Lost Spheres Publishing FAQ

[EisenKreutzer]

Q 100 How exactly does the Veryx bond with another creature? To whom are the Semoxa racial traits supposed to be applied? The Veryx character, another player character, a second character played simultaneously with the main Veryx character? An NPC? The Veryx entry is very confusing and offers little explanation.

[Lost_Spheres]

Q 100 How exactly does the Veryx bond with another creature? To whom are the Semoxa racial traits supposed to be applied? The Veryx character, another player character, a second character played simultaneously with the main Veryx character? An NPC? The Veryx entry is very confusing and offers little explanation.

A 100: Only semxi caste may form a semoxa bond with a humanoid. Semoxa veryx effectively become a new single creature and should usually be approached as a single new PC with the semoxa traits. Generally this event would happen in the backstory of a PC. The process is lengthy and involves downtime scale morphological changes once the semxi attaches to the nervous system of the partner. The fangs and pedipalps bloom connective nervous tissue, a resinous material is excreted at the bond wound and the dormant spinnerets of the semxi exude a second attaching material. In time this secretion bonds to semxi exoskeletal points and endoskeletal points in the humanoind. Most often this creates a connective "line" along the spine of the humanoid creature allowing the semxi to rest on the back of the other paired creature. The secretions continue processes of ossification at bond points and particularly old semoxa pairs take on the appearance of bonelike breastplates as even the legs become fully fused. Most bond sites are at the neck but some prefer to be bound at the base of the spinal column.

The cumulative changes on the host humanoid that make the resulting symbiotic creature for nearly all intents one being displaying the species traits listed in the entry. A human for instance would gain darkvision, multitask, etc and lose its bonus feat and other human traits. The multitask ability represents the main remnant of the two minds able to briefly diverge from their shared existence. While combat and death can separate the pairing (and effectively cause a surviving half to "revert" or "reincarnate" to the original or altered component) generally the player should be creating the character as a new PC.

HOWEVER, some GMs might want to use the bonding to allow for a humanoid or semxi PC to have a rapid retraining on a drastic scale. For instance a fighter PC who is not enjoying her character and wants to try out the psychic class might partner with the GM to have the character bond to a semxi to awaken her psychic potential. The resulting transmutative experience could even be so as to atrophy a physical statistic and increase a mental one or the like. Allowing for a PC with all of the story knowledge, party relationships, and backstory while effectively introducing a new PC for the dissatisfied player.

A semxi cannot weaponize the bond on an unwilling creature.

The physical process is highly interruptible and any humanoid mature enough would be able to resist. Initiating the bond on a helpless creature is considered an act of depravity that would require overcoming the ancestral consciousness and likely dealing with the consequences of a second hostile or unaware mind in initial bonding. Attempting to do so would likely kill both creatures as the dissonant energies of their minds converged and dispersed leaving mindless husks to wither away.

Failed bonds might result in monsters or other GM controlled phenomena.

Assuming the City of 7 Seraphs line continues to grow we do have an expanded species series in mind with other playable castes (people keep expressing interest in amxi), further explanations of the semoxa bond (and other bonds), and ancestral memory mechanics, and more creatures the Runeweb altered and expanding on their original chelicerae cousins and other arachnid ancestors. If a GM wants to explore more hostile variations of related creatures (including hostile/parasitic bonds) they might want to include such creatures as enemies.

[EisenKreutzer]

A 100: Only semxi caste may form a semoxa bond with a humanoid. Semoxa veryx effectively become a new single creature and should usually be approached as a single new PC with the semoxa traits. Generally this event would happen in the backstory of a PC. The process is lengthy and involves downtime scale morphological changes once the semxi attaches to the nervous system of the partner. The fangs and pedipalps bloom connective nervous tissue, a resinous material is excreted at the bond wound and the dormant spinnerets of the semxi exude a second attaching material. In time this secretion bonds to semxi exoskeletal points and endoskeletal points in the humanoind. Most often this creates a connective "line" along the spine of the humanoid creature allowing the semxi to rest on the back of the other paired creature. The secretions continue processes of ossification at bond points and particularly old semoxa pairs take on the appearance of bonelike breastplates as even the legs become fully fused. Most bond sites are at the neck but some prefer to be bound at the base of the spinal column.

