This is still only during their turn, since I didn't want to give the talents too much power, and they're balanced to be used on the striker's turn.
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Major rework of the commander (dreadlord) posted to the CotS playtest.
Is there any chance the attack granted by Mug from Scoundrel can be changed into AoO so you can stack it with other sphere abilities? Or is that deemed to powerful? Maybe add a clause that once you gain 10 Sleight of Hand ranks, you can choose to treat the attack from Mug as an AoO instead? Or maybe that you can expend Focus to treat it as an AoO?
Currently my impression is that the best way to use the Scoundrel Sphere is to make Full Attacks using Quick Dirty Trick or a Lancer using Painful Twist to complement his main fighting style (you might also be able to get something out of Heel Tactics from Wrestling). Adding some synergy with AoO would open the Duelist and Fencing Spheres as strong spheres to add onto a Scoundrel style.
This seams to be missing steal in the second bold. Maybe change it to either "the target of the maneuver" or "the target of the dirty trick or steal".Quote:
Fancy Footwork (trick)
Whenever you successfully perform a steal or dirty trick combat maneuver, you can attempt a reposition combat maneuver against the target of the dirty trick as a free action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
In relation to Vanish, Walk Unseen and Hellcat Stealth, I've been doing some further thinking. I find it problematic, that a feat is earlier available than both of the talents, which even together might not provide the functionality HS does provide. Depending on reading Vanish, it still might fail in the second round like Walk Unseen stipulates. Also it isn't clear if Vanish still requires cover or concealment or just upgrades the WU to ignore observation. Admittedly, HS does have penalty, both talents don't require (but stipulate the presence of a martial focus in addition), but considering that a talent is supposed to be worth a feat, paying two talents should provide a better bonus compared to spending one feat. Currently it feels that going the talent route is punishing the user, since you do need to wait 4 additional levels to get to the point, where it works reliable - if you opt for the most favoring interpretation. Which means that people end up taking HS and then retraining it later.
So my suggestion is to match Walk Unseen with HS (which according to SKR should take care of concealment, too) and allow Vanish to remove the -10 penalty, since skill boosting items are less likely to be used in conjunction with a sphere-boosted skill.
Edit: BTW, Barrage and Sniper assume that a ranged weapon uses ammunition. If you have something like a laser gun or maybe just a spell, then there a number of talents which I am not sure if they are applicable. Could you please go over them and add a note where necessary?
Vacuum Slice requires you spend a move action when you use Vacuum Cut, and Vacuum Cut requires you draw your weapon the same round as you perform it. Drawing a weapon is normally a move action that can be performed as a free action with a regular move. Is there any way to use Vacuum Slice without Quick Draw (or magic to gain extra move/standard actions)? If not, maybe add the Fast Draw (equipment talent) to the list of prerequisites for Vacuum Slice?
Does the Brute sphere's Break Defenses talent exclude oneself from "your allies"? I noticed most spheres/talents were pretty explicit on whether to include/exclude oneself, but this one I wasn't sure.
Since Vacuum Cut only requires that you make an attack action in the same round you draw your weapon, it's possible that your set up could follow through off of something like Whirlwind Draw, or other functions not included in SoM but mapped out for other products like CotS, such as an armorist treating summoning a bound weapon as drawing it for related effects (a swift action with Quick Summons), so we didn't want to force a talent or feat tax that might not bring anything to your build.
You are right there are a few other ways... like praying the enemy provokes from you or being a 15th level Armorist. I just don't like breaking the news to players that they need to read the cool new Legendary Talent they took again and that they need to pay another tax to use it. The main problem the talent suffers from is that it isn't obvious you need some way to quick draw your weapon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ssalarn
Edit: Since it wasn't answered last time. For the Afterimage legendary talent, are the scaling +1 image per 6 ranks in Acrobatics added to the free image for moving more than 5 feet, or to the extra image you can get by expending focus if you move more than 20 feet? Or do they apply to both? It is a bit unclear in my opinion, the way I read it they probably apply to the free image for moving more than 5 feet, but balance wise that reading would make it too powerful and make expending focus for +1 image next to worthless.
