Spheres of Might (PFRPG) PDF

I hope it's not nagging if I ask again about news on a print version?

I'll bump Adam and ask, see if I can get an updated ETA.

Weird question: I am thinking of running an online game using the Spheres of Power and Spheres of Might rulesets. I know that some virtual tabletops like roll20 and d20pro support d20 game systems, but are the spheres rules so *different* from standard d20 that the game system support isn't really going to work?

No, they are not. Most effects are straightforward numbers (AC bonus, damage, buffs) or fairly straightforward effects (light a fire, create an object). You may have to fiddle with things a little, and possibly use custom fields to keep track of things, but it should be easy enough.

Would the Combat Specialization(Equipment) feat and, to a lesser extent, Mastered Talent(Finesse Fighting) increase the bonus from taking Finesse Fighting twice?

I think so, but I prefer to double check.

No, they are not. Most effects are straightforward numbers (AC bonus, damage, buffs) or fairly straightforward effects (light a fire, create an object). You may have to fiddle with things a little, and possibly use custom fields to keep track of things, but it should be easy enough.

Thanks for the confirmation!

Would the Combat Specialization(Equipment) feat and, to a lesser extent, Mastered Talent(Finesse Fighting) increase the bonus from taking Finesse Fighting twice?

I think so, but I prefer to double check.

Yes. Since those abilities treat your base attack bonus as being higher than it actually it is for related talents, you would use that increased BAB to calculate your bonus damage from taking Finesse Fighting twice.

Awesome. That can help my ideas for a Sage a lot.

Coffee Demon wrote:

I hope it's not nagging if I ask again about news on a print version?

I'll bump Adam and ask, see if I can get an updated ETA.

If (and only if) DDS has atm liquidity problems, maybe they ought to release SOM thru POD in OBS so that cash helps fund the kickstarter print run.

Yeah, I ask because I want to physically buy this book and was not part of the kickstarter.

Coffee Demon wrote:

I hope it's not nagging if I ask again about news on a print version?

I'll bump Adam and ask, see if I can get an updated ETA.

Just thought I'd ask again, since it's been a few weeks.

Thanks!

Ssalarn wrote:

Coffee Demon wrote:

I hope it's not nagging if I ask again about news on a print version?

I'll bump Adam and ask, see if I can get an updated ETA.

Just thought I'd ask again, since it's been a few weeks.

Thanks!

Here's Adam's Kickstarter update from 2/10/18.

The relevant information if you're not able to view it-

"We'll need to wait 1-3 weeks to get the proof copies back from them, and then we can start sending people out their books immediately."

I believe there will be a POD option through DriveThruRPG once the proofs are approved, for anyone who didn't order a physical copy through the Kickstarter, but I'm currently waiting for confirmation on that from Adam.

Cool thanks. Once that POD option is up, I guess someone will post here?

(One of my players wants to play a Scholar, but I don't allow classes / archetypes that I don't own in printed form. I can't deal with PDF's.) :)

Well, I suppose there's always printing off a few pages from a copy you own while you wait on the hardcopy...?

Cool thanks. Once that POD option is up, I guess someone will post here?

(One of my players wants to play a Scholar, but I don't allow classes / archetypes that I don't own in printed form. I can't deal with PDF's.) :)

Adam verified that the POD option will be available through DriveThruRPG once the proofs are approved. I'll try and pop in here with a link as soon as learn that they're available (assuming Adam or someone else doesn't beat me to it).

So here's a funny thing I noticed looking at scholar. With Small and Large Animal Training you can have an animal companion with a familiar archetype and a animal companion archetype.

If poison is a "special ability" you can even have a spider familiar turn into something with a bite attack and people that don't understand why your wolf's bite attack is venomous.

This is great.

Been looking at the Berserker sphere, and in particular Advancing Carnage, when a thought occured to me.

If I activate the Advancing Carnage on a Brutal Strike, are all the following attacks also brutal strikes, or just that initial attack?

Edit: And tossing in another question that occured to me. If you strike the ground via Shatter Earth and have Shrapnel, what size category does the ground count as for the Shrapnel's area of effect?