The cumulative changes on the host humanoid that make the resulting symbiotic creature for nearly all intents one being displaying the species traits listed in the entry. A human for instance would gain darkvision, multitask, etc and lose its bonus feat and other human traits. The multitask ability represents the main remnant of the two minds able to briefly diverge from their shared existence. While combat and death can separate the pairing (and effectively cause a surviving half to "revert" or "reincarnate" to the original or altered component) generally the player should be creating the character as a new PC.

HOWEVER, some GMs might want to use the bonding to allow for a humanoid or semxi PC to have a rapid retraining on a drastic scale. For instance a fighter PC who is not enjoying her character and wants to try out the psychic class might partner with the GM to have the character bond to a semxi to awaken her psychic potential. The resulting transmutative experience could even be so as to atrophy a physical statistic and increase a mental one or the like. Allowing for a PC with all of the story knowledge, party relationships, and backstory while effectively introducing a new PC for the dissatisfied player.

A semxi cannot weaponize the bond on an unwilling creature.

The physical process is highly interruptible and any humanoid mature enough would be able to resist. Initiating the bond on a helpless creature is considered an act of depravity that would require overcoming the ancestral consciousness and likely dealing with the consequences of a second hostile or unaware mind in initial bonding. Attempting to do so would likely kill both creatures as the dissonant energies of their minds converged and dispersed leaving mindless husks to wither away.

Failed bonds might result in monsters or other GM controlled phenomena.

Assuming the City of 7 Seraphs line continues to grow we do have an expanded species series in mind with other playable castes (people keep expressing interest in amxi), further explanations of the semoxa bond (and other bonds), and ancestral memory mechanics, and more creatures the Runeweb altered and expanding on their original chelicerae cousins and other arachnid ancestors. If a GM wants to explore more hostile variations of related creatures (including hostile/parasitic bonds) they might want to include such creatures as enemies.

I wish this explanation was in the actual book, it makes much more sense than the scant info on the bond available in the book.

I would LOVE to see the races of Co7S get a more in depth treatment. It’s already my absolute favourite setting book for PF1, and I’m absolutely devouring everything you guys put out about it. I’m actually starting a campaign based in Hyraeatan this sunday!

[CactusAir]

Q101 What sort of class features are the Academic Dual focus feat meant to cover?

Does it only work for class feature that work numerically off of your class level (Paladin smite damage), or can it also cover class abilities that scale up every 3/4/5/6 levels (Medium’s Spirit Bonus)?

[Lost_Spheres]

Q101 What sort of class features are the Academic Dual focus feat meant to cover?

Does it only work for class feature that work numerically off of your class level (Paladin smite damage), or can it also cover class abilities that scale up every 3/4/5/6 levels (Medium’s Spirit Bonus)?

A101As long as the feature is unlocked it would scale so long as the classes remained within range. So both of the above would benefit. In the case of say an oracle, currently selected revelations would benefit but no new revelations would be gained until the actual level of oracle was selected.

[Kris Moonhand]

Some questions mainly for Sslarn.

Q102: Was the [weapon] descriptor for veils (and the subsequent rules for enhancing veil weapons) supposed to be an ongoing thing that you canned in favor of weapon-like veils with bind enhancements, or did you not have a hand in that at all?

Q103: Are there plans for other classes or archetypes that use veils with the [title] descriptor, like the ones from Rajah? I thought those were pretty cool, and would like to see them on a pure veilweaver. (Akasha is a bit easier to sell to DMs than PoW.) Maybe something for Radiant or Zodiac?

Q104: The Radiant's Vestments from Co7S gives 1 extra HP per die of healing, but Radiant only has one veil that actually heals with dice, Immaculate Touch. Everything else is either HP transference, fast healing, or temp HP. Was that supposed to be mostly for Clerics and the like, while the main draw for Radiants would be the boost to Akashic Bond?