Ok, question on item creation. This is a specific question, but I imagine it has rammifications for wider things.
Creation Sphere talents as applied to magic items. Here is the text:
Spoiler: TextCreation
Create
Range: Personal (adjacent space)
Duration: 1 round/caster level
Effect: Create an object, as the Creation sphere.
Alter
Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous
Effect: Repair or Destroy the target as the base Creation sphere.
Complexity
Greater Creation: To add the effects of a Creation talent (or to change the alter effect bestowed), increase the complexity by 1 for every talent added. If a talent would normally require an additional spell point to use, increase the complexity by an additional +1 when adding that talent. When changing the alter effect from repair or destroy, change the duration to match the ability chosen.
Now, I'm particularly curious about the last part. Say I wanted an effect that would change the material of a target, then apply the destroy alter talent. Can I add the Change Material Talent, as opposed to change the alter talent to change material, and still have the base destroy talent?
To put in different words:
'Greater Creation' says it is +1 Complexity to add the effects of a creation sphere talent, or to change the alter effect bestowed. Change material is both a Talent in the Creation Sphere, and an [Alter] talent. Does this mean you HAVE to use the 'change' option, or can you still use the add option and have both?
Or, you know, play a 1st level armiger, take the skill unlock for Sleight of Hand, wield a sword cane, take advantage of the Shared Stash teamwork feat on an ally who can share TW feats, play a samurai with Weapon Expertise, use the quick throwing spell, wear a glove of storing, use a training weapon to cover your Quick Draw needs, call a flying weapon, use a spring blade, take the On Guard trait, grab the feats necessary to speed up draws on a case by case basis with Mystic Adaptation or Martial Flexibility, use Extradimensional Storage from the Warp sphere, and of course, leverage Whirlwind Draw or play an armorist. And that's without considering what other options might be printed in the future or what other content outside of Paizo and DDS might be in use.
I'd rather assume that someone building a minimum 10th level character has some basic literacy and system mastery than arbitrarily gate a cool talent as a crutch just in case they don't.
I was just about ready to concede your point, but reading that list most of those options reference Quick Draw. Glove of Storing probably doesn't work as the weapon wouldn't be sheathed (partially joking, but it can be argued that unshrinking the weapon does not qualify as drawing it), the same applies to Extradimensional Storage. On Guard definitely doesn't work as you only get one action during the surprise round. Shared Stash is just strange... I wonder how many characters actually have taken that option?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ssalarn
Honestly, I do think it should either have the Prerequisite: Fast Draw or other ability that lets you ready a weapon as part of an attack, as a free action or as a swift action (Just like Aerial trip requires you have some way of performing a trip attempt without provoking). Or make it so that you draw the weapon as part of the move action in Vacuum Slice "Whenever you use the Vacuum Cut talent, you may spend a move action drawing you weapon to increase the effect, targeting all creatures within a Close range cone."
Also I am sure you have spent enough time looking at rules questions in the forums, and as a GM to know that for many people it is difficult to read the rules (feat, ability, whatever) instead of what you want to see. And there are always going to be plenty of people out there who are either new to the game or just bad at remembering rules text who won't realize they cannot use the Legendary Talent they selected until they try to use it for the first time in game.
I hope I don't come across as offensive, as I really appreciate your work and the time you take to answer our questions. I just want the print copy to be as good as possible, so I try to ask questions if anything seems unclear or strange.
Speaking of Quick Draw, I feel like we can expand that into an entire Base Sphere.
This could cover stuff like gap closers for melee characters, disengaging parting shots for ranged characters, talents based on switch hitting by quick drawing weapons, the ability to act in a surprise round, the ability to move without provoking while maintaining focus, and a talent that gives you a scaling bonus to your initiative. Legendary talents could give you bonus damage against flat-footed opponents, a free surprise round if combat starts against an enemy in reach, the ability to use melee and ranged options simultaneously (somehow) and perhaps the ability to share some bonuses with your teammates (at least as far as initiative).
I know it's way, way, way too late to even think of adding an entirely new Sphere, but I think it'll be great for future implementation. Afterall, Fallen Fey was added long after the original Spheres of Power, so why not a new Combat Sphere to boot?
