SangoProduction
2023-05-03, 12:09 AM
Preamble: One of my most mechanically disappointing characters was a centaur "survivalist"... who didn't have much to do with surviving, outside of some ranks in skills, and that one "trophy" talent that gives a bonus to intimidate... to specifically the type of thing you made a trophy out of. If I remember correctly. I didn't want it to be a "hunter," so no archery talents. And I just lacked the talents to make Trap sphere useful for non-combat fluff. If I had thought about it, the Weather sphere would have been useful, but it was martial character. I have to admit, the Chef aspect didn't get a lot of play, as it was a largely, unexpectedly, urban campaign. So a bad mix of character and genre, I suppose.
So, here I am, with Survivalism sphere, to see if it could have improved how the character felt like its story.
(Don't get me wrong. I can play characters, not just a sheet of stats and abilities. But mechanically, it disappointed, when I have made so, so, so many "unique and quriky" types of mages with the same few Spheres of Power. From food mages to beekeepers to carpenters to [year-long character where they were thoroughly corrupted, turning themselves into a wraith, and then later sanctified into some sorta homebrew positive energy undead the GM made].)
"Hot Take" Warning: I am actually overall pleased with the introduction of the spheres of guile, unlike what seems to be the general sentiment. I still haven't given it a thorough look-through, but that's what this is for. So, that's my prevailing opinion and bias going into this. I do try my best to be as objective as possible regardless.
Post-Review Analysis: I have to admit to being impressed by the harvest talents. I mean, sure, you can't really make a build based on harvest talents - it's definitely a support family of talents, but that's fine.
I was especially prepared to be utterly shattered by the Dredge talents, especially after seeing the base sphere, but was surprised at how much use I could find in the talents themselves. I even fancy making a Judge Dredge kobold build, as Anbennar has made me particularly infatuated with the little buggers.
I personally found the Exceptional talents to not be particularly exceptional. At least not compared to what I was expecting with the hype.
Overall? I think it's pretty good, honestly, and legitimately think I will enjoy it.
Flex Talents: Aerial Dredging (when facing aerial creatures, or those that jump... 5 feet. DC 5. Wow put that way, Dredge seems unreasonably worse. Also wtf that DC is so low. A 5 ft jump is not insubstantial. That is something an untrained commoner can do from a standstill more often than not. That's like jumping nearly your body length. With a hop. I mean, if it wasn't so low, any jumping in combat-space would be nearly impossible.)
Survival Instinct (when you just need an item that you don't have)
Natural Shelter (when you need comfortable shelter out in the wilderness)
(1) Superb: You always want this if it's relevant to you. And it probably is.
(1.5) Really Good: Particularly useful bits of kit, but aren't quite must-haves. (Kept it decimal, because spreading out Good so far from Superb felt unrepresentative. But I needed a step between)
(2) Good: These make useful additions to the right builds. Among your first picks.
(3) Usable: Doesn't hurt to have. Wouldn't go out of your way for it.
(4) No: It technically has a use, but the cost to take simply doesn't outweigh the benefit.
(5) Never: There’s no non-trivial reason to pick it up, from its mechanics.
(6+) Harmful: Taking/using this is actively detrimental to your character.
<Angle brackets> around a rating indicates situational usefulness, and how good it is in that favorable situation.
[Square brackets] indicate a reliance on the group (players or DM) or campaign you’re playing in, and how well it does in those select groups.
Special Ratings:
(C) Cheese: A talent so broken that it will be instantly banned if you use it as you could.
(?) Unrated: I choose not to rate it. Often because it is just so far out of my wheelhouse, or it’s far too ambiguous.
(F) Flavor: This indicates that the main draw to the talent is going to be its inherent fluff or flavor, rather than raw power or utility.
(D) D***bag: Used for when your character wants to be a D***bag.
Associated Skill: Survival. Makes sense.
Base Ability: Canny Survivor - just some neat utility that fits the flavor of surviving. It's a total bonus on top of the package. Nothing that's generally going to actually impact most games though. Not even an intrigue game, since it's for identifying poisonous food in nature. Why you're taking Survivalism in an intrigue game is another question entirely.
Dredge Package: Lets you spend 10 minutes to affect the terrain for hours, or a full action to affect it for rounds. The full action version (reasonably enough) requires movement, and isn't magical, so it also provokes as you're physically doing something to "dredge" the area. Not brilliant, mechanically. But this is clearly meant primarily as a setup tool. There aren't a lot of those. Also, it's just positively begging for you to apply your own fluff to it, whether it's rapid installation of punji sticks to dumping buckets of water over and area, to lacing the area with nets, so I really like the potential here.
Disrupt Terrain (5) Difficult terrain isn't particularly useful, nor common. Facing another [Dredge] package user is also probably not going to be common. But could be neat to have just in case, I suppose. Even assuming you had a good, defensible position, and 10 minutes of setup, you impair them by what? 5 feet of movement in getting to your backline? OK, maybe 5 feet per 10 minutes of setup time you get. You know what could also be done to improve your chances... anyway. This is just pretty bad. In fact it's rather terrible. For narrative-time stuff like building trenches against an oncoming army, chances are, you don't need this.
