The Creator of Spheres of Power Here: Ask Me Anything

[Desril]

Question;

How does the Enhancement "Enhance Weapons" ability work with Natural Weapons? Would it only apply to a single natural weapon? Would it apply to all natural weapons of the same type (ex; claws) of the target creature? Would it apply to all of the creature's natural weapons? Are Natural Weapons even a valid target?

[stack]

Teleportation beacon on the companion/familiar/scout so you can teleport to it.

[Adam Meyers]

@Adslahnit: I've never played a gestalt game, so I can only speculate. Either you'd combine all talents and gain one caster level and one spell pool, or you'd need to treat the two classes as two separate traditions, each with its own set of everything.

@kkplx: You'd get a Reflex save to avoid getting hit by the sphere. If you fail that, you'd then have to save vs. nauseating.

@TheEvilGM: I'll be the first to admit that, when doing a massive overhaul of a system as complicated as Pathfinder, some things only come out after the fact. If Restore Soul is unhinging your game, I'd suggest either making it cost an extra spell point and/or reducing it to only healing ability drain from one ability score.

@Der_DWSage: It grants two bonus magic talents, chosen from those three spheres.

@stack & EldritchWeaver: Sorry, I thought we'd input that one.

Adslahnit: There are stories and worlds where all of magic is based on summoning, such as the Bartemaeus trilogy. By all means, make them available prerequisite free and have fun with them. Those feats sound great for the Summoning talent.

@kkplx: The Reflex save is replacing the attack roll for 'did I even get hit', so i wouldn't count toward Killing Curse; only the Fortitude save would count.

Oberon Kenobi:

Hm... I'd have the bonus Destruction sphere and the ability to use your class level as your caster level for the sphere replace gun training. Next, rather than Grit-to-Power, I'd think up fun grit abilities to replace Deadeye, Quick Clear, Lightning Reload, and the other gun-specific deeds. I think focusing on the deeds would be a fun way to keep the class from stepping on the elementalist's toes; the elementalist is all about raw power, the Bullet Witch is all about being a crack shot (full BAB) and using quirky deeds.

I wouldn't worry about the 'only applying to destructive blasts with an attack roll'; after all there are spread-shot guns as well.

I like keeping the Grit pool and the Spell pool separate. If you want to use Grit for Power, I'd have it be a deed, maybe replacing Dead Shot; 7th level sounds good as it in essence allows you to have a floating refillable pool of spell points.

@Mithril Leaf:... I'd think so, but I haven't thought through all the implications of that yet.

@Scowling Dragon: We're working on it in connection with Wizard's Academy.

@squab: You don't get the free magic talents, no.

@Desril: Natural weapons and unarmed strikes are a finicky thing in Pathfinder (which is why classes like the monk specify their fists count as manufactured weapons). I'm not sure how to trace the RAW on this one and it doesn't seem worth it, but personally I rule you can enhance natural weapons, and each natural attack counts as a different weapon for this purpose.

[stack]

Q2: Question came up on my Spheres handbook, does tug fate work with taking 10? If so, its much more appealing. Seems like it would, but I'm not sure.

[squab]

So my idea of teleporting with Unseeing Teleport worked a lot better when, due to wishful thinking, I didn't think the standard distance applied to it. Welp.

So new plan. Quadruped companion, increase it's size twice to huge, give it a Howdah, Animal Creature form for increased land speed and maybe Avian creature form for flight speed.

So basically I just figured out how to give myself Appa in an pokéball.

Any way to actually give him the Howdah considering carrying it is rather impractical? Feat perhaps?

Or some other way to basically ensure we can all ride it?

Hmm... would it be unbalanced for the companion to take the (form) talents for himself, instead of you? (As feats obviously.)

EDIT: It probably would be.

[stack]

Q3: Any chance of an archetype that specializes in the war sphere, specifically in making the totems easier to use in most parties? If not, I may be off the the homebrew board again. Probably a hedgewitch base...

[squab]

Teleport Beacon says I can teleport myself to the teleport beacon, and makes no mention of teleporting anyone else there. However, if I have the Group Teleport talent, can I teleport myself and my party members to it?

[stack]

Teleport Beacon says I can teleport myself to the teleport beacon, and makes no mention of teleporting anyone else there. However, if I have the Group Teleport talent, can I teleport myself and my party members to it?

It is not explicitly stated that you can, but I would be shocked if this is not the case. Group teleport and teleportation beacon explicitly work together, given the mention of teleporting multiple beacons to yourself or an unaffected beacon.

