The Creator of Spheres of Power Here: Ask Me Anything

[Scowling Dragon]

Well in the case that you get a character sheet going, please contact me.

[wooper]

The quadruped baseform for the conjuration sphere starts off with two sets of legs and a head as well as a Bite attack, which means that according to RAW, it cannot take Claw attacks until it grows a pair of arms as well. Considering most quadruped animals in Pathfinder have Claw attacks, isn't that a bit silly? It looks like something that should be changed somehow.

[Adam Meyers]

@stack: Yeah; another reason why we combined the magus' pools together.

@wooper: It's esoteric in its distinction; most animals were designed before we got into Eidolon build-a-monster territory. RAW you can give them hoof attacks, or just allow them to have claw attacks in the spirit of not letting esoteric distinctions bog down a game.

[Mehangel]

The objects and creatures you may lift are restricted by size; the largest object you can lift is given in the chart below. This assumes the object is made from a dense material, such as stone. Objects made of lighter materials, mostly open space, or reduced to 1/2 weight with the lighten talent of the enhancement sphere count as being one size category smaller, while weightless objects count as being 2 size categories smaller for this purpose.

Telekinesis states that creatures you may lift are restricted by size, yet nowhere that I can find includes a chart for such. Do you use the Object chart for creatures? If so, then does that mean that Flight is difficult to pull off with telekinesis before caster level 8? I find it strange as Alteration allows for flight at caster level 5.

[EldritchWeaver]

Telekinesis states that creatures you may lift are restricted by size, yet nowhere that I can find includes a chart for such. Do you use the Object chart for creatures? If so, then does that mean that Flight is difficult to pull off with telekinesis before caster level 8? I find it strange as Alteration allows for flight at caster level 5.

Actually, you have "Powerful Telekinesis" also available which pushes the level back to 5th.

[Elkad]

Just picked this up from Paizo today. The copy I looked at was so awesome I had to have it (and pre-ordered the softback when it ships), despite having never played Pathfinder.
File dated 05 May 2015

Couple things I've noticed already. Checked the errata, no correction there either.

Page 120, Create Greater Undead
"including banshees, vampires, wrights,"
I'm assuming this should be "wights", not "wrights".

Page 123, Reverse Gravity
"an area of up to 10 cubic ft per caster level"
Should this not be a 10' cube per caster level?

Page 128, Create Demiplane.
"You may permanently close a portal to your demiplane as a free action, but know that only interdimensional travel can reach a demiplane without a working portal."
If the caster closes all the portals, can he create a new one?

[Abithrios]

Page 120, Create Greater Undead
"including banshees, vampires, wrights,"
I'm assuming this should be "wights", not "wrights".

That is another way of getting flight, although I suppose it should be capitalized.

[Majgamer]

So, here's a thought, assuming you had finesse and flair for Telekinesis, could you telekinetically use guns? That would be the most ridiculous gunslinger ever. Just imagine all the pistols, or hell, rifles you could use?

[Ilorin Lorati]

So, here's a thought, assuming you had finesse and flair for Telekinesis, could you telekinetically use guns? That would be the most ridiculous gunslinger ever. Just imagine all the pistols, or hell, rifles you could use?

Spoiler: Madoka Magica

Show

[stack]

Can melee touch sphere effects have their charge 'held' like a spell? Its rather important when spending spell points. Apologies if this has been asked, the search didn't turn anything up for 'held charge'.

[stack]

Does dancing weapon apply your casting modifier to ranged attacks if using dancing weapon+flair? If so, I presume it would not allow you to stack your casting modifier (intelligence) with Kirin strike for 3xInt to damage due to Paizo's ruling on stat mod stacking.

Just working out a ranged build.

[squab]

Me and my friends are planning out a gestalt campaign with spheres of power, and Incanter/Arcanist sounds AMAZING. Tons of spells AND I get to swap some of them out.