Hmm...... reading closely, I think I'd have to say "no" to that first one. Brutal Strike is a special attack action, which is a type of standard action. The additional strikes made with Advancing Carnage are free actions, so I don't think they qualify for anything that requires an attack action/special attack action. If you could make attack actions with your additional strikes, you could stack a lot of rider effects onto a lot of foes in one round, and that feels a little too strong.

Also: The Runic Knight archetype for the Magus gets to make free attacks with their Advanced Spellstrike ability, and that specifically says to treat it like an attack action. Advancing Carnage does not have that text. Since some free attacks get treated like attack actions and others don't, the implication is that there's definitely a difference there.

For Shatter Earth + Shrapnel, I would treat the ground as Large, which is the closest match to the number of squares normally damaged by that talent.

Why was the Adroit Warden archetype for Sentinels removed in the update? I quite liked the archetype.

Why was the Adroit Warden archetype for Sentinels removed in the update? I quite liked the archetype.

This is because it was actually absorbed into the base class. There were some complaints about the sentinel needing heavy armor to function, so instead, the adroit warden was absorbed into the base class to make it armor agnostic.

So now that I'm about to be on the player side of the screen again for the first time in forever I've begun looking at options and things again and I've got a couple questions about the Attack Action. If multiple things affect the Attack Action they stack, except when they don't. Is that the gist of it?
For instance I can combine Blooded Strike and Fatal Thrust. If I were to Full Attack I wouldn't get the benefit of either am I correct in that?
Following from combining Attack Action things could I combine Dual Attack with Advancing Carnage and get 2 attacks on every target I "cleave" to? What about Mobile Striker and Dual Attack? I guess I'm confused about how many things you can stack onto an Attack Action if they don't specifically contradict each other.

So now that I'm about to be on the player side of the screen again for the first time in forever I've begun looking at options and things again and I've got a couple questions about the Attack Action. If multiple things affect the Attack Action they stack, except when they don't. Is that the gist of it?

More or less, yeah. Basically, anything that rides on an attack action is generally fair game, though talents called out as "special attack actions" are mutually exclusive.

For instance I can combine Blooded Strike and Fatal Thrust. If I were to Full Attack I wouldn't get the benefit of either am I correct in that?

Attack actions are the default action you take when you make an attack as a standard action, so they are incompatible with full attacks.

Following from combining Attack Action things could I combine Dual Attack with Advancing Carnage and get 2 attacks on every target I "cleave" to? What about Mobile Striker and Dual Attack? I guess I'm confused about how many things you can stack onto an Attack Action if they don't specifically contradict each other.

Only the first attack made with Advancing Carnage is an attack action. So you could Dual Attack into Advancing Carnage, making a main hand and off-hand attack, but would only make 1 attack on subsequent AC attacks since you are no longer using the attack action.

I'm now reading the Sphere Bestiary, and it keeps mentioning a talent called Bestial Training. Trouble is I can't find that talent anywhere. Am I just missing it?

That's an editing hiccup. It used to be a talent for the Open Hand Sphere. Now, however, the only thing that should have Bestial Training is the iron dragon, which uses it to get Unarmed Training from the Equipment Sphere.

Thank you Endzeitgeist for the massive review!

Part II of my massive review:

Now, approximately 60 pages are devoted to the respective spheres. I cannot go into in-depth analysis regarding all of them here, but to give you an idea of the different spheres: Alchemy, athletics barrage, barroom, beastmastery, berserker, boxing, brute, dual wielding, duelist, equipment, fencing, gladiator, guardian, lancer, open hand, scoundrel, scout, shield, sniper, trap, warleader and wrestling would be the spheres. Alchemy nets you options to improve classic items, fused grenades, condition-healing, stimpacks, etc. Athletics sports concise rules for climbing around on big foes, wall run, etc. Barroom covers your improvised weaponry and drunken master tricks. Berserker, much like in the Fate/Stay-series, is about staying power and destroying stuff. Boxing features a nice counter-mechanic. Brute nets you Hulk-like stomps, topple foes, etc. and gets manhandle options to add further debuffs. The duelist sphere has a well-designed bind weapon-mechanic and can generate nasty bleeding. The equipment sphere sports the item-specific tricks. Now, I am not the biggest fan of the Fencing sphere’s Parry and Riposte, as it is based on an opposed attack roll, but its use of martial focus prevents the mechanic from bogging down gameplay.

