ICN
2018-07-17, 05:22 PM
A more accessible and easily searchable collection of all the Spheres AMA questions and answers. So far, just doing the most recent thread, though I hope to work backwards over time. Eventually planning on sorting questions by spheres/feats/class etc. If anyone is willing to help out, that would be great.
Previous Threads Thread #1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?415365-The-Creator-of-Spheres-of-Power-Here-Ask-Me-Anything), Thread #2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?509636-Spheres-of-Power-Ask-Me-Anything-2), SoM Thread (Some questions at the end) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?520046-Drop-Dead-Studios-Spheres-of-Might-Open-Playtest/page45)
Current Thread Thread #3 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?561876-Drop-Dead-Studios-Ask-Me-Anything-3)
The Auspician's Handbook (aka Fate sphere handbook - Jeff the Green
The Battlemage's Handbook (aka War sphere handbook) - A.J.Gibson
The Conjurer's Handbook (aka Conjuration sphere handbook) - stack
The Creator's Handbook (aka Creation sphere handbook) - Desril
The Destroyer's Handbook (aka Destruction sphere handbook) - stack
The Diviner's Handbook (aka Divination sphere handbook) - Mehangel
The Enhancer's Handbook (aka Enhancement sphere handbook - Amechra
The Geomancer's Handbook (aka Nature sphere handbook) - Mehangel
The Illuminator's Handbook (aka Light sphere handbook) - AmberVael
The Mentalist's Handbook (aka Mind sphere handbook - Afgncaap5
The Nyctomancer's Handbook (aka Dark sphere handbook - Bhaakon
The Shapeshifter's Handbook (aka Alteration sphere handbook) - stack
The Telekinetic's Handbook (aka Telekinesis sphere handbook) - AmberVael
The Vivomancer's Handbook (aka Life sphere handbook) - A.J.Gibson
Wild Magic - stack
Andrew Stoeckle - stack
N. Jolly - N. Jolly
Michael Sayre - Ssalarn
Q2: Companions do not disapears when the caster get unconscious (or sleeps), right? When a Great Summon + Lingering Companion'ed companion does disapear? As soon as the caster goes to sleep? When he wakes up?
Q4: What are, if any, the limitations on the fleshcraft and bestow life advanced talents (especially the combination of the two)? Also, how do you determine the body/life bestowed creature's ability scores?
From what I can tell, the only explicit limitations of fleshcraft (in the case of creating a body) is that if you want it to look like someone specific, you must make a disguise check, and the only implicit limitation is your size limit for creation effects. As for bestow life (in the case of granting life to an empty body), the only explicit limitation is that the created creature is a "1st level commoner of whatever race its body was crafted to mimic."
It seems a bit questionable to think that someone could make the body of any monster whose size is in the caster's creation range, which could then be reanimated into a incredibly powerful undead, or given life through bestow life and be made the caster's friend. Likewise, it seems odd that bestow life doesn't seem to have an explicit HD cap the way reanimate has, or the CL to HD scaling that animate object has. Yes, it says it makes a 1st level commoner, but that's just a single class level that takes no account for racial hit dice. It feels like these uses of these talents are unusually open ended compared to how other advanced talents are designed.
Likewise, it isn't clear how ability scores are to be determined for the fleshcrafted body/life bestowed creature. At least bestow life's "awaken" function clearly states a straighforward 3d6 for mental scores, which could be extrapolated to the "grant life" function, but fleshcrafting a permanent body is quiet on this point.
So any clarification, rules declaration, the pointing out of something I missed or a previous ruling, or any combination of those would be greatly appreciated.
Q8: how you create akasic mysteries in spheres system.
Q10: How does the spheres system interact with unchained action economy?
Q13: Can the races that recieve Conjuration as a bonus talent choose to trade out their companion with the Caller drawback? Most of them specify you have to take a certain type of companion.
Q24: How does movement work for the Animate enhancement?
Q25: If I possess the Telekinesis Sphere and the Flair magic talent, can I use the Vital Strike feat in conjunction with a bludgeon attack?
Q26: Does Flair only allow the application of feats, or class features as well?
Would a character with the Flair, Dancing Weapon and Mobile Bludgeon talents and the Flurry of Blows class feature gain an additional attack when full attacking while telekinetically wielding a monk weapon?
Could a character with the Flair talent deal sneak-attack damage when successfully bludgeoning a flat-footed target?
Q27: As a full-round action, you may move up to 10 ft. in any direction. (this movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity); each time you move 5 ft. while using this talent, if a creature is within your reach, you may make an unarmed attack against them with a -2 penalty; you may only make a single attack against a creature with this talent. For every 5 points of base attack bonus you possess, you may move an additional 5 feet. Does it allow a creature without flight speed to move through the air?
Q28: The scholar chooses a single combat sphere she possesses; she may use her class level in place of her base attack bonus when determining her bonus to hit, combat maneuver bonus, combat maneuver defense, ability DCs, and all other functions of the sphere normally determined by her base attack bonus when using talents or abilities granted by that sphere. The scholar may take this knack multiple times, choosing a different combat sphere each time. The scholar may not select the Equipment sphere with this knack. Normally, when something like a feat or trait lets you act as if your BAB was higher for the purposes of a sphere, it's just for effects that track that, but this one specifically calls out bonus to hit, CMB and CMD, among other things. The question then is: How does that work? If I choose the Sniper sphere and have a crossbow, do I get the boost to hit only when I use a Deadly Shot? Or when I shoot into melee, since it affects that action? Or with, for example, the attacks of opportunity from the Covering Fire talent?
It seems at a glance like the intent is for it to work only when actively using an ability granted by the sphere or a talent from the sphere, like Deadly Shot, but it feels odd to have someone who's not very good with the crossbow right until he makes an especially difficult shot.
Q29: Grenades are pretty much useless with their random fuse timer - are there ways to force a detonation, like shooting them?
Q31: Can the Advanced Talent Everglow be applied to the talent Dancing Lights or items created using the Duel-Sphere Feat Hard Light?
Q32: If the answer is no to the above question, then is there any benefit to taking Everglow other than to make fuelless lanterns?
Q33: In the dark sphere, if I had taken the shadow lurk ability twice would the shadow lurks have any access to Spheres of Might abilities I possess? Would the particular ability having an Associated Feat change this (such as Dual Attack and its Associated Feat: Two-Weapon Fighting)?
For example, could I make a shadow lurk and have it use the Scout Ability as if it were me and then have it despawn giving me knowledge of the targets weaknesses and the benefits that provides.
Would a Shadow Lurk gain my passive sphere abilties such as Armored Defense or Critical Genius from the Equipment sphere? Would these count as Attributes of my character or Feats for the purposes of Shadow Lurk?
As long as these do not bypass the rule of "A shadowstuff-imbued lurk may not attempt combat maneuvers, cast spells, or use its source’s class features." would the above work at all? Or are Shadow Lurks and Martial Characters not intended to mix at all?
