[Drop Dead Studios] Spheres of Might Open Playtest

[Zsaber0]

Due to Dragoon Leap stating you take no damage from the height jumped, does this mean it doesn't function with Diving Strike because of the line

"If you are subject to an ability or effect that negates or reduces falling damage (other than the normal Acrobatics check to reduce fall height), such as the feather fall spell or the boots of the cat, your bonus damage dice from this talent are also negated or reduced in a similar fashion."

[AlienFromBeyond]

Blaster archetype Armorist is effectively this in a nutshell. Making a gun that uses destructive blasts instead of bullets. Otherwise some combination of Energy Blade and Spell Attack should let you add Destructive Blasts to your attack actions, but isn't innately compatible with special attack actions like (OTOH) barrage and snipe

To expand upon this, if you're looking to use a special attack action like barrage or sniping sphere abilities while using destructive blast, you could dip 2 levels of Magus with the Mystic or Runic Knight archetypes. They let you cast a touch spell, deliver it through a weapon attack (including ranged), and have it be treated as an attack action (but not a special attack action). You also don't require Energy Blade or Spell Attack this way!

There is also a new Incanter specialization called Black Powder Mage in the Gear of Power playtest, lets you spellstrike with a gun adding its enhancement bonus to the ability you use through it like a staff. Also lets you do mini-Magus Arcane Pool stuff.

[khadgar567]

besides magus you can pop level in prodigy and get same result anyway.

[digiman619]

On the kickstarter, you guys mentioned that you believed that the print run should be ready in Late January. How close are we to seeing it in print?

[RedMop]

Alchemist 10 with Max ranks in Craft Alchemy making Improved Acid Flask (with +10 DC) and an Int of 24 (+7) and using a +3 launching crossbow.

Assuming the DC is made, the Flask should do 6d6 damage by itself.
What damage adds are there?

1. Does Int (+7) add to the central damage, and thus, 1/2 to the middle ring?
2. How about the +3 from the launching crossbow adding to the central and middle ring?
3. Do the damage adds add to the outer ring?

[N. Jolly]

So I noticed something today.

Specifically Guns in Spheres of Might.

So; there are ways to get gun profiency in Spheres of Might, Most notable is taking one of the traditions that give it through the equipment Sphere.
Getting Gunsmithing Feat with it.
No Guns.
and: Unless specifically noted otherwise, a character can only gain a single martial tradition, and can only select one as a 1st level character;

So pretty much any gun based Tradition is sorta..teasingly useless until you got the gold to get a gun (assuming your not using the rich trait)

So, is this on purpose or an oversight?

Let me state that I think gun pricing is garbage. As an author, I'm going to say that this tradition lets you pick up a gunslinger style gun for free with all the caveats, and that gun pricing is jank.

[Hunter Noventa]

Let me state that I think gun pricing is garbage. As an author, I'm going to say that this tradition lets you pick up a gunslinger style gun for free with all the caveats, and that gun pricing is jank.

Gun pricing is so out of order that it would be cheaper to build a contraption to fling goats at your enemies than to use a gun with bullets.

[khadgar567]

Gun pricing is so out of order that it would be cheaper to build a contraption to fling goats at your enemies than to use a gun with bullets.

I wanna say can i sign this but i am not sure this worth to be signed.

[Omnificer]

Alchemist 10 with Max ranks in Craft Alchemy making Improved Acid Flask (with +10 DC) and an Int of 24 (+7) and using a +3 launching crossbow.

Assuming the DC is made, the Flask should do 6d6 damage by itself.
What damage adds are there?

1. Does Int (+7) add to the central damage, and thus, 1/2 to the middle ring?
2. How about the +3 from the launching crossbow adding to the central and middle ring?
3. Do the damage adds add to the outer ring?

1) I believe you should factor the +Int mod to damage after calculating the actual splash weapon damage. So, for a 2d6 Improved Acid Flash you would have your 2d6 damage to target, half of that total damage to the middle ring, and then 2 damage to the third ring. Then you add your +7 to each ring. This would be internally consistent and consistent with how Throw Anything interacts with regular splash weapons and Alchemist bombs, including bombs altered with the Explosive Bombs discovery (which has three rings itself.)

Otherwise you would effectively get +7 damage to the target, +3.5 damage to the middle ring, and then +7 again to the third ring that is explicitly called splash damage. That does not read to me as internally consistent or consistent with any application of Throw Anything outside of Spheres of Might.

