Spheres of Power Ask Me Anything #2

[khadgar567]

A184: Yes, any effect that would be blocked on its way in will also be blocked on its way out. There are ways around this ofcourse, such as possessing the Destructive Radiance feat (from the Illuminator's Handbook) or possessing the Aligned Protection drawback. Also, the future Protection Sphere Handbook, from what I hear plans to include a talent that allows you and allies to not be hindered by your own barriers.

so i am guessing two of the talents is mobile barrier and after mentioned Reinhardt one and ability to forcefully reap magic from others which sounds good for moi

[pfm1995]

Q186: With regards to the Combat Engineer Alchemist archetype's Resonator and Slow-Burning Agent modifications, what differentiates a sphere 'effect' from a sphere 'ability'? Worded another way, when would I want to take Resonator over Slow-Burning Agent?

[stack]

Q179: Can the Doomblade Mageknight archetype dual-wield his Destructive Blade, and if so is it considered a light weapon?

Q178 If I admix Stone Blast with another blast type, does the entire effect ignore SR, Globes of Invulnerability, and Antimagic?

Q179 In the case of all 3 Crystal Blast talents, do the 1 minute lingering effects fill a 3 dimensional space? If used with energy orb in midair, does the effect fall to the ground or float in the area it originally occupied?

A178 Yes, it does. I asked that once, too.

Excellent!

Do you happen to know where (or even which AMA thread) you asked that in? I'd like to be able to link directly to the answer for when my DM throws a book at me for dropping a stone/crystal/living crystal blast energy cloud on top of his boss man.

The properties of the stone blast apply to the admixtured blast. I don't feel like digging up the original instance so I will just state it again since I'm lazy.

A179: The wording doesn't specify ground or other surfaces, so RAW I believe the crystals hover in the air. I will bounce this one to Adam though for clarification of the original intent on crystal blast.

A179: Negative on the dual-wielding. stack has also said that the blade is actually a blast shape rather than a weapon.

EDIT: Then again, a melee touch attack counts as a light weapon, doesn't it? So you can probably count it for other purposes even if the dual-wield thing is moot.

You can only have one destructive blade, but you could have a different weapon in another hand and dual wield that way. I believe melee touch attacks do count as light weapons (definitely finessable), but I don't have a citation at the moment.

[A.J.Gibson]

Q186: With regards to the Combat Engineer Alchemist archetype's Resonator and Slow-Burning Agent modifications, what differentiates a sphere 'effect' from a sphere 'ability'? Worded another way, when would I want to take Resonator over Slow-Burning Agent?

Well, this is embarrassing. Slow-Burning Agent should be:

"When you spend a spell point to allow an effect to last without concentration, it lasts for a minimum of 1 minute per caster level."

I'll update the errata.

[Aipaca]

Q187: Does using the Bestow Intelligence talent on Animated Objects grant them feats for their hit die? Eg. a Huge Animated Object would get 4 feats. I can't find a reason why not, but it seems pretty damn strong.

[Zsaber0]

Q188

If you use alteration to grant yourself an extra head and a breath weapon, do both heads have a breath weapon?

[Niztael]

Q189 : I'm using Rituals as something almost anyone can do with the optional pricing of Blood Price & Cataclysmic Magic as the general roads to using such magic. Most of the ritual can be done beforehand leaving the last bit to be cast at the end, though anyone can only hold one spell in reserve in this fashion. However I've thought that those with a Casting & a Spell Point pool could use Rituals by spending spell points with a multiple to the spell in spell points. I'm just not sure what that multiple should be to have it still be a tool, but not so prohibitive that is becomes a wasted rule that no one would bother with.

Thank you for your time and input.

[death390]

ok i have a question that i could not find in the thread.

