like it's only really useful for DMs who particularly want to make their Dark sphere player have one very rough fight.

What does 'for every 4 HD or fraction thereof' mean? 3 is 3/4 of 4, do they get an ability at 3 HD?

Anything I haven't mentioned looks good, and in most cases, really goddamn cool. Great work, and definitely gonna buy this once it comes out.

[Mithril Leaf]

I really do love the Skulk but I feel obligated to point out just how many free spell points they get. There's slowish but exponential growth as you level up. At level 6 a reasonable character could easily get 15 bonus spell points. At level 10 you get 45 from your (total of 3 talents invested) undead and 3 party members. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's a lot of points.

[Bhaakon]

Sorry, been a bit distracted by life lately, but I just got back to this and did a major edit with fresh eyes, adding new feats and traits, fixing some of the existing ones. Thanks for all the great feedback, and I'm sorry I've been a bit tardy on responding.

Anyway, answering questions:

Mathias1313


-DarkShaper
Shadow Limb – Could you clarify this ability a bit? For instance, I animate my own shadow… how big of a space does it take up? Where exactly is it? The way the ability is worded it makes me think that my shadow gets animated and stays in my own space and follows me as I move and basically functions as a Natural attack that will eventually get reach from my square. If my assumptions is wrong plz clarify, if it is how it works… plz still clarify, just not as much.

Your assumption is correct. The intent is for it to work like a natural attack with reach. Your shadow doesn't take up any particular square.


-Basic Magic
I find some of the Talents you have created to be unnecessarily separated. For instance:
-Directional Darkness if used on as a blot could do the same thing as Flat Black.
-Gaze into the Abyss and Obfuscation do incredibly similar things. Why not just combine them into one
-Shadowed Mien dosent seem like its worth a talent.
-Shadow tag is very cool, but I don’t see why it isn’t 1hour per caster lvl.
-Shadow Stash should be clarified as it says “ you may stash AN item” which makes it seem like only 1 item and then goes on to use plurals which makes me think multiple items. The only thing that makes me think it might actually be only one item is that this ability does not give spatial dimensions, which other similar abilities have.
-Stygian Immersion should get some clarification on what the Will save protects them from. Is the will save to negate the effects of just the Pure Darkness or is it to not fall into the water?
- Could you maybe change the Sinister surprise to not cost a SP initially but instead say something like placing a Sinister surprise can be done but no other Darkness, or Blot effect may be used until it is activated or the duration ends. Still limiting but dosent always cost an SP.
-Tenebrous Legerdemain has no duration. I think you meant for it to be added on as a rider to an existing Darkness of Blot effect and then would last as long as that effect would last, but the wording dosent support it.

-I'm not seeing how direction darkness would replicate flat black.
-I'll think on it, though obfuscate is meant to be more subtle. Maybe a rider that costs an extra SP.
-You can't put a price on style (though, yeah, I've been looking for ways to boost it)
-Agreed and changed
-I see the problem. I used the singular to indicate that only one item may be stashed with each move action. You may stash as many items as will fit, but only one per action. I've changed the text to make that more clear.
-The save is to resist the meld entirely--no falling into the liquid. I juggled the sentences to hopefuly make that clear.
-I've removed the additional SP cost entirely and simply stated that triggers can't overlap.
-By definition, darkness and blot talents are always riders on a darkness or blot effect.



Advanced Magic
-Animated Shadow needs the same language clarification that the DarkShapers Shadow Limb needs.
-Lightless Penumbra is in the same boat as Shadowed Mein as I see it, not really worth the talent. Could it be rolled into another one instead?
-Shadow Double…… I like it but why is it limited to lvl 15 and why add Melt into shadow as a pre-req? It seems Excessive

-I'll look at it.
-Lightless Penumbra is a requested Advanced Talent specifically to remove extreme light vulnerability (for instance, on vampires). it's a seperate advanced talent because Advanced Talents are explicitly optional rules, and, IMO, removing such iconic features as a vampire's sunlight vulnerability should be a setting choice rather than a system assumption, and somewhat more difficult than a talent available at 1st level.
-I'm basing the level prereq off Simulacrum, bumped up from 13 to 15 because it is more powerful (no diminished level, no material cost). Doubling action economy--especially for a caster--is a HUGE benefit. The Melt Into Shadow prereq was left in from an earlier version of the document and has now been removed.


