[Drop Dead Studios] Spheres of Might Open Playtest

[Mithril Leaf]

Hey, does the Sage's caster level stack with other caster levels as normal, even though it uses Ki instead of Spell Points? Follow up: Can you spend both Spell Points and Ki on the same effect?

[RedMop]

Thanks, Mehangel and Ssalarn!

[Aipaca]

I'm slightly confused, is a two weapon fighter type character still expected to be taking the two weapon fighting feats in order to full attack without missing everything? Or are you just not expected to full attack in general if you are using SoM?

[NomGarret]

Yes, you should spend your feats on the TWF chain if you want to TWF-full attack. Now, you can still do TWFy things with just talents, so the lack of bonus feats (conscript notwithstanding) doesn't hurt so much.

[Ssalarn]

I'm slightly confused, is a two weapon fighter type character still expected to be taking the two weapon fighting feats in order to full attack without missing everything? Or are you just not expected to full attack in general if you are using SoM?

One of the problems we've seen in other systems is that when you allow abilities intended for standard actions to apply to full attacks, it ends up boosting full attacks unnecessarily and acts as straight damage boosting, which full attacks don't need. So the Dual-Wielding sphere is specifically built around a specific type of two-weapon fighting that encourages use of the attack action, which the system is built around. If you want to two-weapon fight on a full attack, you'd spend the normal feats to do so.

[Slavezero]

how much longer till Spheres of might is ready? really wanting to play as i had an awesome idea for a dark knight type character that uses bleeds and vital strikes with a monkey gripped great sword to bring down his enemy's while using a tower shield, sentinel class features and the Berserker and guardian spheres to weather heavy combat

[EldritchWeaver]

I've heard it will be any day now, they're just waiting on some final images and inputting copyedits.

[Zsaber0]

I am of the humble opinion that for the Fighter conversion archetype, the replaced fighter feats should be different. It should replace feats a 1, 4, 8, 12, and 16 instead of 2, 6, 10, 14, 18.

I think it would work better this way. Don't look too deep into the reasonings. In no way do I want to stack a spheres of Might archetype with a Path of War archetype. That's definitely not the reason. Just do what I say because it's 100% the right thing to do.

[Ssalarn]

how much longer till Spheres of might is ready? really wanting to play as i had an awesome idea for a dark knight type character that uses bleeds and vital strikes with a monkey gripped great sword to bring down his enemy's while using a tower shield, sentinel class features and the Berserker and guardian spheres to weather heavy combat

I believe we are literally just waiting on the last couple pieces of art before the .pdf is ready for distribution.

I am of the humble opinion that for the Fighter conversion archetype, the replaced fighter feats should be different. It should replace feats a 1, 4, 8, 12, and 16 instead of 2, 6, 10, 14, 18.

I think it would work better this way. Don't look too deep into the reasonings. In no way do I want to stack a spheres of Might archetype with a Path of War archetype. That's definitely not the reason. Just do what I say because it's 100% the right thing to do.

I know there was a specific reason we chose the feats we did, but I don't recall what it was at this particular moment.

[AlienFromBeyond]

I know there was a specific reason we chose the feats we did, but I don't recall what it was at this particular moment.

So it could stack with SoP archetypes such as War Hero from Battlemage's Handbook, or Impossible Warrior from the Abjurer's Handbook playtest. That it also happens to cause it to conflict with the PoW archetype from DSP is just icing on the cake, getting ahead of silly people who will complain about something being broken or OP because they're mixing content from different publishers.

[exelsisxax]

So it could stack with SoP archetypes such as War Hero from Battlemage's Handbook, or Impossible Warrior from the Abjurer's Handbook playtest. That it also happens to cause it to conflict with the PoW archetype from DSP is just icing on the cake, getting ahead of silly people who will complain about something being broken or OP because they're mixing content from different publishers.

Or silly people that think SoM and PoW are mechanically compatible. PoW is based on NOT using the specific attack action.

[digiman619]

Any idea when the physical copies of Som and the gish book will be ready? Circumstances beyond my control prevented me from backing it, but I want to buy it and have it on my bookshelf as soon as possible.

[EldritchWeaver]

Any idea when the physical copies of Som and the gish book will be ready? Circumstances beyond my control prevented me from backing it, but I want to buy it and have it on my bookshelf as soon as possible.

SoM needs to be published first in PDF form. Then I expect some time during which additional errata will be integrated. Then a print would be possible. So maybe 2 months after publishing.

Gish book may need still some playtesting. Or at least the gish classes should be combined into a single set for playtest purposes. The prodigy is at least in playtest mode. So any print edition is way off.

