Spheres of Power Ask Me Anything #2

[Adam Meyers]

So I have been informed that, once a threat hits about 50 pages, it's considered good manners to create a new thread to sort of 'restart' the process. As such, here we are with the SoP AMA, thread #2!

Go ahead and post in here any questions, comments, concerns, or anything else you'd like to say to us, and thanks in advance!

[stack]

Q1: Regarding telekinetic maneuvers, will there be any errata regarding using maneuvers with creature size limits since currently you appear to be limited by your actuall size regardless of caster level?

[Midnightninja]

I discovered Spheres of Power a couple months back. I found the previous thread and read through it. I want to say thank you. I HATE vancian magic and Spheres is AMAZING. I ordered the hardcover+PDF about a week ago, and I'll be getting it right before Christmas.

Thank you, Adam, for taking the time to regularly talk to the fan community here on GITP, and for continuing the conversation once the first thread got to long.

Q2: I was looking at casting traditions on the SoP wiki (I'd link to it for everyone, but this is my first GITP post and I can't post links until I have 10 posts) and it references, but doesn't define, the Divine Crusader casting tradition. What book is that from, and can you tell us what drawbacks and boons go along with it?

Q3: Are there any plans to work on a Spheres conversion document for the Bestiaries? Or any official-ish rules for converting spell casting monsters into Spherecasting monsters?

Q4: Was the inspiration for the elementalist the Last Air-bender franchise? If not, what inspired it? I ask because the elementalist is everything that the, tremendously disappointing, kineticist should have been, and the elementalist was the first class I read on the wiki that I think I fell in love with.

Once again, thank you for this incredible magic system.

[Mehangel]

Q2: I was looking at casting traditions on the SoP wiki (I'd link to it for everyone, but this is my first GITP post and I can't post links until I have 10 posts) and it references, but doesn't define, the Divine Crusader casting tradition. What book is that from, and can you tell us what drawbacks and boons go along with it?

A2: Divine Crusader is a Casting Tradition from the Player's Guide to Skybourne. Traditions therein listed, have a set Casting Ability Modifier. So while the standard Divine Petitioner has Wisdom as its CAM, the subdivision of Divine Crusader uses Charisma instead, but is otherwise indistinguishable from the Divine Petitioner and have the following Drawbacks: Aligned Combatant (Destruction), Aligned Protection (Protection), Focus Casting, Prepared Caster, and Verbal Casting; The Divine Crusader would also gain +1 spell point at every odd level they gain in a spherecasting class.

Q3: Are there any plans to work on a Spheres conversion document for the Bestiaries? Or any official-ish rules for converting spell casting monsters into Spherecasting monsters?

A3: What you are looking for is Fantastical Creatures and Where to Survive them.

Q4: Was the inspiration for the elementalist the Last Air-bender franchise? If not, what inspired it? I ask because the elementalist is everything that the, tremendously disappointing, kineticist should have been, and the elementalist was the first class I read on the wiki that I think I fell in love with.

A4:

The concept behind the Elementalists was actually that of a magical monk: combatants who use magic instead of ki to enhance their combat capabilities. Think Avatar: The Last Airbender, if that helps.

[stack]

Regarding Q3: the adventure bestiary isn't really a complete answer to the question. It doesn't provide guidelines or attempt to convert monsters aside from what the adventure needs. Additionally, some of the monsters within use the same name/inspiration as other published monsters without being straight conversions. It's a start, but we could still use a full bestiary book.

[khadgar567]

​Q5 okay small question lets say i have a new talent which boosts my stats every(and stacks with it self) turn long as i concentrate how much spell points the talent costs

[AlienFromBeyond]

Do you happen to know if the Electrokinetic's (elementalist archetype for Telekinetics book) Particle Blade is supposed to scale with size? Feels odd to have a Tiny creature has just as powerful a blade as a Gargantuan one, which it kind of reads like it does currently.

What sphere book can we expect next? I read that it might be the War Handbook.

[AmberVael]

Q6 Do you happen to know if the Electrokinetic's (elementalist archetype for Telekinetics book) Particle Blade is supposed to scale with size? Feels odd to have a Tiny creature has just as powerful a blade as a Gargantuan one, which it kind of reads like it does currently.

Q7 What sphere book can we expect next? I read that it might be the War Handbook.

A6 Particle Blade intentionally does not scale with size. Regardless of the size of the creature wielding it, it does the same amount of damage.

A7 The War Handbook is intended to be the next handbook released, yes.

[Flame_Effigy]

These might've been answered in the previous thread, so I apologize for that.

1. Are the extra talents you get from taking a drawback retroactive?
For example, I take a few drawbacks for a specific sphere which bumps me up to 5 drawbacks. Do I now get an extra talent for every level I have?

2. Have you put any thought to how Spheres interacts with Revised Action Economy from Unchained?

[stack]

These might've been answered in the previous thread, so I apologize for that.

Q8 Are the extra talents you get from taking a drawback retroactive?
For example, I take a few drawbacks for a specific sphere which bumps me up to 5 drawbacks. Do I now get an extra talent for every level I have?