1. i love the vanician spell "Prismatic mist/sray" seriies. how would they be recreated in the spheres of power system? each time i have tried it ends up off the complexity chart.
Mist (3 parts destruction, 1 part time, 1 part enhancement, 2 parts mind) 3rd level spell
1 Red 1d4 points fire damage
2 Orange 1d6 points acid damage
3 Yellow 1d8 points electricity damage
4 Green Poison; 1d4 points Str damage (Fort negates)
5 Blue Slowed for 1 round (Will negates)
6 Indigo Lesser confusion for 1 round (Will negates, mind-affecting)
7 Violet Dazed for 1 round (Will negates)
8 At the junction of two colors; roll twice more, ignoring any "8" results

Spray (3 parts destruction, 2 part enhancement?, 1 part mind, 1 part warp) 7th level spell
1 Red 20 points fire damage (Reflex half)
2 Orange 40 points acid damage (Reflex half)
3 Yellow 80 points electricity damage (Reflex half)
4 Green Poison (Kills; Fortitude partial, take 1d6 points of Con damage instead)
5 Blue Turned to stone (Fortitude negates)
6 Indigo Insane, as insanity spell (Will negates)
7 Violet Sent to another plane (Will negates)
8 Struck by two rays; roll twice more, ignoring any “8” results.

[digiman619]

ok i have a question that i could not find in the thread.

1. i love the vanician spell "Prismatic mist/sray" seriies. how would they be recreated in the spheres of power system? each time i have tried it ends up off the complexity chart.
Mist (3 parts destruction, 1 part time, 1 part enhancement, 2 parts mind) 3rd level spell
1 Red 1d4 points fire damage
2 Orange 1d6 points acid damage
3 Yellow 1d8 points electricity damage
4 Green Poison; 1d4 points Str damage (Fort negates)
5 Blue Slowed for 1 round (Will negates)
6 Indigo Lesser confusion for 1 round (Will negates, mind-affecting)
7 Violet Dazed for 1 round (Will negates)
8 At the junction of two colors; roll twice more, ignoring any "8" results

Spray (3 parts destruction, 2 part enhancement?, 1 part mind, 1 part warp) 7th level spell
1 Red 20 points fire damage (Reflex half)
2 Orange 40 points acid damage (Reflex half)
3 Yellow 80 points electricity damage (Reflex half)
4 Green Poison (Kills; Fortitude partial, take 1d6 points of Con damage instead)
5 Blue Turned to stone (Fortitude negates)
6 Indigo Insane, as insanity spell (Will negates)
7 Violet Sent to another plane (Will negates)
8 Struck by two rays; roll twice more, ignoring any “8” results.

With respect, the "prismatic" line of spells are kind of thing that Spheres of Power was made to avoid. they're complex, they're needlessly random, and they have save-or-die effects. They fall quite neatly in "T1 or GTFO" category of spells that flat out ignore anything that martials can do (looking at you, forcecage and wind wall). Heck, the Wall and Sphere require 7 specific spells to penetrate (you can use a greater dispel magic rather than the regular, but whatever) and requires you to have a sorcerer or wizard (and let's be honest, it's the wizard because unless said sorcerer picks these spells specifically to counter this spell, there's no way that any sorcerer will choose those 7 spells for their spells known) of level 13+ (because they are the only classes with a spell list with all 7 spells)to penetrate those defenses.

Also, the spells needed make no sense. Walls 3 and 4 require a 6th (disintegrate) and 5th (passwall) level spell respectively, but wall 5 is beaten by a 1st level spell (magic missile). How does that make a lick of sense? Since when did magic missile have anything to do with divinations (what the 5th wall protects from) or turning people to stone (the penalty for entering the area)? It's a hodgepodge of bad that only exists so that the almighty wizard can to deal with it.

[EldritchWeaver]

A general note on the Mass Meld talent:

Compared to other Mass/Group talents it doesn't save any spell points. In fact, the only thing you save is actions. Taking into account that the duration of the meld talents is measured in hours, it can be expected that people use it well in advance of a situation where actions matter. So effectively this leaves only two situations: Being caught with pants down during an ambush or being stripped of the meld effect in a fight, where everyone needs it.

These situations are too narrow to matter enough that I would choose for any character this talent. At best, a spiritualist hedgewitch would sacrifice a round to learn the talent and use it in the second round, if that is that important. Or people buy a wand specifically for this. So what could have been a great talent (even if the duration would have been stripped down to 10 minutes/level or even 1 minute/level (in the latter case, paying only 1 SP would be enough)) is now relegated into the "also running" crowd.