Q105: Are we going to get more items for Akashic characters? I like bling~

Q106: Why doesn't the Radiant get the Valkyrie's Chain veil? Besides the fact that they don't have a Chest bind, I mean. I thought it was kinda weird that the one healing veil in the book wasn't compatible with the healing class.

Q107: Are there going to be racial FCBs for the Co7S classes and Zodiac linked to the original Akashic Mysteries races?

Q108: Why do some veilweaving feats not have the [Akashic] descriptor, like Twinveil and Expanded Veilweaving?

By the way, I'm definitely going to be getting Akashic Realms 2 in the next couple of days! This stuff is top-notch, I'm really enjoying all the different flavors you're giving Akasha~

[khadgar567]

Some questions mainly for Sslarn.

Q102: Was the [weapon] descriptor for veils (and the subsequent rules for enhancing veil weapons) supposed to be an ongoing thing that you canned in favor of weapon-like veils with bind enhancements, or did you not have a hand in that at all?

Q103: Are there plans for other classes or archetypes that use veils with the [title] descriptor, like the ones from Rajah? I thought those were pretty cool, and would like to see them on a pure veilweaver. (Akasha is a bit easier to sell to DMs than PoW.) Maybe something for Radiant or Zodiac?

Q104: The Radiant's Vestments from Co7S gives 1 extra HP per die of healing, but Radiant only has one veil that actually heals with dice, Immaculate Touch. Everything else is either HP transference, fast healing, or temp HP. Was that supposed to be mostly for Clerics and the like, while the main draw for Radiants would be the boost to Akashic Bond?

Q105: Are we going to get more items for Akashic characters? I like bling~

Q106: Why doesn't the Radiant get the Valkyrie's Chain veil? Besides the fact that they don't have a Chest bind, I mean. I thought it was kinda weird that the one healing veil in the book wasn't compatible with the healing class.

Q107: Are there going to be racial FCBs for the Co7S classes and Zodiac linked to the original Akashic Mysteries races?

Q108: Why do some veilweaving feats not have the [Akashic] descriptor, like Twinveil and Expanded Veilweaving?

By the way, I'm definitely going to be getting Akashic Realms 2 in the next couple of days! This stuff is top-notch, I'm really enjoying all the different flavors you're giving Akasha~

C103 that would be cool as well as like maybe bit more spheres colabration via city of seraphs exculusive akashic champion class
C105 deffinityly i think more toys always kinda help both akashic classes and other casters.

[Ssalarn]

Some questions mainly for Sslarn.

Q102: Was the [weapon] descriptor for veils (and the subsequent rules for enhancing veil weapons) supposed to be an ongoing thing that you canned in favor of weapon-like veils with bind enhancements, or did you not have a hand in that at all?

A102:It's not a descriptor I use and was added in a release I wasn't part of. I just don't really like it personally, because I don't think it really matches up with how akasha works and creates some weird interactions when you consider what it means for the in-world economy.

Q103: Are there plans for other classes or archetypes that use veils with the [title] descriptor, like the ones from Rajah? I thought those were pretty cool, and would like to see them on a pure veilweaver. (Akasha is a bit easier to sell to DMs than PoW.) Maybe something for Radiant or Zodiac?

A103: Probably not from me. There's a set of guidelines I use to keep akasha balanced and accessible as I continue to add new materials to the system, and rajah and titles don't follow those guidelines.
If I were to do something similar, it would probably riff off of the Veiled Lord's "Veiled Legion" ability with some of the updates and refinements used in the gen 2 and gen 3 materials, and/or the radiant's akashic bond / vivifications.

Q104: The Radiant's Vestments from Co7S gives 1 extra HP per die of healing, but Radiant only has one veil that actually heals with dice, Immaculate Touch. Everything else is either HP transference, fast healing, or temp HP. Was that supposed to be mostly for Clerics and the like, while the main draw for Radiants would be the boost to Akashic Bond?

A104:The boost to Akashic Bond is definitely the primary draw; the bonus healing is primarily spice that the radiant can get a small boost out of and multiclass radiant/clerics can leverage to make up for falling behind in their two progressions.