Feats
-Lurking Surprise.... the single persistant Dark sphere effect? does it last as long as the lurk does... as in, Say I use Hungry Darkness, does it mean that if my lurk touches someone then they save or take the ability damage, does that work every time he touches or is it single use?
Shadow Mannequin can I use the Mannequin to hold my armor but still benefit from wearing the armor?? Cause if so, thats freaking awesome.

-Single use. It basically turns the Shadow Lurk into a walking scroll that can cast itself (except using your own CL).
-Yes, and yes it is.

Prime32


Some things I'd like to see:


A drawback for the Conjuration sphere where the creature rises up out of a (darkness) or (blot) effect, making it incapable of leaving that area (and dissipating if the darkness is destroyed). You can create a "blank" blot with no effects as part of the summoning, or use one you have already.
An upgrade to Step Through Darkness which allows you to reach through to grab or attack things.
A way to deal continuous cold damage with your shadows, possibly with the Destruction sphere as a prereq.



-I'll tell the conjuration author.
-Hmm. I'll have to make sure that's not stepping too much on warp's toes.
-I'm generally trying to avoid direct damage, and making it continuous but small would generally be very trivial. Maybe NL along the lines of the cold exposure rules, but that might infringe on Weather. I'll have to think about this.

Taveena


Does the Darkshaper's charisma bonus on attack rolls while using her Shadow Limb apply to weapons wielded by the Shadow Limb, or only the natural attack? Presently unclear.

I'm not an expert on Spheres optimization, but wouldn't dipping another class to negate the Lycanthropy drawback of Shadowshifter be nearly required? Hidden Transformation already rewards them for focusing it on themselves, so the hard Lycanthropy restriction seems weird.

+1 per 5 levels is a pretty small skill bonus, compared to some other classes that grant them as a class feature. It's nice, obviously, but I feel like it could afford to be a little higher.

So effectively the only bonus of Shadow Boxing over normal unarmed strike is the reach, yes?

Siphon Shadow and Shadow Theft don't have a listed duration on the 'missing shadow' effect - when is their shadow returned?

Does the Clinging Darkness effect suppress the Darkness/Blot for the round, or end it?

Obfuscation's second paragraph should probably use "increasing the protection to the equivalent of 1 foot of lead"

The Shadow Lurk should probably also be unable to use active supernatural abilities, though I'm not sure how you'd word that.

One with the Void could be clarified (are you able to take sizes in BETWEEN the 5 foot square and maximum size, or is it one of the two extremes?)

Hoooboy Toxic Miasma looks fun. And potentially really, really powerful - an AoE save or lose, potentially. Yikes.

Shadow Warded seems extremely situational. As a +1 enhancement it feels like it's only really useful for DMs who particularly want to make their Dark sphere player have one very rough fight.

What does 'for every 4 HD or fraction thereof' mean? 3 is 3/4 of 4, do they get an ability at 3 HD?