Q189 : I'm using Rituals as something almost anyone can do with the optional pricing of Blood Price & Cataclysmic Magic as the general roads to using such magic. Most of the ritual can be done beforehand leaving the last bit to be cast at the end, though anyone can only hold one spell in reserve in this fashion. However I've thought that those with a Casting & a Spell Point pool could use Rituals by spending spell points with a multiple to the spell in spell points. I'm just not sure what that multiple should be to have it still be a tool, but not so prohibitive that is becomes a wasted rule that no one would bother with.

Thank you for your time and input.

A189: Did you look at Spell Dabbler or Spell Adapt?

[A.J.Gibson]

ok i have a question that i could not find in the thread.

1. i love the vanician spell "Prismatic mist/sray" seriies. how would they be recreated in the spheres of power system? each time i have tried it ends up off the complexity chart.

Didn't the light book have a ritual for this?

[pfm1995]

Q. 190 When an Armorist summons a firearm, does it already have ammunition loaded into it or must the Armorist do that themselves?

[RedWyvern]

Q. 191 - Similar to 190, can an armorist summon a technological firearm, or have a bound technological item, assuming he has the appropriate weapon proficiency feat? And, in that case, would the charges be counted as ammo?

[Mithril Leaf]

Q. 192 - In regards to a Whitesmith's personal refinement ability, what counts as being on their person? Things held or worn seem obvious. Things in a backpack seem sensibly to be on their person. What about if they use Animate Object on a statue of a horse? Can you ride it around and it will stay animated as it is arguably on your person, without having to concentrate?

[Kaouse]

Q193. This question has almost certainly been asked before, but is there a line concerning transparency between spells and sphere effects, or is it up to the GM to decide? For example, does a Sphere Sorcerer who takes the Orc Bloodline get a +1 damage/dice boost to his Destruction Sphere abilities, or is that bonus solely regulated to "spells" and not "sphere effects" or some such?

[Geigan]

My group has finally started looking into the system after I took a look myself and shoved it into a few of their hands, and we like what we see. I expect we'll start seeing a few characters using it in our next few campaigns.

Q194
How does Cryptic Strike work with Greater Ghost Strike from the Death sphere? Can they be used together? If so, how does that work?

[stack]

My group has finally started looking into the system after I took a look myself and shoved it into a few of their hands, and we like what we see. I expect we'll start seeing a few characters using it in our next few campaigns.

Q194
How does Cryptic Strike work with Greater Ghost Strike from the Death sphere? Can they be used together? If so, how does that work?

A194: cryptic specifies that the creature struck is affected by the ghost strike, so greater doesn't have a way to directly apply. If it said you could use ghost strike as a free action, then you could blast out a cone, but as written I do not believe so.

[Kitsuneymg]

Q195 A player of mine wants to play an Eclectic Researcher. They are required to have the focused casting drawback using a spellbook as their focus. She's also wants to take somatic casting, but asked me a question about it I can't answer. If she has her spellbook in one hand and is performing gestures with another, does that mean she can't ever hold (and thus benefit) from a staff?

[khadgar567]

Q195 A player of mine wants to play an Eclectic Researcher. They are required to have the focused casting drawback using a spellbook as their focus. She's also wants to take somatic casting, but asked me a question about it I can't answer. If she has her spellbook in one hand and is performing gestures with another, does that mean she can't ever hold (and thus benefit) from a staff?

C195If i understand correctly your player wants the spell book as his focus and wants to use somatic casting to? well if you ask me she needs to either choose staff or book as focus or needs to drop somatic part

so yes for me but wait for offical answer

[Slavezero]

Q195 A player of mine wants to play an Eclectic Researcher. They are required to have the focused casting drawback using a spellbook as their focus. She's also wants to take somatic casting, but asked me a question about it I can't answer. If she has her spellbook in one hand and is performing gestures with another, does that mean she can't ever hold (and thus benefit) from a staff?

she can just enchant the book as a staff since that is something you can do in SoP

[Sethis]

Q196: Is there anything I'm not seeing which prevents you from Spellcrafting a decent buff spell (say Improved Haste) onto a Totem from the War sphere, thus giving your entire group (or potentially Army, Castle, or Ship at advanced talent levels) the benefits of both the totem and that buff spell?