Q4 If we have ideas for spheres material, where is the best place to submit it? More importantly, do you want to be bothered with unsolicited submission?

[Adslahnit]

The Magic Attacks (form) talent for Conjuration says: "Your companion’s natural attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 7 Hit Dice they are treated as cold iron for this purpose, and at 14 Hit Dice they are treated as adamantine."

Should this not be "Your companion’s natural attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 7 Hit Dice, they are treated as cold iron and silver for this purpose. At 10 Hit Dice, choose a single alignment component (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful); your companion's natural attacks are treated as being aligned with that component," in order to match up with the monk and the brawler?

[Lirya]

Potent Alteration allows Alter effects to affect animate objects, specifically calling out Golems. However, my understanding is that all sphere effects allow Spell Resistance unless something specifically says otherwise (such as the Stone Blast destruction talent). Now Golems generally have magic immunity, making them immune to any effect that allows for Spell Resistance.

So my question is, does Potent Alteration (with Expanded Materials and Change Material) allow you to transmute say an Iron Golem into cloth (or snow, or glass, etc.).

Next, corporeal undead are not living creatures and not really animated objects either, but they generally consist of flesh as far as materials you can affect is concerned (you obviously can't affect incorporeal undead as you they don't have bodies you can change). Can a caster with both Fleshcraft and Potent Alteration use Change Material on corporeal undead creatures? What if the caster doesn't have Potent Alteration?

I am planning to use Permanent Change + Fleshcraft + a Dead Magic Demiplane as a plot point for how to deal with a Lich whose phylactery you can't find. So I will rule that undead can be changed with the proper talents for any game I run, but I wanted to know if there is any official opinion on this.

Also, I think Craft Staff and Forge ring should probably have the CL prerequisite reduced to 5th (for Craft Staff) and 3rd (for Forge Ring) as Craft Staff is basically Craft Magic Arms and Armor for mages, while Forge Ring is basically the new Craft Wondrous Item. Being forced to invest in Enhancement and Protection to craft the basic Stat and AC boost items makes it a lot less attractive to be a crafter on its own, due to the items you craft making your sphere powers redundant.

Finally, I love the Mageknight. Some of the mystic combat choices are absolutely amazing, say combine Mystic Maneuver [Dirty Trick] with Time Shift and Dirty Trick Master to reliably sick some of the nastiest conditions in the game on enemies by burning a few spell points. Or Time Shift + Swift Combatant to trade spell points for movement. Hell, you can have both if you want to, free action run up to a foe, and then two free actions apply Dazed or Nauseated to said target. Honestly, 1 spell point to downgrade a strong swift action ability to a free action, without any limitation on how often you can do this per turn is perhaps slightly overpowered. But I consider it giving martials nice things so I am fine with it, and the Mageknight can't spam it in every single combat due to only having that many spell points available. I mean, it pales in comparison to the top end Sphere Effects a fullcaster can pull off such as Mass Hostile Planeshift (4 spell points).

Edit: I corrected the note about incorporeal creatures.

[EldritchWeaver]

(you obviously can't affect incorporeal undead as you can't affect gases)

I have to nitpick here:

Creatures with the incorporeal condition do not have a physical body.

Gases are physical, as evidenced as you can store them in containers. An incorporeal creature can move through walls. So while incorporeal creatures are immune to Fleshcraft, it is because there is no body to manipulate, not because their body is consisting of a material you can't affect.

[TheEvilGM]

Break Enchantment question.

the talent says; "You may choose not to remove certain effects if you so desire (for example, you may target only harmful effects and not beneficial ones). "

1. [1]Who determines if the effect is beneficial?
   [2]Does the caster have to know an effect is there if Break it?

Just saying remove all harmful effects on player A, seems vague and overpowered. You end up with the last spell points before bed being, "I break all harmful enchantments on the party."

Also we had a case where the PC incanter 'raged' the PC Armorist, there was a heated discussion on whether that was beneficial. The Armorist believes in as high a AC as possible.

[Scowling Dragon]

Look you can just choose if you want to disenchant it or not. Its the dispellers choice what to disenchant.

[EldritchWeaver]

Look you can just choose if you want to disenchant it or not. Its the dispellers choice what to disenchant.

I suppose you can still ask, how the dispeller knows which effects are running. That would fall into the Divination sphere. It is more realistic to require the knowledge what can be affected before you start separating them. Or you could do it blindly.

[stack]

Beneficial spells have a warm fuzzy feeling, while harmful spells have a sour taste.