Q105: Are we going to get more items for Akashic characters? I like bling~

A105: Almost certainly, yeah. The last couple releases have placed a lot of focus on the zodiac class (with nexus and eclipse also getting some love), so I've intentionally not been adding a ton of new items (though AR2 does have some new consumables I helped Christen workshop while I was working on the races and constellations). Since the constellations' equipment forms actually do occupy slots, I didn't want to add things that conflicted with the other new materials in each release. I expect that when we do a release with more focus on the other classes who haven't gotten as much love in the first two AR volumes (like the daevic, guru, radiant, and vizier) we'll have space for more items.

Q106: Why doesn't the Radiant get the Valkyrie's Chain veil? Besides the fact that they don't have a Chest bind, I mean. I thought it was kinda weird that the one healing veil in the book wasn't compatible with the healing class.

A106: It's because they don't have a Chest bind. If the veil doesn't have at least one bind that the veilweaver gets in-class access to, it doesn't go on their list. It's the same reason they don't get Scarlet Prayer Band on their list despite that also being thematically appropriate. A radiant archetype that gained Chest and Wrist binds would almost certainly add those veils to their list.

Q107: Are there going to be racial FCBs for the Co7S classes and Zodiac linked to the original Akashic Mysteries races?

A107: Goodness do I wish you'd asked this question two months ago so I could have squeezed it into AR2! Yeah, I'll talk to Christen about seeing where we might have space to add those in. (The OG akashic races did get some support in AR2 though!)

Q108: Why do some veilweaving feats not have the [Akashic] descriptor, like Twinveil and Expanded Veilweaving?

A108: Because they don't give bonus essence. There's some other factors involved, like whether or not the feat can be invested to expand its capabilities or if essence naturally improves the feat based on the size of your pool, but the main identifier to something getting the [Akashic] descriptor is whether or not it gives a point of essence.

By the way, I'm definitely going to be getting Akashic Realms 2 in the next couple of days! This stuff is top-notch, I'm really enjoying all the different flavors you're giving Akasha~

I'm glad you're enjoying them! Let me know what you think of AR2 once you pick it up; it's weird and wonderful in a way that I particularly enjoyed writing for.

[Kris Moonhand]

Thanks so much for answering my questions. As an aside (cuz I like making homebrew, so I like knowing what developers think about stuff), what do you feel makes title veils incompatible with the regular system? Is it just their association with PoW? You mentioned the Veiled Lord, and the two are somewhat similar. Just that the VL shares one veil with all allies, while titles are placed on allies on a case-by-case basis.

[Ssalarn]

Thanks so much for answering my questions. As an aside (cuz I like making homebrew, so I like knowing what developers think about stuff), what do you feel makes title veils incompatible with the regular system? Is it just their association with PoW? You mentioned the Veiled Lord, and the two are somewhat similar. Just that the VL shares one veil with all allies, while titles are placed on allies on a case-by-case basis.

I sent you a PM with an explanation and a link to a resource that might help explain my general concerns

[Bahumut]

I sent you a PM with an explanation and a link to a resource that might help explain my general concerns

I always found your Akashic content very well balanced, but when you first showed us those balancing guidelines you use, I fell in love with it all over again. Any GM I've asked to use Akashic stuff in their campaigns was completely blown away by it, and have all agreed to allow it.

[EisenKreutzer]

I sent you a PM with an explanation and a link to a resource that might help explain my general concerns

Would you mind sharing that link with me as well? I’m genuinely curious about the thoughts that went into the design process.

[Ssalarn]

Would you mind sharing that link with me as well? I’m genuinely curious about the thoughts that went into the design process.

Yeah, it's this design guidelines doc for akasha. It's not 100% comprehensive and it's more about guidelines and standards than hard rules, but it's what I and the other folks designing akashic materials for Lost Spheres use. Eventually I'm going to drop some additional references in there like the RP costs of the various akashic races, which I did some preliminary numbers for like 5 years ago but haven't actually gotten properly codified in the guidelines.

[EisenKreutzer]

Yeah, it's this design guidelines doc for akasha. It's not 100% comprehensive and it's more about guidelines and standards than hard rules, but it's what I and the other folks designing akashic materials for Lost Spheres use. Eventually I'm going to drop some additional references in there like the RP costs of the various akashic races, which I did some preliminary numbers for like 5 years ago but haven't actually gotten properly codified in the guidelines.