No worries. We do try to take every reasonable concern seriously, discuss it as a team, and pull as many points of comparison from core as we can find to give the conversation context. After talking it over, I'm going to suggest that we add "ability to draw your weapon as a free or swift action, or as part of an attack action" to the prerequisites; technically this isn't going to change the actual function of the talent, but it will draw attention to the necessity of being able to draw outside of using your move. Thoughts?
I was actually thinking about it, and it's great if you're playing a character with a pet or companion that has easy access to your teamwork feats; cavalier, commander, and hunter could all make interesting use of it, and teamwork feat sharing abilities generally bypass prereqs for everyone except the the person actually taking the feat, so there's some fun to be had there.
As a GM, I was looking at it as an option for something like a Commander shoring up a shield line or phalanx where the troops will want the ability to rapidly change weapons but may not have the individual resource for that to be feasible. Watching a troop fast swap from muskets to spears or spears to swords by drawing their ally's weapon(s) is kind of a cool trick, and something a leader-type character could arrange without much diverting much resource.
From a player perspective I think the best use really is just having a mount who can share your teamwork feats carry your weapons so you can rapidly draw them for unleashing techniques or quickly changing between reach, ranged, and close melee options. Might also be useful for a gunslinging character who does the brace of pistols thing, especially if they want to try doing it with a larger firearm that can't be reloaded as efficiently without resource expenditure.
I have to say I'm very pleased how fast Spheres of Might has gone from kickstarter to product, especially compared to the other RPG kickstarters I've seen.
It did mean that we ended up with more post-production polishing than we'd hoped for, but everyone was really committed to getting this wrapped and out to backers quickly and within or ahead of our projected timeline. We've all seen those Kickstarters that either languish in development forever or just seem to die and fade away, and we wanted to make sure that that wasn't a possibility here.
Looking at the feat I noticed, it basically requires Ratfolk PCs to begin with (there are no other races with this trait, only pipes of the warren guardian allows to summon dire rats with that trait, but I doubt you can use those for some purposes), so it is unlikely that someone can access this feat. Even racial heritage doesn't help here. The I noticed that you need Quick Draw for Shared Stash in the first place, which means that the benefits shrink down for items you don't have access to on your body. Maybe it's because I play with encumbrance rules very loosely, but I don't know how likely this impacts actual played characters.
Looking at more of the Spheres of Power stuff, I noticed the Wandslinger archetype for the gunslinger. Is it possible for it to be updated in Champions of the Spheres to include martial talents as well?
No one responded to my "Quick Draw Sphere" idea. Sad.
At any rate, shouldn't the Barroom Base Sphere have "Catch Off Guard" as an associated feat? And while we're at it, can we get the Scout Sphere's Lurker ability to have "Lurker in Darkness" as an associated feat as well?
Quick questions: Can a Technician's Integrated Gun/Shield/Weapon incorporate an Improved item of the category? Like can the Integrated Gun on an Improved Weapon be an Improved Coat Pistol? Also, can Gauntlets be Improved as either Weapons or Gloves similar to how Shields can be Improved as either Weapons or Shields?
One more for the Custom Training talent: if I wanted to select a firearm, is that 2 points for Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Pistol or 2 points for Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Firearms? I ask because normally you can just take EWP: Firearms and gain proficiency with all firearms including siege weapons.
This feat progression is something that I find to be problematic. Having to wait till 7th level before a character receives their first feat seems to be punitive and disappointing. Also, the character starts losing something without getting anything in return. This seems to be poor design. Why not just use the standard cleric BAB progression applied to feats? That would lose the feats at 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 15, and 19. The spread is more intuitive and doesn't excessively screw over low level characters. The proficient sacrifices really should be updated for the same reasons.
If there is a fear that a character might multiclass to a combat training class after 2nd level then just say that taking this option means that the character cannot switch to a combat training class till after they have sacrificed their first feat. Or perhaps just remove that restriction altogether. The opportunity cost of the lost feats -> utility of combat talents seems pretty well balanced at 1:2 (for the apparent design philosophy of Spheres of Might). Allowing that to apply to SoM classes as well doesn't seem to be that disruptive.