Q9 Have you put any thought to how Spheres interacts with Revised Action Economy from Unchained?

(edited for sequencing)

A8: Sphere specific drawbacks each grant a single talent in that sphere and have no relation to the bonus spell points from general drawbacks. Usually general drawbacks are fixed at character creation unless you are using the option rules for multiple traditions, which also split your caster level.Even sphere-specific drawbacks SHOULD be set as part of your tradition, but many people don't bother to set them until the sphere is taken.

Q9:I can't answer this one, so just commenting that I don't recall seeing any discussions on it. I believe those rules have translation for standard, swift, etc, so I would use whatever the normal conversion is. Could look at each step in terms of how many actions it takes, but I don't know the system enough to say where that would need adjustments.

[Mehangel]

Q8: Are the extra talents you get from taking a drawback retroactive?
For example, I take a few drawbacks for a specific sphere which bumps me up to 5 drawbacks. Do I now get an extra talent for every level I have?

A8: I think you are failing to understand one or two things about casting tradition.

• You may only gain general drawbacks when you first gain the casting class feature (or Advanced Magical Training).
• You gain extra spell points for each general drawback not bought off with boons, which scale with level.
• You only gain sphere drawbacks when you first gain the sphere.
• You only gain a single (1) bonus talent per sphere drawback.
• You may buyoff sphere drawbacks by giving up a single talent.

TLDR; You only get a total number of bonus talents equal to the number of SPHERE-SPECIFIC drawbacks you have. You only gain general drawbacks the first time you gain the casting class feature, thus impossible to 'retroactively' gain spell points because gaining additional drawbacks is not strictly supported (unless you are using the alternate rules about having separate spell point pools & casting traditions per class).

[Flame_Effigy]

Oops, you're right. I was lumping Sphere specific drawbacks in with General drawbacks for the purpose of determining bonus points.
Talents before was a typo.

thanks!

[digiman619]

Oops, you're right. I was lumping Sphere specific drawbacks in with General drawbacks for the purpose of determining bonus points.
Talents before was a typo.

thanks!

Yeah. If and when the Ultimate Spheres book comes out, renaming the the general or sphere specific drawback might be a good idea. Flaw or fault, perhaps?

[masterjoda99]

Q9: In the previous thread someone asked how to build a spheres of power jedi, but how would one build the pokemon Mewtwo or Akuma from Street Fighter using Spheres of Power?

[Vhaidara]

Mewtwo is definitely a lot of Mind/Telekinesis from what i recall. Possibly a side order of Destruction.

Akuma is much better represented by Path of War from Dreamscarred Press, but Spheres could represent the various attacks he uses via destruction pretty easily. it just wouldn't do so while also capturing his non-supernatural capability at the same time

[digiman619]

Q9: In the previous thread someone asked how to build a spheres of power jedi, but how would one build the pokemon Mewtwo or Akuma from Street Fighter using Spheres of Power?

Well, ignoring his physical form (obviously a custom race made with the ARG would probably be a good idea), the Symbiat class is what you're looking for. Definitely nab the Destruction sphere (the Explosive Orb shape in particular seems Mewtwo-ish) as well as the Focused Blast Type Group feat to help it scale. Depending on which incarnation of the character you're doing, a bit of Illusion and/or War might also be appropriate.

As for Akuma, I'd probably go elementalist, Destruction is obviously important here, as is a bit of Warp to deal with his phasing/teleports. The big problem with making Akuma in SoP is that it'll be hard to translate the Satsui No Hado. I honestly have no idea how to make that work.

[Midnightninja]

From Mehangel:
A2: Divine Crusader is a Casting Tradition from the Player's Guide to Skybourne]. Traditions therein listed, have a set Casting Ability Modifier. So while the standard Divine Petitioner has Wisdom as its CAM, the subdivision of Divine Crusader uses Charisma instead, but is otherwise indistinguishable from the Divine Petitioner and have the following Drawbacks: Aligned Combatant (Destruction), Aligned Protection (Protection), Focus Casting, Prepared Caster, and Verbal Casting; The Divine Crusader would also gain +1 spell point at every odd level they gain in a spherecasting class.

Thank you for clearing that up.

[Quote from Adam that I can't post because it involves a URL]

Don't know how I managed to forget about that while reading through the first thread.

Regarding Q3: the adventure bestiary isn't really a complete answer to the question. It doesn't provide guidelines or attempt to convert monsters aside from what the adventure needs. Additionally, some of the monsters within use the same name/inspiration as other published monsters without being straight conversions. It's a start, but we could still use a full bestiary book.

That's more along the lines of what I was asking about.

[RedMop]

Q11: How is the Hidden Blade priced? The listed price is 49,000.

A +3 glamoured longsword is (3*3*2000+2700+300+15) = 21,015 gp.

a +3 illusion staff is (3*3*2000) = 18,000 gp.

That totals up to be 18,000 + 21015 = 39,015.

With the 1.5 multplier, it could be either of these:
21,015 + 18.000*1.5 = 48,015
(20700*1.5+315) + 18,000 = 49,365


I'm trying to make something similar. +3 transformative (weapon), +3 alteration sphere, and I'm trying to price it.