[Adam Meyers]

@Elkad:
1. Yeah

2. Yeah

3. Yeah; Create Demiplane states: "Alternately, you may use this ability to create a new portal to a permanent demiplane you have previously created."

@Majgamer: I'd allow it, yeah.

@stack: You can hold a charge, yeah.

Dancing Weapon + Flair: It does, and I would allow them to stack; the idea of the Telekinesis talent is you're using your casting ability modifier in place of your Strength modifier, as you would use it for thrown or melee weapons.

[stack]

Hmm, telekinetic archer could be nasty...but now I want to use that ruling to ride a flying cannon into battle, vital striking and using Kirin Style.

[Federebus]

I'm starting a new game using spheres of power, and so far we are having a blast. A very nice alternative to vancian magic. However during character creation we got a couple of questions, and we would like to know if we overlookend something:
1) how big can you make the Nature sphere Wave power? The book explain how far can it go, but not how large.
2) can you use the Dark sphere Step Through Darkness power while remaining inside a single darkness effect? It says that you can step in one patch of darkness and emerge in another (so you need two darkness "bubbles"), but in the next paragraph the only requisite is that both the locations are in the area of your darkness
3) One of my players want to specialize in telekinesis and weather (wind), is there any way to quicken the severity change (using a power in the first round of a combat and getting some benefit from it starting on the third round is not so great). How should i treat his telekinetic weapons for the effect of the winds (should they count as ranged attack or as flying creatures)?
Sorry if i'm not very clear, English is not my main language.

[Mehangel]

3) One of my players want to specialize in telekinesis and weather (wind), is there any way to quicken the severity change (using a power in the first round of a combat and getting some benefit from it starting on the third round is not so great). How should i treat his telekinetic weapons for the effect of the winds (should they count as ranged attack or as flying creatures)? Sorry if i'm not very clear, English is not my main language.

I see two possibilities:

1) Take the Greater Weather Talent, it allows you to spend an additional 2 spell points to increase the categories to 3 per round (if I understand that correctly; It could be understood that Severity is a category of weather, but it could just as easily be referring to the types of weather i.e. wind, heat, cold, etc)

2) Apply the Extend Spell Meta-magic feat to the Time Sphere Talent: Time Freeze. This would give you 2 rounds to begin casting Weather (Wind). At the end of the casting you could be at the beginning or end of your third round of casting Weather (Wind).

[squab]

Two questions: can the Greater Transformation talent be taken multiple times?I feel like the answer is no but I have to ask. The Alteration school makes me sad because I feel so limited in the amount of options I can pick especially vs the amount of options I have. (Altho having more options might wreck game balance.) (Also I could just play a damn shifter if I really want more options.)

[EldritchWeaver]

Two questions: can the Greater Transformation talent be taken multiple times?I feel like the answer is no but I have to ask. The Alteration school makes me sad because I feel so limited in the amount of options I can pick especially vs the amount of options I have. (Altho having more options might wreck game balance.) (Also I could just play a damn shifter if I really want more options.)

Any talent states in the text if you can take it more than once. There is not such a statement for Greater Transformation.

[squab]

Sadface. Also. I just broke down and got Expanded Options. Looking through Arcanist. Quick Study exploit. "As a full-round action that provokes an
attack of opportunity, the sphere arcanist may spend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to change one of her selected magic talents to a different magic talent." Does... does this mean that an Arcanist, instead of retraining a magic talent (and my magical talent I mean a magical talent gained as part of levels taken in other classes, as part of the 2 bonus talents all casters gain they first gain the casting class feature, or magic talents gained from taking the Extra Magic Talent) she could just spend an arcane point to swap it out to something out? That feels bonkers. SO bonkers.

(Yeah I'm really beginning to see why Arcanists are High-Casters that max out at 12 talents.)

