Sphere Caster Drawbacks?

[SangoProduction]

So, I was reading up in this fancy new "sphere casting" system, that people praise. It's kinda cool.

One question (so far): Some of the drawbacks mention having to pick a talent for picking the drawback. Nowhere, except in those drawbacks, is it ever said that drawbacks grant bonus talents, just spell points.

Can someone explain this to me?

[the_david]

I think you missed this part:

"Sphere-Specific Drawbacks
Rather than grant bonus spell points, sphere-specific drawbacks grant the target an extra magic talent in their prerequisite sphere. A creature does not gain this bonus magic talent until they gain the sphere-specific drawback’s prerequisite sphere. A sphere-specific drawback may be removed by spending a magic talent, in essence ‘paying back’ the talent gained from the drawback."

[SangoProduction]

cool. thanks.

[Ualaa]

The first time you gain a level in a sphere casting class, you basically pick your tradition.

This is how magic works for your character.
While you don't need to take any general drawbacks, you can.
General drawbacks are not sphere specific, but modify how you use magic.

Magical Signs for example, is something that is very apparent to anyone within 30 ft. or so of your character, while you're using magic.
This could be like the Harshini magic, in Jennifer Fallon's 'Hythrun Chronicles', where their eyes turn completely black when they draw upon magic.
It could also be like a Defiler, in the Dark Sun setting, where they draw the life out of their surroundings and kill plants or small animals in a burst about them, while casting.

There are a bunch of drawbacks, that are general in nature and not tied to any sphere.

Taking up to five drawbacks has a mechanical advantage.
Each drawback taken equates to one bonus spell point per five levels in a casting class.
But that is also offset by boons.

Boons are things that make your magic more effective, in one way or another.
You need a minimum of two general drawbacks, for each boon you take.
And that essentially reduces the drawback count, for the purpose of bonus spell points.

If you wanted two boons and maximum spell points per level...
You would need nine general drawbacks to get that.
Each of the boons essentially eats two drawbacks, and you would like to have five drawbacks after boons are figured in.
I'm not saying you cannot have more than five, just that five (after the boon adjustment) is your maximum that benefits you with bonus spell points.
Also, you don't need any boons necessarily.
And you don't necessarily need to have five bonus spell points per five levels in casting classes; that's a personal choice on the value of spell points.



Sphere specific drawbacks are gained when you gain the sphere in question.
They impact how that specific sphere works, generally limiting it in some way.
And grant a bonus talent (sometimes forced such as Disappearance in Illusion automatically getting you the Illusion talent Invisibility) within that sphere.

This can represent your character can initially only Teleport themselves.
Ie. Warp Sphere, with Personal Warp as a drawback.
But over time, as the character's experience with magic progresses... the character can buy off that drawback, and now can send others instead of just themselves.
Maybe down the road, they take Group Teleport as well, so they can take themselves and others instead of just a single target at a time.

So you can use sphere specific drawbacks to represent your powers growing over time.
Or you can be like the player's in my group, and take almost every drawback you can, so your nine talents can get you fifteen things...

Some of the melee in my group really razz the casters, since it's like... what can you do with your magic:
- I can buff myself only
- I can heal myself, but no one else
- I can teleport myself, but cannot take anyone else
- I can haste myself...
The melee then basically say, can we trade this wizard/cleric in for someone who can do half of those things, but isn't absolutely useless to the group...

[EldritchWeaver]

So you can use sphere specific drawbacks to represent your powers growing over time.
Or you can be like the player's in my group, and take almost every drawback you can, so your nine talents can get you fifteen things...

Some of the melee in my group really razz the casters, since it's like... what can you do with your magic:
- I can buff myself only
- I can heal myself, but no one else
- I can teleport myself, but cannot take anyone else
- I can haste myself...
The melee then basically say, can we trade this wizard/cleric in for someone who can do half of those things, but isn't absolutely useless to the group...

I suppose the melee guys can turn into gishes themselves at least, if they can't talk sense into the caster guys. Even my selfish casters have some spells for the benefit of other players, except for my shifter guy. But he is supposed to be self-reliant anyway.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

It should be noted that casting traditions are at least recommended for DM use in fleshing out how magic works in the world, rather than as an optional way for players to minmax