Harvest package: You get to harvest a "component" from a corpse, corresponding with a (harvest) talent. Then you taxidermy it. Hell yes. It's so iconic to be able to take pieces of an enemy creature, and wear them as a hat that there's a game called Monster Hunter that's all about that. The other similar feats are both rare and not particularly notable. Let's hope these (harvest) talents break the trend.
Oh... but it just stops working after 24 hours, in addition to the 1 minute harvest, and 15 minute prep, after killing something already? That's actually disappointing. But fair. I guess. If they were totally passive, they couldn't be impactful. But this is going to be difficult to make good use of, if your typical adventuring day is more modern, and has many fewer encounters in a day than traditional DMing. But you don't have to refine the components immediately. So you could just have a bag full of knife ears, or goblin appendixes. just waiting to be refined. You probably smell bad. (Oh, and I am definitely homebrewing that you can drop one chosen refined trophy, rather than auto dropping the oldest.)
I do at least appreciate that the number of active refined components is influence by both your level, and number of harvest talents. Although, unlike Alchemy sphere, these do need to come from somewhere. (Which I agree with, but still the comparison must be made.) A reasonable DM might allow you to "assume" you have certain parts on hand, especially from common animals - such as those you could hunt. Just ask the DM, really.
Talisman [1]: +1 luck bonus (+1 / 5 levels) for all saves against the trophy's creature's type. This is actually quite reasonable, assuming you can have a semi-reliable enemy type, whether it's bandits, orcs, or demons. Even if you don't have that reliable enemy type, you can change it every 15 minutes. Or add more types. So it's more flexible and adaptable than Favored Enemy, and probably applies to spells from that creature type. And luck bonus is a good, uncommon type.
(Oh, and you get more options for talismans from each Harvest talent... which presumably also inherit that luck bonus? That probably sends it up to tier 1 from 2 for its versatility.)
Complex Preparation (1): Lets you apply twice as many (ground) talents in a single dredge action, at the cost of being staggered for 1 round. Action economy is good. Also, +5 DC to double the number of talismans you can have? Amazing, at otherwise no apparent cost.
Efficient Preparation (1): Fantastic improvements to the usability of the dredge package, and harvest double the components from a creature. Must be the same component type for some reason. I'd probably homebrew that differently, but a fantastic usability talent.
Aerial Dredging (1.5): It just barely loses out the tier 1 spot, as you must have been feasibly capable of accessing the area for 10 minutes, which isn't a super common occurrence in adventuring. Obviously is better when your adventures are limited to a small area, like a city or town. All [Plan] talents also increase the number of plans you can use per 1 hour prep time.
Survival Instinct [2, F]: You get to retroactively buy an item worth up to 50xlevel gold. Why it has to be specifically nonmagical, and why does it have to be specific to nature or fighting monsters? I don't know. It's a weaker version of Retroactive Preparation (Time sphere), from multiple angles, even though I've literally had no one complain about that before. So I just don't understand what the need was for a nerf. Like, the specific to nature thing kinda has justification, but I don't think the fluff is strong enough to compel such a restriction.
Regardless! This nonmagical ability allows you to adapt to situations as they arise, ensuring you're prepared while maintaining flexibility with your resources. Even if a superior magical alternative exists, this ability remains valuable. As a [Plan] talent, it also increases the number of plan "slots" you can have simultaneously. Plus, it explicitly allows you to acquire multiple items in the same single action, instead of resorting to defining a collection of items as one, such as "a crate full of alchemist fire."
Aerial Dredging (2): If you have a useful (dredge) talent, then it's probably good, on account of making it more usable. I do appreciate that it also attempted to give more justification than "it's just a mechanic, bro."
Swift Dredging (?): There are plenty of uses for your swift action. (At least in Spheres of Might) Dredging a singular square per turn does not seem like a good one. Doesn't apply Corral, golden or otherwise. [Specific mentions for this given in individual talents. Generally not worth.]
Corral (4): Pretty cool. Does its stated purpose of discouraging movement through your dredge, and also encouraging them to move in the direction you want. Not too useful though. Definitely not useless, as -2 AC by level 3 isn't bad. Just not something you should go out of your way for. Especially as the AoE is unfriendly (targets allies as well).
And I'm separating out the utility talents, because that makes it more useful. These are the less combatively-inclined, aka utility, talents, and should be rated as such.
Natural Shelter (2): As a utility talent, I really like it. It's an improvement to the default idea that you can build some sort of shelter, as it's also got the Endure Elements effect, and has an actually defined amount of time to do so. The 20-ft radius alarm is just a nice bonus. Quite flavorful.
Prepare Atmosphere (3, F): A +2 (+1/4 lvl) bonus to Diplomacy, handle animal checks, entertaining, or disorienting. It's decent. I also like that you are so skilled at decorations that it has mechanical effects.