[EldritchWeaver]

Sadface. Also. I just broke down and got Expanded Options. Looking through Arcanist. Quick Study exploit. "As a full-round action that provokes an
attack of opportunity, the sphere arcanist may spend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to change one of her selected magic talents to a different magic talent." Does... does this mean that an Arcanist, instead of retraining a magic talent (and my magical talent I mean a magical talent gained as part of levels taken in other classes, as part of the 2 bonus talents all casters gain they first gain the casting class feature, or magic talents gained from taking the Extra Magic Talent) she could just spend an arcane point to swap it out to something out? That feels bonkers. SO bonkers.

(Yeah I'm really beginning to see why Arcanists are High-Casters that max out at 12 talents.)

The text specifically states that only magic talents gained through the Arcanist class progression can be swapped. So this excludes Extra Magic Talent as well talents gained from other classes. The two bonus all casters gain they first gain the casting class feature are not eligible, too, despite being part of the Arcanist progression as these two talents might be gained with a completely different class. In that case the order of the classes taken would matter. What hasn't been mentioned is if the bonus talents gained via favored class bonus are eligible for the swapping but I'm inclined to say that these do not count as well. Overall, if you want some swapping you need to take at least two Arcanist levels, gaining at most 10 talents which can be affected with Quick Study.

IMO, most people will likely go Incanter/Arcanist, to have access to more magic talents. The fixed talents are simply those which are useful in most situations, switching only to more specialized talents.

[Scowling Dragon]

I would say its less of the fault of the design and more of the fault of the Arcanists. You gotta make rules for them, even if the class is popo, so you do what you can.

[stack]

Telekinesis states that creatures you may lift are restricted by size, yet nowhere that I can find includes a chart for such. Do you use the Object chart for creatures? If so, then does that mean that Flight is difficult to pull off with telekinesis before caster level 8? I find it strange as Alteration allows for flight at caster level 5.

Do creatures count as dense material? Water is heavy (only slightly denser than the values I find for an average human body, so a good comparison), but water is about a seventh the density of cast iron, half the density of dense concrete, WAY less than gold. Water is about 1x10^3 kg/m^3, other densities pulled from here. Perhaps a reference point for 'less dense' would be helpful? I don't mean to include a chart, but it would be good to know if 'wood' or 'human body' count as 'lighter materials'.

Why yes, I am an engineer...why do you ask?

[squab]

The text specifically states that only magic talents gained through the Arcanist class progression can be swapped. So this excludes Extra Magic Talent as well talents gained from other classes. The two bonus all casters gain they first gain the casting class feature are not eligible, too, despite being part of the Arcanist progression as these two talents might be gained with a completely different class. In that case the order of the classes taken would matter. What hasn't been mentioned is if the bonus talents gained via favored class bonus are eligible for the swapping but I'm inclined to say that these do not count as well. Overall, if you want some swapping you need to take at least two Arcanist levels, gaining at most 10 talents which can be affected with Quick Study.

IMO, most people will likely go Incanter/Arcanist, to have access to more magic talents. The fixed talents are simply those which are useful in most situations, switching only to more specialized talents.

You're absolutely correct on the talents gained from taking levels in arcanist and their whole "swapping them out after a long rest*" schtick. The only ones that can be changed after the Arcanist rests to regain her spell points are the spheres/talents gained from every second level in Arcanist. (You could make an argument that you can change out the spheres/talents gained from favored class bonus; this seems like a grey area RAW but given all the other restrictions on swapping out your spheres/talents after a long rest* I'd say RAI you can't.)

What isn't clear is if there are any restrictions on swapping out spheres/talents with Quick Study, since there aren't any restrictions mentioned in that exploit. Given that you could take the Quick Study exploit at level 1 (i.e. before you have any spheres/talents that are eligible to be reassigned after a long rest*) then at the very least, the spheres/talents gained from taking a level in a casting class for the first time can be changed with Quick Study. Given that the Quick Study exploit doesn't mention any restriction on what spheres/talents can be reassigned with it, and given that Quick Study clearly doesn't follow the same restrictions in reassignment as reassigning spheres/talents after a long rest,* it would seem that Quick Study, RAW, does not have any restrictions on what spheres/talents it can swap out. At the very least, a level dip in Arcanist would let you swap out the bonus two spheres/talents gained from taking levels in a spell casting class for the first time via Quick Study. (Since it definitely works like that if you start with Arcanist 1.)