Q38: Can a troubadour who has taken the masterpiece actor training once use a feat to gain access to a second masterpiece?
The logic being that the masterpiece ability let's you take any masterpiece for which you meet the prerequisites. The prerequisites normally are skill ranks and being a bard. Since I assume that the ability functions as written, once you have taken the masterpieces ability, you must count as a bard for the purpose of being able to take masterpieces.
Q44: It seems, at least from what I can observe from outside, that the Spheres of Power team is really busy lately. Are they preparing for a shift to Pathfinder 2.0 or have they yet to make a decision and just seeing where they want to go with the project? I saw on the Patreon in March they said the announcement of Pathfinder 2 did shake things up a bit, has things settled since?
Q47: On prodigy finisher Sunset it states you can apply [dark] talents as normal to the ability, while the imbuement Shadow uses both [darkness] and [dark] tags. My GM wanted to know if the finisher can use darkness talents, or if it's supposed to be only talents from the common dark talents, not specifically dark ones. In this case the question was mostly can you make your sunset into a black lung for example.
My own understanding of it would be that it works as if it was a cast darkness ability from the dark sphere, hence subject to both dark and darkness talents as applicable, and I suppose plot/shadow if you had something that would affect an area of darkness in those.
Q48: On beastmastery sphere, and this is mostly a curiosity thing. Why does the Animal companion talent scale based on your base attack bonus -3, instead of your handle animal -3, when handle animal is the skill that almost everything else in the sphere scales from. That is, when it's not scaling based on your ranks in ride. I just think it'd be more logical considering rest of the sphere and other spheres that grant skill ranks and scale based on them, to not have one exception there out of the blue.
I've been on a Technician binge lately, so I've got a few questions, some of which might be buried in the SoM AMA #1
Q50: Is the listed cost for the Independent Invention the full cost, or cost per Hit Dice? (I can see it being full cost as it's a class ability you have to pay for, OTOH it's a quite powerful class ability)
Q51: Grand Gadgets Chemical Thrower, Permanent Gadget and Laser all say that if you have Mechanical Insight you get 4 uses out of them per day instead of 3, they ALSO say if you take it a second time it's +3 uses, was it intended to still only get +3 uses on the base 4 uses, or was the +3 uses per day meant to increase as well?
Q52: Some clarification on what can be used in the Suit mod and what you can't would be nice. Obviously you shouldn't be able to use a Medium character's wings to fly around in a Colossal mecha that weighs 125 tons, but technically you can since the only clarification is "While in the pilot seat, the pilot and the independent invention are essentially a single creature, using the independent invention’s physical stats and the pilot’s mental stats." (Personal rule that I've been using is that Ex and Su abilities granted by race or template related to physical acts don't apply when in the suit, but there's a lot of fringe cases that I haven't considered, as well as Class abilities like Alchemist's Mutagen.)
Q53 a: A note about Magic Items would help. I've been assuming any Magic Item you're wearing that modifies physical stats doesn't affect the Independent Invention, even with Suit. OTOH I've ALSO been assuming you can enchant normal Wondrous Items and equip them to your Invention.
Edit: just saw that I shouldn't have been assuming that last bit as per this line: "They possess only a Strength and Dexterity score, with no skill points or feats or magic item slots."
Q53 b: Can / Should the Independent Invention be able to be targeted by Self spells while you pilot it?
Q54: If I use the Robot upgrade to make my Independent Invention have intelligence 10, does it also get Wisdom and Charisma stats? If so what are they? (asking specifically for Skills like Perception or Intimidate)
Q55: More on Robot Independent Inventions: when using a feat from the Robot instead of my own, do I use the Robot's BAB or my own to figure out the effects? (Examples: 1) at level 11 a Technician cannot qualify for Improved Vital Strike, but a Construct with full BAB does, 2) a Techncian at level 12 using Power Attack is only -3/+6, but a Construct is -4/+8)
Q56: If you have Suit and Covered then are you impossible to target with mental effects, or as pilot of the suit does casting a mental spell at the suit count as casting one at you?
Q57: Unrelated to Technician: It's been established earlier in this thread that RAI a Tradition that grants Gunsmithing should essentially grant the Gunslinger's Gunsmith class ability including a broken firearm and ability to repair it. In an Guns Everywhere world, does that instead grant Gun Training 1 as per the Gunslinger in a Guns Everywhere world? Or is that more of a GM specific question?
Q58: Characters who trade out their spherecasting for a spheres of might talent progression, what happens to the 2 free bonus magic talents that they would have otherwise gained? Do they become combat talents, or are they just lost forever?
I have a few questions about the Summoning Advanced Talent.
Q61: If I have a 25% discount on payments for getting a summoned creature to do a task for me, does that only apply to summoning allies? They have a fixed cost (or at least an equation to get a cost) associated with them that can be easily reduced by the discount. However, hostile summons are much more volatile in the pricing and payment methods, to the point that some hostiles may not even desire a monetary cost and instead want something else in exchange. Would the discount still apply when appropriate?
Q62: Would being limited to only being able to summon an extraplanar being of a particular narrow type (such as only being able to summon devils or only being able to summon angels) be a good drawback to gain extra favor with that type of creature. For example, either gaining a 25% discount or having those creatures count as allied?
Q63: Does the normal Pathfinder Binding rules apply to creatures summoned in this manner? The binding rules has ways to make a summoned creature more likely to summit to your demands if certain conditions are met first.
If they do still follow the rules of Binding, are there any special thing you can do to make Omnimentals summit more easily? For the four classical elementals the following gives a bonus to charisma checks to make deals with them.
Fire Elemental: Keeping large blocks of ice in the room saps the elemental's power and cows it into submission more quickly.
Air Elemental: When summoning an air elemental, inscribe the magic circle with diamond powder.
Water Elemental: A ring of fire around the magic circle exposes the elemental to its hated enemy the instant it appears on the Material Plane, distracting it long enough for the binder to seize control.
Earth Elemental: Prepare the summoning chamber with swirling wind- and air-based spells to prevent the elemental from touching the floor.
Q70: Is there a limit to how many alchemy sphere Formulae you can possess at one time? The language is "you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than..." which I interpret to mean in one 30 minute a person can not prepare more that X number of bombs, and that person can spend another 30 minute period to double the number of bombs they have.
Q71: So there is a question at the end of all of this. You note that spell slot and ability use attrition tends to force groups to chill out. I am curious though, how quickly does this occur in other games (or playtests) of spheres content? My player's adventuring days on spheres of power are much longer on average, barring some spheres like creation and warp. I've even seen them run out of SP, shrug and keep going. I love that about the system but this is a question just about things seen by both devs and other groups. Do you have longer than normal adventuring days with your groups? Or is it about the same? Ultimately they have fun, but it has left me curious to hear about other groups.