It feels funky and unintentional with swift preparation. Like, you'd really have to justify it to me, but it works mechanically to give you permanent bonuses.
Hunter’s Eye (5): Even as a utility talent, a +1 survival (+1/4 levels) against a target creature doesn't seem super useful, even with the notion that you don't have to see the creature to mark it. (After all, deer hunters don't need to see a deer to prepare... Anyway, I like that it makes sense.)
I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of these sorts of talents as I go through these spheres.
Modify Impressions (5): Hiding Tracks is... fine. I guess. Although it's a very small difficulty increase - less than half that of "Hiding your tracks" function of Survival skill. But can be combined, and does basically apply to everyone. So I understand. But... it just doesn't matter.
Ailment (1): Any creature may be turned into a toxic "sickened" effect poison (I mean the bowels exist in most creatures). Sickened's just plain good. Or you can extract (and likely improve) poisons/diseases from the creature. That improving part is the big deal. And it's fun to just have a Mummy Rot dagger. With Efficient Preparation, you could have like 14 or 16 doses of Mummy Rot disease, at your Survivalism DC, from a single mummy, by the time you face one. Granted. Each half of those doses must be used in a single 24 hour period, but still.
Oh, and on top of this amazingness, you can also create talismans that allow you to penetrate resistance and immunity from the associated creature. This means you can infect mummies (or indeed any undead you have a talisman of) with poisons and diseases. Like Mummy Rot. Now. Granted, how often is that situation going to come up? I can think of only two potential times from my campaigns, if they had the option.
Bone [1]: If you're an intimidate build, you must take this, as it nonmagically lets you inflict fear on those immune to fear, as a talisman (regardless of the talisman's type). You can now roar at a skeleton and have them wetting themselves. It is not a pleasant sight. Or sound. Or smell. Know what? This was just a bad idea. (I think Gladiator may have possibly had something that similarly lets you do that. But options are options.)
Gland (2): It was at 4, but I like the Talisman effect. You basically create 1 gland that is a singular splash weapon that's like a bad destruction sphere cantrip, although it's at least a decent cantrip when made Potent. But it's just one, for an entire Refinement. The talisman lets it be 3, and they burst automatically in response to being damaged, which just sounds absolutely disgusting and hilarious. Oh, and it's for no action on your part. Leagues better.
Mucus (2): Basically Grease, but without the balancing deal, which means they don't become flat-footed. Still, prone is a good effect to inflict. The talisman also gives a +5 flat bonus to escape artist and grapple CMD, which is pretty huge. That's nearly 3 CR worth of monster CMD progression. (Also who really wants to Swallow Whole a disgusting adventurer that carries around rotting corpse parts, and actively chooses to encase himself in mucus? Please do not answer that.) Although you must consider that Alchemical Grease gives those same bonuses as the talisman.
Stench (2, -F): An AoE sickened, or nauseated? Neat. As a talisman, you make it harder to resist sickened/nauseated, and raise the penalties by 1. That talisman effect is useful, as sickened's a really good effect, which you not only are able to apply in-sphere, but in-talent as well. The only issue is that you literally have a stinky talisman. And if your bag of assorted body parts doesn't get you kicked out of town, this probably would.
Hide (3): I mean, it's bonuses to DR and energy resistance simultaneously. It's not bad. Fire Resistance 5 does make things like elemental weapon enchantment do literally nothing to you most of the time, no matter how many swings they flourish in. So, I'm probably undervaluing it. But it simply does not excite me. Even though it's a literally all-day ER 10, DR 2 effect by level 5. It is an all-day effect, prepared in just 15 minutes. Even though Resist Energy has nearly twice the effect and scaling, and is flexible, it does only last 10/minutes per CL (which while admittedly quite a while, isn't a full day), and is a second level spell. It also doesn't grant DR.
Vitals (4, F): Neither Heart nor Lifeblood's refinement effects are good. Heart Talisman though? +1 fort save, just in general? Decent, I guess. +2 strength-based ability and skill checks? Again, decent. Your barbarian would probably appreciate it, so as to bend the jail bars even easier. It's flavorful at least.
Musk (5): It's a tiny alchemical bonus to Bluff, Diplo, and Handle Animal checks. There's no real reason to take it from a mechanical perspective. From a roleplay perspective, perfume costs only 1 silver per 24 hour application (and has a larger or equal effect until level 8).
Manipulate Cover (1): When was the last time you even considered Cover? Well, you should, as that's a +4 AC, and +2 reflex you are missing out on, just because your GM doesn't provide battle maps with good cover options. (Or combats lethal enough to care.) Well, now you make your own. Anywhere, at any time, for your entire party. I mean, sure. They may be subject to that "high ground" modifier, but that's much less than the bonuses you provide your allies, barring the chance that enemies hop down into the trench. And you can only really have 2 enemies doing that at a time. If there's any Ground talent that is worthy of Swift Dredging, it's probably this one, such that you are perpetually in cover, by yourself.
