Spheres AMA Archive

[ICN]

A more accessible and easily searchable collection of all the Spheres AMA questions and answers. So far, just doing the most recent thread, though I hope to work backwards over time. Eventually planning on sorting questions by spheres/feats/class etc. If anyone is willing to help out, that would be great.

Previous Threads Thread #1, Thread #2, SoM Thread (Some questions at the end)
Current Thread Thread #3

Spoiler: Spheres of Power authors

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The Auspician's Handbook (aka Fate sphere handbook - Jeff the Green
The Battlemage's Handbook (aka War sphere handbook) - A.J.Gibson
The Conjurer's Handbook (aka Conjuration sphere handbook) - stack
The Creator's Handbook (aka Creation sphere handbook) - Desril
The Destroyer's Handbook (aka Destruction sphere handbook) - stack
The Diviner's Handbook (aka Divination sphere handbook) - Mehangel
The Enhancer's Handbook (aka Enhancement sphere handbook - Amechra
The Geomancer's Handbook (aka Nature sphere handbook) - Mehangel
The Illuminator's Handbook (aka Light sphere handbook) - AmberVael
The Mentalist's Handbook (aka Mind sphere handbook - Afgncaap5
The Nyctomancer's Handbook (aka Dark sphere handbook - Bhaakon
The Shapeshifter's Handbook (aka Alteration sphere handbook) - stack
The Telekinetic's Handbook (aka Telekinesis sphere handbook) - AmberVael
The Vivomancer's Handbook (aka Life sphere handbook) - A.J.Gibson
Wild Magic - stack

Spoiler: Spheres of Might authors

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Andrew Stoeckle - stack
N. Jolly - N. Jolly
Michael Sayre - Ssalarn

Spoiler: Pending Questions

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Q2: Companions do not disapears when the caster get unconscious (or sleeps), right? When a Great Summon + Lingering Companion'ed companion does disapear? As soon as the caster goes to sleep? When he wakes up?

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Q4: What are, if any, the limitations on the fleshcraft and bestow life advanced talents (especially the combination of the two)? Also, how do you determine the body/life bestowed creature's ability scores?

From what I can tell, the only explicit limitations of fleshcraft (in the case of creating a body) is that if you want it to look like someone specific, you must make a disguise check, and the only implicit limitation is your size limit for creation effects. As for bestow life (in the case of granting life to an empty body), the only explicit limitation is that the created creature is a "1st level commoner of whatever race its body was crafted to mimic."

It seems a bit questionable to think that someone could make the body of any monster whose size is in the caster's creation range, which could then be reanimated into a incredibly powerful undead, or given life through bestow life and be made the caster's friend. Likewise, it seems odd that bestow life doesn't seem to have an explicit HD cap the way reanimate has, or the CL to HD scaling that animate object has. Yes, it says it makes a 1st level commoner, but that's just a single class level that takes no account for racial hit dice. It feels like these uses of these talents are unusually open ended compared to how other advanced talents are designed.

Likewise, it isn't clear how ability scores are to be determined for the fleshcrafted body/life bestowed creature. At least bestow life's "awaken" function clearly states a straighforward 3d6 for mental scores, which could be extrapolated to the "grant life" function, but fleshcrafting a permanent body is quiet on this point.

So any clarification, rules declaration, the pointing out of something I missed or a previous ruling, or any combination of those would be greatly appreciated.

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Q8: ​how you create akasic mysteries in spheres system.

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Q10: How does the spheres system interact with unchained action economy?

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Q13: Can the races that recieve Conjuration as a bonus talent choose to trade out their companion with the Caller drawback? Most of them specify you have to take a certain type of companion.

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Q24: How does movement work for the Animate enhancement?

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Q25: If I possess the Telekinesis Sphere and the Flair magic talent, can I use the Vital Strike feat in conjunction with a bludgeon attack?

Q26: Does Flair only allow the application of feats, or class features as well?
Would a character with the Flair, Dancing Weapon and Mobile Bludgeon talents and the Flurry of Blows class feature gain an additional attack when full attacking while telekinetically wielding a monk weapon?
Could a character with the Flair talent deal sneak-attack damage when successfully bludgeoning a flat-footed target?

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Q27:

Spoiler: Hurricane Kick

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As a full-round action, you may move up to 10 ft. in any direction. (this movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity); each time you move 5 ft. while using this talent, if a creature is within your reach, you may make an unarmed attack against them with a -2 penalty; you may only make a single attack against a creature with this talent. For every 5 points of base attack bonus you possess, you may move an additional 5 feet.

Does it allow a creature without flight speed to move through the air?

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Q28:

Spoiler: Scholar's Knack: Martial Study

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The scholar chooses a single combat sphere she possesses; she may use her class level in place of her base attack bonus when determining her bonus to hit, combat maneuver bonus, combat maneuver defense, ability DCs, and all other functions of the sphere normally determined by her base attack bonus when using talents or abilities granted by that sphere. The scholar may take this knack multiple times, choosing a different combat sphere each time. The scholar may not select the Equipment sphere with this knack.

Normally, when something like a feat or trait lets you act as if your BAB was higher for the purposes of a sphere, it's just for effects that track that, but this one specifically calls out bonus to hit, CMB and CMD, among other things. The question then is: How does that work? If I choose the Sniper sphere and have a crossbow, do I get the boost to hit only when I use a Deadly Shot? Or when I shoot into melee, since it affects that action? Or with, for example, the attacks of opportunity from the Covering Fire talent?

It seems at a glance like the intent is for it to work only when actively using an ability granted by the sphere or a talent from the sphere, like Deadly Shot, but it feels odd to have someone who's not very good with the crossbow right until he makes an especially difficult shot.

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Q29: Grenades are pretty much useless with their random fuse timer - are there ways to force a detonation, like shooting them?

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Q31: Can the Advanced Talent Everglow be applied to the talent Dancing Lights or items created using the Duel-Sphere Feat Hard Light?

Q32: If the answer is no to the above question, then is there any benefit to taking Everglow other than to make fuelless lanterns?

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Q33: In the dark sphere, if I had taken the shadow lurk ability twice would the shadow lurks have any access to Spheres of Might abilities I possess? Would the particular ability having an Associated Feat change this (such as Dual Attack and its Associated Feat: Two-Weapon Fighting)?

For example, could I make a shadow lurk and have it use the Scout Ability as if it were me and then have it despawn giving me knowledge of the targets weaknesses and the benefits that provides.

Would a Shadow Lurk gain my passive sphere abilties such as Armored Defense or Critical Genius from the Equipment sphere? Would these count as Attributes of my character or Feats for the purposes of Shadow Lurk?


As long as these do not bypass the rule of "A shadowstuff-imbued lurk may not attempt combat maneuvers, cast spells, or use its source’s class features." would the above work at all? Or are Shadow Lurks and Martial Characters not intended to mix at all?

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Q38: Can a troubadour who has taken the masterpiece actor training once use a feat to gain access to a second masterpiece?

The logic being that the masterpiece ability let's you take any masterpiece for which you meet the prerequisites. The prerequisites normally are skill ranks and being a bard. Since I assume that the ability functions as written, once you have taken the masterpieces ability, you must count as a bard for the purpose of being able to take masterpieces.

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Q44: It seems, at least from what I can observe from outside, that the Spheres of Power team is really busy lately. Are they preparing for a shift to Pathfinder 2.0 or have they yet to make a decision and just seeing where they want to go with the project? I saw on the Patreon in March they said the announcement of Pathfinder 2 did shake things up a bit, has things settled since?

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Q47: On prodigy finisher Sunset it states you can apply [dark] talents as normal to the ability, while the imbuement Shadow uses both [darkness] and [dark] tags. My GM wanted to know if the finisher can use darkness talents, or if it's supposed to be only talents from the common dark talents, not specifically dark ones. In this case the question was mostly can you make your sunset into a black lung for example.

My own understanding of it would be that it works as if it was a cast darkness ability from the dark sphere, hence subject to both dark and darkness talents as applicable, and I suppose plot/shadow if you had something that would affect an area of darkness in those.

Q48: On beastmastery sphere, and this is mostly a curiosity thing. Why does the Animal companion talent scale based on your base attack bonus -3, instead of your handle animal -3, when handle animal is the skill that almost everything else in the sphere scales from. That is, when it's not scaling based on your ranks in ride. I just think it'd be more logical considering rest of the sphere and other spheres that grant skill ranks and scale based on them, to not have one exception there out of the blue.

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I've been on a Technician binge lately, so I've got a few questions, some of which might be buried in the SoM AMA #1

Q50: Is the listed cost for the Independent Invention the full cost, or cost per Hit Dice? (I can see it being full cost as it's a class ability you have to pay for, OTOH it's a quite powerful class ability)

Q51: Grand Gadgets Chemical Thrower, Permanent Gadget and Laser all say that if you have Mechanical Insight you get 4 uses out of them per day instead of 3, they ALSO say if you take it a second time it's +3 uses, was it intended to still only get +3 uses on the base 4 uses, or was the +3 uses per day meant to increase as well?