2 and 3) The launching crossbow is an odd duck. The RAW consensus I have seen is that the +3 Launching Crossbow would add +3 to your ranged touch attack roll but not add any enhancement bonus to damage as the Launching Crossbow itself does not have any damage dice. I have no idea what the RAI should begin to be. It's hard to say exactly how it should work without Paizo releasing a FAQ or errata response.
Regardless you would still get your +Int mod to damage, since Throw Anything applies to any use of splash weapon, regardless if it is actually thrown or not.

[Sho]

This has probably been asked, so if anyone wants to tackle this small question, then feel free.

Q1: Do Brutal Strike and Vital Strike stack?

Q2: Does anyone else think that the Secondary Sphere Specialization that takes away some Bonus Talents is not worth it?

[Omnificer]

This has probably been asked, so if anyone wants to tackle this small question, then feel free.

Q: Do Brutal Strike and Vital Strike stack?

Yes, they stack. Brutal Strike is a special attack action and those explicitly can be augmented by feats (such as Vital Strike) and talents as if they were any other attack action. You simply cannot perform more than one special attack action at the same time, so if you had Barrage and and Sniper, you could not perform a barrage and a deadly shot simultaneously.

[Hunter Noventa]

I wanna say can i sign this but i am not sure this worth to be signed.

If you want to, I don't care. One of the people I play with did the math and that led to him and our GM doing historical research to get the pricing of guns and bullets more in line with what they should be.

[khadgar567]

If you want to, I don't care. One of the people I play with did the math and that led to him and our GM doing historical research to get the pricing of guns and bullets more in line with what they should be.

care to share the proper numbers my friend?

[Dr_Dinosaur]

I realize there's not going to be any official cross-product support, but how would you rule Path of War strikes counting as Attack actions for Sphere abilities? Do they, considering they're mostly standard actions to make an attack?

[EldritchWeaver]

I realize there's not going to be any official cross-product support, but how would you rule Path of War strikes counting as Attack actions for Sphere abilities? Do they, considering they're mostly standard actions to make an attack?

Standard action aren't attack actions.

[Hunter Noventa]

care to share the proper numbers my friend?

If I had them, I would. That campaign was quite a few years ago. I just remember that bullets ought to cost less than a goat.

[CrystalMists]

Attack actions are standard actions. To my understanding if its an use that can go onto a standard action. your good to go.

Example: broken blade manuver flurry strike.
Uses a standard action

Now lets say your flanking.

This meets fencings fatal thrust requirements for use. so add 1d6 presicion damage.

Just gotta be careful the actions match and aren't thier own actions.

[Ssalarn]

I realize there's not going to be any official cross-product support, but how would you rule Path of War strikes counting as Attack actions for Sphere abilities? Do they, considering they're mostly standard actions to make an attack?

No. An attack action is a specific type of standard action (the default action you take when making an attack as a standard action) and strikes are their own, specific type of standard action. In the same way that you generally can't Vital Strike with a strike from a martial discipline (last I checked), you can't combine a strike and an attack action.

[NomGarret]

Attack actions are a specific type of standard action. Maneuvers are typically standard actions but not explicitly attack actions and therefore most talents will not stack.

[AlienFromBeyond]

I realize there's not going to be any official cross-product support, but how would you rule Path of War strikes counting as Attack actions for Sphere abilities? Do they, considering they're mostly standard actions to make an attack?

They explicitly are not, the "initiate a maneuver action" is a totally separate one from the "attack action". An attack that uses a standard action does not make it an attack action, else Cleave would count as one (but it doesn't, that's why there's a talent to replicate it within the SoM system).

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Alright, so they’re more like “martial spells,” discrete actions with their own effects? Makes sense, just wanted to check.

[mrguymiah]

No. An attack action is a specific type of standard action (the default action you take when making an attack as a standard action) and strikes are their own, specific type of standard action. In the same way that you generally can't Vital Strike with a strike from a martial discipline (last I checked), you can't combine a strike and an attack action.

Hey, Ssalarn, I asked this in the Spheres of Power AMA, but don't seem to be getting any response. It's similar to the question you answered, so I'm gonna go ahead and repost it here;

Q430: Would it be reasonable to consider Telekinesis' Bludgeon as an "Attack Action" for the purpose of working with Spheres of Might? I understand that SoP obviously came out first and couldn't have predicted its followup martial counterpart, but it's a weird situation where base Paizo combat feats, such as Power Attack, are specifically called out as functioning with it if you have Dancing Weapon and Flair. I personally think that if you're invested enough into TK to have a good 5 talents or so to be able to reasonably use weapons with it, that you shouldn't be unable to combine Might's techniques with it. Hell, maybe make another talent to specifically allow that if it's a balance issue to piggyback SoM usage with the existing set of talents?