Do note that it's possible to invest into high ground bonus like Totem of Tactical Prowess (war sphere), and Terrain Advantage (Navigation), it becomes even better. Those talents also affect your allies. (Although, each piece needs its own turn to activate, and in the end, you and your team end up stuck in a single area to avoid wasting most of your combat actions. Which is undoubtedly going to be annoying for your team to deal with, as you strip them of their freedom of choice and movement. Keeping it to just a single, self-sufficient talent that is not too overwhelming is probably the best option.)
Alter Stability (1.5): Basically grease. But very weirdly worded. To the point that half of the effect just needs to be assumed. But from that assumed bit, it looks pretty good.
Hazardous Terrain (1.5): Better caltrops, with an infinite supply. Like, monsters don't really care about taking 5 damage to chase after you. But... maybe they do care about taking 15, 20, or 25 to chase you down the hall. And regular people would just say "screw it" and go home. And it applies even if they just stand in the area, which definitely encourages them to get out of the way. Although the damage is quickly out scaled by HP growth. And it is admittedly only on a failed reflex save. Per square.
This might also be a decent candidate for Swift Dredging. Although they 5ft step out and it was largely pointless.
Pit (2): Let's assume that it's just used as intended, and not as an early access Manipulate Cover (for which effect, it would have nearly the same rating, but only for yourself). You put someone into a pit, and generally make it hard to traverse a path. It doesn't tend to accomplish too much, outside of being an inconvenience. Except... that to climb, most creatures need to stow their weapons, and provoke opportunity attacks from that guy with a long pokey stick up top.
You have to also consider as well that this can inherent let you bypass walls, and undermine buildings incredibly quickly. (Same with manipulate cover, but this has the flexibility of going even lower than that talent, until your DM gives up with saying there's rebar reinforcement 100 feet underground, and just lets you move to the other side of the wall.
Disrupt Elevation (5): I think the High Ground bonus (+1 to melee attacks - and that's it) was literally added as a meme. But you make it ever so slightly better. I think Unpredictable Terrain is intended to be Complex Preparation'd with Alter Stability, as it does next to nothing on its own. (No, I was wrong. The rule came out before Revenge of the Sith. But the connection is so logical that it made sense as a meme.)
Do note that it's possible to invest into high ground bonus like Totem of Tactical Prowess (war sphere), and Terrain Advantage (Navigation), and it actually becomes good, if not great. (Although, each piece needs its own turn to activate, and in the end, you and your team end up stuck in a single area to avoid wasting most of your combat actions. Which is undoubtedly going to be annoying for your team to deal with, as you strip them of their freedom of choice and movement. Keeping it to just a single, self-sufficient talent that is not too overwhelming is probably the best option.)
Adjust Visibility (5): I'll be honest, speed of stealth was never something that was relevant in my decades of gaming. Literally not even once. Not even when I played a rogue / shadow dancer / shadow caster / xXedgelord666Xx for a full 2 years.
The idea of making it very difficult to stealth through some squares makes it interesting for the days-long preparation as part of a fortress effort. But it is negated by just going a bit slower.
And since everyone is raving about Exceptional Talents, I suppose I'll have a look at them as well.
Limitless Preparation (1): So, you spend 30 minutes refining some filth from a pig's backside, and suddenly you can sicken everything, regardless of immunities. What?
Oh, and rather than days/level dredging for an hour's work, it's actually permanent. Which is cool.
Cursed Effigy (C): It is not particularly clear. But it sounds like someone could use the Curse (death sphere) effect on a creature, and then you refine it from their corpse, and reuse it. Potentially four times at no spell point cost. Perhaps you could even amp it up with Metamagic on the initial cast. That's cheesy as balls. The Talisman is unremarkable, if neat. Like a consumable trinket players might find.
If that's not how the talent works, then it's a super specific version of Ailment, but without any generic option.
Warded Terrain [1]: Man, this cripples aligned enemies. Specifically with aligned subtypes. It would be stupid otherwise.
Ranged Dredging (2): Substantially adds to the usability of Dredging.
Intellect (3): Could be used for extracting information from the dead (supernaturally, wooo). But its best use is probably for the free Enhancement bonus to the score you're not already enhancing. And if you're not already enhancing it, do you actually care too much?
Flight (3): Super limited flight, at a slow and clumsy pace. But it's nonmagical. I would almost argue that the Talisman is largely equivalent to the main effect. Nonmagical, all-day featherfall is probably neat, if your DM's prone to having you fall off a cliff.
Shift Brightness (4): Change brightness level. Why do I care? I mean, at 10 ranks, it becomes supernatural darkness, and daylight. Which are definitely more interesting, but that's later than I care about, and much better accomplished through the Light and Dark sphere... like... near level 1.
Hunter: Lose the talisman, and all talisman functionality, but gain a harvest talent. I do not honestly recommend it, as the talisman adds a lot, in my opinion. It also tends to be the better part of most of the talents.