-Yes, Cha applies to weapon attacks using the Shadow Limb
-The Lycanthropic drawback can also be bought off with a talent, so dipping is not required to remove it.
-Yeah, it's not itself a particularly powerful stealth boost, but I'm trying to balance the archetype as a whole rather than each ability individually.
-Yes. The benefit of Shadow Boxing is reach.
-They do, but it's stated a bit obliquely. The shadow returns when the temporary SP expire or are used, and the temp SP expire after 1 rd per CL.
-A successful save against Clinging Darkness ends the darkness/blot. I've clarified that in the document.
-Fixed
-I've clarified that it can't use Ex abilities, Su abilities, or class abilities of any kind. Considering feats to let it do some of those, but, yeah, Shadow Lurking a dragon to get its breath weapon would be amazing but incredibly broken.
-Any size in between. Hopefully making that "up to" rather than "to" is enough to make that clear.
-I just want poison to be useful for something. It's still very expensive, though, and the DC caps low.
-Maybe, but also a defense for a player who is highly dependent on manipulating their shadow. It's certainly quite situational, I agree.
-1 at 1, another at 5, another at 9th, etc. I copied the language from an existing template. I'll look at the other templates and see if there's something clearer that I can crib. Or just make my own, but then I'll have no one to blame but myself...

Mithril Leaf


I really do love the Skulk but I feel obligated to point out just how many free spell points they get. There's slowish but exponential growth as you level up. At level 6 a reasonable character could easily get 15 bonus spell points. At level 10 you get 45 from your (total of 3 talents invested) undead and 3 party members. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's a lot of points.

You are correct. I've adjusted cut the temporary SP from shadow siphon in half, and I've added language preventing Shadow Siphon and Steal Shadow from being used on summoned or conjured creatures or targets without an intelligence score. That's still lots of potential free temp SP from willing party members, familiars, and animal companions (if you can somehow render them willing), but a less ridiculous amount.

[Flame_Effigy]

Somehow I missed that this was in beta/playtest. I'll read through it and suggest things soon!

Okay here we go.
1. So Penumbras place a shadowy "aura" around a specifically targeted creature, as opposed to creating an area effect. This would be used to target 1 specific creature in an area rather than every creature around it.
Shadows target a specific shadow and applies effects to it. Correct?
If so, then

Shadowed Mien (Shadow)
You may spend a spell point to make your penumbra resistant to low-light and darkvision, though the target can see out of it normally. This hides distinguishing features from observers and grants a bonus of ½ your caster level to Bluff checks to lie or feint, as well as to Intimidation checks to demoralize. Sense Motive checks to get a hunch about your penumbra’s target have their DC increased by ½ your caster level.

Should be a Penumbra rather than Shadow, no? It appears to surround a target in an aura of darkness.
Unless the intention is for it to modify an existing Penumbra that you cast separately...
I think it's just a typo.

Would Black Lung be too powerful as a penumbra?

Shadow Tag could possibly be a Shadow talent, no?

Tenebrous Legerdemain (Blot, Darkness) seems like it should/could be a Meld effect instead...
But I guess if it was a Meld effect it'd take two turns to set up instead of 1? Meh.

Obscure Passage + Event Horizon sounds AWESOME

Suggestions for new talents: [Some of these might already be available, just going off the top of my head here, since Shadow now has a lot of different subtags to fill. A lot of these are probably redundant or are do-nothings. I just don't want one subtag to have far less talents than the others, you know?]

Anchoring Darkness (Shadow)
You may spend a spell point to imbue a target's shadow with a bit of your magic. The shadow pulls against its owner, decreasing its speed by X.

Suffocating Darkness (Penumbra)(Meld)
The target becomes unable to breath while in areas of your darkness/Your penumbra takes the form of a shadowy hand clenched around the neck of your target
As per the Suffocate Void Kineticist Talent

Venerating Darkness (Penumbra)(Meld)
Your darkness replaces oxygen around your target.
Nourishing darkness fills the lungs of any creature within this darkness effect, eliminating their need to breathe, as per No Breath

Black Tentacles
I'm not sure how to go about this. Maybe a Dark + Conjuration ability Dark + Destruction Form? As far as I know, Dark has nothing to duplicate the effects of Black Tentacles, which seems weird to me. Bonus points if you have it apply to a Blot or Shadow rather than a standard Darkness cube.

Polka Dots (Penumbra)
Your darkness allows attacks to slip right through you with ease...
This would apply a miss chance to attacks against you. Basically you'd be making tiny patches of Obscure Passage/Stygian Immergian on your body.
Or more accurately, you'd just be applying Darkness's standard miss effects to yourself and only yourself.