Q52: Some clarification on what can be used in the Suit mod and what you can't would be nice. Obviously you shouldn't be able to use a Medium character's wings to fly around in a Colossal mecha that weighs 125 tons, but technically you can since the only clarification is "While in the pilot seat, the pilot and the independent invention are essentially a single creature, using the independent invention’s physical stats and the pilot’s mental stats." (Personal rule that I've been using is that Ex and Su abilities granted by race or template related to physical acts don't apply when in the suit, but there's a lot of fringe cases that I haven't considered, as well as Class abilities like Alchemist's Mutagen.)
Q53 a: A note about Magic Items would help. I've been assuming any Magic Item you're wearing that modifies physical stats doesn't affect the Independent Invention, even with Suit. OTOH I've ALSO been assuming you can enchant normal Wondrous Items and equip them to your Invention.
Edit: just saw that I shouldn't have been assuming that last bit as per this line: "They possess only a Strength and Dexterity score, with no skill points or feats or magic item slots."
Q53 b: Can / Should the Independent Invention be able to be targeted by Self spells while you pilot it?

Q54: If I use the Robot upgrade to make my Independent Invention have intelligence 10, does it also get Wisdom and Charisma stats? If so what are they? (asking specifically for Skills like Perception or Intimidate)
Q55: More on Robot Independent Inventions: when using a feat from the Robot instead of my own, do I use the Robot's BAB or my own to figure out the effects? (Examples: 1) at level 11 a Technician cannot qualify for Improved Vital Strike, but a Construct with full BAB does, 2) a Techncian at level 12 using Power Attack is only -3/+6, but a Construct is -4/+8)

Q56: If you have Suit and Covered then are you impossible to target with mental effects, or as pilot of the suit does casting a mental spell at the suit count as casting one at you?


Q57: Unrelated to Technician: It's been established earlier in this thread that RAI a Tradition that grants Gunsmithing should essentially grant the Gunslinger's Gunsmith class ability including a broken firearm and ability to repair it. In an Guns Everywhere world, does that instead grant Gun Training 1 as per the Gunslinger in a Guns Everywhere world? Or is that more of a GM specific question?

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Q58: Characters who trade out their spherecasting for a spheres of might talent progression, what happens to the 2 free bonus magic talents that they would have otherwise gained? Do they become combat talents, or are they just lost forever?

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I have a few questions about the Summoning Advanced Talent.

Q61: If I have a 25% discount on payments for getting a summoned creature to do a task for me, does that only apply to summoning allies? They have a fixed cost (or at least an equation to get a cost) associated with them that can be easily reduced by the discount. However, hostile summons are much more volatile in the pricing and payment methods, to the point that some hostiles may not even desire a monetary cost and instead want something else in exchange. Would the discount still apply when appropriate?

Q62: Would being limited to only being able to summon an extraplanar being of a particular narrow type (such as only being able to summon devils or only being able to summon angels) be a good drawback to gain extra favor with that type of creature. For example, either gaining a 25% discount or having those creatures count as allied?

Q63: Does the normal Pathfinder Binding rules apply to creatures summoned in this manner? The binding rules has ways to make a summoned creature more likely to summit to your demands if certain conditions are met first.

If they do still follow the rules of Binding, are there any special thing you can do to make Omnimentals summit more easily? For the four classical elementals the following gives a bonus to charisma checks to make deals with them.

Fire Elemental: Keeping large blocks of ice in the room saps the elemental's power and cows it into submission more quickly.

Air Elemental: When summoning an air elemental, inscribe the magic circle with diamond powder.

Water Elemental: A ring of fire around the magic circle exposes the elemental to its hated enemy the instant it appears on the Material Plane, distracting it long enough for the binder to seize control.

Earth Elemental: Prepare the summoning chamber with swirling wind- and air-based spells to prevent the elemental from touching the floor.

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Q70: Is there a limit to how many alchemy sphere Formulae you can possess at one time? The language is "you cannot prepare more formulae at one time than..." which I interpret to mean in one 30 minute a person can not prepare more that X number of bombs, and that person can spend another 30 minute period to double the number of bombs they have.

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Q71: So there is a question at the end of all of this. You note that spell slot and ability use attrition tends to force groups to chill out. I am curious though, how quickly does this occur in other games (or playtests) of spheres content? My player's adventuring days on spheres of power are much longer on average, barring some spheres like creation and warp. I've even seen them run out of SP, shrug and keep going. I love that about the system but this is a question just about things seen by both devs and other groups. Do you have longer than normal adventuring days with your groups? Or is it about the same? Ultimately they have fun, but it has left me curious to hear about other groups.

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Q72: If you use a mind spy on one trobadour persona, but didn't choose to activate it until he changed personas, the mind spy will work. In my understanding it will return nothing, as stated in the ability about scrying, But one player of mine think that a mind spy isn't a scry, so... just asking

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Q78: Can we take Spell Perfection (Advanced Player Guide) feat for sphere? Or single sphere-modifying version, say Destruction (Radiant blast) or Destruction (Explosive Orb)?

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Q79: can the Antiquarian use casting traditions or drawbacks?

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Q80: Would admixtured Radiant/Chilling blast that utilizes feat that changes save from reflex to fortitude affect undead, since Radiant's effect affects undead despite being fort based, or rather be fully ignored by undead?

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Q81: Apologies if this has already been asked, but can a Technician with Mechanical Insight set their detonators to explode after, say, 1 second with the Timed mode, thereby making them explode on their turn? Just confirming how it works. Thanks, Aipaca

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Q83: Do the Amateur X secrets of the Hedgewitch give access to Grand Secrets at the appropriate level?

I've asked this before, trying to get the original author of the class to clarify the intention, but failing that, any consensus from the devs would be much appreciated.

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Q86: Can you suggest a way to get the Warlords's 2nd level Tactical Presence (indomitable) ability with Spheres of Might? Possibly using already written material, or suggesting the best way to homebrew that in (possibly as a Warleader Tactic?).


We are in the process of converting a campaign from Path of War to Spheres of Might, and this has been one of a character's signature abilities - would be a shame if it got lost in the transition.

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Questions about the Lattice Weaver incanter specialization's bullrush abilities:
Q87: Does the incanter's size limitation on bullrushes apply?
Q88: Do any abilities or items the incanter have affect the barrier wall's bullrush checks? (e.g. improved bullrush, gauntlets of the skilled manuever, or dipping into the brute sphere via feats.)
Q89: If the wall fails at its bullrush check, does it stop moving altogether or move around the target? What about in cases where the wall is bullrushing multiple targets and succeeds on one but not the other?
Q90: Rather than moving the barrier 20 ft., would it be possible to instead shrink a cube barrier by 5 ft. on a side? It's not allowed by RAW, but it's a fun idea so I figured I'd ask.

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Some questions have been answered, but not by official Spheres devs, and some are still waiting on a consensus among the developers.

Spoiler: Unofficial/Debated Answers

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Q11: The text for a Technician's Grand Gadget Invention has two unique improvements: Chemical Thrower and Permanent Gadget. Both of these list a limited number of uses, but neither says if they recharge, or are reloaded, or how or when. RAW, it seems like they just have three/four uses, period, which seems odd for a class feature. It's also a bit strange that the Permanent Gadget improvement exists on a Grand Gadget invention that, in theory, should be doing the job of a gadget permanently anyway. Could we get some clarification?

Unofficial

A11: For the Chemical Thrower we have:

Spoiler: Chemical Thrower

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Choose fire, cold, electricity, or acid. 3 times per day as a standard action...

For Permanent Gadget, I would assume it was supposed to be 3 times per day, same as all the other Grand Gadget improvements.

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Q20: The following setup can give a 4th level conscript up to 3 attack action equivalents - is this correct?

Off Hand Attack - Feint (Expert Feint)
Main Hand Attack - Bleeding And Precision Damage (Apply Slickened Grip)
Free Action - Trip (Ankle Strike from dealing precision damage)
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "And Stay Down!") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Off Hand Attack (Permitted from "Dual Opportunity) - Disarm
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "Swift Slice") - Bleeding and Precision Damage

Theoretical build details provided by the player:

Spoiler: Build Details

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Class Levels : Conscript 4

Pick 2 Sphere Specialisations, Duelist and Dual Wielding in that order. Pick Finesse Training.
For the Martial Tradition pick Tempest Dancer. You can mostly ignore Double Weapon Training.

Race: Anything with racial weapon proficiency in at least a type of light weapon, preferably something that has access to a one handed and light weapon. Elves and Tengu spring to mind. Dexterity is also a great choice as this will deal dexterity to damage on said weapons.