Q72: If you use a mind spy on one trobadour persona, but didn't choose to activate it until he changed personas, the mind spy will work. In my understanding it will return nothing, as stated in the ability about scrying, But one player of mine think that a mind spy isn't a scry, so... just asking
Q78: Can we take Spell Perfection (Advanced Player Guide) feat for sphere? Or single sphere-modifying version, say Destruction (Radiant blast) or Destruction (Explosive Orb)?
Q79: can the Antiquarian use casting traditions or drawbacks?
Q80: Would admixtured Radiant/Chilling blast that utilizes feat that changes save from reflex to fortitude affect undead, since Radiant's effect affects undead despite being fort based, or rather be fully ignored by undead?
Q81: Apologies if this has already been asked, but can a Technician with Mechanical Insight set their detonators to explode after, say, 1 second with the Timed mode, thereby making them explode on their turn? Just confirming how it works. Thanks, Aipaca
Q83: Do the Amateur X secrets of the Hedgewitch give access to Grand Secrets at the appropriate level?
I've asked this before, trying to get the original author of the class to clarify the intention, but failing that, any consensus from the devs would be much appreciated.
Q86: Can you suggest a way to get the Warlords's 2nd level Tactical Presence (indomitable) (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/classes/warlord/#TOC-Tactical-Presence-Ex-) ability with Spheres of Might? Possibly using already written material, or suggesting the best way to homebrew that in (possibly as a Warleader Tactic?).
We are in the process of converting a campaign from Path of War to Spheres of Might, and this has been one of a character's signature abilities - would be a shame if it got lost in the transition.
Questions about the Lattice Weaver incanter specialization's bullrush abilities:
Q87: Does the incanter's size limitation on bullrushes apply?
Q88: Do any abilities or items the incanter have affect the barrier wall's bullrush checks? (e.g. improved bullrush, gauntlets of the skilled manuever, or dipping into the brute sphere via feats.)
Q89: If the wall fails at its bullrush check, does it stop moving altogether or move around the target? What about in cases where the wall is bullrushing multiple targets and succeeds on one but not the other?
Q90: Rather than moving the barrier 20 ft., would it be possible to instead shrink a cube barrier by 5 ft. on a side? It's not allowed by RAW, but it's a fun idea so I figured I'd ask.
Some questions have been answered, but not by official Spheres devs, and some are still waiting on a consensus among the developers.
Q11: The text for a Technician's Grand Gadget Invention has two unique improvements: Chemical Thrower and Permanent Gadget. Both of these list a limited number of uses, but neither says if they recharge, or are reloaded, or how or when. RAW, it seems like they just have three/four uses, period, which seems odd for a class feature. It's also a bit strange that the Permanent Gadget improvement exists on a Grand Gadget invention that, in theory, should be doing the job of a gadget permanently anyway. Could we get some clarification?
Unofficial
A11: For the Chemical Thrower we have:
Choose fire, cold, electricity, or acid. 3 times per day as a standard action...
For Permanent Gadget, I would assume it was supposed to be 3 times per day, same as all the other Grand Gadget improvements.
Q20: The following setup can give a 4th level conscript up to 3 attack action equivalents - is this correct?
Off Hand Attack - Feint (Expert Feint)
Main Hand Attack - Bleeding And Precision Damage (Apply Slickened Grip)
Free Action - Trip (Ankle Strike from dealing precision damage)
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "And Stay Down!") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Off Hand Attack (Permitted from "Dual Opportunity) - Disarm
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "Swift Slice") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Theoretical build details provided by the player:Class Levels : Conscript 4
Pick 2 Sphere Specialisations, Duelist and Dual Wielding in that order. Pick Finesse Training.
For the Martial Tradition pick Tempest Dancer. You can mostly ignore Double Weapon Training.
Race: Anything with racial weapon proficiency in at least a type of light weapon, preferably something that has access to a one handed and light weapon. Elves and Tengu spring to mind. Dexterity is also a great choice as this will deal dexterity to damage on said weapons.
Talents - MT = Martial Tradition, CS = Class Skill, CL = Class Level, CF = Class Feature, BT = Bonus Talent:
(MT) DOUBLE WEAPON TRAINING
(MT) DUAL WIELDING SPHERE
(MT) FINESSE FIGHTING
(MT) DUAL OPPORTUNITY
(CS) DUELIST SPHERE
(CS) DUAL WIELDING (CUNNING COMBO)
(CL) SLICKENED GRIP
(CL) AND STAY DOWN
(CL) FENCING SPHERE!
(CL) ANKLE STRIKE
(CF) EXPERT FEINT (AS A TRADE IN FOR PICKING "FINESSE TRAINING" FROM CONSCRIPT)
(BT) SWIFT SLICE
Feats:
(1) Combat Reflexes
(3) Any? Maybe something to shore up defences like an extra combat talent to pick up Unarmoured Training or even another talent to add more debuffs to the subsequent bleeds/precision damages. Oh, maybe get Berserker Sphere so you can apply Battered for more penalties to enemy CMD. Also sets up nicely for later debuffs on the below cycle when you progress further in level as you can apply Exertion's to the initial attack (Leg-Smasher springs to mind for more penalties to AC and CMD).
Action Cycle:
Off Hand Attack (Comes before the Main Hand Attack because of "Cunning Combo") - Feint (Expert Feint)
Main Hand Attack - Bleeding And Precision Damage (Apply Slickened Grip)
Free Action - Trip (Ankle Strike from dealing precision damage)
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "And Stay Down!") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Off Hand Attack (Permitted from "Dual Opportunity) - Disarm
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "Swift Slice") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Move with your move action if you like and do swift things with your swift action. You're essentially dealing 3 fortitude saves vs exhaustion in this cycle alongside being an absolute **** to them with the various debilitating effects. The second Dual Wielding specialisation from Conscript lets you forgo "Balanced Blows" to reduce your Dual Wielding penalty.
Unofficial
A20: This build is trading 7 combat feats for a specialization, then 5 combat talents for a second specialization, then the remaining 4 combat feats for another feature. Is the intent of the second specialization that it only trades away combat talents and not the remaining combat feats? I had thought it was all remaining combat feats, plus the 5 combat talents.
The build otherwise seems to work as intended, though really only against humanoids with weapons.
Q21: I imagine this must have been answered, but came across an interesting interaction and I'm just not sure how SoP intended for it to interact. Sorry if it has been answered.
Energy Blade allows you to make an attack with the blast attached. Wording suggests the blade is the 'parent' effect for the action by allowing the attack to be made as part of the sphere being used.
I didn't think anything of it initially, until I found the Melee Blaster feat.
Now, I played 3.5 for ages before going to pathfinder and I don't know where to find it if it is in pathfinder, but touch and attack spells typically didn't provoke in 3.5. Nothing in energy blade's description SAYS it provokes. However, it IS a sphere ability and therefore, after reading the feat, seems like it must provoke without use of the feat.
So ultimately, the question is: Do you need this feat to energy blade without provoking?