*ok I'm pretty sure long rest is 5th ed terminology but it's also a lot less bulky to say "long rest" then it is to say "after the arcanist rests to restore her spell points" and I don't really wanna say 8 hour rest since not all races need 8 hours to get the benefit of an 8 hour rest

And this is why I'm asking the creator :P

[squab]

Does boosting your caster level with Thaumaturge allow you to get extra traits when you cast Shapeshift, assuming it bumps you up to the next multiple of 5? (I think no but I wanna double check.) Are there other ways to boost your caster level such that you could get extra traits when you cast Shapeshift?

EDIT: Since I should stop making new posts... why does Bokor require the Advanced Magical Training feat? If it's the one from the build, it's the one that turns levels from a non-casting class into a low-casting class; considering you need probably minimum 8 levels in a full casting classes for it (and realistically you'll have 10 levels in full casting classes) why is this feat here? I also feel like, fluff-wise, bokor should give access to both arcane and divine spells.

[stack]

I believe the only time the extra CL from forbidden lore doesn't apply is for conjuration companion level and controlled undead HD, though there is a feat for each. Those two are not affected by temporary CL, such as from items, boons, or forbidden lore, though the durations would be (so at level 1 forbidden lore gets your companion for LONGER, but not a more powerful companion, barring the feat).

[EldritchWeaver]

What isn't clear is if there are any restrictions on swapping out spheres/talents with Quick Study, since there aren't any restrictions mentioned in that exploit.

I'd be very surprised if Quick Study can affect any magic talent which isn't part of the "every even Arcanist level" group. Otherwise the restriction on these talents is moot.

EDIT: Since I should stop making new posts... why does Bokor require the Advanced Magical Training feat? If it's the one from the build, it's the one that turns levels from a non-casting class into a low-casting class; considering you need probably minimum 8 levels in a full casting classes for it (and realistically you'll have 10 levels in full casting classes) why is this feat here? I also feel like, fluff-wise, bokor should give access to both arcane and divine spells.

A careful reading or the prereqs implies that you need Advanced Magical Training to be able access the prestige class at level 11 in the first place or you'd never be able to fulfill the caster level prereq (and that requires a full-casting core rule class as well).

[stack]

As a side note, I believe the current max caster level possible is 20 level + 1 incanter specialization + 6 forbidden lore + 2 human thaumaturge FCB + 4 infernal pact thaumaturge +5 staff +6 boons = 44.

Gestalt with geomancer elementalist for a nice 50 CL.

[squab]

I'd be very surprised if Quick Study can affect any magic talent which isn't part of the "every even Arcanist level" group. Otherwise the restriction on these talents is moot.



A careful reading or the prereqs implies that you need Advanced Magical Training to be able access the prestige class at level 11 in the first place or you'd never be able to fulfill the caster level prereq (and that requires a full-casting core rule class as well).

First point: you have, well, a point. I'm pretty sure I'm correct RAW but the DM (well host) of our RPG nights probably won't buy it for good reason. If Adam Meyers states that there should be restrictions on Quick Study I won't even try to get it past my group.

Second point:
Incanters get 5 talents at level 3 plus two bonus talents the first time they take levels in a sphere casting class, so they have 7 at level 3. Sorcerers and some other classes get 5th level spells at level 6, Clerics and Wizards get them at level 5. Sorcerers, Wizards and Clerics are also High Casters so I increase my caster level every time I level up in one of those classes. So worse case scenario, if I'm sticking to full casters, I have the spell and sphere prerequisites at level 9. (Sorcerer/Incanter.) I just need to wait until level 10 so I can put 10 ranks in Spellcraft and Knowledge (Arcana.)