[NomGarret]

Sage and Troubadour both got a fair chunk of playtesting and revision during the SoM play tests. I haven't heard what else is going in there, but I would still expect it to be at least 6-8 weeks behind the release dates of SoM.

[Ssalarn]

Or silly people that think SoM and PoW are mechanically compatible. PoW is based on NOT using the specific attack action.

It's not impossible to use the two systems together, you'd just need to focus on boost and counter maneuvers while using sphere talents instead of strikes. Damage-wise you'd end up in a pretty similar place since SoM focuses more on chains and utility and doesn't use bonus damage dice as frequently.

Any idea when the physical copies of Som and the gish book will be ready? Circumstances beyond my control prevented me from backing it, but I want to buy it and have it on my bookshelf as soon as possible.

We already have preorders available through Backerkit, and the .pdf for SoM should be available very soon. We're just waiting on a last couple pieces of art to have it all put together.

Sage and Troubadour both got a fair chunk of playtesting and revision during the SoM play tests. I haven't heard what else is going in there, but I would still expect it to be at least 6-8 weeks behind the release dates of SoM.

The Prodigy is also going to be part of Champions of the Spheres (aka "the gish book") and that didn't make it into playtesting until about a month ago, so I expect probably close to a 2 month gap between SoM and CotS, assuming all the CotS art is wrapped on time.

[digiman619]

Random thought: Since many of the SoP handbooks are (or were at one point) named "The <whatever>-mancer's Handbook", what will the eventual SoM handbooks' default name be?

[stack]

Champions of the Spheres will also have a number of archetypes, which I expect to be playtested before release as well.

If individual SoM sphere handbooks are done, I would assume a similar naming scheme, though it hasn't come up yet.

[A.J.Gibson]

I'm kinda hoping that there aren't individual SoM handbooks. Some of the SoP books were hard enough, and SoM spheres don't have the same amount of design space that SoP spheres tends to have. And 'expanded options' book down the road with new material for each sphere would probably work better.

[Mehangel]

I'm kinda hoping that there aren't individual SoM handbooks. Some of the SoP books were hard enough, and SoM spheres don't have the same amount of design space that SoP spheres tends to have. And 'expanded options' book down the road with new material for each sphere would probably work better.

I also agree that having handbooks devoted to each specific Sphere in Spheres of Might wouldn't nearly be as viable as it was for Spheres of Power. I wouldn't mind however seeing handbooks that expanded groups of Spheres based on Martial Traditions and Fighting Styles.

[Ssalarn]

I, personally, see class, archetype, and martial tradition handbooks being a lot more viable. A "General's Field Notes" that adds more Commander options while splashing in some archetypes and Warleader talents that catch the system up to any evolutions in the game. A "Swordsman's Training Guide" that builds on Dueling and Fencing while adding Sentinel options. So on and so forth. Spheres of Might lends itself more to conceptual expansion than sphere by sphere expansion.

[RedMop]

Advancing Carnage
Whenever you make a melee attack using the attack action, you may take a -2 penalty on all attack rolls made that round to make an additional attack against an opponent that is adjacent to the first and also within your reach as a free action. You may continue attacking creatures adjacent to your most recent target as long as you still have a valid target for this ability, but you cannot attack the same creature twice. You can take this talent a second time, allowing you to take a single 5-ft. step as a free action after making any one attack when using this ability. If doing so places a creature within your threatened area, that creature becomes a legal target for your additional attack(s) as long as it meets all the other prerequisites. Associated Feats: Great Cleave, Cleave Through.

Is this meant to exclude the Cleave feat, and thus prevent the following feats from working with Advanced Carnage: Goblin Cleaver, Orc Hewer, Giant Killer, Surprise Follow-Through, Improved Surprise Follow-Through, and Weapon Trick (Two-handed) among others?

Edit: Changed code to quote.

[Ssalarn]

Advancing Carnage
Whenever you make a melee attack using the attack action, you may take a -2 penalty on all attack rolls made that round to make an additional attack against an opponent that is adjacent to the first and also within your reach as a free action. You may continue attacking creatures adjacent to your most recent target as long as you still have a valid target for this ability, but you cannot attack the same creature twice. You can take this talent a second time, allowing you to take a single 5-ft. step as a free action after making any one attack when using this ability. If doing so places a creature within your threatened area, that creature becomes a legal target for your additional attack(s) as long as it meets all the other prerequisites. Associated Feats: Great Cleave, Cleave Through.

Is this meant to exclude the Cleave feat, and thus prevent the following feats from working with Advanced Carnage: Goblin Cleaver, Orc Hewer, Giant Killer, Surprise Follow-Through, Improved Surprise Follow-Through, and Weapon Trick (Two-handed) among others?