As an addendum; Mobile Bludgeon allows you to make a full attack action. To me, it seems entirely reasonable for Telekinesis to have a way to work with Spheres of Might when so much work has gone into letting it work with Paizo feats.

I have copied it verbatim to avoid any confusion. If you are unfamiliar with certain aspects of TK, I'll be glad to explain.

[ComaVision]

Is it possible to build a character with SoM similar to the Bloodstorm Blade prestige class?

For those that aren't familiar, the class lets you throw melee weapons at respectable distances and have the weapon bounce back to you. You can do full attacks at range, or even mix melee and ranged attacks.

[Omnificer]

Is it possible to build a character with SoM similar to the Bloodstorm Blade prestige class?

For those that aren't familiar, the class lets you throw melee weapons at respectable distances and have the weapon bounce back to you. You can do full attacks at range, or even mix melee and ranged attacks.

The Throwing Mastery talent from the Equipment sphere lets the weapon bounce back after every attack.

Crushing Thrower talent lets you treat your thrown attacks as melee attacks, for the purpose of feats, melee attack bonus, 1 and 1/2 bonus from using two hands, etc which is useful for the kind of classes that might take Bloodstorm Blade.

I'm not sure if there are talents that let you throw melee weapons without the penalties.

Edit: I just checked the Book of Nine Swords. I think Throwing Mastery is as good as Lightning Ricochet, Crushing Thrower is worded almost exactly the same as Thunderous Throw, And Pathfinder's Throw Anything feat is pretty similar to the Throw Anything feat on the sidebar of the Bloodstorm Blade. I think all you need are the Startoss Style feats to get most everything from Bloodstorm Blade except for Blade Storm.

[Ssalarn]

Hey, Ssalarn, I asked this in the Spheres of Power AMA, but don't seem to be getting any response. It's similar to the question you answered, so I'm gonna go ahead and repost it here;



I have copied it verbatim to avoid any confusion. If you are unfamiliar with certain aspects of TK, I'll be glad to explain.

So, here's my understanding: Adam is very aware of this question and has been discussing whether or not it's something that should simply be backported via errata, or it if it's powerful enough to justify putting it behind a feat or talent gate. I'll let you know when I have more information.

[AlienFromBeyond]

Crushing Thrower talent lets you treat your thrown attacks as melee attacks, for the purpose of feats, melee attack bonus, 1 and 1/2 bonus from using two hands, etc which is useful for the kind of classes that might take Bloodstorm Blade.

It only counts as a melee attack for the specific purpose of determining your attack bonus, that's why it has additional text for 2-handing and Power Attack (but nothing for other feats).

[digiman619]

We have blown past the projected physical release of the books. Any update on that?

[Zsaber0]

Due to Dragoon Leap stating you take no damage from the height jumped, does this mean it doesn't function with Diving Strike

Anyone know got any info about this?

[Quarian Rex]

Anyone know got any info about this?

Since Diving Strike says, "the attack deals damage as normal and also adds the appropriate amount of falling damage", and , "After the attack is resolved, you land in an unoccupied square of your choosing adjacent to the target, and you take falling damage as if you had fallen 10 fewer ft", it appears that the damage done and the damage you might receive due to the attack are completely independent, so the combo should work fine (to a max damage of 20d6 and so long as you have enough room to achieve the distance required for the damage).

[Zsaber0]

Since Diving Strike says, "the attack deals damage as normal and also adds the appropriate amount of falling damage", and , "After the attack is resolved, you land in an unoccupied square of your choosing adjacent to the target, and you take falling damage as if you had fallen 10 fewer ft", it appears that the damage done and the damage you might receive due to the attack are completely independent, so the combo should work fine (to a max damage of 20d6 and so long as you have enough room to achieve the distance required for the damage).

Diving strike says

If you are subject to an ability or effect that negates or reduces falling damage (other than the normal Acrobatics check to reduce fall height), such as the feather fall spell or the boots of the cat, your bonus damage dice from this talent are also negated or reduced in a similar fashion.

So at first brush it looks like it doesn't work or is an oversight in the sphere.