Talents - MT = Martial Tradition, CS = Class Skill, CL = Class Level, CF = Class Feature, BT = Bonus Talent:
(MT) DOUBLE WEAPON TRAINING
(MT) DUAL WIELDING SPHERE
(MT) FINESSE FIGHTING
(MT) DUAL OPPORTUNITY
(CS) DUELIST SPHERE
(CS) DUAL WIELDING (CUNNING COMBO)
(CL) SLICKENED GRIP
(CL) AND STAY DOWN
(CL) FENCING SPHERE!
(CL) ANKLE STRIKE
(CF) EXPERT FEINT (AS A TRADE IN FOR PICKING "FINESSE TRAINING" FROM CONSCRIPT)
(BT) SWIFT SLICE

Feats:
(1) Combat Reflexes
(3) Any? Maybe something to shore up defences like an extra combat talent to pick up Unarmoured Training or even another talent to add more debuffs to the subsequent bleeds/precision damages. Oh, maybe get Berserker Sphere so you can apply Battered for more penalties to enemy CMD. Also sets up nicely for later debuffs on the below cycle when you progress further in level as you can apply Exertion's to the initial attack (Leg-Smasher springs to mind for more penalties to AC and CMD).

Action Cycle:
Off Hand Attack (Comes before the Main Hand Attack because of "Cunning Combo") - Feint (Expert Feint)
Main Hand Attack - Bleeding And Precision Damage (Apply Slickened Grip)
Free Action - Trip (Ankle Strike from dealing precision damage)
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "And Stay Down!") - Bleeding and Precision Damage
Off Hand Attack (Permitted from "Dual Opportunity) - Disarm
Attack of Opportunity (Triggered from "Swift Slice") - Bleeding and Precision Damage

Move with your move action if you like and do swift things with your swift action. You're essentially dealing 3 fortitude saves vs exhaustion in this cycle alongside being an absolute **** to them with the various debilitating effects. The second Dual Wielding specialisation from Conscript lets you forgo "Balanced Blows" to reduce your Dual Wielding penalty.

Unofficial

A20: This build is trading 7 combat feats for a specialization, then 5 combat talents for a second specialization, then the remaining 4 combat feats for another feature. Is the intent of the second specialization that it only trades away combat talents and not the remaining combat feats? I had thought it was all remaining combat feats, plus the 5 combat talents.

The build otherwise seems to work as intended, though really only against humanoids with weapons.

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Q21: I imagine this must have been answered, but came across an interesting interaction and I'm just not sure how SoP intended for it to interact. Sorry if it has been answered.

Energy Blade allows you to make an attack with the blast attached. Wording suggests the blade is the 'parent' effect for the action by allowing the attack to be made as part of the sphere being used.

I didn't think anything of it initially, until I found the Melee Blaster feat.



Now, I played 3.5 for ages before going to pathfinder and I don't know where to find it if it is in pathfinder, but touch and attack spells typically didn't provoke in 3.5. Nothing in energy blade's description SAYS it provokes. However, it IS a sphere ability and therefore, after reading the feat, seems like it must provoke without use of the feat.

So ultimately, the question is: Do you need this feat to energy blade without provoking?

Q22: Improved energy blade is a swift action which, iirc, is non-provoking, like a quickened spell. However, I likewise can't find where this would be confirmed in either Spheres content or Pathfinder (I know my 3.5 stuff so much better, we switched to pathfinder specifically to use the Sphere system).

So for the question: Is it in fact a non-provoking use of the sphere ability? Are quickened sphere effects likewise non-provoking? If it is non-provoking, is it because its a swift action or because it doesn't say it threatens in the feat? (since there seems to be no explicit swift action protection in pathfinder).

Thanks in advanced!

Unofficial

A21: Correct, all casting provokes by default, and SoP didn't change that. This even means if you're doing a ranged touch attack, you will provoke for casting, and provoke for making a ranged attack. Note that casting defensively is still an option open to you as well instead.

A22: Correct again, Improved Energy Blade does not provoke, and it is specifically because it is a swift action as all spells do not provoke if cast as a swift action regardless of how.

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Q36: This might be partially answered by Q35 but the phrase for the SoP classes, "may combine spheres and talents to create magical effects", does this just mean you can take the different spheres and their talents, or does this mean you can cast a talent from one sphere combined with a talent from another? Thank you!

Unofficial

A36: This means that you can gain Spheres and Talents (in Spheres that you have gained) and use them when using a sphere ability. Most of the time that means gaining a Sphere's Base ability by spending a talent and then gaining another talent which can be used to change how the base ability functions.

For example, if you were a mid caster and let's say that you have 3 talents in total to spend on Talents. You can gain the Destruction Sphere, Fire Blast (from within the Destruction Sphere), and then Nature (with the Fire Package). You can now make a Destruction Blast of either the default type or a Fire Blast when using the Sphere's Base Ability. However you would have to use a different action to use a Fire Geomancing ability from the Nature Sphere. However, you could also get a Sphere-Focused Feat called Fan the Flame which would let you mix the effects of your Fire Blast from the Destruction Sphere and you ability to Affect Fire from the Nature Sphere.

If you wanted to further mix Sphere Effects and Talents you could use the Spell Crafting System through the use of Spellcrafting Feat.

So basically, that means you can use a Sphere's Base Abilities and augment the base ability with that Sphere's Talent Tree. Then, by use of certain feats (like Dual Sphere, Sphere-focused, and Admixture Feats) and Spellcrafting you can combine the abilities of multiple Spheres together.

Hopefully that is clear and not too long winded.

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Q34: Can you see in your own darkness from the Dark sphere, or do you still have to have darkvision already?

Q35:The Hypnotic Darkness feat is stated as followed:

Spoiler: Hypnotic Darkness

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Prerequisites: Dark sphere, Mind sphere, Looming Darkness. Benefit: Those within your darkness are particularly vulnerable to your charms and suggestions. Your areas of darkness and blot are always treated as if imbued with Looming Darkness when you use the Confusion, Fascinate, Fear, or Sleep Mind talents.

I don't understand this at all, I'm afraid. Does this mean that your darkness becomes looming when you use one of these Mind talents, and your darkness has to have already been sustained? Or do you create both effects at the same time?

Unofficial

A34: You cannot see in your own darkness without darkvision.

A35: Basically, whenever you use one of the listed mind sphere abilities on a creature in your darkness, they take the penalty of Looming Darkness automatically, even if you didn't create the darkness with that talent.

An example: Bob the spooky dark caster casts a darkness effect on round 1 as a standard action, applying any darkness talent he'd like, such as Hungry Darkness. On round 2, with his standard action, Bob casts the Fear mind talent on John, who is in Bob's darkness. Therefore, John takes the Looming Darkness penalty to his save against Bob's Fear talent. Does that help?

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Q 37: Is there any particular reason that the Unchained Monk doesn't get a Spheres of Might archetype? Monk archetypes can't be applied to both, unlike Rogue and Barbarian.

Debated

A37: Considering what is being replaced, the archetype looks compatible to unchained monk.

A37: Except that even if it doesn't replace anything that the UnMonk couldn't trade away,a) As mentioned, RAW UnMonks can't take Monk archetypes, and b) the UnMonk is different from the UnRogue and UnBarb in that it has different BAB that their chained, which is kinda a big deal with SoM,

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Q45: Greater Dustbringer Aura (from the Dustbringer Archetype for the Mageknight) allows you to subject any missile to your Alter (Destroy) ability. However, I'm not entirely sure what the HPs of most ammunition are. Can somebody help me with this? Any Update on this?

Debated

A45: (Non-magical, normal) Projectiles have 5 hardness and 5 HP.

A45: So, weirdly enough (and I would hardly consider it a ruling of all projectiles) Drop Dead Studios has already defined the hardness and hp of projectiles at 5 hardness and 1 hp, in the Pinning Shot talent in the Sniper sphere.

I don't think that's meant to be extrapolated to the entire Sphere system and projectiles that interact with it, but it's there for people who want to do that.

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Q59: Is an Armorist allowed to use the Blast Vessel encantment?

Unofficial

A59: Only if they have the Destructive Weapons Arsenal Trick.

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Q64: So, metamagic feats seem fairly limited in Spheres of Power. All the basics are there, as well as an extra few that are fairly useful for the sphere system. Obviously though, there are a great many absent the list, and it's surprising there even IS a list for this as it wouldn't have been something I initially would have considered. In truth, a lot of nuances of the system catch me off guard as there are a great many things I'd not have considered initially.

So question then is this: Was there some fear of what the wide breadth of metamagic would lead to unforseen interactions? Alternatively was it playtested and confirmed? Is it some form of future proofing to ensure things don't get out of hand with content that isn't out yet?

Unofficial

A64: I can at least shed some insight on this. SoP was outfitted with a whitelist of metamagic feats at the point of its creation, which hasn't been updated yet. I don't know which feats were examined, but some feats simply don't work with SoP that well. Like the feat which turns a light spell into a darkness spell at +0 spell level increase. As this effectively invalidates a sphere, this feat needs at least a +1, if allowed at all. I would say, as a guideline, if you can get a similar enough result via a talent, then requiring the talent and removing the feat would be ok. If the feat provides a different trade-off (Reach Spell with +1 SP applicable for every sphere vs. specialized greater reach talents), then it is ok. If having the feat is superior to the SoP way, then it needs to be nerfed or removed.

I suppose, one could collect a list of metamagic feats now and check if they work with SoP or should be placed on a blacklist.