In fact we need 7 magic talents total right? 2 talents for first level Incanter plus the bonus 2, become level 2 you've got 5 talents, spend your feat on a sixth, spend your wizard feat at 5th level to get a 7th. At level 7 I now have caster level 7 (because, again, Wizards, Clerics, etc are high casters), 7 talents spent on stuff and a third level arcane spell. Now I can use my human bonus feat to gain the useless Advanced Magical Training (and there's gotta be more then one way to get a bonus feat, are drawbacks available?), and the only thing stopping me from taking this class at level 7 is because I can't have more ranks in a skill then my total Hit Die. Wonder if there's any way in Pathfinder to get a 5th level spell before level 5? And I've still got feats to spare despite burning one on a useless prerequisite....
I could even do Sorcerer 6/Thumaturge 4, spend 3/4 feats on extra talents and the 4rth one on useless prerequisite feat.

Spoiler: Theory Crafting....

Show

I'm now wondering if there's a way for a full caster to get enough feats to qualify without dipping... the real question is, do I count as having levels in a spell casting class if that class is a Vancian wizard? The most logical conclusion I can come to is, no you don't count as having levels in a spell casting class (for the purposes of spheres of power) if you only have vancian magic, but those classes do increase your Caster Level. So assuming that, spend all my feats on spheres and basic magical training and advanced magical training, and I quality for Bokor at level 10 playing a pure wizard.

Now I've been very hard on the feat; it's a very useful feat, just not if you're playing High-Casters, and if you're playing a Bokor I'd expect you to. I mean the feat is only useful if you're playing a caster but for some reason decided to take a few levels in a class without any magic. (I.e. something that doesn't give you divine/arcane spells or spheres.)

@stack: how are you using forbidden lore to boost caster level? Why specifically human thaumaturge and what's FCB? What's Infernal Pact Thaumaturge and how does it boost more? How are boons getting up to +6? I can only see +5, and that's if you're out of spell points. I simply don't understand all of your last post and I'm trying to understand it.

[stack]

Forbidden lore (did I screw the name up, could have the wrong name) boosts your caster level at the risk of backlash, costing you your action and applying harsh penalties. You can use it with any sphere ability, though temporary boosts like that don't impact conjuration companion HD or undead control caps. FCB is favored class bonus. In expanded options, the human FCB is increasing your forbidden lore bonus by 1/8, while also increasing your backlash chance. There is an archetype that lets you make pacts with outsiders for various benefits, one of which is an infernal pact that, at level 14, gives the ability to increase forbidden lore by 4 without rolling for backlash, but suffering it immediately after.

Boons might only get +5 total, at 0 SP and below 25% HP while fatiguing yourself, I am away from PDF so I can't check if the fatigue boon is +1 or 2.

As for being out of spell points, take the wand feat and use your new super caster level while the wand supplies the SP.

Geomancer is also an expanded options archetype, trading destruction for nature and getting CL boosts to the packages as you level in place of favored element.

[EldritchWeaver]

Second point: How Bokor supposedly works.

You seem to misunderstand a lot of things. Firstly, only sphere caster level stack with themselves. Vancian caster levels stack only if specified as doing so, which is done only for prestige classes. So that means we need to level up in at least two classes. But let's have a closer look:

• Skills: Knowledge (Arcana) 10 ranks, Spellcraft 10 ranks. You can't get that without having a character level of 10 at the minimum.
• Spells: Able to cast 3rd-level arcane or divine spells. Only way I know is to do so with Cleric 5/Wizard 5 at the earliest.
• Feats: Advanced Magic Training.Above statement results in adding 2 for the sphere caster level.
• Spheres: A sphere magic caster level of at least 7, and possession of at least 7 magic talents (this may be one sphere with 6 talents, 7 spheres, or another combination). We only need a sphere caster level of 5 due to Advanced Magical Training, which is provided by any high-caster class which adds at least 1 magic talents every level (there are classes who only grant 20 talents now due to expanded options.).

Taking everything into account, the earliest way is e.g. Incanter 5/Cleric 5.