Q22: Improved energy blade is a swift action which, iirc, is non-provoking, like a quickened spell. However, I likewise can't find where this would be confirmed in either Spheres content or Pathfinder (I know my 3.5 stuff so much better, we switched to pathfinder specifically to use the Sphere system).
So for the question: Is it in fact a non-provoking use of the sphere ability? Are quickened sphere effects likewise non-provoking? If it is non-provoking, is it because its a swift action or because it doesn't say it threatens in the feat? (since there seems to be no explicit swift action protection in pathfinder).
Thanks in advanced!
Unofficial
A21: Correct, all casting provokes by default, and SoP didn't change that. This even means if you're doing a ranged touch attack, you will provoke for casting, and provoke for making a ranged attack. Note that casting defensively is still an option open to you as well instead.
A22: Correct again, Improved Energy Blade does not provoke, and it is specifically because it is a swift action as all spells do not provoke if cast as a swift action regardless of how.
Q36: This might be partially answered by Q35 but the phrase for the SoP classes, "may combine spheres and talents to create magical effects", does this just mean you can take the different spheres and their talents, or does this mean you can cast a talent from one sphere combined with a talent from another? Thank you!
Unofficial
A36: This means that you can gain Spheres and Talents (in Spheres that you have gained) and use them when using a sphere ability. Most of the time that means gaining a Sphere's Base ability by spending a talent and then gaining another talent which can be used to change how the base ability functions.
For example, if you were a mid caster and let's say that you have 3 talents in total to spend on Talents. You can gain the Destruction Sphere, Fire Blast (from within the Destruction Sphere), and then Nature (with the Fire Package). You can now make a Destruction Blast of either the default type or a Fire Blast when using the Sphere's Base Ability. However you would have to use a different action to use a Fire Geomancing ability from the Nature Sphere. However, you could also get a Sphere-Focused Feat called Fan the Flame which would let you mix the effects of your Fire Blast from the Destruction Sphere and you ability to Affect Fire from the Nature Sphere.
If you wanted to further mix Sphere Effects and Talents you could use the Spell Crafting System through the use of Spellcrafting Feat.
So basically, that means you can use a Sphere's Base Abilities and augment the base ability with that Sphere's Talent Tree. Then, by use of certain feats (like Dual Sphere, Sphere-focused, and Admixture Feats) and Spellcrafting you can combine the abilities of multiple Spheres together.
Hopefully that is clear and not too long winded.
Q34: Can you see in your own darkness from the Dark sphere, or do you still have to have darkvision already?
Q35:The Hypnotic Darkness feat is stated as followed:
Prerequisites: Dark sphere, Mind sphere, Looming Darkness. Benefit: Those within your darkness are particularly vulnerable to your charms and suggestions. Your areas of darkness and blot are always treated as if imbued with Looming Darkness when you use the Confusion, Fascinate, Fear, or Sleep Mind talents.
I don't understand this at all, I'm afraid. Does this mean that your darkness becomes looming when you use one of these Mind talents, and your darkness has to have already been sustained? Or do you create both effects at the same time?
Unofficial
A34: You cannot see in your own darkness without darkvision.
A35: Basically, whenever you use one of the listed mind sphere abilities on a creature in your darkness, they take the penalty of Looming Darkness automatically, even if you didn't create the darkness with that talent.
An example: Bob the spooky dark caster casts a darkness effect on round 1 as a standard action, applying any darkness talent he'd like, such as Hungry Darkness. On round 2, with his standard action, Bob casts the Fear mind talent on John, who is in Bob's darkness. Therefore, John takes the Looming Darkness penalty to his save against Bob's Fear talent. Does that help?
Q 37: Is there any particular reason that the Unchained Monk doesn't get a Spheres of Might archetype? Monk archetypes can't be applied to both, unlike Rogue and Barbarian.
Debated
A37: Considering what is being replaced, the archetype looks compatible to unchained monk.
A37: Except that even if it doesn't replace anything that the UnMonk couldn't trade away,a) As mentioned, RAW UnMonks can't take Monk archetypes, and b) the UnMonk is different from the UnRogue and UnBarb in that it has different BAB that their chained, which is kinda a big deal with SoM,
Q45: Greater Dustbringer Aura (from the Dustbringer Archetype for the Mageknight) allows you to subject any missile to your Alter (Destroy) ability. However, I'm not entirely sure what the HPs of most ammunition are. Can somebody help me with this? Any Update on this?
Debated
A45: (Non-magical, normal) Projectiles have 5 hardness and 5 HP. (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/damaging-objects/)
A45: So, weirdly enough (and I would hardly consider it a ruling of all projectiles) Drop Dead Studios has already defined the hardness and hp of projectiles at 5 hardness and 1 hp, in the Pinning Shot (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/sniper#toc14) talent in the Sniper sphere.
I don't think that's meant to be extrapolated to the entire Sphere system and projectiles that interact with it, but it's there for people who want to do that.
Q59: Is an Armorist allowed to use the Blast Vessel encantment?
Unofficial
A59: Only if they have the Destructive Weapons (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/armorist#toc24) Arsenal Trick.
Q64: So, metamagic feats seem fairly limited in Spheres of Power. All the basics are there, as well as an extra few that are fairly useful for the sphere system. Obviously though, there are a great many absent the list, and it's surprising there even IS a list for this as it wouldn't have been something I initially would have considered. In truth, a lot of nuances of the system catch me off guard as there are a great many things I'd not have considered initially.
So question then is this: Was there some fear of what the wide breadth of metamagic would lead to unforseen interactions? Alternatively was it playtested and confirmed? Is it some form of future proofing to ensure things don't get out of hand with content that isn't out yet?
Unofficial
A64: I can at least shed some insight on this. SoP was outfitted with a whitelist of metamagic feats at the point of its creation, which hasn't been updated yet. I don't know which feats were examined, but some feats simply don't work with SoP that well. Like the feat which turns a light spell into a darkness spell at +0 spell level increase. As this effectively invalidates a sphere, this feat needs at least a +1, if allowed at all. I would say, as a guideline, if you can get a similar enough result via a talent, then requiring the talent and removing the feat would be ok. If the feat provides a different trade-off (Reach Spell with +1 SP applicable for every sphere vs. specialized greater reach talents), then it is ok. If having the feat is superior to the SoP way, then it needs to be nerfed or removed.
I suppose, one could collect a list of metamagic feats now and check if they work with SoP or should be placed on a blacklist.
Q85: Does the Brutal Strike granted by Bloody Counter count as an attack action for the purposes of feats such as Vital Strike and other spheres abilities? The wording is unclear, since Brutal Strikes are normally a special attack action.
Q85:(continued) The text of Bloody Counter specifically refers to the Brutal Strike it grants as an attack action (the last sentence says) 'If the creature attacking you is battered, you may resolve your attack action prior to their attack being resolved.' where attack action refers to your brutal strike.
Debated
Fair point, I'm bringing it up with the others as I'm not sure that was the intention. I may have been wrong, and hopefully we can get this clarified.