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Q85: Does the Brutal Strike granted by Bloody Counter count as an attack action for the purposes of feats such as Vital Strike and other spheres abilities? The wording is unclear, since Brutal Strikes are normally a special attack action.

Q85:(continued) The text of Bloody Counter specifically refers to the Brutal Strike it grants as an attack action (the last sentence says) 'If the creature attacking you is battered, you may resolve your attack action prior to their attack being resolved.' where attack action refers to your brutal strike.

Debated

Fair point, I'm bringing it up with the others as I'm not sure that was the intention. I may have been wrong, and hopefully we can get this clarified.

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Progress:
Thread #3: Up to date (7/18/2018)
Thread #2: None
Thread #1: Up to post 30
SoM Thread: None

[ICN]

Spheres of Power

Spoiler: Casting Traditions/Drawbacks

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Q74: I find the Energy Focus drawback a little vague.

Spoiler: Energy Focus Drawback

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You may only make a destructive blast of a single energy type. You may not gain any blast type talents, except with the bonus talent gained from this drawback.

That means that I can only make, let's say, Fire Blasts (that I gained with this drawback)? But can I make a Blistering Blast, if I manage to get it somehow? And what about the base blast?

A75: The concept of blast type groups was introduced in the Destroyer's Handbook, so the text in the base book obviously doesn't take them into account. You can take blasts within the same blast type group when you have the energy focus drawback. Example: energy focus fire means you can take any blast type form the fire group (Blistering Blast, Fire Blast, Searing Blast) as the bonus talent and can select the other two normally later, but you couldn't take force blast or acid blast. Of course, this only applies if you are using the Destroyer's Handbook; in a base book only game you would just be locked into flame blast with energy focus (fire).

You cannot use the base blast.

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Spoiler: Classes/Archetypes

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Q17: Sphere Oracles get a clause so that curses that add spells known actually work with the class, whereas the Hedgewitch Black Magic tradition just includes advice to avoid taking those curses - how come it didn't just get the same clause as Sphere Oracles?

A17: You can apply the advice from Oracle curses to hedgewitch curses. Basically, each thing you gain at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level should be worth approximately a feat. Of course, not every curse follows this exactly, but that's the general guideline. The player and GM should put in a bit of work to do the conversion; though simply granting talents is probably balanced, it's kinda boring to play a class feature that just gives you more feats.

For example, for the blackened curse:

Blackened

Effect: You take a –4 penalty on weapon attack rolls, except for attacks that use fire.

At 1st level, the oracle gains the Destruction sphere with the Energy Focus (fire) drawback. They do not gain this drawback if possess the Destruction sphere from another source. They also gain the Fire Blast talent.

At 5th level, the oracle gains Searing Blast from the Destruction sphere, or another talent from that sphere if they possess that talent already.

At 10th level, the oracle gains Exploding Orb from the Destruction sphere, or another talent from that sphere if they possess that talent already, and his penalty on weapon attack rolls is reduced to –2.

At 15th level, the oracle gains Energy Wall from the Destruction sphere, or another talent from that sphere if they possess that talent already.

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Spoiler: Mechanics

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Q 18: Apologies if this has been answered already, but is there a way to emulate the Astral Construct power using Spheres? I know there is a way to basically get an Eidolon with the Conjuration spheres, but I can't seem to find a way to make short lived, highly customizable minions.

A18: not currently. I had looked at a new sphere but there is nothing out or currently being worked on.

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Q41: Have there been plans or discussions to expand the martial focus mechanic to casters as well, a-là psionic focus?

A41: If I wanted to make Mental Focus to work more like Psionic Focus, all that would be needed is to make a couple of (drawback) feats, having the Mental Focus drawback as a prerequisite. As for the development team considering something like this, all that it takes is for someone to take reins of it and draft it up (likely as an Apocrypha document filled with 10-12 (drawback) feats revolving around the Mental Focus drawback).

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Q43: So my curiosity got the best of me and I started wondering if there was any way to temporarily grant a target spellcasting abilities.

A43: Hedgewitch with the spiritualism tradition and the infuse other secret.

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Q75: Is Elementalist's different CL for Destruction temporary effect or constant one, for purpose of all CL-increasing effects?

Say we got Elementalist 4 (so, CL 3, CL 4 for Destruction), non-caster 1, + trait that gives +2 CL "Up to HD". Does Elementalist apply before or after that, making total CL 5 or 6?

Q76: Gestalt game (two levels of different classes at each lvl). One side is Elementalist 20 (so, 15 CL for other, 20 for destruction). Other is full caster. Does Elementalists effective +5 CL apply, or is CL still 20?

Q77: Elementalist 4/Rogue 2 (with no SoP option taken)/Evangelist 10 (progressing Elementalist) with Advanced Magical training would end up with 6th level looking like this:
>Evangelist 2 (Elementalist 5)
>AMT gives Evangelist 2 +1 CL despite it being non-caster class
>Elementalist 5 doesnt give +1 CL but it has +1 CL for destruction

What's outcome?

A75: An Elementalist 4/Non-caster 1 with a trait giving +2 CL up to HD will have a CL of 5.



A76: Elementalist 20//Soul Weaver 20 (or any other high caster) will have a CL 20 in all spheres.



A77: I personally would rule an Elementalist 4/Rogue 2/Evangelist 10 w/ the Advanced Magical Training feat is essentially just an Elementalist 14/Rogue 2 w/ the Advanced Magical Training feat, and thus have a CL of 11 (or CL 15 w/ the Destruction sphere).

My reasoning for this is that Aligned Class feature of the Evangelist says the following (emphasis mine)

Spoiler: Aligned Class

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Evangelists come from many different backgrounds, and they show an unusual range of diversity. At 2nd level, the evangelist must choose a class she belonged to before adding the prestige class to be her aligned class. She gains all the class features for this class, essentially adding every evangelist level beyond 1st to her aligned class to determine what class features she gains. She still retains the Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, and skill ranks of the prestige class, but gains all other class features of her aligned class as well as those of the evangelist prestige class.

Since the Evangelist has "all class features for the class" she also possesses the Casting class feature and thus would not benefit from Advanced Magical Training.

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Spoiler: Creation Sphere

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Q1: My original idea was using the creation sphere to create 2 medium sized iron resembling a humanoid, then use the Enhancement sphere to grant it the animation enhancement (with the Armor and Durable add ons) and the Bestow Intelligence enhancement. I was hoping to give them Sphere Abilities for them to use.

A1: Well, if you make an object into an intelligent item, they can also possess feats (although there aren't rules on how many feats an intelligent item possesses, unless you create a specific intelligent item such as the Metamagician's Apprentice); Alternatively, Gear of Power includes rules for spherecasting intelligent items, which could also be useful. Ofcourse, all of this is entirely within GM territory, and require GM permission to pull off.

Spoiler: Death Sphere

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Q9: Any projections on when the Death Sphere Handbook might come out? I'm just concerned that it may not come out at all, with the authors of various DDS products stating a company concern of preparing for PF2.

A9: I don't know when Luke plans to wrap it up, the Death handbook draft is sitting at 18k words, so I wouldn't worry. I wouldn't worry about any of the handbooks, really.

Playtest is out, link here: Death Handbook Beta

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Q12: How much money do I have to slide across the table to have that book (Death sphere handbook) enter playtest? It feels like it's been most of the way done for a year now.

A12: If I knew, I would have paid it already :)

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Spoiler: Enhancement Sphere

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Q1: My original idea was using the creation sphere to create 2 medium sized iron resembling a humanoid, then use the Enhancement sphere to grant it the animation enhancement (with the Armor and Durable add ons) and the Bestow Intelligence enhancement. I was hoping to give them Sphere Abilities for them to use.

A1: Well, if you make an object into an intelligent item, they can also possess feats (although there aren't rules on how many feats an intelligent item possesses, unless you create a specific intelligent item such as the Metamagician's Apprentice); Alternatively, Gear of Power includes rules for spherecasting intelligent items, which could also be useful. Ofcourse, all of this is entirely within GM territory, and require GM permission to pull off.

Spoiler: Time Sphere

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Q42:Is there any plans to make a warp Sphere handbook or a time Sphere handbook?

A42: Every base book sphere is getting a handbook. Time is currently in playtest.
Time playtest link: Time

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Spoiler: Warp Sphere

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Q42:Is there any plans to make a warp Sphere handbook or a time Sphere handbook?

A42: Every base book sphere is getting a handbook. Time is currently in playtest.
Time playtest link: Time

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Spoiler: Wild Magic

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Q30: Wild Magic question:
Does the Epicenter Destruction Talent grant immunity to the altered blast areas or any other additional effects of Destruction Sphere Wild Magic Events?

Epicenter:
"You are immune to any damage and other effects of your own destructive blasts. This includes ignoring difficult terrain from your Crystal Blast and immunity to your own Energy Wall, Energy Cloud, and any other blast shape with a non-instantaneous duration."

Wild Magic Events:
"...Nor are casters ever immune to the results of their own wild magic events, the chaotic nature of wild magic overcoming even creature type-based immunities."