Resourceful Laborer: Changing out a functional skill for a background skill seems like a mechanical step back. But they do make sense as possible options.
Slow Dredger: May not dredge in combat, but gain Efficient Preparation. Really only useful if you've got a DM and campaign where you can really set up fights.
Homebrew Variant - Unique Dredger: Do not gain the Disrupt Terrain (ground) talent. Instead gain a different (ground) talent.
So, here I am, with Survivalism sphere, to see if it could have improved how the character felt like its story.
(Don't get me wrong. I can play characters, not just a sheet of stats and abilities. But mechanically, it disappointed, when I have made so, so, so many "unique and quriky" types of mages with the same few Spheres of Power. From food mages to beekeepers to carpenters to [year-long character where they were thoroughly corrupted, turning themselves into a wraith, and then later sanctified into some sorta homebrew positive energy undead the GM made].)
"Hot Take" Warning: I am actually overall pleased with the introduction of the spheres of guile, unlike what seems to be the general sentiment. I still haven't given it a thorough look-through, but that's what this is for. So, that's my prevailing opinion and bias going into this. I do try my best to be as objective as possible regardless.
Post-Review Analysis: I have to admit to being impressed by the harvest talents. I mean, sure, you can't really make a build based on harvest talents - it's definitely a support family of talents, but that's fine.
I was especially prepared to be utterly shattered by the Dredge talents, especially after seeing the base sphere, but was surprised at how much use I could find in the talents themselves. I even fancy making a Judge Dredge kobold build, as Anbennar has made me particularly infatuated with the little buggers.
I personally found the Exceptional talents to not be particularly exceptional. At least not compared to what I was expecting with the hype.
Overall? I think it's pretty good, honestly, and legitimately think I will enjoy it.
Flex Talents: Aerial Dredging (when facing aerial creatures, or those that jump... 5 feet. DC 5. Wow put that way, Dredge seems unreasonably worse. Also wtf that DC is so low. A 5 ft jump is not insubstantial. That is something an untrained commoner can do from a standstill more often than not. That's like jumping nearly your body length. With a hop. I mean, if it wasn't so low, any jumping in combat-space would be nearly impossible.)
Survival Instinct (when you just need an item that you don't have)
Natural Shelter (when you need comfortable shelter out in the wilderness)
(1) Superb: You always want this if it's relevant to you. And it probably is.
(1.5) Really Good: Particularly useful bits of kit, but aren't quite must-haves. (Kept it decimal, because spreading out Good so far from Superb felt unrepresentative. But I needed a step between)
(2) Good: These make useful additions to the right builds. Among your first picks.
(3) Usable: Doesn't hurt to have. Wouldn't go out of your way for it.
(4) No: It technically has a use, but the cost to take simply doesn't outweigh the benefit.
(5) Never: There’s no non-trivial reason to pick it up, from its mechanics.
(6+) Harmful: Taking/using this is actively detrimental to your character.
<Angle brackets> around a rating indicates situational usefulness, and how good it is in that favorable situation.
[Square brackets] indicate a reliance on the group (players or DM) or campaign you’re playing in, and how well it does in those select groups.
Special Ratings:
(C) Cheese: A talent so broken that it will be instantly banned if you use it as you could.
(?) Unrated: I choose not to rate it. Often because it is just so far out of my wheelhouse, or it’s far too ambiguous.
(F) Flavor: This indicates that the main draw to the talent is going to be its inherent fluff or flavor, rather than raw power or utility.
(D) D***bag: Used for when your character wants to be a D***bag.
Associated Skill: Survival. Makes sense.
Base Ability: Canny Survivor - just some neat utility that fits the flavor of surviving. It's a total bonus on top of the package. Nothing that's generally going to actually impact most games though. Not even an intrigue game, since it's for identifying poisonous food in nature. Why you're taking Survivalism in an intrigue game is another question entirely.
Dredge Package: Lets you spend 10 minutes to affect the terrain for hours, or a full action to affect it for rounds. The full action version (reasonably enough) requires movement, and isn't magical, so it also provokes as you're physically doing something to "dredge" the area. Not brilliant, mechanically. But this is clearly meant primarily as a setup tool. There aren't a lot of those. Also, it's just positively begging for you to apply your own fluff to it, whether it's rapid installation of punji sticks to dumping buckets of water over and area, to lacing the area with nets, so I really like the potential here.
Disrupt Terrain (5) Difficult terrain isn't particularly useful, nor common. Facing another [Dredge] package user is also probably not going to be common. But could be neat to have just in case, I suppose. Even assuming you had a good, defensible position, and 10 minutes of setup, you impair them by what? 5 feet of movement in getting to your backline? OK, maybe 5 feet per 10 minutes of setup time you get. You know what could also be done to improve your chances... anyway. This is just pretty bad. In fact it's rather terrible. For narrative-time stuff like building trenches against an oncoming army, chances are, you don't need this.