Progress:
Thread #3: Up to date (7/18/2018)
Thread #2: None
Thread #1: Up to post 30 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19276598&postcount=30)
SoM Thread: None
Previous Threads Thread #1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?415365-The-Creator-of-Spheres-of-Power-Here-Ask-Me-Anything), Thread #2 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?509636-Spheres-of-Power-Ask-Me-Anything-2), SoM Thread (Some questions at the end) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?520046-Drop-Dead-Studios-Spheres-of-Might-Open-Playtest/page45)
Current Thread Thread #3 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?561876-Drop-Dead-Studios-Ask-Me-Anything-3)
The Auspician's Handbook (aka Fate sphere handbook - Jeff the Green
The Battlemage's Handbook (aka War sphere handbook) - A.J.Gibson
The Conjurer's Handbook (aka Conjuration sphere handbook) - stack
The Creator's Handbook (aka Creation sphere handbook) - Desril
The Destroyer's Handbook (aka Destruction sphere handbook) - stack
The Diviner's Handbook (aka Divination sphere handbook) - Mehangel
The Enhancer's Handbook (aka Enhancement sphere handbook - Amechra
The Geomancer's Handbook (aka Nature sphere handbook) - Mehangel
The Illuminator's Handbook (aka Light sphere handbook) - AmberVael
The Mentalist's Handbook (aka Mind sphere handbook - Afgncaap5
The Nyctomancer's Handbook (aka Dark sphere handbook - Bhaakon
The Shapeshifter's Handbook (aka Alteration sphere handbook) - stack
The Telekinetic's Handbook (aka Telekinesis sphere handbook) - AmberVael
The Vivomancer's Handbook (aka Life sphere handbook) - A.J.Gibson
Wild Magic - stack
Andrew Stoeckle - stack
N. Jolly - N. Jolly
Michael Sayre - Ssalarn
Q2: Companions do not disapears when the caster get unconscious (or sleeps), right? When a Great Summon + Lingering Companion'ed companion does disapear? As soon as the caster goes to sleep? When he wakes up?
Q4: What are, if any, the limitations on the fleshcraft and bestow life advanced talents (especially the combination of the two)? Also, how do you determine the body/life bestowed creature's ability scores?
From what I can tell, the only explicit limitations of fleshcraft (in the case of creating a body) is that if you want it to look like someone specific, you must make a disguise check, and the only implicit limitation is your size limit for creation effects. As for bestow life (in the case of granting life to an empty body), the only explicit limitation is that the created creature is a "1st level commoner of whatever race its body was crafted to mimic."
It seems a bit questionable to think that someone could make the body of any monster whose size is in the caster's creation range, which could then be reanimated into a incredibly powerful undead, or given life through bestow life and be made the caster's friend. Likewise, it seems odd that bestow life doesn't seem to have an explicit HD cap the way reanimate has, or the CL to HD scaling that animate object has. Yes, it says it makes a 1st level commoner, but that's just a single class level that takes no account for racial hit dice. It feels like these uses of these talents are unusually open ended compared to how other advanced talents are designed.
Likewise, it isn't clear how ability scores are to be determined for the fleshcrafted body/life bestowed creature. At least bestow life's "awaken" function clearly states a straighforward 3d6 for mental scores, which could be extrapolated to the "grant life" function, but fleshcrafting a permanent body is quiet on this point.
So any clarification, rules declaration, the pointing out of something I missed or a previous ruling, or any combination of those would be greatly appreciated.
Q8: how you create akasic mysteries in spheres system.
Q10: How does the spheres system interact with unchained action economy?
Q13: Can the races that recieve Conjuration as a bonus talent choose to trade out their companion with the Caller drawback? Most of them specify you have to take a certain type of companion.
Q24: How does movement work for the Animate enhancement?
Q25: If I possess the Telekinesis Sphere and the Flair magic talent, can I use the Vital Strike feat in conjunction with a bludgeon attack?
Q26: Does Flair only allow the application of feats, or class features as well?
Would a character with the Flair, Dancing Weapon and Mobile Bludgeon talents and the Flurry of Blows class feature gain an additional attack when full attacking while telekinetically wielding a monk weapon?
Could a character with the Flair talent deal sneak-attack damage when successfully bludgeoning a flat-footed target?
Q27: As a full-round action, you may move up to 10 ft. in any direction. (this movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity); each time you move 5 ft. while using this talent, if a creature is within your reach, you may make an unarmed attack against them with a -2 penalty; you may only make a single attack against a creature with this talent. For every 5 points of base attack bonus you possess, you may move an additional 5 feet. Does it allow a creature without flight speed to move through the air?
Q28: The scholar chooses a single combat sphere she possesses; she may use her class level in place of her base attack bonus when determining her bonus to hit, combat maneuver bonus, combat maneuver defense, ability DCs, and all other functions of the sphere normally determined by her base attack bonus when using talents or abilities granted by that sphere. The scholar may take this knack multiple times, choosing a different combat sphere each time. The scholar may not select the Equipment sphere with this knack. Normally, when something like a feat or trait lets you act as if your BAB was higher for the purposes of a sphere, it's just for effects that track that, but this one specifically calls out bonus to hit, CMB and CMD, among other things. The question then is: How does that work? If I choose the Sniper sphere and have a crossbow, do I get the boost to hit only when I use a Deadly Shot? Or when I shoot into melee, since it affects that action? Or with, for example, the attacks of opportunity from the Covering Fire talent?
It seems at a glance like the intent is for it to work only when actively using an ability granted by the sphere or a talent from the sphere, like Deadly Shot, but it feels odd to have someone who's not very good with the crossbow right until he makes an especially difficult shot.
Q29: Grenades are pretty much useless with their random fuse timer - are there ways to force a detonation, like shooting them?
Q31: Can the Advanced Talent Everglow be applied to the talent Dancing Lights or items created using the Duel-Sphere Feat Hard Light?
Q32: If the answer is no to the above question, then is there any benefit to taking Everglow other than to make fuelless lanterns?
Q33: In the dark sphere, if I had taken the shadow lurk ability twice would the shadow lurks have any access to Spheres of Might abilities I possess? Would the particular ability having an Associated Feat change this (such as Dual Attack and its Associated Feat: Two-Weapon Fighting)?
For example, could I make a shadow lurk and have it use the Scout Ability as if it were me and then have it despawn giving me knowledge of the targets weaknesses and the benefits that provides.
Would a Shadow Lurk gain my passive sphere abilties such as Armored Defense or Critical Genius from the Equipment sphere? Would these count as Attributes of my character or Feats for the purposes of Shadow Lurk?
As long as these do not bypass the rule of "A shadowstuff-imbued lurk may not attempt combat maneuvers, cast spells, or use its source’s class features." would the above work at all? Or are Shadow Lurks and Martial Characters not intended to mix at all?
Q38: Can a troubadour who has taken the masterpiece actor training once use a feat to gain access to a second masterpiece?