A30:Wild magic's "never" has precedence. Nothing lets you cheat it (unless there was a hypothetical future effect that specifically said it trumped wild magic, which I would oppose printing generally).

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[ICN]

Spheres of Might:

Spoiler: Classes/Archetypes

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Q6: How does Perfect Offensive (Striker Tension), and Piledriver interact?

Scenario:
Lilly the Drunk is unhappy with Steve the Sober so she grapples poor Steve. After pinning Steve, Lilly activates a Piledriver ending the grapple and automatically threatening a critical hit. Can she use Perfect Offensive to auto confirm the crit?

A6: Perfect Offense is only intended when a roll threatens a critical hit, not other sources. And that means actually rolled, not cyclops helmet auto 20 too.

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Q7: When does Drunken Boxer's maximize damage come into play?

Scenario:
Lilly the Drunk is at it again, slamming a bottle of rotgut. As she already has Improved Unarmed Strike, she is considered to be one size category large for the purposes of unarmed damage. In this case, 1d6 to 1d8. She attacks Steve and decides to expend her Drunk status to maximize her unarmed dice. Does she deal 6 or 8 damage?

A7: She would deal 8 damage from the 1d8, as the final die is what's maximized.

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Q15: The Conscripts Duelist Specialization 3rd level ability Death By A Thousand Cuts reads "Whenever the conscript deals bleed damage to a creature, it must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the conscript’s base attack bonus + current bleed damage)." When does the save trigger? Does 1 Bleed damage force a save every turn until the bleed is stopped or does a Save take place solely when the Bleed is applied?

A15: Only when the bleed is applied by an attack. Generally, effects like this trigger on the conscript's turn after they successfully make an attack that deals some amount of bleed damage

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Q39: Can a Doomblade use Spheres of Might special attack actions with its blade?
Could it for example impale someone with its touch attack? In that case, would the attack deal the doomblade's damage in bleed when removed or the duration expires?

A39: You make attacks with the destructive blade in place of normal attacks, so yes, you can use it as an attack action. Given the publishing times, it was obviously not written with SoM in mind. I suppose as written it can be used to impale, but I would be very reluctant to recommend allowing it to deal that much bleed damage. I wonder if touch attacks and lancer don't play that well (or too well, rather) together. I would only allow the base 1d6 (or 1d4 or 1d8 depending on blast type) to be inflicted as bleed.

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Q49: Would an Oracle who gains the Skill at Arms Revelation at first level be able to trade that out for a martial tradition instead?

Skill at Arms: You gain proficiency in all martial weapons and heavy armor.

Under Martial Tradition: "characters who do not may choose to trade their starting proficiencies for a martial tradition at 1st level, as long as their normal starting proficiencies include proficiency with all martial weapons or at least one exotic weapon. Some classes who do not gain proficiency with all martial weapons but whose class description implies a strong martial background may trade their starting proficiencies for a martial tradition with GM approval."

I also am aware that there is a ruling already in place against this, however gaining a Martial Tradition in this way would make thematic sense at least to me. "This does not include clerics whose deity’s favored weapon is an exotic weapon or similar features that modify starting proficiencies based on other character choices." As well as, this is gaining much more than just a single weapon proficiency like the Favored Weapon feature.

So could instead of gaining the proficiencies, they gain an martial tradition if taken at first level?

A49: Talking it over with the others, we all think it's a fair way to rule it, so yeah, that'd provide a martial tradition if desired.

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Q60: Can a Darkness Defender expend 2 attacks of opportunity to the same atttack made against an ally to both apply "shield other" and "defend other" to their ally's AC against that attack? (assuming all talents for this have been taken)

A60: Since both situations were triggered, yes, both could be used.

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Q73: For the scholars martial study scholar knack, if the scholar were to take that for the brute sphere, would he gain the ability to use his class level for bab for unarmed attacks and the brute maneuvers, or just to shove? As an expansion on that question, if he were to take it for the barroom sphere, would he gain the effect on all improvised weapon attacks?

A73: He would gain it on any attack or maneuver granted by a talent, such as shove or Drop.

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Spoiler: Feats

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Q16:

Spoiler: Combat Sphere Specialization

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Combat Sphere Specialization (Combat)
Your knowledge of one particular combat sphere is without peer.

Prerequisite: 1 or more combat spheres.

Benefit: Select one combat sphere you possess, you treat your base attack bonus as 1 higher for the purposes of its effects, but not for attacks made with talents from that sphere. At 5th level and every 4 levels afterwards, the chosen sphere’s base attack bonus is treated as an additional 1 higher, although the sphere’s effective base attack bonus cannot be higher than your character level.

Special: You may select this feat multiple times, each time selecting a different sphere.

Does this provide any benefit to a full BAB character? I'm unsure if, for example, a level 7 conscript could be treated as level 8 for a single sphere, but NOT level 9; or if since it can't let you have an effective BAB higher than your character level, this does nothing for a full BAB character.

Upon re-reading it, I'm 95% certain it provides no benefit to full BAB characters. It looks like it's meant to make low BAB characters quasi-mid-BAB and mid-BAB characters quasi-full-BAB.

A16: No benefit if full BAB.

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Spoiler: Martial Traditions/Drawbacks

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Q3: Why do Sphere-specific drawbacks in Spheres of Might exclusively grant specific talents? In Spheres of Power, many Sphere-specific drawbacks indicate a broad category of talents that you must select from or can't select from, but don't specify a specific talent. Spheres of Might appears to have gone in a different direction.

A3: Something I'd like to say here is that the team this time wasn't in love with every precedent that SoP sent. Yes, it did a lot of things right, but we had our own ideas for how to make things more internally consistent, which involved standardizing drawbacks in this way. Drawbacks are a VERY powerful option, and as we've seen, people are capable of utilizing them in ways we couldn't have expected before. Unlike what I assumed SoP had in mind when making them, the SoM team was well aware that we'd have expansions, and because of that, hard locking drawbacks the way that we have secures us from not needing to worry about new talents that possibly break with these drawbacks. The team knows that we won't be working on every future supplement, so while we can ensure that the base drawbacks are fair for core SoM, we can't plan for every possible future book, and because of that, talent locking drawbacks felt like a way to make sure these drawbacks don't eventually become the backbone of breaking the system we've poured ourselves into. This opens the door for future books to include their own specific drawbacks which can be looked over in seclusion because we don't have to compare all the new options and everything else each time, which makes life easier for both our newer developers and the older staff in that we are capable of avoiding chimeric builds being overpowered (as well as we can at least) as well as allow for new specific drawbacks in newer books for new talents, which allows us to make sure our content is more balanced on your end as well as ours.

Is it limiting? Yeah, and we're not 100% happy about that, but as we've learned through this project, we sometimes need certain things in place when creating something like SoM to make sure the entire book doesn't become "Oh, with this one combo, you can do a million damage, book's broken!", as that's something that we've seen far too often to other projects which were otherwise fine. So this is me as a developer telling all of you that these decisions were made both for the health of the base product as well as possible expansions since we need to look at the long game for things like this. Developing for this new system has been a joy, and we do thank every one of you for the feedback, and we'd like to ask that you trust us when we make decisions like this, as we're doing it to make sure we can put out the best product possible. We'll always try to be around when we can to answer questions, and we do accept that not everyone will enjoy this option, but this is the reason we've chosen to structure things like this.

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Q19: Is there any way for character picking up firearm proficiency with their martial tradition to gain a firearm with their starting equipment, either a battered firearm like a gunslinger's or otherwise? I can't find one except picking up a trait for extra money, and to me it seems an exception to sphere's general theme of getting character concepts up and running from level 1(-ish).

A19: It would be perfectly reasonable to give a battered firearm with any martial traditions that grant firearm proficiency.

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Spoiler: Alchemy Sphere

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Q5 Can someone give their alchemy sphere items to another to use? If they are a doctor (sage archetype) can they give away the healing infused items?

A5 Yes, and very intentionally so.

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Spoiler: Dual-Wielding

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Q23: When performing these talents from the Dual Wielding Sphere, Brutal Combo, High-Low Combination, Repositioning Routine, and Tricky Combo, in coordination with the Dual Attack base sphere ability, do the combat maneuvers performed suffer the Dual Attack penalty to their checks?

A23: I'm going to say no here; landing CMs is hard enough, no reason to make it harder.

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Spoiler: Duelist Sphere

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Q14
Leg Cutter (Duelist Bleed ability) states "If the creature takes bleed damage from the attack, they must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or fall prone." When does the saving throw trigger: when Inigo Montoya first hits or when the 6 Fingered Man starts his turn and takes Bleed damage?

A14 When the attack first hits.

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Spoiler: Guardian Sphere

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Q40: Can the Guardian talent "Defend other" be used after the result of an attack is known? The talent itself does not specify, unlike let's say active defense in the shield sphere, which specifically calls out needing to decide before the result is known.

A40:You need to use it before the result is known. It should have been specified for clarity, but I think allowing such things after the result is the more exceptional case.