[Luei]

Hey there, love the book, and am just about to DM my first game with the system. Sorry in advance if my questions have been answered already, but I couldn't find anything in the thread about them.

My questions are centered around the Dancing Weapon trait in the Telekinesis sphere.
1. First off, what kind of action is it to use the Bludgeon action? Is it a standard action, or is it just part of the activation/concentration of the base ability (and if so, does Easy Focus apply)? Does this change for a dancing weapon? Is there a way to get multiple attacks with a dancing weapon in one round, outside of the Divided Mind trait?
2. Is it possible to attack with a dancing weapon and a held weapon in the same round? Even if you're concentrating with the Easy Focus boon and do a single attack as a standard action, it seems possible.
3. Would you be able to use sustained force to command a dancing weapon to attack (I assume not)?
4. If a weapon held by your telekinesis is flanking an enemy (with an ally), but you're not actively commanding it to attack (such as using sustained force), does the ally still get the flanking bonuses?
5. Similarly, can you flank with your own dancing weapon? If either 2 or 4 is possible, this might be possible, but my guess is that you specifically said that "[a]llies may use it to flank" to disallow this.
6. Can a dancing weapon apply Sneak Attack damage? I assume it still has to be within 30 ft. of you to do so, but I also assume it's very possible.
7. Assuming 6 is possible, can a dancing weapon flanking with an ally apply sneak attack damage to its attacks?
8. Assuming 6 is possible, when using Divided Mind to lift, say, a bunch of daggers and use them for multiple attacks, could each attack apply sneak attack damage, assuming each qualifies for it (via flanking or stealth, etc)? Could you still apply sneak attack damage if you used the bunch of daggers as one object for a bludgeon?
9. How does Two Weapon Fighting work with Dancing Weapon and/or Divided Mind (also assuming, of course, you have Flair)? This might already be answered by your previous answers, but just making sure.

I ask because I'm making an Arcane Trickster NPC, and I would like to know if Dancing Weapon is a worthwhile trait to give them, since this playstyle seems right up their alley. If it's too obtuse or too much to answer, I totally get that, and I can just give the NPC a different set of traits. Thanks for the book, and thanks in advance for your response!

Also, while writing this post, I imagined a rogue/caster going invisible, sneaking into the middle of a room full of enemies, and using telekinesis to hold a bunch of daggers and stab like 5+ people at once, sneak attacking all of them (and very potentially killing all of them). That sounds like a character I want to play. Badly.

[EldritchWeaver]

5. Similarly, can you flank with your own dancing weapon? If either 2 or 4 is possible, this might be possible, but my guess is that you specifically said that "[a]llies may use it to flank" to disallow this.

Eh voilà!

I ask because I'm making an Arcane Trickster NPC, and I would like to know if Dancing Weapon is a worthwhile trait to give them, since this playstyle seems right up their alley. If it's too obtuse or too much to answer, I totally get that, and I can just give the NPC a different set of traits. Thanks for the book, and thanks in advance for your response!

Also, while writing this post, I imagined a rogue/caster going invisible, sneaking into the middle of a room full of enemies, and using telekinesis to hold a bunch of daggers and stab like 5+ people at once, sneak attacking all of them (and very potentially killing all of them). That sounds like a character I want to play. Badly.

I'd be very interested in seeing such a build. It sounds like very fun! *evil laugh*

[Luei]

Eh voilà!

Mmmmm. Yeah, that would make sense, but if that IS the intended way, it seems incredibly OP in the hands of a rogue. Even one level in a spellcasting class and you'd have free sneak attacks, no feinting required! Which is why I assumed it was disallowed. Heck, even a fighter build can always benefit from a +2 on attack.

I'd be very interested in seeing such a build. It sounds like very fun! *evil laugh*

I know, right?? If the build ends up being viable, then I will absolutely play that the next chance I get.

[EldritchWeaver]

Mmmmm. Yeah, that would make sense, but if that IS the intended way, it seems incredibly OP in the hands of a rogue. Even one level in a spellcasting class and you'd have free sneak attacks, no feinting required! Which is why I assumed it was disallowed. Heck, even a fighter build can always benefit from a +2 on attack.

On the other hand, the rogue currently rarely gets a full-attack right now, as they have to move to targets or end up in difficult terrain, which kills free 5-foot steps. Also, full casters can still do a lot of more damage. Consider the Summon Monster spell line alone, which provides similar effects to the telekinetically held weapons. The better question is, if this is merely an upgrade for the rogue to get on par with the casters or is truly overshadowing the entire party (like synthesist summoner).