Harvest package: You get to harvest a "component" from a corpse, corresponding with a (harvest) talent. Then you taxidermy it. Hell yes. It's so iconic to be able to take pieces of an enemy creature, and wear them as a hat that there's a game called Monster Hunter that's all about that. The other similar feats are both rare and not particularly notable. Let's hope these (harvest) talents break the trend.
Oh... but it just stops working after 24 hours, in addition to the 1 minute harvest, and 15 minute prep, after killing something already? That's actually disappointing. But fair. I guess. If they were totally passive, they couldn't be impactful. But this is going to be difficult to make good use of, if your typical adventuring day is more modern, and has many fewer encounters in a day than traditional DMing. But you don't have to refine the components immediately. So you could just have a bag full of knife ears, or goblin appendixes. just waiting to be refined. You probably smell bad. (Oh, and I am definitely homebrewing that you can drop one chosen refined trophy, rather than auto dropping the oldest.)
I do at least appreciate that the number of active refined components is influence by both your level, and number of harvest talents. Although, unlike Alchemy sphere, these do need to come from somewhere. (Which I agree with, but still the comparison must be made.) A reasonable DM might allow you to "assume" you have certain parts on hand, especially from common animals - such as those you could hunt. Just ask the DM, really.
Talisman [1]: +1 luck bonus (+1 / 5 levels) for all saves against the trophy's creature's type. This is actually quite reasonable, assuming you can have a semi-reliable enemy type, whether it's bandits, orcs, or demons. Even if you don't have that reliable enemy type, you can change it every 15 minutes. Or add more types. So it's more flexible and adaptable than Favored Enemy, and probably applies to spells from that creature type. And luck bonus is a good, uncommon type.
(Oh, and you get more options for talismans from each Harvest talent... which presumably also inherit that luck bonus? That probably sends it up to tier 1 from 2 for its versatility.)
Complex Preparation (1): Lets you apply twice as many (ground) talents in a single dredge action, at the cost of being staggered for 1 round. Action economy is good. Also, +5 DC to double the number of talismans you can have? Amazing, at otherwise no apparent cost.
Efficient Preparation (1): Fantastic improvements to the usability of the dredge package, and harvest double the components from a creature. Must be the same component type for some reason. I'd probably homebrew that differently, but a fantastic usability talent.
Aerial Dredging (1.5): It just barely loses out the tier 1 spot, as you must have been feasibly capable of accessing the area for 10 minutes, which isn't a super common occurrence in adventuring. Obviously is better when your adventures are limited to a small area, like a city or town. All [Plan] talents also increase the number of plans you can use per 1 hour prep time.
Survival Instinct [2, F]: You get to retroactively buy an item worth up to 50xlevel gold. Why it has to be specifically nonmagical, and why does it have to be specific to nature or fighting monsters? I don't know. It's a weaker version of Retroactive Preparation (Time sphere), from multiple angles, even though I've literally had no one complain about that before. So I just don't understand what the need was for a nerf. Like, the specific to nature thing kinda has justification, but I don't think the fluff is strong enough to compel such a restriction.
Regardless! This nonmagical ability allows you to adapt to situations as they arise, ensuring you're prepared while maintaining flexibility with your resources. Even if a superior magical alternative exists, this ability remains valuable. As a [Plan] talent, it also increases the number of plan "slots" you can have simultaneously. Plus, it explicitly allows you to acquire multiple items in the same single action, instead of resorting to defining a collection of items as one, such as "a crate full of alchemist fire."
Aerial Dredging (2): If you have a useful (dredge) talent, then it's probably good, on account of making it more usable. I do appreciate that it also attempted to give more justification than "it's just a mechanic, bro."
Swift Dredging (?): There are plenty of uses for your swift action. (At least in Spheres of Might) Dredging a singular square per turn does not seem like a good one. Doesn't apply Corral, golden or otherwise. [Specific mentions for this given in individual talents. Generally not worth.]
Corral (4): Pretty cool. Does its stated purpose of discouraging movement through your dredge, and also encouraging them to move in the direction you want. Not too useful though. Definitely not useless, as -2 AC by level 3 isn't bad. Just not something you should go out of your way for. Especially as the AoE is unfriendly (targets allies as well).
And I'm separating out the utility talents, because that makes it more useful. These are the less combatively-inclined, aka utility, talents, and should be rated as such.
Natural Shelter (2): As a utility talent, I really like it. It's an improvement to the default idea that you can build some sort of shelter, as it's also got the Endure Elements effect, and has an actually defined amount of time to do so. The 20-ft radius alarm is just a nice bonus. Quite flavorful.
Prepare Atmosphere (3, F): A +2 (+1/4 lvl) bonus to Diplomacy, handle animal checks, entertaining, or disorienting. It's decent. I also like that you are so skilled at decorations that it has mechanical effects.
It feels funky and unintentional with swift preparation. Like, you'd really have to justify it to me, but it works mechanically to give you permanent bonuses.
Hunter’s Eye (5): Even as a utility talent, a +1 survival (+1/4 levels) against a target creature doesn't seem super useful, even with the notion that you don't have to see the creature to mark it. (After all, deer hunters don't need to see a deer to prepare... Anyway, I like that it makes sense.)