Thank you, that was actually very illuminating!

[EisenKreutzer]

Q 109 Is anything happening with the Book of Beyond? The project showed incredible promise, and the pdfs that were put out for it were nothing short of brilliant.

[Bahumut]

I picked up Akashic Realms 2 a few days ago, and am really digging the new content! All of the new races are interesting, especially the quadrupeds. I did have a few questions, so here goes:

Q110: I can't seem to wrap my mind around the Wolger Kineticist FCB, as I couldn't find any fire-element blasts that deal electricity damage, and the whole thing is a bit of a run-on sentence; Could you break it down for me? I'm probably just not reading it right...

Q111:This one is more of a hypothetical, as it's *definitely* a corner case...if I created a Wolger Psychic Bloodline Sorceror, getting around the 'no hands for somatic components' thing, would you have a suggestion for an appropriate Sorceror FCB? I guess that could also be posed for the Wyrmkin, as well.

[Mithril Leaf]

Q112: Does the Creeper's Slasher ability apply to all Slashing or Piercing weapons that are wielded in one hand or only with the specific category of One-Handed Weapons?

[Ssalarn]

Q112: Does the Creeper's Slasher ability apply to all Slashing or Piercing weapons that are wielded in one hand or only with the specific category of One-Handed Weapons?

A112 Given the current state of core FAQs on this topic, the answer is "Specifically one-handed weapons."

[Mithril Leaf]

A112 Given the current state of core FAQs on this topic, the answer is "Specifically one-handed weapons."

Okay cool, just checking as their art seems to be depicting them using daggers, which wouldn't qualify.

[Ssalarn]

Okay cool, just checking as their art seems to be depicting them using daggers, which wouldn't qualify.

Ah, I see the issue. It should have the words "or light" after one-handed. I'll notify Christen.

[Ssalarn]

I picked up Akashic Realms 2 a few days ago, and am really digging the new content! All of the new races are interesting, especially the quadrupeds. I did have a few questions, so here goes:

Q110: I can't seem to wrap my mind around the Wolger Kineticist FCB, as I couldn't find any fire-element blasts that deal electricity damage, and the whole thing is a bit of a run-on sentence; Could you break it down for me? I'm probably just not reading it right...

A110: Sorry for the delay answering, I had to research this one since it wasn't in the original turnover. It looks like it should refer to air element blasts, not fire.

Q111:This one is more of a hypothetical, as it's *definitely* a corner case...if I created a Wolger Psychic Bloodline Sorceror, getting around the 'no hands for somatic components' thing, would you have a suggestion for an appropriate Sorceror FCB? I guess that could also be posed for the Wyrmkin, as well.

A111: I'd probably give them something akin to the sylph's FCB from the ARG. Wolger's have a strong connection to Sky King, and thus the element of air and electricity spells and effects, so on a spellcasting chassis that's what I'd emphasize.

[Lost_Spheres]

Q 109 Is anything happening with the Book of Beyond? The project showed incredible promise, and the pdfs that were put out for it were nothing short of brilliant.

A 109while all intended volumes have been released we're still planning to combine them and make it available for PoD once we begin that process. Any subscribers will receive any collected version we did as well.

[EisenKreutzer]

A 109while all intended volumes have been released we're still planning to combine them and make it available for PoD once we begin that process. Any subscribers will receive any collected version we did as well.

Glad to hear it!

[Bahumut]

A110: Sorry for the delay answering, I had to research this one since it wasn't in the original turnover. It looks like it should refer to air element blasts, not fire.

I blame it on Avatar: TLA associating electricity with fire, instead of air...

After doing some more reading, I found something about Kineticists that I had completely forgotten about:

As a standard action, the kineticist can unleash a kinetic blast at a single target up to a range of 30 feet. She must have at least one hand free to aim the blast (or one prehensile appendage, if she doesn’t have hands).

