Spheres of Power alternate magic system


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Spheres of Power Kickstarter from Drop Dead Studios

Spheres of Power is a completely new magic system for Pathfinder and other D20 fantasy games. Rather than simply being a new way to access the old system (spell levels, spells per day, spell slots, etc.,) Spheres of Power reworks everything from the ground up, giving players and GMs a talent-based magic system they can use to explore whole new settings and character concepts.

Rather than building around spell lists, Spheres of Power lets you build around concepts. A collection of Spheres (alteration, life, mind, fate, destruction, etc.) lets you choose your character's focuses and abilities, which are further augmented by talents that expand a sphere' abilities. This lets players design their casters around a concept rather than a spell list, and gives GMs greater freedom to design their worlds however they want, letting them build worlds from Harry Potter, to Mistborn, to Dragon Age, to the Bartimaeus Trilogy, all without worrying about how to adapt the existing spell system to fit their idea.

Spheres of Power is built to be simple enough for a new player to learn, yet versatile enough to fit a thousand concepts. By breaking magic into spheres and talents, we let you design whatever you want, from a dangerous Fire Mage to a Jedi Knight to a wide-eyed Hogwarts student. With Talents, you also get the freedom to play your character your way, not having to wait until 5th level to throw your first fireball, or 9th level to throw your first enemy with telekinesis.

Our Kickstarter has already funded, but now we're working on stretch goals to make it even better, including re-writing the magic item rules, including a chapter on rituals, group casting, and mythic rules, and getting Paizo and Wizards of the Coast veteran Ben Wootten to do the cover art. Combined with the stretch goals we've already passed (a bestiary, expanded sphere and class options, as well as a Kickstarter-exclusive adventure module "Wizard's Academy") Spheres of Power promises to bring you some great additions to your gaming table and personal library.

Thank you in advance for helping us bring something great to the Pathfinder community.

See the kickstarter here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1708940685/spheres-of-power-a-new-pathf inder-magic-system

Verdant Wheel

I really like this product it has allowed one of my players, new to the game, to play a better Fey Sorcerer than what is available in the core rulebook. The fact that the character has only 5 spheres really focuses the concept without removing versatility. It's great. My Bloodrager is considering "going sphere" as well.

I have a single qualm. What is the idea behind Cantrips? To me, the fact that they are divorced from the spheres entirely seems counterlogical to the system. I understand that not all classes get cantrips (for example, Paladin and Ranger) and so not automatically including them follows from that, but, the fact that all cantrips are locked behind a single feat independent from the spheres the character takes seems a poor compromise. Was time an issue? Word count? Writer's block?

Cheers.


rainzax wrote:

I really like this product it has allowed one of my players, new to the game, to play a better Fey Sorcerer than what is available in the core rulebook. The fact that the character has only 5 spheres really focuses the concept without removing versatility. It's great. My Bloodrager is considering "going sphere" as well.

I have a single qualm. What is the idea behind Cantrips? To me, the fact that they are divorced from the spheres entirely seems counterlogical to the system. I understand that not all classes get cantrips (for example, Paladin and Ranger) and so not automatically including them follows from that, but, the fact that all cantrips are locked behind a single feat independent from the spheres the character takes seems a poor compromise. Was time an issue? Word count? Writer's block?

Cheers.

I think the issue is that there are a lot of cantrips/orisons that are pretty much on everyone's spell list but not everyone likes those around when we have at-will spellcasting in the first place. I for one only allow it when I allow other spellcasters and casters are expected to be able to cast certain zero level spells and will give the feat away for free with traditions. But otherwise I hate cantrips in the context of spheres of power only games. Heck even in normal games Detect Magic is easily the most annoying feat just because it winds up eating large chunks of playtime to check every single thing to see if it's magic. In Spheres of Power I'm glad it's the exclusive domain of one sphere as it is simply too useful of a spell to simply be free for every caster.

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