Seems like a pretty talent-efficient way for low or mid casters to buff a whole group without spending talents on Mass/Ranged boons in the specific spheres.

[A.J.Gibson]

Q196: Is there anything I'm not seeing which prevents you from Spellcrafting a decent buff spell (say Improved Haste) onto a Totem from the War sphere, thus giving your entire group (or potentially Army, Castle, or Ship at advanced talent levels) the benefits of both the totem and that buff spell?

Seems like a pretty talent-efficient way for low or mid casters to buff a whole group without spending talents on Mass/Ranged boons in the specific spheres.

I'm not certain about spellcrafting rules, but if you want to do make buffing more efficient, the squadron feats provide a method with ranged command and mass command.

[Kitsuneymg]

Q197 Is there a source that defines the terms in the weather spheres? For instance, severity 3 rain is described as light/fog. How long does it take for light rain to get a creature "wet" for the purposes of the Water Geomancy Sphere? What is the difference, mechanically, between light, moderate, and heavy rain?

[Kaleph]

Q198

The archetype wizard gets sphere specialization in lieu of arcane school and arcane bond. Does it need also to sacrifice all bonus feats?

[A.J.Gibson]

Q198

The archetype wizard gets sphere specialization in lieu of arcane school and arcane bond. Does it need also to sacrifice all bonus feats?

A198

Short answer: No.

Long answer: The incanter is basically the wizard, but gets bonus feats instead of class features. It can trade in 7 of it's feats for 3 specialization points to buy sphere specialization, and then use the other 4 feat for meta-magic feats. At that point, you're playing a sphere wizard - almost exactly, except the meta-magic feats come at different levels.

[Kaleph]

A198

Short answer: No.

Long answer: The incanter is basically the wizard, but gets bonus feats instead of class features. It can trade in 7 of it's feats for 3 specialization points to buy sphere specialization, and then use the other 4 feat for meta-magic feats. At that point, you're playing a sphere wizard - almost exactly, except the meta-magic feats come at different levels.

Understood, thank you.

[AlienFromBeyond]

Q196: Is there anything I'm not seeing which prevents you from Spellcrafting a decent buff spell (say Improved Haste) onto a Totem from the War sphere, thus giving your entire group (or potentially Army, Castle, or Ship at advanced talent levels) the benefits of both the totem and that buff spell?

Seems like a pretty talent-efficient way for low or mid casters to buff a whole group without spending talents on Mass/Ranged boons in the specific spheres.

As far as I understand Spellcrafting, you can do just that. This is why it's a subsystem that requires DM approval not only to use in the first place, but for each 'spell' you make too.

[kkplx]

The Shadow of the Shadowboxer in the Nyctomancer's Handbook, page 8:

A shadow boxer’s shadow has a reach of 10 ft. at 1st level. At 5th level and every five levels thereafter, the reach of the shadow’s boxer’s shadow increases by +5 ft., to a maximum of +25 ft. at 20th level.

Does this work like a reach weapon for the monk?

• If they have 10ft reach normally, will they be able to attack with a 20ft reach at level 1?
• Or is the shadow's reach and progression separate from the monk?

Since it says "may manipulate her shadow as an extension of her body", it seems like it would be the first case?

Also, what about natural weapons? A monk could Full Attack and then use his natural attacks - can the shadow do that too, considering it could wield weapons?

[kkplx]

Also: Was there ever an errata for the alteration sphere's size increase?
From personal experience with that talent both as a player and a DM, it provides disproportional bonuses compared to almost every other choice available, especially in the early levels.

[kkplx]

Could one create 2 totems of scourging in the same area to:
- deal 1/2cl fire damage twice a round?
- deal 1/2cl fire and 1/2cl cold damage each round?