Gladiators are specialists of boasting and demoralizing targets, the former allowing for actually tangible benefits. Guardian has two packages – challenge and patrol, the former of allows you to kite, while the latter lets you set up a defensive perimeter of sorts. I really enjoy this sphere. Lancer also is really cool, providing concise mechanics for the impalement of targets, making spear-wielders etc. more interesting and viable. Open palm and scoundrel are pretty self-explanatory, while the scout sphere focuses on keen perception, taking abilities usually relegated to rangers and characters that fit the ranged specialist or detective trope and makes them more universally viable. The shield sphere allows you to spend AoOs to increase AC and makes the often maligned item class more viable. Huge plus there. The Sniper sphere is something I have NEVER seen before for Pathfinder: It is a BALANCED, yet potent option for the sharpshooter concept. Thanks to essentially bonus damage for single shots, trick shots and the like, it is actually very well made. It even has a viable, powerful, yet balanced variant on the headshot-concept. The trap and wrestling spheres and warleader spheres do what you’d expect them to. It should also be noted that some sphere nets you 5 ranks in an associated skill, with progressive levels providing further boosts at higher levels. Snipers can shoot into melee sans penalty, etc. – you get the idea. The chapter, as a whole, is inspired. I do not envy the designers that will work on e.g. expansions to impaling options, for example, as the engine is VERY concise and could break if handled without due care, but as a whole, this chapter must be, once more, considered to be a resounding success of epic proportions.

Now, this would be as well a place as any to comment a bit on the design paradigms employed and what they mean for you: Spheres of Might did not attempt to offset caster/martial disparity. This feat is only possible by making martials ridiculously powerful and allowing them to basically behave like casters. And if you do want full-blown responses for every eventuality, why not play a caster in the first place? I believe, firmly, that playing a caster and a martial character can and should be somewhat different playing experience. The central issue with martials lies in a plethora of design decisions of the core game. Low skills per level meant less out-of-combat usefulness, which hampers roleplaying. Spheres of Might addresses that and fixes it. More importantly, though, the system’s focus on iterative attacks makes single target damage seem like the end-all raison d’être for martials. There’s a reason so many threads focus on improving AC, damage output, accuracy, and the like. The issue at the root of a lot of player-frustration with regular martial characters does imho not lie in their potency, but rather in the playing experience itself. It simply isn’t that interesting to walk up to a foe, roll X standard attack rolls for as much damage as possible, rinse and repeat. GMs will need, in such cases, to focus on mobility of foes or start a numbers-race that isn’t fun for anyone. And yes, you can accumulate a variety of different options for martial characters, but it takes time, feat-investment, etc. In short, you’ll still be doing your specialized routine. Very well, granted, but the experience can still be somewhat stale. This issue can be further exacerbated by certain classes having what conceivably should be general notions, hardbaked into the chassis, making some martial classes always exceed others in their available options for certain ability-trees.

Spheres of Might changes that. In other terms, the central design paradigm employed here is one that focuses, with tremendous success, on breadth rather than depth. Instead of adding a fireball’s worth of bonus damage to your attack to make up for the “lost” full attack, the system focuses on giving you MORE options to choose from. Yes, damage-enhancers are a choice, but they are not your only recourse to contribute to a combat situation in a meaningful manner. You can buff. You can debuff. And the very core of the system already rewards variance, doing different things each round. Do you expend your focus and execute talent xyz? Or do you get rid of that battered condition first? Do you focus on damage, generate a set-up, debuff a foe? The system makes different attacks MATTER. They are no longer just vehicles to transport more or less static damage values. Playing a martial character suddenly involves strategy. Choices beyond making a certain build. This has a rather remarkable effect: Suddenly, low-magic games, ones with a more pulp-like aesthetic, perhaps even ones sans magic whatsoever, feel more interesting for the players. As an added benefit, this takes one of the toughest challenges a Pathfinder-GM faces off the shoulders of the GM. You are no longer solely in charge of making the battlefield dynamic, of making combats require more than “I hit as fast and hard as I can.”