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Q46: If the Guardian talent "Defend other" is used to absorb a hit that carries other consequences (impale, seeking ray, ability damage or penalties or drain, a carrier effect from destruction, etc.), does the person "taking the damage" also suffer the negative effects, or does the original target?

A46: All additional effects go to the one who takes the damage. You are redirecting the attack/interposing yourself to absorb it, not metaphysically channeling the damage to yourself.

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Spoiler: Lancer Sphere

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Maybe a very trivial question, but I have to figure this out...
Q82 In the Lancer Sphere, when it talks about what happens when the impalement status is lost they 'take bleed damage equal to the damage dice of the weapon used to impale the creature.' My question is this: Assuming the weapon is 2d6+6, does this mean they take 2 Bleed (since 2d6?) Or 2d6?

A83: It's considered to be the latter, the weapon's damage die, so 2d6 in the example that you've given.

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Q84: Once the 2d6 from stopping being impaled has resolved, do they have a 'Bleed' tic on them, then? As in, do they continue bleeding? Thank you!

A84: Yes, they stay bleeding until they remove it in the normal ways of removing bleed.

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[ICN]

Champions of the Spheres Post

[ICN]

Some of these are more open ended questions. Any devs who'd like to contribute more should feel free to do so.

Spoiler: Design Philosophy

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Q3: Why do Sphere-specific drawbacks in Spheres of Might exclusively grant specific talents? In Spheres of Power, many Sphere-specific drawbacks indicate a broad category of talents that you must select from or can't select from, but don't specify a specific talent. Spheres of Might appears to have gone in a different direction.

A3: Something I'd like to say here is that the team this time wasn't in love with every precedent that SoP sent. Yes, it did a lot of things right, but we had our own ideas for how to make things more internally consistent, which involved standardizing drawbacks in this way. Drawbacks are a VERY powerful option, and as we've seen, people are capable of utilizing them in ways we couldn't have expected before. Unlike what I assumed SoP had in mind when making them, the SoM team was well aware that we'd have expansions, and because of that, hard locking drawbacks the way that we have secures us from not needing to worry about new talents that possibly break with these drawbacks. The team knows that we won't be working on every future supplement, so while we can ensure that the base drawbacks are fair for core SoM, we can't plan for every possible future book, and because of that, talent locking drawbacks felt like a way to make sure these drawbacks don't eventually become the backbone of breaking the system we've poured ourselves into. This opens the door for future books to include their own specific drawbacks which can be looked over in seclusion because we don't have to compare all the new options and everything else each time, which makes life easier for both our newer developers and the older staff in that we are capable of avoiding chimeric builds being overpowered (as well as we can at least) as well as allow for new specific drawbacks in newer books for new talents, which allows us to make sure our content is more balanced on your end as well as ours.

Is it limiting? Yeah, and we're not 100% happy about that, but as we've learned through this project, we sometimes need certain things in place when creating something like SoM to make sure the entire book doesn't become "Oh, with this one combo, you can do a million damage, book's broken!", as that's something that we've seen far too often to other projects which were otherwise fine. So this is me as a developer telling all of you that these decisions were made both for the health of the base product as well as possible expansions since we need to look at the long game for things like this. Developing for this new system has been a joy, and we do thank every one of you for the feedback, and we'd like to ask that you trust us when we make decisions like this, as we're doing it to make sure we can put out the best product possible. We'll always try to be around when we can to answer questions, and we do accept that not everyone will enjoy this option, but this is the reason we've chosen to structure things like this.

---

Q69: So, more mechanical. Naturally healing by default is atrocious in many games. While I think in combat healing is an "alright" option, realistically it's relatively terrible. Often times the group picks up cure light wound wands to address topping off out of combat, leading to a situation where an item gives a disproportionate value and skews adventure planning (since they get more healing than they're expected to have and tend to start fights topped off instead of missing health). Even my table, where most of my players are fairly far from power gaming, they eventually too came to the conclusion that healing is just...not worth it.

Needless to say, spheres addressed that issue in large part. You can functionally build mass heal and really pump out serious healing. The lately released protection handbook, and the Faithful Sheperd Archetype within, highlight very well how potentially potent such a member of the party can be now.

Yet even so, you include notes on limiting healing from items so that there is no infinite healing if the Dm doesn't wish there to be so. And then revitalize exists that can restore a party multiple times for minimal cost in a day. While a major investment in talents, any healer can heal hundreds of hp in a day for minimal cost using that talent. And if they ever exhaust it, it is almost trivial to reboot it again.

So, I imagine that one of the goals for the life sphere was to make healing 'viable' as an option. More so than in default vancian magic. Yet the infinite healing items and the revitalize talents, seem to suggest that you don't want that attrition in an adventuring day. So the question is this. Was that a design goal? Was it a side effect of how spheres works? Considering how efficient revitalize is, and if that is intended as opposed to a side effect, why wasn't the basis of an advanced talent as opposed to a second talent? It seems, compared to other expanded spheres, to be potent for a basic talent above some others (though to be fair, maximizing the effect takes 9 talents past the entry talent just to unlock the sphere

A69: I can't speak for Adam, but I wrote the Life handbook and the Protection handbook, and I can tell you what I think. Basically, daily attrition through hit point loss isn't a thing. Almost every game I've played, we walked into combat at full hp. It might just be the groups I play with, but healing is just not that hard to come by (wands of CLW being case in point). It's spell slot and ability use attrition that forces players to stop, usually. My attempts with those books was to make in-combat healing viable, though not as good as out of combat healing. Hence things like Adrenhalin Surge and Taste of Victory. I'm a big 4e fan, and I loved how the cleric could heal as a minor (swift) action and still function in combat.

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Spoiler: Development

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Q65: This may have been answered already but, what sparked the idea for the spheres system as a whole? It's brilliant and the entirety of the system really livens up my games. Notably we have battles that can rage across huge areas as people move about. My players can't stand keeping Spheres of Powers effects at close range as a result and will spend multiple talents and or feats for ways to improve range. Closer and tighter battles almost feel claustrophobic. That is a drastic change from the core system, albeit one that works really well. So what sparked it all? Was there something you wanted in your own home games? Was it frustration with the system or just a cool idea that came up? And did you know when you started that the system was going to totally change the entire game while in effect?

A65: I can only speak for myself here with the Spheres of Might side of thing, but the base ideas for what we had was trying to emulate as many real world fighting styles as possible. A lot came from simple concepts that we just really enjoyed, running with concepts that were just a lot of fun to play around. I'm sure I can speak for the rest of the SoM team in saying that we're really happy with the way people have taken to this system.

Q66: What's a day in the life like? For everyone? I know there are a lot of devs on this at this point but how often do you interact with each other? What else is on your plate? And when did things go from 'cool idea' to 'this got real' for any devs that answer this question?

A66: We actually have a lot of contact with each other, most of us are on a discord server together, and I run my own development server too. As for how quickly something goes from 'cool idea' to 'working doc', it's actually pretty fast. I've had a few things that were just neat ideas slowly making their way forward into actual projects.

A66: I dunno how much you know about the industry, so I'm going to answer with all the information I could have really used when I started looking into doing this stuff. Hopefully you (or at least someone else reading this thread) will find it useful.

The vast majority of writers in this industry, even people who write for companies like Paizo and WotC, are freelancers. We aren't technically employed by any publisher or company (though some have very strong ties to one or more publishers), we are contracted for one product at a time, and earn money based on what we write. Very few of us write full time. I, for example, work in a hospital emergency room and supplement that job with writing. I do have days dedicated just to writing though. So, here's how writing goes for me.

First, I have to get a contract. There's a few ways to obtain one. Open calls, internal requests, networking, and pitches. Open calls are one of the easiest to get ahold of, since they're well, open. Sometimes a publisher throws a request out into the wild of the internet, saying "hey, I want this, can anyone deliver?" This is how I got started working with DDS: when Meyers wanted writers for sphere handbooks, he posted an open call on this forum, and I responded. If you've already worked with a publisher though, it gets easier. Most publishers use stuff like discord, slack (a more businessy discord), basecamp (a project organizer), or just to regularly talk to their freelancers and keep them apprised of new writing needs and opportunities. This is a good passive feed of work, and most of what I've written has come to me this way. Networking is the second cousin of internal requests, where you know a guy who knows a publishers, and they tell you that this publisher is looking for writers. I have a few writer focused forums and chat groups I stick in that keep me aware of work, and they fall in this category. Lastly... pitches. If you've got a cool idea, you can just throw it at publishers until it sticks. Or you can say "wow that publisher is cool," make something targeted at them and their needs, and throw it at them in the hopes of getting their attention. In the short term, this is one of the least successful ways of getting work... but it is a way to get your foot in the door somewhere new, and establish yourself with another publisher, which leads to getting more internal requests from that publisher.