[Adam Meyers]

@stack: Q2: It doesn't apply to taking 10, no.

Q3: That sounds fun; a SoP true warlord who dominates the battlefield. We'll have to include something like that in Skybourne.

Q4: We are always looking for content; send all submissions to adam at dropdeadstudios.com. Standard rate of 2.5 cents per edited word applies.

@squab: It would get unbalanced quickly if a companion could give itself (form) talents with its own feats. I think it wouldn't be a problem to allow the companion to keep its Howdah; technically it's against how companions work, but I see no harm in that sort of exception.

Q2: If you have Group Teleport, you can teleport the group to the beacon, yeah.

@Adslahnit: The ability is similar to a monk's fists, but not exactly the same. Aligned Creature allows it to smite its opposed alignment as well.

@Lirya:

Potent Alteration wouldn't allow you to bypass magic immunity, but otherwise yeah.

Undead are considered creatures for all purposes in Pathfinder, so affecing an undead creature would be the same as affecting a living creature (i.e., it wouldn't require potent alteration). Golems are considered creatures, but are included with Potent Alteration because it makes sense (you use it to heal your golem, etc.)

@TheEvilGM: Basically, it means the caster can choose not to attempt to end a magical effect he knows about and chooses to neglect; if the caster is not aware of the enchantments on a target, he cannot exclude one. The example of beneficial is simply an example of one such exclusion; a caster would probably not want to dismiss effect he put on the target himself, after all.

@Luei: Your collection of questions is the most comprehensive list of telekinesis questions I've ever gotten. When we get around to doing the Telekinetic Handbook, I might have to include the following passage or something akin to it:

Using telekinesis is a standard action, with bludgeoning being something you can do with telekinesis after it has been activated. Easy Focus would apply (after the initial standard action to lift the object).

Technically you cannot attack multiple times with the same weapon, but you can attack with multiple weapons if you have divided mind. The number of attacks you can make is the same as you could make when making a full-attack.

If you have Easy Focus and all the prerequisite Telekinesis talents you've mentioned, you could attack telekinetically as a move action and get a 'full-attack' with your bludgeons and also cast a spell or make an attack as a standard action, which would in essence give you +1 attack per round.

You cannot use Sustained Force to Bludgeon a target, but you could use it to hold an object in the air, ready and waiting for you to take control of it as a standard action to bludgeon people. When doing so, the weapon would still grant flanking bonuses, provided you have Dancing Weapon.

You can flank with your own floating weapon, yeah, and the weapon can do sneak attack damage if it is within 30 ft. and flanking a target either with you or another ally. Each bludgeon under your control would gain this benefit, but remember the limit on your number of attacks.

When using multiple bludgeons as a single bludgeon to make an attack, just combine their size together; I'll probably have to include a chart for how to calculate this for something like a bunch of daggers, but perhaps an easier way to do it is to say, when combining weapons into a single attack like this, use the biggest weapon to make the attack and add +1 damage for each object added to it for the purposes of this combined bludgeon.

If you have two-weapon fighting, you can apply it to your attacks with a bludgeon; you gain +1 bludgeon attack that round, but it and your highest BAB attack suffer the penalty for two-weapon fighting as usual. All items as considered 'light' for this purpose when sustained via telekinesis.

I hope that all make sense; let me know if you still have questions.

[stack]

I'll have to put that explanation in my guides. I kind of thought that would be how it worked, but the clarification is helpful.

[Mathias1313]

I gotta ask, why would you limit the Divided mind to only make multiple attacks with Multiple weapons.
Why shouldn't I be able to grab say a Huge Greatsword and full attack with it?

[EldritchWeaver]

@stack: Q2: It doesn't apply to taking 10, no.

What are the situations where anyone would actually use this effect as it is written? There is a large chance that you merely waste your own action. At least it doesn't seem to require a saving throw, or it would be highly useless. I could see it as a rider effect, but even then it is essentially requiring crits. As this effect doesn't discriminate between allies and enemies, I'm not sure if this would be worth it even if you wouldn't require 10 on dice rolls.

[Luei]

@Luei: Your collection of questions is the most comprehensive list of telekinesis questions I've ever gotten.