The logic being that the masterpiece ability let's you take any masterpiece for which you meet the prerequisites. The prerequisites normally are skill ranks and being a bard. Since I assume that the ability functions as written, once you have taken the masterpieces ability, you must count as a bard for the purpose of being able to take masterpieces.
Q44: It seems, at least from what I can observe from outside, that the Spheres of Power team is really busy lately. Are they preparing for a shift to Pathfinder 2.0 or have they yet to make a decision and just seeing where they want to go with the project? I saw on the Patreon in March they said the announcement of Pathfinder 2 did shake things up a bit, has things settled since?
Q47: On prodigy finisher Sunset it states you can apply [dark] talents as normal to the ability, while the imbuement Shadow uses both [darkness] and [dark] tags. My GM wanted to know if the finisher can use darkness talents, or if it's supposed to be only talents from the common dark talents, not specifically dark ones. In this case the question was mostly can you make your sunset into a black lung for example.
My own understanding of it would be that it works as if it was a cast darkness ability from the dark sphere, hence subject to both dark and darkness talents as applicable, and I suppose plot/shadow if you had something that would affect an area of darkness in those.
Q48: On beastmastery sphere, and this is mostly a curiosity thing. Why does the Animal companion talent scale based on your base attack bonus -3, instead of your handle animal -3, when handle animal is the skill that almost everything else in the sphere scales from. That is, when it's not scaling based on your ranks in ride. I just think it'd be more logical considering rest of the sphere and other spheres that grant skill ranks and scale based on them, to not have one exception there out of the blue.
I've been on a Technician binge lately, so I've got a few questions, some of which might be buried in the SoM AMA #1
Q50: Is the listed cost for the Independent Invention the full cost, or cost per Hit Dice? (I can see it being full cost as it's a class ability you have to pay for, OTOH it's a quite powerful class ability)
Q51: Grand Gadgets Chemical Thrower, Permanent Gadget and Laser all say that if you have Mechanical Insight you get 4 uses out of them per day instead of 3, they ALSO say if you take it a second time it's +3 uses, was it intended to still only get +3 uses on the base 4 uses, or was the +3 uses per day meant to increase as well?
Q52: Some clarification on what can be used in the Suit mod and what you can't would be nice. Obviously you shouldn't be able to use a Medium character's wings to fly around in a Colossal mecha that weighs 125 tons, but technically you can since the only clarification is "While in the pilot seat, the pilot and the independent invention are essentially a single creature, using the independent invention’s physical stats and the pilot’s mental stats." (Personal rule that I've been using is that Ex and Su abilities granted by race or template related to physical acts don't apply when in the suit, but there's a lot of fringe cases that I haven't considered, as well as Class abilities like Alchemist's Mutagen.)
Q53 a: A note about Magic Items would help. I've been assuming any Magic Item you're wearing that modifies physical stats doesn't affect the Independent Invention, even with Suit. OTOH I've ALSO been assuming you can enchant normal Wondrous Items and equip them to your Invention.
Edit: just saw that I shouldn't have been assuming that last bit as per this line: "They possess only a Strength and Dexterity score, with no skill points or feats or magic item slots."
Q53 b: Can / Should the Independent Invention be able to be targeted by Self spells while you pilot it?
Q54: If I use the Robot upgrade to make my Independent Invention have intelligence 10, does it also get Wisdom and Charisma stats? If so what are they? (asking specifically for Skills like Perception or Intimidate)
Q55: More on Robot Independent Inventions: when using a feat from the Robot instead of my own, do I use the Robot's BAB or my own to figure out the effects? (Examples: 1) at level 11 a Technician cannot qualify for Improved Vital Strike, but a Construct with full BAB does, 2) a Techncian at level 12 using Power Attack is only -3/+6, but a Construct is -4/+8)
Q56: If you have Suit and Covered then are you impossible to target with mental effects, or as pilot of the suit does casting a mental spell at the suit count as casting one at you?
Q57: Unrelated to Technician: It's been established earlier in this thread that RAI a Tradition that grants Gunsmithing should essentially grant the Gunslinger's Gunsmith class ability including a broken firearm and ability to repair it. In an Guns Everywhere world, does that instead grant Gun Training 1 as per the Gunslinger in a Guns Everywhere world? Or is that more of a GM specific question?
Q58: Characters who trade out their spherecasting for a spheres of might talent progression, what happens to the 2 free bonus magic talents that they would have otherwise gained? Do they become combat talents, or are they just lost forever?
I have a few questions about the Summoning Advanced Talent.
Q61: If I have a 25% discount on payments for getting a summoned creature to do a task for me, does that only apply to summoning allies? They have a fixed cost (or at least an equation to get a cost) associated with them that can be easily reduced by the discount. However, hostile summons are much more volatile in the pricing and payment methods, to the point that some hostiles may not even desire a monetary cost and instead want something else in exchange. Would the discount still apply when appropriate?
Q62: Would being limited to only being able to summon an extraplanar being of a particular narrow type (such as only being able to summon devils or only being able to summon angels) be a good drawback to gain extra favor with that type of creature. For example, either gaining a 25% discount or having those creatures count as allied?
Q63: Does the normal Pathfinder Binding rules apply to creatures summoned in this manner? The binding rules has ways to make a summoned creature more likely to summit to your demands if certain conditions are met first.
If they do still follow the rules of Binding, are there any special thing you can do to make Omnimentals summit more easily? For the four classical elementals the following gives a bonus to charisma checks to make deals with them.
Fire Elemental: Keeping large blocks of ice in the room saps the elemental's power and cows it into submission more quickly.
Air Elemental: When summoning an air elemental, inscribe the magic circle with diamond powder.
Water Elemental: A ring of fire around the magic circle exposes the elemental to its hated enemy the instant it appears on the Material Plane, distracting it long enough for the binder to seize control.
Earth Elemental: Prepare the summoning chamber with swirling wind- and air-based spells to prevent the elemental from touching the floor.
Q70: Is there a limit to how many alchemy sphere Formulae you can possess at one time? The language is "you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than..." which I interpret to mean in one 30 minute a person can not prepare more that X number of bombs, and that person can spend another 30 minute period to double the number of bombs they have.
Q71: So there is a question at the end of all of this. You note that spell slot and ability use attrition tends to force groups to chill out. I am curious though, how quickly does this occur in other games (or playtests) of spheres content? My player's adventuring days on spheres of power are much longer on average, barring some spheres like creation and warp. I've even seen them run out of SP, shrug and keep going. I love that about the system but this is a question just about things seen by both devs and other groups. Do you have longer than normal adventuring days with your groups? Or is it about the same? Ultimately they have fun, but it has left me curious to hear about other groups.
Q72: If you use a mind spy on one trobadour persona, but didn't choose to activate it until he changed personas, the mind spy will work. In my understanding it will return nothing, as stated in the ability about scrying, But one player of mine think that a mind spy isn't a scry, so... just asking
Q78: Can we take Spell Perfection (Advanced Player Guide) feat for sphere? Or single sphere-modifying version, say Destruction (Radiant blast) or Destruction (Explosive Orb)?