Titan's Shade (Shadow)
Enlarge a shadow for some purpose/Transform a shadow into the shadow of some other creature...for some purpose

A more limited form of Melt into Shadow?

Directional Shadow
Be able to control the direction your shadow faces so that it's always in whatever square next to you that you want? Why? I don't know.

Multiple Shadows
Instead of 1 shadow, you'd have 2! Why? I don't know.




EDIT 1/1/17

Okay I figured out a few of the ideas

Multiple Shadows = Increases your AOT per round/Makes it so that you cannot be flanked.

Directional Shadow = A Dark/Destruction combination talent. Imbues your shadow with destructive force, and any creature that ends its turn on your shadow takes a very limited destructive blast.

Titan's Shadow = A Dark/Alteration or Dark/Enhancement combination talent. Transforms your shadow and gives you limited abilities by changing your shadow's shape instead of your physical appearance.

[EldritchWeaver]

I've been trying to wrap my head around the Darkened template. I'm not quite sure how this is supposed to work. For convenience, I've copied it below in the spoilers:

Darkened (Template)
Through accident of birth, deliberate ritual, or simple long-term exposure, this creature’s very being has been suffused with darkness.

Creating a Darkened Creature
“Darkened” is an inherited or acquired template that can be applied to any creature. A darkened creature retains the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

CR: 8 HD or less, as base creature +2; 9 HD or more, as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.
Special Abilities: A darkened creature gains one of the following special abilities for every 4 HD or fraction thereof.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su): A darkened creature can use the Stealth skill even while being observed. As long as it is within 10 ft. of an area of dim light, it may hide itself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. It cannot, however, hide in its own shadow.

Evasion (Ex): In areas of dim light or darker a darkened creature gains evasion, as the rogue ability of the same name. This ability may be selected a second time, granting improved evasion in areas of dim light or darker.

Occulted (Su): A darkened creature is protected from divinations as if under the effects of a permanent Obfuscation talent using its HD as its caster level. This ability can be taken a second time, granting the benefits of a second instance of Obfuscation.

See in Darkness (Su): The creature can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, including that created by deeper darkness.

Shadow Rake (Su): A darkened creatures can strike with its shadow. It gains a claw primary natural attack in addition to any attacks it already possesses. The damage for this attack is 1d6 plus its Charisma modifier. This special ability can be selected multiple times, each granting an additional claw attack.

Casting

A darkened creature with a mental ability score of 10 or more may combine spheres and talents to create magical effects. The darkened creature gains 1 caster level per 2 racial Hit Dice, and may use either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as its casting ability modifier. This choice must be made when the template is acquired.


It gains a spell pool equal to its HD plus its casting ability modifier, and a number of bonus talents equal to ½ its caster level (minimum 1). All its talents must be chosen from the Dark sphere. It gains the Photophobic Casting drawback, and may never buy this drawback off. It may select any advanced talents it qualifies for.

If the darkened creature has sphere-based spellcasting from another source, it instead gains the Photophobic Casting drawback, and may never buy this drawback off. It gains access to the Dark sphere if it did not have it already and gains one bonus talent selected from the Dark sphere in place of the single bonus talent normally gained from the drawback.

So I can see a number of uses which are potentially interesting, but I don't actually know how RAW-legal they are.

A creature with 1 HD, no class levels and no sphere-casting

It gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +2.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: None granted.
Casting: Assuming a mental score high enough to gain casting, it gains:


CL 0
1 + CAM spell points
1 bonus talent (used to buy Dark sphere)
Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: Without casting this isn't worth a CR +2. Probably just CR +0. With casting, CR +1 seems justified.

A creature with several HD, no class levels and no sphere-casting

I use several examples here to get a better feeling for this.

