Something I really love about 5e Spheres of Power.

[SangoProduction]

I love the augment system.
Especially in the base spheres. There is the basic power, and then you can spend spell points to make it better, without additional talents.
The only sphere that I can recall doing that in PF spheres is Destruction sphere, where the basic effect is doing 1/2 CL D6 damage, and with a spell point, it's full CL D6. Wait... no. A lot of sphere abilities did explicitly state you could spend a spell point to have the effect persist without concentration, and that's a common use of "augment" in 5e Spheres.

Though I have to admit, I really like the formatting as well. It's just so plain and simple what all is entailed in that use of a spell point by simple formatting. There's simply not much of a way to mix up which effect costs what. Take this for example.

Augment 1 sp: Your illusion includes both sight and sound. If you possess (sensory) talents, any or all of those talents are also applied to the figment as you so choose.

Augment 1 sp: Your figment increases in size to a 20-foot cube. This increases by 10 feet at 5th level (30-foot cube), 11th level (40-foot cube), and 17th level (50-foot cube).

Augment 2 sp: The effect persists for the remaining duration without concentration. This augment may be applied after the effect is cast on your turn without an action.

[A.J.Gibson]

I love the augment system.
Especially in the base spheres. There is the basic power, and then you can spend spell points to make it better, without additional talents.
The only sphere that I can recall doing that in PF spheres is Destruction sphere, where the basic effect is doing 1/2 CL D6 damage, and with a spell point, it's full CL D6. Wait... no. A lot of sphere abilities did explicitly state you could spend a spell point to have the effect persist without concentration, and that's a common use of "augment" in 5e Spheres.

Though I have to admit, I really like the formatting as well. It's just so plain and simple what all is entailed in that use of a spell point by simple formatting. There's simply not much of a way to mix up which effect costs what. Take this for example.

War sphere had several totems that had additional effects if you spent 1 spell point while creating them. You could also cause a glow to become bright light in the light sphere, although in that case,you could do it later. Augment really just codified something that existed in spheres before in a way that cut down on boilerplate rules text.

[SangoProduction]

War sphere had several totems that had additional effects if you spent 1 spell point while creating them. You could also cause a glow to become bright light in the light sphere, although in that case,you could do it later. Augment really just codified something that existed in spheres before in a way that cut down on boilerplate rules text.

Yes, "codified," that's the word. And made much more standard among the spheres and talents.
Much more commonly put to work.


In PF, despite the abundance of spell points available, even spending 2 indicates that it's supposed to be a pretty powerful effect. 3 or more is basically reserved for metamagic and advanced talent. I am genuinely starting to be convinced that having such flat costs for implicitly increasing power, using a growing pool of points, is probably not a brilliant use of a balance lever.
(Although I am also the last one to ever claim Spheres to be 'broken,' whatever that may be, I just think the cost aspect of sphere effects has been poorly utilized in PF.)