Q79: can the Antiquarian use casting traditions or drawbacks?
Q80: Would admixtured Radiant/Chilling blast that utilizes feat that changes save from reflex to fortitude affect undead, since Radiant's effect affects undead despite being fort based, or rather be fully ignored by undead?
Q81: Apologies if this has already been asked, but can a Technician with Mechanical Insight set their detonators to explode after, say, 1 second with the Timed mode, thereby making them explode on their turn? Just confirming how it works. Thanks, Aipaca
Q83: Do the Amateur X secrets of the Hedgewitch give access to Grand Secrets at the appropriate level?
I've asked this before, trying to get the original author of the class to clarify the intention, but failing that, any consensus from the devs would be much appreciated.
Q86: Can you suggest a way to get the Warlords's 2nd level Tactical Presence (indomitable) (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/classes/warlord/#TOC-Tactical-Presence-Ex-) ability with Spheres of Might? Possibly using already written material, or suggesting the best way to homebrew that in (possibly as a Warleader Tactic?).
We are in the process of converting a campaign from Path of War to Spheres of Might, and this has been one of a character's signature abilities - would be a shame if it got lost in the transition.
Questions about the Lattice Weaver incanter specialization's bullrush abilities:
Q87: Does the incanter's size limitation on bullrushes apply?
Q88: Do any abilities or items the incanter have affect the barrier wall's bullrush checks? (e.g. improved bullrush, gauntlets of the skilled manuever, or dipping into the brute sphere via feats.)
Q89: If the wall fails at its bullrush check, does it stop moving altogether or move around the target? What about in cases where the wall is bullrushing multiple targets and succeeds on one but not the other?
Q90: Rather than moving the barrier 20 ft., would it be possible to instead shrink a cube barrier by 5 ft. on a side? It's not allowed by RAW, but it's a fun idea so I figured I'd ask.
Some questions have been answered, but not by official Spheres devs, and some are still waiting on a consensus among the developers.
Q11: The text for a Technician's Grand Gadget Invention has two unique improvements: Chemical Thrower and Permanent Gadget. Both of these list a limited number of uses, but neither says if they recharge, or are reloaded, or how or when. RAW, it seems like they just have three/four uses, period, which seems odd for a class feature. It's also a bit strange that the Permanent Gadget improvement exists on a Grand Gadget invention that, in theory, should be doing the job of a gadget permanently anyway. Could we get some clarification?
Unofficial
A11: For the Chemical Thrower we have:
Choose fire, cold, electricity, or acid. 3 times per day as a standard action...
For Permanent Gadget, I would assume it was supposed to be 3 times per day, same as all the other Grand Gadget improvements.
Q20: The following setup can give a 4th level conscript up to 3 attack action equivalents - is this correct?
Off Hand Attack - Feint (Expert Feint)
Main Hand Attack - Bleeding And Precision Damage (Apply Slickened Grip)
Free Action - Trip (Ankle Strike from dealing precision damage)
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "And Stay Down!") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Off Hand Attack (Permitted from "Dual Opportunity) - Disarm
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "Swift Slice") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Theoretical build details provided by the player:Class Levels : Conscript 4
Pick 2 Sphere Specialisations, Duelist and Dual Wielding in that order. Pick Finesse Training.
For the Martial Tradition pick Tempest Dancer. You can mostly ignore Double Weapon Training.
Race: Anything with racial weapon proficiency in at least a type of light weapon, preferably something that has access to a one handed and light weapon. Elves and Tengu spring to mind. Dexterity is also a great choice as this will deal dexterity to damage on said weapons.
Talents - MT = Martial Tradition, CS = Class Skill, CL = Class Level, CF = Class Feature, BT = Bonus Talent:
(MT) DOUBLE WEAPON TRAINING
(MT) DUAL WIELDING SPHERE
(MT) FINESSE FIGHTING
(MT) DUAL OPPORTUNITY
(CS) DUELIST SPHERE
(CS) DUAL WIELDING (CUNNING COMBO)
(CL) SLICKENED GRIP
(CL) AND STAY DOWN
(CL) FENCING SPHERE!
(CL) ANKLE STRIKE
(CF) EXPERT FEINT (AS A TRADE IN FOR PICKING "FINESSE TRAINING" FROM CONSCRIPT)
(BT) SWIFT SLICE
Feats:
(1) Combat Reflexes
(3) Any? Maybe something to shore up defences like an extra combat talent to pick up Unarmoured Training or even another talent to add more debuffs to the subsequent bleeds/precision damages. Oh, maybe get Berserker Sphere so you can apply Battered for more penalties to enemy CMD. Also sets up nicely for later debuffs on the below cycle when you progress further in level as you can apply Exertion's to the initial attack (Leg-Smasher springs to mind for more penalties to AC and CMD).
Action Cycle:
Off Hand Attack (Comes before the Main Hand Attack because of "Cunning Combo") - Feint (Expert Feint)
Main Hand Attack - Bleeding And Precision Damage (Apply Slickened Grip)
Free Action - Trip (Ankle Strike from dealing precision damage)
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "And Stay Down!") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Off Hand Attack (Permitted from "Dual Opportunity) - Disarm
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "Swift Slice") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Move with your move action if you like and do swift things with your swift action. You're essentially dealing 3 fortitude saves vs exhaustion in this cycle alongside being an absolute **** to them with the various debilitating effects. The second Dual Wielding specialisation from Conscript lets you forgo "Balanced Blows" to reduce your Dual Wielding penalty.
Unofficial
A20: This build is trading 7 combat feats for a specialization, then 5 combat talents for a second specialization, then the remaining 4 combat feats for another feature. Is the intent of the second specialization that it only trades away combat talents and not the remaining combat feats? I had thought it was all remaining combat feats, plus the 5 combat talents.
The build otherwise seems to work as intended, though really only against humanoids with weapons.
Q21: I imagine this must have been answered, but came across an interesting interaction and I'm just not sure how SoP intended for it to interact. Sorry if it has been answered.
Energy Blade allows you to make an attack with the blast attached. Wording suggests the blade is the 'parent' effect for the action by allowing the attack to be made as part of the sphere being used.
I didn't think anything of it initially, until I found the Melee Blaster feat.
Now, I played 3.5 for ages before going to pathfinder and I don't know where to find it if it is in pathfinder, but touch and attack spells typically didn't provoke in 3.5. Nothing in energy blade's description SAYS it provokes. However, it IS a sphere ability and therefore, after reading the feat, seems like it must provoke without use of the feat.
So ultimately, the question is: Do you need this feat to energy blade without provoking?
Q22: Improved energy blade is a swift action which, iirc, is non-provoking, like a quickened spell. However, I likewise can't find where this would be confirmed in either Spheres content or Pathfinder (I know my 3.5 stuff so much better, we switched to pathfinder specifically to use the Sphere system).