This changes the playing experience all on its own and supports a rather impressive array of playstyles that are simply less rewarding without this system.

But what if you actually *do* want high fantasy, potentially perhaps more significant boons that those assumed by your average Pathfinder adventure? Well, that’s where the book thankfully takes a cue from Spheres of Power: The high-powered, truly potent and more fantastic options are found in their own chapter, codified as legendary talents, organized by sphere. Here, you can, for example, find double jumps à la Devil may Cry, leaving speedster-style afterimages, the rules to make a philosopher’s stone via alchemy, execute Final Fantasy-style dragoon leaps, infinite ammo, generate a staircase of arrows/bolts, fire-breathe alcohol, instantly call animal allies to your side, rip open space and time, generate cyclone cut dual-wield effects, etc., generate vacuum with your strikes – you get the idea. Basically, this chapter includes the more over-the-top, fantastic options. The decision to distinctly set these apart if one of my favorite components in Spheres of Power, and I am glad it was retained here. So yes, you can have your cake and eat it, too. We also get a couple of new feats (and ones referenced, meaning you won’t have to skip books – kudos!) as well as an assortment of new traits and a ton of favored class options. These deserve special mention, for they seem to follow the design paradigm that class/race combos that are slightly less optimal should gain slightly better FCOs. I like that. The book also contains new drawbacks and sphere-specific drawbacks, which can further help customizing martial traditions and differentiate between schools. The equipment section includes some stuff that made my southern German heart swell – I know I need a battle stein! And yes, 10-foot-pole as codified as weapons. Never leave home without it! A few weapon mods and magic components can also be found here.

Now, the book does not leave the GM sitting alone in front of the book. Advice on running cinematic combat, martial monster tactics and talents and traditions – all concisely explained. The book also contains a massive bestiary (CR 1 – 21) of sample monsters modified to use the system and furthermore features an NPC-codex.

Oh, and that’s not all. The final chapter provides a surprisingly tight conversion appendix for Starfinder, which is a definite plus. At the same time, applying the concise conversion notes will take time. Furthermore, while Starfinder is similar to Pathfinder, it is still its own beast, and frankly, I found myself wishing we’d get a full-blown version of the book dedicated exclusively to Starfinder. The conversion guidelines are better than I anticipated, but ultimately, they represent a graft for a system for which this wasn’t necessarily intended.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting, while not perfect, are pretty damn close. The proof-readers did a very good job here, particularly considering the massive crunch-density of this ginormous tome. Layout adheres to a solid two-column full-color standard and the interior artwork is significantly better than in any other Drop Dead Studios book I’ve read so far. The pdf version comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. I do not (YET!) own the print version, so I can’t comment on its merits or lack thereof.

The team of primary authors Adam Meyers, Andrew Stoeckle, Michael Sayre and N. Jolly, with contributions by Amber Underwood and Siobhan Bjorknas, have provided an impressive…

…ah, who am I kidding?? This is a frickin’ masterpiece, pure and simple! Yes, I am not a fan of every single design decision herein, but I adore A LOT about this book. As in 99.999% of it.

As in: O M G, this is amazing. Spheres of Might is a jack-of-all-trades in that it allows for a wide array of different character concepts, but more than that, it actually enhances the experience of playing non-casters by making them significantly more rewarding. The classes are more inspiring than the vast majority of stand-alone classes you can purchase. The very engine this champions enhance the game all on its own, and the design of these martial spheres deserves lavish praise. More than even spellcasting, this completely tweaks, redefines and imho improves a central aspect of the game we all know and love.

Spheres of Might is one of the most inspired, well-crafted books of crunch I have ever read. It is not only well-made, it truly inspired whole settings, while campaign-ideas. Every single aspect of this book, every chapter, sports some truly remarkable ideas and gems. This surpasses Spheres of Power, a book I absolutely love.

The final verdict, hence, should not surprise anyone: This is 5 stars, gets my seal of approval, and is a hot contender for the number one spot of my Top Ten of 2017. Furthermore, this tome represents such an impressive improvement regarding versatility and playing experience quality, that it receives my EZG Essentials-tag – this book should be on the shelf of any self-respecting pathfinder GM.

Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS, etc.

Endzeitgeist out.

I'm just now getting to the Sentinel archetypes, and upon reading the description of the Darkness Defender being a "combat masochist" I have to ask:

Is this based off a main character in a certain fantasy comedy anime of the "normal Japanese male transported to a fantasy world" genre?

I'm just now getting to the Sentinel archetypes, and upon reading the description of the Darkness Defender being a "combat masochist" I have to ask:

Is this based off a main character in a certain fantasy comedy anime of the "normal Japanese male transported to a fantasy world" genre?

Yes.

Yes it is.

Putting stuff together for the Campaign I'm going to start in a week or two.

Hound Archon + 1 level of Sentinel (Bushido Warrior tradition)

Duelist (Draw Cut and Whilwind Draw)
Guardian (Cold Iron Call)

Gonna be a scary intimidating wall in front of my players.

Putting stuff together for the Campaign I'm going to start in a week or two.

Hound Archon + 1 level of Sentinel (Bushido Warrior tradition)

Duelist (Draw Cut and Whilwind Draw)
Guardian (Cold Iron Call)

Gonna be a scary intimidating wall in front of my players.

And you get to open up with that big "OMG, what did he just do why are we all bleeding, gah!" attack, which is a great way to set the tone for an evening :)

Question about the Iron Chef Archtype for the Blacksmith

Do they still use Profession (Blacksmith) for the Skilled Craftsman ability or do they get to use Profession (Cook) instead, and does the ability change in any other way for them

Archetypes only provide the changes listed in their description. As a GM, I might accept that change (I mean, honestly, it's really not a big deal either way), but as-written, they don't use Profession (Cook).

Question about the Iron Chef Archtype for the Blacksmith

Do they still use Profession (Blacksmith) for the Skilled Craftsman ability or do they get to use Profession (Cook) instead, and does the ability change in any other way for them

RAW Answer: The archetype only changes what it says it changes.

Longer answer: You may have noticed that Spheres of Might is actually a fair bit bigger than Spheres of Power. Part of that is because we repeatedly pushed for more space to make sure we could include everything for the ideas that we either thought were absolutely necessary, or which were so cool we really didn't want to leave them out. Iron Chef is a pretty massive archetype and takes up as much space as any two (and in some cases 3) archetypes for the Paizo core and base classes, so there came a point when I had to start looking at what the archetype absolutely needed, and what could be trimmed to make space. So all of the necessary recipe stuff stayed, but any little mechanics that weren't essential needed to be trimmed for space. What the archetype ended up as was essentially a talented handyman who's also a badass cook.

If you wanted to downplay the "iron" angle and play up the "chef" angle, it would be absolutely reasonable to sub in Profession (cook) for Skilled Craftsman, and I might even go a step farther and swap out the weapons, armor, and shield crafting mentioned in the ability for wondrous items and potions. You could, if you were already going to do that, then also swap out his bonus feats so that he gets Brew Potion at 3rd with the option to use his Profession (cook) checks to replace the spell prereqs using the standard crafting modification of +5 to the DC, and shift Craft Wondrous Items up into the 5th level slot.

Trying to make a themed build and saw the Tiefling and Aasimar striker FCBs. Is there a reason they are so weak? Elemental resistance and immunity are common defenses, and when even a first level Tiefling commoner could take no damage from your fire... it seems less than useful.

There is the Halfling bonus(+1/4 damage) and that is nice because it benefits from Drill Knuckle(the dwarf FCB is pretty decent too). Given that the fire damage(Tiefling) or cold damage(Aasimar) don't benefit from Drill Knuckle, would +1/2 be more acceptable?

If I had to guess, the Tiefling FCB there is meant to work together with the Devil's Strikes legendary talent from the Open Hand sphere, making them the most effective at that particular power.

Maybe, but even then that doesn't seem right to me. It seems... off, if an FCB was made weak so a Lagendary Talent would be better for one race than others. That also doesn't address the Aasimar's FCB.