The actual writing process starts with brainstorming. And for me... brainstorming isn't something I just sit around doing, most of the time. Its a passive process. Basically, my brain is a slow cooker, and I'll throw a contract or seed of an idea in the back of my head while I go about the rest of my day, doing chores, working in the hospital, or whatever. This more relaxed method of brainstorming prevents me from getting locked up by pressure and stress, and allows me plenty of time to come up with good ideas to start with. But usually this process eventually segues into research. Once I have a start on my idea, I often need to refine it. If its mechanics, I'll look for precedent - how similar abilities have been built and phrased, where they might be flawed or if my idea is redundant. I'll also look into relevant topics for ideas and details, especially for fluffy pieces. I looked a bit into the properties and effects of light as well as light based technology when making the Illuminator's Handbook, for example.

Once I've got a good grasp of what I'm writing, I chart out what I'm going to write if I haven't already been provided a template by my publisher. I cut the writing work into the section I consider necessary (like the different chapters of our sphere handbooks) and assign a rough word count to each. This last bit is important, because writers are normally given a range to hit in terms of word count, so it gives me an idea of how much I have to work with when writing the book. And then... I start filling it in. Sometimes I find I don't have enough ideas to complete a section, and I'll go back to brainstorming and researching. The different parts of the writing process tend to mix up and often happen simultaneously rather than being a clean step by step process.

As for staying in contact, I have a lot of instant messaging and online connections with my publishers and other writers (whether I'm working with them or not). We keep in touch, especially when projects are happening.

What's on my plate... quite a bit. The Warp Handbook has been sitting on the back burner for a while. I have an idea for another Apocrypha that I have about half done. I've been commissioned by an individual to write a custom race. I'm working on projects with Rite Publishing and Cobalt Sages Creations, and I'm looking to secure another pair of contracts with two new publishers.

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Q67: What is the best part of having worked/working on this system? Again, open to any and all devs.

A67: For me, it's seeing people interact with the system. That includes people talking about what they don't like, what could be fixed, etc. Also, people who write guides for it win my heart in a real way; as a guide writer, it's like a love letter to what I've written. Seriously though, threads like this are some of my favorite parts of the books, and it's too amazing to even involve myself in projects like these.

A67: My favorite thing about writing in general is that its an accomplishment I can keep looking to. There's a lot of work that is transient: its not yours, it gets messed up again, the traces of it vanish, that sort of thing. But a book? Once complete, its pretty much here to stay. So I bask in my work and plan to keep piling completed books atop each other until I have built a pyramid-monument to my success that will only stoke my insatiable ego further.

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Q68: There was an idea that surfaced earlier in the thread about plans for expanding ideas for the sphere system and someone said "all it really needs is someone to take the reins". Is it that easy to get involved? If I have ideas and/or want to try and contribute something to this system, how would that be submitted?

A68: I can say that I was able to get involved pretty easily, but then again, I had a pretty good track record beforehand. From what I've seen, it's mostly about getting into contact with Adam M. and pitching to see if he likes the concept. For those looking to get into design work, I run a design server, feel free to PM me for info about that (it's semi-private, so no public links).

A68: Becoming a freelance writer is probably easier than you'd imagine. If you know the system, have a decent grasp of English, and can assemble something resembling a work ethic, you can probably get started. My perspective on DDS is that there's more need for people handling editing and layout than writers at this point, but there's no harm in giving it a shot. Reach out to Meyers.
If you'd just like to get into writing in general, keep an eye out for open calls and start looking at different publishers. Here are some handy links:
Open Publisher List
Third Party Open Call thread at Paizo
Most publishers have a section on their site about submissions and pitches, so peer around websites of publishers you might be interested in.
Also, Jolly's design server is great, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to get serious about writing.

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Will we be seeing supplemental releases for stuff like extra spheres, extra talents, extra supporting feats?

(Will we ever see a feat that reduces ritual casting time?)

@AGrinningCat: Yes to both questions; we're currently working on a PDF of everything that couldn't fit in the book, including more class conversions, archetypes, favored class bonuses, etc. More support for ritual casters also sounds awesome, and will definitely be included.

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I'm am curious however, if you are going to go back and address certain aspects that are still a bit weak in comparison to other spheres? Notably Creation and Illusion, having to spend a spell point AND concentrate is just too large of an investment, especially when looking at the Alteration and Destruction spheres.

@CashanDraven: I have seen Illusion and Creation casters do things that would destroy a game if they could do it at-will, hence the decision to require at least 1 spell point per use.

I'm not sure how they translate into being more powerful than some of the other spheres mentioned above. I think it would be easy enough to split them into major and minor categories, somewhat like you did with the mind sphere. You have very minor and basic abilities that just require concentration, such as crude tools or weapons for creation, or mirage like illusions that impose a penalty, rather than be an outright fabrication.

This would allow people a bit more versatility, without having to dump most of their magical resources into those sphere's exclusively. Again, Alteration and Destruction are the prime examples, strong up front abilities, that, aside from being a Shifter, you must spend a spell point to keep them going for any real length of time.

Another thing I found while looking over the book last night, the extra-dimensional storage space could use a bit of a buff, as it stands you can barely hold much of anything. It's a good baseline, but having an extra feat or talent that increases the size would be nice. Maybe able to get up to stage I bag of holding, or even a haversack?

@CashanDraven: I don't think it would be a problem to include talents for minor creation or advanced extradimentional spaces, and those ideas will probably appear in future supplements for the system.

A lot of the reasoning behind those decisions comes down to that we wanted those abilities where power is limited only by player imagination to remain fueled by player imagination, but to provide a cap so that imaginative players couldn't just destroy the work of a novice GM day in and day out.

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Similar question as others people, any plans to change/buff some of the weaker spheres? I don't think it's actually a problem that some spheres a stronger than others (perfect balance usually means sacrificing interesting fluff/crunch) but I'm still curious if you have plans for new talents or anything to give a boost to some spheres.

@Chronikoce: We will be expanding things, yeah; we've got a bunch of stuff in the works, but beyond the player's options mentioned in my answer to AGrinningCat, I'm hoping to do a supplemental PDF soon that's just additional talents.

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Will there be an unearthed arcana or unchained like book of alternate rules? And interactions with other systems like psionics?

@spikeof2010: You mean beyond simply doing magic? We've actually got two books in the works doing the same thing to combat and skills that we did to magic, but those are a ways off what with Skybourne and Wizard's Academy being our primary focuses at the moment. We haven't set up any integration with other publisher's work, but I have heard of quite a few people that have mixed psionics and spheres together just to have a ludicrous amount of non-vancian options at their table.

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Do you have any plans to show off more of the material and concepts here to let people playtest and theorycraft what kind of shenanigans they can make? Similar to the way dreamscarred press does it.

@MyrPsychologist: Now that I've seen the community here, I think that sounds like a great idea.

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Have you considered working with other 3PP on joint items? In particular, I'd like to see a Sphere/Initiator mix gish class (or maybe just a mageknight Archetype), as well as something mixing Spheres with Pact Magic (Radiance House)

Why are some classes open to the choice of casting modifier and others are not? The big one where this came up in my group was Armorist, which is locked to Wisdom. Since the player in question was building a mad scientist who stored various inventions in his hammerspace, I let him swap it to Int, but it struck me as odd.

This has actually come up a few times, so I'll ask your opinion: How do you envision Caster Level and Talents working in a Gestalt environment

@Keledrath: While that sounds awesome, there's a lot of logistics to go through when mixing publishing houses like that, so I can't say if that will ever happen.

As for casting stats, we wanted to give people the freedom to pick their own stats, while not bogging down people who didn't care for extreme customization with too many choices (hence, why some classes can pick and some classes can't.) I see no problem in letting people change it up, though, and a mad scientist sounds fun.

Gestalt characters: I haven't run a gestalt game with SoP, but I'd assume that Caster Level, like BAB, would advanced with the highest included class. I'd let them take talents for both classes though, just as a cleric/wizard gestalt would get two sets of spells.

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Will there ever be some sort of SoP Mythic Companion, which would add options so SoP can be used in a Mythic game?

@Ninjaxenomorph: It's in the works.

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Do you have a rough ETA on the full completion of the first SoP book? Most sites have serious issues handing out updates, so I'm waiting for the book to actually finish before picking up a copy. I think there are 3-4 others here who feel the same way, not to mention RL buddies of mine.

@PsyBomb: The printer assures me we'll have the books a couple weeks before Gen Con.

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Out of curiosity, how did you intend spherecasting to interact with prestige class prerequisites? My groups have been requiring a CL equal to what you'd need to cast nth-level spells normally, but I was wondering if you have any specific RAI in mind (since there isn't anything I saw in the book about it)?

@Forrestfire: We didn't delve into Prestige class adaptations because some of them are very specific to spellcasting, and others work with just a simple conversion without the need for much adaptation. The way you're doing it sounds great.

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Actually a little unrelated to Spheres, but regarding Skybourne, how long have you been working on that setting? I've been working on my own setting on and off for a few years now, mostly for private games, but I have had fantasies of someday publishing it and am wondering how Skybourne evolved into something you feel confident enough to eventually publish to the public?