So for the question: Is it in fact a non-provoking use of the sphere ability? Are quickened sphere effects likewise non-provoking? If it is non-provoking, is it because its a swift action or because it doesn't say it threatens in the feat? (since there seems to be no explicit swift action protection in pathfinder).
Thanks in advanced!
Unofficial
A21: Correct, all casting provokes by default, and SoP didn't change that. This even means if you're doing a ranged touch attack, you will provoke for casting, and provoke for making a ranged attack. Note that casting defensively is still an option open to you as well instead.
A22: Correct again, Improved Energy Blade does not provoke, and it is specifically because it is a swift action as all spells do not provoke if cast as a swift action regardless of how.
Q36: This might be partially answered by Q35 but the phrase for the SoP classes, "may combine spheres and talents to create magical effects", does this just mean you can take the different spheres and their talents, or does this mean you can cast a talent from one sphere combined with a talent from another? Thank you!
Unofficial
A36: This means that you can gain Spheres and Talents (in Spheres that you have gained) and use them when using a sphere ability. Most of the time that means gaining a Sphere's Base ability by spending a talent and then gaining another talent which can be used to change how the base ability functions.
For example, if you were a mid caster and let's say that you have 3 talents in total to spend on Talents. You can gain the Destruction Sphere, Fire Blast (from within the Destruction Sphere), and then Nature (with the Fire Package). You can now make a Destruction Blast of either the default type or a Fire Blast when using the Sphere's Base Ability. However you would have to use a different action to use a Fire Geomancing ability from the Nature Sphere. However, you could also get a Sphere-Focused Feat called Fan the Flame which would let you mix the effects of your Fire Blast from the Destruction Sphere and you ability to Affect Fire from the Nature Sphere.
If you wanted to further mix Sphere Effects and Talents you could use the Spell Crafting System through the use of Spellcrafting Feat.
So basically, that means you can use a Sphere's Base Abilities and augment the base ability with that Sphere's Talent Tree. Then, by use of certain feats (like Dual Sphere, Sphere-focused, and Admixture Feats) and Spellcrafting you can combine the abilities of multiple Spheres together.
Hopefully that is clear and not too long winded.
Q34: Can you see in your own darkness from the Dark sphere, or do you still have to have darkvision already?
Q35:The Hypnotic Darkness feat is stated as followed:
Prerequisites: Dark sphere, Mind sphere, Looming Darkness. Benefit: Those within your darkness are particularly vulnerable to your charms and suggestions. Your areas of darkness and blot are always treated as if imbued with Looming Darkness when you use the Confusion, Fascinate, Fear, or Sleep Mind talents.
I don't understand this at all, I'm afraid. Does this mean that your darkness becomes looming when you use one of these Mind talents, and your darkness has to have already been sustained? Or do you create both effects at the same time?
Unofficial
A34: You cannot see in your own darkness without darkvision.
A35: Basically, whenever you use one of the listed mind sphere abilities on a creature in your darkness, they take the penalty of Looming Darkness automatically, even if you didn't create the darkness with that talent.
An example: Bob the spooky dark caster casts a darkness effect on round 1 as a standard action, applying any darkness talent he'd like, such as Hungry Darkness. On round 2, with his standard action, Bob casts the Fear mind talent on John, who is in Bob's darkness. Therefore, John takes the Looming Darkness penalty to his save against Bob's Fear talent. Does that help?
Q 37: Is there any particular reason that the Unchained Monk doesn't get a Spheres of Might archetype? Monk archetypes can't be applied to both, unlike Rogue and Barbarian.
Debated
A37: Considering what is being replaced, the archetype looks compatible to unchained monk.
A37: Except that even if it doesn't replace anything that the UnMonk couldn't trade away,a) As mentioned, RAW UnMonks can't take Monk archetypes, and b) the UnMonk is different from the UnRogue and UnBarb in that it has different BAB that their chained, which is kinda a big deal with SoM,
Q45: Greater Dustbringer Aura (from the Dustbringer Archetype for the Mageknight) allows you to subject any missile to your Alter (Destroy) ability. However, I'm not entirely sure what the HPs of most ammunition are. Can somebody help me with this? Any Update on this?
Debated
A45: (Non-magical, normal) Projectiles have 5 hardness and 5 HP. (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/damaging-objects/)
A45: So, weirdly enough (and I would hardly consider it a ruling of all projectiles) Drop Dead Studios has already defined the hardness and hp of projectiles at 5 hardness and 1 hp, in the Pinning Shot (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/sniper#toc14) talent in the Sniper sphere.
I don't think that's meant to be extrapolated to the entire Sphere system and projectiles that interact with it, but it's there for people who want to do that.
Q59: Is an Armorist allowed to use the Blast Vessel encantment?
Unofficial
A59: Only if they have the Destructive Weapons (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/armorist#toc24) Arsenal Trick.
Q64: So, metamagic feats seem fairly limited in Spheres of Power. All the basics are there, as well as an extra few that are fairly useful for the sphere system. Obviously though, there are a great many absent the list, and it's surprising there even IS a list for this as it wouldn't have been something I initially would have considered. In truth, a lot of nuances of the system catch me off guard as there are a great many things I'd not have considered initially.
So question then is this: Was there some fear of what the wide breadth of metamagic would lead to unforseen interactions? Alternatively was it playtested and confirmed? Is it some form of future proofing to ensure things don't get out of hand with content that isn't out yet?
Unofficial
A64: I can at least shed some insight on this. SoP was outfitted with a whitelist of metamagic feats at the point of its creation, which hasn't been updated yet. I don't know which feats were examined, but some feats simply don't work with SoP that well. Like the feat which turns a light spell into a darkness spell at +0 spell level increase. As this effectively invalidates a sphere, this feat needs at least a +1, if allowed at all. I would say, as a guideline, if you can get a similar enough result via a talent, then requiring the talent and removing the feat would be ok. If the feat provides a different trade-off (Reach Spell with +1 SP applicable for every sphere vs. specialized greater reach talents), then it is ok. If having the feat is superior to the SoP way, then it needs to be nerfed or removed.
I suppose, one could collect a list of metamagic feats now and check if they work with SoP or should be placed on a blacklist.
Q85: Does the Brutal Strike granted by Bloody Counter count as an attack action for the purposes of feats such as Vital Strike and other spheres abilities? The wording is unclear, since Brutal Strikes are normally a special attack action.
Q85:(continued) The text of Bloody Counter specifically refers to the Brutal Strike it grants as an attack action (the last sentence says) 'If the creature attacking you is battered, you may resolve your attack action prior to their attack being resolved.' where attack action refers to your brutal strike.
Debated
Fair point, I'm bringing it up with the others as I'm not sure that was the intention. I may have been wrong, and hopefully we can get this clarified.
Progress:
Thread #3: Up to date (7/18/2018)
Thread #2: None
Thread #1: Up to post 30 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19276598&postcount=30)
SoM Thread: None