4 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +2.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: One granted.
Casting: Assuming a mental score high enough to gain casting, it gains:


CL 2
4 + CAM spell points
1 bonus talent (used to buy Dark sphere)
Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: Without casting this isn't worth a CR +2. Probably just CR +0 or CR +1. With casting, CR +1 seems justified.


8 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +2.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Two granted.
Casting: Assuming a mental score high enough to gain casting, it gains:


CL 4
8 + CAM spell points
2 bonus talents (used to buy Dark sphere)
Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: Without casting this isn't worth a CR +2. Probably just CR +1. With casting, CR +1 seems justified.


12 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Three granted.
Casting: Assuming a mental score high enough to gain casting, it gains:


CL 6
12 + CAM spell points
3 bonus talents (used to buy Dark sphere)
Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: Without casting this isn't worth a CR +3. Probably just CR +1. With casting, CR +2 seems justified.


16 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Four granted.
Casting: Assuming a mental score high enough to gain casting, it gains:


CL 8
16 + CAM spell points
4 bonus talents (used to buy Dark sphere)
Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: Without casting this isn't worth a CR +3. Probably just CR +1. With casting, CR +2 seems justified.


20 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Five granted.
Casting: Assuming a mental score high enough to gain casting, it gains:


CL 10
20 + CAM spell points
5 bonus talents (used to buy Dark sphere)
Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: Without casting this isn't worth a CR +3. Probably just CR +1. With casting, CR +2 seems justified.


A creature with 1 HD, no class levels and racial sphere-casting

It gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +2.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: None granted.
Casting: As it already has casting, it gains:


Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: This isn't worth a CR +2. Probably just CR +0.

A creature with several HD, no class levels and racial sphere-casting

I use several examples here to get a better feeling for this.

4 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +2.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: One granted.
Casting: As it already has casting, it gains:

Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: This isn't worth a CR +2. Probably just CR +0 or CR +1.


8 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +2.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Two granted.
Casting: As it already has casting, it gains:


Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: This isn't worth a CR +2. Probably just CR +1.


12 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Three granted.
Casting: As it already has casting, it gains:

Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: This isn't worth a CR +3. Probably just CR +1.


16 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Four granted.
Casting: As it already has casting, it gains:

Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: This isn't worth a CR +3. Probably just CR +1.


20 HD creature gains the following qualities:

CR: as base creature +3.

Type: The creature gains the darkened subtype.
Senses: A darkened creature gains low-light vision and darkvision 60 ft.
Weaknesses: A darkened creature gains light blindness.

Special Abilities: Five granted.
Casting: As it already has casting, it gains:

Photophobic Casting drawback, granting another bonus talent


Analysis: This isn't worth a CR +3. Probably just CR +1.


I still need address the following categories, but I don't know how classes and templates actually interact:


A creature with 1 HD, gaining class levels afterwards and no sphere-casting
A creature with several HD, gaining class levels afterwards and no sphere-casting
A creature with 1 HD, gaining class levels afterwards and class sphere-casting
A creature with several HD, gaining class levels afterwards and class sphere-casting


But there are only two possibilities. Either class levels are completely separate. Then they have no influence on the CR, the template adds (as no special abilities or bonus talents are granted in addition). Or class levels count as racial HD for the calculation purposes. Depending on the interpretation, this might grant non-spherecasting class levels the effect of Advanced Magical Training as well. Even in the latter case, the CR increase at the height isn't worth more than CR +1 in addition.

Thinking about this further, the template has definitively two weaknesses. Firstly, it isn't guaranteed that you get even one of the special abilities. That should be changed. Considering the negligible impact, I would grant 1 + 1 per every 4 HD. Secondly, access to the special abilities is possible restricted to racial HD only. To mitigate that I would propose that magical talents can be traded for one of these abilities.

The CR increase IMO isn't dependent so much HD and the special abilities, but more depending on if sphere-casting is actually granted. Without added spherecasting, it is CR +0 until 12 HD inclusive, then CR +1. With added spherecasting, it is CR +1 until 8 HD inclusive, the CR +2.

What is your opinion?