I'll take that as a compliment :D

So I think you answered pretty well all my questions. Just to clarify, if I have this right, as part of activating or sustaining telekinesis (via a standard or move action with Easy Focus), you can bludgeon with one of the objects you're holding. If you're holding objects with sustained force, it still takes the concentration action to use them as a bludgeon. If you have Divided Mind, you can attack with multiple bludgeons in one round, and can then potentially use a standard action to attack, but can only make a number of attacks allowed by your BAB; so, if you have +6 BAB and attack with 2 bludgeons, you can't use your standard action to attack. If you have Flair, you can activate feats like TWF and Rapid Shot to grant extra attacks, but the penalties to attack would carry over to attacks with held weapons; I assume this is also the case with feats like Power Attack and Lunge. If you have the Dancing Weapon trait, your telekinetically held objects count as melee weapons under your control, and gain the ability to sneak attack, flank, etc.

Thinking about it, I'm not entirely sure how successive attacks are supposed to be treated when telekinesis is involved. To make it easier to explain, let me set a scene:

My character has +6 BAB, all three of the mentioned talents, Easy Focus, TWF, and Improved TWF. I'm in one-on-one melee combat with someone/thing, and am using telekinesis to surround them with 3 daggers and myself, who is holding another dagger (like, in a + formation). Two of the daggers are flanking with each other and I'm flanking with the third. When it comes to my turn, I want to use my move action to concentrate and attack with the three daggers, then use my standard action to attack with my held weapon. Due to having Imp. TWF, I would normally get up to 4 attacks a round, so as long as I activate it before I make the first attack I should be allowed all 4 attacks in the round (is that correct?), but each of them suffers at least a -2 from using TWF, including my held weapon attack. Now, the real question is, how do I treat the attack bonuses for each attack? I have at least 1 extra attack a round from my BAB, but usually the second attack is made at a -5 bonus (let's assume my attack bonus is +6/+1), and my TWF would give me two extra (+4/+4/-1/-1). Would my bludgeons all be made at full BAB, or would they be subject to the -5 for subsequent attacks? And when I make my held dagger attack, would it be at a -1 bonus (since it would be the 4th attack)? Which attacks would be considered main hand and off-hand (which matters for things like not having Double Slice)?

And on an unrelated note to the above, three more questions: could I use the TWF maneuver without having the feat (albeit at the massive penalties), and if so, would I have to have Flair to do so; and since held objects are counted as melee weapons, do they threaten an area, and can make attacks of opportunity (and if so, how about weapons in sustained force); and aside from the initial activation of telekinesis, does attacking with a bludgeon provoke attacks of opportunity? (sorry if these have been answered before)


Sorry if the sheer number or depth of my questions is annoying, but I am nothing if not thorough, and I find theorycrafting and rules interactions really interesting and fun to fool around with. That's one of the reasons I love SoP so far, it gives me so many ways to make unique characters or playstyles and make weird but cool rules interactions happen. Oh, and thanks so much for answering my last barrage of questions so thoroughly. A lot of them were just clarifications on the rules that already technically work the way you outlined, but I just wanna be sure before I spring this on a DM or a group of really surprised players :)

And @EldritchWeaver, you're probably right about the build not being as OP as it might seem. Assuming someone is taking Arcane Trickster, which is one of the only ways to build it, the low BAB presents a very real problem, not to mention that the bludgeon action uses the casting stat, meaning that they'll likely have to split their focus between 2 stats to get decent attack bonuses. Unless they got really lucky, even with the setup above, I somewhat doubt this build could match an evenly-leveled barbarian in damage. It does, however, provide a great way to clear a room of low-level enemies, or to provide flanking bonuses for an entire party (with a whole lot of potential for sneak attacks), if nothing else. It might also be somewhat interesting to see this kind of thing on a magus or other high-BAB build. Since all telekinetically held weapons are considered light, imagine someone lifting 1 or 2 larger weapons, while double-fisting a greataxe themselves, and using TWF to do it. Again, probably not as abusive as it might seem, but it would give a whole lot of versatility and flavor to the character.

[EldritchWeaver]

Assuming someone is taking Arcane Trickster, which is one of the only ways to build it, the low BAB presents a very real problem, not to mention that the bludgeon action uses the casting stat, meaning that they'll likely have to split their focus between 2 stats to get decent attack bonuses.

I personally would employ Hedgewitch (Acadamia, Charlatanism) instead of the prestige class, but it would lack the use of sneak attack damage (you need to pay for sneak attacks from a limited pool after all). But it provides more options compared to the bland AT and has a higher BAB. Not sure, if the magic talents suffice, maybe multi-classing with a mid-BAB, high magic talent yield (like the cleric) would help. Also you need some way to add Dex to damage. PoW has some feat doing this, I just can't remember the name. So in effect, you can keep MAD to two stats instead of three. Which is still feasible, assuming you use a race like Sylph or Elf and have luck with the dice rolls in the beginning.