Cleave is its own standard action, not an attack action, and would thus be incompatible with any talent that requires an attack action. That would make Advancing Carnage incompatible with most of the feats you listed, though there are something like 4 two-handed weapon tricks and the only one that doesn't mesh is Cleaving Smash.

[RedMop]

Cleave is its own standard action, not an attack action, and would thus be incompatible with any talent that requires an attack action. That would make Advancing Carnage incompatible with most of the feats you listed, though there are something like 4 two-handed weapon tricks and the only one that doesn't mesh is Cleaving Smash.

I'll take that as a yes (it was meant to). Crap. That is unfortunate.

It's the missing associated feat that interferes. That's actually why I asked if it was intended to exclude Cleave even though it includes Great Cleave and Cleaving Through.

Associated Feat: Some spheres and talents overlap the function of existing feats. Such a feat is listed in the talent as an associated feat. Possessing the sphere or talent counts as possessing the feat for the purposes of meeting prerequisites and for abilities that modify the feat’s function (such as mythic version of the feat). Unless noted, talents do not stack with their associated feats. Any time you would gain an associated feat, you may instead choose to gain the sphere or talent it is associated with. You must still meet the prerequisites for a talent gain this way, such as possessing the base sphere.

[Aipaca]

Couple of questions, do we know a release date for SoM yet (it's got to be close right?), and what are the chances of getting a form-fillable PDF character sheet that is designed for Spheres of Power/Might characters?

[RedMop]

Couple of questions, do we know a release date for SoM yet (it's got to be close right?), and what are the chances of getting a form-fillable PDF character sheet that is designed for Spheres of Power/Might characters?

We already have preorders available through Backerkit, and the .pdf for SoM should be available very soon. We're just waiting on a last couple pieces of art to have it all put together.

There you go.

P.S. I want to ask this about 100 times per hour.

[digiman619]

Just popping in to say that I just preordered the soft covers of both SoM and the Gish book. Looking forward to having both on my shelf so I can have future games just be Spherefinder.

[Ssalarn]

There you go.

P.S. I want to ask this about 100 times per hour.

Art is in and the team has reviewed the mostly laid out version of the final .pdf and submitted the errors we caught to Adam, so we're like a hair's breadth away from the finish-line right now.

Just popping in to say that I just preordered the soft covers of both SoM and the Gish book. Looking forward to having both on my shelf so I can have future games just be Spherefinder.

I had a moment the other week where it hit me that our Saturday game hasn't actually used a Paizo book since we restarted our campaign. Our current line-up is an incanter/vizier/amplifier as our main control caster, a commander who acts as the party face and buffer/problem-solver, an armorist tank with some Guardian sphere talents, and a radiant as our healer whose minions are pretty nasty when combo'd up with the commander. We're working our way through Curse of the Crimson Throne now while I wait for City of Seven Seraphs to come out.

[Mithril Leaf]

Art is in and the team has reviewed the mostly laid out version of the final .pdf and submitted the errors we caught to Adam, so we're like a hair's breadth away from the finish-line right now.



I had a moment the other week where it hit me that our Saturday game hasn't actually used a Paizo book since we restarted our campaign. Our current line-up is an incanter/vizier/amplifier as our main control caster, a commander who acts as the party face and buffer/problem-solver, an armorist tank with some Guardian sphere talents, and a radiant as our healer whose minions are pretty nasty when combo'd up with the commander. We're working our way through Curse of the Crimson Throne now while I wait for City of Seven Seraphs to come out.

Ah, that's a disservice, Paizo has released plenty of interesting and decent feats! Plus even a few cool magic items.

[Ssalarn]

Ah, that's a disservice, Paizo has released plenty of interesting and decent feats! Plus even a few cool magic items.

I don't have any problem with Paizo at all (quite the contrary), I've just got so many books and options available at this point that it's really easy for us to be playing Pathfinder without actually using any of their materials. I've got pretty much every book they've published, hardcover and softcover, but it's pretty unusual for us to use more than 5 or 6 books at a time. With SoM, SoP, and AM classes (as well a playtest character for Co7S), no one really needed to go delving elsewhere.

[Doc_Maynot]

I don't have any problem with Paizo at all (quite the contrary), I've just got so many books and options available at this point that it's really easy for us to be playing Pathfinder without actually using any of their materials. I've got pretty much every book they've published, hardcover and softcover, but it's pretty unusual for us to use more than 5 or 6 books at a time. With SoM, SoP, and AM classes (as well a playtest character for Co7S), no one really needed to go delving elsewhere.

Actually in the same boat. Other than like, a level of Monk of the Empty Hand and Catch off Guard for one of my characters... I've just been using the equipment out of non-So(P/M)

Also, FINISH LINE HYPE!