I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of these sorts of talents as I go through these spheres.
Modify Impressions (5): Hiding Tracks is... fine. I guess. Although it's a very small difficulty increase - less than half that of "Hiding your tracks" function of Survival skill. But can be combined, and does basically apply to everyone. So I understand. But... it just doesn't matter.
Ailment (1): Any creature may be turned into a toxic "sickened" effect poison (I mean the bowels exist in most creatures). Sickened's just plain good. Or you can extract (and likely improve) poisons/diseases from the creature. That improving part is the big deal. And it's fun to just have a Mummy Rot dagger. With Efficient Preparation, you could have like 14 or 16 doses of Mummy Rot disease, at your Survivalism DC, from a single mummy, by the time you face one. Granted. Each half of those doses must be used in a single 24 hour period, but still.
Oh, and on top of this amazingness, you can also create talismans that allow you to penetrate resistance and immunity from the associated creature. This means you can infect mummies (or indeed any undead you have a talisman of) with poisons and diseases. Like Mummy Rot. Now. Granted, how often is that situation going to come up? I can think of only two potential times from my campaigns, if they had the option.
Bone [1]: If you're an intimidate build, you must take this, as it nonmagically lets you inflict fear on those immune to fear, as a talisman (regardless of the talisman's type). You can now roar at a skeleton and have them wetting themselves. It is not a pleasant sight. Or sound. Or smell. Know what? This was just a bad idea. (I think Gladiator may have possibly had something that similarly lets you do that. But options are options.)
Gland (2): It was at 4, but I like the Talisman effect. You basically create 1 gland that is a singular splash weapon that's like a bad destruction sphere cantrip, although it's at least a decent cantrip when made Potent. But it's just one, for an entire Refinement. The talisman lets it be 3, and they burst automatically in response to being damaged, which just sounds absolutely disgusting and hilarious. Oh, and it's for no action on your part. Leagues better.
Mucus (2): Basically Grease, but without the balancing deal, which means they don't become flat-footed. Still, prone is a good effect to inflict. The talisman also gives a +5 flat bonus to escape artist and grapple CMD, which is pretty huge. That's nearly 3 CR worth of monster CMD progression. (Also who really wants to Swallow Whole a disgusting adventurer that carries around rotting corpse parts, and actively chooses to encase himself in mucus? Please do not answer that.) Although you must consider that Alchemical Grease gives those same bonuses as the talisman.
Stench (2, -F): An AoE sickened, or nauseated? Neat. As a talisman, you make it harder to resist sickened/nauseated, and raise the penalties by 1. That talisman effect is useful, as sickened's a really good effect, which you not only are able to apply in-sphere, but in-talent as well. The only issue is that you literally have a stinky talisman. And if your bag of assorted body parts doesn't get you kicked out of town, this probably would.
Hide (3): I mean, it's bonuses to DR and energy resistance simultaneously. It's not bad. Fire Resistance 5 does make things like elemental weapon enchantment do literally nothing to you most of the time, no matter how many swings they flourish in. So, I'm probably undervaluing it. But it simply does not excite me. Even though it's a literally all-day ER 10, DR 2 effect by level 5. It is an all-day effect, prepared in just 15 minutes. Even though Resist Energy has nearly twice the effect and scaling, and is flexible, it does only last 10/minutes per CL (which while admittedly quite a while, isn't a full day), and is a second level spell. It also doesn't grant DR.
Vitals (4, F): Neither Heart nor Lifeblood's refinement effects are good. Heart Talisman though? +1 fort save, just in general? Decent, I guess. +2 strength-based ability and skill checks? Again, decent. Your barbarian would probably appreciate it, so as to bend the jail bars even easier. It's flavorful at least.
Musk (5): It's a tiny alchemical bonus to Bluff, Diplo, and Handle Animal checks. There's no real reason to take it from a mechanical perspective. From a roleplay perspective, perfume costs only 1 silver per 24 hour application (and has a larger or equal effect until level 8).
Manipulate Cover (1): When was the last time you even considered Cover? Well, you should, as that's a +4 AC, and +2 reflex you are missing out on, just because your GM doesn't provide battle maps with good cover options. (Or combats lethal enough to care.) Well, now you make your own. Anywhere, at any time, for your entire party. I mean, sure. They may be subject to that "high ground" modifier, but that's much less than the bonuses you provide your allies, barring the chance that enemies hop down into the trench. And you can only really have 2 enemies doing that at a time. If there's any Ground talent that is worthy of Swift Dredging, it's probably this one, such that you are perpetually in cover, by yourself.
Do note that it's possible to invest into high ground bonus like Totem of Tactical Prowess (war sphere), and Terrain Advantage (Navigation), it becomes even better. Those talents also affect your allies. (Although, each piece needs its own turn to activate, and in the end, you and your team end up stuck in a single area to avoid wasting most of your combat actions. Which is undoubtedly going to be annoying for your team to deal with, as you strip them of their freedom of choice and movement. Keeping it to just a single, self-sufficient talent that is not too overwhelming is probably the best option.)
