(Spheres of Might) Scholar questions and advice

[Sir_Andrew]

Hello Everyone!

A friend of mine is running a Spheres of Might/Power home game (starting at level 1) in a month or two, i'm fairly new to the spheres system and still learning new things about it, so far I've decided on playing a Halfling Scholar.

After looking up the scholar class, i have some questions about it that maybe those who are more rule savvy or familiar to the system might be able to answer.
Questions:

1) the alchemy combat sphere allows to make a certain number of formulae for free at a time, but how many formulae can you make per day?

"You may craft any item whose formulae you know in 30 minutes, or 15 minutes if you have access to an alchemist’s lab or alchemist’s crafting kit, but due to the volatile nature of the enhanced formulae you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than a number equal to 1/2 your ranks in Craft (alchemy) (minimum 1) + the number of formulae talents you possess. For every 4 ranks in Craft (alchemy) you possess, you may craft 1 additional formulae as part of the same 30/15 minute time period"

if i have 2 alchemy formulae talents (can craft 3 formulae in 30 mins)
do i:
a) craft 3 formulae per day?
b) craft 3 formulae and then craft more once the first 3 are used up?

bonus question: if you know the improved alchemist fire formulae, can you craft it normally? (spend the appropriate gps and time to craft it) or is using the above method the only way to make a improved version?

2) the scholar ability "Careful packer" allows you to use your intelligence score in place of your strength score for carrying capacity, how does this interact with abilities/items like ant haul spell and masterwork backpack that all stat "treat your strength score as "x" higher"?

3) the scholar knack "Large Animal Training" says you keep your familiar's special abilities and the Intelligence score. what counts as special abilities?

a) do i keep stuff like Alertness/improved evasion/etc? natural armor?
b) do i keep the bonus it grants me, say a fox's +2 bonus to it master's reflex saves?
c) does it still gain more familiar abilities in addition to animal companion abilities as i level up?
d) can you have a familiar archetype and a animal companion archetype on it at the same time?
e) if i misunderstood how this knack works, what does it do exactly?

4) is the scholar knack "Genetic Modification" just a reverse version of "large animal training?


Advice:
1) what knacks are good or useful to have?
2) besides the alchemy sphere, are there any really good combat spheres that work well with scholar? any particular talent combos that i should focus on?
3) is a pet build viable for the scholar? or should i focus more on crafting or healing? or all?
4) feats?

A few helpful things if needed:
my stats after modifiers, str 8, dex 16, con 12, int 18, wis 14, cha 9

party is made of:
-either a maneuver based technician or a Dps Striker
-Incanter focused on the Protection sphere
-undecided, but probably a blaster type caster or melee tank

[Ssalarn]

Hello Everyone!

A friend of mine is running a Spheres of Might/Power home game (starting at level 1) in a month or two, i'm fairly new to the spheres system and still learning new things about it, so far I've decided on playing a Halfling Scholar.

After looking up the scholar class, i have some questions about it that maybe those who are more rule savvy or familiar to the system might be able to answer.
Questions:

1) the alchemy combat sphere allows to make a certain number of formulae for free at a time, but how many formulae can you make per day?


There is no daily cap other than the time required to craft and your maximum available at one time.


bonus question: if you know the improved alchemist fire formulae, can you craft it normally? (spend the appropriate gps and time to craft it) or is using the above method the only way to make a improved version?

You can only make improved versions by using the sphere (otherwise you just make the base versions).



2) the scholar ability "Careful packer" allows you to use your intelligence score in place of your strength score for carrying capacity, how does this interact with abilities/items like ant haul spell and masterwork backpack that all stat "treat your strength score as "x" higher"?

It depends on the effect. Ant haul triples your carrying capacity without actually affecting your Strength, so you'd calculate your carrying capacity using your Intelligence and then triple that number. If it actually said something like "treat your Strength as X or X higher", then it wouldn't interact with careful packer since you're using your Intelligence instead.



3) the scholar knack "Large Animal Training" says you keep your familiar's special abilities and the Intelligence score. what counts as special abilities?

Anything in the familiar progression table or from your familiar's specific entry. When there's an overlap (such as calculating hit points) use the better option from either the familiar or animal companion progression.



d) can you have a familiar archetype and a animal companion archetype on it at the same time?

As long as you have the things to trade for both archetypes, yes.



4) is the scholar knack "Genetic Modification" just a reverse version of "large animal training?


Nope. The ability even specifically calls out how it interacts with large animal training in the text.



Advice:
1) what knacks are good or useful to have?