[Lirya]

Potent Alteration wouldn't allow you to bypass magic immunity, but otherwise yeah.

I was wondering, because [I]golems(/I) are specifically given as an example in Potent Alteration, and every single golem in Bestiary 1, 2, 3, and 4 has magic immunity, which makes Potent Alteration kind of pointless if you want to learn to heal/change golems. I think I will house rule that Potent Alteration allows you to bypass magic immunity for Alter talents, as else you cannot use repair on a golem (Make Whole only works on golems because it has a specific entry in the spell that allows it to bypass magic immunity).

Undead are considered creatures for all purposes in Pathfinder, so affecing an undead creature would be the same as affecting a living creature (i.e., it wouldn't require potent alteration). Golems are considered creatures, but are included with Potent Alteration because it makes sense (you use it to heal your golem, etc.)

It is worth noting that Fleshcraft specifies living creatures, and under creature types it says Undead are once-living creatures animated by spiritual or supernatural forces. indicating that they are not currently living. In addition, undead have no constitution score which also indicates them not being alive (same with constructs). Finally, both constructs and undead are only affected by effects that require a fortitude save if they affect objects (again indicating that they are creatures who are "part object" and not really alive). Note that the old Flesh to Stone does not work on corporeal undead due to the clause about Fortitude saves.

Anyways, thank you for the clarification.

[Scowling Dragon]

Well most Golems have a single exception spell.

Stone to flesh, Flesh to Stone, Bone of Scone, Home alone, Pickup the Phone, A Bear is at my Door, Tacos are better with a soft shell, exetera.

I assume you can use alteration for those sorts of effects.

[Mehangel]

Well most Golems have a single exception spell.

Stone to flesh, Flesh to Stone, Bone of Scone, Home alone, Pickup the Phone, A Bear is at my Door, Tacos are better with a soft shell, exetera.

I assume you can use alteration for those sorts of effects.

I laughed for roughly 2 and a half minutes after reading this.

[TheEvilGM]

A couple of questions, if I may


1. How would/should (minor) globe of invulnerability, work with SoP?

I was thinking something like making the caster use (1)2 extra spell points to power through the globe.

2. using mythic powers an archmage (incanter) competent caster "cant be used with the highest spell level you can cast".
how would you adjudicate that?
With SoP in use almost every spell is cast at maximum 'spell level' which equals caster level.
Currently I am making him cast at 2 levels below his caster level to get this effect. But he still gets to use it with ALL his spells, even the shiny new ones every time he levels.

3. another byproduct of SoP I am having to deal with I have a Thamaturge (who has only missed his forbidden lore role once, out of hundreds of tries) since he casts every spell, spell level = caster level. Most of his SoP feats and mythic abilities have been to increase save DC. at 9th level he has a running DC 27 for his 'energy sphere stone blast' that does 78 damage average. Add to that the easy focus boon. He casts it once, and moves the ball-of-doom around the room. He the destroys anything in 1 or 2 rounds.


Running Wrath-of-the-Rightous campaign arc. with all the PC's being SoP classes and Mythic abilities, has been fun and a big challenge so far. We are near the end of the second book, I have had to blanket double the mobs hit points and number to give them a challenge. every week I get the email from one of the players "where are the tough mobs".

Thanks All for your reply's in advance.

The Evil G.M.

[TheEvilGM]

I also don't agree that it is overpowered. By the time you're high enough level to have those talents and casually throw around that many spell points, I think that helping your party tank energy drain (which, IMO, is a cheap screw-you monster ability) is something that a dedicated healer should be able to do.

That plus restoring all permanent ability drain on all ability scores does seem a bit much for a single talent that doesn't even cost an additional spell point, though. I dunno; as I've mentioned, I think targeting ability scores is pretty lame too, so I don't mind being able to counter that tactic.

My group had a big discussion about the ability/level drain ability. spent 15-25 minutes reading all the pathfinder references we could dig up. half the group (the old folk) lamented for the poor undead, with comments "when I GM you will still fear them" and " back in the old days, even wizards ran from vampires".
the newer players aren't all that impressed by undead.
I am going to reign back the healer somewhat.

I just want some sweat on their brows when they see multiple specters heading their way. not the PC's trying to get the mobs to carry their bags and tossing them a couple coppers.