@Crake: That's actually a complicated question. Skybourne's been kicking around in my head for about 5 years now, but that time's also been spent with two other worlds: a multiverse-level post-apocalyptic, and a world built around mythic adventures. There's an old writer's tip that the best work comes from combining multiple ideas rather than focusing on just one (Jim Butcher's Codex Alera, just as an example, apparently grew from a dare to write a book that mixed pokemon with the lost Roman legion), and Skybourne as it's currently iterated is built from a combination of aspects of all three worlds. So while the setting and its component parts have been in development for years, I specifically wanted to start the kickstarter before the world got too set in stone, as I still wanted the room to play with ideas, mix and match concepts, and get feedback from the kickstarter backers on what ideas they liked best.

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I have a very basic question: I have seen this system mentioned a handful of times here, but never really seen even a summary of what it is. Can you give your elevator pitch of it?

@Segev: Spheres of Power is a concept-based magic system, where rather than fitting your ideas to the magic, you can fit the magic to your ideas. 20 spheres act like magical feat trees letting you build magic, casters, and worlds as you want whether it's Jedi, mystborn, air benders, or anything in-between.

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Now, here's the thornier issue that came up with regards to gestalt caster level: interaction with no sphere casters.

This was actually the mad scientist again. The only standard casters I allowed were alchemist/investigator. He is alchemist//armorist. Now, under a real spheres conversion, he would only be a mid caster. However, that isn't the case. Would you judge it fair to let him act as a full caster?

As a note, I went with yes, but that's mostly because I run games at a very high power floor (I consider it a personal failure if a player feels useless).

@Kelerath: I guess so. Either that or just possess both magic systems Bokor-style.

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If a fey adept is using create reality to make a conjuration sphere companion, are you locked into the same companion every time you do it as you would be with the conjuration sphere properly, or can each illusion be created on a case by case basis?

@Stack: The Fey Adept could choose a different companion each time.

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A bit off topic from SoP, but still topical to Pathfinder ATM: Before Spheres of Power, you did Rogue Glory, which aimed to fix the problems with Rogue at the time. As such, what's your opinion on the new Rogue updates in Pathfinder Unchained? Is there anything done with one that you think could have been done better with the other?

Is there anything in general you wish you had done better^tm in that book?

@Ilorin Lorati: I haven't tried the Unchained Rogue at a table yet, but I like the look of it, particularly the skill rank unlocks. I'm not sure I like debilitating injury, not because I don't think it would be a lot of fun to use at the table, but because I've never liked locking rogues (being one of the most versatile classes) into one box, even if that box is a fun one like tactical debilitater. This is, incidentally, why I've come to not quite like the Glory Rogue's ambush ability; it's awesome when you want it, but does lock the rogue into the 'ambusher' box. Honestly, I'd love to run an unchained rogue who gets a guile pool at 4th level in place of debilitating injury, just to make a sort of ultimate versatile skill-master hybrid between the two.

As for Rogue Glory, it was my first book so there's no way I can look at it objectively, but in hindsight I think the mechanics stand up fairly well, although I wish I'd had more experience with the rest of design when I'd done it. I recently looked through it again and noticed I didn't even alphabetize the feats.

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When will the print version be released? I really want the book but it's hard for me to use PDFs at my gaming table. I can't find a release date anywhere for the print version.

@Endless Rain: According to the printer, the physical books will arrive shortly before Gen Con. We didn't plan on having a booth at Gen Con, but we will be bringing copies to Gen Con to give to any kickstarter backers present, and will be shipping the rest to backers and storefronts as soon as we get back.

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Here's a few from my own gaming group. I'm serving as the mouthpiece for six people, so there's a lot of questions here.

1)Why does the Armorist not get Heavy Armor proficiency without spending a feat or equipment trick? They do feel like they'd be the one to get it. (Also:Why is the Armorist's casting stat Wisdom?)

2)Why is Destruction's basic attack bludgeoning damage, and how do you see that working from a bluff perspective?

3)How does Magical Knack (The +2 to CL so long as it doesn't go above your character level trait) interact with Spherecasting?

4)Elementalists seem a bit...odd. The main gist of the question is, I suppose, why do Elementalists get all good saves? Bonus combat feats also seem a little out of left field, though not as much so.

5)(Rephrasing from 'Why does the Weather Sphere suck?') What uses have you seen the Weather Sphere serve for a player?

6)Why do you make it so that several talents have absolutely horrid scaling-I'm specifically thinking of Fate's base ability, and several from the War Totem, that only grant a +1 bonus per 10 levels. Did AC serve to be that powerful a defense in your playtest?

7)Why do Incanter Sphere Specializations take more feats than Sorcerer Bloodlines, when the Bloodlines tend to be stronger and more useful? +1 Caster Level is nice, but most of the Specializations tend to be more than a little weak.

8)What was your inspiration for this style of casting, and how did you settle on the 20 Spheres chosen?

9)Are Metamagic Rods intended to work with Spherecasting, and if so, how?

10)I'm intending to make a message board with a world setting that only includes Spherecasting in it. Is it permissable to include the rules for Spherecasting on the site itself? Or should I wait until pages are submitted to the PFSRD? (Secondary addition:Do you want any help with that?)

@Der_DWSage:
1) The fighter's schtick has always been its front-loaded proficiencies; it gives you heavy armor proficiency and tower shields, both of which are rare to get any other way except through feats. Since the armorist gains magic and a powerful class feature at 1st level over what a fighter gets, we thought losing heavy armor and tower shields was a fair trade-off. We gave her Wisdom as a casting stat because the concept of the class was someone who unlocked the potential of equipment through mediation; they aren't a wizard who limits themselves to equipment, but a warrior who unlocked the mystic capabilities of the tools of war, if that makes sense.

2) Originally it was force damage, but we decided bludgeoning was a better way to represent 'a blast of pure magic power' without it automatically bypassing all forms of resistance. I'm not sure what you mean by a bluff perspective, though.

3) Personally, I don't allow Magical Knack at my table when using Spherecasting.

4) 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.

5) In my experience, weather is one of the most powerful spheres in the game, and has been significantly nerfed from its initial presentation. Things a player can do with weather off the top of my head: providing fog cover for the party and their personal army, nullifying most environmental hazards, use lightning or frost to slowly kill of a city or the insides of a building while hiding nearby or barricading the door, changing an environment in your favor before a massive fight, nullifying ranged enemies and blowing all but the largest opponents away, etc.

6) War and Fate can affect any number of people, making them ideal for large player groups and games that include followers. Fate also has abilities that grant multiple benefits at once. In both cases, balance demanded they scale more slowly than other abilities, otherwise they could turn into a win-button in certain situations.

7) Designer math is a finicky thing, but with bloodlines you trade 5 feats for 5 abilities (1st, 3rd, 9th, 15th, and 20th level sorcerer abilities). However, with the sphere specialization you gain 1 bonus sphere, +1 caster level with that sphere, and 3 abilities, one of which scales powerfully and becomes a capstone ability at 20th level. Mathmatically this makes a specialization equal to a sorcerer bloodline (5 abilities to 5 abilities), but in the case of the specialization one of those abilities scales dramatically (making it the equivalent of 2 abilites) and becomes a capstone ability at level 20 (making it the equivalent of 3 abilities), and +1 caster level to a sphere can easily be considered the equivalent of two abilities given its vast array of applications. With the above considerations, the specialization becomes superior to the bloodline in most cases, and we felt it was worth the additional cost.

8) The story of SoP's creation is a long one, but the short version is a friend suggested we do a line of classes that used spell-like abilities instead of spells, which led to a discussion of talent-based magic, which led to the investigation of a universal talent system. The book was originally intended to be much smaller (3-5 classes, I think 10 spheres) but when the kickstarter showed us just how much interest there was in the idea, we decided to significantly increase the scope of the book. The 20 spheres chosen came from brainstorming sessions and dissecting the Pathfinder spell lists and several online databases of super hero powers to try and discover how we could encompass as many types of powers as we could. There can and probably will be more spheres released in the future covering more specific expressions of magic (I've heard of at least one table that combined and re-purposed conjuration and I think enhancement to create a 'mechamagic' sphere), but we wanted to start with as many broad categories as we could to cover as many potential character-types as we could right out of the gate.

9) The general rule in SoP is, when mixing the two systems, divide caster level by 2 to find a sphere effect's equivalent spell level. This can be done to allow metamagic rods to function with Spherecasting.

10) We're waiting on D20pfsrd.com to upload the spheres and if you wanted to help expedite that process you would need to talk to them about it, but I certainly welcome any help making that happen. I love seeing people use SoP to make awesome things and so long as you keep your postings of the rules to things covered by the OGL it shouldn't be a problem, but if you're planning to post up most of the book, I'd ask you to contact the pfsrd about doing it there, just as a courtesy to everyone else who's in a similar boat and wants to have the rules online.

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Does the Destruction Talent: Nether Blast, heal undead, it being negative energy? I understand that Nether Blast specifically states that it doesnt damage undead, but it doesnt state that it doesnt heal it either. If it heals undead, I would recommend having it cost an additional spell point to hinder abuse.

@Mehangel: It does not heal undead, no.

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