Very dependent on what you want to do and what the party composition is. Aeronautics is pretty handy if you're acting as the party "wizard", Expert Healing is good if you're the primary healer for the group, and Rapid Alchemy is pretty potent for both restocking and making your alchemical items harder to resist.



2) besides the alchemy sphere, are there any really good combat spheres that work well with scholar? any particular talent combos that i should focus on?

Beastmastery and Warleader can both be really effective on a scholar, particularly since they scale off skills instead of BAB (you don't need to grab Martial Study to buff them). Particularly useful if you're already going the familiar/companion route and want to be a martial minionmancer.


3) is a pet build viable for the scholar? or should i focus more on crafting or healing? or all?

Scholars are very potent as pet/minion characters, especially if you lean into getting an uber familiar with all the associated knacks. Your healing will be relatively solid by default, though there's worse things than taking Skill Focus (Heal) and Expert Healing if you're the main healer for the group. It's possible to do all three very effectively after a few levels, though you probably want to pick one to focus on at first and then branch out. I'd suggest taking Skill Focus (heal) as your 1st level feat just to make sure you're consistently hitting your DCs for Medical Training and then spend your knacks on obtaining and beefing up your companion through about 6th level. Once you've got both animal trainings and either Experimental Evolution or Genetic Modification, you'll be at a good point to consider grabbing Crafting Genius with your next knack. Black Cat can be a handy imposition for a pet-focused scholar, as long as you're using an animal companion that qualifies (Genetic Modification for a cait sith that progresses as an animal companion is a solid way to go).



4) feats?


Entirely build dependent. There aren't really any must-have feats that are universally applicable to all scholars. With your 12 Con and d6 HD, you might want to grab Toughness.

[Ualaa]

I like the knack, 'Cunning Attacker'.

It lets you use your INT to Attack & Damage vs scouted targets.
That is both for melee attacks (instead of STR) and for ranged attacks (instead of DEX).

You can use your Perception, but at -5, in the place of monster knowledge checks to scout.
But being an INT based character, you could use actual monster knowledge checks, without needing to use a WIS based skill with a -5 penalty.
Scouting generally isn't that hard of an action.

[Sir_Andrew]

@Ssalarn
1) ah, thank you! looking back on the wording now and i don't know how i misunderstood it. lol
2) was able to talk to the Dm a little while ago, he said since its a home game he'll either allow those abilities/items to work with careful packer or just make new stuff equivalent to it that works off intelligence.
4) whoops, yeah without large animal training, it just improved familiar+evolved familiar feat, with large animal training knack you get animal companion progression in addition, correct?
also in your opinion, would the small animal training<Genetic Modification<large animal training be the better talent combo for a fighting pet build? goal is i'll stand back throwing flashbangs and orders(if using Warleader sphere) so the pet will do a bulk of the fighting in my place or at the very least make up for my low dmg.

[Ssalarn]

4) whoops, yeah without large animal training, it just improved familiar+evolved familiar feat, with large animal training knack you get animal companion progression in addition, correct?

Yep!



also in your opinion, would the small animal training<Genetic Modification<large animal training be the better talent combo for a fighting pet build? goal is i'll stand back throwing flashbangs and orders(if using Warleader sphere) so the pet will do a bulk of the fighting in my place or at the very least make up for my low dmg.

Yeah, that's a really solid way to go. The one thing you'll want to keep in mind is that most improved familiars are small to tiny, so if you want it to fight you'll be looking at the mauler familiar archetype and/or grabbing Experimental Evolution to boost its size.

[torrasque666]

You can only make improved versions by using the sphere (otherwise you just make the base versions).

There is a feat in The Inventor's Handbook 2, Brew Stable Formulae, that lets you make Alchemy sphere items permanently.

[Nizaris]

I have a scholar in my home game, the Medic's Satchel has been a party life saver, it's 10 free healer's kits per day with a +2 bonus. They're mostly focused on Warleader and Alchemy, with a splash of Athletics to get Rope Swing as an escape tool.

For Knacks they've focused mostly on party buffs with Academic Knowledge and Expert Healing, Studied Technique for extra Alchemy and Warleader talents, and tool lightning rod for when they need a boom stick. They also dipped 1 level into Commander to extend their shouts and tactics

[Domar]

For knacks I recommend Amateur Arcanist and Arcane Studies to get Creation, Alchemical Creation, Divided Creation and Lengthened Creation. This lets you refill your Alchemy items as a standard action. Take a casting tradition for more spell points and the Gift for Magic trait for a caster level boost.