I'm pretty sure any of the GMs I play with would allow a Wolger character to shoot Kinetic Blasts from their mouth, ala Voltron, but there may need to be some additional wording to the Quadrupedal Trait Entry for anything that requires a hand (or prehensile appendage) for aiming.

A111: I'd probably give them something akin to the sylph's FCB from the ARG. Wolger's have a strong connection to Sky King, and thus the element of air and electricity spells and effects, so on a spellcasting chassis that's what I'd emphasize.

That's a good starting point, thank you!

[Kris Moonhand]

Q113: My DM has expressed some concerns with the summoned Half-Celestial Unicorn from the Sparkling Alicorn veil. What would you say to assuage his worries about "unlimited goddamn unicorns"? For reference, I'm a level 12 Radiant, and my other usual veils are Unicorn Feathering, Heaven's Blessing, Priestess' Clasp of Rebirth, Crinere of Warding, and Verdant Vambraces (I took Expanded Veilweaving at 11 for an extra veil, and Twinveil: Neck at 9th to bind Priestess' Clasp of Rebirth and Sparkling Alicorn at the same time).

[NomGarret]

Unofficial A113: does the second sentence stating you can only have one such unicorn at a time not cut it?

[Ssalarn]

Q113: My DM has expressed some concerns with the summoned Half-Celestial Unicorn from the Sparkling Alicorn veil. What would you say to assuage his worries about "unlimited goddamn unicorns"? For reference, I'm a level 12 Radiant, and my other usual veils are Unicorn Feathering, Heaven's Blessing, Priestess' Clasp of Rebirth, Crinere of Warding, and Verdant Vambraces (I took Expanded Veilweaving at 11 for an extra veil, and Twinveil: Neck at 9th to bind Priestess' Clasp of Rebirth and Sparkling Alicorn at the same time).

A113 You can only summon one celestial unicorn at a time and punching you in the head (chakra) for three times your level in damage (typically pretty easy) takes away the unicorn and all the other abilities the veil gives you for 1d4 rounds (typically the better portion of a combat encounter).

[Kris Moonhand]

Just saw the new line added to Expanded Cosmology. A bit unfortunate, but I suppose with the increased power of the Quiet Lands constellations, it's necessary.

EDIT: Apologies, apparently the rest of my post got eaten.

Q114: What is the duration on the Pasha of Stone's Guardian's Embrace ability?

Q115: When champion forms like the Pasha of Stone and the Sultan of Flames say they gain levels in Monk or Barbarian, do they have to take the chained version, or can they go unchained?

Q116: Leviathan's and Sultan of Flames' weapon forms are a bit incongruous with previously released Constellation weapons, scaling more like weapon-like veils (being limited to +5 enhancement bonus and having massive amounts of scaling damage), while Thunderbird's works like other Constellation weapons. I'm not sure how to frame my question other than "that seems kind of weird, what's up with that?"

Q117: I got most of the references of the various races, but I seem to be drawing a blank on Wyrmkin. Are they supposed to be a race I would recognize from a certain long-running fantasy series with a decidedly finite name?

Q118: Both Wolger and Wyrmkin are quadrupedal. Core rules state that quadrupeds with claws/paws have the following magic item slots: Armor, Belt (saddle), Chest, Eyes, Headband, Neck, Shoulders, Wrist. This means that, besides missing the Hands slot (which you covered by giving them two Feet slots), they would also be missing the Head, Body, and Ring slots (and Weapon, but I would assume that's on purpose). Is that accurate, or do they also have these slots? If they don't, what does that mean for veils shaped in those slots, especially Viziers with their Ring veils?

Q119: Are we going to get more Convergence feats for the other veil sets?

There we go, I think that was everything I wanted to ask earlier...

[Ssalarn]

Just saw the new line added to Expanded Cosmology. A bit unfortunate, but I suppose with the increased power of the Quiet Lands constellations, it's necessary.

It was also invalidating Noble Astrologist in a way that was not originally intended, so everything is now playing together as intended.

[Kris Moonhand]

It was also invalidating Noble Astrologist in a way that was not originally intended, so everything is now playing together as intended.

Oh, yeah, I can see what you're talking about. Definitely good to close that hole.