I didn't actually write the striker FCBs (I believe Ehn did pretty much all of the striker-specific mechanics), but I know that in general there was some consideration given to FCBs and avoiding having them escalate one race significantly above another and considering the general power of the race itself alongside the other races who gain FCBs for a given class. It's possible that since both aasimar and tiefling are already swinging above the core races (like the halfling) in terms of overall power, their FCBs were intentionally left a bit more niche and thematic.

Alright, that I can understand. At really low levels an extra point at level two is pretty significant. Though I still think it could scale better an still be less useful than just extra weapon damage.

I'll see how it goes if I ever play one or run a game with a PC in it that is one.

I didn't actually write the striker FCBs (I believe Ehn did pretty much all of the striker-specific mechanics), but I know that in general there was some consideration given to FCBs and avoiding having them escalate one race significantly above another and considering the general power of the race itself alongside the other races who gain FCBs for a given class. It's possible that since both aasimar and tiefling are already swinging above the core races (like the halfling) in terms of overall power, their FCBs were intentionally left a bit more niche and thematic.

Yeah, that was my idea here. Most of the time, when FCBs come into play, you see certain races taking center stage (human [descended] characters being sorcerers, half elf summoners, etc), so rather than give a reason to do that, I wanted to give stronger FCBs to races that were at the largest disadvantage there. Tiefling/Aasimar are silly strong, so their FCBs didn't need to be.

On the flip side, resistance 5 negates it completely, and even resistance 2(some traits give that out) means the character has to be lv12 to do that creature 1 point of damage. Without something like Drill Knuckle helping out either I just don't see the point, especially when put up against stronger race choices like dwarf or human or half-Orc.

Coffee Demon wrote:

Cool thanks. Once that POD option is up, I guess someone will post here?

(One of my players wants to play a Scholar, but I don't allow classes / archetypes that I don't own in printed form. I can't deal with PDF's.) :)

Adam verified that the POD option will be available through DriveThruRPG once the proofs are approved. I'll try and pop in here with a link as soon as learn that they're available (assuming Adam or someone else doesn't beat me to it).

Because I haven't seen a post already saying this, the POD appears to be available now.

Are spheres and talents considered class features? I'm asking because I'm trying to see how high I can get Damage Reduction on a Darkness Defender Sentinel and the feats, Stalwart and Improved Stalwart, only work with class features.

Are spheres and talents considered class features? I'm asking because I'm trying to see how high I can get Damage Reduction on a Darkness Defender Sentinel and the feats, Stalwart and Improved Stalwart, only work with class features.

The damage reduction from the Reckless Defense class feature is treated as a class feature despite it being tied to the use of a sphere. Because of this, it would stack with Stalwart and Improved Stalwart. Normally though, talents are not treated as class features, even if they would be given as class features.

Thank you. Looks like I can change the feats up quite a bit. For a Lv10 Sentinal, qualifying for Stalwart is... feat consuming.

Any word on the Hero Lab files?

They're being developed as we speak, but I don't know when they will become available; the guy who does our hero lab files does them out of house, but I'll shoot him an email and ask about an ETA.

Had an idea for an new Martial Sphere

Teamwork Sphere. Using inspiration from teamwork feats and Team Attack combos from RPG Video games.

Base sphere abilities:

Teamwork Strike: a special attack action that can contain 1 (Trigger) talent. Trigger Talents are used to allow one of your allies to do something
and
Follow up: If an ally uses Teamwork Strike and you are NOT the target of a Trigger effect, you may spend an attack of opportunity to use Follow up. Follow up allows you to make a roll to hit the target of the Teamwork Strike and con contain 1 (Combo) talent. Combo Talents enhance the Teamwork Strike of your ally.

a sample Trigger could be: The designated Ally can Move up to half their move, without triggering an attack of opportunity, so long as they remain inside your threatened area. Or designated ally makes an attack of opportunity.

a sample Combo could be, the damage of your attack is added to the damage of the Teamwork strike instead of being considered a separate attack

As an advanced Combo Talent, Requiring: Destruction and Energy Blade from Spheres of Power; Instead of attacking with your Follow up you enchant your Ally's Teamwork strike with your Destruction magic. This works like Energy Blade but with your ally's weapon instead of your own.

So Rumor is that the Hero Lab files have been handed off to Drop Dead and may become available in the next few weeks.

If true my Wallet is ready