Edit added the Q

[Mehangel]

Q11 How is the Hidden Blade priced? The listed price is 49,000.

A +3 glamoured longsword is (3*3*2000+2700+300+15) = 21,015 gp.

a +3 illusion staff is (3*3*2000) = 18,000 gp.

That totals up to be 18,000 + 21015 = 39,015.

With the 1.5 multplier, it could be either of these:
21,015 + 18.000*1.5 = 48,015
(20700*1.5+315) + 18,000 = 49,365

I'm trying to make something similar. +3 transformative (weapon), +3 alteration sphere, and I'm trying to price it.

A11 In Pathfinder, generally when combining magical items, the cheaper of the two items is multiplied by 1.5; Thus your example of 21,015 + (18,000*1.5), would be more accurate.

[digiman619]

A11 In Pathfinder, generally when combining magical items, the cheaper of the two items is multiplied by 1.5; Thus your example of 21,015 + (18,000*1.5), would be more accurate.

Then where does the extra 985 gp come from?

EDIT: Also looking over Monk archetypes, I noticed that in theory a Drunken Master Beastsoul Monk can have effectively infinite SP in the Alteration sphere as long as they have a steady source of drinks (perhaps by taking a dip into a regular spherecasting class and taking the creation sphere after Monk 4).

[stack]

Also looking over Monk archetypes, I noticed that in theory a Drunken Master Beastsoul Monk can have effectively infinite SP in the Alteration sphere as long as they have a steady source of drinks (perhaps by taking a dip into a regular spherecasting class and taking the creation sphere after Monk 4).

...forgot about the ki renewal on that one. Your CL won't be very good, so I doubt it is much of a problem since you are only using it in the alteration sphere. Drinking to better turn into a water elemental is amuudiang at least.

[RedMop]

A11 In Pathfinder, generally when combining magical items, the cheaper of the two items is multiplied by 1.5; Thus your example of 21,015 + (18,000*1.5), would be more accurate.

It actually depends on the order things are added. In the below example, if the ring of invisibility has a +2 ring of protection added, the ring of protection would be multiplied by 1.5. That said, neither one of thise totals up to be 49,000.

Adding New Abilities
If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a character's body, the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection +2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5.

[digiman619]

...forgot about the ki renewal on that one. Your CL won't be very good, so I doubt it is much of a problem since you are only using it in the alteration sphere. Drinking to better turn into a water elemental is amuudiang at least.

Or even better, a Flaming Moe's to turn into a fire elemental...

[inuyasha]

Q12: Having just been introduced to Spheres of Power, I've been looking it over pretty intensely for a few days now, but I'm wondering... why does the Bludgeoner's Rod require the Conjuration and Mind spheres and not Destruction in its creation?

Q13: And when making custom Rods, do you need to increase the complexity the same way you would for increasing the item's duration to permanent, or is this already included in the cost?

[PossiblyInsane]

Q14: The Graft ability option for Animated Objects under the Enhancement sphere states that the graftee gains one natural attack of the object (which is two sizes smaller), but that the graftee uses their own size for calculating Special Attacks modifying that attack. Assuming a Medium sized graftee and a Tiny sized Animated Object without any other modifications, how much damage would the creature's new slam attack deal, and would said creature use the object's strength bonus or their own?

[Adam Meyers]

So big announcement: This Saturday the kickstarter for Spheres of Combat begins! We'll link it when its live, but I wanted to pass that along!

A1: There should be no size limits on those; we can add it to the errata list.

A2-4: What he said.

​A5: I couldn't say for sure without knowing the details, but that sounds like the sort of thing that should cost a spell point per round and have a serious cap about how many rounds you can stack it; we tried to avoid things stacking with themselves over concentration because it quickly becomes a nightmare for the GM, in my experience.

A6-7 What she said.

A8: What he said.

A9: Not particularly; I haven't run with the revised action economy rules personally, so I could only speculate until I did some more research. If you or anyone has thoughts on the matter, I always love seeing different ways things could work together.

A10-11 Already answered, and I only know Mewtwo from the movies so I can't say for certain what he does beyond flying and psyonics anyway.

A12: That is most definitely an error, I apologize; it should be Destruction sphere by itself, rather than Creation and Mind.

A13: The costs for that are already included in the Rod development equation.

A14: I'm actually having trouble finding that; could you provide a reference for me so I can more easily find it?

[PossiblyInsane]

A14: I'm actually having trouble finding that; could you provide a reference for me so I can more easily find it?

It's on the wiki here, though I'm not certain where they got it from.

[digiman619]

So big announcement: This Saturday the kickstarter for Spheres of Combat begins! We'll link it when its live, but I wanted to pass that along!

Extra text!

[RedMop]

A11 Already answered

It wasn't though. neither my, nor the answer had calculations that came up with the price of 49,000.

[inuyasha]

Can I ask what Spheres of Combat is? I have no idea what it is, and a simple google search is getting me fanfiction and second edition D&D cleric rules. I'm definitely intrigued though.