Alter Stability (1.5): Basically grease. But very weirdly worded. To the point that half of the effect just needs to be assumed. But from that assumed bit, it looks pretty good.
Hazardous Terrain (1.5): Better caltrops, with an infinite supply. Like, monsters don't really care about taking 5 damage to chase after you. But... maybe they do care about taking 15, 20, or 25 to chase you down the hall. And regular people would just say "screw it" and go home. And it applies even if they just stand in the area, which definitely encourages them to get out of the way. Although the damage is quickly out scaled by HP growth. And it is admittedly only on a failed reflex save. Per square.
This might also be a decent candidate for Swift Dredging. Although they 5ft step out and it was largely pointless.
Pit (2): Let's assume that it's just used as intended, and not as an early access Manipulate Cover (for which effect, it would have nearly the same rating, but only for yourself). You put someone into a pit, and generally make it hard to traverse a path. It doesn't tend to accomplish too much, outside of being an inconvenience. Except... that to climb, most creatures need to stow their weapons, and provoke opportunity attacks from that guy with a long pokey stick up top.
You have to also consider as well that this can inherent let you bypass walls, and undermine buildings incredibly quickly. (Same with manipulate cover, but this has the flexibility of going even lower than that talent, until your DM gives up with saying there's rebar reinforcement 100 feet underground, and just lets you move to the other side of the wall.
Disrupt Elevation (5): I think the High Ground bonus (+1 to melee attacks - and that's it) was literally added as a meme. But you make it ever so slightly better. I think Unpredictable Terrain is intended to be Complex Preparation'd with Alter Stability, as it does next to nothing on its own. (No, I was wrong. The rule came out before Revenge of the Sith. But the connection is so logical that it made sense as a meme.)
Do note that it's possible to invest into high ground bonus like Totem of Tactical Prowess (war sphere), and Terrain Advantage (Navigation), and it actually becomes good, if not great. (Although, each piece needs its own turn to activate, and in the end, you and your team end up stuck in a single area to avoid wasting most of your combat actions. Which is undoubtedly going to be annoying for your team to deal with, as you strip them of their freedom of choice and movement. Keeping it to just a single, self-sufficient talent that is not too overwhelming is probably the best option.)
Adjust Visibility (5): I'll be honest, speed of stealth was never something that was relevant in my decades of gaming. Literally not even once. Not even when I played a rogue / shadow dancer / shadow caster / xXedgelord666Xx for a full 2 years.
The idea of making it very difficult to stealth through some squares makes it interesting for the days-long preparation as part of a fortress effort. But it is negated by just going a bit slower.
And since everyone is raving about Exceptional Talents, I suppose I'll have a look at them as well.
Limitless Preparation (1): So, you spend 30 minutes refining some filth from a pig's backside, and suddenly you can sicken everything, regardless of immunities. What?
Oh, and rather than days/level dredging for an hour's work, it's actually permanent. Which is cool.
Cursed Effigy (C): It is not particularly clear. But it sounds like someone could use the Curse (death sphere) effect on a creature, and then you refine it from their corpse, and reuse it. Potentially four times at no spell point cost. Perhaps you could even amp it up with Metamagic on the initial cast. That's cheesy as balls. The Talisman is unremarkable, if neat. Like a consumable trinket players might find.
If that's not how the talent works, then it's a super specific version of Ailment, but without any generic option.
Warded Terrain [1]: Man, this cripples aligned enemies. Specifically with aligned subtypes. It would be stupid otherwise.
Ranged Dredging (2): Substantially adds to the usability of Dredging.
Intellect (3): Could be used for extracting information from the dead (supernaturally, wooo). But its best use is probably for the free Enhancement bonus to the score you're not already enhancing. And if you're not already enhancing it, do you actually care too much?
Flight (3): Super limited flight, at a slow and clumsy pace. But it's nonmagical. I would almost argue that the Talisman is largely equivalent to the main effect. Nonmagical, all-day featherfall is probably neat, if your DM's prone to having you fall off a cliff.
Shift Brightness (4): Change brightness level. Why do I care? I mean, at 10 ranks, it becomes supernatural darkness, and daylight. Which are definitely more interesting, but that's later than I care about, and much better accomplished through the Light and Dark sphere... like... near level 1.
Hunter: Lose the talisman, and all talisman functionality, but gain a harvest talent. I do not honestly recommend it, as the talisman adds a lot, in my opinion. It also tends to be the better part of most of the talents.
Resourceful Laborer: Changing out a functional skill for a background skill seems like a mechanical step back. But they do make sense as possible options.
Slow Dredger: May not dredge in combat, but gain Efficient Preparation. Really only useful if you've got a DM and campaign where you can really set up fights.
Homebrew Variant - Unique Dredger: Do not gain the Disrupt Terrain (ground) talent. Instead gain a different (ground) talent.